July 7, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



31 



Jenlis, of Cornell University, and Dean W. A. 

 Henry, of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station. 



Information from Ottawa states that the 

 Dominion Astronomical Observatory has been 

 practically completed. The telescope has been 

 mounted, astronomer W. F. King, with his 

 staff, has taken possession of the building and 

 observation work has begun. The telescope is 

 a refracting instrument 19 feet 6 inches long, 

 with a 15-inch lens. In addition to the tele- 

 scope, the observatory has transit spectroscopic 

 instruments and the equipment of a first-class 

 institution. The building cost $92,000 and 

 the telescope $14,000. 



An astronomical observatory, to be known 

 as the Cecil Duncombe Observatory, is to be 

 established in connection with the University 

 of Leeds. A building with an aluminium 

 dome is being built at one of the highest 

 points in the city, and in it will be placed 

 the telescope recently presented to the univer- 

 sity by Captain C. W. E. Duncombe, together 

 with the transit instrument presented by the 

 late Mr. W. E. Crossley. 



During the present season the U. S. Geolog- 

 ical Survey will undertake work in Alaska, 

 as follows : An investigation of the gold placers 

 of Beaver Creek will be made by Mr. E. W. 

 Stone. The ore deposits of Berners Bay will 

 be studied by Mr. C. W. Wright, those of the 

 Ketchikan district and the Wrangell region by 

 Messrs. F. E. and C. W. Wright. Strati- 

 graphic and paleontologic investigations will 

 be carried on in southeastern Alaska by Mr. 



E. M. Kindle in cooperation with Mr. F. E. 

 Wright. The coal fields of Herendeen Bay 

 will be investigated by Mr. Sidney Paige, who 

 will also prosecute economic and stratigraphic 

 studies on Kodiak Island- Mr. U. S. Grant, 

 assisted by Mr. Paige, will make a geologic 

 reconnaissance of the country about Prince 

 William Sound and will investigate its min- 

 eral resources. A geologic reconnaissance of 

 the Matanuska coal fields will be made by Mr. 

 G. C. Martin. In the Nome region Messrs. 



F. H. Moffit and F. L. Hess will study the 

 geology and mineral resources. They will also 

 investigate the more important placer districts 

 of Seward Peninsula, and Mr. Hess will ex- 



amine the tin deposits of the York region. A 

 geologic reconnaissance of the country around 

 Yakutat Bay will be made by Professor R. S. 

 Tarr, who will be assisted by Messrs. B. S. But- 

 ler and Lawrence Martin. A geologic recon- 

 naissance in the Yukon-Tanana region, be- 

 tween Dawson and Fairbanks, will be under- 

 taken by Messrs. L. M. Prindle, assisted by 

 Mr. A. Knopf. Geologic and topographic sur- 

 veys and investigations of mineral resovirces 

 will be supervised by Mr, A. H. Brooks in 

 southeastern Alaska, about Controller Bay, in 

 Matanuska region, about Yakutat Bay, on 

 Alaska Peninsula, Seward Peninsula, and in 

 the Yukon-Tanana region. Geologic and topo- 

 graphic surveys of the country around Con- 

 troller Bay will be made by Messrs. G. C. 

 Martin, and A. G. Maddren, geologists, and 

 Messrs E. G. Hamilton and W. E. Hill, topog- 

 raphers. A detailed topographic survey of the 

 Solomon River region will be made by Mr. T. 

 G. Gerdine, assisted by Messrs. W., B. Corse 

 and B. A. Yoder. Topographic and geologic 

 surveys will be made west of. Fairbanks be- 

 tween Circle City and Chena by Messrs. D. C. 

 Witherspoon and R. B. Oliver, topographers, 

 and Mr. R. W. Stone, geologist. 



During the field season of 1903, Mr. George 

 C. Martin, of the United States Geological 

 Survey, made an examination of the petro'eiim 

 and coal fields in Alaska. A brief prelim- 

 inary report of this investigation was in- 

 cluded in a bulletin published by the survey 

 last year. The final complete report is now 

 available as Bulletin 250, under the title of 

 ' The Petroleum Fields of the Pacific Coast 

 of Alaska, with an Account of the Bering 

 River Coal Deposits.' Indications of pe- 

 troleum have been found in the Controller 

 Bay, the Cooke Inlet and the Coal Bay 

 regions. Though only a few wells have 

 been drilled and it is too soon to predict 

 an important future for the region as a 

 petroleum producer, Mr. Martin's studies 

 have shown that there is justification for 

 further prospecting and that the region may 

 yet be a source of illuminating oil. The pe- 

 troleum is clearly a refining oil of the same 

 general nature as Pennsylvania petroleum. 



