620 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. Xo. 642 



The Science and Art Museum Dublin is 

 issuing a series of ' guides ' to the collections, 

 whicli are sold at the nominal price of a 

 penny. The last two of the series, devoted to 

 armor, and to arms (European) are by M. 

 S. D. Westropp and comprise a descriptive 

 catalogue of the specimens in the museum, 

 with a large amount of general information 

 as to the classes of objects described. They 

 are extremely interesting and models of their 

 kind. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



At the 187th meeting of the society, on 

 February 13, 1907, Mr. J. S. Diller presented 

 briefly the results of extended studies by him 

 on the age of the auriferous gravels in Oregon 

 and the discovery of marine Eocene fossils in 

 the same. 



Mr. Fred. E. Wright exhibited artificial 

 crystals of cuprite and an asbestos-like 

 mineral of the composition of tremolite, both 

 formed at high temperatures and under con- 

 siderable pressure. 



Regular Program 

 Mr. Whitman Cross gave a brief review of 

 the recent article on ' New Textual Terms for 

 Igneous Eocks' by Cross, Iddings, Pirsson 

 and Washington in the Journal of Geology, 

 XIV., 692-707, and emphasized the under- 

 lying principles which guided the authors in 

 their classification and description of the tex- 

 tures of igneous rocks. 



The Pine Mountain Fault: Mr. E. W. Stone. 

 Pine Mountain forms part of the boundary 

 between Kentucky and Virginia and is a long 

 narrow ridge having a general elevation of 

 3,000 feet. This discussion deals only with 

 the northern end of the mountain from Pound 

 Gap to Big Sandy Eiver. The Virginia side 

 of the mountain is comparatively steep, the 

 strata dipping southeast at angles up to 25 

 degrees, while the north or Kentucky side is 

 precipitous and a good example of a fault 

 scarp. The great fault which formed the 

 mountain is on the north side and parallels 

 the crest of the ridge for many miles. In the 

 'breaks' where Eussell Fork of Big Sandy 



Eiver passes the end of the mountain in a 

 gorge 1,000 feet deep, a diagrammatic section 

 shows clearly the uplifting and over-riding of 

 the Lee conglomerate on the upturned edges 

 of the Coal Measures. In the coal field im- 

 mediately west of the Pine Mountain the 

 Lower Elkhorn seam commonly shows a 

 fifteen-inch bench of laminated coal. It has 

 every appearance of squeezing and movement, 

 the coal being crushed to a flaky condition 

 and the surfaces of the flakes slickensided. 

 The lamination may be parallel to the bed- 

 ding, but is often tilted or contorted; it de- 

 creases and disappears at a distance of several 

 miles from the mountain. 

 Phosphate Deposits in the Western United 



States: Mr. F. B. Weeks and Mr. W. F. 



Ferrier. 



It has been found during the past few years 

 that the limestone strata of the upper Car- 

 boniferous of the Central Cordilleran region 

 include a series of oolitic beds containing a 

 variable percentage of PjO, and varying in 

 thickness from a mere trace to ninety feet. 

 These beds are known to occur in Idaho, 

 Wyoming, Utah and Nevada, and future ex- 

 ploration may show that they have a still 

 wider distribution. They are usually under- 

 lain by blue-gray compact limestone strata 

 which in turn pass into sandy limestones and 

 yellow sandstones. The phosphate series con- 

 sists of alternating layers of black phosphatic 

 material, shale and hard blue or brown com- 

 pact limestone which is often fossiliferous 

 with Rhynchonella, Chonetes and Euomphala- 

 trochus as characteristic forms. Within the 

 series the phosphate beds vary in thickness 

 from a few inches to ten feet, some of which 

 are almost entirely oolitic in character and 

 commercially valuable because of their high 

 content of PnOj, the average analysis of car- 

 load lots giving 32 per cent. PjOj equivalent 

 to 70 per cent, bone phosphate. 



In Utah the phosphate series is exposed in 

 Weber Canyon near Croydon and also near 

 Woodruff; in Wyoming, near Sage and also 

 near Cokeville, where it extends along the 

 west face of the Sublette Eange on the east 

 side of the valley of Thomas Fork; on the 

 east side of Bear Lane and along the west 



