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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 682 



also all reports emanating from official trade 

 inspections, of labor associations, etc., is to 

 be collected by this new institute, where they 

 will be examined by experts and put to good 

 use. Extensive laboratories fitted up with the 

 best of modern appliances will be erected. 

 This enterprise has its source in the belief 

 held by its organization that a central point 

 for this kind of science will greatly benefit 

 the chemical and other industries, and espe- 

 cially the working classes connected there- 

 with." 



The College of Agriculture of Cornell Uni- 

 vei-sity will have a convention of farmers be- 

 tween February 17 and 22. The object of 

 this meeting is to give practical demonstra- 

 tions of the aims, methods, and results of the 

 work of the college. At the same time will 

 be held the annual meetings of the New Tork 

 Poultry Society and of the State Agricultural 

 Experimenters' League. 



The Bausch & Lomb Optical Company of 

 Rochester, and the Bausch, Lomb, Saegrauller 

 Company of that city, and the Carl Zeiss 

 Optical Works of Jena, Germany, have united 

 their interests, with the expressed purpose of 

 carrying to the highest possible development 

 the production of optical, physical and engi- 

 neering instruments. The Zeiss works became 

 under Professor Abbe a scientific institution, 

 aa well as a commercial firm. They now em- 

 ploy some thirty experts engaged in scientific 

 research, and it will be fortunate if similar 

 methods can be followed in this country. 



The LTnited States Geological Survey's an- 

 nual report on the mineral resources of the 

 United States for 1906 is now ready for dis- 

 tribution. The separate chapters of this vol- 

 ume have been published from time to time 

 as the statistics for the various minerals be- 

 came available, and these assembled chapters 

 form a book of 1,300 pages, provided with a 

 table of contents, an introduction and an 

 index. The volume comprises 47 separate 

 reports, prepared by 27 authors, covering en- 

 tirel.y the mineral production of the country, 

 with descriptions and discussions of the de- 

 posits from which the minerals are obtained, 

 reports of imports and exports and many com- 



parisons of home and foreign production, 

 statements of prices and prospects, and notes 

 on the technology of many of the products. 

 In its general features this volume is similar 

 in form and scope to the preceding reports on 

 mineral resources published by the Geological 

 Siu'vey, the series covering altogether a period 

 of twenty-seven years. For twenty-five years 

 of this period the work of gathering these 

 statistics has been in charge of Dr. David T. 

 Day, but the present volume has been prepared 

 in part under the supervision of Mr. Edward 

 W. Parker, who has been for many years Dr. 

 Day's assistant and collaborator. Hereafter 

 Dr. Day will give his attention chiefly to the 

 compilation of reports on petroleum and nat- 

 ural gas, substances concerning which accurate 

 information has been difficult to obtain, and 

 Mr. Parker will have administrative charge 

 of the work of collecting and compiling the 

 various reports and statistics that are pub- 

 lished in this annual volume. Since the sur- 

 vey began its work on the mineral statistics 

 of the country the value of the mineral pro- 

 duction has increased more than fivefold. 

 From $364,928,298 in 1880 it has risen gradu- 

 ally, with some fluctuations, to $1,902,517,565 

 in 1906, a sum representing the value of the 

 mineral products in their first marketable con- 

 dition. The larger producing states contrib- 

 uted to this total in 1906 in the following 

 order and approximate proportions: Pennsyl- 

 vania, 30 per cent. ; Ohio, 11 per cent. ; Illi- 

 nois, 6 per cent.; New Tork and West Vir- 

 ginia, 4 per cent, each; Montana, Colorado 

 and Michigan, 3.5 per cent, each; Arizona and 

 Missouri, 3 per cent, each; Alabama and Cali- 

 fornia, 2.5 per cent. each. The value of the 

 mineral output of each of these twelve states 

 was more than $50,000,000, and their combined 

 values amount to more than $1,488,000,000. 



In his annual report the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture says in regard to the new building for 

 the department : " The work on the new build- 

 ing for the department has progressed satis- 

 factorily during the year, and it is hoped to 

 occupy the new quarters within the next 

 month or two. As pointed out in my last 

 report, in considering the question of a build- 

 ing, the imperative need for suitable labora- 



