944 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 859 



Isoetes in North Carolina: W. C. Xoeton, North 

 Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic 

 Arts, West Kaleigh. 



The Composition of Melted Kauri Copal, as Used 

 in Famish MaTcing: Charles H. Herty and C. 

 S. Venable, University of North Carolina, 

 Chapel Hill. 



Sesults of some Preliminary Studies in Wing 

 Vein Homologies, Somoptera cicadina (lan- 

 tern) : Z. P. Metcalf, Department of Agricul- 

 ture, Ealeigh. 



degressive Differentiation in Sydroids and 

 Sponges: H. V. Wilson, University of North 

 Carolina, Chapel Hill. 



A Striking Class-room Experiment after Otto von 

 Guerioke (by invitation) : J. M. Pickel, De- 

 partment of Agriculture, Ealeigh. 



decent Changes of Level from Cape Satteras to 

 Cape Sable (lantern) : Collier Cobb, Univer- 

 sity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. 



How to Discover the Solution of a Problem: John 

 F. Lanneau, Wake Forest College, Wake Forest. 



Mineralogical Notes on Eutile, Pyrophyllite, Talc 

 and Graphite: J. H. Pratt, Chapel Hill. 



Some Interesting Variations in the Flowers of a 

 Local Vinca: W. C. Norton, North Carolina 

 College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, West 



Bo ad-surfacing Materials: Joseph H. Pratt, 

 Chapel Hill. 



Some Seedlings of the Souppernong Grape (by 

 invitation) : F. C. Eeimer, Department of Agri- 

 culture, Ealeigh. 



The Postulates of Relativity: C. W. Edwards, 

 Trinity College, Durham. 



E. W. GUDGER, 



Secretary 

 SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 



At the meeting of the American Philosophical 

 Society, Philadelphia, on May 5, 1911, an address 

 on lignite was delivered by Dr. Joseph A. Holmes, 

 director, Bureau of Mines, Washington, D. C. 



The extent of the lignite deposits in the United 

 States will be realized from the following figures 

 giving the areas in several of the states: 



Alabama 6,000 



Tennessee 1,000 



Louisiana 8,800 



Arkansas 5,900 



Texas 53,000 



South Dakota 4,000 



North Dakota 31,000 



Montana 7,000 



In a number of states in the Eocky Mountain 

 region there are large areas of coal that repre- 

 sents a transition between typical lignites and 

 bituminous coals. For these the name "sub- 

 bituminous coals" has been suggested, and is 

 tentatively used by the United States Geological 

 Survey. 



The lignite beds in Alabama, Mississippi and 

 Tennessee represent a transition between peat and 

 the more typical lignites of the Dakotas and Texas. 

 Little or no use .has been made of the lignite beds 

 in these three states. 



The lignites in Texas and Arkansas have been 

 used to a limited extent; as have also the lignites 

 of the Dakotas and eastern Montana. In this 

 latter field the lignites contain 20, and in some 

 cases more than 40, per cent, moisture, and slack 

 badly and rapidly on exposure to the atmosphere; 

 and this quality seriously interferes with their use 

 and value for fuel purposes. 



The outlook for the utilization of lignites is 

 favorable along three lines: (1) In gas producers, 

 without either drying or other treatment; (2) in 

 boilers of special construction, such, for example, 

 as that installed more than a year ago at WiUis- 

 ton, N. D., by the United States Eeclamation 

 Service, where the lignite is used in its natural 

 condition almost immediately after being brought 

 from the mine; (3) in the form of briquettes. 

 This requires that the lignite should be thoroughly 

 and finely crushed and dried to a moisture content 

 of from five to ten per cent., and then compressed 

 while still warm into briquettes. 



Limited quantities of lignite from California, 

 North Dakota and Texas have been made into 

 satisfactory briquettes at the Government Mine 

 Experiment Station at Pittsburgh, using the full- 

 sized. German briquetting press, which develops a 

 pressure of twenty to twenty-five thousand pounds 

 per square inch. In the cases just mentioned the 

 briquettes were made without the use of any bind- 

 ing material, a sufficient amount of tarry material 

 remaining in the crushed and dried lignite to 

 serve as a bond to hold the particles together in 

 the briquette. 



It is believed that our investigations along this 

 line will demonstrate the fact that the lignite in 

 Texas, and the Dakotas and Montana can be made 

 into briquettes on a commercial scale, and that in 

 this form the lignite can be used as a substitute 

 for other domestic fuel in these regions. 



