OCTOBEE 9, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



517 



The Fuertes Observatory, of Cornell Uni- 

 versity, is to be torn dovra. and rebuilt on a 

 site north of Fall Creek Gorge, northeast of 

 the campus. It will stand on a slight knoll 

 at the southwest corner of the Hasbrouck 

 farm, near the upper end of Beebe Lake. 



The Eoyal Zoological Society of New 

 South Wales has begun the publication of 

 The Australian Zoologist, the first number of 

 which contains the annual report of the coun- 

 cil of the society and of the zoological gardens 

 that it conducts. The publication also eon- 

 tains a number of articles concerned with 

 zoology in Australia. 



Last year the imports of mineral products, 

 both crude and manufactured, exceeded 

 $270,000,000. Of this total probably $200,- 

 000,000 represents raw materials and crude 

 metals, the value of these imports being about 

 8 per cent, of that of the domestic output. 

 In this list of imports the larger items 

 named in the order of value are unmanufac- 

 tured copper, precious stones, nitrate of soda, 

 copper ore and matte, nickel, tin, iron ore, 

 pig iron and steel, petroleum products, man- 

 ganese ores and alloys, platinum, aluminum, 

 pyrite, graphite, stone, potash and magnesite. 

 This country has an abundant supply of 

 most of these mineral products that are now 

 imported in large amounts, and as to them it 

 can be independent of foreign countries. The 

 only essential minerals of the first rank of 

 which the United States has no known sup- 

 ply at all commensurate with its needs are 

 nitrates, potash salts, tin, nickel and plati- 

 num, the list thus comprising two essential 

 mineral fertilizers and three very useful 

 metals. There was a decrease in the output 

 of magnesite in the United States from 10,- 

 612 short tons, valued at $84,096, in 1912, to 

 9,632 tons, valued at $77,056, in 1913. The 

 only production in this country was in Cali- 

 fornia, as heretofore. With the cutting off of 

 the foreign supplies, due to the European 

 war, however, the demand for the domestic 

 product ought to increase greatly, especially 

 in view of the new and shorter water route 

 by way of the Panama Canal to the eastern 

 United States. It is to be hoped that the sud- 



den stimulus thus given to the domestic min- 

 ing industry will build up a trade that will 

 withstand the competition that must undoubt- 

 edly ensue when normal trade conditions are 

 again established. The demand for the do- 

 mestic product is restricted to the Pacific 

 coast and Eocky Mountain region, as it has 

 been impossible at the present railroad freight 

 rates to ship to the points of largest consump- 

 tion in the East. In answer to inquiries ad- 

 dressed to them by the Geological Survey, 

 many owners of idle magnesite properties in 

 the far West express the belief that with the 

 opening of the Panama Canal they would be 

 able to ship magnesite by sea to the east at 

 a profit. Magnesite is used principally in the 

 manufacture of refractory substances, such 

 as brick, furnace hearths, crucibles, etc.; as 

 magnesium sulphite, for digesting and 

 whitening wood-pulp paper; in the crude 

 form for making carbon dioxide; calcined 

 and ground for the manufacture of oxy- 

 chloride cement; and for miscellaneous ap- 

 plications in crude form or as refined mag- 

 nesium salts. In the toilet and bath rooms of 

 the rest rooms of the Panama-Pacific Exposi- 

 tion at San Francisco, magnesite flooring has 

 been laid, about 5,000 square feet having been 

 put down in each of the main buildings. The 

 domestic product is used in this work. A copy 

 of the advance chapter from " Mineral Re- 

 sources for 1913 " on the production of mag- 

 nesite in 1913, just issued by the U. S. Geo- 

 logical Survey, may be obtained upon appli- 

 cation to the director. 



The United States Bureau of Mines, in co- 

 operation with the United States Geological 

 Survey, has undertaken additional and more 

 comprehensive investigations pertaining to the 

 problem of mine caves and surface support. 

 The immediate work of the mining engineers 

 and geologists will comprise detailed studies 

 of the extensive open-cut and underground 

 mining operations in southwestern New 

 Mexico. The field investigations will be con- 

 ducted with special reference to earth pres- 

 sures and surface subsidence in relation to 

 the geological formation and mining condi- 

 tions, and the equipment and efficiency of the 



