July 9, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



53 



compass at the date of survey is essential. 

 The volume will be supplied without charge 

 to persons interested by application to the 

 Division of Publications, Department of Com- 

 merce. 



The United States Coast and Geodetic Sur- 

 vey, of the Department of Commerce, has re- 

 cently published a report, called Special Pub- 

 lication No. 24, which contains among other 

 data the exact latitudes and longitudes of 

 about six hundred stations in Alabama and 

 Mississippi. There are also given the correct 

 distances between each two adjacent stations 

 and the true bearings of the lines connecting 

 them. Some of the stations are natural or 

 artificial objects such as mountain peaks, 

 church spires and lighthouses but many sta- 

 tions required special marks or monuments to 

 preserve them. These are frequently metal 

 tablets set into solid rock or blocks of con- 

 crete. Complete descriptions of these marks 

 and of the general locations of the stations 

 with reference to other objects and to the fea- 

 tures of the surrounding country are con- 

 tained in the publication. Engineers and sur- 

 veyors interested in any of the stations can 

 easily find them from these descriptions. The 

 publication also contains the elevations of 

 those stations which are on high ground. The 

 point of greatest elevation in Alabama, deter- 

 mined by the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and 

 probably the highest point in that state is sta- 

 tion Oheehahaw, on the top of the mountains 

 of the same name, which is 2,413 feet above 

 sea level. This mountain is about nine miles 

 south of the town of Oxford and its top is a 

 point of the boundary line between Talledega 

 and Clay counties. The Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey is publishing its geodetic data for all 

 states as rapidly as possible. Good progress 

 has been made along this line and much valu- 

 able information is contained in the records 

 which are now available for free distribution. 

 Copies of the above-mentioned publication. 

 Special Publication No. 24, may be obtained 

 by interested parties upon application to the 

 Division of Publications, Department of 

 Commerce, Washington, D. C. 



The total production of Portland cement in 

 the United States in 1914, according to Ern- 

 est F. Burchard, of the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey, was 88,230,170 barrels, valued 

 at $81,789,368; the production for 1913 was 

 92,097,131 barrels, valued at $92,557,617. The 

 output for 1914 represents a decrease in quan- 

 tity of 3,866,961 barrels, and a decrease in 

 value of $10,768,249. The value assigned to 

 the production is computed on the basis of 

 92.7 cents a barrel, or the average value of 

 the Portland cement shipped in 1914. The 

 shipments of Portland cement from the mills 

 in the United States in 1914 amounted to 

 86,437,956 barrels, valued at $80,118,475, com- 

 pared with 88,689,377 barrels, valued at $89,- 

 106,975, shipped in 1913. This represents a 

 decrease in quantity of 2,251,421 barrels, and 

 in value of $8,988,500. The average factory 

 price per barrel in bulk for the whole country 

 in 1914 was 92.7 cents, compared with $1,005 

 in 1913, a decrease of 7.8 cents a barrel. This 

 price is about 11.8 cents higher than the aver- 

 age price in the Lehigh district and is near 

 the average price in New York, Illinois, Iowa, 

 the southeastern states and the plains states, 

 but falls 42.5 cents below the average price 

 received in Utah, where Portland cement 

 brought the highest figure during the year. 

 Among the states there were unimportant 

 changes in rank as cement producers. Penn- 

 sylvania and Indiana held first and second 

 places respectively, as for many years, but 

 both of these large cement-producing states 

 suffered an appreciable reduction of output. 

 In 1913 the output of California exceeded 

 that of New York and Illinois, but in 1914 

 this state dropped from third to fifth place. 

 New Jersey dropped from seventh to ninth 

 place, having been passed by both Michigan 

 and Iowa in 1914. 



In an address before the Society of Sigma 

 Xi, Northwestern University, February 18, 

 1915, Joseph E. Pogue, associate professor of 

 geology, discussed the relation between the 

 geology, history and ethnology of turquois. 

 Turquois has played an important role among 

 many peoples of the globe. From the dawn of 

 civilization down to the present it has found 



