September 1, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



265 



writer's paper on " The Acquirement of Pro- 

 ficiency in Qualitative Analysis," * which is 

 based on letters from many teachers of quali- 

 tative analysis and leads to the conclusion 

 that the intelligent handling of a miscellane- 

 ous qualitative analysis can best be taught in 

 a subsequent course accompanying or follow- 

 ing the course in advanced quantitative 

 analysis. 



Hermon C. Cooper 

 Syracuse University 



SURVEYS IN ALASKA 



Fourteen parties of the Geological Survey, 

 including about 50 men, are at work survey- 

 ing and studying the mineral resources of 

 Alaska. These parties are widely scattered 

 over the territory and are doing work of many 

 different classes. 



One party is engaged in exploring Noatak 

 Eiver, in northwestern Alaska, north of the 

 Arctic circle. This party, which is under the 

 leadership of Geologist P. S. Smith, with 0. 

 E. Griffin as topographer, will make its way 

 up Alanta Eiver with canoes and hopes to 

 find near the head of the river a pass across 

 to the head of the ISToatak and to descend that 

 river to the Arctic Ocean at Kotzebue Sound. 

 The region which will be traversed is unsur- 

 veyed and much of it is almost unknown. 



A. G. Maddren is studying the geology and 

 mineral resources of the extreme northeastern 

 part of Alaska, north of Porcupine River. 

 He is working in conjunction with a survey 

 party of the International Boundary Com- 

 mission. 



Investigations of the water available for 

 placer mining in the several camps of the 

 Tukon-Tanana region, begun four years ago, 

 are being continued this year. C. E. Ells- 

 worth is engaged in this work in the Fair- 

 banks and Birch Creek districts and E. A. 

 Porter in the Fortymile district. These engi- 

 neers made their way inland in the early part 

 of April and began work as soon as the ice 

 broke in the streams. 



Two parties are continuing the reconnais- 

 sance mapping and study of the mineral re- 



' J. Am. Cliem. Soc, XXXIII., 630, April, 1911. 



sources of the Yukon-Tanana mining dis- 

 tricts. One of them, which is under the 

 charge of L. M. Prindle, assisted by J. B. 

 Mertie, Jr., is working in the area known as 

 the Circle quadrangle, which lies between 

 parallels 64 and 66 and meridians 142 and 

 146. The other party, led by H. M. Eakin is 

 in the Rampart quadrangle, an area covering 

 about a degree of latitude between meridians 

 150 and 154. The preliminary mapping of 

 these quadrangles, which include some placer 

 districts, should be completed this year. 



The region tributary to the Pacific sea- 

 board of Alaska is the one which is now at- 

 tracting most attention, because its mineral 

 resources are being made available by rail- 

 ways. For this reason the surveys and in- 

 vestigations of this part of the territory are 

 being energetically pushed by the Geological 

 Survey. The province includes fields of high- 

 grade coal and also copper and gold deposits, 

 besides considerable arable land. 



Two parties are at work extending the sur- 

 veys in the southern part of the Copper River 

 region, including the Hanagita Valley and the 

 Bremner River basin. One of them, under D. 

 C. Witherspoon, is making topographic sur- 

 veys; the other, under F. H. Moffit, assisted 

 by Theodore Chapin, is making geologic sur- 

 veys and studying mineral resources. 



A topographic base map of the Valdez Inlet 

 mining district has been completed by J. W. 

 Bagley. Mr. Bagley began work in April and 

 continued until the middle of July, when he 

 transferred his party to Kenai Peninsula and 

 began a survey of the Moose Pass mining dis- 

 trict. After completing this work he will be- 

 gin the mapping of the Sunrise placer dis- 

 trict. 



R. H. Sargent, with a party of five men, 

 landed at Kachemak Bay about June 1 and 

 began mapping the western part of Kenai 

 Peninsula. 



G. C. Martin is engaged in studying the 

 coal resources of the same region. Later in 

 the season Mr. Martin will visit the Katalla 

 oil field. 



Kenai Peninsula has recently become the 

 scene of some important developments in 



