588 
program of papers and informal talks by 
numerous astronomers and physicists has 
been arranged, and experimental demon- 
strations are to be given of certain impor- 
tant recent discoveries, such as the effect of 
pressure upon wave-length, the application 
of interference methods to astronomical 
measurements, the effect of a magnetic field 
on radiation, ete. 
Many celestial objects and the solar phe- 
nomena are also to be shown with the 
forty-inch Yerkes refractor. 
E. B. F. 
NOTES ON INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 
From an article in the Hisenzeitung on the 
output of platinum in Russia, we take the 
following notes: The Russian production 
of platinum is forty times greater than that 
of all other lands together. In Russia it is 
found exclusively in the southern Oural re- 
gion. It is shipped in its crude state to 
Germany and there refined. (This state- 
ment is surprising, as it has been commonly 
supposed that most, at least, of the Russian 
platinum is worked up by Johnson, Matthey 
&Co.,of London.) The output in 1895 was 
4,413 kilos as against 2,946 kilos in 1880. 
The cost of crude platinum in Russia is at 
present about $216 per kilo. The amount 
of iridium found with the platinum is very 
small, being in 1895 only 4.1 kilos, in 1894 
only slightly more than this. 
In the American Journal of Science, E. T. 
Allen describes several specimens of native 
iron from the coal measures of Missouri. 
They consisted of small grains, massed to- 
gether in one instance in a calcareous sand- 
stone, and in the others in a shale. Both 
sandstone and shale contained iron, and in 
two instances the grains were in close 
proximity to coalseams.. The metallic iron 
in each case was quite pure and contained 
no nickel, and is considered to be un- 
doubtedly of terrestrial origin. 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Vou. VI. No. 146. 
In the Journal of the Russian Physico- 
Chemical Society, G. P. Czernik gives an 
account of the investigation of the gases 
contained in two minerals from the Cau- 
casus, a titaniferous cerite and a coal from 
Tkwibulsk containing in its ash 10 per 
cent. of the oxides of cerium, lanthanum 
and didymium. The former contains 1.1 
per cent. of gases, chiefly argon, with a 
little oxygen and hydrogen. By heating 
to a red heat only one-fourth of the argon 
was liberated, by the action of 25 per cent. 
sulphuric acid at 60° rathar more than one- 
half. Much more was given off by fusion 
with potassium bisulphate. The author 
from this concludes that the argon is in 
chemical combination. The second min- 
eral contains helium, which is liberated by 
fusion with potassium bisulphate, even after 
the ash has been heated to a white heat. 
Here, too, the inference is that the helium 
is in chemical combination. 
THe Bulletin of the Pharmaceutical So- 
ciety of Bordeaux, for July, contains an ar- 
ticle by Dion on the formation of the fossil 
phosphate deposits of the Province of Oran. 
He concludes that they have an aqueous 
origin, being formed from above downwards 
by the action of infiltrating rain-water, and 
that animal remains were the only source 
of phosphorus in the deposits. 
J. L. Hf. 
SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 
THE SPELLING OF GEOGRAPHIC NAMES. 
AT the regular monthly meeting of the U. S. 
Board on Geographic Names, held a few days 
ago, decisions were made as to the spelling of 
149 geographic names. This Board, it will be 
remembered, is composed of ten members, rep- 
resenting those bureaus and departments of the 
government which are more or less concerned 
with geographic publications. It was created 
by executive order September 4, 1890, to the 
end that uniform usage in regard to geographic 
nomenclature and orthography shall obtain 
