624 
rope admit that it was far anterior to the 
occupation of the country by the Romans, 
and think that the mines of Abbaretz-No- 
zay were abandoned by the Gauls about the 
date of the Roman invasion. 
In a pamphlet entitled Gold Growth (Cin- 
cinnati, The Robert Clarke Co.), Mr. John 
Jacob Wagner asks: ‘Does nature trans- 
mute silver into gold?” “If it does, can we 
derive and utilize such hints, from nature’s 
operation, as will enable us to attain artifi- 
cial transmutation?” The former question 
he answers in the affirmative in the pamph- 
let before us; to the latter he promises a 
reply ‘in due time.’ The basis of the author’s 
argument is that gold in nature is always 
found associated with silver, and the ratio 
of gold to silver is not nniform. If silver 
never occurs without some gold, it follows 
that the gold has grown from the silver, and 
the varying proportions found in different 
mines are due to the length of time the 
growth has been going on. Hence in the 
older rocks the proportion of gold to silver 
is greater then in the later rocks. Pure gold 
can be separated from silver alloy ; but the 
‘fine silver’ resulting invariably contains 
gold. The inference is that the silver is 
‘erowing’ into gold. This pamphlet be- 
longs toa class of writings by no means rare, 
the efforts of laymen to clear up facts and 
theories which are far from clear to special- 
ists who have devoted their lives to them. 
Granted that the premises of the writer are 
true, his deductions would have no weight 
to a chemist. He finds not merely silver 
and gold occurring together, but many 
other elements always associated with each 
other. If gold ‘grows’ from silver, why 
not potassium from sodium, or bromin from 
chlorin, ete.? The only difficulty with the 
theory is that at present there is absolutely 
no evidence of facts to support it, and the 
wisest chemists hesitate to philosophize on 
the problem of the genesis of the elements. 
SCLENCE. 
[N. S. Vou. VI. No. 147. 
It may be questioned if books, such as that 
before us, have any value ; certainly they 
_ have not from a scientific standpoint. 
J. L. H. 
SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 
THE DEDICATION OF THE YERKES ASTRONOM- 
ICAL OBSERVATORY. 
THE University of Chicago has made very 
complete arrangements for exercises in connec- 
tion with the dedication of the Yerkes Astro- 
nomical Observatory, to continue throughout 
the present week. The arrangements are as. 
follows : 
OCTOBER 18, MonDaAy. 
2:30 p.m. Fourth Annual Meeting of the Board 
of Editors of the Astrophysical Journal. 
4:30 p.m. Opening session of conferences. 
Informal talks on recent investigations, in- 
cluding : 
Assistant Professor F. L. O. Wadsworth ( Astro- 
physicist, Yerkes Observatory), on the ap- 
plication of Diffraction Phenomena to Astro- 
nomical and Astrophysical Measurements. 
Dr. G. F. Hull (Professor of Physics, Colby 
University), on Electric Radiation. 
7:30 p.m. Assistant Professor Wadsworth will 
demonstrate with the 40-inch Yerkes tele- 
scope the application of interference methods 
to astronomical measurements. ; 
Professor Burnham will show selected double 
stars with the 40-inch telescope. 
OCTOBER 19, TUESDAY. 
9:00 a.m. Second session of conferences. 
Dr. Henry Crew (Professor of Physics, North- 
western University), on the Source of the 
Characteristic Spectrum of the Metallic Are. 
Dr. Henri Deslandres (Astrophysicist, Paris 
Observatory), on a subject to be announced 
later. 
Dr. W. J. Humphreys (University of Virginia), 
on the effect of Pressure on Wave-length. 
Professor James E. Keeler (Director of the Al- 
legheny Observatory ), on the Spectra of Stars 
of Secchi’s Third Type. 
Professor H. C. Lord (Director of the Emerson 
MeMillin Observatory, Ohio State Univer- 
sity), on Researches in Stellar Spectography. 
Professor Carl Runge (Director of the Spectro- 
scopic Laboratory, Technische Hochschule, 
Hannover), on Oxygen in the Sun. 
