January 4, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



cates have been found. The ore bodies have been developed by 

 numerous cuts, drifts, shafts, and quarries, all of which are in ore 

 that in bulk contains five per cent of nickel. Some two thousand 

 tons of this class of ore are now on the various dumps. No works 

 have yet been erected for treating the ore, but it is confidently ex- 

 pected that the year 1888 will see this inaugurated. 



"A specimen of the unaltered country rock from Nickel Moun- 

 tain was determined by Mr. George P. Merrill, of the National 

 Museum at Washington, as chiefly olivine, with a mineral of the 

 pyroxene group, probably bronzite. The nickel silicates found near 

 Webster, Jackson County, N.C., are the result of the decomposition 

 •of an olivine rock, and the occurrence in southern Oregon can be 

 similarly explained. The association with chrome ores adds to the 

 analogy between the two occurrences. 



" Lately Professor F. W. Clarke has further substantiated the 

 view advanced by Mr. Biddle as to the genesis of these silicates of 

 nickel, and has extended the comparison to the silicates from New 

 Caledonia." 



Fossil Wood. 



In a paper read before the Biological Society, Washington, 



F. H. Knowlton comes to the conclusion that the fossil wood of 

 the Potomac formation is all coniferous. It exists under two dif- 

 ferent conditions ; viz., as a silicified wood, and as lignite, which, 

 <3wing to the great pressure to which it has been subjected, is much 

 metamorphosed and distorted, and is incapable of specific deter- 

 mination. The former, very perfectly preserved, belongs to two 

 genera, — Ciipressinoxylon, with four species ; 3.V1.A Araucarioxlon, 

 with a single species. 



National Geographic Society. 

 The National Geographic Society held its annual meeting for 

 election of officers, presentation of reports, etc., on Friday even- 

 ing, Dec. 28. The secretaries and treasurer presented their annual 

 reports, and officers were elected for the year 1889 as follows: 

 president, Gardiner G. Hubbard ; vice-presidents, H. G. Ogden, 



G. L. Dyer, A. W. Greely, C. Hart Merriam, A. H. Thompson ; 

 treasurer, C. J. Bell ; secretaries, Henry Gannett, George Kennan ; 

 board of managers, Cleveland Abbe, Marcus Baker, Rogers Birnie, 

 jun., G. Brown Goode, C. A. Kenaston, W. B. Powell, O. H. Titt- 

 mann, J. C. Welling. 



Philosophical Society. 

 The Philosophical Society, Washington, elected its annual 

 officers as follows: president, J. R.Eastman; vice-presidents, C. 



E. Dutton, G. K. Gilbert, G. Brown Goode, H. H. Bates ; treas- 

 urer, Robert Fletcher ; secretaries, W. C. Winlock, J. S. Diller ; 

 members at large of the general committee, W. H. Dall, J.H. Kid- 

 der, H. M. Paul, F. W. Clarke, C. V. Riley, R. S. Woodward, L. 



F. Ward, G. W. Hill, Marcus Baker. 



COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY. 

 The Iron Industry in the Southern States. 



In the " Report on the Mineral Resources of the United States 

 for 1887," recently issued by the United States Geological Survey, 

 James M. Swank gives an interesting report of the recent rapid 

 growth of the Southern iron industry. The activity which was so 

 conspicuous in the latter half of 1885 and in 1886 was continued 

 in 1887 and during the first half of 1888. This activity has been 

 chiefly displayed in the erection of blast-furnaces for the manu- 

 facture of pig-iron. 



Since the beginning of 1886 there have been built in the States 

 south of the Potomac and the Ohio Rivers twenty-one large and 

 well-equipped furnaces, and fourteen furnaces were in course of 

 erection in those States on July i, i888. The total number of fur- 

 naces which were in blast on that date, not including those of 

 Missouri, was 109. 



There was much comment in Southern newspapers concerning 

 the probable scarcity of a supply of good coke for the new south- 

 ern furnaces, and the prediction was freely made that some of the 

 new furnaces would be compelled to remain idle until new coal-fields 

 could be found, or fields already discovered could be developed. 

 With the lapse of time it has been found that the supply of good 

 coke from Southern coal-fields has fairly, if not entirely, kept pace 

 with the increasing demand for this fuel for furnace use. New 

 coke-ovens have been built in connection with newly opened coal- 



mines, and the quality of coke obtained from the coal of some of 

 the older mines has been improved by more careful methods of 

 selecting the coal and making the coke. There is particularly no 

 longer any apprehension of a scarcity of coke for the supply of the 

 furnaces at Birmingham and in its vicinity. A great portion of the 

 supply is furnished from the New River coal-field in West Vir- 

 ginia, and the Pocahontas coal-field in Virginia. The coke from 

 these fields has been shipped to Carondelet, Mo., and Chicago, at 

 which places it has been used in blast-furnaces in competition with 

 Connellsville coke. 



The future of the iron industry of the South appears very promis- 

 ing, as there are certain advantages which other parts of the United 

 States do not enjoy. In Alabama and Tennessee, ores and fuel are 

 found in close proximity, and unskilled labor is cheaper than in the 

 North ; but, on the other hand, much of the pig-iron made in these 

 States must be hauled to distant markets at great expense. In 

 fact, no section of our country possesses a monopoly of all the ad- 

 vantages for producing iron and steel. Pittsburgh has natural gas 

 for its rolling-mills and steel-works, and is close to the Connells- 

 ville coke-field, but it brings its ores long distances. Chicago is 

 nearer than Pittsburgh to Lake Superior ores ; but it is hundreds 

 of miles away from Connellsville coke, and it lacks natural gas as 

 a substitute for raw bituminous coal. In New England but little 

 iron and sted in their crude forms are now made, but the skill in 

 their manipulation which has been accumulated in two hundred 

 years yet remains. The iron industry of the Rocky Mountain re- 

 gion will always have the stimulus of a home market remote from 

 destructive competition. There is room in almost every section of 

 this great country for the iron and steel industries, which have in 

 later years been so wonderfully developed, and which are destined 

 to expand still further. 



French Kongo. — In order to develop the resources of the 

 P'rench Kongo, it has been proposed to establish a line of steamers 

 running between some French port, Senegambia, and Gabun- 

 Kongo. It is estimated that the line will require an annual subsidy 

 of $ 1 40,000. While the Marseilles Geographical Society indorses this 

 scheme, Lieut. Mizon, who spent many years in the interior of the 

 colony, and to whom we owe our present knowledge of its topog- 

 raphy, opposes it, on the ground that the trade of the colony is un- 

 able to sustain an additional line of steamers. His remarks show 

 that the French Kongo has developed very slowly since 1870. In 

 that year the colony embraced the Bay of Gabun and the delta of 

 the Ogowe. Its trade amounted to $500,000 annually. In the 

 following years it did not increase ; but, after De Brazza's explora- 

 tion of the upper Ogowe, more caoutchouc and ivory were shipped. 

 At the same time, however, the trade in dye-woods, ebony, and 

 wax, declined on account of the devastation of the forests. The 

 total amount of import and export in 1882 was estimated at about 

 $2,000,000. Since that time it has not increased. This trade is 

 principally in the hands of an English and a German house, who 

 have regular lines calling in all ports of any importance between 

 Madeira and the mouth of the Kongo; and even to them the prod- 

 uce of the Gabun is of little importance as compared to that of 

 other parts of the coast. The slowness of progress in the French 

 Kongo is principally attributed to the lack of communication with 

 the interior and the absence of factories on the head waters of the 

 rivers. The resources of the interior must be developed, and the 

 natives induced to sell their goods to trading-posts in the interior, 

 which will thus be able to collect enough valuable cargo to make 

 the trade between Europe and Gabun more remunerative. Lieut. 

 Mizon's considerations are of special interest when compared to 

 the actions of the Belgian Company trading with the upper Kongo. 

 The latter concentrates all its energies upon the establishment of 

 good communication with the upper Kongo, and to a systematic 

 exploration of the commercial products of that region. Undoubt- 

 edly its endeavors will finally result in producing a remunerative 

 traffic between the remote regions of Central Africa and Europe. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 

 Favorite Authors for Children. By Mrs. FRANCES A. HUM- 

 PHREY. Chicago and Boston, Interstate Publ. Co. 16°. 

 This little book contains brief sketches of certain authors who 

 have written more or less for young people, though only a few of 



