290 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 323 



ric system, most druggists translate it into apothecary weight, and 

 feel aggrieved that they are put to extra trouble thereby. If they 

 had the weights, very many would use them sufficiently to become 

 acquainted with their practical advantages, and thereby add their 

 influence to the advancement of the reform. At present many who 

 acknowledge the advantages of the metric weights, and would 

 gladly see them used, do not have quite the energy required to ac- 

 tively push the change. 



It is not understood by some that the object is to entirely sup- 

 plant the present weights, not to make an addition to our stock. 

 It seems very hard for them to realize that the particular set of ar- 

 bitrary quantities, in which they happen to think, will in a few 

 years pass into history along with cubits and sesterces, and be 

 equally forgotten. It will be greatly to the advantage of all con- 

 cerned to hasten this time as much as possible. Just now it seems 

 as if the change was taking place rapidly in some of the mechani- 

 cal arts ; and the following quotation from the Journal of Ejigz- 

 neering Societies is so apropos, that we add it as summing up the 

 whole matter : " The Western architects prefer decimal subdivis- 

 ions, because of greater ease in written operations, greater cer- 

 tainty and rapidity in mental operations with numbers of measure, 

 decreased liability to error in figuring drawings (prescriptions), and 

 a general saving of time and an.xiety." 



How well the above statement would apply to medicine and 

 pharmacy ! Simply let all teachers of pharmacy and materia med- 

 ica agree to omit entirely all reference to the apothecary system of 

 weights and measures, and adopt the law above stated, and the 

 metric system will come into use, and the other die without a 

 struggle. Wm. H. Seaman, M.D. 



Howard Univ., Washington, April 3. 



Platinum in British Columbia. 



In connection with the article on platinum in Science for March- 

 29, it may be of interest to some of your readers to know that plati- 

 num is found in association with gold in placer deposits in a, num- 

 ber of localities in British Columbia, and that the most important 

 occurrence of that metal yet met with in North America, so far as 

 I am aware, is that of the Tulameen and Upper Similkameen in 

 that province. 



In the "Mineral Resources of the United States for 1887," Mr. 

 David T. Day states that in consequence of inquiries set on foot 

 for crude platinum, a total quantity of 448 ounces was obtained in 

 that year in the United States. Part of this amount was purchased 

 in Oregon, and part is stated to have been derived from British 

 Columbia. This latter portion, no doubt, came from the particular 

 region to which allusion is here made ; for, though found in other 

 places in British Columbia, it is here only that the quantity has been 

 such as to induce the miners to collect and market it. The total 

 product of the Upper Similkameen and Tulameen district in 1887 

 is estimated at from 1,400 to 2,000 ounces, and in 1888 at 1,500 

 ounces. 



Placer gold- mining has been carried on in an intermittent man- 

 ner in the district in question for many years, the gold found being 

 generally scaly or " fine," and being invariably accompanied by a 

 certain quantity of similarly "fine " platinum. In 1885, however, 

 " coarse " gold was discovered on Granite Creek, a tributary of the 

 Tulameen, and in association with it similarly " coarse " platinum, 

 in grains and pellets which are sometimes as large as a pea; the 

 platinum in some " claims " being present in quantity equal to half 

 that of the gold obtained, by weight. Since this discovery, the 

 platinum, which was formerly thrown away, has been kept and 

 sold separately, the price obtained averaging about three dollars an 

 ounce. 



As is usually the case, the platinum here found is alloyed with 

 several other metals of the same series, and with copper and iron. 

 The metals of the platinum series include osmiridium (in considerable 

 quantity) with paladium, rhodium, and osmium to lesser amounts 

 (according to analyses by Mr. G. C. Hoffmann, Transactions of 

 the Royal Society of Canada, vol. v. sect. iii. p. 17 ; Ajtnual Report 

 of the Geological Survey of Canada, 1887, p. 5, T.). 



During the summer of 1888, I had an opportunity of examining 

 the localities of occurrence of platinum here described, and, without 



entering into particulars, I may state that its association and distri- 

 bution point very strongly to a mass of coarse intrusive diorite, which 

 contains much magnetite in a disseminated form as well as in veins 

 reticulating through it, as the source of the platinum. In conse- 

 quence of the extreme rarity of this metal in its original matrix, this 

 subject appears to be one of particular interest, and it is intended 

 further to investigate it. GEORGE M. DAWSON. 



Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, April 5. 



The Age of the Denver Formation. 



I HAVE read with much interest the article in the April number 

 of the American Journal of Science and Arts, by Mr. W. Cross, 

 on a formation which occurs near Denver, Col., which he calls the 

 " Denver formation." It appears to be stratigraphically distinct 

 from the Laramie formation, from which it is separated by an inter- 

 vening deposit, the Willow Creek bed. Paleontological evidence is 

 available from three sources, — the plants, the Mollusca, and the 

 Vertebrata. The plants according to Ward, and the Mollusca 

 according to White, do not differ from those of the Laramie, and 

 most of the Vertebrata have the same character. The formation 

 has, on the other hand, yielded some fossils which have been re- 

 ferred to the mammalian genus Bison, and described and figured 

 under the name of B. alticornis {Atnerican Journal of Science 

 and Arts, 1887, p. 323) by Professor O. C. Marsh. On the strength 

 of this determination. Professor Marsh identifies the horizon with 

 the pliocene. 



This was the first determination made in recent years. When 

 subsequently dinosaurian bones were reported from these beds, a 

 great deal of discussion was aroused, and the persistence of this 

 mesozoic type of Reptilia into csnozoic time was proposed and 

 maintained in some papers of a fugitive character. 



Several years ago I had the opportunity of examining remains of 

 Vertebrata from near Denver and Golden, and they were clearly 

 dinosaurian, and of the types which belong to the Laramie sys- 

 tem. How is it possible, then, that a species of Bisoti, a pliocene 

 genus, could occur in the same bed .-' The explanation is as fol- 

 lows. 



In 1875 I published an account of the Dinosauria obtained by 

 me east of Denver, in the Laramie formation. They included 

 three genera, — Hadrosaurus, and two new ones, Cionodon and 

 Polyonax. Subsequently, in 1878, 1 described parts of the skeleton 

 of a dinosaur from near the Judith River, Montana, which was fur- 

 nished with robust horn-cores. All of these types were figured in 

 the " Final Report and Bulletin of the United States Geological 

 Survey of the Territories." Thinking that this horned reptile 

 would be found to belong to one or other of the nine genera of 

 Dinosatiria already described by Leidy and myself from the Lara- 

 mie, I refrained from naming it. 



Material recently obtained and described by Professor Marsh 

 goes to show that the horned dinosaurs belong to the genus Polyo- 

 nax, Cope ; and not only this, but that the Bison alticornis belongs 

 to it also. That the latter species is not a mammal is indicated by 

 the characters of the brain-case figured by Marsh. 



Thus is removed the only obstacle to the reference of the Denver 

 and Willow Creek formations to the Laramie system. 



E. D. Cope. 



Philadelphia, April 4. 



Platinum in Place. 



In Scie?ice for March 29, p. 232, the finding of platinum inplace 

 is commented on. The following extract from Wurtz's " Diction- 

 naire de Chimie " (vol. ii. p. 1035) may be interesting : — 



" Le platine a et^ trouv6 en place par M. Boussingault dans les 

 filons aurif^res de Santa-Rosa de Osos en Colombie. Ce sont des 

 filons de quartz hyalin et de limonite traversant une roche de sye- 

 nite ou de diorite ; en Sib^rie, MM. G. Rose et Leplay ont tou- 

 jours trouv^ le platine dans les vallees ouvertes au milieu des roches 

 serpintineuses." 



Dana ("A System of Mineralogy," 5th edition, p. 11) says, "In 

 Nischne Tagilsk, it [platinum] has been found with chromite in 

 serpentine." W. G. Brown. 



Washington and Lee Univ., Lexington, Va., April 3. 



