June 14, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



457 



Roseclare, 111., and Evansville, Ind., is reportedat 6,000 tons, worth 

 $30,000, an increase of 1,000 tons over 1887. 



Infusorial Em-th. — The product came principally from IVfary- 

 land, and amounted to 2,500 short tons, worth, before shipment, 

 $12,500. 



Zircon. — During 1887 and 1888, 25 tons of zircon were mined, 

 principally in Henderson County, N.C., and sold for $10,000 for the 

 manufacture of incandescent gas-burners. About 4 tons of mona- 

 zite, I ton of allanite, 600 pounds of samarskite, and $500 worth of 

 yttrium minerals were produced for the same use. About 6 tons 

 of monazite and 5 tons of cerite were also imported. 



Mineral Waters. — Amount sold in 1888, 9,628,568 gallons, 

 valued at $1,709,302. In 1S87 the product was 8,259,609 gallons, 

 worth $1,261,473. 



Totals. — The total value of the minerals produced in 1 888 was 

 $591,659,931. It is recognized that this is the sum of the values of 

 substances taken in various stages of manufacture, and hence not 

 strictly comparable with each other ; still it is the most valuable 

 means for comparing the total products of different years. The 

 result is an increase of nearly $50,000,000 beyond the value of the 

 product in 1887. In that year nearly every mineral industry 

 showed an increase, and hence an increased total was evident. But 

 the fact that the increase was so very large was due to rather ex- 

 ceptional conditions in a few important industries, and it could not 

 reasonably be expected that a similar combination of circumstances 

 would result in even a larger total value for 1888. Nevertheless 

 the unprecedented stimulus given to the production of copper by 

 an artificial price increased the total value of that product nearly 

 $13,000,000, or nearly enough to offset the decline in the total value 

 of pig-iron. The other important factors in the increase were coal 

 and the other fuels, which followed the increased quantity of metals. 

 With the anticipated decline of copper to the normal demand, a 

 decline in the total value of the product in 1889 will not be incon- 

 sistent with the natural development of our mineral resources. 



THE RAINFALL OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 



Gen. a. W. Greely, in compliance with the resolution of the 

 Senate, dated Jan. 4, 1888, has compiled an interesting report on the 

 maximum annual, minimum annual, and on the mean precipitation 

 for each month of the year, for the Western States and Territories, 

 the main part of which is a series of charts. The record from 

 which these charts have been compiled aggregates 4,800 years for 

 661 stations, thus giving an average of seven years and three 

 months to each station. The separate records, however, vary from 

 two to forty years in length. The principal object of the report is 

 to clear up the important question of the extent of the arid lands. 

 Regarding this point, the chief signal officer says, — 



" One great result which must redound to the benefit of the 

 trans-Mississippi and trans-Missouri country by the publication of 

 these official data will be the dispelling of erroneous and injurious 

 impressions which have long prevailed regarding this region. In 

 the early part of this century this territory was viewed as hardly 

 suited for civilized man ; its enormous plains and vast mountains 

 being represented as arid and desert regions, unsuited for cultiva- 

 tion, and in many places even unfit for pasturage. Adventure, ex- 

 ploration, and circumstance have pushed the frontier westward, 

 until the myths of the Great American Desert to the north, and of 

 the rainless ' staked plains ' to the south, have practically disap- 

 peared. It is none the less true, however, that the latest and most 

 reliable text-book of meteorology of this country speaks of the areas 

 between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains, including 

 portions of Utah, New Mexico, and California, as a region which 

 is almost entirely destitute of rain, and that farther on the east side 

 of the Rocky Mountains the country is a barren desert, almost 

 without rain. 



"As to the value of these charts, there should exist no reasona- 

 ble doubt, since they not only show prospective settlers in these 

 States and Territories the probable rainfall conditions, but likewise 

 show it to parties contemplatuig industrial, agricultural, stock, and 

 other investments in these extensive regions. It is evident to all, 

 however, that the rainfall conditions for separate years vary quite 

 considerably ; and, indeed, the opinion has been put forth that 



these variations are not only enormous, but are so irregular as to 

 render their prediction impracticable, and even that rain does not 

 fall for years in certain sections. 



" An examination of the charts of maximum annual rainfall and 

 minimum annual rainfall of these regions shows clearly that rainfall 

 conditions are considerably more equable than has been generally 

 believed ; so that the isohyetal lines are quite as regular on these 

 charts of maxima and minima conditions as on those of average 

 conditions. The minimum rainfall has never reached zero for any 

 year, and annual or seasonal rainfalls less than one inch have oc- 

 curred in south-western California and south-western Arizona at 

 few stations only. These maps of maxima and minima precipita- 

 tion must be of great practical value as showing the settler or in- 

 vestor exactly the extreme conditions which he must expect to ex- 

 perience in these regions. Another great value of the charts is the 

 bringing to general attention and consideration very extensive areas 

 of country in what has been known as the arid region, where late 



LEAST ANNUAL RAINFALL ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 



and careful ebservations have shown the rainfall to be far greater 

 than has been usually attributed, and thus transfer these areas to 

 the sub-humid districts. 



" The great extent to which misapprehension as to the rainfall 

 conditions of the arid regions has been corrected by these charts is 

 evidenced by the fact that the area on which the mean annual 

 rainfall is less than ten inches, shown on statistical maps of the 

 'Tenth Census' at 241,000 square miles, has been reduced to 

 126,000 square miles ; while a similar reduction is shown in the 

 area of country where the yearly rainfall is between ten and fifteen 

 inches, which, given in the census chart at 385,000 square miles, is 

 now limited to 259,000 square miles. In other words, the area 

 over which less than fifteen inches of rain fall annually has been 

 reduced almost a quarter of a million (241,000) square miles. A 

 large area of country charted on the statistical map as having an 

 average rainfall of less than five inches now entirely disappears in 

 Texas. New Mexico, Utah, and Oregon, and is materially reduced 

 in Nevada, Arizona, and California. 



" Observations over a small, compact agricultural area of South 

 Australia afford very reliable data as to the effect of rainfall upon 

 annual wheat yields. It appears from these observations that 



