November 25, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



751 



English Board of Trade. On my inquiring last 

 year how the constant had been calculated I 

 was informed by Principal Jones that it had 

 never been calculated at all. It accordingly 

 seemed to me that the record of any experience 

 with current-weighers, seriously made, would 

 be useful, and that something might be learned 

 therefrom. The instrument in question was con- 

 structed four years ago, as a preliminary instru- 

 ment. Mr. Taylor's experiments were all made 

 before the constant was calculated. This was 

 unfortunate, but unavoidable. When the com- 

 putation was made it was found that the design 

 of the instrument was unfortunate. Was all 

 the work done, therefore, to be thrown away, 

 or should it go on record for the possible in- 

 formation of others ? What is shown by Mr. 

 Taylor's paper is the accuracy with which it is 

 possible to make and measure Cadmium cells, 

 and a determination, by a method independent 

 of the potentionmeter method, of their value 

 in terms of Clark cells. 



In conclusion, it is only fair to state that Mr. 

 Taylor did not invent the practice of displaying 

 more figures than are useful. In the very last 

 edition of Everett's ' C. G. S. System of Units ' 

 still appears the quotation of Professor Miller's 

 comparison of the jjound and kilogram, in ten 

 figures, although comparisons of three pounds 

 at the Bureau International des Poids et Mes- 

 ures differed in the fifth figure. Colonel Clark's 

 comparison of the meter and yard is also given 

 to nine figures. These figures have appeared 

 for years in every British text-book of physics. 

 We are told that death loves a shining mark. 

 In this he apparently differs from our lively 'X,' 

 who, instead of turning his attention to familiar 

 instances, seems to prefer to make merry over 

 a man appearing for the first time before the 

 scientific community, who will presumably not 

 hit back. 



A. G. Webster 

 {alias ' Y'). 



Claek University, November 7, 1898. 



A TRIP TO THE TERTIARY FORMATIONS OF 

 WYOMING AND COLORADO. 



The Tertiary fossil beds of southwestern 

 Wyoming have been of great interest to all 

 paleontologists on account of the great beauty 



and the abundance of fossil fishes, plants and 

 insects found in the shales of the Eocene period. 



The fossils are darkened by much carbona- 

 ceous, organic matter, and are thus brought out 

 in fine contrast and exquisite detail on the 

 white, calcareous matrix. 



The writer has always had a great desire to 

 visit the locality, but found no opportunity of 

 doing so until the past summer, when three 

 weeks were spent in making excavations into 

 the high blufis to be seen from the station called 

 Fossil, on the Oregon Short Line Railroad. 

 The station is at an altitude of 8,000 feet. The 

 fossil beds are nearly 1,000 feet higher, and 

 above these beds are 200 feet of overlying rock. 

 Much of this has to be removed to gain access 

 to the fossils. The excavations are made on 

 terraces, or shelves, along the face of the blufis, 

 and the work is quite laborious, and oftentimes 

 very disagreeable from the dust constantly 

 blown about by the wild winds of that region. 



The locality is utterly barren and cheerless, 

 the bluffs rising up from sand plains on which 

 nothing grows but sage brush. Even in August 

 and September it was quite cold, and icicles 

 were hanging from the water tank at the sta- 

 tion. 



While on the bluff, three miles southwest of 

 the station, we had our home iu a stone house 

 cut into the face of the cliflf, the floor being the 

 solid rock, on which we lay at night rolled up 

 in our blankets. Every night the mountain 

 rats swarmed in upon us, making it almost im- 

 possible, to get any rest. All the water used 

 had to be packed over from the east side of the 

 mountain from the only spring of drinkable 

 water in that vicinity ; even this was quite alka- 

 line. All these discomforts were cheerfully 

 endured and compensated for, in making one of 

 the finest collections ever obtained from that 

 locality. 



Beautiful palms and other plants, and hun- 

 dreds of fishes and insects were obtained. 

 From Fossil a trip was made into Utah, where 

 some fine minerals were secured. After a week 

 of rest at Salt Lake City the road homeward 

 was taken, by way of the Colorado Midland, 

 stopping over two weeks at Florissant, Colo., 

 where over 700 beautiful specimens of fossil, 

 plants and insects were obtained from the 



