Febbuary 6, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



233 



'Alloys of Lead, Tin and Bismuth'; Mr. G. 

 H. Burrows, on ' Eeduction with Soluble 

 Anodes ' ; and Mr. J. G. O'Neill on ' The De- 

 termination of the Benzene in Illuminating 

 Gas.' 



At the second meeting, which was held on 

 the evening of January 12, the section was 

 addressed by Professor W. D. Bancroft, on 

 the ' Theory of Indicators.' The lecturer il- 

 lustrated his remarks by many experiments 

 which were explained on the basis of the 

 theory of electrolytic dissociation. 



The favorable auspices under which the 

 Cornell Section begins existence seems to 

 augur for it a highly successful future. 

 W. C. Geer, 

 Secretary. 



ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 



The 144th meeting was held in Person Hall, 

 University of North Carolina, Tuesday, De- 

 cember 9, at 7:30 p.m. 



The secretary called attention to the im- 

 portance of the coming Washington meeting 

 of the American Association. 



Professor J. W. Gore spoke of his experi- 

 ments on ' Wireless Transmission of Elec- 

 trical Energy.' 



Mr. Gore called attention to the fact that 

 an ordinary telegraphic current will cause a 

 coherer to respond when the antenna is near 

 and placed in any position relative to the cur- 

 rent. When at right angles, this effect can- 

 not be due to the cutting of the antenna by 

 magnetic lines of force from the current. It 

 is to be inferred that electrostatic induction 

 causes the action of the coherer, just as is the 

 case when the antenna is near an open circuit 

 connected to a terminal of an induction coil, 

 or near an insulated conductor whose potential 

 is suddenly changed. 



It was stated that possibly wireless trans- 

 mission of energy is due to the propagation of 

 waves started by oscillatory electrostatic 

 stresses between earth (conductor) affected 

 ether and the ether some distance above the 

 earth. 



Mr. K. O. E. Davis, in a paper on ' Improve- 

 ment in Method of Halogen Determination,' 

 presented the results by Professor Baskerville 



and himself in their efforts to obtain a more 

 satisfactory method for the determination of 

 chlorine in their work on the atomic weight 

 of thorium. Abstract of his paper has been 

 printed in the Proceedings of the North Caro- 

 lina Section of the American Chemical So- 

 ciety. 



Mr. G. N. Coffey, of the United States Soil 

 Survey, gave an interesting account of its 

 work in the field and laboratory, and the bene- 

 fits to be derived therefrom. 



Chas. Baskerville, 



Secretary. 



COLUMBLi UNIVERSITY GEOLOGICAL JOURNAL CLUB. 



January 9. — Dr. A. A. Julien reviewed ' Ee- 

 cherches Geologiques et Petrographiques sur 

 L'oural du nord,' par Louis Duparg. Among 

 the new rocks noted was koswite, which is 

 composed of olovine and pyroxene cemented 

 together by magnetite. Dunite also occurs 

 there in great continuous sheets, with its in- 

 dividual grains much larger than that from 

 North Carolina. 



January 16. — Professor Kemp gave a talk 

 upon some large specimens of covellite which 

 he had just received from Butte, Mont.; also 

 upon some native gold in a quartz vein from 

 the North Star Gold Mines, Grass Valley, 

 Cal. This latter was obtained at a vertical 

 depth of about 2,000 feet. He also showed 

 and commented favorably upon Professor J. 

 C. Branner's ' Syllabus of a Course of Lec- 

 tures on Elementary Geology.' Mr. G. I. 

 Finlay discussed the method of recalculation 

 of chemical analyses as applied to the new 

 system of classification of igneous rocks. 



January S3. — Professor Kemp showed some 

 platinum nuggets from British Colimibia, 

 some large specimens of ruby silver ore from 

 Chili, and rich copper ore from Summerville, 

 N. J. Mr. G. I. Finlay then continued from 

 the previous week his discussion of the new 

 classification of igneous rocks. Professor 

 Kemp will take up the discussion next week. 

 H. W. Shimer. 



