Febeuary 13, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



279 



Ok February 3, the following papers were 

 read before tlie Mineralogical Society of Great 

 Britain and Ireland, at Burling-ton House, 

 London, England : ' On a meteoric stone seen 

 to fall on August 22, 1902, at Caratash, 

 Smyrna ' : by L. Fletcher, Esq., M. A., F.E.S. ; 

 ' Note on the history of the mass of meteoric 

 iron found in the neighborhood of Caperr, 

 Patagonia ' : by the same ; ' On the crystalline 

 forms of carbides and silicides of iron and 

 manganese ' : by L. J. Spencer, Esq., M.A., 

 r.G.S. ; ' The refractive indices of Pyromor- 

 phite ' : by H. L. Bowman, Esq., M.A., F.G.S. ; 

 ' Note on quartz crystals from De Aar ' : by 

 T. V. Barker, Esq. The following dates have 

 been arranged for the meetings for 1903 : Feb- 

 ruary 3, March 24, June 9, November 17, 

 anniversary. 



' Why Salt Lake has fallen ' is the subject 

 of a paper by L. H. Murdoch, section director 

 of the U. S. Weather Bureau in Salt Lake 

 City, in the National Geographic Magazine 

 for February. The rapid decline in the water 

 level of Great Salt Lake during the past few 

 years has caused the people of northern Utah, 

 and more especially those of Salt Lake City, 

 to feel considerable apprehension lest this re- 

 markable body of water will soon be a thing 

 of the past. The reading of the gauge at 

 Garfield Beach on December 1, 1902, was 3 

 feet 5 inches below the zero of the scale, show- 

 ing a fall of 11 feet 7 inches since the close 

 of 1886, the year in which the last rise ter- 

 minated. The present area of the lake is 

 about 1,750 square miles, and its drainage 

 basin is about twenty times that area. The 

 writer feels confident that irrigation can not 

 be charged with more than three or four feet 

 of the last decline in the lake level as irriga- 

 tion began in 1848, and was in operation dur- 

 ing the years that the lake rose rapidly and 

 maintained a high level. From 1887 to 1902 

 a dry cycle has prevailed, the average precipi- 

 tation during this period being 14.80 inches 

 or 1.85 inches below normal. The fall in the 

 lake level has been much more rapid during 

 the past three years than for any like period 

 during the preceding years of drought. This is 

 mainly due to the fact that the deficiency in 



precipitation has been greater during this 

 period than during any similar period of the 

 present dry cycle. The deficiency for the last 

 three years alone was over 13 inches. The 

 lake is not alone in showing the effects of the 

 drought. Streams, springs and artesian wells 

 are drying up, and those which continue active 

 are discharging much less water than a few 

 years ago. It seems to the writer that the 

 large deficiency of 29.60 inches in precipita- 

 tion during the past sixteen years, as shown 

 by the Salt Lake City records, must be far 

 more of a factor than any possible loss of 

 water resulting from irrigating 609 square 

 miles of land. With precipitation continuing 

 at about 15 inches, no further fall in the lake 

 will occur, and if the annual precipitation is 

 as much as 15 inches for the next three years, 

 a slight rise may be expected. A wet cycle 

 like that which began in 1865 may begin next 

 year, or it may not begin for fifty or more 

 years. When it does occur the lake will re- 

 spond rapidly and reach levels nearly as high 

 as those recorded in the sixties and seventies. 



The Mathematical Association (London) 

 has received a report from its committee to 

 consider the subject of the teaching of ele- 

 mentary mathematics. According to the ab- 

 stract in the London Times the report of this 

 committee stated, with regard to geometry: 

 " It is desirable (1) that a first introduction to 

 geometry should not be formal, but experi- 

 mental, with use of instruments and numer- 

 ical measurements, and calculations; (2) that 

 public schools in their entrance examina- 

 tions should set a fair proportion of questions 

 requiring the use of instruments, and the 

 obtaining of numerical results from numerical 

 data by measurements from accurately drawn 

 figures ; and that in their entrance scholar- 

 ship examinations the same principle should 

 be recognized; (3) that elementary geometry 

 papers, in examinations such as University 

 local examinations, the examinations of the 

 College of Preceptors, Oxford responsions, and 

 the Cambridge previous examination, should 

 contain some questions regarding the prac- 

 tical use of instruments; (4) since pupils will 

 have been already familiarized with the prin- 



