52 



SCIEJSrCE. 



[Vol. VIU., No. 180 



ner's direction. This explorer made a cii'cuit of 

 the great mountam Kinchinjinga, delineated the 

 boundary between north-east Nepaul and Tibet, 

 fixed the peak of Nuijin Sangra, and completed 

 the sketch of the Zemu Eiver. Colonel Tanner's 

 surveys are particularly interesting as establish- 

 ing the accuracy of those made by A. K. Our 

 brief account will serve to indicate how much 

 interesting matter is contained in this report. 



A SALT-MINE IN WESTERN NEW YORK. 



Mr. William Foster, jun., of New York has 

 at last succeeded in sinking a shaft to the salt 

 deposits of central New York. As I was per- 

 mitted a few weeks ago to descend to the mine, I 

 will, by the owner's permission, give the facts to 

 the public so far as they are of scientific and gen- 

 eral interest. 



This is, I beUeve, the first successful attempt to 

 mine the salt deposits of this region. In the 

 neighborhood of Syracuse no salt deposits have 

 been found ; but the dependence is wholly upon 

 salt springs which derive their salt from unknown 

 som-ces. In the valley of the Genesee, in Living- 

 ston county, about thirty miles south of Eoches- 

 ter, deposits of salt were penetrated some years 

 ago, in boring for oil, at a depth of about a thou- 

 sand feet ; and numerous wells have been bored 

 from which brine is pumped, both there and in 

 Wyoming county to the west. Previous attempts 

 to sink shafts to these deposits in Canada have 

 encountered so much water, that the projects 

 have proved impracticable ; but the present at- 

 tempt seems to be entirely successfl^l. The shaft 

 was sunk 1,013 feet ; and the muie is perfectly dry, 

 with the exception of a little water which drips 

 down the shaft. An inch-and-a-half pipe removes 

 all the water. When I visited the mine in April 

 last, they had drifted about 300 feet in each direc- 

 tion. The stratum of salt in which they are 

 working is twenty-two feet thick, and fourteen 

 feet of it is pure salt. The miners remove it by 

 blasting (boring holes with augers specially adapted 

 to the purpose, and inserting small charges of 

 dynamite). I collected some of the dust which 

 was coming from one of these holes, which had 

 penetrated about four feet horizontally and about 

 midway between the top and the bottom. This 

 has been analyzed for me by. Professor Jewett of 

 Oberlin, with the following result : — 



Per cent. 



Sodium chloride 97.84 



Calcium sulphate 1.04 



Moisture 08 



Residue insoluble in water 43 



Magnesic sulphate trace 



Total 99.39 



This is remarkably free from impurities, even 

 for refined salt. Doubtless, by selecting speci- 

 mens, a still greater piu-ity might have been ob- 

 tained. The above specimen fairly represents the 

 purity of a stratum fourteen feet thick, which is 

 now being mined without hinderance from any 

 causes. 



Other strata of salt were found both above and 

 below this one. The upper stratum was reached 

 at a depth of 991 feet, and was so mixed with 

 shale as to be unprofitable. The lower stratum 

 was reached at 1,047 feet, and is fifty feet ua 

 thickness, being practically clear salt. Between 

 these two there was also a four-foot stratum of 

 clear salt. Thus, in all, there is, within a dis- 

 tance of two hundred feet, not far from eighty 

 feet of solid salt at a depth of a little over a thou- 

 sand feet below the surface. The shaft begins in 

 Hamilton shale. The following is the record : — 



Shale 



Corniferous lime rock. 



Shale 



Limestone and shale... 



Shale 



Lime rock 



Shale and salt 



First bed clear salt 



Lime-rock and shale... 

 Second bed clear salt . . 



Rock 



Third bed clear salt . . . 



This mine is at Piffard Station, Livingston 

 county, on the Buffalo, New York, and Phila- 

 delphia railroad, G. F. Wright, 



LONDON LETTER. 



The movement previously referred to in this 

 correspondence, for i3romoting such changes in 

 the University of London as will bring the 

 teachers of the various colleges into closer rela- 

 tions than at present with the examiners, has just 

 made a great step in advance. At a meeting of 

 convocation (i.e,, of the general body of gradu- 

 ates) on June 29, a scheme was adopted, and sent 

 on to the senate (the executive body) for considera- 

 tion. It proposes, 1°, that the constitution of the 

 senate be enlarged by the direct representation 

 thereon of certain educational bodies in and near 

 London, such as University college and Kings 

 college, London, the Royal college of physicians 

 and of surgeons, the Royal society, the council of 

 legal education, etc ; 2®, that certain colleges 

 shall, under the title ' constituent colleges,' form 

 a part of the university ; 3*^, that a council of 

 education shall be established, consisting of repre- 



