October 23, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



615 



linguistic material obtained among the Passa- 

 maquoddy Indians. 



The United States Coast and Geodetic Sur- 

 vey has completed the measurement of the base 

 line known as the trans-continental arc lying 

 along the 39th parallel of north latitude and ex- 

 tending from a point on the Atlantic coast ten 

 miles south of Little Egg Island lighthouse, be- 

 low Cape May, to six miles north of Punta 

 Arenas lighthouse, on the Pacific, several miles 

 above San Francisco. The base line ia much 

 the longest hitherto surveyed, and has cost the 

 government about $1,000,000. 



Mr. J. E. Spurr, of the U. S. Geological Sur- 

 vey, who, with Mr. H. B. Goodrich and Mr. F. 

 C. Schrader, went to Alaska, in May last, to 

 study the geology of the gold deposits of the 

 Upper Yukon region, reports the completion of 

 his work and his arrival in San Francisco. The 

 party spent the entire summer in the field. They 

 reached the Upper Yukon in the middle of June 

 and passed down that river to its mouth, stop- 

 ping at the various mining settlements on the 

 way. Mr. Spurr satisfied himself that the pros- 

 pects for profitable quartz mining in the region 

 examined are very good. There is a great ledge 

 running northeast and southwest through the 

 country, similar to the Mother lode in Califor- 

 nia. Mr. Spurr's report on the Yukon country, 

 and that of Dr. Becker on the good prospects 

 of the region lying along the Pacific coast, may 

 both be looked for during the coming winter or 

 spring, and will, doubtless, together constitute 

 an important contribution to the knowledge of 

 the gold resources of Alaska, 



Of his recent extended study of the gold re- 

 sources of the Transvaal region of South Africa, 

 Dr. Becker says that the Transvaal Republic 

 contains the largest gold deposits in the world. 

 Within fifteen miles of Johannesburg, on what 

 is called the main reef series, there is an amount 

 of gold, practically in sight, estimated to be 

 worth $3,500,000,000, or nearly as much as the 

 entire volume of gold coin now in the world. 

 The gold is extraordinarily uniform, as uniform 

 as coal in an ordinary deposit, as shown by 

 shafts which have been sunk to a depth of 1,800 

 feet, and diamond drillings which have gone 

 much further. At present the gold is being 



taken out at the rate of $100,000,000 a year. 

 But the most surprising news which Dr. 

 Becker brings is the testimony of an American, 

 who was formerly his assistant in the Geological 

 Survey, and who is now engaged in mining in 

 the Transvaal, where he has made several mil- 

 lions of dollars. This American mining expert 

 says that, to the best of his knowledge and be- 

 lief, the gold deposit, instead of being thirty 

 miles long — the region now in sight — is practi- 

 cally 1,200 miles long, except that in the rest 

 of the region later deposits, have come in over 

 the gold. This, however, will not prevent eco- 

 nomical mining, but will simply delay it. 



The Lancet states that Prof. Liversidge, pro- 

 fessor of chemistry in Sydney University, has 

 made an exhaustive series of experiments, find- 

 ing evidence in favor of gold being present in 

 sea-water of the New South Wales coast in the 

 proportion of J to 1 grain per ton, which in 

 round numbers would make 230 to 260 tons per 

 cubic mile. Our contemporary thinks the dis- 

 covery deserves recording in its columns, '■'■ since 

 recently the value of gold salts in therapeutics 

 has been recognized, and it cannot be doubted 

 that the cheapening of gold would lead to their 

 application being extended in this, direction." 

 It seems, however, probable that the value of 

 salts of gold in medicine as compared with those 

 of other metals is largely psychological and 

 would not increase with its cheapening. 



It has been found that the weather at Flag- 

 staff, Ariz,, is not satisfactory for astronomical 

 observations during the winter, and Mr, Lowell 

 will this month or next remove his observatory 

 to a hill about three miles north of the City of 

 Mexico, 



The International Congress of Hydrology, 

 Climatology and Geology met on September 

 28th at Clermont-Ferrand, Dr. de Eanse, 

 president of the committee of organization, 

 made a speech and was subsequently elected 

 president of the Congress, The three foreign 

 vice-presidents are Prof, Ludwig, Prof. Kubern 

 and Dr. Rotch, of the Blue Hill Observatory. 

 The Congress meets in three sections. Hydrol- 

 ogy, Climatology and Geology, for each of 

 which there is a French and foreign honorary 

 president. 



