August 5, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



191 



vention apparatus awarded at the Interna- 

 tional Fire Exhibition last year, while the 

 Benjamin Shaw Trust prize is now under 

 ofEer for a respirator for use in dangerous 

 trades. The numbers of candidates at the ex- 

 aminations showed a large increase last year. 

 The report concluded with some references to 

 members of the society who had died during 

 the past year, among the most memorable of 

 whom were Sir Frederick Bramwell and Sir 

 Henry Stanley. 



' The Economic Resources of the Northern 

 Black Hills ' is the title of an elaborate report 

 recently published as Professional Paper No. 

 26 by the United States Geological Survey. 

 The chief author of the paper is Dr. J. D. 

 Irving, but chapters have been written by Mr. 

 S. F. Emmons and Dr. T. A. Jaggar, Jr. The 

 report is in two parts, the first part, on the 

 general geology of the Northern Black Hills, 

 being the work of Dr. Jaggar, and the second, 

 on the mining geology of the region, that of 

 Messrs. Irving and Emmons. The entire re- 

 port fills 214 pages and includes over 40 illus- 

 trations. The area covered is comprised 

 mainly within the Spearfish and Sturgis quad- 

 rangles, which were surveyed geologically in 

 the summers of 1898 and 1899 under the direc- 

 tion of Mr. S. F. Emmons. These quadrangles 

 include the major portion of the mineralized 

 and productive territory, but as a few ore 

 bodies that fall without its limits have been 

 described the title has been expanded to cover 

 the mining region of the northern Black Hills. 

 Dr. Jaggar's treatment of the general geology 

 of the district includes a discussion of its 

 general structure, topography, drainage and 

 stratigraphy. The intrusive porphyries are 

 described in detail and the history of their 

 intrusion is given. A description of the Al- 

 gonkian, Cambrian, Ordovician, Carbonifer- 

 ous, Tertiary, and Quaternary formations of 

 the district closes the first part of the report. 

 In the second part of the report, which treats 

 of the mining geology of the district, theoret- 

 ical discussions are either excluded or made 

 as brief as possible. The work is chiefly 

 descriptive in character. The first four chap- 

 ters describe (1) the ore deposits in Algonkian 

 rocks, (2) those in Cambrian rocks, (3) those 



in Carboniferous rocks, and (4) those in rocks 

 of recent origin. A fifth chapter is devoted 

 to detailed descriptions of particular mines in 

 the district. 



Sir Thomas Elliott, for the British Board 

 of Agriculture, has sent the following reply 

 to the Association of Chambers of Commerce, 

 who urged the importance of establishing a 

 national school of forestry : " The president of 

 the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries fully 

 recognizes the importance which attaches to 

 the question of afforestation and to the pro- 

 vision of a national system of instruction in 

 forestry. Steps have already been taken in 

 more than one direction to give effect to the 

 recommendations of the departmental com- 

 mittee which was appointed in 1902, under the 

 chairmanship of Mr. E. 0. Munro Ferguson, 

 M.P., to inquire into the subject. Through 

 the agency of the Commissioners of Woods 

 and Forests a school of forestry has been es- 

 tablished in the Forest of Dean, and a move- 

 ment is on foot for securing a suitable area 

 of land in Scotland for the purpose of demon- 

 strating scientific forestry. The board have 

 taken steps to secure the establishment of at 

 least two lectureships in forestry in England, 

 and some of the leading universities and 

 agricultural colleges have been giving atten- 

 tion to proposals under this head. The agri- 

 cultural departments of the University College 

 of North Wales, Bangor, and of the Durham 

 College of Science, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, ap- 

 peared to offer special advantages as centers 

 of instruction in forestry, and grants in aid 

 of the establishment of schemes of education 

 in the subject will be made by the board to 

 those institutions. The board hope that the 

 arrangements thus made will result in a con- 

 siderable improvement of the facilities avail- 

 able in this country for the acquirement of a 

 knowledge of practical forestry." 



The following, according to Nature, is a 

 summary of the prizes offered by the Belgian 

 Academy for 1904 and 1905: For 1904, in 

 mathematics and physics, critical phenomena 

 in physics, viscosity of liquids, gtudy of n- 

 linear forms where ?i> 3, thermal conductivity 

 of liquids and solutions, each a prize of 600 



