1 68 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. X. No. 243 



by eight papers in a total of thirty-four, but the relative interest de- 

 clined after this to a low ebb for eight or nine meetings. 



Botany has not been a feature in the association until recently, 

 and its record shows a simultaneous increase in interest. It has not 

 oscillated widely above or below the average, and has been main- 

 tained by a band of writers who, while they permitted it to reach 

 extinction in the nth (Montreal) meeting, have vigorously kept up 

 its respectability. The new and younger botanists have made 

 themselves felt, and it may be anticipated that m the next decade 

 its percentage will rise. 



Microscopy has only in later years assumed any importance in 

 the meetings of the association, and in the United States it is only 

 in later years that the use of the microscope has been widely ex- 

 tended. Industrially, technically, in biological and botanical studies, 

 it is beginning to make itself recognized as the handmaid of busi- 

 ness and science. Microscopy is yet fitful and timid in its appear- 

 ances at the association, but these erratic fluctuations probably 

 precede a more even participation in its work. 



Geology shows the highest percentage of interest (14.03), as 

 might have been expected, amongst the departments. The asso- 

 ciation itself was the child of a geological club ; and geology in a 

 new country, abounding in new details, new material, new problems, 

 apart from its intrinsic value and fascination, attracts numerous fol- 

 lowers. Abundance of papers on this subject have always been 

 forthcoming, in this arena met the veterans of the science, and here 

 the everlasting quarrel over ' taconic ' and ' primordial ' has been 

 fought over again and again, with the confusion of less noticeable 

 ■collisions and the combat of less distinguished warriors. One 

 thing of interest is observable ; i.e., that geology is losing its hold : 

 as with astronomy and other subjects, the growth of new de- 

 partments, the increase of papers in other branches, is forcing its 

 average down, though the actual numerical display of papers is 

 higher. 



-Palaeontolo^ Minefalo^ Lifholoqy' 



tieoloqy j - 



Paleontology has a fair percentage of interest, has been quite uni- 

 form, but evincing a downward inclination, caused, as with other 

 topics, by the enlarging horizon of the society's activities. 



Mineralogy has an intermittent and rather low pulse, but from 

 the 1 5th (Buffalo) to the 28th (Saratoga) meetings was in a rather 

 healthy state, and has since kept below the average. Its average, 

 indeed, has been sustained by the high percentages given in the 

 earlier meetings, and its general temper is debilitated. 



Lithology has barely an existence in the association. The 

 subject is new, its students few and scattered, and much of its ma- 

 terial absorbed in papers which are properly geological. Lithology 

 will undoubtedly enter more largely into public scientific discussion 

 in the future. 



Ethnology and archaeology have been the elements of disturbance 

 which have intruded numbers of papers in recent years, and brought 

 down the percentage of interest in other branches not sufficiently 

 recruited by new accessions. The significant coincidence in the 

 general aspect of these two branches of study shows their im- 

 portant development in the last ten years. They threaten the 

 supremacy of the older studies, both because of their popular 

 character, the interesting nature of their results, and the fertile 

 soil for anthropological investigation in our country. 



And here we are suggestively reminded that a valuable analysis of 

 the association returns might be made to determine in what quar- 

 ters the scientific industry of the country is located. Finally, we 

 offer these observations, imperfectly and too hastily prepared, as a 

 contribution to the interest this meeting of the association should 

 excite. L. P. Gratacap. 



A North Carolina Diamond. 



A DIAMOND weighing 4^- carats and 873 milligrams was found 

 on the Alfred Bright farm in Dysartville, McDowell County, N.C., 

 in the summer of 1 886, by twelve-year-old Willie Christie, the son 

 of Grayson Christie, who was sitting on a box at a spring, and saw, 

 about two feet from him, what he termed 'a pretty trick.' He 

 picked it up and carried it home, where it lay on the shelf two 

 weeks before he gave it another thought. It was then taken to the 

 village grocer's, John Laughridge's, where various opinions were 

 passed upon it, until at last the conclusion that it was a diamond 

 was reached. It was then sent to Messrs. Tiffany & Co. for valua- 

 tion. It is quite perfect, but not pure white, having a faint grayish- 

 yellow tint. In form it is a distorted hexoctahedrpn with partial 



twinning (see figures of two views). Its specific gravity is 3.549-I-, 

 and it measures 10 millimetres in length and 7 millimetres in width. 

 This stone being more than an average find, the writer thought 

 it would be of interest to visit the locality, and while there in June, 

 1887, he fully authenticated all the facts of the finding. Dysartville 

 is sixteen and one-half miles from Morganton, twelve from Marion, 

 eight from Bridgewater, and four from Capt. J. C. Mills's gold-mine. 

 A number of supposed diamonds, which proved to be zircon or 

 smoky quartz, have been found here before. No trace of garnet, 

 peridotite, or any of the associations of the diamond, were found 

 near the spot. The sediment at the bed of the spring was taken 

 out and carefully examined, as also the small hollows on the adja- 

 cent hillside. This diamond must therefore have been transported in 

 decomposing soil from distant higher ground in the vicinity, during 

 a heavy freshet. Its value as a gem, not counting any value its 

 American origin may attach to it, would be from about one hundred 

 to one hundred and fifty dollars. George F. Kunz. 



New York, Sept. 27. 



