BRl TISH ASSO CIA TION NO TES. 46& 
limb. Dr. Ball, who was in the chair, examined some of the plates, and spoke 
of the interest and importance of this communication. 
Mr. Litton Forbes stated that the territory of Arizona is now practically 
opened up for the first time in its history by the completion of the new Atlantic 
& Pacific railway. The port of Guaymas, on the Gulf of California, probably 
in the not far distant future will be the port of arrival at least for mails and pas- 
sengers bound eastward from Australia, China, and Japan. At present Guaymas 
is a small Mexican town, consisting of adobe houses. Its harbor is excellent — 
one with deep water up to the very shore, and well sheltered from every wind. 
It is the only possible mail station on the Gulf of California, and is some 500 
miles, or nearly two days' steaming, nearer Australia than San Francisco. Of all 
the western territories, Arizona has long been the most remote and inaccessible^ 
and, therefore, the least known of all the territories. The aridity of the climate 
and the presence of hostile Apache Indians have had much to do with this. 
Arizona is a country of extraordinary mineral wealth. In many parts of its ex- 
tensive territory it offers large tracts of excellent land to the farmer and stock- 
raiser. Its chief drawback is a want of water, but this can be supplied by irriga- 
tion works and by artesian wells. Coal, salt, and precious metals exist in larger 
quantities probably than in any of the western mining territories. The copper 
mines are even now the richest known. The area of the territory is about 114,- 
900 square miles, or approximately 73,000,000 acres — in other words, three 
times the s?ze of the State of New York. The general topography of the country 
is that of a plateau, sloping towards the south and west from an altitude of 7,000 
feet to the sea-level. The surface of Arizona is much diversified, and contains 
some of the finest scenery in North America. In no country can the evidences 
of past geological action be better studied. The canon of the Colorado is a 
stupendous waterwork chasm, 400 miles long and from a quarter of a mile to a 
mile and a quarter in depth, and the scenery in many parts is grand and impres- 
sive. 
A note on some recent astronomical experiments at high elevations on the 
Andes was contributed by Mr. Ralph Copeland. At La Paz (elevation 12,000 
feet), he saw stars with the naked eye, when the Moon was full, that are with 
difficulty seen in Europe without artificial aid. At Puno (12,500 feet), Canopus, 
Sirius, and Jupiter were visible to unaided vision from one to twenty-five minutes 
before sunset. A number of small planetary nebulae and stars, with very remark- 
able spectra, were found in the southern part of the Milky- Way, by searching 
with a prism attached to a 6-inch telescope, on Professor Pickering's plan. The 
most remarkable stars showed spectra of little more than two bright lines, one 
near D, and one beyond F, with a wave length of 467 mmm., which the author, 
in conjunction with Mr. Lohse, had observed in the spectra of various nebulse; 
Y Argus is a star of this type, with the addition that the line near D is threefold. 
Several close double stars were discovered. At Vincocaya (14,360 feet) the 
solar spectrum was very much increased in brightness at the violet end. The 
solar prominences were seen with nearly equal ease in C, D3, F, and Hy. Wit/j 
