60 Scientific Intelligence, 



In the Carolina belt, particularly among the ancient volcanics 

 of that region, impregnations occur which correspond closely to 

 the Norwegian Fahlbands. The most profitable mine of the 

 South, (the Haile in South Carolina) is on such an impregnation. 



The placers of the South are of two well marked types accom- 

 panied by intermediate gradations. Ordinary auriferous stream 

 gravels occur, but somewhat more frequent are masses of rock in 

 place which are intersected by innumerable gold-bearing quartz 

 seams, sometimes no thicker than paper, and which have subse- 

 quently been decomposed to a great depth. The term saprolite 

 is proposed and employed as a general name for thoroughly 

 decomposed, earthy, but untransported rock. Such a word is 

 much needed and the only term ever proposed quite correspond- 

 ing to it is " geest," which for good reasons has failed to find accept- 

 ance. Between the saprolitic placers and the stream gravels 

 there are naturally transitions. Other things being equal, the 

 water-worn gold is of greater value per pennyweight than the 

 gold of the saprolite. The refining effect of running water was 

 known to Oviedo and even to Pliny. One nugget of 8 pounds 5 

 ounces and another of 10 pounds have been discovered during 

 the present year at the Crawford mine, North Carolina. 



The report contains, in addition to the systematic portion, 

 descriptive notes of the principal districts, and a bibliography of 

 the subject, and it concludes with a review of the northern 

 deposits, particularly those of Nova Scotia. It appears that these 

 two are probably Algonkian and in most of the details of occur- 

 rence they resemble those of the South. 



It is probable, therefore, that near the end of the Algonkian a 

 set of chemical and physical conditions prevailed from Newfound- 

 land to Alabama favorable to the deposition of auriferous quartz, 

 and similar to the conditions which existed in the Sierra Nevada 

 of California about the beginning of the Cretaceous. 



2. Geological Survey of New Jersey. — The Annual Report for 

 1894 was received in November, 1895, and contains three parts, in 

 all 303 pages, plates i-xi, one figure and a large colored geological 

 map. Part I is the Report of Progress on the Surface Geology 

 by Rollin D. Salisbury, and nearly completes, with what has 

 already appeared, the work on the northern half of the state. 

 The author calls attention to the emphasized importance of the 

 influence of stagnant ice upon the stratified drift of the valleys of 

 the northern part of the state. Additional particulars are given 

 regarding the Pensauken and Jamesburg lormations. Accom- 

 panying the report are four map-sheets bound in with the text and 

 a large colored geological map of the surface formation of the 

 Valley of the Passaic, covering the area of topographic sheet 6. 

 Part II is the Report on Artesian Wells in Southern New Jer- 

 sey, by Lewis Woolman, in which the depths of the various for- 

 mations are noted, the underground stratigraphy worked out, and 

 numerous lists given of the fossils met with in the strata pene- 

 trated. Part III is C. C. Veemeuli's Report on Forestry in the 

 northern part of the state, accompanied with a map showing the 

 distribution of forests in the state. h. s. w. 



