Geology and Mineralogy. 305 



II. Geology and Mineralogy. 



1. First Annual Report of the Director of the Bureau of 

 Mines, Joseph A. Holmes, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 

 1910. Pp. 57. Washington, 1912. — The first annual report from 

 the Bureau of Mines gives an occasion for reviewing briefly what 

 has been accomplished since it was established by act of Congress 

 in July, 1910. Prior to that time the work in this field had been 

 carried on under the auspices of the U. S. Geological Survey. 

 The desirability, however, of increasing the health, safety, econ- 

 omy and efficiency of work in the various lines of mining and 

 in the metallurgical industry has led to the separate development 

 of the Bureau as now constituted. From the start the work 

 has been carried forward with energy and efficiency and has only 

 been limited by too small pecuniary support. 



The scope of the work may be partially appreciated from the 

 amount of money expended. This was a little more than 

 $500,000 in all for the year ending June 30, J911. Of this sum 

 $310,000 was devoted to the investigation of accidents in mines, 

 $100,000 to the testing of fuels, and $79,000 went to the expenses 

 of administration, laboratories, etc.; while smaller sums were 

 devoted to making public reports and to mine inspections. 



The work of the Bureau is three-fold, including investigations 

 as to mine accidents, of fuels and those in special technologic 

 lines. The investigations relating to mine accidents have had a 

 wide scope and have already accomplished important results, 

 although with more liberal support they can be much extended. 

 They look to the development of conditions which shall make 

 work in mines as safe and healthful as possible and reduce accidents 

 to a minimum. The Bureau has been also called to do much 

 rescue work when bad accidents have occurred. The magnitude 

 of the interests involved will be seen from the statement that 

 there are 700,000 coal miners in the country connected with some 

 15,000 mines, out of which 500,000,000 tons of coal are produced 

 annually. It is not to the credit of the country that the number 

 of men killed per thousand in 1910 was more than four times 

 what it was in Belgium, double what it was in Prussia and 

 more than twice what it was in England. In metal mines 

 accidents are nearly as frequent while health conditions are 

 worse; the latter is also true in metallurgical plants. 



The fuel investigations have been conducted with the object on 

 the one hand of ascertaining whether the supplies purchased by 

 the Government conformed to the contract specifications and in 

 addition extended to the general character of coals, lignites and 

 other mineral fuels belonging to the Government. Connected 

 with this subject is that of the general prevention of mineral 

 waste in all lines, which greatly needs scientific treatment. 



Besides the administrative headquarters in Washington, the 

 Bureau has also an experiment station in Pittsburgh with good 



