386 Scientific Intelligence. 



slight depths showed no secondary silver minerals. Gold, so far 

 as observed, is primary in all the ores. A revival of the gold and 

 silver age of Comstock mining is not to be looked for, since the 

 tremendous fracturing which created the channels that made ore 

 deposition possible was more extensive near the surface than at 

 great depths. Nevertheless, the "roots" of an ore deposit so 

 immense are by no means small, and the Comstock operators have 

 in recent years shown their confidence in the existence of deep- 

 lying bodies of workable ore by draining a large part of the lode 

 to and below the 2,900-foot level. Although the deeper parts of 

 the lode probably contain no ore bodies comparable in size and 

 richness to the great bonanzas of the past, yet the primary origin 

 of some of the rich ores encourages deeper development. 



10. A neiv Meteoric Iron; by George P. Merrill (Communi- 

 cated). — A 25-lb. mass of meteoric iron has recently come to the 

 National Museum from Nickelsville, Scott Co., southwest Vir- 

 ginia. It is badly oxidized and evidently represents a very old 

 fall. It is, however, of interest since it shows unmistakable evi- 

 dence of the secondary granulation to which Berwerth has given 

 the name metabolism. 



III. Miscellaneous ScfENTiFrc Intelligence, 



1. National Academy of Sciences. — The annual meeting of the 

 National Academy of Sciences was held at the Natural History 

 building, IJ. S. National Museum, in Washington, on April 24, 25 

 and 26. The scientific sessions were open to the public as usual. 

 The number of papers offered for reading was very large, num- 

 bering about 40 in the preliminary program issued by the Home 

 Secretary, Dr. C. G. Abbot. A particularly interesting feature 

 of the meeting was the address by Dr. H. A. Lorentz, professor of 

 physics of the University of Leiden and Foreign Associate of the 

 National Academy, on "Problems of modern physics." This 

 address was given under the joint auspices of the Carnegie Insti- 

 tution of Washington and the National Academy of Sciences, on 

 Monday evening, April 24. Reception to Dr. and Mrs. Lorentz 

 followed in the Galleries of the U. S. National Museum. The 

 subscription dinner for the members was held on the evening of 

 April 25 at the Hotel Powhatan, and there was a ladies subscrip- 

 tion dinner, at the same place and time. 



The late date in the month of the Academy meeting makes it 

 impossible to give here the lists of new members elected, active 

 and associate. These will follow in the next number. 



2. A Text-book of Zoology; by the late T. Jeffery Parker 

 and William A. Haswell. Third edition. Two volumes ; vol. 

 I, pp. xl, 816, with 713 figures; vol. II, pp. xx, 714, with 560 fig- 



