268 Scientific Intelligence. ^ 



discussion of the methods by which the metals have become con- 

 centrated in the Galena limestone. Individual mines are described 

 and the belief expressed that an important mining industry is yet 

 to be develofjed in southwestern Wisconsin. Bulletin No. 10. 

 Highway Construction in Wisconsin ; by K. K. Buckley. 813 pp., 

 106 pis. The character of road-making materials and the methods 

 of road construction are discussed by Dr. Buckley in great detail. 

 3. Preliminary Note upon the Rare Metals in the Ore from 

 the Rambler Mine ^ W^yoming ; by Thomas T. Read. (Communi- 

 cated.) — In the February issue of this Journal (p. 137), C. W. 

 Dickson has pointed out that in the ores of the Sudbury district, 

 consisting of pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite, the platinum is asso- 

 ciated with the chalcopyrite. Whereas the ore of the Rambler 

 mine, about forty miles west of Laramie, Wyoming, consists of 

 covellite and chalcopyrite in nearly equal proportions and carries 

 both platinum and palladium, it occurred to the writer that 

 they might possibly be confined to only one of the sulphides. 

 Experiments were accordingly begun to prove this. The crushed 

 ore was roasted, whereupon the chalcopyrite became magnetic 

 and could be picked out with a magnet from the roasted covellite. 

 Upon assaying the two separately it appeared that the palladium 

 was, apparently, associated with the covellite and the" platinum 

 with the chalcopyrite. The best assays, both upon the untreated 

 ore and upon the slimes resulting from the electrolysis of the 

 anode copper from Rambler ore, indicated that palladium is 

 present, usually, in the proportion of four or five parts of palla- 

 dium to one of platinum. It does not seem likely that this palla- 

 dium is present as native metal and careful panning tests go to 

 prove that it is not. On the other hand, if in fact associated with 

 the covellite, it may occur as a sulphide and perhaps as Pd^S, a 

 salt described by Schneider.* The fact that palladium resembles 

 silver in some of its physical and chemical properties lends sup- 

 port to this view. Further work is needed to confirm the sugges- 

 tions here made. 



Obituary. 



Dr. W. C. Knight, professor of geology and mining in the 

 Universit}' of Wyoming, and author of many papers on Geology 

 and Paleontology, died on July 8 at the age of fortj^'-one. 



Dr. Hamilton Lanphere Smith, formerly professor of physics 

 and astronomy in Hobart College, died on August 1 at the age of 

 eighty-one. 



M. Renard, professor of mineralogy in the University of 

 Ghent, has died at the age of sixty years. 



* Ann. Pliys. Cliem., cxli. 419, 



