PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 335 
sei In reply to a question if there was not some familiar test by 
hich miners might prove them, he answered that the easiest way 
and toughness. H emarked further that it would not pay in Califor- 
nia to wash the gravel beds solely for diamonds. Diamond washings 
do not pay in any country except with slave or convict labor 
Prof. “Whitney read a paper on the geological position of coni. The 
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object of this paper was to show how com ly the result of in n 
geological explorations and discoveries had done away with the old 
idea that valuable beds of coal are confined e member of the 
Series of geological formations. The recent peee of geol- 
ogists in India, China; Australia, New Zealand, South America, and 
on the Pacific Coast of North America were noticed and commented 
w . 
eae and Eas rm United tates are of Paleozoic age, those o 
opposite sides of the globe; one of them is of Paleozoic and the other 
of Mesozoic age.. He referred Aner to the coal of the Pacific 
Coast of North America, and gave a brief account of its geographical 
distribution and geological age, noticing particularly the fact that 
most of the valuable fields of that region belong to the Cretaceous 
Series, a geological formation which, in other pa f world, has 
been found to be one of the most barren in combustible materials. In 
conclusion, the importance coal discoveries in ween 
mi 
at the head of which is Mr. King, late of the California Survey— might 
be the means of giving to the world reliable information in regard to 
the coal resources of that region, of which we now know so little. 
Dr. cr stated that Mr. Bischoff, the zoblogist appointed to ac- 
the Government exploration of — America, now 
on his wiy hither, iť he had not already arrived. When on that coast 
before, he had found birds nearly identical with living species in Asia, 
a fact of Much interest, since none of the same — are found on 
