22 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IV., No. 74. 



INTELLIGENCE FROM AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC STATIONS. 



GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS. 



U. S. geological survey. 



Yellowstone national-park survey. — Preparations 

 for field-work by the Yellowstone park division, under 

 Mr. Arnold Hague, are now nearly complete. The 

 experience of last season enables the members of the 

 party to take the field with a fair idea of the nature 

 of the volcanic rocks of the park, and of the thermal 

 problems with which they will have to deal. Last 

 summer's notes have been condensed and arranged 

 for the purpose of comparing the conditions of the 

 springs and geysers observed with their conditions 

 during the corresponding months of this year. A 

 comparison of the thermal activity observed in 1883 

 with the intensity displayed in 1878 shows, that in the 

 greater number of instances the changes have been 

 unimportant, and that, contrary to the opinion fre- 

 quently stated, there has been no diminution in the 

 intensity of thermal action in the park during the 

 last six years. 



Mr. Hague reports that two additions should be 

 made to the list of active geysers, — one in the Fire- 

 hole basins, in the lower geyser basin, and one 

 in the upper basin. The former is situated on the 

 broad sinter terrace or flat, that lies north-west of 

 the mounds of the 'Fountain Geyser.' Dr. Peale, in 

 his report of 1878, suggests the possibility of its being 

 a geyser. It has a large, gray pool (ninety to a hun- 

 dred feet in diameter), without any particular beauty 

 of form or color. Near the west border of the pool 

 is a fissure-like vent, over which the water, owing to 

 its greater depth there, has a dull-green color. The 

 following description of an eruption is from the note- 

 book of Mr. Walter H. Weed : — 



" At 5 p.m. (Sept. 25, 1883) the water was perfectly 

 quiet, no ebullition whatever being noticed. At 5.02 

 a large volume of steam was thrown out, accompa- 

 nied by a vigorous bulging of the water, which in- 

 creased in violence until at 5.05 a mass of water, six 

 to eight feet in diameter at the base, was thrown up 

 in a tapering column from twenty-five to thirty feet 

 high. For twenty seconds these spurts continued, 

 after which the column fell, and the water boiled 

 quietly for ten seconds. Bulging again commenced, 

 and continued, with occasional subsidence, until 5.13, 

 the jets varying in height from three to twenty feet. 

 The total duration of the eruption was eleven min- 

 utes. From 5.13 to 5.43 the water boiled quietly; at 

 the end of this time bulging again commenced, and 

 another eruption similar to the first occurred. There 

 are apparently two vents; the jets acting together, 

 yet not perfectly synchronous. A low, heavy mass is 

 shot up from the lesser vent." 



This geyser has been named the ' Surprise.' From 

 the height of the column and force displayed, it will 

 rank as the third geyser in the Lower Basin. 



The new geyser of the Upper Basin is in the Emer- 

 ald group, and is the spring No. 9 of that group, de- 

 scribed in Dr. Peale' s report. Mr. Hague has named 

 it the ' Cliff Geyser,' as it lies so close under the wall 



which skirts the west bank of Iron Creek. Mr. Weed 

 was fortunate to witness this geyser in action, and 

 describes an eruption, under date of Aug. 27, 1883, 

 as follows: " This geyser presents a shallow basin, 

 with rather ill-defined margin, formed of thin plates 

 of honeycombed geyserite. The water near the edge 

 is turbid, and from two to eight feet deep, and, when 

 first observed in action, was boiling vigorously at a 

 number of points. A few minutes later the water 

 bulged violently to a height of six feet in the centre 

 of the basin, sending out waves in all directions, 

 which broke upon and ran over the low margin. 

 This was soon followed by another bulge eight feet 

 high, succeeded by a series of spurts and bulges lift- 

 ing the central mass of water to a height of thirty to 

 fifty feet. This continued for two minutes and a 

 half, when the violence of the eruption became less 

 and less, until the jet was but three to eight feet high, 

 continuing for two minutes, when the water receded, 

 still boiling vigorously. The inner basin was now 

 seen to be approximately thirty feet in diameter, with 

 a somewhat muddy bottom, blotched with black and 

 orange, surrounded by a shallow, gray-white and 

 black-lined outer basin, fifty by sixty feet. Half an 

 hour later a second eruption occurred, quite similar 

 to the first. These eruptions resemble those of the 

 Giantess in appearance." 



TJ. S. bureau of ethnology. 



Annual reports. — The third annual report is all in 

 type, and will soon be issued. The second report 

 is now being issued: it is a volume of five hundred 

 and fourteen pages (i.-xxxvii., 1-477), illustrated with 

 seventy-seven plates, seven hundred and fourteen 

 figures, and two maps. Thirteen of the plates are 

 chromolithographs. The report of the director de- 

 tails the office and field work of the bureau for the 

 fiscal year 1880-81, and presents some remarks intro- 

 ductory to the accompanying papers, which immedi- 

 ately follow. These are seven in number : viz., 'Zuni 

 fetiches,' by Frank Hamilton Cushing ; ' Myths of the 

 Iroquois,' by Erminnie A. Smith; 'Animal carvings 

 from the mounds of the Mississippi valley,' by Henry 

 W. Henshaw; 'Navajo silversmiths,' by Dr. Wash- 

 ington Matthews, U.S.A. ; 'Art in shell of the ancient 

 Americans,' by William H. Holmes ; ' Illustrated cat- 

 alogue of the collections obtained from the Indians 

 of New Mexico and Arizona in 1879,' by James Ste- 

 venson ; and ' Illustrated catalogue of the collections 

 obtained from the Indians of New Mexico in 1880,' 

 by James Stevenson. 



Mr. Cushing' s paper occupies thirty-seven pages. 

 The fetiches most valued by the Zunis are natural 

 concretions or eroded rock forms, having an obvious 

 or fancied resemblance to certain animals, or objects 

 of that nature, in which the evident original resem- 

 blance has been heightened by artificial means.. 

 Eleven plates and three figures show a number of 

 these fetiches, three of the plates being colored. 



It is the plan of the bureau to preserve and record. 



