326 
THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF 
MINING-ENGINEERS. 
Tue winter meeting was held at Cincinnati, Feb. 
19-22, and was not so numerously attended as usual 
by reason of the flood in the Ohio, which had so in- 
terfered with railroad travel during the preceding 
week as to keep many at home who had expected to 
be present. 
At the first session, on the evening of Tuesday, 
Feb. 19, the institute was cordially welcomed to Cin- 
cinnati by representatives of the city authorities, of 
the citizens, of the university, of the Ohio mechanics’ 
institute, and of other organizations. 
Mr. Robert W. Hunt of Troy, N.Y., president of the 
institute, returned thanks in behalf of his fellow- 
members. The remainder of the evening was occu- 
pied by Mr. Arthur V. Abbott of New-York City, 
who delivered a lecture on physical tests of metals, 
in which he gave a lucid description of the Fairbanks 
automatic testing-machine at New York. Diagrams 
of the various parts of the machine were thrown 
upon the screen, including representations of the 
novel contrivances employed for the automatic regis- 
tration of stresses and strains, as well as some of the 
autographic sheets, which showed how the ultimate 
tensile strength of short bars differs from that of 
longer ones of the same material and same cross-sec- 
tion. The machine has a capacity of two hundred 
thousand pounds for either kind of stress, — tension, 
compression, torsion, etc. (see p. 312). 
The session of Feb. 20 was opened with a paper 
by Mr. Magnus Troilius of the Midvale steel-works, 
Philadelphia, describing and advocating the bromide 
process for determining the sulphur in steel; and this 
was followed by a supplementary paper, by the same 
author, giving tables for facilitating the heat-calcu- 
lations of furnace-gases containing CO,, CO, CH,, 
ia and N. 
The next paper, by Mr. George C. Stone of Newark, 
N.J., was on further determinations of manganese 
in spiegel, being a continuation of a paper presented 
at the Troy meeting, in which the results of many 
analyses of spiegel by different chemists were tabu- 
lated, and the comparative value of the chemical 
processes employed was discussed. 
The next paper read was by Dr. T. Sterry Hunt 
of Montreal, on the apatite deposits of Canada, their 
distribution, richness, and value, the amount at pres- 
ent annually exported, the economic conditions for 
mining it, ete. : 
Mr. Nelson W. Perry of Cincinnati exhibited spe- 
cimens of a new mineral discovered by him near 
Ramos, San Luis Potosi, Mex., for which he pro- 
posed the name ramosite. Its hardness is nine in 
the scale, being next to the diamond; its color, black; 
its specific gravity, 3.83. Mr. Perry also exhibited 
erystals of topaz found in Mexico, some of which 
were as much as an inch in diameter, occurring in 
the unusual matrix, trachyte. 
After a paper by Mr. Frank Firmstone of Easton, 
Penn., on incrustations in pig-iron, a report was made 
by Dr. Thomas Egleston of the Columbia school of © 
SCIENCE. 
materials of construction. 
[Vou. III., No. 58. 
mines, New York, on the bill now pending before Con- 
gress to re-establish a commission for testing the 
strength and other properties of iron, steel, and other 
He earnestly disclaimed 
any intention of interfering in any manner with the 
use of the Emory testing-machine at Watertown 
(built by the last commission), or of having it re- 
moved to any other locality, and urged that all legiti- 
mate influence be brought to bear to have the bill 
passed. 
In an elaborate paper by Mr. S. Stoltz of Pitts- 
burg, Penn., on coal-washing, elevating and convey- 
ing machinery, the plant employed by him in handling 
soft coal was explained in detail by the aid of numer- 
ous diagrams. ; 
Professor Lord, of the Ohio state university, Colum- 
bus, gave the results of analyses of certain Ohio clays. 
A paper by Mr. Joseph H. Harris of Philadelphia, 
on the benefit fund of the Lehigh coal and naviga- 
tion company, gave a résumé of this and various other 
forms of life and accident insurance for the benefit of 
miners, and compared the usefulness of the different 
plans which have been adopted in Pennsylvania; it 
being a matter of extreme difficulty and delicacy 
to arrange a plan which works well, in face of the 
strained relations often existing between the miners 
and their employers. 
The session of Feb. 21 was opened with a lec- 
ture by Dr. A. A. Springer of Cincinnati, on torsion, 
illustrated by diagrams. He was followed by Prof. 
William L. Dudley of Cincinnati, who explained 
somewhat minutely the new process of electroplating 
with iridium, and exhibited specimens of articles so 
plated. 
A paper by Mr. Pedro G. Salom of Thurlow, Penn., 
giving the results of the analyses and tests of steel 
used in the U.S. cruisers now building at Chester, 
Penn., was, by reason of the important and remarka- 
ble results obtained, made the special order for the 
next meeting of the institute. 
The officers elected at this meeting were: — 
President, James C. Bayless, New-York City; 
vice-presidents, Eckley B. Coxe (Dufton, Penn.), 
Thomas Egleston (New York), Edwin C. Pechlur 
(Cleveland); managers, Edward S. Cook (Pottstown, 
Penn.), Frank Firmstone (Easton, Penn.), C. W. 
Maynard (New York); treasurer, T. D. Rand, Phila- 
delphia; secretary, Rossiter W. Raymond, New York; 
scrutineers, S. T. Williams, J. T. Lewis. 
The annual report of the secretary showed a total 
membership of 1,841, which was largely increased 
al this meeting. 
The meeting was a success, not only in a pro- 
fessional and scientific way, but socially as well. 
The institute invited its Cincinnati friends to dinner 
at the Grand Hotel on Wednesday evening; Mr. and 
Mrs. T. B. Aldrich entertained the institute, at their 
residence on Mount Auburn, on Thursday evening; 
the Southern railway provided an excursion to the 
high bridge over the Kentucky River, with special 
train of Pullman cars, and lunch, on Friday; and the 
institute was invited to attend the opera festival to 
hear Nilsson on Friday evening. 
