od 
366 
Laboratory work.—Dr. Mellville, in the lab- 
oratory at San Francisco, has been busy with analyses 
of the minerals, rocks, and waters collected at Sul- 
phur Bank, and with other analytic work in con- 
nection with the examinations of the quicksilver 
deposits. He and Mr. Becker have been investigat- 
ing some of the chemical relations of quicksilver. 
Study of the volcanic rocks. —Capt.C. E. 
Dutton has been placed in charge of the investigation 
and study of the volcanic rocks in this division, with 
Mr. J. 8S. Diller as assistant. Capt. Dutton, during 
most of the past season, was busy in the preparation 
of his memoir on the Hawaiian volcanoes, which will 
be completed in time for publication in the fourth 
annual report of the director. Owing to the as yet 
incomplete state of the topographic work (which is 
progressing satisfactorily under the charge of Mr. 
Gilbert Thompson) in northern California, the field 
geologic work has been confined mainly to prelimi- 
nary reconnoissance work, which has been carried on 
by Mr. J.S. Diller. Mr. Diller and his assistants took 
the field at Red Bluff, Cal., early in July, and imme- 
diately began workin that vicinity. The plain east of 
Red Bluff is a voleanic conglomerate of andesitic basal- 
tic fragments of tufa. ‘This formation is apparently of 
great extent, and reaches to the eastward for twenty- 
five miles. Latein July the party left Red Bluff, after 
having made a trip of six days’ duration to Lassen’s 
Peak, and proceeded vid Redding to Yreka. From 
this point the ascent of Mount Shasta was made, after 
which they went to Linkville, Ore., taking the val- 
ley of the Klamath River to cross the main plat- 
form of the Cascade Range. Mr. Diller spent some 
time in the region of Mount Scott and Crater Lake, 
the geological features of which he found especially 
interesting. A brief but careful examination was 
made of the valley which the Klamath River cuts 
RECENT PROCEEDINGS 
Appalachian mountain-club, Boston. 
March 12. — The following resolution was adopted 
by the club: holding in high esteem the geographical 
labors of the late Professor Arnold Guyot, be it re- 
solved, that the Appalachian mountain club is im- 
pressed with the loss it is now called to sustain in 
the death of an honored and illustrious member, and 
that the club receives with gratitude that rich store 
of knowledge his researches have disclosed to those 
who seek the truths of nature among the Appalachian 
Mountains, A paper on mountain adventures by 
Mr. Alessandro di Placido, including a winter ascent 
of Fujiyama, Japan, and one by Dr. S. Kneeland on 
a visit to the crater of Vesuvius at night, in April, 
1882, were read. —— Mr. C. H. Ames described the 
mountains around the Ktaadn iron-works in Maine. 
This group consists of thirty-one peaks, ranging in_ 
height from fifteen hundred to four thousand feet, 
the highest being’ White Cap. Mr. Ames exhibited a 
SCIENCE. 
across the Cascade Range, in order to ascertain the 
geologic structure of that mountain platform. Inter- 
esting studies were also made of the faults and dislo- 
cations on the eastern side of the range, near Klamath 
Lake. The work thus detailed kept the party busy 
during August; and during September the reconnois- 
sance along the eastern side of the range was contin- 
ued. Union Peak, Mount Thielson, Crescent and 
Summit lakes, and Diamond Peak were all visited. 
From the latter Mr. Diller proceeded to the group of 
volcanic cones known as the Three Sisters, where 
both Mr. Diller and his assistant, Mr. Hayden, met 
with the accident already noted, which obliged them 
to suspend work temporarily. Later on, however, 
the work was continued to the northward. An ac- 
count of the return trip to Red Bluff, vid the western 
side of the Cascade Range, has been already given in 
Science. The entire trip occupied a hundred and 
eleven days, and the distance travelled was twenty- 
five hundred miles. The work done will be of great 
service in the determination of many of the prob- 
lems connected with the range, and will form an excel- 
lent basis for future field-work. Mr. Diller is of the 
opinion that a special study of Lassen’s Peak, if made 
before the detailed examination of the Cascade Range 
is begun, will be of great service. He says, no other 
ancient voleano in the United States is known that 
has erupted such a variety of lavas, or placed them 
in so favorable a position for study of their succession, 
as has Lassen’s Peak. The solfataric phenomena at 
‘Bumpass’ Hill,’ and other places in the vicinity of 
Lassen, are much more extensive than at any other 
point in the Cascade Range. The region is also readily 
accessible. To the northward and southward, there 
are good exposures of the rocks which form the foun- 
dation of the Cascade Range, whereas north of Mount 
Shasta the exposures of these rocks are limited. 
OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 
beaver-skin, moose-antlers, and a reindeer-head. 
Mr. W. M. Davis, representing the U. S. geological sur- 
vey, explained the proposition which the survey has 
made to this state for the production of a map, and 
the following resolution was passed: resolved, that the 
Appalachian mountain club, in view of the great in- 
sufficiency of the existing maps of Massachusetts, 
recognizes, in the proposal recently made to the legis- 
lature by the U.S. geological survey, an opportunity to 
obtain a topographical map of the state which should 
not be lost, unless the legislature is prepared to in- 
augurate a more thorough and expensive plan. 
Linnaean society, New York. 
March 7. — The following officers were elected for 
the ensuing year: president, E. P. Bicknell; vice- 
president, Dr. A. K. Fisher; recording secretary, L. 
S. Foster; corresponding secretary and treasurer, N. 
T. Lawrence. Mr. E. P. Bicknell read the con- 
[Vor. IIL, No. 59 
