756 
under consideration. Soapstone, mica, plum- 
bago, asbestos, chromic iron, phosphate of 
lime, salt, pyrites, etc., had been noted in dif- 
ferent localities. Among ornamental stones 
known to occur, might be mentioned the rare 
and beautiful mineral lazulite; also malachite, 
jade, agate, carnelian, chrysoprase, and oth- 
ers. Extensive beds of lignite were found in 
many places in the great tract of country oc- 
cupied by the cretaceous and tertiary rocks 
in the Athabasca-Mackenzie valley and on the 
coasts and islands of the Arctic Sea; also in 
tertiary strata at Cumberland Bay, and in 
Greenland on the opposite side of Davis Strait. 
On the Moose River were considerable beds of 
lignite of post-tertiary age. Anthracite of a 
very pure quality had been found on Long 
Island in Hudson’s Bay. Petroleum rising 
from the Devonian strata was found through a 
long stretch of country in the Athabasca- 
Mackenzie valley. Great quantities of asphalt, 
resulting from this petroleum, occurred along 
these rivers and on Great Slave Lake, as well 
as in various places in the interior. Of the 
metallic ores, those of iron were very abun- 
dant. Inexhaustible quantities of rich man- 
ganiferous ironstone exist on the Manitonink 
Islands, near the east coast of Hudson’s Bay. 
The bedded ore formed the surface over hun- 
dreds of square miles, and it was broken up 
by the frost into pieces of a convenient size 
for shipping. Valuable deposits of magnetic 
iron had been found on Athabasca and Knee 
Lakes, and a thick bed of fine clay-ironstone 
on the Mattagami River. Capt. Dawson, 
R.A., had found a vein of crystalline specular 
iron on Great Slave Lake. Copper ore had 
been discovered on Hudson’s Bay; and the 
native metal was known to occur in quantities 
on the Coppermine River, in rocks like those 
with which it is associated on Lake Superior. 
Galena was abundant in limestone from Little 
Whale River to Richmond Gulf, on the East- 
main coast. Zinc, molybdenum, and manga- 
nese had also been found on this coast, and 
antimony in the north. Gold and silver had 
likewise been detected in veins on the east 
coast ; and alluvial gold had been washed out 
of the gravel and sand of different streams 
in the mountainous region west of the lower 
part of the Mackenzie River. For various 
reasons, Dr. Bell regarded this region as a 
highly promising one for the precious metals. 
The belt of auriferous drift, which crosses the 
North Saskatchewan at Edmonton, and from 
which the gold-dust is there washed, may have 
been brought from this region by ancient gla- 
ciers from the valleys of the upper branches 
SCIENCE. 
[Vou. III., No. 72. ¢ 
of the Liard and Peace Rivers. A number of 
years ago, Dr. Bell had originated the theory 
that this gold might have been derived from 
Huronian rocks to the north-eastward of Ed- 
monton; but he now thought it quite as likely 
to have had its source in the direction of Cas- 
Siar. 
THE SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITY OF THE 
RUSSIAN UNIVERSITIES DURING 
THE LAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS.} 
No endeavor has as yet been made to properly 
estimate the scientific activity of our universities 
during the last quarter of a century; and this, I 
believe, mainly accounts for the sweeping condem- 
nations which make their appearance from time to 
time, to the effect that our universities are declining, 
and that the high tide of their scientific activity was 
long ago passed. Submitting to the judgment of the 
reader a first feeble attempt of this kind with re- 
spect to the development of natural science, includ- 
ing the principles of medicine, I wish expressly to 
state that the material at my command, while not 
embracing all accomplished by the universities in the 
direction of natural science, nevertheless includes 
every thing essential to point out and prove the most 
prominent features of the results attained. This, 
indeed, is the object of the present article. My re- 
view excludes the universities at Dorpat and Hel- 
singfors, as they, by their whole constitution, always 
distinguished themselves from their purely Russian 
brethren: it also fails to take into account the scien- 
tific activity of those members of our academy who 
are not connected with any Russian university. The 
material for this sketch has been brought together, 
not by myself, but by specialists in their respective 
branches of knowledge, —in physics, by Professor 
Petrusheéfsky; in chemistry, by Professor Menshut- 
kin; in botany, by Professors Beketoff, Borodin, and 
Gobi; in zodlogy, by Professor Bogdanoff; in geology, 
by Professor Inostrantseff; in anatomy and physi- 
ology, by myself. 
If we are to measure the scientific activity of an 
institution by the degree in which its members par- 
ticipate in the resolution of scientific questions, — and 
this seems to be the only correct standard, — then 
the activity of the Russian universities in natural 
science during the thirty years from 1830 to 1860 
cannot be deemed great. Indeed, the number of 
university professors (with Russian names) engaged 
in scientific work was small; and these stood almost 
alone, as it were, hardly exerting any considerable 
influence over those around them. 
There were, of course, many causes for this scar- 
city and isolation of working-forces; but the prin- 
cipal one, undoubtedly, is to be sought in the general 
conditions of university life. These conditions logi- 
cally grew out of the view then accepted as to the 
object of university-work in regard to the intellectual 
1 Translated and abridged from the Russian of I. StcHENOFF, 
in the Vestnik Evropy (European herald) for November, 1883. 
yi inf 
3. 2 eee 
