SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. 527. 



Mr. Jefleris began the collection of minerals 

 more than seventy years ago. Living, as he 

 did, at West Chester, Chester County, Pa., he 

 had unusual opportunities of collecting choice 

 specimens from the ancient gneiss, serpentine 

 and limestones, as well as the trap rocks, of 

 eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New 

 York. Mining was then carried on more ex- 

 tensively than now in this region. Mr. Jef- 

 feris's exertions were not confined by any 

 means, for he traveled in northern New York, 

 Canada and Europe in search of minerals. 

 He conducted exchanges with collectors all 

 over the world, sending out hundreds of boxes 

 of minerals. He also spent as lavishly of 

 his means as he did of his time in building 

 up a marvelous collection with the eye of 

 a connoisseur, so this which now goes 

 to Pittsburgh is one of the finest private 

 American collections. Mr. Jefiferis, although 

 primarily a collector, was also a discoverer 

 and contributor to science. He furnished 

 Geo. Brush, J. Lawrence Smith, C. TJ. Shep- 

 ard, F. A. Genth, J. P. Cooke, J. D. Dana, 

 F. W. Clark and many other investigators 

 with material, as the files of original letters 

 which go to Pittsburgh abundantly testify. 

 Aquacreptite (Shepard), Euphyllite (Silli- 

 inaii, Jr.), Jefferisite (Brush), emerald nickel 

 = Zaratite, Melanosiderite (Cooke), Roseite 

 (Jefferis) were all discovered by Mr. Jefi'eris. 

 In addition to new minerals Mr. Jeiferis aided 

 largely in extending the distribution of known 

 species and in furnishing material for the 

 reexamination of old and poorly known ones. 

 Dana drew largely from Mr. Jefferis's notes 

 and specimens, some of which were figured for 

 his System of Mineralogy. Genth's ' Min- 

 eralogy of Pennsylvania ' is also greatly in- 

 debted to Mr. Jefferis's labors in the field. 



Miss Julia A. Lapham has been appointed 

 chairman of the recently organized Land- 

 marks Committee of the Wisconsin State 

 Federation of Woman's Clubs. Under her 

 leadership the ladies of the state are taking 

 an active interest in the movement for the 

 preservation of the animal effigy mounds and 

 other prehistoric monuments and landmarks 

 of Wisconsin. Miss Lapham lives at Ocono- 

 mowoc and is the daughter of the late Dr. 



Lapham, the pioneer authority on the archeol- 

 ogy of Wisconsin. It will be remembered 

 that it was the women of Boston who saved 

 the Serpent Mound of Ohio. 



The books of the engineering library at the 

 University of Michigan, which have hitherto 

 been shelved in the general library, are soon 

 to be transferred to a room set apart as a 

 library in the new engineering building. The 

 collection will be recatalogued and regarded 

 hereafter as a department library. Miss Olive 

 C. Lathrop has been appointed assistant libra- 

 rian in charge of the collection. 



During the past summer Mr. C. W. Puring- 

 ton, a mining engineer of Denver, accom- 

 panied by Mr. Sidney Paige as assistant, 

 journeyed through Alaska, investigating, for 

 the U. S. Geological Survey, the costs and 

 methods of gold-placer mining in the terri- 

 tory. For the purpose of making compara- 

 tive observations, he also visited the Atlin 

 district of British Columbia and the Klondike 

 gold fields of the Yukon territory. In study- 

 ing the conditions which affect placer mining 

 in our northern possessions, he was impressed 

 with the present inadequate means of com- 

 munication between the different parts of the 

 territory. The gold mining which has been 

 done in the interior of Alaska has been con- 

 ducted in spite of difficulties of transportation 

 which seem hardly credible. Mr. Purington 

 advocates the appointment of a civil-service 

 ofiicer who shall be general superintendent of 

 road construction in Alaska, and believes that 

 there should be appointed, under the general 

 superintendent, properly qualified road over- 

 seers in each district of Alaska. He also in- 

 dorses the recommendation made by Mr. A. 

 H. Brooks, geologist in charge of the division 

 of Alaskan Mineral Resources, U. S. Geolog- 

 ical Survey, that an appropriation of $1,000,- 

 000 be spent for wagon roads in Alaska. He 

 thinks it probable that for this sum 900 miles 

 of roads — 300 of the Dawson standard wagon 

 type and GOO for sleds — could be built in those 

 parts of the country which would be most 

 assisted by their construction. 



Mr. Eiciiardson, of Alabama, introduced in 

 the House of Representatives, on January 23, 



