SCIENCE. 



523 



SECTION OF CHEMISTRY. 



October 10, 1 881. 



Vice-president Dr. B. N. Martin in the Chair. 

 Nineteen members present. 



A paper was read by Mr. James H. Stebbins, Jr., of 

 which the following is an abstract : 



ON SOME NEW SALTS OF THYMOLE SULPHO-ACID, 

 AND SOME NEW FACTS CONCERNING THE SAME. 



60 grms. thymole were dissolved in 50 grms. 66° sul- 

 phuric, at a temperature of 100 C. The pink crystalline 

 mass so obtained was dissolved in water, and converted 

 into the lime salt. 



This salt crystallizes with two molecules of water, in 

 rhombic plates, and shows under the polariscope a beau- 

 tiful effect of circular polarized light. 



FORMULA. 



a (C e H 2 (C H,) (C, H 7 ) (O H) (S 3 ) 2 Ca + 2 H s O 



a. Calcium salt of alpha thymole sulpho-acid. 



AMMONIUM SALT. 



This salt was obtained by decomposing the lime salt, 

 with amnionic carbonate. It crystallizes in white rhom- 

 bic plates, with 2 mols. of water. 



FORMULA. 



a C 6 H 2 (C H 3 ) (Ca H,^ (N H 4 S 3 ) a H + 2 H a O. 



The soda salt has likewise been obtained, and will be 

 described in a subsequent paper. 



Remarks were made by Mr. James D. Warner on the 

 nature of the corona of the Sun, etc. Mr. Stebbins re- 

 ported the yellow coloration of the atmosphere in Sep- 

 tember at the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence. 



SECTION OF GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. 

 October 17, 1881. 



The President, Dr. J. S. Newberry, in the Chair. 

 Fifty-one persons present. 



Dr. Newberry exhibited specimens of Native Lead and 

 Oxide of Lead from a mine in the Wood River country, 

 Idaho, crystallized gray copper, and fine crystallized 

 Rhodochrosite from the Ulay mines, Southwest Col- 

 orado. 



Prof. T. Egles'on pronounced the crystals of rhodo- 

 chrosite to be the finest specimens ever yet found. He 

 further called attention to the discovery of the presence 

 of tellurium in merchant copper from Lake Superior. 

 This curious specimen of native copper pig was found 

 to contain about 0.5 per cent, of that element, which 

 has never yet been detected in the copper. In the 

 furnace the pig yields dense white fumes; it is useless 

 for brass, etc., and only fit for the manufacture of cupric 

 sulphate for batteries. With the tellurium are associated 

 a little silver and gold, which are found not to be uni- 

 formly distributed, as hitherto supposed, but so variably 

 that the proportion of silver varies widely in portions 

 taken from the furnace within ten minutes of each other. 



Dr. J. S. Newberry then remarked on " Geological 

 Facts recently observed in Montana, Idaho, Utah and 

 Colorado." 



Idaho and Montana. — The famous placers at Helena 

 and Virginia, which have yielded thirty millions of dol- 

 lars, are now exhausted, but vein-mining is in suc- 

 cessful progress and yielding rich results at Butte, 

 at the Alice, Lexington, Copper Bell, and other mines. 

 These are true fissure veins, traversing a granite forma- 



tion, and the speaker predicted their abundant yield of 

 silver and copper twenty years hence. These territories 

 have been simply crossed by two government expeditions 

 and their resources have not been at all studied. It is 

 the coming mining region, more discoveries of promising 

 mines having been recently made here than in any other 

 portion of the country. On the east of the mountains in 

 Montana and Wyoming lies a fine agricultural country and 

 excellent stock range, the herds ranging freely throughout 

 the winters, in spite of their severity, with little loss, and 

 grazing upon a native bunch-grass (Festuca scabrella) 

 and the buffalo grass (Buchloe dactyloides). The 

 climate is salubrious, the country very beautiful in 

 many parts and very promising for emigration. In the 

 adjacent Rocky Mountain range there are also many 

 mining opportunities. 



The remarkable lava plain, 400 miles long by 75 miles 

 wide, in Central Idaho, was then described. 



Snake River, one of the chief tributaries of the Colum- 

 bia, flows along its southern border for several hundred 

 miles ; its northern tributaries sinking under the lava 

 sheet and flowing in subterranean channels 50 or 60 

 miles long. The rock is a basalt said to contain every- 

 where a small quantity of gold and silver. It is gener- 

 ally covered with an impalpable soil that produces a dust 

 excessively annoying to the traveler, and sustains a gen- 

 eral growth of sage brush. In places, however, the 

 rock is bare and looks like a congealed stormy sea. 



Three buttes are set on the surface of this lava plain, 

 and each has probably been a local volcanic vent ; but 

 it is probable that most of this eruptive material has been 

 an overflow from great fissures of which the position is 

 not indicated on the surface. 



Snake River crosses a portion of this plain in a canon 

 at the head of which are the great Shoshone Falls, 208 

 feet in vertical altitude. 



An alluvial plain borders Snake River for 200 miles, 

 abounding in black sand which contains much gold. 

 This is, however, extremely fine, having been trans- 

 ported a long distance from its place or origin, and there- 

 fore difficult of separation. New and promising methods 

 and machines are about to be tried in the exploitation of 

 these extensive deposits. A wide mountain belt extends 

 from the north side of the lava plain to and beyond the 

 British line, and is apparently a good mining country 

 throughout. Already a great number of productive and 

 promising mines are opened in the southern portion of 

 this belt. In the Wood River district the veins are not 

 large, but numerous, regular and persistent, and the ore 

 of high grade — mostly argentiferous galena, carrying 

 $100 to $500 in silver to the ton. Near Challis, further 

 north, is the celebrated Ram's Horn mine, located on a 

 true fissure vein, generally not more than five feet wide, 

 but continuous for more than five miles. The wall rocks 

 are slate, the vein stone siderite (carbonate of iron), the 

 ore gray and yellow copper, yielding $100 to $1200 in 

 silver to the ton. A few miles west of Challis is the 

 mining town of Bonanza, where are located the cele- 

 brated Charles Dickens and Custer mines, carrying both 

 silver and gold.. Still further west in the Saw-Tooth 

 range, a high and very picturesque mountain chain run- 

 ning north and south, recent discoveries of valuable 

 mines have been made. From this district north to the 

 Canadian line, a broad mountain belt extends over north- 

 ern Idaho and northwestern Montana, a country which 

 abounds in veins of silver, copper and gold. Among 

 the mines now worked in this region the most celebrated 

 is the Drum Lomond, in Montana. It is opened on a 

 large vein of rich quartz and is owned by an old miner who 

 cannot read, but who is said to have refused a million of 

 dollars for the property. It is probably worth much 

 more than this. 



Most of the mountainous districts of Idaho and Mon- 

 tana are covered with coniferous forests, consisting of 

 the Douglas spruce and the northern nut pine, Pinus 



