62 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 154 



of tons. The amount that could be gathered at 

 such times is practically unlimited. As railroads 

 now touch the shore of the lake, the problem of 

 supplying this salt to manufacturers is simplified. 



The Soda Lakes, situated on the Carson desert, 

 Nevada, about fourteen miles east of Wadsworth, 

 have already been utilized as a source of sodium 

 carbonate, which is being shipped to San Fran- 

 cisco. These lakes occupy the craters of extinct 

 volcanoes, and the mineral matter they contain 

 has been derived mainly from the leaching of the 

 lapilli and lacustral deposits surrounding them. 



Mono and Owen's lakes are now quite accessible 

 by rail, and are capable of furnishing immense 

 quantities of sodium sulphate and carbonate. From 

 data obtained during a recent survey of Mono 

 Lake, it has been estimated that it contains, 



Potassium chloride (KC1) 8,998,856 tons. 



Sodium chloride (NaCl) 73,524,285 " 



Sodium sulphate (Na 2 S0 4 ) 40,636,089 " 



Sodium carbonate (NaoCQ 3 ) 78,649,194 " 



Total of salts in lake 209,233,488 " 



It has been estimated by Dr. Oscar Loew that 

 Owen's Lake contains about twenty-two million 

 tons of sodium carbonate, and a little less than 

 one- third of this amount of sodium sulphate. 



Summer and Abert lakes, situated in southern 

 Oregon, are remote from railways, but are ex- 

 tremely valuable brines on account of the potash 

 salts they contain. These lakes occupy depressions 

 in the bed of an ancient lake of large size, now 

 nearly desiccated, and are very similar in charac- 

 ter. Abert Lake alone has been analyzed, but it 

 is 2>robable that its companion has nearly an iden- 

 tical composition. Abert Lake is about fifteen 

 miles long by five miles broad, and has an average 

 depth (varying with the seasons) of approximately 

 ten feet. Summer Lake is perhaps a third larger, 

 and is also shallow ; but its average depth is un- 

 known. The percentage of potassium salts in 

 Abert Lake is greater than in any other lake the 

 composition of which has been published, amount- 

 ing to five-sevenths of the total of solids in 

 solution. 



With these abundant resources at hand, the 

 alkali industry of the far west unquestionably has 

 a great future ; and it is to be hoped that it will 

 Boon receive the attention that its importance 

 demands. I. C. Russell. 



CHOLERA MORTALITY IN EUROPE DUR- 

 ING 1885. 



Cholera as an epidemic has now for some 

 time almost entirely disappeared from southern 

 Europe, and hence the following results of the 

 Berioua outbreak of the past year, from the Lancet 



of Dec. 26, will be of interest : From the mainland 

 no further record of cholera is forthcoming ; but 

 in the Christina Islands to the south, near the 

 mouth of the Guadiana River, recurrences of the 

 disease are still said to take place. The actual 

 number of deaths recorded in the provinces and 

 cities named is less than that which really oc- 

 curred ; for the official lists were not published 

 with sufficient regularity to insure accurate rec- 

 ords day by day, and outbreaks in some localities 

 were never announced at all. The following is 

 the list of places attacked, with their respective 

 cholera mortalities ; the capitals of the several 

 provinces being, except where otherwise noted, 

 included for statistical purposes within their 

 provinces : — 



Locality. Deaths. 

 Province of Castellon.. 4582 

 " Valencia.. 13400 

 Madrid.... 2228 



Murcia 3580 



Saragossa. 10954 

 Cuenca.... 2877 

 Alicante . . 4361 

 Toledo.... 2289 

 Teruel .... 493 ^ 

 " Tarragona. 1258 

 Albacete. . 2047 



Jean 1398 



' ; Badajoz .. 337 

 " Segovia . 351 



Cadiz 368 



Granada... 9162 

 " Cordova. . 825 

 •' Almeria. . . 2514 

 " Malaga 635 



Locality. Deaths. 



Province of Zamora 451 



" Soria 521 



" Ciudad Real 905 

 " Barcelona. 791 

 " Lerida.... 821 

 " Gerona.... 215 

 " Navarre... 2691 

 Valladolid. 1482 

 " Guadalajara 261 

 " Logroilo. . . 541 

 Burgos.... 199 

 " Huesca ... 69 

 " Palencia... 374 

 " Santander. 194 

 " Salamanca 84 

 Aranjuez, pr. of Toledo 835 



Gibraltar (English) 24 



Gibraltar (Spanish lines) 191 



In France the disease was all but limited to 

 Marseilles and Toulon, and to scattered cases in 

 the south, until November, when an outbreak 

 occurred hi Brittany, Brest and its immediate 

 neighborhood being affected. The total cholera 

 deaths at Marseilles were just short of 1,000, and 

 at Toulon just short of 200. The number at Brest 

 has not been made known. In Italy only scat- 

 tered cases occurred at several places on the main- 

 land ; but in the city and province of Palermo, 

 in the island of Sicily, a considerable epidemic 

 occurred, the total mortality there reaching at 

 least 2,430. There was also a rumor of cases as 

 late as the present month in the province of 

 Venice. 



BURMAH, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 

 Mr. Holt Hallett, in a recent address before 

 the London Society of arts, on ' Burrnah,' said : 

 In these days, with foreign competition get- 

 ting keener every day, and hostile tariffs not only 

 shutting the Europeon markets against us, but in 

 a lesser degree American and English colonies 

 also, with the race for fresh colonies and new 

 markets among European powers, it is of im- 

 portance thai we should avail ourselves of our 

 present opportunity for an inland connection and 



