2 6 4 The American Geologist. ° ctober - 1903 - 
Wvoming, with view to a monograph of the fossil turtles of 
North America for the Carnegie Institution. 
American [nstitute of Mining Engineers. The eighty- 
fifth meeting will be held in New York City beginning Tues- 
day evening, I >ctobert 13th. Further information concerning 
this meeting may be obtained by addressing the chairman of the 
local committee,' Mr. E. E. ( )lcott, 36 Wall St., New York City'. 
Dr. C. H. GORDON, until recently superintendent of schools 
at Lincoln, Nebraska, and instructor in Geology and Geography 
in the University of Nebraska, has been appointed to take 
charge of the department of geology in the University of Wash- 
ington during the absence of professor 1 lenry Landes who goes 
to the University of Chicago for a year of study. 
Under the auspices of the civil commission in charge 
of the Philippine Islands, and immediately under the supervis- 
ion of Mr. D. C. Worcester, the secretary of the Interior of the 
islands, there has been established a mining bureau. This bur- 
eau contemplates a thorough investigation into the natural re- 
sources of the principal islands, and has already published a 
finelv printed and illustrated bulletin on the iron ores, prepared 
by Mr. H. D. McCaskey. 
This mining bureau desires to secure the services of a good 
petrographer and an experienced paleontologist. Inquiries may 
be addressed to Mr. McCaskey at Fort Sheridan, 111. 
Readers of the Geologist are cautioned against one call- 
ing himself Dr. Peter von Tunner, claiming to be a son of the 
celebrated Austrian scientist of the same name. He has recently 
been in the northwest and has in some instances procured sub- 
stantial aid and made way with valuable books through his 
plausible tales of distress and ingenious misrepresentations. The 
last heard of him, about Sept. 1, he was in Montana, working 
westward. His methods of procedure are similar to those of 
the celebrated "swindling geologist" of several years ago of 
whom the Geologist gave accounts and a portrait in volume 
VIII (in the advertising pages). 
Kunzite is a new gem, named by Dr. Charles Baskerville, 
from its discoverer, George F. Kunz, of New Y r ork. It is from 
near Pala, California. It is of lilac color, transparent and phos- 
phorescent and formed in crystals as large as a man's hand. 
When cut and mounted in a certain way, it yields a gem of un- 
usual beauty, the tint varying from rosy lilac of a pale tinge, 
when looked at transversely, to a rich amethystine hue when ob- 
served lengthwise. Its phosphorescence appears when sub- 
jected to the x-rays of high penetration and by this means a 
crystal was made to photograph itself when placed on a 
sensitive plate and kept in the dark for ten minutes. It is a 
form of spodumene. 
