Personal and Scientific News. 65 
Five of these are extinct and four still exist. 
As the evidence now stands the most primitive and simian 
of human races inhabited Europe. No trace of the Neander- 
thal race has been found in any other region. As, however. 
palaeolithic implements are found in all continents we may 
anticipate that this or some similar species of man will be dis- 
covered there also." 
Mr Harold W. Fairbanks, of Berkeley, California, has been 
appointed again on the staff of the Mining Bureau. 
Miss Florence Bascom has recently received the degree 
of Ph.D., at Johns Hopkins University after a course of study 
in inorganic geology and paleontology. Her thesis on the 
volcanic rocks of South Mountain was prepared last summer 
during a stay at Monterey Springs. It involved a careful ex- 
amination of a mountainous area five miles square, during 
which Miss Bascom was the object of much curiosity on the 
part of the natives, who dubbed her "the stone woman." The 
results of her work have attracted much attention, and will 
soon be published in full. — Baltimore Sun, 
While Miss Mary E. Holmes, whose work was reviewed in 
the Geologist, Vol. i, p. 60, seems to have been the first lady 
to receive the degree of Ph. D. in this country for a course of 
stud}- entirely geological, the same having been given by the 
University of Michigan, Miss Bascom has certainly not had 
many other predecessors. 
The Texas Geological Survey received an appropriation 
of .$20,000 per year for two years, but the governor vetoed that 
for the second year. The work, therefore, is likely to stop 
after March 1, 1894. We regret that politics sometimes oper- 
ates disastrously on such public measures. Such an enterprise 
has to be kept above the political intrigues of party, but for 
that very reason it is considered legitimate prey for any short- 
sighted "economist" to try his hand on. The Texas survey 
has blossomed like a rose in a desert, amid sands and cyclones, 
and it ought to be fostered by every true friend of progress in 
that great state. 
An immense galena nugget has lately been discovered in 
the Slocan district, West Kootenay, British Columbia. It is 
on a mountain side 4,150 feet above the sea. When the moss, 
stones and earth were removed its dimensions were found to be 
10 ft. 9 in. by 7 ft. 9 in. by 8 ft. 6 in. ,30 feet in circumference. 
Its weight is about 175 tons, and its actual value, when smelt- 
ed, largely because of the silver it contains, will be about 
$35,000. It had fallen from a large vein seen higher in the 
mountain. 
The Australian Institute of Mining Engineers has re- 
cently been organized, and its first meeting was held ;it 
Adelaide. It promises to become in Australia as successful 
