'J2 The American Geologist. ■^'^''^' •^^^^■ 
Los Anja^eles, and is said to be an excellent representation of 
Dr. Claypole. 
Mr. J- E. SruRK of the U. S. (icolo^ical Survey, who has 
been for more than a year cn<::;-aged in work in European and 
Asiatic Turkey as consultinj;^ mining expert to the Sultan, 
arrived in America June i. While retainint^ his Euroi)ean con- 
nection, he will this summer undertake special mining work for 
the U. S. Geologic Survey. He will examine the Grand En- 
campment copper district in Wyoming, assist^.d by Mr. F. B. 
\Veeks of the Geological Survey. 
Geological excursion at PtTTSBURO. The late meeting 
of the Geological Society at Pittsburg was marked by a series 
of local excursions ; or, a continuous excursion, about Pittsburg, 
made under the guidance of Dr. I. C. White, intended to fur- 
nish students of the Carboniferous an opportunity to see the 
great Pittsburg coal and its associated formations in a region 
where these have been well exi)lorcd and described by official 
and other reports. These excursions extended over a week 
and preceded the date of the meeting. Other shorter excurs- 
ions were had during the week of the meeting. 
In the Reorganization of the New Mexico School of 
Mines, several additional professorships will be established, the 
present courses of study extended, and a number of short lec- 
ture courses by specialists introduced, A new building for the 
metallurgical laboratory has already been begun ; the chem- 
ical laboratory has been remodelled. Plans are being drawn 
for an administration building and museum. Besides the min- 
ing courses ofifered exceptional opportunities will be given for 
advanced geological investigation, especially along the lines 
of genesis and geology of deposits. For the latter a special 
chair is contemplated. In addition to the regular appropria- 
tions of the legislature the school will now ha"e the income of 
a three-tenths of a mill tax. The sale of school lands is rap- 
idly increasing the perminent support fund. 
Portland Cement. In America, the first Portland cement 
works were started at Coplay, Lehigh county, Pa-, by the late 
D. O. Saylor. This plant, now the Coplay Cement Co., is still 
in operation, and its cement, "Saylor's Brand," ranks with the 
best cements of the world. Natural rock cement has been made 
in America at Rosendale, Ulste- county, N. Y., since 1828, at 
Louisville, Ky., since 1829, and at various other points in New 
York, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, and Maryland, and tht 
hydraulic properties of the cements made from the limestones 
of the Lehigh Valley were known, but Saylor's plant at Coplay 
was the first to make the genuine Portland cement. Other 
plants to follow the one at Coplay, in America, were the Em- 
pire Portland Cement. Co., of Warners, N. Y. ; the Buckeye, 
near Bellefontaine, Ohio, and the \^'^cstcrn, at Yankton, S. D.— ■ 
R. K. Mcadc, In Mines and Minerals. 
