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Personal and Scientific News. 195 
Fraser river delta, the short distance being due to the difficul- 
ties of the route. Of necessity, most of the studies concerned 
problems in the delta. It is expected that next season's ex- 
plorations will be more rapid. 
The department of geology and geography at Harvard 
University has moved into new quarters, in a new wing of the 
museum projected by Louis Agassiz; this part being built 
through the generosity of the Agassiz family. General geology 
occupies the second floor, physiography and meteorology the 
fourth, and experimental and general research courses the 
fifth. A lecture room fills the first floor, and exhibition rooms, 
part of the general system of the museum, the third. 
A Dritt Hore 4,800 Freer Deep. <A borehole which was 
begun in January, 1899, with a Sullivan diamond drill, near 
Johannesburg, South Atrica, was recently completed success- 
fully. 
The drill hole on the Turf Club grounds which is nearly 
two miles from the outcrop of the main reef struck the main 
reef at 4,800 feet or within 25 feet of the depth at which it 
was expected the formation would be struck. A curious feature 
in connection with the sinking of this bore-hole was the fact 
that the rods were left in the hole for 20 months while hos- 
tilities were going on. The details of the work when it was 
renewed are best given in the following quotations from the 
report of the engineers, which is as follows: ‘Having com- 
pleted all our preparations, we started to withdraw the rods 
on Sunday morning, May 26, at 9:10 a.m. The full pressure 
of steam at our disposal was applied, and as the rods took the 
strain. it was a moment of great anxiety to the onlookers, and 
we held our breath in suspense, as it was seen the rods had 
not moved an inch. The next moment, however, to our great 
relief and delight, they gradually and evenly slipped outwards 
and so continued to lift, without a hitch throughout the day, 
so that at knocking-off time we had pulled 1,850 feet. Work 
was resumed at daylight on the following Monday morning, 
and we are happy to inform you that by 10 a. m. on that day 
all the rods were safely out of the hole. 
The nature of the ground passed through was fairly fa- 
vorable and the regular Rand formation. 
Brazilian carbons which to-day are worth about £9 per 
carat or about four times the value of ordinary diamonds were 
used in the drilling. 
The weight of the rods which carried out this operation 
was about 16 tons. To prevent such an enormous weight press- 
ing too heavily on the carbons while drilling, the rods were 
suspended on a hydraulic cylinder, which allowed the rods to 
descend as desired; in fact, the enormous pressure of the rods 
