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By B. W. Frazier

AT a recent meeting of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, during a discussion upon the compression of air, attention was called to an apparent anomaly in the phenomena attending the compression. At a subsequent meeting this apparent anomaly was explained by Prof. Herschel, and all the facts observed shown to be strictly in accordance with the laws of thermodynamics. Upon reading the report of the discussion in the published transactions of the society, it occurred to me that an attempt to determine mathematically the amounts of energy (whether in the form of heat or of work) expended and absorbed in compressing air, and causing it to perform work by expansion, might prove of use to some who have not access to any treatise upon the application of the laws of thermodynamics to the compression of air, and who have not the time or the inclination to make such application for themselves. The apparent anomaly noticed was this: If air be compressed, and at the same time, by the sufficient application of a cooling medium, kept at a constant temperature, the indicator diagrams in the

Jan 1, 1874

By Arthur Taggart

A GENERAL awakening of interest among mill men concerning the mechanical efficiencies of their crushing machines is evident from a perusal of the recent files of mining publications. Considering the large part of the power bill which must be debited to the crushing department, such. interest is natural. When, however, the articles on the subject are read, the only statement upon which the writers agree is that fine grinding consumes a large amount of power, and that the machine which, from a concentration standpoint, offends as a slime producer is, for that reason, a serious offender in wasting power. When the mill man attempts to find a method for measuring the power wasted, or to compare the efficiency of one machine with that of another for the same work, he is confronted with a choice of methods which lead to conflicting results. There are two reasons why the work of crushing is not more generally understood. In the first place, experimental data are difficult to obtain; and in the second place, before these data can be put in general form certain assumptions must be made. A difference in these assumptions by different investigators has led to conflicting conclusions. This conflict has resulted in the proposal of two laws. The first of these is the so-called Rittinger's law, which is variously stated as follows: . "The work of crushing is proportional to the reduction in diameter."-R. H. Richards: Ore Dressing, p. 304 (1903). "The Work required to crush rock is very nearly proportional to the reciprocals of .the diameters crushed to."-A. Del Mar: Engineering and Mining Journal, vol. xciv, No. 24, p. 1129 (Dec. 14, 1912). "The Work done in crushing is proportional to the surface exposed by the operation, or better expressed for this purpose, the Work done on a given mass of rock is proportional to the reciprocal of the diameter of the final product, assuming that all the mass has been reduced to one exact size, which is only theoretically possible."- A. 0. Gates: Engineering and Mining Journal, vol. xcv, No. 21, p. 1039 (May 24, 1913).

Jan 1, 1914

By Robert Poole

On June 20, 1974, delegations representing the governments of 150 nations convened in Caracas, Venezuela. The occasion: the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. (As this article goes to press, the conference is still in session-Ed). Of all the many issues to come before the conference, none is of greater long-term consequence than the issue of jurisdiction over the seabed-the "land" at the bottom of the world's oceans. On the agenda, with widespread support from a majority of UN members, is a proposal to declare seabed resources "the common heritage of mankind," under the sole jurisdiction of the United Nations. Any would-be miner of seabed minerals would have to apply to a UN seabed authority for a permit, and would be forced to pay the bulk of his profits to a UN fund to aid the underdeveloped countries.

Jan 9, 1974

By G. R. Mansfield

THE geologic structure of the Idaho phosphate field has an important bearing on the classifica-tion and the exploitation of the lands that contain phosphate. Maps and structure sections1 recently made available show that the phosphate is mainly preserved in downfolded or downfaulted areas. Since the phos- phate beds are generally rather soft and lie between harder and thicker formations they have been forced to adjust themselves to these formations during epochs of disturbance of the earth's crust, so that they are frequently affected by minor folds and by faults which may help exploitation by producing undue thickness at certain places or may hinder it by cutting out the phosphate at other places where according to expecta-tion it should be present. A particularly important structural feature which affects both the distribution and the exploitation of the phosphate beds is the great Bannock overthrust by which one or more slices or blocks of the earth's crust have been pushed over other blocks like ice cakes on a pond. Thus in this region a great flap of folded rocks lies across other rock structures for a distance of approximately 35 miles. Most of the commercially accessible phosphate deposits, shown in the maps that accompany the report cited, are in this flap, which con-stitutes the upper block of the overthrust. In some places, however, the phosphate in the lower block is also accessible. In both blocks post-phosphate rocks exposed at the surface here and there indicate that phos-phate beds may lie at greater or less depth below. The presence of the Bannock overthrust beneath much of the area reported is known by the occurrence of windows in the upper block both within the quadrangles mapped and in areas farther west. The portions of the lower block exposed in these windows show stratigraphic dis-cordance with the surrounding formations. The depth of the fault plane at most places, however, can be told only by drilling or actual mining. Some of the folds in the upper block are relatively deep and it seems fairly certain that the phosphate that may originally have been present in their deeper parts has been removed by thrust faulting. The estimates of phosphate reserves in folds liable to be affected by the Bannock overthrust may therefore need ultimate revision depending on the depth of this fault plane, as it may subsequently be ascertained.

Jan 1, 1928

By Louis Huntoon

THE USE of the aeroplane in engineering work is quite recent. Its general application to all branches of engineering, including mining and metallurgical engineering, is increasing and its possible uses are most promising. Comparatively little has been published on the sub-ject in the mining and metallurgical press, and it is for this reason that the following notes are recorded. In March, 1922, Prof. E. L. Bruce published an article in the Transactions of the Canadian Mining Institute showing the possible applications of the aeroplane to preliminary geological surveys. In October, 1922, Mr. DeShea, representative of the Fairchild Aerial Survey Co., of New York, discussed the subject before the New York Section of the Mining and Metallurgical Society. The writer has been in correspondence with the Laurentide Air Service of Montreal and engineers who have flown. Canada, with its many lakes and rivers-favorable landing places, meets the prerequisite for successful use of the aeroplane in an unexplored and uninhabited or sparsely inhabited country. During the open season hydroplanes are used, and during the, winter season ski runners are attached to the axle in lieu of wheels. With skiis attached it has been found practicable to take off and land on any depth of snow quite readily. Winter flying in northern Canada is quite common. The Laurentide Lumber Co., appreciating the value of the aeroplane, used them for two or three years for timber cruising, and about 1921 turned their equip-ment over to the Laurentide Air Service of Montreal, who operate flying machines. The photographic and engineering work in Canada is done by the Fair-child Aerial Surveys Co. under a contract with the Laurentide Company.

Jan 12, 1923

By A. B. Parsons

NOT every organization on reaching the relatively ripe age of three score and fifteen can say with truth that its purpose and objects remain precisely the same as prescribed by its founding fathers. Of course, constancy of purpose may be something else than unalloyed virtue. It could merely reflect slavish worship of tradition, intellectual stagnation, or sheer inertia. On the other hand, it could establish the fact that the founders were men possessed of broad outlook, of prophetic vision, and of an acute sense of direction. In addition to charting the course with precision, the founders of the A.I.M.E. surely showed a flair for expressing clearly in a few words what others might say obscurely in many words. To quote verbatim from the "call" for the meeting, in 1871, the proposed organization was to have: "two great objectives: "First, the more economical production of the useful minerals and metals. "Second, the greater safety and welfare of those employed in these industries." This text underwent some refining on several subsequent occasions but today the ultimate product, as set forth in the Constitution reads: "to promote the arts and sciences connected with the economic production of the useful minerals and metals and the welfare of those employed in these industries by all lawful means." The original call was dated "Wilkes-Barre, Pa., April, 1871," and was signed by Eckley B. Coxe, of Jeddo, and by R. P. Rothwell and Martin Coryell, both of Wilkes-Barre, each of the three subscribing himself as "mining engineer." The authors proceeded to explain briefly just how it was proposed to achieve these objectives: "In European countries, where the arts of mining and metallurgy have long been the subject of the most careful study, no means have been found so effectual in attaining the end above proposed, as the free interchange of experience among those actually engaged in these industries; and this object has been accomplished mainly through the medium of `Institutes,' `Associations,' or `Societies,' composed of those engaged in these occupations, and by the periodical publication of `essays' or `papers' communicated to such societies by their members. "It must be evident to all practical men that the interchange of the varied experience

Jan 1, 1947

By A. L. Holley

THOSE who are familiar with working gas furnaces will perhaps admit that the ordinary producer is the least satisfactory feature of the- whole system, chiefly by reason of its great waste of fuel, both above and below the fire. The waste of fuel in cleaning the fire has not, as far as I am aware, been carefully measured ; it has been roughly estimated at various works as averaging twenty per cent. to twenty-five per cent. The coke that falls into the ash-pit is largely mixed, if not stuck together with clinker; when this coke is not recovered and utilized (and where coal is cheap it does not pay to recover it), the waste is certainly as high as above estimated. Cleaning a fire on a grate (especially a fire of dirty coal, like much of our Western coal), by inserting a few temporary grate-bars, then withdrawing the regular grate-bars and letting the whole lower part of the fire tumble into the ash-pit, must necessarily be wasteful of fuel, but it has been found to be the most practical system. The fire under a boiler should be thin, to insure perfect combustion; hence it may be moved from one side to the other, so that .the clinker and ashes may be uncovered and removed. But a producer fire should be so thick that carbonic oxide only shall rise from it ; a thick fire cannot be thus manipulated. In several of the French works the ordinary producer without grates is employed ; the whole body of the fire rests on the floor of the ash-pit. It did not seem to me that less fuel was wasted here than with grates in cleaning fires. The bottom layer of the fire had to be drawn out with hooks, and there was nothing to prevent much coke from coming away with the clinker and ash. A producer shaped like a cupola furnace has many advantages, but if grates are employed the waste of coke in cleaning is not lessened. But the waste at the bottom of the fire is only a part of the waste in the ordinary producer. Mr. Emmerton, chemist to the Joliet Iron and Steel Company, has lately made a number of gas analyses from the producers of that company, worked with impure Illinois

Jan 1, 1880

By Bennett Bates

NOWHERE in the world has cone classification in closed-circuit grinding with tube mills reached as high a state of development as on the Witwatersrand. In the development of the Far East section the necessity of fine grinding to obtain. satisfactory residues gave rise to a situation with which the cone could cope only at a great sacrifice in efficiency of tube-mill grinding. H., A. White1 recognized the limitation of the cone in his study of the theory of tube milling as early as 1915, but it was not until Ewing, Davis and. Willey2 carried out their tests at Springs Mines during 1920 that the advantages of mechanical classifiers' were demonstrated. During the fall of 1924 the writer supervised a series of tests with Dorr classifiers undertaken by Mr. White, Consulting Metallurgist, at the mill of the Geduld Proprietary Mines, Ltd., Dersley, Transvaal (Far East Rand). The importance of classification to obtain efficient tube-mill grinding was thoroughly demonstrated. The installation of classifiers of the above type that followed the test, confirmed the results of the experimental work.

Jan 2, 1926

By AIME AIME

As already announced in the January Bulletin, this publication will be issued during the coming year monthly instead of bi-monthly as heretofore. Among other reasons for this change, it is desired to effect thereby the earlier transmission to members of important papers, lists of candidates for membership, and other items of timely information. Spokane Meeting and Excursions. Further details of the' 97th meeting of the Institute have been sent to members in the Circular of May 8, 1909. For, convenience of the members a summary of the additional in¬formation is here presented. A special train of Pullman cars will leave Chicago about September 15. This train will be side-tracked at all places visited, and the sleepers will be available for lodging and the dining-car for meals during the entire trip, except during the Yellowstone Park tour. The general. cost of the trip per member will be $300, which includes transportation, berth, and meals for the entire trip from Chicago back to Chicago, almost 6,000 miles, and the tour through Yellowstone Park, occupying in all about 30 days. Special accommodations on the train will be furnished at the following, rates

May 1, 1909

By Doll. H. G.

THIS paper discusses a method and apparatus for determining the dip of formations traversed by a drill hole, by means of electrical measurements in the hole. The process consists in recording the Spontaneous Potentials present along three oriented generatrices in the hole, By comparison of the three curves thus obtained, after application of a correction factor to compensate for any deviations of the hole, the dip angle and the dip direction are determined. Excellent accuracy is obtained for dip angles over 10°. Because the method is simple and the apparatus rugged, the measurements are rapid and reliable; consequently, they can be made at all the levels that are of interest at any time after the well has been drilled. Mechanical cores are not needed to evaluate the dips. A convenient, time-saving procedure is to perform the dipmeter survey at the time the electrical log is taken, using for both operations the same cable and truck. Actual examples of results obtained in wells of the Gulf Coast area are given.

Jan 1, 1942

By John W. Bell

IN the introduction to an excellent pamphlet, John Gross1 makes the following statements: Although marked progress has been made along mechanical lines, the theory and conception of underlying principles have not advanced so rapidly. This lack of advance in theory may be attributed to the unfortunate situation resulting from the controversy as to whether the Rittinger or Kick law is applicable to crushing. Many pages of the technical literature are burdened with theoretical discussions in favor of one or the other of these laws, which have tended to cloud rather than to clear the atmosphere. Realizing the situation, the Milling Committee of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, through its secretary, E. A. Hersam, studied the milling industry and, because of the apparently hopeless lack of agreement in the Kick versus Rittinger dispute (5, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 30. 34), concluded that a foundation for the theory of crushing was of primary importance. The numbers in the paragraph quoted refer to papers listed by Mr. Gross in his Bibliography on Crushing and Grinding.1 One is obliged to infer that these papers show "hopeless lack of agreement in the Kick versus Rittinger dispute." No. 22 is a paper by Arthur O. Gates2 and No. 23 is one by the writer.3 Employing the subject matter contained in papers Nos. 22 and 2323 the writer will show that their authors formulated identical conclusions, based solely on experimental evidence. Exactly the same defect in the Stadler hypothesis was described in each of the two papers, although entirely different experimental methods were employed in uncovering it. Both of the authors, independently, formulated the conclusion that Rittinger's was a. true hypothesis and Stadler's false. The evidence in a third paper4 will be employed to prove that Stadler's hypothesis, when examined experimentally, is worthless. STADLER'S HYPOTHESIS WORTHLESS It is the writer's opinion that the evidence available in 1915 and the corroborating evidence in 1916 was amply sufficient to eliminate the need for any further consideration of Stadler's hypothesis. Certainly the evidence produced in 1918 dealt this hypothesis its coup de grace. It follows, therefore, that in the year 1918 there was only one credible hypothesis left-the Rittinger hypothesis. Gates' Opinion What information is available in Mr. Gates' paper?2 His conclusions are not consecutively summarized, none the less they are perfectly clear. On page 876, Gates says, and it is a very significant utterance: But my results show, among other things, that many more of Stadler's energy units are obtained per foot-pound-applied in coarse than in fine crushing. This suggests a doubt as to the correctness of his unit, since one would expect a foot-pound-applied to produce the same number of "energy units," whether the feed and resulting product were coarse or fine. When Rittinger's theory is applied, the number of mesh-tons (my unit of surface produced) is

Jan 1, 1942

By Eugene A. Stephenson

NUMBER of noteworthy events in the petroleum industry may be reported for 1941, of which the most spectacular was doubtless the rise in the daily rate of crude-oil production to a peak of approximately 4,300,000 barrels. This enormous daily rate did not ensue from the furor of flush pools but represented for the most part merely a slight additional daily delivery from many wells that had previously been operated on a more restricted basis, in line with good conservation practice and also from the adroit increase in the number of days per week by the Texas Railroad Commission. Another important fact was the increase in price throughout the Mid-Continent area from the static level of $1.02 for 36°, A.P.I., crude, to $1.17 per barrel. Efforts to elevate the price above this point have met with severe opposition from the O.P.A.. as has also a similar effort by the PennsyIvania Crude Oil Producers' Association, but the vastly increased costs for materials and labor may shortly give the industry the enhanced price which it has long deserved.

Jan 1, 1942

For many years the occurrence of gold in the Coeur d'A1ène region had been rumored among the pioneers of the Northwest. It is stated that as early as 1853 gold was discovered in this district by Donelson, of the Stevens expedition, but the hostility of the Indians prevented prospecting. In 1858, when Lieutenant John Mullan surveyed the military road across the Bitter hot mountains, the members of his expedition, most of whom had mined in California, noticed sundry outcrops of good-looking quartz, and some of them actually found gold, as is recorded in a letter that Mullan wrote, from Washington, in 1884. The first successful prospector in the Coeur d' Alène was Tom Irwin, who worked a quartz vein on the Mullan road in the spring of 1879. Two years later he met A. J. Prichard, who was engaged in the lumber business; he told him what he thought of the chances of placer mining in the upper reaches of the Coeur d7AlBne river. This was in 1881. Prichard became keenly interested, and himself found gold on several creeks, one of which is now known by his name, at a place close to the site of the town of Murray.* In 1883 Prichard located a number of claims, and shortly afterward he wrote a letter to the members of a Liberal League to which he belonged, inviting them to "secure the lion's share" of the mineral wealth he had uncovered. His letters caused a stampede from Montana and Colorado, and from South Dakota also, to the Coeur d'Alène gold belt in the summer of 1883. A town, named Eagle City, was surveyed; in 1884 lots sold at prices ranging from $200 to $2000. The buildings were made of logs and shingles. Shoveling of the snow in' front left s

Jan 1, 1932

By AIME AIME

As already announced in the January Bulletin, this publication will be issued during the coming year monthly instead of bi-monthly as heretofore. Among other reasons for this change, it is desired to effect thereby the earlier transmission to members of important papers, lists of candidates for membership, and other items of timely information. Spokane Meeting and Excursions. Further details of the 97th meeting of the Institute have been sent to members in the Circular of May 8, 1909. The list of those intending to go on the excursion is filling up, and since preference in position of state-room or berth is given in the order of application, members and guests who expect to accompany the party and have not yet communicated with Mr.. Theodore Dwight, 29 West 39th St., New York, N. Y., are earnestly requested to do so without delay. For convenience of the members a summary of the additional information is here presented. A special train of Pullman cars will leave Chicago about September 15. This train will be side-tracked at all places visited, and the sleepers will be available for lodging and the dining-car for meals during the entire trip, except during the Yellowstone Park tour. The general cost of the trip per member will be $300, which includes transportation, berth, and meals for the entire trip from Chicago back to Chicago, almost 6,000 miles, and the tour through. Yellowstone Park, occupying in all about 30 days. Special, accommodations on the train will be furnished at the following rates

Jun 1, 1909

By C. S. Finney, John Mitchell

On December 31, 1959, there existed in the United States 15,993 slot-type coke ovens capable of producing 81,447,700 net tons of coke. These ovens were concentrated in 74 coke plants in 21 different states. As of the same date, there were 7448 beehive ovens in existence at 45 plants in the states of Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. Total annual capacity of the existing beehive ovens was 4,368,800 net tons, but only 5148 ovens with a capacity of 3,131,600 tons were in operating condition. It is interesting to compare the average dimensions of slot-type ovens built during recent years with the 30 ft x 5 ½ ft x 16 ½ in. ovens erected at Syracuse, N. Y. in 1892. A composite oven built according to the average dimensions of all those erected between 1954 and 1958, for instance, would be 39 ft long. 12 ft high, and 18 in. in width. The coal capacity would be 16 tons as against the 4.4 tons which could be charged to the Syracuse ovens. Of the 15.993 slot- type ovens in existence at the end of 1959, by far the greater number were built by the Koppers Co. whose total of 11,280 ovens included 7891 Koppers- Becker and 3389 Koppers ovens. Of the remainder, there were 3260 Wilputte, 1350 Semet-Solvay, 63 Otto, and 40 Simon Carves ovens. By-product coke oven plants are usually classified either as furnace or merchant plants. According to the definitions used by the US Bureau of Mines, the former are "those that are owned by or financially affiliated with iron and steel companies whose main business is producing coke for use in their own blast furnaces. All other coke plants are classified as merchant. They include those that manufacture metallurgical, industrial, and residential heating grades of coke for sale on the open market; coke plants associated with chemical companies or gas utilities; and those affiliated with local iron works, where only a small part (less than 50 pct of their output) is used in affiliated blast furnaces." The annual coke capacity of the merchant plants during 1959 was 10,393,000 tons. However, the by-product oven of today is essentially an appurtenance of the iron and steel industry, rather more than 87 pct of total by- product coking capacity being concentrated at furnace plants. This was not always so. There was a time when the merchant plants played a much greater part in meeting the US demand for coke and gas. High noon for the merchant plants was reached during the early 1930's. By 1932 there were as many by- product oven installations being operated by the merchant sector of the industry as by the coke divisions of the iron and steel industry (44 of each), and in the same year the merchant plants produced 46.5 pct of all by-product coke made in the country. Since that time their contribution has drastically declined. In 1940 merchant plants were responsible for only 23.2 pct of total US production, and by 1950 their number had decreased to 30 plants which turned out 18.5 pct of the total by-product coke made. At the end of 1959 only 20 of the 74 existing by-product oven installations were merchant plants. They ac- counted for 12.5 pct of the year's production, or 6,849,786 net tons. This percentage has remained fairly constant since 1954. There are several reasons for the decline of the merchant coking industry. For example. On the grounds of economy, quality control, continuity of supply, and so on, the iron and steel industry usually prefers to control its own mines and carbonize its own coal at or near to the blast furnace rather than rely on independent operators for metallurgical coke. As the steel companies have enlarged their own coking facilities, so has the need for coke obtained from other sources declined. Furthermore, not only has the steel industry increased in self-sufficiency by building mare coke ovens during recent years, but it has also progressively improved the fuel efficiency of its blast furnaces. During the years 1947-49 the average coke consumption per ton of pig iron was 1892.8 lb. During 1958 the corresponding figure was 1613.4 lb. There are many individual furnaces where still better results are being obtained, and further reductions in the average may be expected. Perhaps the greatest threat to the merchant coking plant has been the fantastic increase in the use of natural gas and petroleum products for purposes which manufactured gas once served. So deadly has the com- petition from natural gas and oil been that it has almost eliminated by-product oven installations owned by public utilities. In the peak years of the early 1930's there were 23 such public utility plants. In 1960 only two were left. One of these, owned by the Citizens Gas and Coke Utility, was at Indianapolis, Ind.; the other was the plant operated by the Philadelphia Electric Co. at Chester, Pa. The non-utility merchant plants have also been sorely hit. With gas sales revenues reduced, domestic

Jan 1, 1961

By John Gill

THE purpose of this paper is to invite attention away from the obvious, direct monetary costs of oil-field overdevelopment (as dis-tinguished from "social costs") to a consideration of the role played by the exercise of freedom to create even allegedly excessive1 plant facilities in contributing to the maintenance of equilibrium in the whole economy and in promoting material progress. The obvious and most commonly discussed effect of overdevelop-ment of oil fields is illustrated by the allegation that already the excessive development of the East Texas field has cost upward of $162,000,000;2 in other words, the drilling of 12,500 wells more than the number esti-mated as the requirement for economical recovery of the reserve has unnecessarily raised the total cost of development that amount. Many other illustrations of so-called excessive development of oil pools could be presented. Some of them, like Cushing, Powell and Long Beach, might be drawn from the era antedating widespread discussion in the trade of such matters as optimum well spacing, reservoir energy, the conservation rate of depletion of reserves, etc. Numerous other cases can be found in the records of the current era, which began with the introduction of rationalized restriction of production. Besides East Texas, there may be mentioned Oklahoma City, Centralia and, more recently, the town-lot development of Bloomingdale, Michigan.

Jan 1, 1939

In 1776 two Franciscan friars, Dominguez and Escalante, started to find a direct route from Santa Fé to Monterey, and in their misguided wanderings northward they reached Timpanogos, now known as Utah lake, where they heard of a much larger body of water to the northwest, of which they were told that it was extremely salt.* They never saw this great lake, because they passed south of it on their way to the Pacific coast. The Dead Sea of North America was discovered in 1835 by James Bridger, a trapper. He and other trappers had ascended the Missouri and had reached the Bear river. A discussion arose as to the course of this river, and a bet was made, to settle which Bridger followed the Bear river to its source, in the Uintah mountains, and from the crest of the watershed he caught sight of the lake, to which he then descended.† He tasted the briny water of the inland sea and wondered if it were an arm of the Pacific Ocean. The lake was first seen by the Mormons on July 24, 1847. A band of them, numbering 145 and led by Brigham Young, had migrated from Missouri in search of a new home in the western wilderness. It is recorded that when Brigham Young stood on the summit of the pass over the Wasatch range and saw the valley of the Jordan outspread before him, he exclaimed: "It is enough. This is the right place". He had seen it in a vision, so he claimed, and foresaw the future glory of the new Zion that was to be planted in that happy

Jan 1, 1932

By R. B. Moore

IN 1914 the writer and K. L. Kithil announced, through Bulletin 70 of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, that the United States possessed the largest deposits of radium-bearing ore in the world. At that time a small amount of this ore was being, mined and shipped to Europe, and one company was preparing to start the extraction and recovery of radium in this country. The importance of our carnotite deposits in Colorado and Utah up to the publication of Bulletin 70 was not, however, appreciated by anyone.. At that time the total supply of radium in the world was about 10 g., calculated as element, and when I estimated that at least 100 g. of radium element, and probably 200 g., would be produced from our carnotite deposits, there was a considerable amount of skepticism. Up to the present time almost 200 g. have come from this ore, and some writers put this figure a little higher. Uranium ore was found in the copper mines of the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga at Luiswishi in 1913. Later discoveries were made at other places in the Belgian Congo, and the Katanga ores now represent the largest supply of radium-bearing ore in the world. In fact, since 1923 very little radium has been produced from American carnotite, the Katanga ore representing practically the world's supply of. radium since that date.

Jan 1, 1930

By Blamey Stevens

(Butte Meeting, August, 1913.) THE following paper aims to make a full explanation of the phenomena of rock jointing. It may be unnecessary to give any general description of what are termed joints in rocks, but. Professor Geikie's clear and faithful generalizations are so illuminating that no excuse need be given for introducing the following and other quotations into this paper: "Almost all rocks are traversed-by vertical or highly inclined divisional planes termed joints. These have been regarded as clue in some way to contraction during consolidation (fissures of retreat) ; and this is no doubt their origin in innumerable cases. But, on the other hand, their frequent regularity and persistence across materials of very varying texture suggest rather the effects of internal pressure-and-movement within the crust."1 General Explanation.-In this paper I show that the phenomenon of jointing may to a large extent be accounted for by the pressure of the water contained in the pores of the rock. To understand this, each constituent grain of. the porous material may be considered to be separately compressed by the 'water which submerges it. As all the grains are held together by cohesion, the whole mass is contracted by this pressure. In an indefinitely extended mass, however, there must be a limit to the possible contraction without rupture, because the material is restrained from. moving freely by other material around its boundaries. The mass of rock thus becomes broken up. This phenomenon is known as " shrinkage " jointing. The terra "shrinkage" is an apt one, if it be understood that the shrinkage of the rock is often brought about by change of stress. Stresses.-The compressive component of water stress on the individual grains is evidently the same as that of the water with which it is in contact. This is so, both. before and after the jointing is formed. Before the jointing is formed there is, however, a tensile stress in one or more directions which keeps the material from contracting.

Jan 7, 1913

By Hermann Wedding

I ASK your permission to speak about a matter which is not of a specifically scientific nature, but more of a general-I might even say of an international-nature, and the international character which this city now presents must be my justification for introducing it. The Germans, very often, are thought to be an exceedingly warlike people, but I come to-day in the capacity of a peacemaker. Our German language is an original language; it is, therefore, a language in which it is impossible to change the meaning of a word at will. It may be, perhaps, easier in a combined language, as the English, to associate and to exchange meanings. Now, a word which we hear a great deal at the present day, is "Stahl," in English, "steel." This word means, in the German language, a substance which can be hardened. As the German literature, in relation to metallurgy, is the oldest of the modern world, this circumstance may give the German a right to ask for consideration. But I think, now, when the four languages, German, Swedish, French, and English, compete in rich metallurgical literature, it is very necessary to have uniformity in the nomenclature of iron, which would prove not only useful for science, but equally so for trade. For that purpose I propose to make the divisions of iron so that the word steel shall comprise a subdivision and not a primary division as formerly. Nature furnishes us iron mostly in the state of oxides, and if in any other condition, we must convert the ore into oxide before we can make iron. The oxides are always mixed with certain earthy substances called rock or gangue. The extraction of iron involves, therefore, the twofold process of the reduction of the iron, and im¬parting to it the amount of carbon necessary for technical purposes, and the separation of the reduced and carburized iron from the gangue. The reduction is always effected by carbon or carbonaceous substances (coke, anthracite, carbonic oxide, etc.), and the result is, according to the degree of heat employed, either malleable iron or a non-malleable iron. The process of making malleable iron in this way is called, generally, the direct process-in German, Rennarbeil. It produces the iron in a solid state with a fluid cinder. By this process our ancestors made all their iron, and it has been revived in various ways in modern times up to the process of Mr. Blair, so far as I know, always without commercial success. The

Jan 1, 1877