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THERE are two general classes of problems in connection with electric furnaces. First, those relating to the best utilization of the electrical power inside the furnace; second, those connected with the bringing of the electrical power to the point where it is to be utilized. Referring particularly to the latter class of problems, many calculations have been made, covering a wide variety of furnaces, to check the electrical capacity and power factor found from test. The following analysis, made for the purpose of determining the maximum capacity and approximate performance of a new furnace, to operate at 160 volts on a 60-cycle circuit, may be of interest. The first characteristic necessary to determine is the inductance, since this is the factor that limits the amount of power which can be put into the furnace. Inductance is calculated from the dimensions of the furnace, according to formulas of the U. S. Bureau of Standards,1 as

Jan 10, 1918

The Editor, with the full realization of his own forgetfulness of political duties until it is brought to his attention perhaps by some unfavorable election already. consummated, wishes to remind the thinking men who compose the body of the membership of this Institute that never before in the history of the country has it been so important that we should be represented at Washington, and in our State Legislatures, by men of vision, high character, courage, broad experience in the more important affairs of life, and undoubted loyalty. Let us all endeavor to secure the nomination and election of this type of man, and let us, each in his own district (which collectively will represent practically every important locality in the Union) carefully scrutinize all candidates for election and work for the-best one who seems to have any chance of being. successful. Let its place ourselves in communication with political leaders, newspaper men of prominence, and public men generally, strengthening our own appreciation of the importance of the election at this time and cooperating for the purpose of obtaining candidates of the highest character. Upon the men of intellect depends chiefly the burden of wise selections at this time. Congressional elections will occur this Fall in the following states:

Jan 8, 1918

By Luther Lennox

DURING the last few years, one of the great problems in the milling of all ores has been that of crushing. This subject involves not merely the cost of the operation, but also the selection of the proper degree and character of crushing to yield the best metallurgical results on the given ore. Considering the diversity of machinery, one is led to wonder at the variety of crushing methods employed, even when realizing that metallurgy demands varying products. In an attempt to investigate the relative crushing resistances of a number of ores now being milled in this country and Alaska, the management of the Portland mills requested samples of average mill-run of ore from various companies. The request met with a ready response, indicating the desire of all operators to gain information on the subject. The difficulties involved in this investigation were numerous, lack of time for outside problems during this strenuous period being a serious one. Also, we were unable, in the time, to obtain a correct 150-mesh . screen; in the screen analyses tabulated and plotted herewith, the 150 mesh screen was used merely to protect the 200-mesh screen, not to ascertain points on the curves.

Jan 8, 1918

By Moore, Richard B

PROBABLY no other metal excites as much interest, among both scientific men and the general public, as radium. This is due partly to the high cost of radium salts and partly to the peculiar properties of the element. Since radium-bearing ores were discovered in the United States, the interest of American scientific men has been stimulated and, at the present time, more radium is extracted and refined in this country than in all the rest of the world together. HISTORY The property of radioactivity was discovered, partly by accident, by Henri Becquerel, the French physicist, in 1896. He was experimenting with certain fluorescent substances in order to find, if possible, a connection between fluorescence and the recently discovered Y-rays. Among other chemicals which possess the property of fluorescence, he was using

Jan 8, 1918

By L. S. Panyity

THE State of Ohio is among the pioneers in the production of oil and gas. Numerous anticlinals, such as the Macksburg, Cow Run and Newport, have been thoroughly developed, and the pools found in connection with them are quite in accord with the structural theory. Numerous oil and gas pools found in the Berea sand, however, demand a different explanation. The study of these pools belongs to the sub-surface geologist, as it is possible to understand the factors controlling "off-structure" accumulations only after a careful study of well records. By carefully analyzing the various 'conditions over a large territory, it is possible to understand the otherwise meaningless mass of data that one may have at hand, and put it into tangible shape, from which various conclusions may be drawn. The territory here discussed includes Belmont, Guernsey, Muskingum, Noble, Monroe, Morgan, Washington, Athens and Meigs counties, containing the majority of the prolific oil and gas pools of the Carboniferous system in southeastern Ohio. The general dip of the strata is to the southeast, the entire territory lying on the northwestern flank of the Appalachian geosyncline. The best known oil- and gas-producing horizon in the territory is the Berea sand, which lies near the lower part of the Mississippian, with the Sunburry shales (the coffee-shales of the driller) above, and the Bedford shales below it. The Bedford is underlain by the thick Ohio shales. The Ohio and Bedford contact is considered to be the dividing line between the Carboniferous and Devonian systems. The Berea is one of the most persistent of recognizable oil and gas horizons; its outcrop has always been found in its expected place, and it has always been penetrated whenever the drill went deep enough. It is not expected, however, even of the most uniform formations, that no lithological variations should occur, and the Berea is no exception. Nevertheless, there appears to be a certain regularity in its variation, the main features of which directly affect the accumulation of petroleum.

Jan 8, 1918

It is desired to call the attention of young men who have had technical training and experience to the fact that their abilities can best be put at the service of the country by selecting a branch of service in which their special qualifications will be of the greatest use. The submarine force of the United States Navy requires the services, as officers on board submarines, of young men who have had technical training in mechanical and electrical engineering and who have had experience in these professions. It is intended to enroll a number of such men as provisional ensigns in the Naval Reserve Force, give then a course of instruction in deck duties at Annapolis and a course in submarine work at New London. Those who successfully pass these courses will then be sent on hoard submarines for regular duty. It is requested that any men who desire this duty and who are qualified as below outlined send their names and addresses to the Commander Submarine Force, U. S. S. Chicago, care of Postmaster, New York. Qualifications required: Desire to serve in submarines. Degree of M. E. E. E., or E. M. Two and one-half years' practical experience in profession. Not over 35 years old. Physically strong and sound.

Jan 7, 1918

W. E. WRATHER, Wichita Falls, Tex. (written discussion*).-The appearance of Mr. Brokaw?s with-the chemical composition of "paraffin dirt" will be welcomed by oil geologists who have worked in the Gulf Coast district. It is to be hoped that it will lead to a discussion of the subject which will throw some light on the relation this peculiar substance bears to the occurrence of oil deposits. The problem of locating oil pools in advance of drilling is at the best a very intangible matter in the district along the Gulf Coast, and it is therefore desirable to make the most of any clew which may be of the least assistance to this end. Geologists have been familiar with "paraffin dirt" for a number of years, and have informally discussed its value as a surface indication of oil. But doubtless owing largely to the fact that they have been unable to define its exact composition, very little information has appeared in print on the subject. The presence of this baffling and somewhat indeterminate substance is now quite generally accepted as one of the most reliable indications of a gas seepage. The question is whether paraffin dirt necessarily indicates that the escaping gas is an emanation from an oil deposit, or whether it merely indicates that marsh gas (urethane) has here escaped from its source in "the abundant decomposing vegetation entombed in the sediments of the old Mississippi Embayment, and the Gulf Coastal Plain. The presence of this material has been relied upon to a great extent, both by oil producers and geologists, in the location of wildcat wells, since the discovery that it was associated with gas seepages. It is quite true that other surface indications were often present at such localities, but if, in addition, paraffin dirt could be found in the vicinity, this fact was accepted as the final justification for drilling a test well, despite the fact that no one seemed to understand its chemical composition or to know why it should be associated with oil. In fact, for a long time it has generally been accepted that the name is a misnomer, that very little, if any, paraffin is present in it, or, for that matter, any other known fraction of crude oil.

Jan 7, 1918

Discussion of the paper of E. L. deGolyer, to be presented at the Colorado meeting, September, 1918, and printed in Bulletin No. 137, May, 1918, pp. 987 to1000. J. A. UDDEN,* Austin, Tex. (written discussiont).-I have read Mr. E. L. deGolyer's paper on The Theory of Volcanic Origin of Salt. Domes, with a great deal of interest. It seems to me a very able summary and discussion of the various theories set forth to account for the origin of our salt domes on the coast. It has always appeared to me that what we need is more observations on the facts involved and I regret very much that so far we have not been able to devote much time to the study of our salt-dome fields on the coast in this State. One feature that I do not find mentioned in Mr. deGolyer's paper is the so-called "cap. rock" overlying the salt. The nature of this rock seems to vary from a coarsely crystalline limestone to a fine-grained limestone containing sand and in which the limestone seems to be intersticially introduced material. We should be prepared to accept, if necessary, "more than one theory. To my mind, the igneous theory and the artesian theory, if I may so call it, may very well both be true. The "squeeze" theory and the artesian .theory may,, it seems tome also, jointly explain the phenomena. Neither the volcanic nor the salt "squeeze" theory explains the presence of the cap rock. The latter certainly does not explain the extensive sulphur deposits which occur in association with the cap rock. Whichever additional theory will be found best to explain the salt-dome structures, when we shall know them better, it seems to me that the theory first advanced by R. T. Hill and later elaborated by G. D. Harris, is not likely to be entirely replaced. Whatever cause has first set into action an upward circulation of gases and liquids in our salt domes, it seems to me that to a gentle circulation of the kind postulated by their theory is to be ascribed the uppermost and the later phenomena in our salt domes on the coast, with which we are most familiar; such as the cap rock, the sulphur, and the gypsum and anhydrite deposits.

Jan 7, 1918

By Anthony Lucas

THE discovery of oil in 1901 on the Spindletop dome, Texas, inaugurated a new industry on the Gulf Coast, an industry which has grown with the discovery of successive fields, until today it engages the services of thousands of workers and employs enormous capital. New fields are being discovered from time to time and doubtless some still remain to be found, though of late years discoveries have become more infrequent. Nowadays several hundred dry holes are drilled each year in a fruitless and blind effort to discover new fields, for as yet geologic science has developed no effectual method of locating the coastal oil deposits in advance of drilling. Moreover, despite the occasional discovery of new fields, the total production of the Gulf Coast is today no greater than it was in 1906, for the added production of the new fields has been offset by the rapid decline and more or less complete exhaustion of some of the older ones. Careful geologic work within the fields has in some cases increased the production temporarily, but has developed no really new supplies. The Gulf Coast oil industry seems to have passed its period of greatest expansion and to be declining at a fairly steady rate, and this condition is naturally viewed with alarm by the more farsighted operators. In my opinion, the time has come for the adoption of radical and aggressive methods of prospecting, and a fraction of the money wasted yearly in drilling shallow wells in hopeless locations might well be devoted to this purpose. Many facts lead me to believe that all the salt-dome oil has had a common origin; that it has migrated up from considerable

Jan 7, 1918

Report of the Americanization Society, New York Section During the past two months the Americanization Committee has held social meetings of various kinds for foreign-born women, as a preliminary to future effort along the lines of Americanization work. At the same time, a thorough investigation was made as to the work being done in New York by organizations devoted to this interest. The committee will be very glad to help any other committees being formed, in mining centers, with advice and information that has been gathered together as to classes and meetings of all kinds best suited to the needs of a foreign-born population. The work has been so extensively taken up in New York that for the present it would seem to be, for this committee, the most profitable and interesting work to continue the social meetings and to undertake the care of one or more immigrant families, to be friend and adviser in joy and sorrow, work and play, and in this way do some fundamental Americanization work. Respectfully submitted, LAURA G. BURGER, Chairman.

Jan 6, 1918

Important chemical and other technical engineering work necessary, for the prosecution of this war is being carried on by the Bureau of Mines Experiment Station, at Washington, D. C. The services of trained men of the following classifications are urgently needed Bacteriologists Instrument makers Biologists Laboratory Assistants Chemists, Inorganic Laborers Chemists, Organic Machinists Chemists, Physical Physiologists Chemists, Electro- Plumbers Chemical Engineers Steamfitters Draftsmen Stenographers. Electrical Engineers Skilled labor of various kinds If your training fits you for any of these occupations, send to the Bureau of Mines, American University Experiment Station, . Washington, D. C. for blank forms. When properly executed and returned by you, these forms will be placed on file, and when a vacancy occurs you will be considered for it and will be notified if your services are desired. If you are a registrant in the draft, and have not yet been- ordered to camp, it may be possible to have you immediately inducted into the service for work here. If you are not in the draft, but feel that you wish to serve your country in the present crisis, you can enlist, or serve as a civilian. Serve your country where you can serve it best. VAN H. MANNING, Director.

Jan 6, 1918

The German Kaiser is employing the keenest engineering talent of his own and allied empires in his attempt to defeat the world. American employers are paying engineers such attractive salaries that voluntary enlistments of high class technical men in the United-States Army, are below requirements. This deficiency is also probably due in part to the lack of proper information concerning the engineering branch of the service. Few civilians know that it is possible for them to perform in the Engineering Corps almost exactly the same kind of work as that in which they are now engaged. The best results in any organization are obtained only when the energy of every man in it is concentrated along the line for which he is best suited by natural ability, education, and training. It. is more important to have the right man in the right place in our Army, where lives of men are at stake, than it is in any business enterprise. The First Replace meat Regiment of Engineers was organized at Washington Barracks, D. C., on Dec. 14, 1917, with the express idea of accomplishing this. end. Its specific, purpose is to keep all engineering units of the Army at full enlistment strength during the period of this war. This regiment has not only the responsibility of finding men to fill depleted ranks, but it must also fit them to step into the work of trained, efficient and disciplined soldiers. The preliminary work of the recruit is first a thorough training in military drill, for the engineer soldier must be prepared to lay down his shovel and take up his rifle at any time. Infantry drills gradually give way to engineer work and more specific technical training. The. engineer soldiers must know how to tie knots and lashings, to build spar and truss bridges, to construct revetments, dig trenches, place wire entanglements, construct machine-gun emplacements, build pontoon bridges, and to construct roads: They must, also know the methods of demolition, sapping, and mining. Specialized training in lithography, zincography, surveying, mapping, photography, carpentry, blacksmithing, electricity, and machinery, are also given to those qualified for further training in any of these branches. Engineers are called upon to perform such a wide range of work that practically every man with any technical training or mechanical ability can find a place in this organization. Every male citizen in the United States who is physically fit, and between the ages of 18 and 21, and 31 and 40, is eligible to join the regiment by voluntary enlistment.

Jan 5, 1918

(Under this heading will be published notes sent to the Secretary of the Institute by members or other persons introduced by members.) Member, graduate Columbia School of Mines, age 35, married, best of health, dependable, desires position as manager or scout for reliable interests. Experience covers responsible positions incident to the mining and milling of gold-silver, copper, lead, and zinc ores, and the examination of base and rare-metal deposits in United States and Mexico. Salary $3600. Available April 1. No. 453. Member, mining engineer, technical training, age 32, assayer, engineer and superintendent of porphyry copper development, churn drilling and shaft sinking. Examination of prospects and development of gold prospects. Considerable flotation experience. No. 454. Young Columbia graduate, conscientious worker, with experience in inorganic analysis, surveying, draughting, and wit. post-graduate training in geology, desires position wt. prospects. Minimum salary considered, $130 in U. S. and $150 in Mexico. At present employed. Draft exempt. No. 455.

Jan 5, 1918

W. O. OWEN,* Washington, D. C. (written discussion?). Few people appear to realize that the time to reach the crippled soldier is when he is first hurt. In my own judgment, the best time to reach him is before he is hurt, by showing him what other cripples have themselves clone of their own initiative, without Government-support, rendering themselves self-supporting, able to bear a little bit more than their own weight, so that they may lay aside a little bit for a rainy clay and some for a little fun in

Jan 5, 1918

My predecessor in the office of President of the Institute started a custom of visiting the various local sections, thus obtaining their points . of view and their ideas as to how the Institute can best serve the interests of its members. Exceedingly valuable- exchange of ideas was thus brought about. I am following this custom as far as the limited amount of free time at my disposal will allow me, and I trust that my successor in office will appreciate the benefit to be derived from following the custom thus initiated and will continue the swing around the circle of the local sections. The activities of the Institute are increased by the prestige gained from large numbers and I trust that every member of this local section will consider himself a member of the committee on increase of membership and will see if he is not able during the coming year to gain at least one new member for the Institute. This is a perfectly possible proposition for, although the membership of the Institute is at present approximately seven thousand, I feel sure there are at least seven thousand more men in the United States who are interested in mining, metallurgy or geology from the metal-mining point of view who would make admirable members or associate members of the Institute. The first consideration of the Institute as a body, and of each member as an individual, is to win the war and defeat the Huns. In order to accomplish this, the Institute, as a body, has cooperated with the other national engineering societies and the great bureaus of the Department of the Interior, the United States Geological Survey and the Bureau of Mines in forming committees to study and advise the Government on pressing problems of vital importance.

Jan 5, 1918

SHELBY M. HARRISON,* New York, N. Y. (written discussion ?).¬Your secretary requested a brief description of the Russell Sage Foundation, in order that members of the Institute, if they should desire to avail themselves of it, would know what type of service is offered to them through our institution. The foundation was established in 1907 by the gift of Mrs. Russell Sage of $10,000,000 as a capital fund, the income of which is to be spent for the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States. One of the lines of activity which the foundation has felt would lead toward this end is the development and promotion of community surveys; and because the scope and methods followed in these surveys are very similar to the scope and method of much of the institution's work in general, an idea of its main activities can perhaps be given best by describing one of our surveys. Incidentally, it may be pointed out that antecedent to the survey stand at least two important facts: first, the recognition. that communities are active, not static forces, that they develop, that changes in. material and human relationships occur continuously, and that with them come new social and civic problems which must, in many cases, be diagnosed and prescribed for anew; and second, the reality of scientific advances along lines which make possible at least some measure of solution of the problems. Evidences of these changes are abundant; many of them are found in the rapid growth of cities in the last few decades. Villages in agricultural districts, places where everybody knew everybody else, where the pulpit had been long the chief or only influence molding public opinion, where the air was unclouded by the smoke from factory stacks, where the water supply was not affected by pollution, where sunlight and building

Jan 5, 1918

EUGENE WESLEY SHAW,* Washington, D. C. (written discussion ?).-Studies of the probable future production of oil wells and fields-particularly those in the nature of the recent work by Lewis and Beal, having the object of increasing the percentage of recovery-rank, in both practical and theoretic value, very high, if indeed they do not outrank all other petroleum investigations except structural surveys. Even such surveys, although saving untold millions that might have been spent in prospecting unpromising territory, may have less ultimate value than generally supposed, for it may perhaps be argued that much if not most of the condemned territory will sooner or later be tested-some is already productive-and the most that can be rightly claimed is the recovery of cream first; also that the consumption of the richest portions first cannot be extenuated, as it might with some resources, on the ground that if the best is not taken now it will deteriorate.

Jan 5, 1918

The Institute maintains for the use of members (and especially for the use of out-of-town members) a reading and writing room, where all usual office facilities are available, including telephone, telegraph, receipt, forwarding and care of mail and express packages, etc. A file of current magazines is also maintained in this room, and the Institute's staff will lend its best efforts to serving the members in connection therewith. The Institute also maintains for the use of its members free dressing rooms, library research department, etc. Attention is called to these facilities at the present time in the belief. that they may be especially useful to out-of-town members in connection with the Meeting.

Jan 5, 1918

F. G. CLAPP, New York, N. Y. (written discussion *).-Whatever processes of appraisal have been found most correct and feasible in one field or group of fields will generally prove most adaptable in others. So far as the California fields are concerned, Mr. Requa's paper appears to outline the most up-to-date processes of appraisal. It remains, then, to discuss and adapt these and to make such revisions in methods and processes of calculation as will give us results elsewhere. The trouble about most attempts to place a value on oil lands, whether in this country or elsewhere, has been that many of the so-called "experts" called upon to express an opinion either have not possessed the requisite engineering and geological knowledge to make an accurate appraisal of the lands, or that they were not furnished with sufficient information for the purpose in hand. The Independent. 011. Producers' Agency of California, for whom Mr. Requa's original report was prepared, had many advantages in this respect not generally available to engineers making reports, as all existing information seems to have been at the experts' disposal within the limits of a large number of properties, practically commensurate with the extent of the fields in question. Hence the report could be and was more accurate than any similar report for a single company is likely to be in other fields. Very few companies are so exempt from competition that all the data on neighboring leases of other companies will be freely turned over to them. In many companies, certain available data are concealed from the engineer who makes the reports, particularly if the properties are supposed to be worth less than their apparent value. In the case of other companies, having the best of intentions, the data are insufficient to help the engineer greatly in his appraisal, simply because the oil business has been so, unsystematic in most fields that only the largest and wisest companies have kept accurate figures regarding runs and gravity of oil from individual wells and from different depths. In many wells, which ran wild for clays or weeks in the older fields, there was a waste which is not recordable with exactness. These and many other difficulties confront even the most experienced expert in actual practice outside of the California fields. We may justly say, therefore, that an engineer in other fields of the United States and in the European, South American and Asiatic fields, must not only begin where the Independent Oil Producers' Agency

Jan 4, 1918

F. C. HENDERSCHOTT,* New York, N. Y.-I am going to take, as the text of what I shall discuss, a portion of the second paragraph of Mr. Stanford's paper. It read as follows: "The most vital need of the management is for more brains. The logical course for an engineer ;in charge of an industrial organization is, therefore, to direct whatever forces may be at his command toward the development, training and guiding of-all the brains in his organization. This is easier said than done, for it involves the carrying on toward two objectives, the maximum of productive work and the development of the individuals, who perform it;" and the last sentence of the paper; "Industry has no greater asset than an intelligent workman." The United States of America, at the outbreak of the present war, had the best equipment of any nation in the world. That statement holds not only for our -shops and our transportation systems and our stores and our farms and our homes, but it holds generally.. There was no other nation in. the world that had so good equipment as the United States. There was no other nation in the world that could be called progressive that has such poorly trained workers as the United States. Even Norway, Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand ranked ahead of us. Now that is the, problem, generally speaking, and there was recognition of that fact, a growing recognition which-took form, and one of its forms was what we call the corporation school. Now obviously a corporation has no particular educational functions, but as is said in the closing sentence of Mr. Stanford's paper, or as is implied, an industrial institution is, after all, the reflection of the aggregate of the efficiency of the individuals who compose that organization. There is no way of getting away from that. If your individuals, from your president down, are efficient, if your individual has developed his brains, if he is a trained man, you have got an efficient organization, and if you haven't that condition, you have got weaknesses and your organization is no stronger than those weaknesses. I maintain that the same thing holds for a nation; .a nation is as efficient as the collective efficiency of the individuals who compose the nation, and no more so.

Jan 4, 1918