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By W. P. Lass

Discussion of the paper of W. P. LASS, presented at the San Francisco meeting, September, 1915, and printed in Bulletin No. 103, July, 1915, pp. 1443 to 1447. ROBERT M. KEENEY, Somersville, Conn. (communication to the Secretary *).-There is not only a possibility of improvement in present methods of treatment of the byproducts of refining in the cyanide plant by the use of the electric furnace, but also in melting and refining of gold precipitate. This interesting paper by Mr. Lass shows an electric furnace in successful operation in a large plant for the treatment of by-products. Electric melting of cyanide precipitate is a cheaper form of treatment in many cases than any of the combustion methods now used because of the high cost of oil, coke or coal in many camps, while on the other hand electric power may be had cheaply, especially in a place where there is possibility of development of high-head hydro-electric plants for power purposes. Also, if the oil-fired tilting furnace is used for direct melting of the precipitate, as is the case at many small mills, a great saving in cost is made by the use of the electric furnace because of the high crucible cost in melting with the tilting furnace. A study of this paper indicates the cost of the operation approximately. Consider all the fluxes to be turned in as byproducts and coke at $18 per ton.

Jan 12, 1915

By A. L. Field

A. W. FAHRENWALD, Socorro, 'N. M. (communication to the Secretary*).-When asked to discuss Mr. Feild's paper, I felt most highly complimented to have the privilege of commenting on such a worthy and needed piece of apparatus. In consideration of the importance of the viscosity of blast-furnace slags and the relation existing between the' melting point of a slag and its viscosity, the introduction of this apparatus should be a welcome means or assistant in the study of the physical properties of a slag. Up to the present time, it is A fact that this side of the practical working of the blast furnace has been sadly neglected by those investigating slags. It is easily seen that the fluidity of a slag is of as great importance as its melting point. It is not necessarily true that a slag having a low melting point will have a correspondingly low viscosity or be highly fluid. For example, a slag having a melting point of 1,100° C. may have to be superheated to, say,1,300° C., in order to have as high a fluidity as another slag whose melting point is, say, 1,250° C. The latter in this case would be the more economical. This point has been brought out very nicely by Mr. Feild. Before discussing this paper further, I think it will be well to outline some of the points, a discussion of which may be in order:

Jan 3, 1917

By Frederick Prime

IN this second supplementary list no titles to which an * is. Pre-fixed have been seen by the compiler; and he will be most thankful to have, any omissions or inaccuracies in the list sent to him to be published as a third supplement in the next volume of- the Trans-actions. The author is indebted to Prof. J. J. Stevenson, of New York, Prof. P. R. Uhler and John W. M. Lee, Esq., of Baltimore, and Lloyd P. Smith, Esq., of Philadelphia, for valuable assistance. OFFICE, ALLENTOWN IRON COMPANY, 230 SOUTH THIRD STREET, PHILADELPHIA, September 5th, 1881. ALABAMA. Geological Survey of Alabama. Report of Progress for 1879 and 1880, by Eugene A. Smith, State Geologist. Montgomery, 1881. 8vo., 158 pp., and 2 maps. CALIFORNIA. Omit Report of Hon. T. Butler King, in Supplement 1. For Trash's Geology and Industrial Resources, etc., in Supplement I., read Tyson's, etc: Fremont's Memoir on Upper California, is also published as XXXth Congress, 1st Session. Senate Mis. Doe., No 148, and has a map. For Randall's Report in Supplement I, read Report of the Special Committee in favor of a Geological Survey, submitted by Mr. Randall, April 24th, 1851. a.d., 1851. 8vo., 1.9 pp. XXXIst Congress, 1st Session, Sea. Ex. Doc., No. 47, Part 2 [Part 1 is Tyson's Report.] Report of the Secretary of War in further compliance with the Resolution of the Senate, calling for Copies of

Jan 1, 1881

By G. Carman Ridland

IN conjunction with a geological investigation of the silver-bearing veins at Contact Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada, a survey was made with a Geiger-Müller counter of the gamma-ray emissions from the rocks in the vicinity of the mine workings. Discontinuous pitchblende veins have been encountered occasionally in the silver-bearing fissures, and the geophysical survey was undertaken with the hope that abnormally high gamma-ray intensities, if detected, might lead to larger and more continuous pitchblende discoveries. Before the instrument was used at Contact Lake, preliminary tests were made, first with laboratory specimens at Princeton University, and later over known pitchblende deposits at the Eldorado property, LaBine Point, N.W.T. The Geiger-Müller counter, as adapted for field use, is described; the technique of transporting and operating the instrument is outlined; and the general precautions to be observed are discussed. The results obtained at Great Bear Lake show that the instrument is capable of detecting not only a pitchblende ore shoot in a shear zone, but also the mildly radioactive "host rock" at a considerable distance from the ore body. Hence, use of the Geiger-Müller counter is urged, not just for the detailed search for an ore body in a shear zone, but for the detection of possible radioactive "host rocks" in large-scale reconnaissance surveys of unexplored regions made by prospectors and members of federal geological survey parties.

Jan 1, 1943

By Frederick Prime

In this second supplementary list no titles to which an * is pre fixed hare been seen by tlie compiler; and he will be most thankful to have any omiesisne or inaccuracies in the list sent to hiin to be ptiblisi~cd as a third supplement in the next volume of the actiotra. The author is indebted to Prof. J. J. Stevenson, of New Tork, Prof. P. R. Uhlcr and John 'CV. M. Lee, Esq., of Balti more, and Lloyd P. Smith, Esq., of Philadelphia, for valuable assistance. office, allkntorn iron compaxy, 30 South Third Street, Philadelphia, September 5th, 1881. Alabama. Geologiml Survcy of Alabama. report of Progress for 1879 and 1880, by Eugene A. Smith, State Geologist. Montgomery, 1881. 8vo., 158 pp., and 2 maps. California. Omit Report of Hon. T. Butler Ring, iu sopplemeut I. For Trask's Geology and Illdustrial honrecp, etc., in Supplenlvut I., read Tyson's, etc. Fremont's Menloir on Upper Califijrnia, is also published as XXXth Congress, lat Session. Senate Ms. Doc., No 148, and has a map. For Randall's Report in Supplement I, rend Report of the Special Committee in favor of a Geological Snrvey, subrn-itted by Mr. Randall, April 24th, 1861. n.d., 1851. 8cWo., 19 yp. XXXIst Congress, 1st Session, Sen. Ex. Doc., No. 47, Part 2 [Part 1 is Tyson's Report.) RejW of the Secretary of War in further compliance with the Resolution of the Senate?, calling for Colbies of

Jan 1, 1881

By S. G. Lasky

W E seem to have assumed the careless habit in recent years of treating mining geology as synonymous with exploration geology, and exploration synonymous with exploration for new deposits-to be forgetting that mining geology includes also the geologic control or guidance of day-by-day mining operation. In the publicized romantic spotlight of the search for new deposits, we forget the man with the dirty over-alls, grubbing away at the daily tasks of finding new shoots and of helping to keep production up and cost down. During 1949, as in previous years, the resident geologist continued his quiet efficient functioning while the exploration geologist continued to stay in the spotlight-although this time he shared it with what may be called the resource-appraisal geologist. Many broad problems of national import such as tax modification, the operations of the Economic Cooperation Administration, and certain international relations have come up against an unexpected factor lurking in the background, namely, appraisal of world and domestic reserves and latent resources. T. M. Broderick opened the year with his address as retiring president of the Society of Economic Geologists, wherein he analyzed the problems of exploration geology listing among them "the shortcomings of the geologists themselves, of the educators, the mining companies, our Published by permission of the Director, U. S. Geological Survey. technical publications, the Federal Survey and Bureau of Mines, and the property owners."

Jan 1, 1950

By G. Carman Ridland

IN conjunction with a geological investigation of the silver-bearing veins at Contact Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada, a survey was made with a Geiger-Müller counter of the gamma-ray emissions from the rocks in the vicinity of the mine workings. Discontinuous pitchblende veins have been encountered occasionally in the silver-bearing fissures, and the geophysical survey was undertaken with the hope that abnormally high gamma-ray intensities, if detected, might lead to larger and more continuous pitchblende discoveries. Before the instrument was used at. Contact Lake, preliminary tests were made, first with laboratory specimens at Princeton University, and later over known pitchblende deposits at the Eldorado property, LaBine Point, N.W.T. The Geiger-Müller counter, as adapted for field use, is described; the technique of transporting and operating the instrument is outlined; and the general precautions to be observed are discussed. The results obtained at Great Bear Lake show that the instrument is capable of detecting not only a pitchblende ore shoot in a shear zone, but also the mildly radioactive "host rock" at a considerable distance from the ore body. Hence, use of the Geiger-Müller counter is urged, not just for the detailed search for an ore body in a shear zone, but for the detection of possible radioactive "host rocks" in large-scale reconnaissance surveys of unexplored regions made by prospectors and members of federal geological survey parties.

Jan 1, 1944

Discussion of the paper of E. J. Hall and C. W. Drury, presented at the Butte meeting, August, 1913, and printed in Bulletin No. 78, June, 1913, pp. 1059 to 1066. A. M. SMOOT,* New York, N. Y. (communication to the Secretary +) :-The nails method is given in many text books on assaying as a standard method for gold or for gold and silver in ores. It appears to be taught in the laboratories of technical and scientific schools as a standard method, and to some extent it is used by assayers in actual practice, although the class of ores to which it may be applied is limited to those free from reducible metallic compounds, the metals of which would enter the lead button. The experiments of Messrs. Hall and Drury show the inaccuracy of this rnethod for silver, in heavy sulphides, but not so clearly the short-comings with regard to gold. It seems certain that low silver is caused by the solubility of silver in iron-alkali sulphide as compared with its solubility in molten lead; that is, silver is distributed between iron-alkali sulphide and metal in the charge in proportion to solubility at the particular temperature of the fusion. Lead is a fixed quantity in these assay charges, but iron-alkali sulphide increases with increased sulphur, so the more sulphur in the charge, the lower the silver results.

Jan 11, 1913

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers extends an invitation to members of the Institute to participate in an exceedingly interesting excursion on Saturday, November 11. Permission has been secured for a visit to the plant of the Electric Boat Co. at New London, Conn. There will be run a special-test on a high-power 8-cylinder, 4-cycle Diesel engine. A large number of submarine and other engines in various stages of construction will be seen, also the boring of torpedo tubes, cylinders and other equipment for submarines. The drafting rooms and foundry mill also be open for inspection. The party will have an opportunity to see at close range the submerging of several submarines, and an attack on a vessel on the surface, an exhibit which is being arranged by courtesy of Rear Admiral A. W. Grant, who is in command of the submarine forces of the United States. The Boston members will leave South Station on train No. 7 at 8.30 A. M. Those from Providence will board this train at 9.36 A. M. The Worcester members will leave on train No. 745 at 8.36 A. M. The New York contingent will leave the Grand Central Terminal at 8.31 A. M. on train No. 8. This train will leave New Haven at 10.30 A. M. Upon arrival at New London, each group will go directly to the Mohican Hotel, where a "get-acquainted" luncheon will be served

Jan 10, 1916

COLUMBIA SECTION S. S. FOWLER, Chairman., J. C. HAAS, Vice-chairman, LYNDON K. ARMSTRONG, Secretary-Treasurer, 720 Peyton Bldg., Spokane, Wash. W. H. LINNEY. J. F. MCCARTHY. On July 15, 16, and 17, 1918, through the good offices of Secretary Stoughton, and the courtesy of War Department officials, Columbia Section was able to secure a series of moving pictures which were presented under the auspices of the Spokane Engineering and Technical Association.. The title was "The Way Out," representing the activities of individuals who had lost an arm, a leg, or both, yet whose apparent misfortunes were made the stepping stones to advancement in various human activities. The exhibitions were given at Natatorium Park in the evening, each of the three performances being attended by 1000 per-sons. Later the films were shipped to Kellogg, Idaho, where they were shown in the principal playhouse one evening to a full house. On July 31, 1918, the Columbia Section participated in the luncheon and other entertainment in honor of Alfred D. Flinn, Secretary of the Engineering Council, who made a trip through the country to meet different classes of engineers, members of the National Societies, for whom he had a message. The entertainment was under the auspices of the Spokane Engineering and Technical Association, Mr. Peter Mogensen presiding. The luncheon was held in the Elizabethan Room, Davenport Hotel, at noon, 35 engineers being present, of whom about one-third were our members.

Jan 9, 1918

By DULUTH ENGINEERS' CLUB

DULUTH ENGINEERS' CLUB The engineers of Duluth, Minn., have taken the first steps to form a Duluth Engineers' Club by a meeting on May 20, at the Kitchi Gammi Club. At present, Duluth has no club embracing all engineers, although the environment is splendid for the growth of an engineers' organization. Within reasonable 'distance of Duluth are over 100 members of the four large national engineering societies, a number of members of the lesser engineering societies, and many non-member engineers. Until the Duluth Association of Civil Engineers was formed, four years' ago, these engineers had no common ground of meeting, and a force representing education, experience, and high ideals lay dormant. About 70 engineers were present at the organization meeting, and favorable responses were received from others who could not be present. F. E. House, President of the Duluth & Iron Range Railroad, outlined the objects of the meeting, calling attention to the importance of the engineer in all lines of activity in the war and the splendid qualities of American engineers in France. W. H. Woodbury outlined the plan, stating the three objects of the club as professional, social, and civic. Four plans of membership have been considered: First, an organization for all professional engineers, junior engineers, and associates, with .different status for each; second, an organization of members of the four big national societies; third, an organization of members and a limited number of associates; fourth, professional engineers, only, all on equal standing.

Jan 8, 1918

Jan 1, 1944

MRS. SIDNEY J. JENNINGS, President MRS. ARTHUR S. DWIGHT, First Vice-President MRS. KARL EILERS, Second Vice-President MRS. H. W. HARDINGE, Third Vice-President MRS. BRADLEY STOUGHTON, Recording Secretary MRS. AXEL 0. IHLSENG, Corresponding Secretary MRS. HARRIS K. MASTERS, Treasurer Welfare Committee MRS. C. C, BURGER, Chairman Sub-Committees Americanization Belgian Relief MRS. LEVI HOLBROOK, Chairman MRS. HENRY H. KNOX, Chairman Emergency MRS. HERMAN A. PROSSER, Chairman A very successful meeting Of the Council of the Woman's Auxiliary was held Wednesday, July 18, and plans for war relief work were thoroughly discussed. The Belgian Relief Committee has sent out the following letter to the ten local sub-committees, which were formed to raise money to feed the Belgian children: "The Commission for Relief in Belgium announced in a letter from Mr. Hoover that after the first of June the United States Government would take over the relief of Belgium and Northern France and called attention to the following paragraph: ?Naturally, having built up such an effective organization you will desire to keep it alive as far as possible, and we venture to suggest that, although the general relief of the countries involved will now be met by the Government appropriations, emer-gencies and special conditions may arise which could only be met by private donations. In such circumstances your organization will afford a ready means of meeting the demands of the situation, whatever they may be. Should any of your contributors

Jan 9, 1917

By Van Der Muelen P. A.

SOME time ago, the writer received from W. 0. Borcherdt, Manager of the, works of the Bertha Mineral Co. at Austinville, Va., several specimens of a dense yellowish slag-like material, containing cavities showing clear needle-like crystals, and representing a product formed by the fumes of zinc oxide and basic lead sulphate from the oxide furnace, attacking the firebrick lining of the flues. The matrix, which is of a greenish-yellow color, is made up chiefly of an amorphous glass, carrying numerous crystals, the latter being well-defined, clear, and transparent, but colored a very light yellow by small amounts of ferric oxide. A number of the crystals were carefully separated from the matrix and tested with the blowpipe. They have a fusibility of about 2, yield a globule of lead and a coating of lead oxide before the blowpipe on charcoal, and contain some zinc. Their hardness is 5 to 6. 1 Fig. 1. Under the microscope the crystals appear to be made up of a prism, with narrow faces, and a fairly large pinacoid, but unfortunately show no terminal faces (Fig. 1). Between crossed nicols they gave parallel extinction in. the three planes containing the crystallographic axes, and are therefore orthorhombic. The index of refraction is high. A number of the best crystals were measured on the reflection goniometer, the angles given below representing the average of measurements made on different individuals. mm = 46° 52' mb = 66° 34' a:b:c = 0.4334:1 :?

Jan 5, 1917

By S. E. Bretherton

Mr. AllaW Gibb, of Mount Perry, Queensland, Australia, in an interesting and instructive paper,* describes fully the great difficulties metallurgists encounter in seeking to produce marketable copper by smelting refractory ores containing arsenic, antimony and bismuth. After reading this description, I prepared a paper for the Institute, which was, however, through a misunderstanding on my part, published in the San Francisco Mining and S'cie~ztiJic Press of April 4, 1903, after its acceptance by the Council, and without credit to the Institute. Consequently, it cannot be reprinted for the Transactions of the Institute; and I can only here summarize its contents and conclusions, referring the reader to the article above named for further particulars. In that article I omitted the col~sideration of bismuth, which we do not encounter in our smelting at Val Verde, and added lead and zinc, which Mr. Gibb had not discussed; and I undertook to shorn, by the record of a year's practice of the Val Verde Copper Co., Arizona, that copper-ores containing arsenic, antimony, lead and zinc may be successfully smelted, without preliminary roasting, in an ordinary blast-furnace with hotblast, making a normal slag, such as one would aim to make under ordinary conditions with cold-blast, so as to produce a marketable matte, containing not less than 45 per cent. of copper, free from arsenic and antimony, and below the limit in lead and zinc penalized by the refineries.

Jan 1, 1904

The resolution drafted by J. W. Richards, J. V. N. Dorr, and Allen H. Rogers on the death of J. E. Johnson, Jr., and adopted by the Board of Directors, is as follows: "The Boards of Directors of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers wishes to place on record its great personal loss in the sudden death of Mr. J. E. Johnson, Jr., our fellow Director of the activities of the Institute, a member our Executive Committee, Chairman of the Institute's Committee on Admissions, and Vice-chairman of its Iron and Steel Committee. "A mere recital of these positions of trust and responsibility, which he filled with conscientious efficiency and marked ability, shows how greatly the Institute has lost by his death. No one else of the Institute's officers could have been so illy spared. We, his colleagues, take up his tasks with a sense of our inability to discharge them as well as he, and this with a doubled sense of our loss. "Others have written and spoken of the blow which his death has been to the furtherance of the metallurgy of iron and steel. His pre-eminence in this line is one of the facts of which the Institute is justly proud. Here his personality, originality, courageousness in advocating new principles, clearness of writing and forcible presentation of facts, are irreplaceable. His two great treatises on the blast furnace are his literary and scientific memorial.

Jan 7, 1919

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Jan 1, 1938

Jan 1, 1944

Jan 1, 1902

By Thomas M. Dr. Drown

IN experimenting in connection with Mr. P. W. Shimer (now chemist of the Thomas Iron Company, Hokendauqua, Pa.) on methods for the determination of silicon in pig iron, in order to find one which should be accurate and yet give results in a few hours, I have adopted the following procedure, which, as far as my experience goes, leaves nothing to be desired. About one gram of pig iron or steel is treated in a platinum or porcelain dish with 25 cubic centimeters of nitric acid (sp. gr. 1, 2). When action has ceased, 25 to 30 cubic centimeters of dilute sulphuric acid (one of acid and three of water) are added, and heat applied until the nitric acid is nearly or quite driven off. The heat of a water-bath is sufficient, though the process may be hastened by heating higher on a sand-bath. Water is then cautiously added (as soon as the free sulphuric acid is sufficiently cool) and the contents of the dish heated until the crystals of ferric sulphate are completely dissolved. The solution is then filtered as hot as possible, the residue washed first with hot water, then with 25 to 30 cubic centimeters of hydrochloric acid (sp. gr. 1, 12), and finally with hot water. After drying and igniting, the silica will be found to be snow-white and granular. The following are some results obtained by this method compared

Jan 1, 1879