Search Documents

By F. C. NINNIS

AT THE Belmont mill, the pregnant solution is de¬livered to a 30 by 10-ft. tank, from which it is pumped to three Merrill clarifying presses of the sluice-bar type, whence it flows through the meter to the precipitation supply tank. ?The solution for precipitation is pumped by a 10 by 10-in. Aldrich triplex pump and delivered through a 6-in. line to the forty-eight triangular frame Merrill presses at the head of the mill. Zinc dust is fed in at the pump suction and the solution precipitated to 0.01 to 0.02 oz. silver. The solution flowing from the presses is tested at 1-hr. intervals with sodium sulfide. All solution is precipitated to the same value; 4J tons of solution are precipitated for each ton of ore treated and the presses are cleaned every 15 days. The product from the presses' is dumped into steel cars having steam-jacketed bottoms, in which they are dried until the moisture content is between 15 and 17 per cent. when 8. per cent. of soda and .3 per cent. of borax are added and the contents thoroughly mixed. In the case of special clean-ups, the precipitate is tested and the flux is added to meet the requirements.

Jan 1, 1921

By J. A. Fellows, Earnshaw Cook, H. S. Avery

THE increased use of heat-resistant alloys (26 per cent Cr, 12 per cent Ni; 16 per cent Cr, 35 per cent Ni; 12 per cent Cr, 60 per cent Ni; etc.) in recent years has been accompanied by continued demands by the consumer for improvement in properties. The manufacturers of these materials, of necessity, have resorted to more critical studies of the basic causes of variations in fundamental properties. To keep pace with the need for augmented information, previous techniques of investigation have been refined and new test methods and instruments created. It is the purpose of this paper to describe the apparatus, experimental technique and precision of measurement that were employed in the exploration of properties of heat-resistant alloy presented in a companion paper.? The detailed precautions in experimental procedure essential for attainment of accurate and comparable data at elevated temperatures cannot be too highly emphasized. THE CREEP TEST Since the fundamental concepts of creep testing have been recognized for the past 20 years, present interest is restricted to refinements in equipment and experimental procedure. The creep-test laboratory constructed for the American Brake Shoe and Foundry Co. is designed to permit 1000-hr. tests in the temperature range of 1200° to 2200°F. with a choice of applied stress extending from 50 to 50,000 lb. per sq. in. in increments of 50 lb. per sq. in. To simplify the calculation of weight combinations, the loading beams (Fig. I) are provided with counterweights to eliminate the tare. The precision of the knife-edges (10.1 ratio) is such that a 10-gram weight placed on the upper specimen grip will be exactly balanced by a 1-gram weight attached to the loading shackle. Check of the loading weights proved the maximum error to be 0.06 per cent. Axial alignment is provided by crossed knife-edges in the grip seats. The furnaces are similar in design to those of Crane and Company, Battelle Memorial Institute, and the U.S. Steel Corporation. An 80 per cent Pt, 20 per cent Rh No. 19 B. and S. gauge wire is used as the heating element. The details of construction are shown in the radiograph reproduced in Fig. 2. The windings are held in place on an alundum tube with alundum cement; the distribution of turns is adjusted to give a maximum temperature gradient of ± 1°F. over a 4-in. gauge length (Fig. 3). To avoid sharp temperature differentials at the ends of the test section, the length of the furnace is four times the gauge length. Sixteen-inch coupons are used to reduce the temperature of the threaded

Jan 1, 1942

By Gordon B. Brox, Joseph F. Mcaleer, Charles C. Goddard, Edward P. Shea, Robert G. Ingersoll, Lester G. Zeihen, George J. Burns, John M. Guilbert, Richard N. Miller, Charles Meyer

The Boulder batholith is a composite intrusive in which the Butte quartz monzonite is the dominant rock type. Quartz porphyry dikes intruded the quartz monzonite in directions which were subsequently followed by the eastwest- striking Anaconda system of veins, the earliest major veins in the district. Anaconda veins are faulted by northwest-striking veins of the Blue system, which are most prominent in the central third of the district. Anaconda veins are the major producers in the western third of the district and also in the eastern third, where the "horsetail" zones break off from them. Individual oreshoots are thousands of feet long as well as deep on both systems of veins, but they are generally more persistent and thicker on the Anaconda veins. Viewed broadly, the mineralization in the big veins is arranged in crudely concentric zones of zinc and manganese around a central zone of copper. Only slightly offset from these zones, but earlier structurally, is a zone in which quartz-molybdenite veinlets are prominent. This zone tops at about the 2800 level and widens downward. The pattern of distribution of Cu-Fe-S series minerals in the large veins of the copper zone is not symmetrical with respect to the metal zones. There is a fringe of chalcopyrite-bornite all around the copper front. However, within the copper zone, pyrite-chalcocite-enargitecovellite- digenite assemblages are prevalent near its eastern edge from the 3800 level to the surface, whereas deep on the large Anaconda veins in the western part of the copper zone, chalcopyrite is dominant. Here the chalcopyrite grades upward into bornite-chalcocite ores and eastward into the high-sulfur assemblages of the Leonard mine. Sericite-biotite-K-feldspar alteration envelopes, containing up to about 2 per cent copper as chalcopyrite, are present on some of the quartz-molybdenite veinlets at deep mine levels in the molybdenite zone. These envelopes contrast sharply mineralogically and chemically with the later sericitic and argillic alteration envelopes around Main Stage veins. K'0-Ar'0 ratios indicate that they may be older by about 4 m.y. Secondarily enriched copper ores are mined in the Berkeley pit in the southeastern part of the district. At the present time they account for about half of Butte's production of copper.

Jan 1, 1968

On the following pages are abstracts of papers published by the Institute during the year 1935 as TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS and CONTRIBUTIONS, papers in bound volumes appearing for the first time, and papers in MINING AND METALLURGY. For abstracts of papers that appeared in bound volumes in 1935 but that were published as TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS in 1934, see the YEAR BOOS dated January, 1935.. Many of the TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS have been reprinted in bound volumes. Information regarding this disposition, and number of pages in each paper, may be found in the list beginning on page 64. Volume numbers are given as listed at the beginning of the index, page 71. The abstracts are grouped as follows: [Page Metal Mining 17 Uses of Metals 23 Milling and Concentration 23 Iron and Steel Division 26 Nonferrous Metallurgy (Reduction of Ores)...: 34 Institute of Metals Division (Founding and Metallography of Nonferrous Alloys) 36 Page Coal Division 43 Petroleum Division 50 Industrial Minerals Division (Nonmetallics) 57 Mining Geology 60 Mineral Industry Education Division 62 Geophysical Prospecting 62]

Jan 1, 1936

By W. Joseph Schlitt, William D. Southard, Bruce P. Ream, Lawrence J. Haug

The operation of Kennecott's Bingham Canyon copper precipitation plant, one of the world's largest, is described. This description includes a brief historical review of precipitation at Bingham and the general layout and operation of the present cone cementation facility. Current practices are based on results of studies undertaken to define improvements needed in each unit operation. These improvements were required to meet changing plant conditions and were implemented primarily within the constraints of the existing facilities. Specific unit operations included were the cone precipitators, the cone discharge thickener, the cone effluent settling basins, and the plate and frame filter presses. As a result of these improvements, loss of precipitated copper decreased and the degree of precipitation increased, raising copper recovery by 9 t/d. At the same time, iron consumption was reduced by 22.5 t/d. Problems in drying the cement copper were also overcome so that a product containing 12 - 15% moisture could be consistently delivered for smelting.

Jan 6, 1979

By William D. Southard, Joseph W. Schlitt, Bruce P. Ream, Lawrence J. Haug

The operation of Kennecott 's Bingham Canyon copper precipitation plant, one of the world's largest, is described. This description includes a brief historical review of precipitation at Bingham and the general layout and operation of the present cone cementation facility. Current practices are based on results of studies undertaken to define improvements needed in each unit operation. These improvements were required to meet changing plant conditions and were implemented primarily within the constraints of the existing facilities. Specific unit operations included were the cone precipitators, the cone discharge thickener, the cone effluent settling basins, and the plate and frame filter presses. As a result of these improvements, loss of precipitated copper decreased and the degree of precipitation increased, raising copper recovery by 9 t/d. At the same time, iron consumption was reduced by 22.5 t/d. Problems in drying the cement copper were also overcome so that a product containing 12-15% moisture could be consistently delivered for smelting.

Jan 1, 1980

By Paul M. Tyler

MARKETWISE the year 1935 was rather a good one for most of the rare and minor metals; as a class they climbed out of the depression much faster than the common metals. The diamond market, too, was better than it had been for years, attributable only in part to investment buying, as there was a genuine pick-up in consumer demand. Wars and rumors of war tended to speed up purchases of certain metals, but consumption for peaceful purposes was the principal factor. Significant was the important role played by new industrial uses. New discoveries during the year were disappointingly few, considering the broad extent of this research frontier. Scientific developments were far from being at a stand-still, of course, but the dominant note was the cashing in on research consummated in former years. With even a moderate upturn in general business a surprising number of laboratory ideas donned overalls and found jobs in industry.

Jan 1, 1936

By Thomas B. Douglas

INSTRUMENTATION in the process industries can no longer be regarded as a convenience, but rather an absolute necessity. Although many chemical processes must already be conducted with instruments, every properly designed application of automatic process control will improve operation: 1) the product will be more uniform and of higher quality; 2) the manual labor saved will reduce cost; 3) uniformity of flow and uniform control of process will increase production; and 4) surges will be eliminated, making it possible to operate equipment near ultimate capacity at all times. Industrial instruments fall into two general classifications-those that measure and those that measure and control. The cement industry has been using instruments for a number of years, particularly in the burning process, primarily for indicating and recording. Automatic process control makes additional use of these instruments, and others, to control variables. Assisted by the instrument manufacturers, engineers at Ideal Cement CO. achieved considerable progress in determining how well the usual recording instruments could be made to control various phases of cement-making. The results of these experiments were used to make the new plant at Houston as wholly automatic as possible.

Jan 2, 1958

By George Burrell

J. S. HALDANE, M. D., F. R. S., Oxford, England (communication to the Secretary?).-The valuable paper of Messrs. Burrell and Gauger is of special interest to me as, through the courtesy of the management, I had an opportunity of visiting the Portland mine, Cripple Creek, in 1911, in connection with the investigations on acclimatization to high altitudes, carried out on Pike's Peak, near Cripple Creek, by Professors Yandell, Henderson and Schneider, Dr. Douglas and myself.1 The analyses of one or two samples of the vitiated air were entirely confirmatory of those of the authors. A fatal accident owing to two men being lowered down a shaft filled with the gas had occurred in a neighboring mine just before our visit.

Jan 12, 1916

By A. M. Beebee

IN the present century the coal and manufactured gas industries have been eclipsed in public interest by oil, natural gas, and hydro- electric energy, which have had the benefit of rapid development and novelty. I sometimes wish that our social- order were such that hydro power had been developed first, that the use of gas from coal had never been seriously considered, and that our domestic energy requirements were supplied by other fuels. Sup- pose the manufacture of gas from coal should then come on the scene at the present time with the current plight of the railroads, coal regions, and labor generally, presenting the fact that it could increase the amount of coal mined and shipped by the railroads by some 16,000,000 tons, and increase the coal used at existing u plants five times. Imagine the great public interest that would be manifested; it would supply the cooking and water-heating requirements of a community with a superior character of service at a cost to the customer approximately half that which had obtained previously. Would not such a situation be heralded as the salvation of our country and all help be given it?

Jan 1, 1940

By David B. Dill, Edgar R. Lea

The zinc deposits of the Balmat-Edwards Division of the St. Joseph Lead Company in northern New York State provide some 10 per cent of the domestic zinc produced annually within the United States. These complex ore deposits are contained within marbles of the Precambrian Grenville series, in a repetitive sequence of dolomites and silicated units. The Balmat ore bodies are localized at various intervals throughout some 1800 feet of the stratigraphic column on the northwest side of a band of gneiss that has continuity to the Edwards area, some 10 miles to the northeast. The Edwards ore bodies are located to the southeast of this gneiss. The marble formations are thought to have included repetitive intervals of marine sedimentation that provided mineralized source "beds" and were subsequently folded, flooded, and injected with melts at great depth and were sheared, recrystallized, and reconstituted. Detailed structural and stratigraphic studies throughout the northwestern Adirondacks, in the Balmat-Edwards district, and at each mine in particular indicate the close dependence of the ore deposits on the enveloping structure whether it be local, district-wide, or regional in scope. Primary folding has developed a northeast regional trend with northwest dips. Secondary folding has been developed by an almost horizontal northeast-southwest-oriented shear couple in the plane of the regional trend. The secondary folding has produced crossfolds that intersect the regional northeast trend and plunge north to northwest at various angles. The ore bodies are found within certain stratigraphic horizons where repeated alternation of competent and incompetent beds encouraged unusually complex folding. Analysis of individual mine structures indicates that the location of each deposit is controlled by structural crossing of primary and secondary folding. The ore bodies, which are tabular, lenticular, or pod-like in form, have features that suggest parallelism to true bedding or modified flow banding, developed by northeast-southwest shearing stresses related to the development of the crossfolds. The ore deposits in general follow both structural and recrystallization trends within the wall rocks. Mobilization of the pre-metamorphic ore minerals is believed to have involved a combination of plastic flow under stress and solution of the sphalerite, minor galena, and pyrite. The ore fluids are thought to have been guided by secondary shearing and microbrecciation into structurally prepared areas where reprecipitation took place. The presumed premetamorphic mineralization now exhibits epigenetic high-temperature features related to late-stage metamorphism.

Jan 1, 1968

By NEWTON B. KNOX

IN Bolivia, mining is still the principal economic activity, as it was before and during the Spanish Colonial period. Tin, tungsten, antimony, copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver, sulphur, and a little bismuth are produced. The Andes mountains are divided into two main ranges in Bolivia; the Western range marks the border with Chile and the Eastern range forms the backbone of the country; in the North it drops rather abruptly eastward, to the plains of the Beni, whereas in the South it splits and is separated from the Chaco flatlands by a series of folded mountain ranges. In general the mineral deposits are found within the Eastern range or in the hills that rise from the high plateau between the ranges - really parts of the Eastern range partly submerged by recent sediments. The mineral belt is thus over 500 miles long and about 100 miles wide and includes most of the principal centers of population and the most important means of communication. The region is mountainous and the roads are bad; furthermore labor is a serious problem, for the land is poor and the agricultural population is never far from hunger. The floating supply of miners is limited and soon exhausted in any emergency like the present.

Jan 1, 1945

By R. E. H. Pomeroy

Early in 1917, it became evident, owing to existing and pending market conditions, that a substitute for crude petroleum must be found for firing the smelter furnaces. After a review of the plants then existing, it was deemed advisable to depart from their practice and to adopt the following described system of distributing pulverized coal to the furnaces. The principal advantages of the proposed system, which influenced this decision, were: (I) Equal safety; no pulverized coal is stored at the furnaces; (2) greater ease of operation, furnace fires being controlled by regulating valves in burner branches, as in gas firing; (3) better organization; all machinery, including pulverized coal feed, is under one roof, and the organization is separate from the furnace department; (4) greater cleanliness; all machinery is under vacuum; (5) greater flexibility of application, the coal and air mixture can be piped where needcd. The design of the plant is the result of the combined efforts of the local engineering staff and of the machinery manufacturers. Many new features were embodied in this design to insure greater safety, cleanliness, and efficiency of handling. After 14 months of continuous operation, the plant has proved entirely satisfactory. The building is of structural steel, covered with corrugated steel, with many windows and is painted light gray inside and out. The building floor is of concrete with ample drains to the sewer, and the building is equipped with fire and service water piping. Fig. 1 shows the east side of the building and the incline conveyor from the raw-coal bins. The plant is operated entirely by electric power. All alternating current is 550 volts, 3-phase, 60 cycles. The pulverized-coal feeding niotors and control mechanism are operated by 220-volt direct current supplied by motor-generator sets in the building. Autamatic push-

Jan 1, 1921

By Paul Gemmill

Production was first recorded from the Pioche district in 1864, and it has continued to show an inherent ability to take on new life after periods of depression in the metal markets. Production from replacement leadsilver- zinc sulfide ore bodies in limestones of Cambrian age now accounts for several times the gross value of silver production from rich fissures in Lower Cambrian Quartzite. Aggregate production of some 6 million tons represents a gross value over $100-million. Future output is expected mostly to be from limestone replacement deposits of which the most productive are "channels" of ore up to several hundred feet wide and several thousand feet long with thicknesses from a few feet up to 50 feet. Such channels are restricted to the lowermost limestone bed of the district, about 250 feet above the basement quartzite. The "blotter-like" characteristic of this highly productive Jimesto~e bed in absorbing mineralization is believed to be, at least in part, due to lithology, including free carbon in the bed, which has created a unique set of conditions for delicately balanced mineralizing solutions that rejected any tendency to replace siliceous wall rock and were properly constituted for replacement of Limestone. All recognizable orogenic history is considered to be related to the Basin and Range faulting that created the mountain ranges. The faults developed after mid-Tertiary time and after widespread extrusives that are themselves involved in the faulting. Flat faults, formerly believed to be part of regional thrust faulting, are now interpreted as gravity slide faulting that can be shown to be large in magnitude and not simply local landslides. Large slide faults generally have concealed the great magnitude of mountain-bordering faults. Mineralization that accounts for ore is later than the faulting. Most faults are pre-mineral since they influence the shape of ore bodies, and some clearly have been offset by fault fissures containing ore. Post-mineral movement probably has been an important component of some large, initially pre-mineral faults. A single period of mineralization was begun by the introduction of large quantities of ironmanganese carbonate, and, in places, carbonate manganese with minor values in sulfides. Closely following the carbonate invasion, massive sulfides were brought in, usually replacing part of the carbonate body though in some places the massive sulfides replaced limestone that was not previously mineralized. Manganese mineralization is not a "halo" but leaks of manganese to higher formations and to the surface are the most significant exploration guides. The Pioche district is expected to be long lived with technological developments in ore treatment being important to the exploitation of low-grade manganiferous ores, while aggressive exploration is expected to find important quantities of bedded lead-silver-zinc ores of the massive sulfide type.

Jan 1, 1968

By Otto Wartenweiler

AFTER the phenomenal development of the new mine, the United Eastern Mining Co., with Mr. Frank A. Keith as President, decided to install a reduction plant. The character of the ore, closely resembling the product of other mines in the district, did not offer any particular metallurgical problems, since these neighboring mines had been operating milling plants very successfully for several years. Thus, with the general metallurgical treatment fairly well-defined, the matter of next importance was to design and construct a plant as economically as possible, that would give the best results obtainable. The ore consists of a mixture of calcite and quartz in about equal quantities with some decomposed andesite, while the average value of mill heads were calculated to be $20 plus in gold, no silver being present. The tonnage to be treated at ,the start was fixed at 200 tons, but, in view of the favorable condition of the mine, it was considered advisable to arrange facilities, for increasing the capacity to 400 tons. . While it is best in some cases to adopt a distinct independent unit system where future enlargement is contemplated, in this instance the plans worked out differently. Summarized, the treatment adopted consists of coarse crushing, coarse grinding, fine grinding and cyanidation. For coarse crushing the selection of the No. 6 size gyratory crusher was governed not so much by its capacity as by the size of the feed openings to properly receive the run-of-mine material, which was too coarse for a No. 5 crusher. To accomplish the coarse grinding to. best advantage, a careful comparison was made between the modern steel ball mill-the last word in crushing and grinding-and one of its older, and, at that time better-established, competitors, the rolls.' The following conclusion was reached: While it is possible that for the sized plant under consideration the cost of operating rolls might be a little cheaper, it is preferable to use ball mills because a simpler arrangement is possible, and1 because. the handling of, ball mills is preferred by the operator.

Jan 11, 1917

By Thomas B. Douglas

INSTRUMENTATION in the process industries can no longer be regarded as a convenience, but rather an absolute necessity. Although many chemical processes must already be conducted with instruments, every properly designed application of automatic process control will improve operation: 1) the product will be more uniform and of higher quality; 2) the manual labor saved will reduce cost; 3) uniformity of flow and uniform control of process will increase production; and 4) surges will be eliminated, making it possible to operate equipment near ultimate capacity at all times. Industrial instruments fall into two general classifications—those that measure and those that measure and control. The cement industry has been using instruments for a number of years, particularly in the burning process, primarily for indicatlng and recording. Automatic process control makes additional use of these instruments, and others, to control variables. Assisted by the instrument manufacturers, engineers at Ideal Cement Co. achieved considerable progress in determining how well the usual recording instruments could be made to control various phases of cement-making. The results of these experiments were used to make the new plant at Houston as wholly automatic as possible. The original Houston plant, built in 1937 by Gulf Portland Cement Co., consisted of only one 8 x 220-ft kiln and the necessary grinding mills and accessory equipment and had a capacity of 900 bbl per day (300,000 bbl annually). Ideal Cement Co. purchased this plant in 1940 and almost immediately started plans to increase its production. In 1941 a 9 x 220-ft kiln was installed and grinding and storage capacity were increased. The growing demand for cement in the Houston area necessitated a third kiln (9 ft 6 in. x 250 ft) in 1947. This brought the plant up to its present capacity of about 1.3 million bbl per year. Calcium silicates in cement are produced in a burning operation at high temperatures from raw mix of argillaceous and calcareous materials that have been crushed, mixed, and ground to a fine powder. The composition of this mixture must be kept consistent within narrow limits. Raw mixing and grinding may be done either wet or dry, but in both instances the materials must be correctly proportioned, finely ground, and thoroughly intermixed before entering the kiln. As the raw mix passes through a long horizontal rotary

Jan 1, 1959

By Mi Chung

T HE ore-dressing problem at Tul Mi Chung is complicated by the unusually complex nature of the ores. These come from replacement ore- bodies in limestone at the contact with a granite batholith, and contain copper, gold, silver, bismuth, molybdenum, iron, arsenic, zinc, and lead, the first two metals constituting the principal sources of profit. Iron is present as pyrite, magnetite, and hematite. Arsenic occurs both as mispickel and lollingite (FelAsa), the latter carrying a certain amount of finely divided gold. The gangue minerals are those typical of limestone con- tact-metamorphism and include a large percentage of garnet, together with diopside, serpentine, calcite, epidote, zoisite, actinolite, 'mica and other minerals. A part of the gold occurs in a free state; some is combined with chalcopyrite and lollingite, and a consider- able proportion is contained in the pyrite. Researches towards the improvement of recovery have been energetically conducted since 1915. Amalgamation, gravity concentrating tables, vanners, can- vas plants, etc., have all been tried and discarded in favor of flotation. It was very quickly established that fine grinding was essential for satisfactory recovery. This was and is still accomplished in Hardinge ball and pebble mills. A comparative test showed that when the ore was crushed to the point at which it contained 20 to 26 per cent. coarser than 100 mesh, the gold recovery was only 55.9 per cent., whereas when crushed so that only 11 to 15 per cent. was coarser than 100 mesh, the gold recovery was increased to 82.5 per cent. No particular difficulty was ever experienced in making a satisfactory recovery of copper but the losses in gold were considered serious and led to the investigation described in this paper.

Jan 1, 1924

Jan 1, 1888

By Donald H. McLaughlin

ALTHOUGH Cerro de Pasco was well known since the early sixteen hundreds as one of the major silver districts of the Andes, its development on a modern scale did not occur until the first decade of the present century when a syndicate organized by James B. Haggin initiated the enterprise that eventually grew into the complex and widespread operations of the Cerro de Pasco Copper Corporation. Options on a few claims in Cerro de Pasco that had been brought to New York in 1900 came to the attention of A. W. McCune, a mining man from Salt Lake City, who took them to Haggin and soon succeeded in interesting that creative mining financier in the possibilities of the district. James MacFarlane, an engineer well known to both Haggin and McCune, was sent to Peru early in 1901 to make the initial examinations which promptly led to acquisition of a substantial group of claims in the heart of the mineralized area. A syndicate to which Haggin turned over his rights was organized on Feb. 26, 1902 to provide the necessary funds. The original members were J. B. Haggin, who retained a 34 per cent interest, Edward H. Clark (for Mrs. Phoebe Hearst, the widow of Haggin's old associate, George Hearst), H. McK. Twombly, H. C. Frick, D. O. Mills, and J.P. Morgan.

Jan 1, 1945

Henry LOUIS, London, England (communication to the Secretary) : Prof. Richards's paper has impressed me as highly valuable. Without entering upon any discussion of it as careful and thorough as it deserves, I venture to mention one or two points which a perusal of it has recalled to my mind in connection with my own study and practice of ore-dressing. I always mentally divide jigging into two phases: 1. A particle at rest on the jig-bed is lifted and carried upwards by the rising current of water, at an increasing velocity, which tends to a maximum. When the upward current is stopped, the particle continues to rise with rapidly diminishing velocity until it comes to rest. This completes the first phase. 2. In the second phase, the particle falls from its position of rest with an increasing velocity which tends again to a maximum, and continues to fall until the rising current of water has reduced its velocity to zero. This completes the second phase. The second phase will evidently be greatly modified by the effect of suction, as Prof. Richards shows; but I do not see that his experiments very clearly imitate the action of the second phase. And the brief intervals at the end of each phase, when the mineral particle, by reason of its acquired velocity, is still moving, though in opposition to the water-current, yet remain to be investigated. I feel especially, in Prof. Richards's paper, a difficulty which I have felt with regard to all similar previous investigations, namely, that the experiments deal with particles falling a long distance, when the velocity becomes uniform. I question whether this uniform maximum velocity is attained in actual jigging-practice. If so, it is certainly for a comparatively very small proportion only of each stroke. It seems to me that an investigation like that of Prof. Richards, but confined to the first 6 or 8 inches of fall only, and carried out with suitably delicate recording-apparatus, is what we

Jan 1, 1895