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By AIME AIME

CLYDE WILLIAMS, after graduating from the University of Utah as a chemical engineer, worked for a time in western mills and smelters. He then joined the U. S. Bureau of Mines and during the World War studied Ordnance Department and Navy problems on ferroalloys and alloy steels at the Cornell University laboratories. Later, as superintendent of the Northwest Experiment Station of the Bureau, he was active in electric furnace and ore reduction work. Clyde then went to South America and surveyed the iron and fuel resources of the Argentine. Returning, he became chief metallurgist of the Columbia Steel Corp., of

Jan 1, 1936

By R. Fahn

Bentonites are best suited for the preparation of acid activated clays with efficient adsorption properties. They are weathering products of acid volcanic ashes and natural deposits are spread worldwide. The main constituent of bentonite is aluminum hydrosilicate montmorillonite with a high ability to swell. Physical and Chemical Properties of Montmorillonite The clay mineral montmorillonite is named after its place of discovery, near Montmorillon in southern France. The structure of this clay is shown in [Fig. 1]. The montmorillonite crystal consists of about 15-20 silicate plates. Each silicate plate is composed of three layers. The central one is formed by aluminum or by ferric hydrate octahedrons, the two outer ones consist of silicon dioxide tetrahedrons. In the presence of water, the montmorillonite crystal swells and water molecules become deposited between individual silicate layers. Two types of natural bentonites are known: the Western type, which is a natural sodium bentonite (high swelling grade), and the Southern type, an alkaline earth or calcium bentonite (low swelling grade). Southern bentonites have efficient adsorption properties of their own. They are called natural active earths or fullers earths. Acid Treatment of Bentonite Under the influence of a mineral acid, the exchangeable alkaline earth ions of bentonite are substituted by hydrogen ions. Moreover, depending on the acid concentration, temperature, pressure, and reaction time, a more or less pronounced leaching process takes place. Thereby Al-, Fe-, and Mg-ions are extracted from the octahedron layers. This results in a change in the crystalline structure of montmorillonite and in an increase of its specific surface area and porosity, as shown in [Fig. 2].

Jan 1, 1983

By AIME AIME

COUNCIL. PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL. CHARLES KIRCHHOFF NEW YORK, N. Y. (Term expires February, 1912.) VICE-PRESIDENTS OF THE COUNCIL. BENJAMIN B. LAWRENCE NEW YORK, N. Y. JOSEPH W. RICHARDS SOUTH BETHLEHEM, PA. ALBERT SAUVEUR CAMBRIDGE, MASS. (Term expires February, 1912.) B. CHRISTY BERKELEY, CAL. W. A. LATHROP PHILADELPHIA, PA. GARDNER F. WILLIAMS WASHINGTON, D. C. (Term expires February, 1913.)

Sep 1, 1911

During the year this Committee has had the benefit of the services of 75 Committee members, resident in the various States of the Union and in foreign countries, 10 of them representing us abroad. A number of plans for awakening the interest of possible new members have been carried out and the results have been very gratifying. The comparative results for 1913 and 1914 are as shown in the following table: 1913 1914 Applied for membership 630 946 Elected 450 1,006 Accepted election 433 921 When it is remembered that the depression following the outbreak of war in Europe has had more serious effect on the mining industry than almost any other, these results cannot be regarded as anything other than very encouraging. Because of the unsatisfactory conditions still prevailing it will doubtless be difficult to make even as good a showing next year. It is considered, however, that the function of this Committee is not merely to secure new members, having no regard for other than numbers; its true function is to exercise a proper supervision over the growth of the Institute, building it up in those fields in which it is weak, and directing its growth in such a way as to make it most effective in fulfilling its proper function as the national organization representative of the mining profession. The plan of inviting the alumni of the leading mining schools to apply for membership, which was initiated last year, was completed this year, with the exception of one or two schools, notably the University of California, from which we have not been able to obtain a list of alumni. With these exceptions we have now extended to the graduates of all the important mining schools of this country, and several of those abroad, an invitation to apply for membership in the Institute. It. is not thought desirable to repeat this invitation too frequently, and it is therefore suggested that this field be left alone for a year or two, when, if the mining industry experiences a marked revival of interest, it will be well to send out a second letter to the same men.

Jan 4, 1915

By Kendall E. Born

PRoduction of crude oil in Tennessee during 1938 was slightly more than 41,000 bbl., an increase of about 5000 bbl. over 1937. The production by counties and by fields is shown in Table 1. The increased production has resulted from continued activity in the Upper Cumberland district, especially in Clay County. The "Mississippi lime" production in Scott and Morgan Counties continued to show a further decline with a 1938 production of 12,379 bbl. as against 14,644 bbl. during 1937. Small scattered production from some half dozen wells in Clay, Pickett, and Fentress Counties, on which there are no accurate figures, is estimated at 500 bbl. during the year. The only natural gas marketed off the lease in Tennessee during 1938 was in Morgan County, where a small amount was furnished for the town of Sunbright and immediate vicinity. The gas occurs with the oil in the Boone Camp field and small amounts were put on the line from the near-by Coon Hollow and Seabolt pools. Developments There were 88 wells spudded in during 1938, of which 10 were drilling or only temporarily shut down on Dec. 31, 1938. Eighty wells were completed during the year; 16 produced oil and 3 were gas wells of undetermined quantity. The total footage drilled on 1938 completions was 63,385 ft. Flush production during the year totaled 850 bbl. per day. The more important wildcats are listed in Table 2; the distribution of oil and gas tests drilled during the year, according to physiographic divisions, is given in Table 3. Cumberland Plateau There were no completions in the producing pools in Scott and Morgan Counties. The decline in production in these areas has been steady for the past several years. In an effort to revive production, present plans include a repressuring program in the Boone Camp field in Morgan County early in 1939. There was one completion in Morgan

Jan 1, 1939

By B. E. Thompson, H. B. Fuqua

The area discussed herein, commonly known as the North Texas district, embraces the following 10 counties: Archer, Baylor, Clay, Cooke, Foard, Hardeman, Knox, Montague, Wichita and Wilbarger. It is underlain by two major structural features. The northernmost portion of the district, including Coolie, Montague, northern Clay, Wichita, Wilbarger, Foard and Hardeman Counties, is underlain by the system of buried mountains known as the Red River uplift, which is parallel to and closely related to the Wichita-Amarillo uplift of Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. While the presence of a great majority of the numerous oil fields of the area is traceable to this feature, the production in Archer, southwestern Clay and southeastern Baylor Counties is due to the influence of what is known as the Cisco arch (so called because of its influence on Cisco deposition), the axis of which extends in a northwest-southeast direction across southwestern Wichita County into Archer County. Developments during 1938 Important discoveries in the district were considerably more numerous and of more economic importance than for several years. In addition to a number of small, relatively unimportant discoveries and to the usual local extensions to the various producing fields in the several counties, at least eight fields, most of them apparently of considerable areal extent and importance, were found. The Helmerich and Payne, Incorporated and Blackwell Oil and Gas Company No. 1 Wilson. 4 miles southeast of the town of Holliday, in north central Archer County, encountered a pay of Strawn age at a depth of 3841 to 3858 ft., and was completed for an initial production of 1952 bbl. T'his well opened a new deep pool in the K. M. A. producing zone 8 miles southeast of the K. M. A. production. Subsequently an additional deeper horizon, also of lowcr Strawn age, was discovered by wells that failed to yield commerecial oil from the horizon of the discovery well.

Jan 1, 1939

By M.A. Hunter

This paper gives the results of an investigation of the specific resistance and temperature coefficient of the electrical resistance of nickel and its important alloy, monel metal. For most of the pure metals, the temperature coefficient of resistance is approximately 0.004 per degree centigrade at 20" C. Nickel and iron, however, are exceptions. This property is important as it gives us good material for the construction of thermometers and other instruments involving electrical control. A summary of information on this subject has been publishcd by the Bureau of Standards.l The present experiments antedate this publication by several years and as the information obtained is not contained in it, the results of the experiments arc published as additional information. Electrical Properties of Pure Nickel It is generally conceded that the lowest values for electrical resistance are obtained in the purest metal. In the case of nickel, the best material obtainable is electrolytic nickel, which contains approximately 99.80 per cent. nickel, 0.15 per cent. iron, and 0.05 per cent. copper. Any cobalt that may be present is included in the nickel figure. If the elcctrolStic sheet has been deposited without intermission, it is possible to cut a section from the sheet and roll it into wire without melting. By this means a nickel wire may be obtained that is uncontaminated by any of the impurities always taken up by nickel during melting. Two samples of nickel wire obtained from different electrolytic nickels had the follolving electrical resistance and temperature coefficient of electrical resistance: Specific Temp. CofEE. Sample MateRial ReSISTance peR Deg. C. NO. 1 Electrolytic nickel.................... 7.55 0.00550 NO. 2 Electrolytic nickcl ................... 7.60 0.00553 * Rensselacr Polytechnic Institute. Director of Research, Driver-Harris Co. Russell Sage Laboratory, Rensselaer Polyt,ecllnic Institute. 1 U. S. Bureau of Standards, Circular 100 (March, 1921).

Jan 1, 1923

By P. D. Wilson

The genesis of some orebodies has been explained by the mingling and chemical interaction of water solutions of different compositions and the consequent precipitation of the mineral load of one or both solutions at their confluence. While this process can be proved in the laboratory, rarely can a positive demonstration be found in nature, for the conditions at the time an ore deposit is being worked are usually entircly differcnt from those that existed when the orebody was formed. For this reason, the present deposition of copper carbonate in the southern end of the Briggs mine of the Calumet and Arizona Mining Co. near Bisbce, Ariz., is of great interest. The developed orebodies in the Calumet and Arizona mines are roughly confined to two broad parallel zones separated at the north by a wedge of Copper Queen ground and at the south by an undeveloped block of Calumet and Arizona ground about 2000 ft. (610 m.) wide. The more westerly zone includes the Irish Mag, Oliver, P. and D., and Cole mines, none of which has been operated since 1919. Much of the water from this division is carried from the 1400-ft., or bottom, level at the southern end of the Cole mine in a long water drift through the undeveloped block to the 1300-ft. level of the Briggs mine at the southern end of the more easterly zone. Most of this water comes originally from outlying areas in the P. and D. mine, passing through parts of the lower. levels of the Cole mine, which are heavily mineralized with iron and copper sulfides. This sulfide zone has been opened up and slowly oxidizing for years. Originally a pure, potable water, the analyses of which are shown under A- in Tables 1 and 2, on its way through the mineralized area in the Cole mine it gathers copper, calcium, magnesium, iron, and aluminum sulfates, a load of dissolved mineral salts almost four times as great as that which it formerly carried; analyses B

Jan 1, 1923

By J. L. Gregg

A study of copper-base and silver-base alloys was made with the object of finding, if possible, useful alloys subject to dispersion hardening. These studies led to the discovery of several alloys showing considerable dispersion hardening, the most important of which, the alloys of copper with iron, nickel, cobalt and chromium silicides, have since been very ably reported by M. G. Corson.l This paper is offered as a few notes covering alloys other than those described by Corson and some further data on the silicide alloys. Copper Alloys For the purpose of making a rapid survey of copper alloys that might show useful dispersion-hardening phenomena, various alloys were prepared containing 3 per cent. of additional elements added in such proportion that possible compounds could be formed without an excess of either added element. These alloys in the form of rolled or forged pieces were quenched in water from a temperature of 871" C. (1800" F.) and subsequently aged at various lower temperatures for l-hr. periods. The comparison of the Rockwell hardness of the quenched alloys with the maximum hardness of the alloys after aging was used as a measure of the dispersion hardening. Table 1 shows the Rockwell "E" hardness 1/8-in. ball, 100-kg. load) of the quenched alloys, together with the maximum hardness resulting from aging. The reheating temperature given in this table is the aging temperature at which maximum hardness resulted from a l-hr. sojourn. From this table it may be observed that only the silicide alloys showed significant dispersion hardening. Of these, the only one not described by Corson is the Cu-Be-Si alloy. This alloy contained 1.35 per cent. beryllium and 1.78 per cent. silicon, which is approximately equivalent to 3 per cent. Be2Si. It had a yellow color and scaled much less than the other silicide alloys upon heating. It could be worked easily either hot or cold but hardened very rapidly on cold working. The annealed alloy upon drawing from a diameter

Jan 1, 1929

By H. D. Hoskold

As the theory and the practice of valuing mines have never been discussed in the Transactions, a paper on the subject may be acceptable, even though not exhaustive. The method here indicated is set forth, not as a model of perfection to be followed absolutely, to the exclusion of any other system based on sound scientific, commercial and equitable principles, but merely as an aid to mining engineers and financiers in estimating the value of mining-property. This paper is intended merely to point out certain financial features of the question, and not at all to go into the theories of the formation of mineral veins, extremely valuable as it must, of course, be to understand the laws of the earth's formation and of its various changes, which are the basis of such important sciences as geology and mineralogy, and highly useful as guides in determining the probable existence and extension of mineral deposits. Financial Elements of Mine- Valuation. The practice of basing the stock-exchange price of mining shares upon reports, periodically received from the mine-captain or manager, stating that in his opinion the mine is " improving " in this or that level, and is worth so much " per fathom," is, of course, absurd. Everybody experienced in metalliferous mining is aware that a mineral vein varies in thickness and also in percentage of metal in different parts of the same mine. According to the practice just indicated, a mine must have had as many values a per fathom " as there have been given reports upon it at intervals during the year,

Jan 1, 1903

By Joseph Taylor

THE Ducktown district is in the extreme southeastern corner of Tennessee, its principal railroad point being Copperhill, on the Blue Ridge division of the Louisville &Nashville Railroad, midway between Knoxville, Tenn., and Atlanta, Ga. The ore deposits were discovered about 1849 and development work was begun in the early fifties. Only the "black copper? ores, products of secondary enrichment, from beneath the gossan outcrops and overlying the massive sulphide deposits, were then mined and smelted for their copper content. Upon their exhaustion, attention was directed to the treatment of the pyritic ore remaining, resulting in the devising of a, process consisting of open-heap roasting, followed by blast-furnace smelting, which was practised until 1903, when semi-pyritic smelting was-adopted. In 1908, the companies operating in the district; on account of litigation brought about by alleged smoke damage to forests and vegetation in the adjoining counties of Georgia, were compelled to erect enormous acid plants to prevent the escape of the sulphur dioxide produced in the smelting operations. The utilization of this sulphur dioxide in the, manufacture of sulphuric acid as a byproduct has added to the revenues of the companies, and at the same time has furnished a valuable source of supply of sulphuric acid to the fertilizer trade of the South, and more recently to the manufacturers of explosives for use in the production of war munitions. The steadily increasing demand for sulphuric acid for the manufacture of fertilizers and explosives, together with the decreasing imports of pyrites, from which the acid is generally produced, now makes it imperative that greatly extended resources of pyrite be developed. While the Ducktown deposits do not predominate in pyrite, they do contain an inexhaustible supply of pyrrhotite, admixed with pyrite, which can be satisfactorily employed to supplement or substitute for pyrite in acid making.

Jan 2, 1918

By N. M. Langdon

ON account of its greater economy and cleanliness, and the extent to which iuferior fuels can be utilized for its generation, there has been of late a rapidly increasing tendency to substitute gaseous for solid fuel for metallurgical and other industrial purposes, which has led to various improvements both in the process and apparatus for its manufacture, notably among which may IN mentioned the Tessie Gas Producer* described by Mr. A. L. Holley. A considerable experience by the author with producers of various kinds using anthracite fuel, in connection with the Taylor ore-roast ing furnace at Chester, N. J., with more or less unsatisfactory resnlts, finally led to the erection of the experimental producer described below, which combines in its construction, simplicity, dorability, and accessibility for cleaning and removing the ash and manipulating the fuel. It is adapted to the use of various kinds of fuel, and is capa ble of generating a steady and uniform supply of gas at a minimum cost. It has been in constant use day and night for about five months, and has given very satisfactory results. The producer, as shown in the accompanying sketch, consists of a cylindrieal furnace, preferably inclosed in an iron jacket or casing, having a bosh or inverted cone-shaped base as in a blast furnace. It is provided with a bell and hopper, the bell being hung to a forked lever, and having guide flanges to prevent it from swing ing, and an opening at its apex through which to insert a bar for manipulating the fuel, which when not in use is closed with a plug or stopper. Cleaning is effected through two small doors placed opposite each other at the hearth level, which in order to facilitate the operation is elevated above the floor. The doors are removable, and when closed are by their own weight and by means of bevelled lugs held tightly against their frames, forming a practically tight joint. A blast of commingled steam and air is injected into the fuel through a series of tuyeres underneath the bosh communicating with steam jet injectors. A small flue also connects the door

Jan 1, 1884

When the suggestion was made by Major General Leonard Wood that the Institute assist in the formation of a National Reserve Corps of - Engineers, Dr. Drinker's name occurred first to the Board of Directors as the man who would be most capable of carrying out the proposed plan. Dr. Drinker has long been associated with work in connection with military training and is at present the Chairman of the Governing Committee on Military Training Camps Association which is having such important results at Plattsburg and other places in this country. As Chairman of the Institute's Committee on National Reserve Corps of Engineers, Dr. Drinker was a member of the Joint Conference Committee of the National Engineering Societies .on. this subject., He was an earnest worker in the movement, which, has finally resulted in definite legislation by Congress; whereby a Reserve Corps of Engineers is authorized in the new Army Bill which became effective July 1, 1916. Notice of the results of the work was sent to all the members of the National Engineering Societies early in July, and the and the Department of the United States has recently issued a circular which has been sent to all the members of the National Engineering: Societies, as well, as to many other engineers, outlining, the line, whereby engineers may enroll themselves in the Officers Reserve Corps. Dr. Drinker has, therefore, fulfilled the mission which he undertook when assuming the Chairmanship of the Institute's Committee. He now asks the permission of the Board of Directors to withdraw as Chairman and has requested that he be replaced in this position by Mr. Arthur S. Dwight, in; the belief that the Chairmanship of the Institute's Committee and, membership on the Joint Committee should be vested in a man ,located in New York City, for the better carrying put of the important work now before the Joint Committee. We are happy to say that Dr. Drinker has consented to remain a member of the Institute's Committee; but the completion of the first phase of his work; as,Chairman, should not be allowed, to pass without an expression of appreciation on behalf of the Institute for his services.

Jan 9, 1916

Discussion of the paper of F. C. LANGENBERG and R. G. WEBBER, presented at the New York meeting, February, 1915, and printed in Bulletin No. 98, February, 1915, pp. 291 to 300. HENRY M. HOWE, Bedford Hills, N. Y.-The results here given are of great interest and are welcome as forming another rivet to increase the stability of our present theories of the constitution and properties of steel. The important discovery is that the hysteresis increases with the fineness of the structure, that is to say with the extent of contact between the particles of ferrite and cementite. All of the specimens except No. 4 consist of ferrite and cementite of different degrees of intimacy of admixture. If hysteresis represents something akin to surface friction, which retards the rotation of the ferrite on the application and release of the magnetizing force, then it is only natural that it should increase as it does with the intimacy of admixture, because it is at the surface of contact of a given particle of ferrite with the neighboring particles of cementite that this friction is to be expected, and of course the extent of surface must in¬crease with the intimacy of admixture. The somewhat greater hardness of specimen 4 than of the others may perhaps he referred to the principle discussed in my paper, Why Does Lag Increase with the Temperature from Which Cooling Starts?' The furnace-cooled specimens were cooled so slowly that the influence of the initial temperature of heating is effaced. But in the air-cooled specimens we have the suggestion that the high temperature, 1,000°, from which the cooling of No. 4 started has prevented the completion of the transformation, with the result that the metal is slightly harder than any of the others. The difference is not to be explained by difference in the fineness of structure, because the whole range of fineness from No. 1 to No. 6 is accompanied by no change in hardness, the only change being an appreciable increase of hardness following the air cooling from 1,000°.

Jan 5, 1915

By M. L. Requa

IN the fall of 1910, the Nevada Petroleum Co., operating in the Coalinga field in California, determined to drill a number of wells with rotary tools, in order to prove conclusively the relative value of the rotary as compared with the standard rig. At that time, the rotary was but little known in California and its proposed introduction met with considerable criticism on the part of the operators and quiet opposition among the standard drilling crews. There were few men available who were competent to handle a rotary outfit, and these few had had but little experience in California fields. Machines as then built were much inferior to those now used, being lighter in construction and of a poorer quality of material. The shells encountered at depths between 1,700 and 2,000 ft. seemed to be too hard to permit of successful drilling, and at these depths the rig was changed over to standard tools and by them completed. Because of the heavy depreciation, the time lost in converting from rotary to standard, and the comparatively small profit, it was concluded that unless in the future there was some material improvement in rotary rigs, nothing would be gained by drilling with rotary tools upon this property. Little or no drilling has been done upon the property since that time, but in the meantime a large number of men have been trained in the use of the rotary; in fact, many standard-tool men have abandoned standard drilling and, starting in as roustabouts, have become thoroughly competent rotary operators. The improvements in the machinery have been such as to remove many of the objections and the rotary drilling of to-day is in every way superior to that of 1910. In contrast, a well drilled recently by the Kern Trading & Oil Co., in the east side Coalinga field may be cited. The first 2,500 ft. was drilled in 24 days and it is confidently expected that the water string will be set with a rotary at 3,400 ft.-a record obviously far beyond that made in 1910 by the Nevada Petroleum Co.

Jan 2, 1915

Established as a Division March 13, 1935 R H Feierabend, Chairman T E Gillingham, Jr, Northeast Vice-Chairman W A Riggs, Southeast Vice-Chairman C F Clausen, Mid-Continent Vice-Chairman R H Wilpolt, Rocky Mountain Vice-Chairman J K Brooke, Pacific Southwest Vice-Chairman Leslie C Richards, Pacific Northwest Chairman V A Haw, Canadian Vice-Chairman J S Holland, Sec'y -Treas National Lead Company Mining Department 111 Broadway New York 6, New York

Jan 1, 1960

By P. D. Wilson

The genesis of some orebodies has been explained by the mingling and chemical interaction of water solutions of different compositions and the consequent precipitation of the mineral load of one or both solutions at their confluence. While this process can be proved in the laboratory, rarely can a positive demonstration be found in nature, for the conditions at the time an ore deposit is being worked are usually entircly differcnt from those that existed when the orebody was formed. For this reason, the present deposition of copper carbonate in the southern end of the Briggs mine of the Calumet and Arizona Mining Co. near Bisbce, Ariz., is of great interest. The developed orebodies in the Calumet and Arizona mines are roughly confined to two broad parallel zones separated at the north by a wedge of Copper Queen ground and at the south by an undeveloped block of Calumet and Arizona ground about 2000 ft. (610 m.) wide. The more westerly zone includes the Irish Mag, Oliver, P. and D., and Cole mines, none of which has been operated since 1919. Much of the water from this division is carried from the 1400-ft., or bottom, level at the southern end of the Cole mine in a long water drift through the undeveloped block to the 1300-ft. level of the Briggs mine at the southern end of the more easterly zone. Most of this water comes originally from outlying areas in the P. and D. mine, passing through parts of the lower. levels of the Cole mine, which are heavily mineralized with iron and copper sulfides. This sulfide zone has been opened up and slowly oxidizing for years. Originally a pure, potable water, the analyses of which are shown under A- in Tables 1 and 2, on its way through the mineralized area in the Cole mine it gathers copper, calcium, magnesium, iron, and aluminum sulfates, a load of dissolved mineral salts almost four times as great as that which it formerly carried; analyses B

Jan 1, 1923

AT THE beginning of November, Mussolini had firmly established himself at the head of the Italian Government. He himself referred to the ascendancy of the Fascisti as the result of a revo-lution and bluntly informed Parliament that it was to vote, as a matter of form, as he ordered, or else be dissolved. One of the great consequences of these events in Italy was the impetus that they gave to simi-lar movements in other countries of Continental Europe. Another great event of the month in world affairs was the repudiation by the Turks of the Mudania agreement and their notification to the Allies that the latter must evacuate Constantinople and allow the Dardanelles to be closed. This had the effect of once more consolidating Great Britain, France and Italy in so far as this question is concerned, and there was prompt refusal to accede to the demands of the Turks. With the advent of November, both the United States and Great Britain were in- the throes of political contests. The result of the American election was a landslide against the administration and especially was it an expression of agrarian discontent and a declara-tion in effect that our domestic affairs are not good in spite of political representations that they are. In Great Britain, the Conservatives were put in power by a substantial majority in Parliament, but the fact that the Labor party became numerically the second party instead of the Liberals and that it polled about 40 per cent. of the total popular vote affords ground for misgivings, especially when it be considered that the Labor party was standing on distinctly socialis-tic and communistic principles. In Russia, there was a sitting of the Third Interna-tionale, to which Lenin in a speech made a quasi-confession of the failure of the communistic experiment in Russia. He admitted, moreover, that Russia could not industrially reconstruct herself without capitalistic help. Nationally the country is making progress. During November, the Far Eastern Repub-lic surrendered to the Soviet, which thus carried Russia back to the shore of the Pacific.

Jan 12, 1922

By Dorsey Hager

The possibility of oil and gas production in Alabama his been little considered as yet. Gas and some oil have been found in northwestern Alabama, near Birmingham, in the Pennsylvanian beds, but the oil and gas possibilities in the Cretaceous beds are not generally appreciated. The recent activity of oil companies in that State has attracted much attention, and in this paper the main structural and the general strati-graphic features are described. Four favorable areas are outlined. These contain folds of major interest. There are other favorable areas which have not been mapped-l Commercial pools discovered in this area would have the advantage of being near tidewater. Mobile, Ala., on the Gulf of Mexico, would be the logical site for refineries and shipping facilities. A pipe line could readily be laid to that city from the Hatchitigbee and the Jackson areas. The logical outlet for the Geneva and the Gordon areas would be Panama City, Ha., on the Gulf of Mexico. Topography The whole of the area under consideration lies in the Gulf coastal plain and slopes gently to the southwest and west. The elevations vary from 200 to 400 ft. (60 to 121 m.) above sea level. The streams have sunk their channels into this gently sloping plain, the main drainage flowing south or southwest into the Gulf of Mexico. Between the

Jan 1, 1918

By H. Ries

IN THE marketing of mineral products, it is always highly desirable for both the producer and the consumer to be able to discuss things in a common language, and this can only be done if there are standard methods for expressing the properties of the raw materials. Having developed such a form of expression, the next step would be the making of specifications, which may serve as a basis for selecting raw materials. Considering the large number of non-metallic minerals that are used, there are not a few for which there are no standard laboratory tests to be used in determining their properties, or even standard specifications on which grades or market price may be based. Indeed in many cases the consumer simply requests the producer to submit samples, and rejects or accepts them without any explanation. Could the producer know in advance just what the consumer needed, time and money might often be saved. It appears to the writer that it is of the highest importance to devise standard laboratory tests wherever possible, as this enables the consumer to state definitely what he needs, and is of great assistance to the producer. It should also work to reduce misunderstandings and disputes. 'In the case of sands, we find that they show a wide variation in their character, ranging from those that are so coarse as to be of gravelly nature to those that are so fine that they might be classed as silt; and from very clayey ones to those that are practically free from clay. For this wide range of sands, we have a corresponding variety of uses, which are based mainly on the physical properties of the sand, although these are not always very definitely stated. The chemical composition need rarely be considered, if the sand is of siliceous nature. To determine and express these properties there should be standard tests, which are to be followed in all cases where the material is tested in the laboratory.

Jan 1, 1926