Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/264

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��rac so forcibly of the dire deslniotion of war as [be sueiies I lieheld in and around Bradford ai the close at the census year; and nothing else but ibe neces- sities of nti tirmy cumm.indB sucb a cotnplete sacrilice of every other Interest, or iearee sucb a scene of ruin and deaolation."

One important renson for the wonderfully rapid developmeut of oil districts is thus forci- bly presented: —

■• Tbe owner of oil territory must have it drilled, or it will be exhausted by his nelglibors drilling a cordun of welts around bis pniperty. After it is drilled, the well must Sow until Ibe pressnre of gas Is exhausted; and after the oil lias stopped flon-ing, if the owner does not pump, bis nelgbbor's pumps will drain bis territory; and it he 'pulls out,' the law compels him to All his well with sand, and ruiu it forever, to prevent the public injury resulting from letting surface-water into the oil-sand. There is, llierefore, no other aitematiTe presented to the un- fortunate possessor of oil territory but to drill and produce, wliatever tite price of oil may be."

The en cyclopedic cimracter of this report is very clearly Bhown in the second and third parts, in which the statistics of the maiuirac- ture and uses of petroleum arc preceded by historical and descriptive accounts, either ori- ginal or compiled, of the apparatus, methods, products, and various applications in the arts; the sections on the use of jietroleiim for lubri- cating and illuminating purposes being espe- cially full.

The i'Cport on coke is restricted to the coke made as a direct product, and used in blast- furnaces, and does not include that produced in the manufacture of gas. Nor are the coking coals taken into account, except iiicid entail}''. This is, like petroleum, essentially a new in- dustry in the United Stntes, the annual value of the coke produced baving increased from »189,I84 in 1860. to $5,359,489 in 1880; and this is the first time it has appeared prominent- ly in a census report.

The statistics of prodnction for the census year are very full, and are followed by a his- torical and descriptive account of the industry in the different states and in foreign countries. In the concluding sections, the preparation of the coal, and the various forms of coke-ovens, are described in detail. The statistics show that coke is probably, by weight, the cheapest of all manufactured products, selling for less than two dollars per ton; and that it may be considerably cheapened in the future by the utilization of the waste- products, which greatly exceed in value the coal from which the coke is made.

The census of the building-stones and quarry industry of the United States was planned and

��organized by the late Dr. George W. Hawts. His untimely death led to a much greater division of labor than is apparent in the pre|v aration of the re|xirts on petroleum and coke, the list of the more prominent contributors to this report comprising nearly a dozen names; and, what is more to be regretted, it also ne- cessitated the curtailment of the strictly scien- tific portion of the work. The most noticeable _ feature of this report, from the scientific stand* J point, is the absence of any evidence of a s^fl riouB attempt to improve the really splendU^ opportunity which the thoroughly representative collection made by the agents of the census bureau presents to investigate the buildii^- stones of this country. The census reports are far from uniform in this respect; some classes of products, such as the woods, cotton, wool. etc., being worked up much more thoroughly.

We do not find in this reiwrt any systematic statement of the composition, microscopic structure, te:tture, specific gravity, crushing strength, porosity, chemical behavior, etc.. of our building- stones. In short, the report pre- sents no data forming a basts of comparison by which, to tflke a practical view of the sub- ject, we can determine the relative merits Ua particular uses of the products of the fifb hundred and twenty-five important qu&rr operated in the United States during the censi year. Almost the only distinctly scientiflj sections of the report are the chapt«r on t' microscopic structure of building-stones, Mr. Merrill, and that on the durability of buth ing-stones in New- York City and vicinity, I Professor .lulien. But the former is shot and on the text-book plan, with but few i crences to the atones of particular locatitiei The figures are few and unsatisfactory; component minerals not being sufficiently dis- tinguished by colors, or otherwise. And. al- though Professor Julien's essay is excellent so far as it goes, yet it is only a partial and lot " ~ treatment of the subject.

The student of economic geology will, bow ever, find chapters four to seven, w' ' constitute the main part of the report, valuable as reservoirs of fie Id -observation! notwithstanding the general lack of expert mental or laboratory data. These chapte arc devoted to cjuarry methods, the statistics of production during the census year, de- scriptions of quarries and quarry regions, and stone -construction in cities. The thirty-two chromo lithographic plates which conclude this volume are one of its most attractive features. They show the appearance of polished surfaces of our handsomest marbles, granites, etc. ^

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