APRIL 23, 1881.] THE ENGINEERING AND MINING JOURNAL. 281 ENGINEERING i MINING JOURN Al expert in boilers, as well as a man of practical sense, and the other an I dl ' expert in hulls, as well as a man of practical sense—shall jointly and personally examine every steamer, and jointly upon their expert VoL. XXXI. (WITH SUPPLEMENT.) No, 17.! knowledge and their practical judgment certify, under oath, its con- |dition. But the law is defective in that it makes no provision for cases like that of this port, where some 700 steamers need to be inspected in a RICHARD P. ROTHWELL, C.E., M.E., | Editors. single year. Obviously, the true remedy would haye been to execute the ROSSITER W. RAYMOND, Ph.D. law faithfully, in which case there would soon have been an accumu- Norz.—Communications relative to the editorial management should be addressed te | lation of steamers requiring inspection, and unable to get it, by reason of RICHARD P. RoTHwELL, P.O, Box 4404, New York. ‘ . Sab = . Co nmunications for Mr. Raymonp should be addressed to Rossirer W. Raymonp, P.O. the inadequacy of the inspecting force. The commercial interest would Bre — ee. aes ee by Mr. RayMonp will be signed thus * ; and only | speedily have obtained the requisite amendments in legislation. or articles so signed is he responsible. é ° ° ° oer Semen Pricg, including oatage, for the United States and Cuseee. se per But our people have a way of quietly disregarding or “ construing” out annum ; $2.25 for six months; all other countries, including postage, $5.00 = 20s. = 1 ’ i i a pectors 25 francs = 20 marks. All payments must be made in advance. - of force a law that doesn’t work‘well. Accordingly, set ss sane yeemireances should always be made by Post-Offlce Orders or Bank Drafts on New | were appointed, who were not necessarily experts, and whose certificates eee ee SETHE SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING CO.. Seneene. were not officially authoritative. At first, indeed, they began to give cer- 27 Park Place, New York. | tificates ; but this practice being forbidden by the Treasury Department, ee na —~ ~~~ | an eatempore and irresponsible system grew up, under which the assist- CONTENTS, ants made inspections, and reported the result to the legal inspectors, il who simply sat in their office, to sign and swear to the certificates, of the EDITORIALS : PAGE. a PacE. | subject-matter of which they had no personal knowledge. These docu« iano Russell eal B, Harrison. .........00<0500. aad 981 281 | | NOTES: Catalogue of Ribon & March......... og4 | ments amounted, of course, to nothing : more than the expression . of their f rg yt gallant Rene eeS 281 | Stockder’s Map of San Juan ........ 284| confidence in their assistants. The special qualifications required by The Seawanhaka Case........ .... -- 281} National Academy of Sciences...... 285 | law of the inspectors were thus of no use to the community; and the The Gold Mines of the Rhewtian Alps. 281} A Strike amonz Nova Scotia Coal cag | Protection intended to be afforded by the law was nullified. Under this ent <t Ge Aatieete Com aan a & Philadelphia *88| system, the person making the actual examination is not legally and ate EE MM cceisncssa csc ogs | officially liable ; and the person who takes the official oath, and is liable, British Exports of Iron and Steel.... 283 | Two Great Explosions .............. 288 | knows nothing about the facts except upon hearsay. New Publications ................- 283 | GENERAL Minino News: In the recent case, the court very properly held that the inspectors The Metric Foot—Comparison of the te ee erence tay hs ee ees se must be held responsible for their neglect of duty in not making personal ae, a er een aren og | Colorado.........+......0...... ...,. 288 {examination ; and any defect in the vessel, which they would have dis et MMM ccc osccueenedus Sed MMM ce ses. Sse eotico ans vidas 289| covered if they had fully discharged their duty, would render them Maine Mining News................-+.- 284| Nevada..... t tetteseeeeee eeereeees 269 | liable to penalty, precisely as if, instead of making no examination at all, The Niagara Mining and Producing WRRB. ...0000+.0ree0e. Sper eee sd they had made an insufficient, incompetent, or dishonest one. Company Berson aonersaaie ape sneeees 285 ee SALES..000. 2000 ccccese 289 There was no doubt, upon the evidence, as to the defect which caused or ee ae ee and Silver Stocks........ ...... 290| the disaster to the steamer. But there was naturally a conflict of expert Opening Coal Mines................+6+- 285| Philadelphia Mining Stocks.......... 293 | evidence on the question, whether the condition of the pipe which blew Ct RUIN se oo555 ovidiskd cnn sosebins 285 Copper and Silver Stocks...... ...... 293] out would necessarily have been detectable at the time of the “assistant- The Genesis of Our Iron Ores.......... 286| Coal Steaks oscce cccccceresccecces coce 293 inspection,” three months before—indeed, whether at that time the pire aa oe . 287 —. ee Ca teRtesresertni — might not have been sound. Cases are not uncommon in which three Telephone Exchanges................ 987 | Inon Manxer Review. Lees ih cae te 295 months of use destroys good pipe ; and the disagreement of the jury vire Florida Ship-Canal Project.......... 287 | Coat TRADE REVIEW.. ................... £96] tually gave the inspectors the benefit of this doubt. Coating Tin Plates with Glass....... 287 | Statistics oF CoaL Propuction....... 296| The law should be changed, either by increasing the number of Coal-Cutting Machinery...... ..... Be I ieee Siren svasecsnie yeas wn 296 inspectors or by providing that the assistant-inspectors shall sign the legal An Ancient Scientist....... .......--. 287 | Assay DEPARTMENT... ............ .000 289 certificate and take the legal liability surrounding their appointment a the same time, with the same safeguards as to character and qualifica- of the U.S. Assay Oftice, Mr. RvussELL B. HARRISON, Superintendent tions which are now connected with the inspectorship. The present AA Eat ODN AeSteeti 9S cea at Helena, Montana, is in the city. farce of letting ane man look and making another man certify is too SSS liable to become tragedy. This is, to our mind, the moral of the AN experienced mining engineer, capable of opening and managing a | Seawanhaka case, 7 manganese mine, is wanted, Address the Editor of this JouRNAL, ¢ THE GOLD MINES OF THE RHETIAN ALPS, ; Inarecent notice of Professor Posepny’s Archiv fiir Praktische Geologie, Ir is with sincere regret that we have to notice the death, on April 2d, | we promised a further account of his interesting discussion of the ancient ah Meats of Mr. RoBERT Crooks, the respected senior partner in the firm of Messrs. gold-mining districts of the High Tauern, This German geographical ate RoBert Crooxs & Co., of Liverpool. name appears to cover what are known to English readers as the Rheetian Alps. The word Taur is of Celtic origin, and signifies a lofty range ; Ly our advertising columns will be found the card of Mr. C. V. LELIVa, and since the range in question comprises the Grossglockner (12,560 feet) and the Grossvenediger (nearly as high), with a host of lesser but still a civil engineer and architect of long and varied experience, who eminent peaks, and a considerable area of perpetual snow and glaciers, announces as a specialty the preparation of topographical maps for min- the appellation is certainly deserved. ing companies. We can recommend Mr. LELIva from personal knowl- The central gneiss of this range, and the later crystalline schists which edge of his work in this line. And in this connection, we take occasion flank it, are traversed by auriferous veins, That these are mostly true to say that, besides their general and topographical maps, the New York offices of mining companies should have at all times maps showing the deep fissures is conclusively shown by Professor PoSEPNY, and indeed has been held by the majority of authorities. The filling or vein-material is condition and progress of their underground operations. This is done to not indeed always distinctly arranged as in the typical fissure-veins of some extent, but not as thoroughly as it ought to be. A large-scale banded structure ; but this is a peculiarity well-known in the gold-quartz working map, to which the weekly or monthly tracings from the mines veins of other regions of similar country-rock. The unsuccessful attempt should be immediately transferred, is the thing required ; and an hour's to trace ‘symmetrical structure” in the vein-matter has led some writers wee » in mpet : : ae zi é : wees nee : eae ee ee at a, Seats 8 een to deny, for instance, the fissure-origin of certain California quartz-veins ; draftsman, is the only proper way—and a very cheap way—to secure . * ; > : eas and the conclusive proof in that case is exactly the same as Professor it. Mr. LeLiva hae ~ Ay earesinagelllllregeat oe : - _ “a a ~ PosEPNY brings mee for the Tyrol, namely, the fact that the ore- Chrysolite Company natin, th Gan genet seetnntien 28 the ofteens "% deposits do not invariably follow the country-stratification, and the other of inquiring stockholders. fact that, in spots, the more or less obscured “ structure,” and the Pee oe er ee ‘*comb” in the center, can be traced. THE SBAWANHAKA Gans, The vein-material consists chiefly of quartz, deposited from aqueous anid aren The trial of the boiler and hull inspectors for alleged neglect of duty | solution, and the products of friction between the vein-walls. The and false certification with regard to the steamer Seawanhaka, which | quartz, as is everywhere the case in the gold-bearing veins which traverse resulted in a disagreement of the jury, illustrates a peculiarity of the | the crystalline schists, is full of little cracks or veinlets, which are filled American people worthy of criticism and needing correction.