450 RECORD OF SCIENCE FOR 1886. 



A supplementary volume to tlie second edition (1875) of Rammels- 

 berg's Haudbuch der Mineralcbemie bas recently been issued. It 

 contains tbe new analyses of tbe past ten years witb extended calcula- 

 tions and discussions of comi^osition after tbe manner of tbe earlier 

 volumes. Tbese discussions are always suggestive and often tbrow 

 important ligbt upon knotty points of cbemical relations; tbe sugges- 

 tions in regard to tbe connection between species, new and old, are often 

 to tbe point, but sometimes arbitrary and not sufficiently considered. 

 Tbe concluding jiartof vol. ix of tbe Materialien zur Mineralogie Euss- 

 lands, by Kokscbarow, including tbe final pages, bas been issued. It 

 contains a new determination of tbe form of tbe variety of xantbopbyl- 

 lite called waluewite; a discussion of tbe forms of topaz based upon 

 tbe work of Des Cloizeaux and N. von Kokscbarow, jr., witb a large 

 number of calculated angles ; also a description of tbe new species 

 mursinskite alluded to on a subsequent page. 



Tbe large volume of cbemical and geological essays (second series), 

 by T. Sterry Hunt, entitled Mineral Pbysiology and Pbysiograpby, con- 

 tains witb otber interesting matter an extended cbapter giving tbe 

 autbor's views on mineral classification as applied to tbe silicates. A 

 tiiird volume of tlie Mineral Resources of tbe United States bas been 

 issued, containing, like its predecessors, a large amount of valuable in- 

 formation for tbose interested in tbe mining industries of tbe country. 

 A Catalo^jue of Minerals, giving synonyms and also a brief statement 

 of composition, bas been prepared by A. H. Cbester, and will be found 

 useful by collectors. A work on tbe diamond {Le Diamant, etc.), by 

 M. Bontan, forms a volume of Fr6my's Encyclopedic Cbimique. It 

 gives an excellent summary of tbe subject, witb full descriptions of tbe 

 diamond diggings of Soutb Africa and Brazil, illustrated by many plates. 



Tbe completion of tbe tentb volume of Grotb's Zeitschrift fur Krys- 

 tallograpbic uud Mineralogie is marked by tbe publication of a gen- 

 eral index for tbe ten volumes. Tbis bas been expanded so as to be a 

 very complete repertorium of mineralogical and crystallograpbic litera- 

 ture from 1870 to tbe beginning of 1885. Tbis forms tbe first two bun- 

 dred pages of tbe volume, tbe index proper making up tbe remainder. 

 A new periodical bas been commenced in Vienna, entitled Annalen des 

 k. k. naturbistoriscben Hof-museums ; it is edited by tbe director of 

 tbe Vienna Museum, Dr. Franz Hitter von Hauer, and in addition to 

 tbe reports and notices connected witb tbe museum it contains articles 

 on subjects in tbe various brancbes of tbe natural sciences. 



CRYSTALLOGRAGHY AND PHYSICAL MINERALOGY. 



Among tbe contributions to crystallograpby, perbai)S tbe first place 

 belongs to tbe monograpb on stepbanite, by Karl Vrba.* Tbis is a 

 species wbicb bas been carefiUly studied before, and tbe early deter- 



* For references see the list of papers on mineral species on a following page. 



