MINERALOGY FOR 1887 AND 1888. 



IJv EnwARn S. Dana. 



GENERAL WORK IN MINERALOCrY. 



The wide interest felt duriug the last few years iu the general sub- 

 ject of microscopical mineralogy, aud the advance made in this field, 

 are well shown by the number of new works that have recently ap- 

 peared which are devoted to this line of research. It has been in the 

 allied department of petrography that the work has been most actively 

 dune and the progress made, bat the result has been to bring about a 

 most important advance in the instruments and methods of study ap- 

 plied to mineralogy proper. The works of Rosenbusch and Zirkel, ( 1873,) 

 were the pioneers in this directiou, and siuce then the workers have 

 been many and the progress made rapid. A second edition of the work 

 of Rosenbusch was published iu 1885, and now an English edition i has 

 been given to students iu this country and Englaad by J. P. Iddings. 

 In this translation the original work appears hi somewhat abridged 

 form, but not so much so as to diminish its value, while making it rather 

 more convenient of use. All that is essential has been retained, in- 

 cluditig the large number of fine plates ofmicrophotographs. Another 

 work of similar character is that of Rntley.^ The methods of studying 

 minerals with the microscope are given systematically, with the charac- 

 ters especially of those species which enter into the formation of rocks. 

 A book of rather wider scope aud more profound character is that of 

 Michel-Levy aud Lacrois.^ The first author has already made impor- 

 tant contributions in this field, and the Mineralogie micrographique by 

 Fouque and M.-Levy (1879^, is one of the most exhaustive memoirs that 

 has been published. In the present volume the author introduces son^.e 

 of the results of his former labors ; for instance, on the variation of the 



"uTlicroscopical Pbysiograpliv of Rock-n.akiug Minerals, and aid to the Microscopi- 

 cal study of Rocks, bV IT. Koseubnscb. Translated and abridged for use iu schools aud 

 colleges; bv Joseph P. Iddings. 333 pp- •^^' plates. New York, 1886. J. Wiley & Sous. 

 ^Rock-formiug Minerals, by Frauk Rutley, F. G. S. 252 pp. London, 1888. 



Thomas Murby. . , . 



= Les Mindraux des Roches: (1) Application des ni6thodes min<Sralogiques et chi- 

 luiques ^ leur aude microscopique. par A. Michel-Levy; (2) Douuees physiques et 

 optiques, par A. Michel-Levy et Alf. Lacroix. 334 pp. Paris, 1888. Baudry cV Cie. 

 ' 4oy 



