minp:ralogy. 



By Prof. Edward S. Dana, 



Yale College, New Haven, Conn. 



GENERAL WORKS ON MINERALOGY. 



The most important contribution of the year 1883 to mineralogical bib- 

 liography is the work of Prof. Antonio D'Achiardi, of Pisa, upon the 

 metals, their ores and ore-deposits. This work differs from the earlier 

 publication of the same author (on the Mineralogy of Tuscany, 1872 

 -73), in that its object is mainly technical, and yet the amount of mate- 

 rial brought together is so large and the maimer of handling the subject 

 so masterly that it is of no less value to the mineralogical student 

 than to the mining engineer. The work is coutaiued in two volumes 

 aggregating more than a thousand pages. The author takes up the im- 

 portant metals, as gold, silver, copper, and so on, in detail, but includes 

 in the discussion nearly all the elements, even the rarest of them, as 

 gallium, samarium, &c. Under each head a description is given of the 

 important minerals furnishing the element in question, then of their 

 ore-deposits, and with this is coupled a valuable discussion of the 

 methods of deposition, the formation of mineral veins, and similar mat- 

 ters. In regard to the latter subject, it may be noted that the author 

 is in general inclined to look for the source of the metals to the 

 depths from which the eruptive rocks, which so often occur with the ore- 

 deposits, have been derived ; he favors the view, further, that in the 

 majority of cases the ores have reached the vein by hydroplutonic pro- 

 cesses in connection with eruptions, and as compounds with sulphur, 

 antimony, or arsenic. 



The Lehrbucli der Mineralogie, by Tschermak, has been completed dur- 

 ing the past year, and forms, perhaps, the best general text-book in the 

 German language. The physical portion of the subject is presented 

 with much clearness, but the description of many of the most important 

 species is meager and unsatisfactory, even for the class of students for 

 which the book was especially prepared. A valuable general work 

 on mineralogy by A. de Lapparent has also appeared. It is divided 

 into three parts, of which the first is devoted to Geometrical Crystallo- 

 graphy, the second to Physical Crystallography, and the third to the 



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