September 22, 1923] 



NATURE 



431 



has sat by a prospector's camp fire or shared his hard- 

 ships in the field, who knows the type of tough, hardy 

 fellow who starts out to prospect an unknown country 

 with the customary simple equipment — often nothing 

 :more than pick, shovel and pan, a bag of food, and a 

 jun across his shoulder — could imagine that chemical 

 "^equations and crystallographic systems could be of 

 the remotest use or of the faintest interest to him in 

 any circumstances whatever. It is quite certain that 

 he would grudge even the small space that this book 

 would occupy in his pack, even supposing that he could 

 understand it. 



If the author, on the other hand, had in mind the 

 preparation of a work suitable for the trained mining 

 geologist, such a man as might be selected as the leader 

 of an important exploring expedition, then it can only 

 be said that the scientific section of the book is too 

 rudimentary and inaccurate to be of use to him. To 

 give one example : a thorough knowledge of mineral 

 deposits is above everything else the first essential for 

 a mining geologist ; our author informs us that M. De 

 Launay's "Traite des gites metallif^res " "contains 

 everything that is known " of the science of ore deposits. 

 There is, however, no such book as he names ; he must 

 mean either M. De Launay's " Formation des gites 

 metallif^res," or else the " Traite des gites mineraux 

 et metalliferes " by Fuchs and De Launay, both of 

 which were published in 1893. Few branches of 

 scientific study have made more progress than has this 

 one in the last quarter of a century, and the statement 

 that a book written thirty years ago presents the sum 

 of our knowledge of the subject to-day is altogether 

 misleading. 



As regards the rest of the book, it may be said that 



)nly a small portion is devoted to matter that could 



interest a prospector of any type ; nearly one-half of 



lit is taken up with a sketch of mining operations with 



[which the prospector has nothing whatever to do. 



[Thus it would probably be of use to him to have a 



Icorrect drawing and description showing how to con- 



fStruct a windlass, but this is barely mentioned, whereas 



lany pages are devoted to the headgears and winding 



Imachinery suitable to a large working mine. In the 



Isame way, ventilating fans, rock drills, dressing plant 



[and other appliances necessary for a mine in full opera- 



[tion are described in what is entitled a prospector's 



'manual. We wonder if M. Bresson thinks that a 



prospector really uses any of these. 



(2), (3) These two volumes constitute additions to 

 the series of monographs on mineral resources issued by 

 the Imperial Institute, and follow closely the general 

 .scheme adopted in previous examples. There is an 

 opening chapter describing briefly the more important 

 ores of the particular metal under discussion, their mode 



NO. 2812, VOL. I I 2] 



of occurrence, and the general principles of the metal- 

 lurgical processes employed for the production of the 

 metal. The general uses to which it is put, its prices 

 over a period of years, and statistics of production and 

 trade movements complete this part. The second 

 chapter describes the chief occurrences of the ores within 

 the British Empire, and a third chapter is devoted to 

 deposits in foreign countries ; finally a set of references 

 to the literature of the particular subject concludes 

 each volume. 



Of these two books it need only be said that the work 

 has been painstakingly and carefully performed, and 

 that they constitute useful handbooks for those requir- 

 ing general information upon the sources of supply of 

 the two metals in question. The compilation of the 

 volume on copper ores was no doubt the easier task of 

 the two, because much has been written on the subject 

 of copper, notably the volume on copper issued in 1922 

 by the Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau, which had, 

 indeed, rendered Mr. Allen's work practically super- 

 fluous, seeing that the earlier book has covered the 

 same ground as the present volume. Perhaps Mr. 

 Allen himself felt this, because it is noteworthy that he 

 omits this particular work from the list of references 

 quoted by him. He has also missed a number of 

 important monographs issued by the United States 

 Geological Survey, which are, moreover, cited in the 

 much more complete bibliography attached to the work 

 of the Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau. 



Mr. Halse had far less assistance in his task ; the 

 Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau had indeed issued 

 a volume on quicksilver in 1922, and this again is not 

 referred to in the bibliography attached to Mr. Halse's 

 volume. We trust that the omissions in each case are 

 accidental and not intentional. The bulletin of the 

 Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau contains far less 

 technical information upon the mode of occurrence of 

 mercury deposits, and Mr. Halse has done this part of 

 his work extremely well. Of course it so happens that 

 no mercury, practically speaking, is produced within the 

 British Empire, so that the Imperial Mineral Resources 

 Bureau was bound to treat the subject in a somewhat 

 summary fashion, thus making Mr. Halse's work 

 decidedly more necessary for those who desire a general 

 knowledge of the mode of occurrence of mercury ores. 



(4) Mr. Howard White's work constitutes a popular 

 handbook giving in a compact form the main facts con- 

 cerning the occurrence, preparation, refining and appli- 

 cations of nickel. It is probably quite true, as the 

 author states in his preface, that " comparatively little 

 is known aljout nickel by the general public," but it 

 should in all fairness be added that no one desiring such 

 information can have the least difficulty in obtaining it 

 since the publication in 191 7 of the elaborate report of 



