NATURE 



31, 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1897- 



ORE DEPOSITS. 

 A Treatise on Ore Deposits. By J, Arthur Phillips, 

 F.R.S. Second edition, rewritten and greatly enlarged 

 by Henry Louis, M.A. Pp. xxii + 943. 128 illus- 

 trations, and index. (London : Macmillan and Co., 

 1896.) 



PROFESSOR LOUIS has attempted no easy task in 

 endeavouring to bring up to date Phillips' well- 

 known work on ore deposits. Since the first edition 

 appeared in 1884, mineral discoveries have been 

 numerous and important. I need only refer to the 

 gold of the Rand and Mount Morgan, the lead and 

 silver of Broken Hill, the copper, silver and lead of 

 Tasmania, the nickel of Sudbury, and the iron of Min- 

 nesota. Besides these comparatively new finds, one has 

 to recollect the progress which has been made in de. 

 veloping some of the older mining districts. The years 

 which have elapsed since 1884 have likewise been fruitful 

 in bringing forth descriptions of ore deposits : scores 

 of official memoirs, and hundreds of papers in the 

 Transactions of scientific and technical societies at home 

 and abroad, have been written about them ; so that 

 Prof. Louis must have had great difficulty in deciding 

 what to ingraft upon the old stock without making his 

 book too bulky. As it is, the second edition is half as 

 big again as the first. 



I cannot agree with Prof. Louis in excluding the 

 minerals yielding aluminium and magnesium from the 

 term "metalliferous ores,'' on the ground that by popular 

 usage this term is applied solely to the ores of the heavy 

 metals. We must march with the times. There was a 

 day when haematite was not used for producing metallic 

 iron ; what we now call the ores of nickel and cobalt 

 were long regarded as worthless and injurious sub- 

 stances. Zinc blende has only comparatively lately 

 entered into the category of ores, and later still the 

 carbonate of manganese. My opinion is that bauxite 

 should rather be received with welcome into what I'rof. 

 Louis seems to consider as an aristocratic circle, than 

 hustled out as an intruder because its metal happens to 

 be light. After all, the ratio between the specific gravi- 

 ties of iron and aluminium does not dififer very greatly 

 from the ratio between the specific gravities cf platinum 

 and iron. The scientific man should rather try to lead 

 the populace aright than cringe to misconceptions. 



The book is divided into two parts : the first deals 

 with mineral deposits generally, whilst the second is 

 devoted to a description of the ore deposits of the various 

 countries of the entire globe. 



As several objections can be made to Phillips' 

 classification of ore deposits, Prof. Louis very wisely 

 abandons it ; but, when he endeavours to find a substitute, 

 he meets with many difficulties. Finally, he introduces 

 a provisional arrangement in which origin, instead of 

 form, is taken as the basis of the classification : giving 

 new names to old faces, he subdivides all ore deposits 

 into two kinds — " symphytic' and " epactic." 



The former term is applied to deposits which are con- 

 temporaneous with the enclosing rocks, whilst the latter 

 NO. 1449, VOL. 56] 



includes those which have been formed subsequently. 

 Whether it is necessary to coin two more words with 

 which to puzzle the unfortunate miner appears doubtful. 

 The epactic deposits are next separated into two groups, 

 and we eventually have three main classes, our old 

 friends : (i) Beds ; {la) Veins ; {lb) Masses. 



The author of a large work dealing with all parts of 

 the world can scarcely expect to escape some errors ; 

 nor is it easy to be quite up to date. 



Prof. Louis has not corrected Phillips' erroneous de- 

 scription of the treatment of the lead-bearing sandstone 

 at Mechernich, Rhenish Prussia. The book says that 

 the little nodules of galena are separated below ground, 

 and alone are sent to the surface, whilst the waste sand 

 left behind is employed for filling the exhausted work- 

 ings. As a matter of fact the nodules are extracted by a 

 true dressing process above ground, more particularly by 

 the aid of a special concentrator — the " Heberwasche." 



Phillips has likewise led Prof. Louis into error by say- 

 ing that the Freiberg School of Mines was founded in 

 1702. The first project for the School was made at the 

 end of 1765, and the lectures began at Easter 1766. 



Following my usual custom, I cannot help tilting at 

 the employment of unnecessary provincial terms in books 

 upon mining. If "flucan" simply means "clay," why 

 not stick to the word understood by all English-speaking 

 persons, and consign to oblivion the Cornish term, which 

 serves no useful purpose ? On the other hand, if a pro- 

 vincialism is to be adopted on account of its brevity or 

 general convenience, it should not be altered. I refer, 

 as I have often done before, to the expression " country 

 rock." By " country " the Cornishman means " surround- 

 ing rock " ; to say " country rock " is tautology. Further, 

 is it advisable to introduce into technical literature such 

 a term as "lode formation," in the sense in which it is 

 employed by ignorant persons or unthinking mining en- 

 gineers? In the first place, the term "formation," as applied 

 to lodes, already has a definite meaning attached to it. It 

 denotes a group of mineral veins having certain charac- 

 teristics, leading one to believe that they have a common 

 origin. The so-called " lode formations " of Western 

 Australia are veins of a special kind which can be 

 described without bringing in the puzzling word " forma- 

 tion." The introduction of any new terms should be 

 scrutinised by writers with the greatest jealousy, for the 

 science of ore deposits is quite obscure enough already 

 without being further darkened by a vague terminology. 

 Following Phillips,-Prof. Louis retains the word " huel " 

 in speaking of various Cornish mines, though the mining 

 companies invariably write the word " wheal." Even if 

 one admits that "huel " may be the more correct spelling, 

 it is far too late now to think of enforcing it. It is not 

 convenient for the student to have the name of a mine, 

 "Wheal Mary Ann," for instance, inserted under the 

 letter " h " instead of the letter " w," as he may be quite 

 ignorant of the old way of writing the word. 



Slight errors in the spelling of names of persons and 

 places are a little too common. It may be hoped that 

 the prefix "Sir" to Dr. Selwyn's name is simply the 

 shadow of a coming event, and that it will cease to be a 

 mistake long before the present edition is exhausted. 



With regard to his own country. Prof. Louis is a little 

 behind the times. He says that mining is " extensively " 



P 



