216 
be called exhaustive, and it is almost inevitable 
that some parts of so wide a subject should be 
dealt with in greater detail than others of equal 
importance. But the book is a useful storehouse 
of facts, selected with discretion, arranged with 
judgment, and pleasantly recounted. 
Asap nal Ds 
THE MINERAL INDUSTRY OF CANADA.} 
Oe Department of Mines of Canada is doing 
excellent work in distributing information 
concerning the mineral wealth of the Dominion 
by means of publications that appeal both to the 
trained expert and to the seeker after general 
information. A good example of the latter form 
may be found in a pamphlet of some seventy- 
seven pages entitled ‘““Economic Minerals and 
Mining Industries of Canada,” written by the 
“Staff of the Mines Branch,” which gives in clear 
and convenient form a brief review of the occur- 
rences and distribution of all the economic mineral 
products of the Dominion of Canada, together 
with indications of the legislative enactments that 
control the tenure of mineral property, the latter 
being especially important, seeing that each pro- 
vince has its own mining laws. This popular 
description, which, though brief, is clear and 
easily intelligible to anyone interested in mining 
matters, should prove of the utmost value to 
prospectors or others who may be going to 
Canada and are anxious to acquire some general 
knowledge of the more important economic 
minerals that are found in Canada, of the 
districts in which they chiefly occur, and the 
conditions under which their occurrence may 
be looked for with the greatest probability of 
SUCCESS. 
No better example of the opposite extreme, that 
is to say, of publications written essentially for the 
trained mining or metallurgical engineer, can be 
quoted than the monograph on the nickel industry 
of Sudbury by Dr. A. P. Coleman, a work of 
some 200 pages, in which a full account is given 
of these important mineral deposits. The general 
geology of the region is first described in much 
detail, then descriptions of the various minerals 
met with and of typical forms of the ore deposits 
themselves, all of these being very careful and 
apparently very accurate. Dr. Coleman discusses 
the mode of formation of the deposits, and seems 
inclined to adopt the magmatic segregation theory 
in its simplest and most definite form; he cer- 
1 ** The Nickel Industry: with Special Reference to the Sudbury Region, 
Ontario.’ By Dr. O. P. Coleman. (Ottawa: Government Printing 
Bureau, 1913.) 
‘“Annual Report on the Mineral Production of Canada during the 
Calendar Year 1911.” By John McLeish, Chief of the Division of Mineral 
Resources and Statistics. (Ottawa: Government Printing Bureau, 1913.) 
‘‘Economic Minerals and Mining Industries of Canada.” By the Staff 
of the Mines Branch. (Ottawa: Government Printing Bureau, 1913.) 
‘© A General Summary of the Mineral Production of Canada during the 
Calendar Vear 1912.” By John McLeish. (Oitawa: Government Printing 
Bureau, 1913.) 
‘The Production of Copper, Gold, Lead, Nickel, Silver, Zinc, and other 
Metals in Canada during the Calendar Year 1912.”" By Cosmo T. Cart- 
wright. (Ottawa: Government Printing Bureau, 1913.) 
‘“Summary Report of the Mines Branch of the Department of Mines for 
the Calendar Year ending December 31, 1912.” (Ottawa, 1913.) 
NO? 222P ENOL. 02) 
NATURE 
[APRIL 30, 1914 
tainly mentions the researches of Dr. Campbell 
and others which have shown that there is very 
much to be said in favour of the aqueous origin 
of the ores, but Dr. Coleman apparently lays but 
little stress on these. He does not appear to have 
considered the possibility that these conflicting 
views might be reconciled on the hypothesis that 
the ores might have been formed by some form of 
hydrothermal process, in which separation from 
a cooling magma in the presence of water in 
some form or other under conditions of intense 
pressure may have produced the phenomena that 
characterise these ore deposits. Detailed descrip- 
tions of the various mines are given, together with 
some account of the method of mining and an 
outline of the smelting processes in use. The 
value of the monograph is enhanced by a com- 
parison of the nickel occurrences at Sudbury with 
the remaining most important sources of nickel 
in the world. 
The Annual Report on the Mineral Production 
of Canada is a volume that interests both the 
specialist and the seeker after general informa- 
tion, though it must be admitted that it appears 
to cater for the latter rather than for the former 
class of reader, there being throughout evidence 
of a desire to make the figures, especially the 
value of the mineral production of Canada, look 
as large as possible. No doubt the pernicious 
example of its neighbour, the United States, has 
much to do with this striving after inflated figures. 
The unfortunate result is that the figures given 
in the report are not the real value of the mineral 
production of the Dominion, as several items 
appear more than once. Thus in the report on 
the mineral production for 1911 the grand total of 
the value of the mineral production is given as 
103,220,994 dollars ; this is made up of metallic pro- 
ducts, 46,105,423 dollars, non-metallic products (in 
which are included such items as _ arsenious 
oxide, chromite, manganese, ochres, pyrites!), 
34,405,900 dollars, and structural materials and 
clay products, 22,709,611 dollars. Amongst the 
so-called non-metallic mineral products, by far 
the most important is coal, the value of 
which is given as 26,467,646 dollars, or about 
v7 per cent. of the _ wholes. a. very jlacse 
proportion of this coal is, however, used in 
smelting the metals which are included in the first- 
named group and in burning the Portland cement, 
bricks, tiles, and other ceramic goods, and the 
lime included in the last-named group. As the 
value of all these products depends in part, often 
in quite considerable part, upon the fuel used in 
their production, the value of the coal appears 
twice over in the above grand total. Furthermore, 
very large quantities of coal and coke are im- 
ported into Canada, their value in 1911 exceeding 
41,000,000 dollars, and it is certain that a very 
large proportion of this imported fuel is also used 
in manufacturing the metallic and other products 
above referred to, so that the value assigned to 
these includes in no small part the value of the 
imports of coal, etc. In spite of these facts, which 
show that the value of the mineral products of 
