NA TURE 



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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER n, 1S84 



DESCRIPTIVE MINERALOGY 

 Text-Book of Descriptive Mineralogy. By Hilary Bauer- 

 man, F.G.S. Svo ; pp. vi. 399 ; 237 figures. (London : 

 Longmans, Green, and Co., 1884.) 



THIS is the companion volume to the "Systematic 

 Mineralogy," by the same author, published in 1881. 

 As far as space admits Mr. Bauerman endeavours to 

 describe all the more important mineral species. His 

 remarks about the names of minerals and their deriva- 

 tions are well chosen ; and both mining students and 

 teachers of mineralogy should note the following para- 

 graph : — " In the case of minerals worked as metallic 

 ores, the ordinary commercial names should always be 

 used where possible. Thus for all purposes copper 

 pyrites, tinstone, and zinc blende are preferable to chalco- 

 pyrite, cassiterite, and sphalerite." 



The classification adopted by the author " is in the 

 main similar to that of Rammelsberg's'Mineral-Chemie.'" 

 Each description gives the form, the structure, the com- 

 position, and chemical characteristics, and concludes with 

 the occurrence and distribution of the mineral. The 

 crystallographic form is indicated both by Miller's nota- 

 tion and that of Naumann ; and the figures of crystals 

 are from the excellent wood blocks used originally for 

 Brooke and Miller's " Mineralogy.'' 



As might be expected from the author's wide experience 

 as a traveller, the parts relating to occurrence are gener- 

 ally quite as complete as is compatible with the size of 

 the volume ; but strange to say, under the head of copper 

 pyrites, the author omits all mention of the great mines of 

 the provinces of Huelva in Spain, and Alemtejo in Portu- 

 gal. It is true that they are not forgotten by him when 

 speaking of iron pyrites : but Rio Tinto, which produces 

 more copper than any other mine in the world, surely 

 deserves notice quite as much as Devon Great Consols, 

 Mellanear, or South Caradon. We must here correct 

 an error of the author, who places Buitron in Portugal, 

 whereas it is in Spain ; and the great Portuguese mine is 

 at San Domingos, not at Pomaron, which is simply the 

 port of shipment, about eleven miles from the actual 

 workings. 



The author's acquaintance with Cornwall is not so 

 exact as might be expected, for we find him making the 

 statement that "in Cornwall" the tourmaline "is almost 

 invariably known by the old German miners' name of 

 Schorl" : in reality the Cornish term is Cockle. Fluor is 

 omitted from the list of minerals associated with tinstone, 

 and it is by no means so certain, as the author thinks, that 

 kaolin has been produced by the action of atmospheric 

 agencies upon the felspars of granite. There is, on the 

 contrary, much to be said for the theory that the decom- 

 posing agents came from below. The remark that copper 

 pyrites has been found in Dolcoath and neighbouring 

 mines " in zones alternating in depth with tin ore," would 

 lead one to suppose that there were several copper ore 

 zones in the mines, which is not the case. The published 

 section of Dolcoath shows only one copper zone, including, 

 roughly speaking, the upper half of the workings, and one 

 Vol. xxx.— No. 776 



tin zone, comprising the lower half. No doubt tin ore 

 was obtained also from the gossan or ferruginous capping 

 of the vein, and it might therefore be said that there were 

 two tin zones with an intermediate copper zone, but this 

 is not what is stated by the author. Under pyrites we 

 read : — " In Cornwall the common term is Mundick, the 

 varieties being distinguished as sulphur, copper, or arsen- 

 ical mundic, according to the prevailing constituents.'' 

 Does the author mean by this that a Cornish miner 

 would call copper pyrites " copper mundic " ? If so, he is 

 surely mistaken. 



We regret that there are occasional errors of spelling 

 in the names of minerals and places. Thus " Freiesle- 

 benite" appears several times without the second "e," 

 though it stands correct in the Index, and " Meconite " 

 might puzzle the novice who had never heard of 

 Meionite. However these are slight blemishes, and 

 both they and the few other mistakes can easily be cor- 

 rected in a second edition, which no doubt will be 

 required, as Mr. Bauerman's manual is clear, compact, 

 and handy, and is likely to be a favourite with students 

 of mineralogy. 



THE MOSSES OF NORTH AMERICA 

 Manual of the Mosses of North America. By Leo 

 Lesquereux and Thos. James. Svo, pp. 447, with Six 

 Plates Illustrative of the Genera. (Boston : S. E. 

 Cassino and Co. ; London : Trubner and Co. 1884.) 

 \X J E have much pleasure in calling the attention of 

 bryologists on this side of the Atlantic to this 

 excellent handbook of the " Mosses of North America." 

 Many contributors have aided in its preparation, and a 

 series of unfortunate disasters have delayed its publica- 

 tion at least ten years beyond what was expected, a delay 

 which, however, has brought with it the compensation of 

 greater completeness. Its foundation was laid by W. S. 

 Sullivant, who contributed to the first edition of Gray's 

 " Manual of the Plants of the Northern United States " 

 in 1848 a synopsis of the mosses then known within the 

 same territory, which were not more than about 200 

 species. In the second edition of the " Manual," pub- 

 lished in 1856, the number of species was doubled, and 

 five plates were given to show the essential characters of 

 the genera. Of both these two treatises a few separate 

 copies were also struck off. At that time there were four 

 excellent bryologists resident in the country who were 

 working actively — Sullivant, Lesquereux, Austin, and 

 James — so that rapid progress was made. When the 

 third edition of the " Manual " was i.ssued, it was planned 

 that Sullivant, in cooperation with Lesquereux, who 

 worked at mosses with Schimper before he emigrated to 

 America, where he has done such excellent work in fossil 

 botany, should undertake an improved handbook of the 

 mosses as a separate publication. Sullivant died in the 

 spring of 1S73 without this being carried into effect. His 

 collection of specimens, drawings, and manuscript notes 

 was bequeathed to the herbarium of Harvard LTniversity, 

 which under the charge of Prof. Gray has for many years 

 been the main centre for botanical work in the United 

 States. It was planned that Mr. T. P. James, who be- 

 longed to Philadelphia, but who removed to live at Cam- 



