JIB ILINC A TILOIN S.. 
Elements of Mineralogy, Crystallography and blowpipe Analysis, 
from a Practical Standpoint. By ALFRED J. Mosrs and 
CHarLes L. PARSONS. 342 pp., 336 cuts, 1895. 
The object of this book as stated in the preface is to present in a 
clear, concise and scientific manner, the nature and uses of minerals 
and the method for ready and rapid identification. 
The regular arrangement of the mineral characters renders it a 
valuable reference book for one who has but a slight knowledge of the 
subject, enabling one to turn quickly to the portion he may at any 
time wish to know, whether this be the physical or chemical properties 
or blowpipe tests or uses. This is one of the very commendable fea- 
tures of the book, for it is often convenient to turn to these important 
characters quickly without looking through many pages of detailed 
description. The book is divided into four parts of which the first 
treats of the laws, nomenclature and systems of crystallography, and 
is illustrated by numerous figures. The use of the term group as syn- 
onymous with system is perhaps to be questioned, for while the crystal- 
lographic system comprises all forms referable to the same axes, the 
term group comprises all systems whose forms possess the same num- 
ber of principal planes of symmetry. 
Part II. is a concise treatment of the methods of blowpipe analy- 
sis. The chapters on useful tests with the blowpipe, alphabetically 
arranged, and on qualitative schemes for such analysis will be of spe- 
cial interest to students of mineralogy as affording a quick method of 
determination. 
Part III. is devoted to descriptive mineralogy. While one of the 
very distinctive and admirable qualities of this book as a practical 
guide is its conciseness of statement, this feature in the opening chap- 
ter of the third part has been carried too far for clearness. The defini- 
tion of phosphorescence is too comprehensive and for fluorescence is 
too limited. A student would be apt to confuse the ideas of cleavage 
and gliding on account of the very brief statement of gliding placed 
in the section on cleavage. The main portion of this part and over 
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