REVIEWS 319 



Uber die Kompression von feuchter Pulver fester Korper und die Formbildung 

 der Gesteine. Zeits. f. Phys. Chem. 2, p. 532. 



Uber die chemische Einwirkung der Korper im festen Zustande. Zeit. f. Phys. 

 Chem. 2, p. 536. 



Eine Bemerkung iiber die Arbeit des Herrn H. Le Chatelier. Zeit. f. Phys. 

 Chem. 9, p. 744 



The prime importance to the geologist of all investigations upon 

 the relations of matter and force at great temperatures and pressures 

 makes it profitable, perhaps, to review the work of Walther Spring on 

 this subject. Professor Spring is the pioneer in this field. All his 

 conclusions and theories on the chemistry and mechanics of solid 

 bodies are founded upon a long series of careful experiments, in the 

 course of which he has kept substances under great pressure for 

 periods of more than twenty years, and these furnish us almost the 

 only trustworthy information we have on the subject. It is of especial 

 importance to call the attention of American geologists to this work 

 of Professor Spring, as some discredit was thrown upon his work by 

 M. W. Hallock in a contribution published in Bulletin 55 U. S. Geol. 

 Survey called "The Flow of Solids, or the Behavior of Solids Under 

 High Pressure." The critic fell into an error through a mistranslation 

 or a misapprehension of the French language, 1 especially translating 

 "se souder" as to melt, and through his failure to grasp the fact that 

 there may be a molecular diffusion in substances in the solid state. 



Professor Spring's development of the subject was gradual and 

 followed the advance of his experiments, so that a chronological review 

 of his papers will give us a good exposition of his theories. In his 

 first paper, 2 which was preliminary, he raises the question how sedi- 

 mentaries harden where there has evidently been no cementation. He 

 states that he has been able to press perfectly dry K N0 3 and Na 

 N0 3 under a pressure of about 20,000 atmospheres into semicrystal- 

 line masses harder than the fused substances. Two years later he con- 

 tributed his first important paper on the subject, 3 which contains, 



1 Simple observation au sujet d'un travail de M. W. Hallock intitule: "The 

 Flow of Solids," etc. Bull, de L'Academie Royale de Belgique. 3 me serie, 45, 1887, 



P- 595- 



2 Note preliminaire sur la propriete les fragments des corps solides de se souder par 

 Taction de la pression. Bull, de L'Academie Royale de Belgique. 2 me serie, 45, 

 1878, p. 746. 



"■ Sur la propriete que possedent les corps solides de se souder par Taction de 



