REVIEWS. 



Special Reports on the Mineral Resources op Great Britain. 

 Vol. XI : The Iron Ores of Scotland. By M. Macgregor, 

 G. W. Lee, G. V. Wilson, T. Robertson, and J. S. Flett. 

 Mem. Geol. Survey, pp. vii + 240, with 18 text-figures. 

 Edinburgh, 1920. Price 10s. net. 



rpHE fourth volume of this valuable series to be devoted to iron- 

 -*- ores gives a very complete and comprehensive account of those 

 of Scotland, both of actual and potential value. The first section, 

 of a historical nature, gives an interesting sketch of the early and 

 very remarkable attempts at the smelting of iron-ores from England 

 and elsewhere by means of charcoal derived from the forests of the 

 Highlands, which seem to have had a real existence in those days, 

 outside of the imaginations of English Socialist propagandists. 

 Thus in the eighteenth century furnaces were erected for the smelting 

 of iron in such extraordinary places as Bonawe, Glenkinglas, 

 Invergarry, Strathspey, and Loch Maree, the ore being brought 

 from the coalfields of Central Scotland and from Cumberland. 

 Naturally this industry did not enjoy a long life, but strangely enough 

 the Lome Furnace at Bonawe seems to have struggled on 

 spasmodically till 1876. 



Effective iron-mining in Scotland may be said to have begun in 

 1760, when the Carron Ironworks started to smelt clayband ores 

 with coal. Soon after this great development began in the 

 Carboniferous bedded ores, giving rise to an industry of first-rate 

 importance. The greater part of this memoir is naturally taken up 

 by a detailed description of the occurrences of this type, which are 

 found over a large area in the central parts of Scotland, ranging with 

 intervals from Ayrshire to Fife, the greatest developments being in 

 Lanarkshire and the adjoining counties, here called the Central 

 Coalfield. This section cannot fail to be of the greatest value to 

 Scottish mine-owners and geologists. Careful and apparently 

 conservative estimates are made of probable and possible reserves. 



The non-Scottish geologist will, however, undoubtedly turn with 

 greater interest to the accounts here given of some of the side-shows, 

 such as the Jurassic ores of Raasay and the remarkable veins of 

 the Orkneys and Shetlands. The Raasay bed, which is now known 

 to belong to the Upper Lias, though at first considered to be the 

 equivalent of the Cleveland Main Seam, has actually been a producer, 

 but it is doubtful whether it could be made to pay under peace 

 conditions, owing to high cost of transport. An analysis of an 

 average specimen of the raw stone, quoted in this memoir, gives 

 25"2 per cent of metallic iron with 2'3 per cent of phosphoric acid, 

 while Dr. Hatch states that it averages about 23 per cent, with 

 0"9 per cent phosphorus. The stone, is therefore of low grade. 



We are glad to note that in this memoir a glossary is given of the 

 extraordinary language in which the Scdttish mining geologists 



