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students, most mining engineers and teachers of geology will find that 

 it gives them not only a new array of facts, but a broadened viewpoint. 



After introductory material, a chapter is devoted to the common 

 elements, minerals and rocks of the earth and their origin, and another 

 chapter to a simple exposition of the processes by which mineral deposits 

 are formed. 



In the consideration of individual mineral resources, the conventional 

 classification as metallic and non-metallic is abandoned in favor of one 

 that is more expressive of their role in industrial life. Early in the 

 scheme come the fertilizer group of minerals, nitrates, potash, phosphates, 

 pyrite, and sulphur. Then come the fundamental fuels, coal, oil, and 

 gas. In the same chapter with iron and steel are treated the ferro- 

 alloying minerals and the minerals fluorite, magnesite, and silica, that 

 find their main use as fluxes or refractories in the iron and steel industry. 

 Other major base metals are followed by the precious metals, and then 

 by minor metals. The commodity chapters are concluded with one 

 devoted to miscellaneous non-metallic minerals. 



A feature of the treatment of individual commodities that makes 

 for clarity is the treatment of "Economic Features" and "Geologic 

 Features" under separate heads. 



Conservation of mineral resources, particularly coal, comes in for 

 separate treatment in a chapter near the end of the volume. Especially 

 noteworthy are several topics that have received scant treatment, if 

 any, in previous books on economic geology; namely, exploration and 

 development of mineral deposits, the role of the geologist in their valua- 

 tion and taxation, and a brief discussion of the legal aspects of geology. 



The book concludes with chapters summarizing the international 

 aspects of mineral resources, on "Geology at the Front" and "Geology 

 Behind the Front." 



The field occupied by this book is covered by no other, and few books 

 are likely to fill as useful a place in geologic education. 



Edson S. Bastin 



