Hevietcs — H. B. Wilson — Cyanide Processes. 133 



III. — Ci'ANiDE Processes. By E. B. Wilson. Fourtli edition, pp. vii, 

 249, and 26 figures. New York, John Wiley and Sons ; London, 

 Chapman & Hall, 1908. Price 6s. 6d. net. 

 riIHE development of the cyanide process for the extraction of the 

 X precious metal when present in minute particles has had a most 

 important bearing upon the gold industry. Without its aid many 

 mines now profitably worked would have long since been abandoned. 

 That gold was soluble in cyanide of potassium solutions has been 

 known for more than a century past, but it is only within comparatively 

 recent years that the method has assumed such a prominent position 

 in mining practice. Although in simple cases the process is so 

 exceedingly successful that the amount of gold which escapes is 

 trivial, it cannot be applied blindly because certain minerals may be 

 present in the ore which would hinder, if not entirely prevent, the 

 extraction of gold. It is, therefore necessary that the nature of the 

 ore should first be studied and a suitable treatment devised to 

 remove or render innocuous the cyanicides, as they may be termed. 



In preparing this edition of his valuable manual, Mr. AVilson has 

 taken the opportunity to add a chapter on the latest treatment of 

 slimes, and has generally brought the information well up to date. 

 It may safely be stated that the book is one which should be in the 

 hands of anyone interested in the running of a cyanide plant. The 

 procedure and the chemical reactions underlying it are fully explained, 

 and the difficulties which may be encountered in the several processes 

 receive ample discussion. Mr. Wilson keeps strictly to the point, and 

 has wisely refrained from marring the usefulness of the book by over- 

 lading it with matter which concerns only the constructor of the 

 plant and the engineer who erected it. In a future edition a few 

 patent errors in the chemical equations call for amendment. 



Ml". J. C. Jenkins gives in an appendix the treatment to be followed 

 in a case of cyanide poisoning. Medical assistance may not be im- 

 mediately forthcoming, and so rapid and fatal is this poison that the 

 only hope lies in effective measures being promptly taken. 



IV. — Devonian Fossils. 



MR. J. G. HAMLING (Trans. Devon Assoc, 1908, vol. xl, 

 pp. 276-80) Avrites on " Recently-discovered Fossils from the 

 Lower and Upper Devonian Beds of North Devon". He refers to the 

 eastern side of Lynmouth Harbour, where fish-remains have been said 

 to occur in abundance. After verifying tlie fact of their occurrence he 

 subsequently obtained, in company with Mr. Upfield Green, a specimen 

 identified as Pteraspis by Dr. A. Smith Woodward. Other important 

 discoveries have also been made. On the eastern side of Lee Bay, 

 west of Lynton, Mr. Hamling and Mr. Green obtained fish-remains ; 

 and also Spirifer prini(Bvus, S. sub-ctispidntus, S. speciosus, and Orthotetet 

 umhraculmn, Brachiopods not previously recorded from the locality. It 

 is noted that "the discovery of Spirifer prinia-vus (a Taunusian form) 

 in the Lynton Beds is an unexpected corroboration of Mr. W. A. E. 

 Ussher's homotaxial correlation of these beds with those of the 

 Meadfoot group, in which the Taunusian is included ". Again, as " the 



