180 Reviews — Mines' Department, Canada. 



rocks in question comprise one complex of metamorphic sedimentaries 

 — quartzite, quartz -biotite schist, hornblende-schist, black pseudo- 

 porphyritic schist, of the type to which Fischer gave the name of 

 kinzigite in 1861, and dolomite, two intrusive igneous masses — the 

 Preston gabbro and the Sterling granite gneiss, and the great Lantern 

 Hill quartz, which is one of the largest quartz masses known, being 

 1:1^ miles in length and more than 1,000 feet in maximum width. 

 The nature of the folding and the metamorphic deformation is care- 

 fully considered. The Preston gabbro has two principal variations : 

 (1) a coarse porphyritic rock with large poikilitic plienocrysts of 

 diallage, and (2) a quartz-hornblende gabbro, the former constituting 

 the greater part of the area. The paper is amply illustrated with 

 maps and micro-photographs. 



In Bulletin 509 of the United States Geological Survey 

 Mr. Waldemar T. Schaller brings together a number of interesting 

 mineralogical studies which, have mostly appeared elsewhere. He 

 suggests that the variability in the composition of the members of the 

 rutile group is readily explained by the assumption that the group is 

 an isomorphous mixture of rutile, TiOg, cassiterite, SnOj, and 

 tapiolite, Fe . TagOj, and proposes to retain the term ilmeno-rutile 

 to designate mixtures in which Fe, Ta, Cb, and Ti are present in 

 quantity, but to reject such variety names as mossite, iserite, ainalite, 

 and struverite. An examination of crystallized turquoise from 

 Virginia showed the mineral to be isomorphous with chalcosiderite, 

 and, since the formula obtained for the former was Cu H . 

 6 [Al (0 H)2] . H,- . (P 0^4, that of the latter should be Cu H . 

 6 [Fe (0 H)o] . H5 . (P 0^)4,. Crystallized variscite from Utah was found 

 to correspond in composition to the formula Al^ O3 . Pg O5 . 4 Ho 0, and 

 in physical characters to be similar to scorodite and strengite. Apropos 

 of the new hydrous sulphate and phosphate of lead, hinsdalite, the 

 relationships of the alunite-beudantite series were discussed. An 

 investigation of minerals from Beaver County, Utah, brought to light 

 a new hydrous sulphate of lead and copper, beaverite, which is related 

 to no known mineral. A description is given of a curious new 

 mercuric mineral allied to kleinite. 



VIII. Mines' Department, Canada. — The Summary Report for the 

 calendar year ended December 31, 1912, shows increasing activity in 

 the work of this Department, and we understand that the annual 

 programmes are arranged with the principal object of rendering 

 practical public service in the interests of the country. This volume 

 contains the usual synopses of investigations, as well as the chemical, 

 statistical, and essay reports, and statements from the Fuel-testing 

 Station and the Metallurgical Laboratory. The investigations 

 connected with the Canadian peat fuel industry are now almost 

 complete, and have already been successful in their aims; and the 

 establishment of a metallurgical research laboratory is of great 

 practical importance to the depai'tment. 



Among the preliminary reports on field-work may be mentioned 

 those on the building-stones of the Maritime Provinces, the nickel 



