September 11, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



361 



Buchanan Mines and decided to abandon the 

 business. It may seem singular, but neverthe- 

 less it is the fact, that on my previous hasty 

 examination I had selected what have since 

 proved the three best mines, viz.: the Eay 

 Mine in Yancey, and the Silvers, or Sinkhole, 

 and the Buchanan Mines of Mitchell. 



After Messrs. Sloane and Menden declined 

 prosecuting the engagement, not being willing 

 to abandon it entirely, in the summer of 1868, 

 I caused some work to be done at the William 

 Silvers, or Sinkhole Mine, as it has since been 

 called. The shafts I had sunk and the tunnels 

 driven showed an abundance of good mica. 

 Being obliged to leave, I contracted with the 

 foreman, who was managing the workmen em- 

 ployed, to save the blocks of mica, which were 

 more than sufficient to pay the expenses of the 

 operation. I learned, however, that soon after- 

 wards he, having heard that some members of 

 his family were sick, abandoned the work and 

 left the mica lying on the ground. As I was 

 then in very bad health, I did not feel able to 

 superintend the work myself, and [as I] was 

 not in condition to employ suitable agents, I 

 decided to abandon the enterprise and surren- 

 dered my contract to Mr. Silvers and told him 

 to make some new arrangement. 



Mr. Heap, who has been the largest opera- 

 tor in the mica business, informed me that he 

 had been induced to go into the business by this 

 circumstance. A horse driver, on his return, 

 knocked up one of the blocks of mica left on the 

 ground and carried it to Knoxville in the au- 

 tumn of 1868. On seeing it, Mr. Heap made 

 inquiries as to the locality, obtained a lease 

 from Mr. Silvers and commenced operations 

 there. His success encouraged others to em- 

 bark in the business, Mr. Garrett Ray being one 

 of the first to begin in the early part of 1869, at 

 a place where I had taken some specimens. 

 The working gradually sj)read to other locali- 

 ties in these and other counties. 



For additional and fuller information, I re- 

 fer you to a publication of mine in the printed 

 volume of my writings and speeches which you 

 can find in the libraries at Chapel Hill. It be- 

 gins on page 130, headed Old Diggings for Mica, 

 etc. The name of Mr. Silvers is misprinted 

 there. That publication will give you, prob- 



ably, the additional matter you desire. It was 

 originally published in the Asheville Expositor 

 at the time of its date, April 8, 1873. 



■» * * * ■» * 



Hoping that this statement may be sufficient 

 for your purpose, I am 



Very truly yours, etc. 



T. L. Clingman. 

 Prof. F. W. Simonds. 



From the above letter it will be seen that the 

 location of the mines was not ' largely acciden- 

 tal ; ' on the contrary, that Clingman made the 

 preliminary investigations for a purpose, which 

 was to discover commercial mica, and that he 

 succeeded. But, as has often happened, he 

 failed to grasp the prize almost within his reach. 

 Ill health and a want of capital caused him to 

 abandon the enterprise, and strangers, profiting 

 by his preliminary work, reaped a substantial 

 reward. 



Frederic W. Simonds. 



School of Geology, 



University of Texas, July, 1896. 



SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 

 Manual of Lithology : Treatment of the Principles 

 of the Science ivith Special Reference to Mega- 

 scopic Analysis. By Edward H. Williams, 

 JR., E. M., F. G. S. A., Professor of Mining 

 Engineering and Geology, Lehigh University, 

 South Bethlehem, Pa. With six plates. 

 Second Edition. First Thousand. New York, 

 JohnWiley &Sons. 1895. 

 In reviewing this work particular attention 

 ought to be paid to its objects and to the sys- 

 tem of education that has given it birth. The 

 criticisms may seem severe, but they are aimed 

 only at educational methods that the reviewer 

 considers radically wrong, even if circum- 

 stances force him to give seeming countenance 

 to them. 



The principal points here noted are two : (1), 

 the neglect of considering the student in pre- 

 paring a text-book, and (2) the habit of spread- 

 ing instructors over too extended a field. 



A text-book to be of practical use to students 

 must be clear, concise and accurate in its state- 

 ments. In an observational science it should 

 indicate in the most unmistakable language the 



