REVIEWS 191 



The object of the report is to emphasize the fact that lignite properly 

 utilized is a valuable commercial fuel. Lignite is well distributed over 

 the state, but it is especially valuable in the northeastern part. It is 

 included in the Timber Belt, Yegua, and Fayette formations of the 

 Eocene period, in the first of which it is most abundant, and there the 

 individual seams reach a thickness of 15 feet. 



The value of lignite is shown by chemical analyses and by results 

 of boiler tests. Exclusive of expense of handling, the cost of evaporating 

 1,000 pounds of water is, on the average, with coal as fuel, 30 cents per 

 pound of water, with lignite, 20 cents, and with oil, 1 5 cents. Natural 

 gas is the cheapest fuel, but it is obtainable only locally. Lignite may 

 be used as raw coal, as fuel under stationary boilers, as a fuel in gas- 

 producers, for briquetting raw or dried, and for dry distillation and 

 recovery of by-products. It is actually used mostly as raw fuel under 

 stationary boilers. The authors strongly support the report of Dean 

 Babcock of the University of North Dakota that the chief value of lignite 

 will be obtained from its briquetting. They agree that it is almost 

 hopeless to attempt to make useful briquettes out of raw lignite, but that 

 by carbonization (driving-off of the volatile gases), or partial carboniza- 

 tion of the coal and briquetting of the carbon-high product, a commercial 

 fuel may be made which will be of the same order of efiSciency as anthra- 

 cite. 



T.T. Q. 



Geology of the Titanium and Apatite Deposits of Virginia. By 

 Thomas Leonard Watson and Stephen Taber. Virginia 

 Geol. Sur. Bull. No. III-A. 1913. Pp. 300, pis. 37, figs. 22, 

 map I. 



The titanium and apatite deposits of Virginia are in the northwestern 

 part of the state. Rutile is found both in massive syenite and in nelson- 

 ite dikes. The apatite is most abundant in some of the nelsonite dikes. 

 The report discusses the subject of titanium quite fully. The chemistry 

 of titanium, its ores, their distribution, and the uses of titanium products 

 are treated fully. Titanium is used in metallic alloys, such as ferro- 

 titanium, cupro- titanium, etc., for lighting purposes as incandescent 

 media, as mordants, as refractory coloring materials for the ceramic 

 industry, etc. 



The rocks in the area are igneous in origin and distinctly metamor- 

 phosed. They form a peculiar comagmatic group which is character- 

 ized by the abundance of ilmenite, rutile, and apatite. These minerals 



