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Geology and Mineralogy. 425 
Ophir and Weeks on coal-fields of West Virginia, have special 
mining interest; and the remaining papers are discussions of 
more local or special geological problems. In reading these 
papers it must be borne in mind that although issued in 1895, 
due to the tardy working of the Government printing office, they 
_ were completed and given to the director two years ago. An 
important new feature in the Report of the Director is the publi- 
cation of synopses of the publications of the survey during the 
period 1892-93. In the present case outlines of the contents are 
given of Monographs xvu, xvii and xx and of the Bulletins 84, 
85, 86, 90, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 98, 99 and 100. H. S. W. 
3. The gold fields of the Southern Appalachians.—The report 
of Gzrorce F. Brcxer* on the gold fields of the Southern Appa- 
lachians, based upon investigations made in 1894, is issued as a 
separate brochure and contains a summary account of the gold- 
bearing regions of the Carolinas and Georgia, to which is added 
a digest of the geology of the gold deposits of the Maritime 
Provinces of British America and the Green Mountains, thus mak- 
me a comprehensive sketch of the gold deposits of the Atlantic 
slope. 
4. Columnar sandstone.—In an article “On the structure and 
composition of a Basalt from Bondi, New South Wales,” by J. 
Mitne Curran, a beautiful figure, reproduced from a photograph, 
‘is given of columnar sandstone. The author states that “ this 
_ structure was no doubt induced by the proximity of the igneous 
rock. Some of the sandstones, that were in contact with the 
molten basalt, show very little trace of metamorphism, while in 
other parts the same sandstones are rendered quartzose in texture 
and prismatic in structure.” Although no statement is made of 
the size of the columns, from comparison with other objects in the 
figure, it is estimated that the columns are at least twenty feet in 
length and two to three feet in diameter.—Jour. Roy. Soc. N.S. 
W., vol. xxviii, p. 221, and pl. ix. 
5. Petrology for Students; by A. Harxer. 12°, 306 pp. 
Figs. in text. Cambridge University Press, 1895.—This little 
volume supplies a long-felt want. There are many geologists and 
geological students who, while not intending to make petrology 
their chief aim, yet desire sufficient knowledge of the subject to 
enable them to understand it and to comprehend in a general way 
the most recent results in this field of science. To these the 
appearance of the present work will prove most acceptable. The 
use of the microscope and the study of rocks in thin sections is of 
course assumed, as indeed it must be to achieve any results in this 
field. While many minor details are, from the scope of the work, 
necessarily omitted, the main features of the science are compre- 
hensively and broadly, though simply handled, and a careful 
* Reconnaissance of the gold fields of the Southern Appalachians, by George 
F. Becker. Extract from 16th Ann. Rept. of the Director, U. S. Geol. Survey, 
1894-95. Part II, Min. Resources of U. 8. Calendar year 1894, pp. 1-85. 
Washington, 1895. 
