Geology and Mineralogy. 91 



doubly clear. They include charts showing drainage, rainfall, 

 flora, mineral resources, distribution of population; photographs 

 of valley, plain, cuesta, and mountain types; and 23 special con- 

 tour maps of topographic features. This folio should be the text- 

 book for the region it covers and a chapter in any general physi- 

 ographic work. H. E. G. 



8. Field Operations of the Division of Soils, 1899; by Milton 

 Whitney. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Report 64 ; pp. 

 1-198, with 48 illustrations and 11 maps. — The plan of Prof. 

 Whitney is to map the soils of the country on a scale of an inch 

 to the mile and to give them distinctive local names. Mechanical 

 and chemical analyses of the soils are then made in the field and 

 in the laboratory. . This information, taken in connection with 

 the climatic conditions of a region, will determine the possibilities 

 of successful cultivation of certain crops. After the character of 

 the soil and the attitude of ground water is known, then the 

 data are at hand for the study of methods to enrich the soil or to 

 adapt it to particular plants. During 1899 field work was done 

 on the alkali soils of the Pecos Valley, New Mexico, on the Salt 

 Lake Valley of Utah, and on the Connecticut Valley soils of 

 Massachusetts and Connecticut. The detail with which the work 

 has been carried through is well shown by the fact that nine 

 distinct soil types are mapped in the Connecticut Valley — each 

 type suited to its own crops and demanding its own style of cul- 

 tivation. The Agricultural Department considers this the most 

 important agricultural investigation ever undertaken. h. e. g. 



9. Etudes sur les Mineraux de la Roumanie, par P. Pont. Pp. 

 1-137, Jassy, 1900 (Ann. Sci. Univ. Jassy). — Professor Poni 

 has done a service to mineralogists in giving them this excellent 

 summary of the little-known minerals of Roumania. It includes 

 a catalogue of the species identified in the country, briefly char- 

 acterized, and with a full account of the localities at which they 

 occur. One of the most important of these lies in the crystalline 

 schists of Brosceni in the district of Suceva, where a consider- 

 able number of metallic species have been found. A number 

 of these new analyses are given. Perhaps the most important 

 pages are those devoted to the account of the rock salt deposits 

 which occur on an enormous scale, although at present only 

 developed at four points. The most important of these is at 

 Slanic, where the amount delivered in ten years, down to 1897-8, 

 was nearly half a million tons. The volume adds two new names 

 to the literature of the mineralogy, — namely Badenite and Bros- 

 tenite. 



Badenite is an arsenide of cobalt, nickel and iron, containing 

 nearly 5 per cent of bismuth. It is found in the valley of Negu- 

 letzul, near the village of Badeni-Ungureni in the district of 

 Muscel. It occurs massive with granular to fibrous structure ; 

 specific gravity = 7*104 ; color steel-gray, becoming dull on expo- 

 sure to the air. An analysis gave : 



As S Bi Co Ni Fe 



61-54 0-27 4-76 2056 7*39 5-98 = 10G"50 



