ology revised to date is abandoned for the present, while a new work 

 on the Embryology of the Vertebrates,' by Dr. C. S. Minot will appear 

 at an early date. — J. S. Kingsley. 



Stanislas Meunier's 7 " Les Methodes de Synthese eu 

 Mineralogie " is a monumental work worthy alike of the author 

 who wrote it and of the subject of which it treats. Nearly all books 

 on the artificial production of minerals that have heretofore appeared 

 have been simply lists of products obtained in the laboratory 

 under the titles of the natural products with which they are identical. 

 In the present volume a notable improvement has been made in the 

 method of presenting that most fascinating of all mineralogical prob- 

 lems — the manufacture of minerals and the bearing of the processes 

 involved therein upon the great geological questions relating to 

 metamorphism, the production of mineral veins and the formation of 

 ores. Instead of briefly mentioning the different methods by which 

 the several minerals have been obtained, the author discusses the 

 methods themselves, and illustrates them by citing the many products 

 which eaeh yields. He then points out the manner in which the 

 processes throw light on the origin of mineral names in the earth's 

 crust, and shows the relations existing between them. The study of 

 chemical geology must receive a new impetus if the volume before us 

 is made of as much use as it deserves to be. Geologists will thank the 

 author for the suggestive hints that are so abundant throughout his 

 book; mineralogists will welcome the appearance of a volume that so 

 clearly describes the processes by which so many interesting minerals 

 have been manufactured ; chemists, if they will only think so, may 

 find given in the treatise many reactions that will help to clear up the 

 difficult problem of the constitution of inorganic compounds, and so 

 will join with the mineralogists and the geologists in according the 

 work a hearty reception. 



The historical method of development of the subject is followed iu 

 most instances. After classifying the methods that have been 

 employed by the many workers in this field, Meunier begins by giving 

 a very detailed account of the different processes as they were first 

 used, and then mentions their modifications, in each case referring 

 briefly, or at length, as occasion demands, to the minerals yielded by 

 each. Before taking up the subject proper of the work, the author 

 describes the conditions under which minerals are being formed at 



