776 The American Naturalist. [August, 
Barysite.—At the same Harstig mine Sjögren and Lundström ? have 
found a lead silicate associated with garnet, calcite, tephroite, hedy- 
phane and cerussite filling a vein in the iron ores. The mineral occurs 
in silver-white hexagonal crystals, with a perfect cleavage parallel to oP, 
and a less perfect one parallel to oP. Its double refraction is nega- 
tive, streak white, hardness, 3, and specific gravity, 6.55. When 
heated it becomes dark and melts to a brown glass. Dissolves in nitric 
and hydrochloric acids with the separation of gelatinous silica, Its 
composition (as a mean of two analyses) is: 
SiO, PbO MnO FeO CaO MgO Ce Loss: 
1707 79.26 . 3.5% .16 .41 .59 tr. .89 
leading to the formula 3 (1 MnO+3 PbO) 2 SiO, 
Miscellaneous.—The second part Hintze's ** Handbuch der Min- 
eralogie ’’ 71 concludes the discussion of the topaz group of minerals, and 
treats of the datholite and epidote groups, vesuvianite, gehlenite, and parts 
of the tourmaline group. The fullness of treatment that characterized the 
first part of this remarkable book is continued in the second part. If 
the promise given by the two parts that haveappeared to date is carried 
to its fulfillment, the complete volume will be a marvel of painstaking 
labor and patience. A discussion of some of the facts known with 
respect to the physical symmetry of crystals, together with some ob- 
servations made upon the gypsum of Zimmerscheim, in Upper Alsace, 
lead Beckenkamp 2 to the view that the molecules of crystals are polar, 
2.¢., that they possess different powers at diametrically opposite points, 
and that, other conditions being similar, a crystal face always possesses 
a maximum tendency to growth in a certain fixed direction. Ina 
conglomerate on the Coast of South Devon, near Torquay, England, 
are numerous pieces of limestone, on the surface of which are botry- 
oidal and spherulitic forms of chalcedony, known as beekite. These 
are thought by Hughes? to have originated by the replacement of 
portions of the limestone by silica, possibly through the influence of 
organic substances. The author thinks that the same kind of action _ 
may have given rise to many of the old siliceous deposits like flint or 
chert Mr. Dawson * has recently given a statement of the present 
condition of mining in British Columbia, and a description of the minerals 
of economic value occurring there, and Mr. Coste?* has issued a statistical 
2 Ófvers. af. Kongl. Vetensk. Ak. Förh., p. 7. Ref. Neues. Jahrb. f. Min., etc., 1899, I., 
a Dr.C. Hintze: Handbuch der wags i ad Lief. Leipzig. Veit and Comp., 1890. 
22 Zeits. f. Kryst, XVIL., 1890, p. 32 
23 Miner. Magazine, Ost, 1889, p. is. 
* Ann. Rep. Geol. and Nat, Hist. Surv. of Can. for 1887-88. Reps. R and S. 
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