1896.] Recent Literature. 35 



exceed the outlay on funeral solemnities annually expended by it. 

 Such meetings tend to bring about amicable relations among the living, 

 and to promote the interest in and distribution of knowledge. It 

 might be good politics if the Canadian Boundary and Venezuelan ques- 

 tions should be still on hand in 1897. 



RECENT LITERATURE. 



Petrology for Students : An Introduction to the Study of 

 Rocks under the Microscope, by Alfred Harker, University Press, 

 Cambridge. MacMillan & Co., New York, 1895. Pp. vi and 306 ; 

 figs. 75 ; price $2.00. 



This volume of the Cambridge Natural Science Manuals will be 

 heartily welcomed by teachers and students of geology in all English- 

 speaking countries. It presupposes a knowledge of the microscopical 

 features of minerals, and consequently deals only with rocks. These 

 the author divides into Plutonic, Intrusive, Volcanic and Sedimentary 

 rocks. Under each head the general characteristics distinguishing 

 each of the several rock classes are briefly mentioned, and descriptions 

 of the different rock types embraced in each group are given. First 

 come descriptions of the constituents of each rock, then follows a state- 

 ment of its pecularities of structure. The principal varieties are next 

 mentioned, and abnormal, structural and chemical forms are briefly 

 described. The book concludes with chapters on thermal and dynamic 

 metamorphism and one on the crystalline schists. 



Of course, the treatment of the different subjects discussed is neces- 

 sarily very brief, nevertheless it is full enough in most cases to give the 

 student beginning petrography a very good view of the field. A spe- 

 cially important feature of the work is the large list of references to 

 articles written in English. With this book at hand, students will no 

 longer be required to wait until they have mastered German before 

 beginning the study as heretofore been the case. While by no means 

 exhaustive, the present volume will serve as an excellent introduction 

 to the larger French and German treatises, and will, at the same time, 

 be a good reference book for geologists who do not desire to make a 

 specialty of microscopic lithology. — W. S. B. 



Crystallography, a Treatise on the Morphology of Crys- 

 tals, by N. Story-Maskelyne, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1895. New 



