Editorial Comment. 53 
ienfeld Bros, of Hopetown. This stone was finally purchased 
by the Earl Dudley for £25,000, and was apparently the stone 
which first made the South African fields famous. 
A graphic account is given of the motley throng of for- 
tune hunters who poured into the region after the boom was 
fairly established and the confusion of titles which arose 
through conflicting mining claims. Details are also given of 
the manner in which the mines passed from the control of the 
Dutch and the native tribes into the hands of the English. The 
history of the development of the various mining claims and 
the final consolidation through the work of Cecil Rhodes and 
the young Hebrew, Barnett Isaacs, or Barney Barnato, as he 
was called, is given in considerable detail. Abundant illustra- 
tions show^ all the details of mining and various stages of de- 
velopment, and much that is incidental thereto. 
What is the least satisfactory chapter in the book, to the 
scientific man, at least, is that relating to the genesis of the 
diamond. Here no reference is made to the work of Daubree 
or De Launay, though the work of Carvill, Lewis, W. Luzi, 
and Rutley is quoted. 
The closing chapter, "An Uplifting Power," has to do with 
the development of South Africa through the discovery of the 
diamond mines, and an appendix with the condition of the 
mines during the South African war. It would require no 
reference to the title page to assure the reader that both the 
latter were written by an Englishman and from an English- 
man's standpoint, by one who was perhaps too near the scene 
of action and too closely connected by ties of blood to look at 
matters from a wholly impartial standpoint. g. p. m. 
REVIEW OF RECENT GEOLOGICAL 
LITERATURE. 
Oiii Slarpsbackcns Dalgang. af John Chr., Molierg (Aftryck ur gool. 
foren. i Stockholm fcirhandl., Bd. 24, H. 5, 1902.) 
This is a description of the vale of Sularp showing the outcrops 
of the several beds of shale with various species of graptolites, that 
are found along its course. The shales are Ordovician throughout. 
A map of the valley, showing the various features of interest along 
its course, accompanies the paper. G. F. m. 
