Abstract
THE first part of this work was noticed in NATURE, vol. lviii. (1898), p. 615. The second part consists of eleven chapters and an appendix. The first chapter (Chapter vi. of the work) deals in 19 pages with unstratified ore deposits. In the following chapter (vii.) the occurrence of the non-metalliferous minerals is described. We have, for example, 2½ pages on coal, 1½ on petroleum, and 1 on diamonds. As these pages include the illustrations, it is clear that the amount of information is completely out of proportion to the importance of the subject. No doubt the author would plead the lack of space for more, but surely in that case he should have made a judicious selection of the literature bearing on the subjects in question, and given full references to it. The same remark as to the almost complete absence of references applies to the book as a whole. Not only would such references have rendered useful short sketches of great subjects, which, standing alone, are almost useless, but they would have given the weight of authority for many statements which, unsupported, appear dogmatic. Chapter viii. is devoted chiefly to prospecting, developing, bed-mining, and vein-mining. The next four chapters deal with “Building and Ornamental Stones.” They are chiefly illustrated by sixteen drawings of microscopic rock sections, clearly executed but without any indication of the amount of magnification. On. p. 76 the igneous rocks are classified into three groups—Plutonic, Intrusive and Volcanic; but it by no means follows, as there stated, that intrusive rocks are microcrystalline, still less that volcanic rocks are necessarily partly or entirely glassy, nor is it logical to classify serpentine as intrusive, while peridotite, of which most serpentines are merely altered examples, is termed plutonic. Rocks used in the arts and manufactures are described in Chapter xiii. Engineering geology, especially the subjects of water-supply, embankments, tunnels and cuttings, occupies Chapters xiv. and xv., and the final chapter is devoted to surface features such as soils. In an appendix are given “simple rough methods for the determination of minerals and rocks,” and there is a good index.
Applied Geology.
By J. V. Elsden Part II. Pp. vi + 250, with 186 Figures. (London: "The Quarry" Publishing Co., Ltd., 1899.)
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Applied Geology. Nature 60, 148 (1899). https://doi.org/10.1038/060148b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/060148b0