Minerals and the Microscope: an Introduction to the Study of Petrology

Abstract

THE author of this convenient and systematic little treatise is Demonstrator of geology in the Imperial College of Science, London, where he has gained experience through the introduction of large I classes to the use of the microscope in petrology. The style is clear, and sufficient optical theory is introduced to add interest to determinative methods. The philosophic processes by which minerals are determined, affording as they do an insight into crystalline structure, are of far more value in classwork than actual specific identifications. The beautiful series of photographs of minerals as they appear in thin rock-slices is a very welcome feature, and gives special distinction to the book.

Minerals and the Microscope: an Introduction to the Study of Petrology.

By H. G. Smith. Pp. xi + 116 + xii plates. (London: Thomas Murby and Co., n.d.) Price 3s. 6d. net.