Abstract
The issue of a third edition of this memoir shows public appreciation of the economic work of the Geological Survey; the revision has involved further visits to all the principal mines, and the records of output include those of very recent years. A brief sketch of the characters of the two minerals concerned and of their uses precedes the detailed account of the mines. Photographs of crystals, and some account of the relation of barytes to metallic sulphides in the field, might have added interest to this section; but the cost of the memoir to the public has no doubt been carefully considered. The graphic tables showing the total output go back only to 1890. It would be of interest to trace the quick response of the Derbyshire miners to the demand that arose in 1856. The earliest date mentioned on p. 64 is 1892; but in 1857, two years after the industrial development of barytes lodes was started in the county of Cork, Derbyshire produced as much as 9000 tons. The thoroughness of the memoir as a record of present-day mining is shown by the descriptions of methods of treatment of the ore at various places, and of means of transport.
Memoirs of the Geological Survey. Special Reports on the Mineral Resources of Great Britain. Vol. 2: Barytes and Witherite.
ByG. V. Wilson T. Eastwood R. W. Pocock D. A. Wray T. Robertson. With contributions by H. G. Dines Third edition. Pp. iv + 119 + 6 plates. (Southampton: Ordnance Survey Office; London: E. Stanford, Ltd., 1922.) 3s. net.
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C., G. Memoirs of the Geological Survey Special Reports on the Mineral Resources of Great Britain Vol 2: Barytes and Witherite. Nature 110, 211 (1922). https://doi.org/10.1038/110211a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/110211a0