The Geology of the Metalliferous Deposits

Abstract

DURING the last few years very much good work has been done on the genesis of ore deposits, and the Transactions of the various scientific and technical institutes interested in this branch of study contain numerous papers bearing upon it. A critical work upon this subject was therefore really overdue, and the thanks of all its students can fairly be claimed by Dr. Rastall for the admirable manner in which he has filled the gap in our literature. The last English work on this subject was that by Thomas and MacAlister, published in 1909, and it is no disparagement to the earlier authors to say that Dr. Rastall's work shows a very marked advance upon their book; to a great extent this advance is due to the combined work of many hands, and shows how much the methodical study of the genesis of ore deposits has occupied the thoughts of modern geologists. The writer of this review wrote in 1896 that “in the records of our geological society, communications treating of the geology of ore deposits are conspicuous but by their absence,” and it is a pleasurable reflection that to-day this statement no longer holds good. Not only have geologists devoted themselves to the study of metal-logeny for its own intrinsic importance, but they have also learnt that the time given to this province of geology has advanced the science as a whole; they have found out that the deposition of metallic minerals is only a highly specialised form of certain other geo-logical phenomena, and that the study of ore deposition throws much light upon a very large section of geology, and that perhaps the most difficult to understand. The Geology of the Metalliferous Deposits. By Dr. R. H. Rastall. (Cambridge Geological Series.) Pp. xii + 508. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1923.) 21s. net.