Mineralien-Sammlungen Ein Hand- und Hilfsbuch für Anlage und Instandhaltung mineralogischer Sammlungen

Abstract

MOST of us have in our youth been impelled to form a collection of objects, such as stamps or butterflies, which come within the purview of everyday life, but few have essayed minerals, partly because, except to those actually dwelling in a mining district, crystallised minerals in the natural state are almost unknown, and partly because it is on first acquaintance perplexing to understand how minerals may be determined. A brief experience soon shows that colour, the most obvious physical character, is no trustworthy guide. It is, indeed, impossible, without some knowledge of the physical and chemical characters of minerals, even to arrange a collection, much less derive any pleasure or satisfaction from it Dr. Brendler has endeavoured to smooth the path of the collector by providing in this slender volume all the information necessary for the determination of the ordinary characters of minerals. If we judged by the slight interest taken in this country in mineralogical science, we should have anticipated that the demand for such a book would have been too small to justify its publication, but it appears from Dr. Brendler's preface that in Germany a more encouraging state of things prevails.

Mineralien-Sammlungen. Ein Hand- und Hilfsbuch für Anlage und Instandhaltung mineralogischer Sammlungen.

By Dr. Wolfgang Brendler. I. Teil. Pp. viii + 220. (Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann, 1908.) Price 7 marks.