Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/505

 Id the Bridger formatioo. Professor Cope has not achieved audi great things na in the earlier period a. Nevertheless, the sections on the reptiles, the rodents, and the tainroids Hyrn- chyus and Triplopus, are Dotnble c-ontrib lit ions to the subject.

lu closing this very brief aod inadequate sketch, we mual call alLentiou to the beautifal aeries of miocene carnivores with which ])art i. ends. Nothing can exceed the perfection of their preservation, and they enable the paleon- tologiat to follow the evolution of the group without dilHonlty, Professor Cope sajs with much truth, " No fuller genealogical ecries exists than that whieb I have discovered among the extinct cats."

As IB unavoidable in the case of a volume neariy Eve years in course of printing, this book contains much that riper judgment and fiiller knowledge have modified. Thus have arisen the occasional contradictions between different parts of the book ; and in recent articles in the American naturalial the au- thor has expanded and modified many of his conclusions. But, aside tVom these, some of his results are oi>on to serious question, and with scarcely any of his phylogenetic tables can we fully agree. His tendency seems to be to generalize too hastily from the study of some special structures, as the dentition or the foet, to the exclusion of other important parts. The book has been rather carelessly printed, and shows many typi^raphical errors : and the references to the plates are frequently and annoyiugly wrong, compelling the reader to a tedious search. The plates themselves can- not be praiaed : many of the figures are badly drawn, and in one case, at least, the drawing is ludicroHB (woodcut, fig. 25a). With few exceptions, the lithographic work is not up to the usual standard of the Siaclairs. and con- trasts unfavorably with the exquisite work- manship of Professor Marsh's volumes.

But, in spite of these drawbacks. Professor Cope has done a grand work, which is an or- nament to Amerii^n paleontology, nud must ever remain a landmark in the history of the science, na welt as '* a monument to the labor and genius of its author."

��occurrence and origin of the various ore- dejHssits.

With two or three noteworthy exceptions in Germany, and one or two in France, the liter- ature on this subject is confined to the vast number of Special papern, Whitney's ' Metal- lic wealth of the United States,' a model work which has been of great usclutness. treated, in its descriptive part, onl}' of our own country. Mr. Prime's translation of von Cotta's ■ Erz- li^erstaettenlehre ' has been for years the only general work on the subject in the English language. Since that was written, our mani- fold mining industries hare assumed an im- portance that will be best nnderstood when we say that during the year 1880 there were nearly ten thousand mines of all kinds and eizes operating east of the llOth meridian. This does not take into account the mines of the precious and other metals of the west, which must number over three thousand. There is a pressing need of a general work basixl on a survey of our own rich field.

Pending the appearance of such a work, this book l>y Mr. Phillips, who has lisited many American mines, draws largely, both for facts and theory, from the American experience of its aiithor, and will be found to lie very ser- viceable.

In its general plan and appearance it recalls von Cotta's work. The first hundred pages are devoted to the general classification of deposits. The remaining five hundred or more pages descril)e in detoil the noteworthy and instructive occurrences throughout the world.

The classification adopted is well chosen, and is as simple as is consistent with our knowledge of the subject.

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��PHILLIPS'S ORE-DEPOSITS. CoxsmEBisG the immense importance of the In the general part, which follows, these I raining industries, it is remarkable that there diff'erent forms are discussed in the light of the J have been so few treatises on the manner of latest investigations.

The forming of the siliceous gangne in fls- I toniool'jracmijSii ^'^i'ism/ ' ""'"' "°^'"- ■ * aures by lateral Secretions is illustrated in the

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