Intro
It is now over fifty years since my first revision of the late Frank Rutley’s Elements of Mineralogy was published. In the intervening years, modifications in the several editions that have appeared have been limited to revision of the statistical data relating to mineral production. For this present twenty-third edition, however, the book has been entirely reset and, as a consequence, I have been free to rewrite and re-arrange the whole subject-matter.
The major changes are the following. In Part I, the chapters on Crystallography and Optical Properties of Minerals have been completely re-written and enlarged, and many new figures have been incorporated in the text. The treatment of Crystallography is still a geometrical one, a treatment considered to be best for determinative purposes. The standard of the chapter on Mineral Optics is perhaps rather beyond the elementary stage, but throughout the practical aspects have been stressed. I have incorporated in Part I, also, a chapter on the Occurrence of Minerals which contains, among other information, that given in the Glossary in previous editions.
In Part II, the Description of Minerals, a new grouping of the minerals has been adopted. I have used a combined economic and chemical classification, first grouping the minerals according to the useful element contained in them and then arranging the elements in the Periodic Classification. The rock-forming silicates are grouped so far as is possible into their natural families. In the description of the rock-forming minerals, optical data have been given, and special attention directed to determinative details as, for instance, in the case of the feldspars and the aluminum silicates. In this part of the book, too, the statistical details have been brought up to date and the general characters of the occurrence of the ores of each element summarized. In this connection I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness to the various national statistical summaries and, in particular, to the publications of the Imperial Institute and the United States Geological Survey, and to “The Mineral Industry” (McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.).
These changes have led to a considerable increase in size, and it is with sincere regret that I have been compelled to dispense with the valuable and interesting Introduction by the late G. T. Holloway that has appeared in the revised editions up to the present. Readers of this new edition who are not familiar with the earlier editions would do well to consult one of these for Holloway’s ‘introduction.
I wish to re-state my thanks to all who helped in the preparation of the first revised edition of this book; the virtues of their contributions have been preserved. In connection with this present edition, I desire to thank my friend Mr. I. S. Double for help in the preparation of illustrations. Mr. G. MacDonald Davies kindly allowed me to use in modified form certain figures that have appeared in Elementary Crystallography, by J. W. Evans and G. MacDonald Davies. Finally, my thanks are due to Messrs. Swift for the loan of the block which formed the basis of Fig. 88.
In spite of these enlargements and changes, I believe that the general character of Rutley’s Mineralogy has been maintained, and I hope that the modifications introduced will increase the usefulness of the source.