Mohave County miner., 1916-11-11
NEW PRODUCTS OF NATURES LABORATORY

Although nature is constantly de- stroying some things she appears to be just as constantly building up oth- CT things, and this is true even of in organic forms, such as rocks and min erals. In explaining the origin of such materials we are apt to connect their formation with some distant and re- mote period, when the conditions are supposed to be very unlike those now prevailing; yet nothing is more certain than that the same physical and chem ical laws are in operation now as then. When we speak of new products of na- ture's laboratory we may mean, then, either a product recently formed or a product recently discovered. Geolo- gists are familiar with products that were recently formed and mineral ogists are particularly interested in those that have been recently discov- cred.
 The mineralogists of the United State Geological Survey, department of the interior, are constantly discov- ering new minerals. Most of them are found by the surveyors geologists, but occasionally a specimen sent in by an outsider for indentifcation or inspec- tion. turns out to be a new mineral Several new minerals are described by W. T. Schaller in bulletin 610 of the survey, which is his third bulletin in a series of Meteorological Notes," pub lished for free distribution to appli- cants to the director of the Geolog- ical Survey, Washington, D. c.
 It is not easy to say exactly what should constitute a new mineral. A mineral may be regarded as new if il differs from another only in crystal form. For instance, a new crystal form of the mineral variscite, which is used as a gem, is described in bulletin 610 and is called lucinite, a new name Variations in composition may or may not justify new name. If the varia. tion consists of minor isomorphous re. placement of one atom by another similar atom it does not justify a new name, because names based on sucf variations would be almost infinite il number. If the replacement element has never before been noted in the compound in question a new name would be justified. A discussion ot the possibilities of mineral nomencla ture is given under the heading "me lilite group"-a group of anhydroui calcium-aluminum silicates found il nature and reducible to uniformity only by selecting the proper chemi cal formulas for the typical members There is no doubt that mineral which consists of compound never before noted in nature should be regarded a! a new mineral, such as the compound of bismuth and molybdenum to whicl the name koechlinite has been given
 A mineral may be named from some well known mineralogist or chemist ol from the place where it was discov cred, but on account of the ever-in bcreasing number of minerals a place name is now generally preferred anC has the advantage that it enables ont to remember it through association Not a few mineralogists, however, in feline to prefer a name that suggests some definite property of the mineral such as its chemical composition ol its crystallographic form.
 Mi1erals have so many propertie! that they should be described anC classed only by the mineralogist. Oc casionally, however, some striking character in a mineral is apparent even to layman. If the crystals art large enough to be measured by { ruler anybody can see the significance of the various angles and forms. Crys tals of spodumene over 40 feet long have been observed in the Etta mine in the Black Hills, South Dakota. | has been estimated that in mining even such a mineral 25 tons of waste rock must be removed in order to ex tract one ton of spodumene.