Review of Handbook of Mineralogy. Vol I. Elements, Sulfides, Sulfosalts

From the Canadian Mineralogist (1991) 29, 175–176

by Dorian W.G. Smith, The University of Alberta

This book is volume I of a projected series covering the entire mineral kingdom. It deals with the elements, sulfides, sulfosalts, alloys, antimonides, arsenides, bisumuthinides, intermetallics, selenides, sulfhalides, sulfoxides and tellurides. The treatment of each mineral is equal in the sense that it is restricted to one page per species. On that page one finds a synopsis of available information under the following headings: Crystal Data: Physical Properties; Optical Properties; Cell Data; X-ray Powder Pattern; Chemistry; Occurrence; Association; Distribution; Name; Type Material; and References. The book covers 588 mineral species, arranged alphabetically. It is cloth bound and clearly printed on high-quality paper, as befits a book that is obviously intended as a work of reference.

This is the first work of its kind in the English language since the Dana’s System of Mineralogy, which has aimed to cover all known mineral species, a task which, with the proliferation of journals and publications in mineralogy and related areas, has become more daunting with each passing year. Of course a one-page-per-species treatment cannot be equated in any way with the more detailed coverage offered in Dana for the more common species, nor that given many minerals in specialized texts. However, the team of authors is to be congratulated for having had the courage to grasp the nettle and make an attempt to winnow, from the deluge of information published in more than a dozen languages worldwide, the concise single-page presentations they offer.

The sections on crystal data may include (as available) information on symmetry, point group, habit, mode of aggregation and twinning. The physical properties documented include hardness (Mohs and VHN), density, cleavage, fracture and tenacity. Under optical properties are included those of hand specimens as well as properties that can be observed by reflected light microscopy (color, pleochroism and anisotropism). The minerals covered in this volume are generally opaque, so that transmitted light characteristics are generally absent. Reflectance values are frequently given for as many as 16 different wavelengths (rather than the four standard wavelengths of 470, 546, 589 and 650 nm). This detailed presentation, which one finds in more specialized books as the "Quantitative Data File", published by the British Museum, consumes a significant amount of space which, one feels, might have been devoted to other pertinent information. The cell data sections include space group and the cell dimensions. It is not apparent whether these data are averages or from individual samples, and if the latter, where those data were obtained. The X-ray powder pattern contains the d values and relative intensities of the seven most intense lines, arranged on the basis of decreasing intensity. Unfortunately, the opportunity was not taken of listing the PDF number where one could obtain the complete pattern for a species. This would have fitted easily on the same line as the d values and although, in time, it would have become out of date, no more so than some of the other information presented. Chemistry is perhaps the most disappointing summary of the available information. Generally it contains one or two analyses (a maximum of four), which are sometimes compared with a composition calculated from the theoretical formula. In most but not all cases, the concentrations are limited to those for elements appearing in the theoretical formulae. Whilst this may be all that is possible for some rare minerals and perfectly satisfactory for others, it does not do justice to widely studied minerals such as those of the tetrahedrite-tennantite series, the common sulfide sphalerite, or even native elements such as silver. For example, published data for tetrahedrite includes six or more elements, which may appear at levels that are above 3%, but that are not even mentioned in the brief tabulation given. This failure to cover adequately the published compositional range of common elements, and the omission of data for minor and trace elements, leaves one wondering how the authors will tackle the challenge of giving adequate compositional coverage to complex silicates (particularly REE-bearing silicates) in any subsequent volumes covering those minerals. Under the heading polymorphism and series, information is also given on polytypic variations. No other information on classification appears in the book. Occurrence gives information on the types of geological environment or kinds of deposit in which a mineral usually occurs, and association is a useful section that lists (not exhaustively) minerals known to be associated. Under the heading distribution, one finds a summary of the principal localities at which the mineral is known to have been found. Type localities are not distinguished. Name is generally a one-liner giving the origin of the name, and under type material is given the physical location (museum, etc.) of the specimen from which the species was originally described. The principal references are presented with literature searches extending "through 1988".

One of the great difficulties in producing a work of this kind, which is, in effect, a solid mass of information, is maintaining high standards of accuracy and avoiding typographical errors. Here the authors seem to have succeeded admirably. Although it is impractical for a reviewer to check data exhaustively, in one hundred items selected randomly, not a single error was identified.

New mineral names are being approved at the rate of roughly 50 every year. Thus this book, like others of its kind, faces the certainty of becoming progressively more incomplete with the passage of time. Perhaps it is time that publishers took a leaf out of government practice, where many manuals are issued in nine-ring binders, with periodic updates and additions made available. At $82.50 (US) plus shipping and handling, the Handbook of Mineralogy, volume I, is not cheap. An updatable format might have made it a much more attractive investment.

Who will use this book? It is clearly not aimed at the undergraduate or graduate student market, but rather at research institutions, museums, libraries and, to some extent, the individual researcher. At present, competition comes from the less complete but more comprehensive Encyclopedia of Minerals (Roberts et al. 1990; see below), which contains details of more than 3,000 species with color photos of nearly 400 of them. Illustrations in the Handbook of Mineralogy are limited to a drawing of an epitactic overgrowth of tennantite on octahedral pyrite imprinted as a motif on the buckram cover! Future competition may come from a proposed 8th edition of Dana’s System of Mineralogy, work on which is presently underway. One learns from the acknowledgements that this book was prepared and typeset from a computer database. Thus perhaps the real competition for books of this kind comes from the computer databases and associated programs for mineral identification that are presently being developed and becoming commercially available in several countries. Although such software is generally appreciably more expensive than even a reference book, it enjoys several advantages: it is readily updatable, hard copy can be generated as needed, it can be made much more comprehensive in its coverage, and it can be made a very much more powerful tool in determinative mineralogy. Indeed, one can readily envisage a time in the not too distant future when hypermedia databases (numerical, text, graphics, image and even sound) will replace such reference texts entirely.