Excerpt from Methods in Practical Petrology: Hints on the Preparation and Examination of Rock SlicesApparatus necessary - Rock cutting machines - Preparation of material First grinding Mounting Second grinding Minerals liable to give trouble - Finishing.Rocks present such a wide variation in texture, hardness, cohesion, composition, and the mutual rela tions of their constituent minerals, that many methods for the preparation of rock slices have been employed by different workers to suit their particular require ments.In this chapter we shall describe the methods which we have found to be generally applicable to most kinds of rock, though certain types will necessarily demand special treatment. More particularly is this the case with some coarse varieties where the constituent minerals are loosely intergrown.Fine textured rocks are in general simpler to deal with, their internal structure materially aiding the production of a thin slice. In general slices should not be more than 33133 inch thick, when quartz and felspar, if present in the rock, will show grey tints of the first order when examined in polarized light.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.