gems, Humboldt, beryl, topaz, emerald, aquamarine, Russia, Ural Mountains, tourmaline, alexandrite, Yekaterinberg,

At the invitation of Nicholas I of Russia, three German scientists undertook a scientific expedition into the remote Siberian reaches of the Russian Empire in 1837. Alexander von Humboldt, accompanied by Gustav Rose and Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, covered nearly 16,000 kilometers in their travels, reaching as far east as the Altai Mountains, just north of the Mongolian border. Rose, the mineralogical expert of the group, recorded the account of their investigations, published in 1837 as Reise nach dem Ural, dem Altai und dem Kaspischen Meere. John Sinkankas has made this enjoyable work accessible to the English-speaking community by providing a translation of the good parts, i.e. those dealing with the gem deposits. Sinkankas has provided the reader with ample footnotes, helpful definitions, conversion factors for Rose’s weights and measures, and corrections and criticisms that allow a full comprehension of the extracts. At the end we also find a short biography of Rose himself. This is a fine, scholarly contribution that also makes very interesting reading. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in the history of mineralogy or gemology. — The Mineralogical Record, Vol. 26, May/June 1995.