corundum, India.12, Burma.12, Sri Lanka.12, quality.10, gems, Indian lapidary

Sinkankas: A fairly complete general treatment of gemology written in popular terms and presumably meant to replace or supplant the somewhat similar publications above, especially insofar as Iyer emphasizes the gemstones that occur in India, Burma, and Ceylon. The first part treats principles and is followed by a second part on descriptions. Because of the author’s familiarity with native gemstones, this work remains a valuable reference. Commendable features include descriptions of native mining methods used, histories of previous mining attempts in the countries named, and a bibliography that is large, detailed, and paginated! This work is scarce.