Complexing and Hydrothermal Ore Deposition / Комплексообразование и гидротермальное рудообразование

THIS book is an outgrowth of my doctoral dissertation at Harvard University. It is not a final report of investigation, nor does it presume to be the last word on hydrothermal ore-forming solutions. It is a progress report, written with due consideration for the thoughts so well expressed by R.G.H. Siu in the following paragraph from The Tao of Science:

"Ingenious theoretical superstructures live in constant dread of factual termites that continually gnaw at their foundations. They topple at the first inconsistency with observation. Concepts glory only in a relatively short term of office This does not necessarily mean that no statements can be made about reality. It just means that science herself deals in temporary hypotheses of perfection at any given moment."

The study reported here has been published intact in order to retain the continuity necessary to support the reasoning and calculations involved in the conclusions drawn. The pages that follow contain a synthesis of fact, theory, and interpretative speculation, yet I have endeavored to maintain a clear distinction between them. The book is intended for geologists. The chemist will find the treatment of his domain far from rigorous and somewhat oversimplified. I make no apology for this; the hydrothermal problem defies a rigorous and sophisticated chemical approach in the present state of knowledge. <...>