Mr Prest has devoted the past forty years of his life to an intimate and practical study of the gold fields of Nova Scotia and has embodied in the memoir herewith the net results of his observation, couched in such language as will appeal to the average prospector who devotes his attention to the worthy and often unrewarded labor of discovering and bringing into existence, profitable ore deposits. Nova Scotia the most eastern province of Canada has long been known as the location of a large and valuable area of auriferous bearing rocks and the work done in the past which has resulted in an officially recorded production of gold equal to over seventeen million dollars is the best evidence of the future which awaits safe conservative development in opening up the innumerable unworked deposits which dot the province. In mining, success turns very often upon apparent trifles, and observation to be of value must be minute, painstaking and long continued. In addition there must be brought to the task, that love for the work, without which no craftsman can hope for individual thoroughness. That Mr. Prest has approached his subject with a full appreciation of the necessity and desirability of placing before serious investigators such facts as he has learned during a life time of effort will be apparent to the reader, and it is the latter who must recognize the importance of giving heed to the details of ore occurrences in Nova Scotia and the general laws which they follow, if he is to take advantage, fully of the recommendations offered.<br><br>That Nova Scotia offers a splendid field for developments in connection with her gold deposits, is to repeat a truism, yet there are those who after cursory glimpsing of the ground floor are bold enough to dogmatize to the contrary and the strangest part of such a condition is that their ill considered opinions and wrongly reached conclusions at times have a weight attached to them neither justified by the writer's knowledge of his subject, his opportunities for study, or his ability to assimilate the outstanding features which make this province unique in respect to its mineral deposits.