Schuh’s Annotated Bio-Bibliography

SOKOLOV, Dmitrii Ivanovich.

(1788 – 1852)

(Born: St. Petersburg, Russia, 1788; Died: St. Peterburg, Russia, 1 December 1852) Russian geologist and mineralogist.

After the death of his father in 1796, Sokolov was sent to the preparatory class of the St. Petersburg Mining School, from which he graduated in 1805. After graduation, he worked for a time as an assayer in the Academy's laboratory, and then he began giving lectures first in metallurgy and assaying and later in geognosy and mining. Soon, a position as a permenant instructor of the Academy was offered and accepted. Sokolov retained the job until 1841. From 1822 until 1844, he also held a professorship at the University of St. Petersburg. He was a founder and the first editor of the Gornyi Zhurnal (Mining Journal), which was one of the first specialized periodicals published in Russia. The principal geographical work Sokolov is remembered for relates to grouping the red stratigraphic beds of the Trans-Volga Region into its own independent system, which was named "Permian" in 1841 by Sir Roderick Murchison [1792-1871]. Sokolov was a founding member of the St. Petersburg Mineralogical Society in 1817, and he was also elected to the Russian Academy of Science in 1839.

Biographical references: DSB: 12, 513-5 [by V.V. Tikhomirov]. • Great Soviet Encyclopedia: 24, 280. • Moliavko, Geologi Biograficheskii, 1985: p. 250-1. • Radkevich, E.A., Dmitry Ivanovich Sokolov 1788-1852. Moscow, 1959, 102 p. • Tikhomirov, V.V., "Dmitrii Ivanovich Sokolov: K 100-letiiu so dnia smerti", Byulleten Moskovskogo ob-va ispytatelei prirody: Otdel geologicheskii, 27, (1952), no. 6. • Zvorykin, Biograficheskii Slovar, 1958: 2, 233.

Rukovodstvo k Mineralogii, 1832

[Transliterated title:]

2 vols. [Vol 1] 8°: π² A⁸ B⁴ a-b⁸ 1-36⁸ 37⁶; 324l.; [4], [I]-XXIV, [I]-XXXII, [1]-586, [2] p.; [Vol 2] 8°: π¹ a⁸ b⁵ 1-32⁸ 33⁶ I⁶; 282l.; [2], [XXXV]-LX, [587]-[1110], [1]-13, [1] p., one plate (6 xl figs.). Page size: 210 x 126 mm.

Contents: [Vol 1] [2 pgs], Title page, verso "Печатать Позволяется: | ..."-signed A. Krylov.; [1 pg], Dedication.; [1 pg], Blank.; [I]-XXIV, "Предисловiе." [preface].; [I]-XXXII, "Система Минералловъ." [outline of mineral system].; [1]-579, Text.; [580], Blank.; [581]-586, "Дополнения | Къ Описанiю | Минералловъ."; [1 pg], "Погръxности."; [1 pg], Blank.

[Vol 2] [2 pgs], Title page, verso "Печатать Позволяется: | ..."-signed A. Krylov.; [XXXV]-LX, "Система Минералловъ." [systematic overview of the metals].; [587]-1105, Text, being a descriptive mineralogy of the metals.; [1106], Blank.; [1107]-[1110], "Дополнения."; [1]-13, "Реэстръ | Россiйскиhъ и Азиятскиhъ Назбанiй."; [1 pg], Blank.; [At end], One plate.

Translated title: Handbook on mineralogy with additional statistical data on the most important salts and metals.

Very scarce. Sokolov's Handbook of Mineralogy is an important contribution to the chemical classification of minerals. An early career as an assayer allowed Sokolov to view the classification problem of minerals in a new way. He was a strong advocate of the atomistic concept, and believed that the physical properties of minerals depended upon the internal structure of the atoms. Therefore, Sokolov placed the primary importance for classification upon a mineral's chemical composition and classified minerals according to their cations. By grouping minerals with similar properties under this arrangement, he outlined in rough terms a natural ordering of atomic properties that foreshadowed Mendeleev's periodic system.

Of secondary importance were the physical properties of minerals. These, Sokolov correctly reasoned, were the manifestation of the chemical structure. Thus crystallography, color, luster, hardness, cleavage, etc. although mentioned throughout his classification are used primarily for the actual determination of the mineral species rather than its placement within the system. For the time, this was a remarkable idea considering natural history methods of classification were then predominant throughout Europe and America.

Bibliographical references: DSB: 12, 513-5. • Povarennykh, A.S., "On the crystallochemical classification of borates" (pp. 303-308), in: Battey, M.H. & S.I. Tomkeieff, eds., Aspects of theoretical mineralogy in the U.S.S.R. A collection of papers translated from the Russian. New York, 1964.

[Transliterated title:]

8°: π¹ 1-8⁸; 65l.; [2], 1-126, [2] p. Page size: 217 x 127 mm.

Contents: [2 pgs], Title page, verso "Перчатать Позволяется, | ..."-signed S. Kymorga.; 1-126, Text.; [2 pgs], "Проиуски и онечамки Бъ Донолненiяhъ къ | Минералогiи."

Translated title: Supplement to mineralogy published in 1832.

Very scarce. This Supplement to Mineralogy was written to extend and update Sokolov's previous Handbook of Mineralogy (St. Petersburg, 1832). In this volume, Sokolov pointed out the similarity of the newly discovered mineral "Rhodizite" to the species boracite, and writes: "It is probable that ... magnesia has been partially replaced by lithia and that this is in agreement with its occurrence in lithium tourmaline, in one deposit with lithium mica" (Povarennykh).