(Born: 1836; Died: 1912) American chemist.

Biographical references: ABA: I 1720, 37-39; II 666, 129. • Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography. • WBI. • Who Was Who in America.

1. English, 1880 [First edition].
An Elementary Guide | To | Determinative Mineralogy | For The Use Of | The Practical Mineralogist And Prospector, And | For Instruction In Schools And Academies, | Based Upon The Method Of | Weisbach's "Tabellen Zur Bestimmung Der | Mineralien," | Applied Chiefly To American Species. | [rule] | C. Gilbert Wheeler, | Professor in the University of Chicago. | [rule] | Chicago: | S.J. Wheeler, Publisher. | 1880.

8°: [1]-75, [3] p. Page size: 192 x 129 mm. uncut.

Contents: [1-2], Title page, verso blank.; [3], "Preface."; [4], Blank.; [5], "Introduction."; [6]-53, "Principle Tables Of Minerals.; [54]-61, "Supplementary Tables."; 62-64, "Blow Pipe Tests."; 65, "Blow Pipe Assay."; [66], Blank.; 67, "The Scale Of Hardness."; [68], Blank.; 69, "Abbreviations."; [70], Blank.; 71, "Synopsis Of Arrangement."; [72], Blank.; [73]-75, "Index.; [1 pg], Blank.; [1 pg], "Other Works by Prof. Wheeler."; [1 pg], Advertisement of the "Mineralogical Chart by C. Gilbert Wheeler."

Very scarce. This is one of about a dozen guides written to help the field prospector and school student in America to identify an unknown mineral sample. Wheeler's Guide was somewhat better organized in its approach to the problem, being based upon Weisbach's Tabellen zur Bestimmung der Mineralien, which was then popular in German academies. That Wheeler intended his book to be used to locate mineral resources in the American west is clear from its focus on mineral species that were indicators of economic mineral deposits. This book was reissued in 1881 with no noticeable changes.

Related work, c1880: An advertisement is included at the end of Wheeler's Elementary Guide for another of his works, Mineralogical Chart. The advertisement describes it as "consisting of over 200 color illustrations of minerals species, including all the most important and typical groups. Lithographs colored by hand. Each chart consists of 5 sheets of plates, 14 x 24 inches, and 2 columns of text running the length of the chart. Also available with German, Spanish, French, Bohemian and Norwegian text."

Bibliographical references: NUC.

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