In the past decade, differential thermal analysis has developed into a very useful mineralogical technique. The theoretical background for this method has been treated by Speil, Berkelhamer, Pask, and Da vies (1945) and has been modified by Kerr and Kulp (1948, 1949). The application of the method to the clay minerals has been carried out with considerable success by a number of workers in Europe and America. In particular, Grim and co-workers (1942, 1947, 1948) have produced a number of significant papers dealing with the thermal analysis of clays. The method has been extended to other mineral groups such as the carbonates (Faust, 1949; Beck, 1946; Kerr and Kulp, 1947; Cuthbert and Rowland, 1947; Kulp, Kent, and Kerr, 1950), phosphates (Manly, 1950), sulphates (Kulp and Adler, 1950), quartz (Faust, 1948), and the hydrous iron oxides (Kulp and Trites, 1950).