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MAKUAL 



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OBSES7ATI0NS ON WMS, BOCKS, 
BEDUCmON OF OBJSa, 

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APFUCULTIOIB OP THE adEHCIE TO TEE ASXO, 

WITH 260 XLLUSTRATZOirfiy 

DESIGNED FOR THE USB OF SCHOOLS AND COLLEGSa 

BY JAMES D. DANA, A. M., 



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the AaerloMi ▲oademy of Arte end Sdencee et Boeton, eto. ; 

Author of a **97item of Mineralogy.** 



tf, BSTIBBD AHD INLABOID. 



NEW HAVEN: 
H. EL FE O K. 

1869. 



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LIBRARY 



i aooordlDf to act of Oongress, in the year 1857, by 
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In the Gleik*! Offiee of the Dlstriet Oonrt of Ctonneotleat. 



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PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



Ik the preparation of this Manual, the author has endeaTored to 
meet a demand often urged, by making it, as far as possible, prac- 
tical and American in character. 

Prominence has been given to the more common species, while 

others are but briefly notieed in smaller type, or are mentioned' 
only by name. The uses of minerals and their modes of application 
in the arts have been especially dwelt upon. The value of ores in 
mining, their modes of reduction, the yield of mines in different 
eoontries, and the various applications of the metals, have been de- 
scribed as minutely as was consistent with the extent of the work. 
The various rocks are in like manner included. 

At the aame time, the subject has been presented with all the 
strictness of a scientific system. The classification adopted throws 
together ores of the same metal, and associates the earthy speciea 
ss far as possible in natural groups. This order is preferred by verr 
many teachers of the science, and has advantages which for man^ 
purposes counterbalance those of a more perfectly natural system 
The account of the ores of each metal is preceded by a brief state 
ment of their distinctive characters; and after the descriptions, 
there follow general remarks on mines, metallurgical processes, ana 
other useful information. 

As the rarer mineral species are not altogether excluded, but are 
briefly mentioned each in its proper place in the system, the student^ 
should he meet with them, will be guided by the Manual to son^t 
knowledge of their general characters, and aided in arranging them 
'*n his cabinet 



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IT PRBFACB. 

The lifit oi Americftn lecaliti«s appencUd to tbe work, the d«- 
•oriptiojs of mineralogieal iij^plements, and tbe notice of foreign 
weigbtsy measores and coins, will be foand eonyenient to tbe studenl 

Tbe autbor most refer to bis larger work for more miniite inform 
D>ation on tbe localities of minerals and tbe associations of species— 
for full lis^s of ^nonyms — a more complete account of crystal* 
ograpby and its details, and more nnmeroas analyses^ witb tbeir 
autborities. * * » * « » 



PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. 



In bringing tbis Manual up to tbe present state of tho science^ 
numerous ebanges and additions bave been required. Tbe arrange 
ment, bowever, remains unaltered, except in tbe order of some of 
tbe metalsw Tbe Table of American localities bas been nearly 
doubled in lengtb, giTing it tbe completeness it bas in tbe autbor*8 
''Treatise on Mineralogy.** A ebapter bas also bees added on tbe 
chemical composition and formulas of minerals, in wbicb tbe sub- 
ject is explained witb simple illustrations^ and a list of tbe more 
prominent species witb tbeir cbemical formulas is giyen, following 
tbe order of tbe descriptiYe part of tbe work. 

Nkw Hayxk, 186'7. 



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TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



GiAp. L — GmxKAL Chaxagtiiistigs of MnixiALB, • .13 

GlAF. n. — CsYSrALLOOXAPHT Z OS TBE SlXTOTUn OT lijKMMkiS, 19 



Fundamental Ibmis of crymals, 

Qeayage, . . . • 

Secondary- fonns, . • 

Compound crystals, . • • 

Dimorphism, / , • • 

Irregularities of crystals, . • 

Meaaoring angles of crystals, • 

liasaiTe minerals, . • • 

Colomoar straetore. 

Lamellar and granular stroctoiv, 
Ptoendomoiphous crystals. 



CeAF. m. PhTSICAL PKOnRTOS Kfi MlHIBALa. 

Luster, .... 

Color, .... 

Diaphaneity^ — ^Refraction, and Pokrizatioay 
Phosphorescence, . 
Electricity and Magnetism, . 
Specific gravity, . • 

Hardness, . . . • 

State of aggregation — ^Fracture, 
Taste— Odor. . . 



Chap. IV. — Cbsmical Pbofirtiib fst Ifonuju^ 
Action of adds, . . • 

Kowpipe, . • . • 

GiAT. v. — Classification of Miuxbals, 

ClAF. VI. — ^DSSCXITTION OF MlRSBALSy 

1. Gases, . 

«. Water, . 

S. Carbon and compounds of caiiyoB, 

4. Sulphur, . 

& Haloid minerals, . 

1. Ammonia, . 

9. Potasn, ; 

3. Soda, 
i 4. Baryu, 

5. Strontia, • 

6. Lime, . • 

7. Magnesia 

8. Alumina, 

1* 



33 
34 

4S 
44 
45 

47 
53 
53 
53 
54 

55 

56 
58 
61 
63 
63 
64 
65 
66 

66 
66 
67 

71 

76 

76 

78 

80 

97 

100 

100 

101 

103 

108 

110 

113 

133 

137 



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CONTENTS. 



6i Earthjr minerals, (silicates or alnminatet,) 






182 


1. Silica, . ^ . • . 






132 


2. Lime, ..... 






141 


S. Magnesia, . . • . , 






148 


1. Hydrons silicates, • • , 






148 


2. Anhydrous silicat^ . 






160 


4. Alumina, .... 






168 


1. Uncombined, , 






168 


2. Combined with other ozyds, . 






160 


8. Hydrous combinations with silica. 






161 


4. Anhydrous combinations with silica. 






172 


6. Combinations of a silicate and fluorid, 




194 


6. Combination of a silicate and sulphate. 




196 


7. Silicate with a chlorid. 






- 


5. Glucina, .... 






197 


6. Zirconia, • . , , 






200 


1. Thoria, . • , . 






202 


7. Metals and metallic ores. 






202 


1. Easily oxydizable metals, . 






2C5 


1, 2, 3. Cerium and Ytrimm^ Lanthanum, 




206 


4. Titanium, 






209 


6. Tin, . 






218 


ft. Molybdenum, 






217 


7. Tungsten, . • 






218 


8. Vanadium, . 






219 


9. Tellurium, . 






219 


10. Bismuth, 






220 


11. Antimony, , • 






222 


12. Arsenic, . • • 






225 


18. Uranium, . • • 






228 


14. Iron 






229 


15. Manganese, . . • 

16, 17. Chromium, Nickel, 






258 






262 


18. Cobalt, 






266 


19. Zinc, .... 






269 








276 


21. Lead, .... 






276 


22. Mercury, 






287 


23. Copper, 
2. Noble Metals. 






290 


1. Platinum, Iridium, Palladium, 






808 


2. Gold 






812 


8. Silver, . . . 






828 



Chap. VIL — Chemioal ooMPosmoir and pobmitlas of Mdcsrals, 886 

Caap. YIIL — ^RooKS OE Minkkal AGOUGATn, . . . 848 

Chap. IX — Catalooux of Ahiouoan LOOAurm of Mnnuuu, . 874 

Brief notiob of Fobxion Minimo Bsqions, . . . 408 

MiNERALOGIGAL IhPLEHENTB, ..... 408 

Weights, Measures akd Coins, ..... 410 

Tables for the Determination of Minbrais, • • . 414 

Index, ....••.. 441 



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GLOSSARY AND INDEX OF TERMS.* 



AcicuLAK, [Lat. aeu9,n. needle J 53. 

Adamantine, 56. 

Adit. [Lat. adittu^ an entrance.] 
The horizontal entrance to a 
mine. 

Alkali An oxyd having an acrid 
taste, and caustic; as potash, 
soda. 

Alkaline. Like an alkali. 

Alliaceous, [Lat. allium, garlic,] 66. 

Alloy. A mixture of difierent met- 
als (excluding mercury) by fusion 
together. Also, the metal used 
to deteriorate another metal by 
mixture with it. 

Alluvial. [Lat. aUuo, to wash over.] 
Of river or fresh-water origin. 

Amalgam. [Gr. malagma, a sof- 
tened substance.] A compound 
of mercury and another metal. 

Amalgamation, 326. 

Amorphous, [Gr. «, not, and morphe, 
shape,] 54. 

Amygdaloidal, 339. 

Anhydrous. [Lat. a, not, and 
kudor, water.] Containing no 
water. 

Arborescent. [Lat. arbor, tree.] 
Branching Uke a tree. 

Arenaceous. [Lat. arena, sand.] 
Consisting of, or having the gritty 
namre of, sand. 

Aigentiferons. [Lat. argerdunit 
^er.] Containing silver. 

Argillaceous. [Lat. argilla, clay.] 
Like clay ; containing clay. 

Arsenical odor, 66. 

Asparagus green. Pale green, with 
much yellow. 

Assay. [Same etymology as essay,] 
To tert ores by chemical or blow- 
pipe examination ; said to be in 
the dry way, when done by means 
of heat, (as in a crucible,) and in 
the wet way, when by means of 
acids and liquid tests. 



Assay. The material under ehem* 
ical or blowpipe examination. 

Astringent, 66. 

Asteriated. [Gr. a«t€r, star.] Hav- 
ing the appearance of a star 
within. 

Augitic. Containing angite. 

Auriferous. [Lat. aurum, gold.) 
Containing gold. 

Axes, 24 ; of double refraction, 59. 

Basaltic, 339. 

Bath stone. A species of limestone ; 
called also Bath oolite ; named 
from the locality, in England. 

Bevelment, beveled, 35. 

Bitter, 66. 

Bittern, 106. 

Bituminous. Containing bitumen; 
like bitumen. 

Bladed. Thin blade-like. 

Blast furnace, 233. 

Blowpipe, 67 ; tests, 69, 70 : imple- 
ments, 68, 69. 

Blue-jo'iu. Name for fluor spar, 
used in Derbyshire, where it often 
has a bluish-purple color. 

Boiryoidal, [Gr. botrus, a bunch of 
grapes,] 53. 

Boulder, bowlder. Loose roundA^ 
mass of stone. 

Breccia. 

Brittle, 53, 65. 

Calcine. rLat. ealx, burnt lime* 
stone.] To heat, in order to drive 
off volatile mgredients, and make 
easy to be broken or pounded. 

Calcination. The process of cal* 
cining. 

Carat, 83. 

Carbon. Pure charcoal. 

Carbonate. A salt contammg car- 
bonic add. Carbonated ; con* 
taining carbonic acid, as carbo- 
nated springs. 



* The number after a word rignifies the page where it is explained. 
The etymology is given in brackets, wherever it was deemed importanu 



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viu 



OLOBSART AND INDEX OF TBRM8. 



Carbonize. To conyert iiito char- 

coai. 
Carburet. A compound of an ele 

ment with carbon, not acid. 
Catalan forge, 237. 
Celandine green. Green with blue 

and gray ; from the plant called 

celandine. 
Cementation, 338. 
Chalybeate. Impregnated with 

iron, 80. 
Chert. A siliceoua stone containing 

some lime ; also, homstone. 
Chlorid. Combination of an ele- 
ment with chlorine. 
Chloritic. Containing chlorite. 
Chromate. A salt containing chro- 
mic acid. 
Cinereous. [Lat. cinie, ashes.] 

Resembling ashes. 
Cleavage 33. 
Coke, 90. 
Columnar, 53. 
Compound crystals, 43. 
Conchoidal, 65. 
Coralloidal. Having a resemblance 

to coral. 
Cretaceous. [Lat. creta, chalk.] 

Pertaining to chalk. 
Cropping out. The rising of layers 

of rock to the surface. 
Crucible. [Lat. crux, a cross.] A 

pot made of earth or clay for 

melting, or reduction. 
Cruciform, [Lat. erux, a cross,] 

43. 
Crystal, [Greek AruttoZlot, ice,] 19 ; 

systems of crystallization, 34, 

33. 
Cube', 35. 

Cupel, cupellation, 317, 338. 
Cupreous. [Lat. cuprum, copper.] 

Containing copper. 
Curved crystals, 43. 
Decrepiute. To crackle and iSy 

apart when heated. 
Deflagrate. To bum with vivid 

combustion. 
Deliquesce. To change to a liquid, 

on exposure ; arising from the 

attraction of moisture. 
Dendrites. [Gr. dendron, tree.] 



Delicate delineations branching 
like a tree ; due to infiltration of 
oxyd of iron or manganese. 

Density. Specific gravity. 

Desiccate. To dry, to exhaust of 
moisture. 

Diaphaneity, 58. 

Dichroism, 57. 

Dimetric system, 33. 

Dimorphism, 44. 

Divergent, 53. 

Disintegrate. To fiill to pieces ; a 
result of exposure and partial de- 
composition. 

Disseminated. Scattered through 
a rock or gangne. 

Dodecahedron, liiombic, 35; isos- 
celes, 39, fig. 65 ; pentagonal 37 ; 
scalene, 40. 

Dolomitic. Pertaining to dolomite. 

Dressing of ores. The picking and * 
sorting of ores, and wasiung pre- 
paratory to reduction. 

Drusy, 54. 

Dull, 56. 

Earthy. Soft like earth, and with- 
out luster. 

Ebullition. The state of boiling. 

Effervescence, 67. 

Effloresce. To change to a stata 
of powder, by exposure ; arises 
from the escape of water. 

Elastic, 53, 65. Electricity of min- 
erals, etc., 63. 

Elements, 73. 

Ellipsoid, 43. 

Elutriation. [Lat. elutrio, to poui 
from one vessel to another.] 
Mixing a powdered substance 
(as powdered flint) with water, 
and then after the coarser parti- 
cles have subsided, carefiiUy de- 
canting the liquid and putting it 
away to settle, m order to obtain 
the impalpable powder which is 
finally deposited. 

Elvan. In Cornwall, the granite 
masses forming broad veins in 
the killas, and containing the 
stockwerks. 

Enamel. A glass having an ap* 



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OLOeSAST A^D INBBX OP TBB1I8. 



II 



pearanoe like porcelain, or like 

the sorfiice of a tooth. 
Etvaporate. To become a vapor ; 

to cause to become a jrapor. 
Even fracture, 65. 
Exfoliate. To separate iiito thin 

leaves, or U> scale off. 

Fanlt. Dislocation along a fissure, 
as often in coal beds, 87. 

Feldspathic. Containing feldspar 
as a principal ingredient ; con- 
sisting of feldspar. 

Fermginous. [Lat. ferrum, iron.] 
Containing iron. 

Fetid, 66. 

Fibroos, 53. 

Filament. A thread-like fiber. 
Finery fiimaoe. A fiimaoe used 
in the conversion of east iron into 
bar iron. 

Filiform, [Lat./2imi, a thread,] 53. 

Flexible, 53, 65. 

Fluate. Containing fluoric acid- 
Flux, [Lat. Jk^, to flow,] 69. 

Foliaceous, 53. 

Forceps, Platinum, 69. 

Fracture of minerals, 65. 

Friable. Easily crumbling in the 
fingers. 

Fundamental forms, 33. 

Furnace, blast, 333 ; reverberatory, 
337; Catalan, 337. 

Gallery. A horixontal passage in 
mining. 

Gangoe, 304. 

Gelatinize, 67. 

Geniculate. [Lat. g'enti, knee.] 
Bent at an angle, &, 

Geode. [Gr. g^Bodet, earth-like.] 
A cavity studded around with 
crystals or mineral matter, or a 
rounded stone containing such a 
cavity. 9^ 

Glance. [Germ, glanz, luster.] 
Certain lustrous metallic solphu- 
rets of dark shades of color. 

Glimmering. Glistening, 56. 

Globular, 53. 

Goniometer, common, 47 ; reflect- 
ing. 50. 



Granular. Consisting of grains. 
Granulate ; to reduce to grains. 

Hackly^ 65. 
Hardness, scale of, 64. 
Hemihedral forms, 37. 
Hepatic. [Gr. hepoTt liver.] Hav* 

ing an external resembianee ts 

liver. 
Hexagonal prism, 37. 
Hexagonal system, 33. 
Homogeneous. Of the same tex* 

ture and nature throughout. 
Hyacinth red. Red with yellow 

and some brown. 
Hyaline. [Gr. Anotos, glass.] Re- 
sembling glass in transparency 

and luster. 
Hydrated. [Or. kudor, water.] 

Containing water. 

Ignition. [Lat. ignia, fire.] Tha 
state of being so heated as to give 
out light ; at a red or white heat. 

Impalpable, 53. 

Implanted crystals. Attached by 
one extremity. 

Incandescence. White heat. 

Incrustation. A coating of mineral 
matter. 

Indurated. Hardened or solidified. 

Infiltrate. To enter gradually, as 
water, through pores. 

Infiisible. In mineralogy, not fiisi- 
ble by means of the simple blow- 
pipe. 

Inspissate. To thicken. 

Intumesce. To fix>th. 

Investing. Coating or covering, at 
when one mineral forms a c<>at- 
ing on another. 

Irised. [Lat. trtf, rainbow.] Hav- 
ing the colors of the spectrum. 

Iridescence, 57. 

Isomorphism, isomotphous, 74. 

Juxtapose. To place contigoous. 

Killas. In Cornwall, the schistosa 
rock in which the lodes occor. 

Lamelhir, 53. 1 



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GLOSSARY AND INDEX OF TSK1E& 



Lapidification. [Lat.Zaj»M,a8U; ] 
The process of changing to stc 

Lapilla. Small volcanic cinders. 

Lavender-blae. Blue with some 
red and much gray. 

Leek-green. The color of the 
leaves of garlic. 

Lentiealar. Thin, with acnte edges 
something like a lens, except that 
the surface is not curved. 

Leucitic. Containing leucite. 

Levigation. [Lat« /ei)i«,light.] The 
process of reducing to a fine 
powder. 

Liquation. [Lat. liquot to melt] 
The slow fusion of an alloy, by 
which the more fusible flows out 
and leaves the rest behind, 328. 

Lithographic stone. A compact 
grayish or yellowish-gray lime- 
stone of very even texture and 
^nchoidal fracture ; used in lith- 
ography. That of Solenhofen, 
near Munich, is most noted. 

tiithology. [Gr. lithoBf stone, and 
logos, a discourse.] Mineralogy. 

Lixiviate. [Lat. lixivium, lye.] 
To form a lye, by allowing water 
Uy stand upon earthy or alkaline 
material, and draining it off be- 
low, afier it has dissolved the sol- 
uble ingredients present. 

Lode. [Sax. Imdan, to lead.] In 
mining, a vein of mineral sub- 
stance ; uanaUy a vein of metallic 
ore. The lode is said to be dead 
when the material aflbrds no 
metal. 

Lodestone, 917. 

Made. A compound crystal, or one 
haying a ^esselated structure. 

Magnesian. Containing magnesia. 

Magnetism r>f minerals, 63. 

Malleable, [Lat. malleiu, a ham- 
mer,] 65. 

Mammillary, [Lat. manunUla, a 
little teat,] 53. 

Manganesian. Containing man- 
ganese. 

Marly. Having the nature of marl ; 
containing marl. 



Massive. Compact, and having no 
regular form. 

Matrix. [Lat. matrix, from mater, 
motherJ The rock or earthy 
material, containing a mineral or 
metallic ore. 

Metallic, 55, 56. Metallic-pearly, 
55. Metallic-adamantine, 56. 

Metalliferous. Yielding metal. 

Metallurgy. [Gr. metallon, and 
ergon, work.] The science of 
the reduction of ores. 

Micaceous, 53. 

Mineralized.' Changed to mineral 
by impregnation with mineral 
matter. Also being disguised in 
character by combination with 
other substances; thus usedywith 
regard to metals when in combi- 
nation with sulphur, arsenic, car* 
bonic acid, or anything that afiects 
their malleability and odier qual- 
ities. 

Molecules, 43. 

Molybdate. A nit containing 
molybdic acid. 

Monoclinate, 33. 

Monometric, 33. 

Mountain limestone. A limestone 
of the lower part of the coal se- 
ries; called also eaiboniferoos 
limestone. 

Muffle, 317. 

Nacreous. Like pearL 

Native metal, 202. 

Nitrate. A salt containing idtifo 
acid. 

Nitriary, 102. 

Nucleus. The eenter particle on 
mass around which matter is ag- 
gregated. 

Ochreons. Like oeher. 
Octahedron, pp. 23, 25, 26. 
Octahedral. Having the form of aa 

octahedron. 
Odor of minerals, p. 66. 
Oolite. [Gr. oon, egg,] p. 349. 
Opalescence, p. 57. 
Opaline. Like opal. 
Opalized. Changed to opaL 



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GLOSSARY AND IITDKX OF TBRK8. 



XI 



Opaque, p. 58. I 

Ore, 202. Also, by miners, a dis- ' 
seminated ore and the including 
8tone together ; the term met" 
al is often used for the pure ore. 

Oxyd, 73. 

Ozydizable. Capable of combining 
with oxygen. 

Ozydating flame, 68. 

Pearly 55. 

Percolate. To paas gradually 
through pores. 

Phosphorescence, 61. 

Pisolitic, [Lat. pitmn, a pea,] com- 
posed of large round grains or 
kernels, of the size of peas. 

Pistachio-green. Green with yel- 
low, and soipe brown. 

Plastic. Adhesive, and capable of 
being moulded in the liands. 

Phunose. Having the shape of a 
plume, or feather. 

Polarisation, 60. 

Polarity, 62. 

Polychroism, 57. 

Play of colors, 57. 

Plntonic rocks. Granite and allied 
crystalline rocks. 

Polyhedral. [Gr. polus, many, and 
hedra face.) Having many sides. 

Polymorphism, 44. 

Porous. Having minute vacuities, 
visible or invisibie to the naked 
eye ; a loose texture, allowing 
water to filtrate through. 

Porphyritic. Like pori^yry, 340. 

Prisms, 33. 

Pseudomorpbotts, 54. 

Puddling Furnace. A reverbera- 
tory fomaoe, uaed in converting 
cast into bar iron, after the finery 
ftimace. 

Pulverize. [Lat. pulvit, dust,] to 
reduce to powder. 

Pulverulent. Like a fine powder 
slightly compacted. 

Pyritous. Having the nature of 
pyrites, 212. 

Pyro-electric, 62. 

Quartation, 318. 



Quartzose. Contaioing quartz 
a principal ingredient. 

Radiated, 53. 

Rake-vein. A perpendicular i 
eral fissure. 

Rectangle, 24. 

Reduction of ores, 204. 

Reduction flame, 68. 

Refraction, 58. 

Refractory. Resisting the actio 
of heat ; infusible. 

Refrigerate. To cool. 

Regulus. The pure state of 
metal, as regulus of antimony. 

Reniform. [Lat. ren, kiduey,] 53. 

Replacement, 35. Resinous, 55. 

Resplendent.' Having a brilliant 
luster. 

Reticulated. [Lat. rete, a net,] 
52,54. 

Reverberatory furnace, 327. 

Rhombohedron, 27. 

Riddling or sifting of ores. Put- 
ting the broken or pulverized ore 
in a seive, and plunging the seive 
into water, by which, the whole 
powdered material is raised by 
the water and the metallic part 
sinking first, may be separated 
to a great extent from the rest. 

Roasting. Exposing to heat in 
piles, or in a ftimace, and thus 
driving ofi'any volatile ingredient. 

Saccharoid. [Gr. sakehar, sugar.] 
Having a texture like loaf sugar. 

Saline, (Lat. sal, salt.) Salt like ; 
containing common salt. 

Salt. In chemistry, any combina- 
tion of an acid with a base, 74. 

Scale of hardness, 64. 

Schlich. The finely pulverized ore 
and gangue. 

Schistose. Havinga slaty structure. 

Scopiform, (Lat. teopa, a broom.) 
like a broom in form. 

Scoria, (L. scoria, dross,) 205, 341 

Secondary forms, 34. Sectile, 65 

Semitransparent, 58. 

Shaft. A vertical or much in 
clined pit, cyUndrical in form. 



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xfi 



6L088ART AlfD IfTDEX OF TSKMf. 



Shale, 341. Shining, 56. 

Silicate, 74. 

Siliceous. Conosting of, or con- 
taining dlex, or quartz. 

Silky, 56. 

Silurian. A terra applied to the 
foniliferous rocks, older than 
the coal series. 

Slag, 205. 

Smelting of iron ores, 233. 

Spathic, (Germ, tpath.) Like spar. 

Spar. Any earthy mineral having 
a distinct cleavable structure and 
some luster, as calcareous spar. 

Stakictitic, (Gr. ttalaxo, to drop or 
distilO 54, 116. 

Stalagmite, 116. 

Specific gravity, 63. 

Splendent, 56. 

Splintery. Having splinters on a 
surface of fracture. 

Stamping. Reducing to coarse 
fragments in a stamping mill. 

Stellated, (Lat. 8UUa, star,) 52. 

Strata. A series of beds of rock. 

Streak, streak-powder, 56. 

Striated. Lined or marked with 
parallel grooves, more or less 
regular. 

Stockwerks. In Cornwall, works 
in beds and veins of ore. The 
works in alluvial deposits are dis- 
tinguished as stream- works. 

Sab. In composition, signifies be- 
neath ; also, somewhat, or imper- 
fectly, as submetallic, means im- 
perfectly metallic. 

Sublimation, (Lat. suftZtmit, high.) 
Rising in vapor, by heat, to be 
again condenised. 

Submetallic, 55. 

Subtranslncent, 58. 

Subtransparent, 58. 

Subteibrand. A name given to 
Bovey coal, or brown coal. 

Subvitreous, 55. 

Sulphate. A salt containing sul- 
phuric acid. 

Sulphureous, 66^ 

Sulphuret. Combination of a met- 
al with sulphur. 

Tarnish, 57. 



Tertiary strata. Strata more ie« 
cent in age than the chalk, and 
antecedent to the recent epoch. 

Tesselated, (Lat. te98%latu9, che- 
quered.) Chequered. 

Tesseral system, (Lat. fessera, a 
four square tile, or dice,) 32. 

Tetrahedron, (Gr. Utra, four, Ae* 
dra, fece,) 37. 

Titaniferous. Containing titanium 

Transition rocks. The older silu 
nan, which were formerly sup 
posed to contain no trace of fe** 
sils. 

Translucent, 58. 

Transparent, 58. 

Triclinate. 33. 

Trimethc, 33. 

Trimorphism, 44. 

Truncation, truncated, 35. 

Tufeceoos. Like tnfe, 347. 

Tuyeres, or twiers, 234. 

Twin crystals, 42. 

Unctuous. Adhesive, like grease. 
Ustulation. (L. tMluZafiM, soorcb- 

ed, or partly burnt.] Roasting 

of orea. 

Veins. In miner's use, small bdee. 
In geology, any seams of rock 
material, intersecting strata eros»> 
wiae. 

Vein-stone. The gangne of a met- 
al or mineral. 

Verdigris-green. Green inclining 
to blue ; the color of verdigris. 

Vesicular. Containing small va- 
cuities. 

Viscous, 65. 

Vitreous, (Lat. vUrvim, glass,) 55. 

Vitrification. Conversion to glass. 

Volatile. Capable of passing easi- 
ly to a state of vapor. 

Washing of ores. Exposing them 
after stamping, (or before if in 
fragments,) to running water 
which carries off the earthy ma- 
terial, it being lighter than the 
ore. 

Zeolitic. Having the nature of a 
zeolite. 163. 



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MINERAIOGT. 



CHAPTER I. 

GSIOBRAX. CttABACTSBUnCS OF MllVaSiJJ. 

Rdations rf the ihreeDepoHmenis of Nature. Viewing 
ihe world around us, we obsenre that it consists of rocks, 
earth or soil, and water ; that it is covered with a large to* 
rietj of plants, and tenanted hj myriads of animals. These 
three fiimiliar fiurts lie at the basis of three primary branches 
of knowledge. The animals, of whateyer kind, from the 
animalcule to man, give origin to that branch of science 
which is called Zodogy; the various plants, to the sci. 
ence of Botany ; and the rocks or minerals, to MineraU 
ogy. The first two of these departments embrace all natii* 
ral objects that have life, and treat of their kinds, their van- 
ties of structure, their habits, and relations. 

The third branch of knowledge. Mineralogy, relates to 
inanimate nature. It describes the kinds of mineral material 
forming the surfitce of our planet, points out the various 
methods of distinguishing minerals, makes known their uses, 
and explains their modes of occurrence in the earth. 

Importance of the Science of Mineralogy, To the un- 
practiced eye, tiie costly ^em, as it is found in the roclcs, 
oflen seems but a rude bit of stone ; and the most valuable 
ores may appear worthless, for the metals are generally so 
disguised that nothing of their real nature is seen. There is 
an ore of lead which has nearly the color and luster of Glau- 
ber salt ; an ore of iron that looks like sparry lirtiestone * 
an ore of silver that might be taken for lead ere, and an 
other that resembles wax. These are common cases, an 

What classes of natural objects exist t Of what does Zoology treat 
What Botany? Of what does Mineralogy treat 1 What advantage 
rttalt from the study of minerala t 
2 



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i4 GBNERAL CHARACTBBIBTIC8 OF KINERAL8. 

consequently much careful attention is required of the student 
to make progress in the science. Moreover, a great pro- 
portion of the mineral species are of no special value, and 
they occur under so many forms and colors that close study 
is absolutely necessary in order to be able to distinguish the 
useless, and avoid being deceived by them ; for such decep- 
tions are common and often lead to disastrous consequen- 
ces in mining. 

The science of Mineralogy is, therefore, eminently prac- 
tical. Moreover, the very existence of many of the arts of 
civilized life, depends upon the materials which the rocks 
afford. Besides the metals and metallic ores, we here find 
the ingredients for many common pigments, and for various 
preparations used in medicine ; also the enduring material so 
valuable for buildings and numberless other purposes : more- 
over, from the rocks c<Mnes the soil upon which we are de- 
pendent for food. At the same time, the student of Miner- 
alogy who is interested in observing the impress of Infinite 
wisdom in nature around him, finds abundant pleasure in 
examining the forms and varieties of structure which miner- 
als assume, and in tracing out the principles or laws which 
Creative power has established even throughout lifeless mat- 
ter, giving it an organization, though simple, no less perfect 
than that characterizing animate beings. 

What is a Mineral ? It has been remarked that Miner- 
^logj) ^he third branch of Natural History, embraces every 
thing in nature that has not life. Is, then, every different 
thing not resulting from life, a mineral ? Are earth, clay, 
and all stones, minerals ? Is water a mineral ? 

All the materials here alluded to properly belong to the 
mineral serie^^ The minute grains which make up a 
1)ank of clay or earth, are all minerab, and if their charac- 
ters could be accurately ascertained, each might be referred 
to some mineral species. It is evident, however, that the 
clay itself) unless the grains are all of one kind, is not a dis- 
tinct species, though mineral in composition : it is a com- 
pound mass or an aggregate of different mineral grains ; and 
this is tme of all ordinary soil and earth. In the same manner 
very many rocks are aggregates of two or more minerals in 
ntimate union. Mineralogy distinguishes the species, and 
nables us to point out the ingredients which are mixed in the 
onstitution of such rocks. It searches for specimens that 

Ib clay a mineral 1 What is the nature of many rocka 7 



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•BinBSAL CHABACTKSI8TICS OF MINBXjUA 15 

are pure and undisguised, ascertains their qualities and their 
varieties, and thus prepares the mind to recognize them 
under whatever circumstances they may occur. 

Water has no qualities which should separate it from the 
mineral kingdom. All bodies have their temperature of fu- 
sion ; lead melts at 612^ F. ; sulphur at 226^ F. ; water at 
32^; mercury at —39**. No difference therefore of this 
kind can limit the mineral departments. Ice is as properly a 
rock as limestone ; and were the temperature of our globe 
but a little lower than it is, we should rarely see water 
except in solid crystal-like masses or layers. Our atmos- 
phere, and all gases occurring in nature, belong for the same 
reason to the mineral kingdom. Several of the gases have 
been solidified, and we can not doubt that at some specific 
temperature each might be made solid. We can not, there- 
fore, exclude any substance from the class of minerals be- 
cause at the ordinary temperature it is a gas or liquid. 
QuicksUver with such a rule would be excluded as well as 
water. 

A mineralj then, is any suhstance in nature not organized 
by vitalityj which has a homogeneous structure. The first 
limitation here stated — not organized by vitality— excludes 
all living structures, or such as have resulted frodd vital pow- 
ers ; and the secondr—^ homogeneous structure-— excludes 
all mixtures or aggregates. Tl^e different spars, gems, and 
ores are minerals, while granite rock, slate, clay and the 
like, are mineral aggregates. This compound character is 
apparent to the eye in granite, for there is no difficulty in 
picking out from the mass a shining scaly mineral, (mica,) 
and with more attention, semi-opaque whitish or reddish par- 
ticles ^feldspar) will be easily distinguished from others 
(quartz) that have a glassy appearance. 

It is a popular belief that stones grow. Yet the absence 
of any proper growth is the main point distinguishing min- 
erals from objects that have life. Plants and animab are 
nourished by the circulation of a fluid through their interior ; 
in plants, we call the fluid sap ; in animals, blood ; and in- 
crease or growth takes place by means of material secreted 
from this circulatmg fluid. The living being commences 
with the mere germ, and grows through youth to maturity 

Why should water and gases rank with minerals. What is a min< 
ral ? What limitations are here implied 7 What is the nature of 
granite 1 



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16 GBNBBAL CBABACTBBianCS OF KIT7BBAL8. 

and when this fluid finally ceases to circulate, it dies and 
soon decays. v 

Minerals, on the contrary, have no such nourishing fluid* 
The smallest particle is as perfect as the mountain mass. 
They increase in size only by additions to the sur&ce from 
some external source. The depo&it of salt forming in an 
evaporating brine, has layer afler layer of particles added to 
it, and by this mode of accumulation, its thickness is at- 
tained. 

Beds of an ore of iron, called bog iran^ore^ are some- 
times said to grow. They do in &ct increase in extent. 
Rills of water runnbg from the hills wash out the iron in 
the rocks they pass over, decomposing and altering the condi- 
tion of the ore, and carry it to low marshy grounds. Here the 
water becomes stagnant, and gradually the iron is deposited 
This bog ore, as Sie name implies, is found mostly in low 
marshy places, and often contains nuts, leaves, and sticks, 
changed to iron ore. The increase here is obviously by ex- 
temsJ additions. 

In limestone caverns, and about certain lakes and streams, 
the water contains much carbonate of lime. As it evapo- 
rates, layer after layer of the lime is deposited, till thick 
beds are sometimes formed. In caverns, the water comes 
dripping through the roofj drop by drop, and each drop 
as it dries, deposits a little carbonate of lime. At first it 
forms but a mere wart* on the surface ; but it gradually 
lengthens, till it becomes a long tapering cylinder, and 
sometimes the pendant cylinder, or gt(dactite, as it is called, 
reaches the floor of the cave, and forms a column several 
feet in diameter. 

It thus appears that minerals increase, or enlaige, by ac- 
cretion, or additions to ihe sur&ce only. They decrease, 
or the sur&ce is worn away, by the action of running water 
and other agents. When they decay, as sometimes happens 
from contact with air and moisture, or some other cause, the 
change begins with the surftuse, and results in producing 
one or more different minerals. The line of demarkation, 
therefore, between living beings, and minerals or inorganic 
matter, is strongly drawn. 

Chanicters €j Minerals. In pursuing the subject of min- 

What are the different modes of increase in the animate and mineral 
kingdoms 7 Mention examples of increase in mineral substances, and 
explain the mode. 



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GCmSSAL CHASACTSBISTIC8 OF MimSALS* 17 

eralfl, there are various qualities presented for our studj. 
We observe that stones or minerals have colar ; thej have 
hardness in different degrees, from being sofl and impress!, 
ble by the nail, to the extreme hardness of the diamond ; 
they have weight ; they have luster^ from almost a total ab- 
sence of the power of reflecting light to the brilliancy of a 
mirror. Some are as transparent as glass and others are 
opaque^ A i^w have taste. These are the most obvious 
characters, and characters to which the mind would at once 
i^peal in distinguishing species. 

Other characters of equal impoitance are found in the 
internal and external structure of minerals. On examining 
a piece of coarse granite, we find that each scale of mica 
may be split by the point of a knife into thinner leaves. 
Here is evidence of a peculiar structure, called cleavage ; 
and wherever mica is found, this peculiarity is constant. 
The feldspar in the same rock, if examined with care, n^ll 
be found to break in certain directions with d smooth, or 
nearly smooth plain sur&ce, showing a luster approaching 
that of glass, though somewhat pearly. It is true of feldspar 
also, that this cleavage is a constant character for the spe* 
cies, as regards direction and &cility. In nearly all miner- 
als, this land of structure, more or less perfect in quality, 
may be distinguished. In a broken bar of iron the irregu* 
larity of the grains proceeds from this cause. In granular 
marble, although the mass as a whole has no such structure,, 
the several grains if attentively examined will be seen to 
present a distinct cleavage structure and consequent angu- 
lar forms. In finer varieties, the grains may be so small 
that the characters cannot be observed ; or again the tei. 
ture ci the mass may be so compact that not even grains 
can be distinguished. 

This cleavage, then, is a peculiarity of internal structure, 
h is intimately connected with another feet, — that these same 
minerals oflen occur under the form of some regular solid 
with neat plane surfaces ; and are finished with a symmetry 
and perfection which art would fell to imitate. These forms 
are their natural forms, and every mineral has its own dis- 
tinct system of forms. The beauty of a cabinet of min- 
erals arises to a great extent from the variety of forms and 

What physical characten are to be obsenred in the studf of min- 
erals t What character depends on internal structure? Mention ex- 
amples and explain. What other character depends on structure i 
2* 



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18 GBNXSAL CHABAGTERI8TICB OF MINERALS* 

hifirh finish of these gems of nature's workmanship. The 
nuneral quartz sometimes occurs in crystals consisting of two 
pyramids united by a short six-sided prism, and they have 
generally the transparency and ahnost the brilliancy of the 
diamond, whose name they bear in common language. The 
*' diamonds" of central New York, and many other localities, 
are of this kind. In other cases a large sur&ce of rock 
sparkles with a splendid grouping of the pyramidal glassy 
crystals. We might draw other illustrations from almost aU 
che mineral species. But this will sufRce to show that in ad- 
dition to the physical characters above mentioned, there are 
others dependent on structure, which afford distinctions of 
species, apparent both in external form and internal cleav- 
age. 

Still other characters are derived from subjecting species 
CO the action of heat, and to acids or other re-agents. One 
mineral, when heated, melts ; another is infusible, or fuses 
only on the Sdges ; another evaporates. By such trials, and 
others hereafter to be described, we study minerab in a dif- 
ferent way, and ascertain their chemical characters* This 
mode of investigation more minutely pursued, leads to a 
knowledge of the constitution of minerals, a branch of study 
which belongs properly to Analytical Chemistry : the results 
are of the highest importance to the mineralogist. 

It is perceived, therefore, that the learner may (1) exam- 
ine into the peculiarities of structure among minerals ; (2) 
he may attend to the physical characters depending on lights 
hardness^ and gravity ; (3) he may acquaint himself with 
the effects of heat and chemical re-tigents — ^the cJiemical char* 
acters. These are three sources of distinctions giving mu- 
tual aid, and a knowledge of all is necessary to the miner- 
alogist. To learn to distinguish minerals by their color, 
weight, and luster, is so far very well ; but the accomplishment 
is of a low degree of merit, and when most perfect, makes but 
a poor mineralogist. But when the science is viewed in the 
light of Chemistry and Crystallography, it becomes a branch 
of knowledge, perfect in itself, and surprisingly beautiful in 
its exhibitions of truth. We are no longer dealing with 
pebbles of pretty shapes and tints, but with objects modeled 
by a Divine hand ; and every additional &ct becomes to the 
nind a new revelation of His wisdom. 

Mention examples. What other charactera are thera 7 Ennmeiata 
the kinds of cbaraaters presented by minerals. 



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CKTSTALLOOSAPHT. Ift 

In the study of this science, the learner will be introduced 
first to the structure of minerals. The subject is treated of 
under its usual name, crystallography 



CHAPTER II. 

CKTSTALLOGBAPHT : OS TUB 8TRUCTUBS OF MIlfEKALS. 

Crystals: Crystallization, The regular forms which 
minerals assume are called crystals^ and the process by 
which their formation takes place, is termed crystallization. 

Crystallization is the same as solidification. Whenever 
a liquid becomes solid there is actual crystallization. Under 
fiivorable circumstances regular crystals may lR)rm ; but 
very commonly the solid is a mass of crystalline grains, as 
is the case in statuary marble, or a loaf of white sugar. In 
the case of the marble, crystallization commenced at myri- 
ads of points at the same instant, and there was no room for 
any to expand to a large size and regular outline. When 
on the contrary, the process is slow, simple crystals oflen 
inorease to a large size. 

We may understand this subject of ciystallization by 
watching a solution of salt, as it evaporates over a fire. Af- 
ter a while, if the process is not too rapid, minute points of 
salt appear at the sur&ce, and these continue enlarging. 
They are minute cubes when they begin, and they increase 
regularly by additions to their sides, tiS finally they become 
so heavy as to sink. In other cases, if the brine is boiled 
away too rapidly^ a mass of salt may be formed at the bot- 
tom of the vessel, in which no regular crystals (cubes) can 
be seen. Yet it is obvious that the same power of crystal- 
lization was at work, and fiiiled of yielding symmetrical 
solids, because of the rapidity of the evaporation. Crystals 
of salt have been found in the beds of this mineral a foot 
or more in breadth, which had been formed by natural evapo- 
ration ; and the whole bed is in all cases crystalline in the 
structure of the salt. However finely the salt may be ground 

Ebqilain the terms crystal and crystallization. Are solidification and 
crystallization the same process ? Blxplain the difierent resnlts of ctjb" 
tallization by the example of salt. Is every grain, however minute, 
crysuUine? 



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10 tTK0OTI7BS OF H^NSBALS. 

up, as that fi>r our tables, still the grains were ciystalline in 
their origin and are crystalline in structure. 

This subject may be fiirther illustrated by many other sub- 
stances* A hot solution of sugar set away to cool, will form 
crystals upon the bottom, or upon any thi^ead or stick in the 
▼essel; and these crystals will continue increasing till a 
large part of the sugar has become crystals. It is a com* 
mon and instructive experiment to place a delicate frame* 
work of a basket or some other object, in a solution of su- 
gar or alum ; afler a while it becomes a basket of finished 
gems, the crystals glistening with their many polished &cets. 
Again, if a quantity of sulphur be melted, it will Crystallize 
on cooling. To obtain distinct crystals, the surface ciust 
should be bsoken as soon as fonned, and the liquid part 
within be poured out ; the cavity, when cold, will be found 
to be studded with delicate needles. The crust in this case 
b as truly crystallized as the needles, although but &int tra- 
ces of a crystalline texture are apparent on breaking it. 
This was owing to too rapid cooling. Melted lead and bis- 
muth will crystallize in the same manner. There is a sub- 
stance, iodine, which when heated passes into the state of a 
vapor; on cooling again, the glass vessel containing the 
vapor is covered with complex crystals, as brilliant as pol- 
ished steel. During the cold of winter, the vapors constitu- 
ting clouds, often become changed to snow ; this is a simOar 
process of crystallization, for every flake of snow is a cou' 
geries of crystals, and often they present the forms of regu- 
lar six-sided stars. So also, our streams become covered 
with ice ; and this is another form of the crystallization of 
water. 

• The power which solidifies, and the power which crystal- 
lizes, are thus one and the same. Crystallography, there- 
fore, is not merely a science treating of certain regular so- 
lids in Mineralogy; it is the science of solidification in 
generaL 

Modes of CrystallizaHan, In the above examples we 
have presented three different modes of crystallization. In 
one case, the substance is in solution in water, (or some sol- 
vent ;) the particles are thus fi*ee to move, and as the solvent 
passes off by evaporation, they unite and form the crystal- 
Explain the case of sulphur. Give instances of ciystals fonningfTom 
vapor. What does the science of crystallography embrace 1 What 
are the modes of crystallization alluded to in the examples giyent 



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OSTBTALLOeSAPHT. 31 

fizing solid. In a second coMj the sabstance ta (used bj 
heat ; here again the particles are finee to more as long as 
the heat remains ; and when it passes off solidification com 
mencesi under the power of ciystallixation. In a third case^ 
the substance is reduced to a Tapor b j heat ; and finom thi» 
state— also one of freedom of modao among the paiticle»-« 
it ciystallizes as the heated condition is remoTcd. 

In the hardening of steel, it is well known that the coarse, 
ness of the grains varies with the temperature used, and the 
manner in which the process is conducted. An increased 
coarseness (^ structure, imi^ies that certain of the ciTstal. 
fine grains were enlarged at the expense (^ others. It 
teaches us that in some cases the powers of ciystallization 
maj act at certain temperatures, eyen without fusion or so- 
lution. The long continued vibration of iron, especially 
when under pressure, produces a similar change from a fine 
to a coarse texture ; and this &ct has been the cause of ac« 
cid^its in machineiy, hf rendering the iron brittle : it has 
led to the fracture of the axles (» rail cars and of grind- 
stones, and even the iron rails of a road may thus become 
weak and useless. 

By these several processes, the various minerals and very 
many of the widely extended rocks of our globe, have been 
brought to their present state. 

Perfect crystals are usually of moderate size, and gems of 
the finest water are quite small. As they enlarge they be- 
come less clear, or even opaque, and the fiices lose their 
smoothness and much of their luster. The emerald, suffi- 
ciently pure for jewelry, seldom exceeds an inch in length, 
and is rarely as large as this ; but a ciystal of this species 
(of the variety beryl) was obtained a few years since at 
Acworth, New Hampshire, which measured 4 feet in length 
and 2^ feet in circumference ; it was regular in its form, yet, 
except at the edges, opaque. The clear garnets, fit for set- 
ting, are seldom half an inch through ; but coarse crystals 
have been feund 6 inches in diameter. Transparent sap- 
phires also, over an inch in length, are (^ extreme rarity ; 
but (plaque crystals occur a feot or more long. 

Quartz crystals attain at times extraordinary dimensions. 
There is one at Milan which is 8^ feet long and 5^ in cir- 
cumference, and it weighs 870 pounds. From a single cav- 

Ib fluidity easential to the proeesB of crystallization t What is said 
efsiael and iron 1 What is said of Um size and peifection of crystals t 



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32 STRVCTVBB OF MINERALS. 

ity at Zinken, in Germany, 1000 cwt. of crystals of quartz 
were taken above a century since. These facts indicate im- 
perfectly the scale of operations in the laboratory of nature* 
The same process by which a single group, like that just alluded 
to, has been formed, has filled numberless similar cavities over 
various regions, and distributed the quartz material through 
vast deposits in the earth's structure. The same powei 
presides alike over the solidification of liquid lavas, and the 
formation of a cube of salt, producing the crystalline grains 
constituting the former, and the structure and symmetrical 
fiices of the latter. 

Constancy of Crystalline Forms. Each mineral may be 
properly said to have as much a distinct shape of its own, as 
each plant or each animal, and may be as readily distin- 
guished by the ^characters presented to the eye. Crystals 
are, therefore, the perfect individuals of the mineral kingdom. 
The mineral quartz has a specific ferm and structure, as much 
as a dog, or an elm, and is as distinct and unvarying as re- 
gards essential characters, although, owing to counteracting 
causes during formation, these forms are not always assumed. 
In whatever part of the world crystals of quartz may be col- 
lected, they are fundamentally identical. Not an angle will 
be found to differ from those of crystals obtained in any part 
of this country. The sizes of the feces vary, and also the 
number of faces, according to certain simple laws hereafter 
to be explained ; but the corresponding angles of inclina- 
tion are essentially the same, whatever the variations or dis- 
tortions. - 

Other minerals have a like constancy in their crystals, «nd 
each has some peculiarity, some difierence of angle, or some 
difference of cleavage structure, which distinguishes it fi-om 
every other mineraL In many cases, therefore, we have only 
to measure an angle to determine the species. Both quartz and 
carbonate of lime crystallize at times in similar six-sided 
prisms with terminal pyramids ; but the likeness here ceases; 
for the angles of the pyramids are quite different, and also 
the internal structure. Idocrase and tin ore crystallize in 
similar square prisms, with terminal pyramidal planes ; but 
though similar in general form, each has its own character- 
istic angles of inclination between its planes, which angles 

What is said of the generality of the power of crystallization 1 Whil 
is said of the constancy of the crystalline fonns and structure of minerals t 
Explain by the mineral quartz, aa an example. 



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CSTSTALLOGBiLPHY. 98 

admit of no essential variation. Upon this character, the 
constancy of crystalline forms, depends the importance of 
crystallography to the mineralogist. 

FITNDAKENTAL FORMS OF CBTSTALS. 

The forms of crystallized minerals are very various. To 
the eye there often seems to be no relation between different 
crystals of the same mineral. Yet it is true that all the va- 
rious shapes are modifications according to simple laws of 
a few fundamental farms. There is perhaps no mineral 
which presents a greater variety of ferm than calc spar. 
Dog-tooth spar is one of its forms ; nail-head spar, as it is 
sometimes called, is another ; the ane^ a tapering pyrimadal 
crystal, well described in its name, the other broad and thin, 
and shaped much like the head of a wrought-nail. Yet both of 
these* crystals and many others are derived from the same fun- 
damental form. After a few trials with a knife, the student 
will find that slices may be readily chipped off from the crys- 
tals of this mineral in three directions ; and the process will 
obtain a solid from each, the one identical with the other in 
Its angles. They consequently have the same nucleus or 
fiindamental form. 

The fufidameiUal forms are those from which all the other 
terms of crystals are derived. The derivative forms, are 
called secondary ferms, and their planes, secondary planes. 

The number of fundamental ferms indicated by cleavage, 
is thirteen. They are either prisms^* octahedrons or dode- 
cahedrons. 

The prisms are eixhex four-sided or six-sided. The prisms 
are denominated right prisms, when they stand erect, and 
oblique prisms, when they are inclined. Figures 4, 5, 7, 8, 
are right prisms, and figures 12, 14, are oblique prisms. 
The sides in each case are called lateral planes^ and the 
extremities bases. 

An octahedron'\ has eight sides, and consists of two equal 

How do the crystals of different minerak differ ? Mention exam- 
ples. What is said of die forms of crystals oi the same mineral t 
What is understood by fundamental forms ? What by secondary forroi 
or planes? How many fundamental forms are there 1 What kinds of 
pnsms are there ] Explain the terms lateral planes and ha8e$, 

* Any column^ however many sides it may have, is called a prism. 
t From the Greek okto, eight, and hedra, face. 



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d4 



STRUCTV^ OF KINRKALS. 



four-sided pyramids placed base to base. (Figs. 2, 6, 9 ) Th« 
plane in which the pyramids meet is called the base of the 
octahedron ; (66, fig. 6 ;) the edges of the base are called 
the basal edges^ and the other edges the pyramidal. 
The dodecahedron* has twelve sides (fig. 3.) 
Tlie axes of these solids are imaginary lines connecting 
the centers of opposite fiices, of opposite edges, or of oppo- 
■ite angles. The inclination of two planes upon one another 
8 called an interfadal angle.f 

The figures here added represent the forms of the bases 
and faces referred to in the following paraicraphs. 

£ F 



^OAA 



A, a square, having the 4 sides equal ; 6, a rectangle^ di£ 
fering from A, in having only the opposite sides equal ; C, a 
rhanuf, having the angles oblique and the sides equal ; D, a 
rhomboid, difiering from the rhomb in the opposite sides only 
being equal ; E, an equilateral triangle^ having all the sides 
equal; F, an isosceles triangle^ hanng two sides equal. 
Tlie lilies crossing from one angle to an opposite are called 
diagonals. 

The fundamental forms of crystals, though thirteen in num. 
ber, constitute but six systems of crystallization^ as follows :^ 

What is an octahedron ? What is its base ? How are the hanal and 
pyramidal edges distinguished 1 What is a dodecahedron 1 What are 
axes ? What are inteifacial angles ? Explain the terms square ; rect- 
angle ; rhomb ; rhomboid ; equilateral triangle ; isosceles triangle ; 
diagonal. How many systems of crystallization are there ? 

* From the Greek dodeka, twelve, and hedra, face, 
t An angle is the amount of divergence of two straight lines from a 
given point, or of two planes from a given edge. In the annexed figure, 
ACB is an angle formed by the divergence of two 
lines from C. If a circle be described with the 
angular point C as the center, and the circumference 
DABFE be divided into 360 equal parts, the number 
of these parts included between A and B will be the 
number of degrees in the angle ACB ; that is, if 40 
of these parts are included between A afl'd B, the 
angle ACB equals 40 degrees (40<=>). DF being 
perpendicular to EB, these two lines divide the whole into 4 equal parts, 
and consequently the angle DCB equals 360^-t-4 equals 90°. This ia 
termed a right angle. An angle more or lesa than 90° is called an 
oblique angle ; if leas, as ACB, an acute angle ; if more, aa ACE, an 
obtuee angle. 




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rUNBAMBNTAL FOBM8 OF CRYSTALS. 20 

L The^r«f system includes the cube (fig. 1 or la, the lat- 
tor in outline ;) regular octahedron (fig. 2 ;) and the rhombic 
1 U 3 




^.,*.-^! 


P.-^ 


-^ 




^ 






dodecahedron (fig. 3 or 3a.) They are symmetrical solids 
throughout, in all positions, being alike in having the height, 
breadth and thickness equal ; their three axes, represented by 
the dotted lines in the figures, are at right angles with one 
another and equal. In the cube, the axes cc»mect the cen- 
ters of opposite &ces ; in the octahedron and dodecahedron, 
they connect the apices of solid angles. This is more fiilly 
explained on a following page. 

The cube has its ^ces equal squares, and its angles all 
right angles. 

The octahedron has its 8 faces equal equUcOercd triangles : 
its edges are equal ; its plane angles are 60® ; its iiUerfacial 
angles (angles between adjacent faces) 109® 28'. 

The dodecahedron has its 12 fiices equal rhombs ; the 
edges are equal ; the plane angles of the faces are 109® 28' 
and 70® 32' ; its ijiterfacial angles are 120®. 

II. The second system includes the right square prism 
4 5 6 



^ 




ET 


7^ 




H 


^ 


M 




> 






^L 






J 



s 




(figs. 4 and 5,) and square octahedron (fig. 6.) They have 
wo equal lateral axes, and a vertical axis unequal to the 

What fonns does the first system include % How are these formi 
related 7 Describe the forms. What forms does the second system 
iialiidkt, and how are they related ^ Describe ^e forms. 

3 



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26 



BTRUCTTTBE OF MINERALS. 



lateral : that is, the width and breadth are equal, but the 
height is varying. All the axes are at right angles with one 
another. Fig. 4 is a square prism higher than its breadth, 
and fig. 5 is one shorter than its breadth. 

The righW square prism and square octahedron may be ot 
any height, either greater or less than the breadth ; but the 
dimensions are fundamentally constant for the same mineral 
species. The square prism has its base' a square. The 
square octahedron has its base (66) a square, and its 8 faces 
equal isosceles triangles. The lateral edges of the prism 
differ in length from the basal ; and the terminal or pyra- 
midal edges of the octahedron differ in length from the basal. 

III. The third system includes the rectangular prism 
(%• '7)) ^^6 rhombic prism (fig. 8,) and the rhombic octahe- 
7 8 9 








dron (fig. 9.) They are similar in having the three dimen« 
sions, or the three axes, unequal ; and the axes at right an- 
gles with one another. 

The rectangular prism has a rectangular base, and the 
axes connect the centers of opposite faces. The rhombic 
prism and rhombic octahedron have each a rhombic base, 
the angle of whic|i diflTers for diflferent species. The lateral 
axes of the prism connect the centers of opposite edges, 
and in the octahedron they connect the apices of opposite 
angles. 

IV. The fourth system includes the right rhomboidal prism 
10 11 12 13 



(fi 

T 




figs. 10, 11,) and the oblique rhombic prism (figs. 12, 13.) 
""he lateral axes -are unequal, and at right angles as in the 



What forms are included in the third system and how are they rela- 
ted ? Describe the forms. What forms does the fourth system include 
md how are they related % 



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FUNDAMBNTAL FORMS OF CST8TAL8, 



27 



last system ; but they are oblique to the vertical axes. Their 
positions are shown in the figures. 

The right rhomboidal prism stands erect when on its rhom- 
boidal base, as in fig. 11 ; but is oblique when placed on 
either of the other sides, as in fig. 10. The oblique rhombic 
prism is shown in a lateral view in fig. 12, and a front view 
in f^. 13. 

V. The fifth system includes the oblique rhomboidal prism 
which has the three axes unequal, 14 ^^ 
and all are oblique in their intersec- 
tions. Fig. 14 represents a side 
view of &is form, and fig. 15 a 
front view. 

VI. The sixth system includes 
the rhombohedron and hexagonal prism, in which there are 

16 16tf 17 17fl 18 





three equal lateral axes and a vertical axis at right angles 
with the three. Fig. 16 is an obtuse rhombohedron, and I6a 
is the same in outline, showing the axes. Figs. 17, 17a, 
represent an acute rhombohedron. Fig. 18 is a hexagonal 
prism ; it is bounded by six equal lateral planes ; the lateral 
axes either connect the centers of opposite &ces, as in the 
figure, or of opposite lateral edges. 

To understand the rhombohedron, the student should have 
a model before him. On examining it he will find one solid 
angle made up of three equal plane angles, and another op- 
p#site one of the same kind ; all the other solid angles are 
different from these. These two solid angles are called the 
vertical solid angles^ and a line drawn from one to the other 
is the vertical axis of the rhombohedron. The rhombohe- 
dron should be held with this line vertical ; it is then said to 
be in position. Thus placed, it will be seen to have six lat- 
eral angleSf six equal lateral edgesj and also six equal termu 
nal edges, three of the terminal above and three below 

What forms does the fifth system include, and how does this system 
difier from the preceding? What does the sixth system include? 
What is said of the rhombohedron? of its position ? its solid angles? 



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28 8TBUCTURB OF MINEBiLLB. 

The lateral edges in figure 17a, are distinguished frrir 
the terminal by being made heavier. Figure 19 repie- 
sents a vertical view of ^. 16 ; 19 19c 

the three edges meeting at center 
are the terminal edges of one ex- 
tremity : the exterior six are the 
lateral edges ; and the six lateral 
angles are seen at their intersec- 
tions. In ^, 19fi, the same is 
seen in outline, and the dotted lines represent the three late 
ral or transverse axes, connecting the centers of opposite 
lateral edges. The lateral and terminal edges differ in one 
set being acute and the other obtuse ; in the obtuse rbombo- 
hedron (fig. 16) the terminals are obtuse, and in the acute 
rhombohedron (fig. 17) they are acute* 

Several of the primaiy forms are easily cut firom wood or 
chalk. Cut out a square stick, and then saw off a piece 
firom one end as long as the breadth of the stick : this is the 
cube. Saw ofif other pieces longer or shorter than this, ano 
they are diflTerent right square pristns* Shave off a piece 
of more or less thickness firom one side of the square stick, 
and it then becomes a rectangular stick. From it, pieces 
may be sawn ofi[^ of dififerent lengths, and they will be right 
rectangular prisms. Next cut a stick of a rhombic shape, 
(a section having the shape in figure C, page 26,) Grom it 
riglit rhombic prisms may be cut, of any length. Shave ofif 
more or less firom one side of the rhombic stick, and it is 
changed to a rhomboidal form, (section as in fig. D, page 26,) 
and rhomboidal prisms may be sawn from it of any length. 
Take a rhombic stick again ; and instead of sawing it ofif 
straight across, as before, saw ofif the end obliquely fit>m one 
side-edge to the opposite ; the base thus fi)rmed is oblique 
to the sides : then saw the stick again in parallel oblique 4|. 
rections, (accurately parallel,) and an oblique rhombic prism 
wiU be obtained. If the oblique direction is such that the 
basal plane equals the lateral, the solid is a rhombohedron. 
Proceeding in the same way with a rhomboidal stick, oblique 
rhomboidal prisms may be made. The student is advised to 
make these <)olids, either from wood, raw potatoes, or chalk,* 
in order to ijecome familiar with them. 

What is said of the lateral edges and angles of the rhombohedron t 

* Models made of chalk become quite hard if washed over with a 
■a-ongflolation of gum Arabic, or varnish. 



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FVHDAIIBNTAL FORKS OF 0RT6TAL8. 



By means of such models, the student may trace out im> 
portant relations between the Rindamental forms. 

Take a cube, and cut off each angle evenly, inclining the 
knife alike to the adjacent faces ; this produces figure 20. 
Continue taking slice afler slice equally from each angle, 
and the solid takes the form in fig. 20a, (called a cubo-octahe- 
dron ;) still continue taking off regular slices from each angle 
alike, and it finally comes out a regular octahedron, the form 
represented in fig. 205. The last diminishing point in each 
20 20a 20A 





♦ 



fiice of the cube is the apex of each solid angle of the octa- 
hedron. It is hence apparent why the axes of the cube con 
nect the opposite solid angles of the octahedron. 

Take another cube (one of large size is preferable) and 

pursue the same proeess with each of the edges, keeping the 

knife, in cutting, equally inclined to the faces of the cube, 

and we obtain, in succession, the forms represented in figs. 

21 21a 2U 









21 and 21a ; and finally as the plane P disappears, it comes 
out the rhombic dodecahedron, {&g. 2lb,) Hence the same 
axes which connect the centers of opposite faces in the cube, 
connect opposite acute solid angles in the dodecahedron. 

So the cube, by reversing the process, may be made from 
an octahedron by cutting off its solid angles, passing in suc- 
cession through the forms represented in figures 20^, 20a, 
20, to figure 1. The dodecahedron also yields a cube in a 
similar manner, giving as the process goes on, the forms rep- 
resented in figures 2U, 21a, 21, 1. 

Moreover, the octahedron and dodecahedron are easily de- 
How can you make an octahedron from a cube ? How make a do 
decahedron from a cube? How the cube from an octahedron? thd 
eube from a dodecahedron 1 What relation hence exjats between the 
toMds of the first system ? 

a* 



/* 



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so 



8TBUCTUBE OF KISTBIUXS. 




lived from one another. Figure 22 represents an octahedron 

22 22a with the edges truncated. On 
continuing this truncation, the 
planes A are reduced in size, 
and the form in figure 22a is 
obtained ; and another step be- 
yond, we have the dodecahedron, 
(fig. 21h.) Figure 22a repre- 
sents a dodecahedron with the obtuse solid angles replaced ; 
and this replacement continued, produces finally an octahe- 
dron, the reverse of the preceding. 

These solids are, then, so related that they are all deriva- 
ble from one another ; and the three actually are often pre- 
sented by the same mineral. All the figures above referred 
to, occur as forms of galena, Jluor-spar, and several other 
species. Instead, therefore, of considering the three solids, 
the cube, regular octahedron, and dodecahedron, as indepen- 
dent fi)rms, we properly speak of them as constituting to- 
gether one system, or as belonging to the same series of 
forms. 

Again : pursue the same mode of dissection on the angles 
of a square prisnif taking care to move the knife parallel to a 

23 23fl diagonal of the prism ; the form in 
figure 23 is first obtained, and final- 
ly a square octahedron, figure 23a. 

^l, The square prism and square-l5cta- 
hedron (like the cube and regular 
octahedron) belong to one and the 
same system* The two oflen oc- 
cur in the same mineral. 

Again : remove with a knife the basal edges of a rhombic 
24 24« prism, moving the knife parallel to a 

diagonal plane of the pi ism, figure 24 
^— ^ / /iW is at first obtained, and then a rhombic 
^octahedron, (fig. 24a.) Remove the 
four lateral edges of a rhombic prism, 
(see hg. 26a,) keeping the knife paral- 
lel to a vertical diagonal plane : the 
form in figure 25 will first be obtained, and then a right rectan- 
gular prism, (fig. 25a) ; and conversely cut off the lateral edges 




v__i/ 



M:3:7 




How can yoa make a square octahedron from a square prisui 1 How 
rhombic octahedron from a rhombic prism ? How a rectangular priam 
fiwm a rhombic 1 



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FUNDAXBNTAL FORMS OF CRYBTALS. 



SI 



of a right rectangular prism, with the knife parallel to the ver* 
25 iiiSa 26 




ti 



36A 




tical diagonal planes of this prism, 

1(as is seen in fig. 26,) and a right ^^r^ 
rhombic prism (fig. 26a) is the re- 
sult. The relations of these two 
prisms is shown in figure 26b, 
which represents a rhombic prism 
within a rectangular prism. It is 
obvious on comparing these figures, that the lateral axee 
which connect the centers of opposite &ces in the rectangu- 
lar prism, connect the centers of opposite lateral edges in 
the rhombic prism. 

These three fonns, the right rhombic prism, rhombic oc- 
tahedron, and rectangular prism, are so closely related, that 
one may give origin to the other, and all may occur in the 
same mineral. This is often the case, as in the minerals 
eelestine and heavy spar. 

Again : set the right rhomboidal prism on one of its lat- 
eral (aces, and then slice ofif each lateral edge, (lateral, as so 
situated,) keeping the l^iife parallel with the diago- 97 
nal plane, and an ohlique rhombic prism is obtained. 
Figure 27 represents the process begun, and figure 
13, as well as the interior of figure 27, the com- 
pleter! oblique rhombic prism. 

Lastly : take a rhombohedron, and afler placing 
it in position, fig. 16,) look down upon it from above, (fig. 
19 ;) the six lateral edges are seen to form a regular six-sided 
figure around the axis. If these edges be cut oflT parallel 
\o the axis, a six-sided prism (having a three-sided pyi'a- 
mid at each extremity) must, therefore, result. This pro- 
cess is shown begun in figure 28, and completed in figure 



How is a rhombic prism derived from a rectangular 1 What relation 
ftence between these prisms? How can yen make an oblique rhom- 
kic prism from a right rhoml)oidal ? How a right rhomboidal from an 
oblique rhombic % Explain the relation betw «n the rhombohedron and 
hexagonal prism, and how one is reduced to he other. 




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99 



gTKVCTVBK OF XINlffSALS. 



28a, Looking down again on the model as before, the ltd 
erdl angles are seen to &rm six equi-distant points around the 
axis ; and if these angles are removed in the same mamier, 
another six-sided prism is obtained, differing, however, from 
the former in having the fhces of the pyiumid at each end, 
Hve-sidedj instead ofrJumhic. Figures 29, 30, illustrate the 
process. Conversely, we may mi^e a rhombohedion out of 
— 38c 29 30 31 




f^^=^ 



VJ 



a hexagonal prism, by cutting off three alternate basal edges 
at one extremity of the prism, and similarly, three at the 
other extremity alternate ivith these, as in figure 31. In fig- 
ure 30, the process is &rther continued, and the rombohedron 
is shown as a nucleus to the prism. By cutting ofiT slices 
parallel with R, the rhombohedron is at last obtained. The 
close relation of the rhombohedron and hexagonal prism is 
hence obvious. Calcareous spar has the rhombohedron as its 
primary, and very often occurs in hexagonal forms. The 
same is true of quartz and many other species. 

From the above transformations, the study d which, with 
the aid of a knife and a few raw potatoes or lumps of chalk, 
may afford some amusement as well as instruction, the stu- 
dent will understand more fiilly the six systems of crystalli- 
zation.* These six systems have received the fbllovring 
names : 

1. Monometric or tesseral system^ (from the Greek numost 
one, and metron^ measure, alluding to the three axes being 
equal in length.) Includes the cube, octahedron and dode- 
cahedron, (figs. 1, 2, 3.) 

2. Dimetric system, (from dis^ two times, and metrmi, al- 
luding to the vertical axis being unequal to the other two.) 

Give the names of the systems of crystallization, and mention the 
tbnns each includes. 

* In some text books, the student may read aboat eertain integral 
forma, the cuhey the thret-^ded pyramid and t\ree-sided prism, from 
«rhich it is stated all the other forms may be made. The idea of such 
forms has nothing to do with crystallography, ir the actual constitu 
tioQ of crystals. 



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CLBAVAOB. 88 

Includes the square prism and square octahedron, (figs. 4, 
6,6.) 

3. Trinietric system, (from tris, three times, and meirony 
alluding to the three axes being unequal.) Includes the right 
rhombic prism, right rectangular prism and rhombic octahe* 
dron, (figs. 7, 8, 9.) 

4. manocUnie system, (from monosj one, and kUna, to 
incline, one axis being inclined to the other two which are 
at right angles.) Includes the right rhomboidal prism and 
oblique rhombic prism, (figs. 10, 11, 12, 13.) 

5. TricUnie system, (from tris luid kUnOj the three axes 
being oblique to one another.) Includes the oblique rhom- 
boidal prism, (figs. 14, 15.) 

6. Hexagonal system. Includes the rhombohedion and 
hexagonal prism^(figs. 16, 17, 18.) 

CLEAVAOB. 

It has already been stated that crystals of calcareous spar 
may be chipped ofif easily in three directions, and by this 
means, the fundamental form, a rhombohedron, may be ob« 
tained. In all other directions only an irregular fracture 
takes place. This property of separating into natural layerSf 
is called cleavage, and the planes along which it takes place, 
cleavage joints. 

Cubes of fluor spar may be cleaved on the angles, with a 
slight pressure of the knife, and the process continued afibrds 
successively the forms represented in figures 20, 20a, and 
finally the completed octahedron, as already explained. A 
lead ore, called galena, yields cubes by cleavage. Mica-~ 
ofien improperly called isinglass — ^may be torn by the fingers 
into elastic leaves more delicate than the thinnest paper. 

In many species cleavage is obtained with difficulty, and in 
others none can be detected. Quartz is an instance of the 
latter ; yet it may sometimes be effected with this mineral by 
heating it and plunging it while hot into cold water. 

The following are the more important laws with respect to 
this property : 

Cleavage is uniform in all varieties of the same mineral. 

It occurs parallel tothe &ces of a fundamental form or 
along the diagonals. 

It is always the same in character parallel to similar &ces 

What is cleavage 1 How does it differ in different minerab ? What 
are the laws relating to cleavage. 



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84 STRUCTURE OF MINERALS. 

of a crystal, being obtained with equal ease, and afibrding 
planes of like luster : and conversely, it is dissimilar paral. 
lei to dissimilar planes. It is accordingly the same, parallel 
to all the faces of a cube ; but in the square prism, the basal 
cleavage differs from the lateral, because the base is unequal 
to the lateral planes. Oflen there is an easy cleavage par- 
allel to the base, and none distinct parallel to the sides, as 
in topaz ; and so the reverse may be true. 

The thirteen fundamental forms enumerated, are the solids 
obtained from the various minerals by cleavage. 

Some minerals present peculiar cleavages of a subordinate 
character, independent of the principal cleavage. Calc spar, 
for example, has sometimes a cleavage parallel to the longer 
diagonal of its faces. The facts on this subject are of con- 
siderable interest, yet not of sufficient importance to be dwelt 
on in this place. 

SECONDARY FORMS. 

If crystals always assumed the shape of the primary form, 
there would be comparatively little of that variety and beauty 
which we actually find in the mineral kingdom. Nature 
first taught to heighten the brilliancy of the gem by covering 
its surface with &cets. To the uninstructed eye, these cubes 
and prisms with their numberless brilliant sur&ces, oflen 
appear as if they had been cut and polished by the lapidary : 
yet the skill and finish of the work, most perfect in the 
microscopic crystal, has but feeble imitation in art. Not 
unfrequently, crystals are found with one or two hundred dis- 
tinct planes, and occasionally even a much larger number ; 
and every edge and angle has the utmost perfection, and the 
surfaces an evenness of polish, that betrays no rude work- 
manship, even under the highest magnifying glass. Cavities 
are occasionally met with in the rocks, studded on every 
side with crystals — a crystal grotto in minature — sparkling 
when brought out to the sun like a casket of jewels. Even 
amid the apparent confusion, there is wonderful order of 
arrangement in the crystals : the corresponding planes gen- 
erally face the same way, so that the sparkling effect appears 
in successive flashes over the surface, as every new set of 
fe,cets comes in turn to the light. Add to this view, their 
delicate colors — ^the rich purple of the amethyst, the sofi 
yellowish shades of the topaz, the deep green of the eme- 

On what does the beauty of crystals to a f{reat eztent depend % 

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HODIFICATIOENS OF CRYSTALS. 85 

raid — and it will be admitted that the powers of crystalliz- 
ation scarcely yield to vitality in the forms of beauty they 
produce. 

These results are not more wonderful than the simplicity 
of the laws that lead to them. 

The various secondary forms proceed from the occurrence 
of planes on the angles or edges of the fundamental fonns, 
which planes are called secondary planes. Figures 20, 
21, are secondaries to the cube, and the planes a and e are 
secondary planes; figures 28, 29, 30, are secondaries to 
the rhombohedron, and the planes e and a are secondary 
planes.* These secondary planes however numerous, con- 
form in their positions to a certain law called the law of 
symmetry. Previous to stating this law a few explanations 
are added. 

The cube, it has been remarked, has six equal square &ces. 
The twelve edges are therefore all equal, and so also the 
eight angles. In the square prism the vertical edges difer 
in length from the basal, and are therefore not similar. In 
the rectangular prism, not only the vertical differ from the 
basal, but two of the basal at each extremity differ from the 
other two basal. This will be seen at once in the models. 
In the right rhombic and rhomboidal, two of the lateral edges 
are acute and two obtuse ; these then are not similar to one 
another. In the oblique prisms some of the basal edges are 
acute and some obtuse. Afler tracing out the similar and 
dissimilar angles and edges in the primaries, with the models, 
the following laws may be easily applied : Either — 

1. All the similar parts of a crystal are similarly and 
simultaneously modified ;* or, — 

Explain the relation of secondary planes to the fundamental form. 
What is said of the cube 1 of the square prism 1 the rectangular prism ? 
the right rhombic and rhomboidal 1 the oblique prisms 1 What is the first 
law repecting secondary planes 1 

Note. — What is meant by replacement, bevelment, and truncation? 

* To avoid circumlocutions, the following technical terms are employed 
in describing the modifications of crystals. 

Replacement. An edge or angle is replaced, when cat off by one or 
more secondary planes, (figs. 20, 21, 32.) 

Truncation. An edge or angle is truncated, when the replacing 
plane is equally inclined to the adjacent faces, (figs. 20, 21.) 

Bevelment. An edge is beveled, when replaced by two planes, which 
are respectively inclined at equal angles to the adjacent faces, (fig. 32.) 
Truncation and bevelment can occur only on edges formed by the meet- 
ing of equal plane9. 



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ao 



8TRVCTITRS OF MIirERALS. 



2. Half the similar parts cf a crystal, alternate inpositianj 
are modified independently of the other half. . 

In the cube, octahedron, or dodecahedron, if one edge is 
replaced, all the other edges will be replaced, and by the 
same planes. If there are two planes on one edge, (fig. 32) 
there will be two on every other edge ; and the two on each 
will have the same inclinations. If there are three planes 
on one angle, (fig. 33) there will, in the same manner, be 
three on the other seven angtes. Perfect syrametiy is thus 
preserved, however numerous the aikied planes. The fol« 
towing figures illustrate this principle, that all the edges, and 
all the angles are modified alike. 

3S 33 34 35 




This symmetry is well seen in the solids which the secon- 
dary planes, in the above figures, produce, if enlarged till 
Jie primary planes are obliterated. Thus from figiure 32, 
comes the form in figure 36, the planes e' being enlarged till 
the planes P are obliterated ; from 33, comes the form in 
^. 37 ; from 34, the form in 38 ; and from 35, the form in 
39. The form in figure 37 has 24 &ces, and is called a 
trapexohedron* It is common in garnet and leucite. 
36 37 38 99 




In figure 35, there are six planes on each angle, and as there 
are eight angles in the cube, the solid represented in figure 
39 has forty-eight faces. Both 38 and 39 are forms of the 
diamond. 

In connection with the law above given, it is stated that 
half the similar parts may be modified independently of 
the other half. The parts thus modified are alternate with 
one another and stiU produce symmetrical solids. Thus the 

What second law is mentioned 1 Explain the first law iy ezamplea 



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MODI1<*ICATION0 OF CBT8TAL8. 



37 



cabe may have only the alternate angles replaced ; or onlj 
one of the tv>o beveling planes shown in figure 32 may occui 
on each edge ; or three of the six on each angle in figure 35. 
The following are examples ; and each figure in the lower 
line, represents the completed form, produced by extending 
the secondary planes in the figure above, to the obliteration 
of the primaries, as explained on the preceding pages. 
40 41 43 43 




The replacement begun in figure 40, continued to the oblit* 
eration of the Ps, produces figure 44, which is a tetrahedroni 
or three-sided pyramid. So the planes d in figure 41, give 
rise to fig. 45 ; the planes 6 in 42, to figure 46, which is a 
pentagonal dodecahedron, so called because it has twelve 
pentagonal (or five-sided) faces. The forms represented in 
figures 40 and 41 are common in horacite^ and those of figures 
42, 43, in iron-pyrites. These forms with half the fiill num- 
ber of planes are called hendhedral forms, firom the Greek 
words for ^^ and jfece. 

The tetrahedron is sometimes placed among the primary 
forms ; but it is properly a secondaiy form, derived from the 
cube, in the manner here explained, or firom the octahedron 
by the extension- of four fiices to the obliteration of the other 
four. (Compare figs. 2 and 44.) 

In the right square prism, the basal edges being unequal 
to the vertical, (because the prism, unlike the cube, is higher 
than broad,) these two kinds of edges are not replaced by 
similar planes, and the basal may be modified when the 
lateral are not modified, (figs. 48, 49.) The lateral edges 
may be truncated, because their including planes are equal ; 

£Izplain the second law. What are the resulting forms called! 
What is said of the tetrahedron ? 

4 



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88 



STBDCTURE OF MINERALS. 



the leniiiiial cannot be truncated, but are replaced by planes 

unequally inclined to the including planes. The solid ansles 

48 49 50 



^ 



I^S^ 



f^ ^ 


i H ' 






of the square prism are of one kind and are replaced alike, as 
in figures 23, 50 ; all the angles in these figures have the 
same number of planes, and the two adjacent planes in figure 
50 are similar in their inclinations, because the lateral planes 
M, M, of a square prism, are equal. 

In the rectangular and rhombic prisms the lateral axes are 
unequal. Consequently in the rectangular prism, two basal 
edges differ from the other two, and are therefore modi* 
fied independently (figs. 51, 52.) The planes 6 extended to 
the obliteration of T and P, would produce a rhombic prism 
(in a horizontal position,) as shown in figure 53, and another 
horizontal prism may be formed by the extension of the 
planes 6, fig. 52. In the rhombic prism the basal edges cor- 
51 53 53 54 



/^F^^ 



& 



-:p\ 



\2EE 




55 respond to the angles of the rectangular prism 
(see ^g, 26*) and are similar and sunultaneously 
replaced as in figure 24. The basal angles are 
unlike, one being obtuse and the other acute, and 
the planes of the two (fig. 54) differ in their in- 
clinations. The lateral edges differ in the same 
manner, two being obtuse and two acute, and they are inde- 
pendently replaced, as in figure 55. The two planes e are 
similar planes, because, in a rhombic prism, M and M are 
equal ; and the extension of these planes may produce another 
rhombic prism. 

In an oblique rhombic prism the superior basal edges dif- 

Explam theae laws from the square prism; the reclangula» and 
rhombic. 



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MODIFICATIOIfS OF CRTSTALS. 



89 



ferfrom the inferior in front, two being obtuse and two acute ; 
consequently, they are independently replaced. Figure 56, 
shows the replacement of the obtuse basal. So also the front 
angles diiier in the same manner, the upper (left side in fig. 
57) being independent of the inferior in its modifications. 
56 57 58 59 




But the four lateral angles are similar (fig. 58.) Two of the 
lateral edges are obtuse and two acute, as in the right rhom- 
bic prism, and their secondary planes are therefore unlike 
(fig. 59.) 

In the oblique rhomboidal prism, 
\ only two diagonally opposite edges 
' or angles are similar, and the modi- 
fications of one edge are therefore 
independent of those of all the other , 
edges, except the one diagonally/ 
opposite : the same is true of the 
angles. The difilerence between this prism and the oblique 
rhombic will thus be seen on comparing figures 56 and 60, 
and also figures 58 and 61 : 

In the rhombohedron, the distinction o£ vertical and lateral 
9oUd angles has already been explained, and also the differ- 
ence between the terminal and lateral edges. The figures 
given will show how these distinctions are carried out in the 
-^ 63 64 65 






modifications. In figure 62, the terminal solid angles are 
replaced, but none of the lateral. In figures 64, 65 and 29, 
the lateral angles are replaced, but not the terminal. Figure 
63, has the terminal edges replaced, and figures 68 and 28. 
the lateral edges. 

Explain the laws with regard to secondary planee from the obliquo 
rhombic prism ; oblique rhomboidal ; the rhombohedron. 



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40 8TB1TCTUBE OF HINEBALS. 

When the planes al in figure 64 are a little more extended, 

the tbrm is changed to figure 65, or a double six-sided pyramid. 

It is in this way that the pyramidal form of crystals of quartz 

8 produced from the primary rhombohedron. In figure 66» 

66 67 ,68 69 




a', as is seen, is a different plane from a' in figure 64. By 
enlarging the planes a', till the planes R are obliterated, 
figure 67 is obtained, an acute rhombohedron. This may 
appear a singular result : but it will be understood on con- 
sidering that there are six lateral angles ; and three of the 
planes a' incline upward, and ihrte^ alternate, incline down- 
ward ; they must therefore produce an oblong solid, bounded 
by six equal faces, which is nothing else than a rhombohedron. 
In figure 68, the lateral edges are beveled by the planes c'. 
The planes e enlarged to the obliteration of the faces 
R, lead to the form in figure 69 — a twelve-sided figure, or 
dodecahedron, and called from the shape of its faces, a 
scalene dodecahedron. It is the form of dog-tooth spar, a 
variety of calcareous spar. In figures 28, 29, the planes e 
and a are each parallel to the vertical axis, and they con- 
sequently produce prisms when extended, as explained on 
pages 31, 32. 

In figure 3, under Tourmaline, we have an instance of a 
heniihedral modification in the hexagonal system. The ex- 
tremities of the prism, as will be observed, have different 
secondary planes, there being in addition to the three fiices 
R, three small triangular planes above, and three narrow 
linear planes below. Topaz crystals are also differently 
modified at the extremities, and are examples of hemihedraJ 
modifications in a right rhombic prism. 

Another law gives still greater interest to the study of 
crystallography : but it can only be briefly alluded to in this 
place. When speaking of the right square prism it was 

Mention some instances of hemihedral modifications, and ezplaia. 



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MODinCATIOira OF CBT/ITAL8. 41 

utated that the basal edges were never truncated, but, when 
modified, were replaced by planes unequally inclined to the 
hascil and lateral faces of the primary. These secondary 
planes do not however occur at random, at any possible in- 
clination ; but there is a direct relation, in all instances, to 
the comparative height and breadth of the fundamental form 
of the mineral. The same is true of planes on the angles, 
and in secondaries to ail the fundamental forms. 

Take a cube and cut off evenly one of the edges : this 
removes parts of two other edges, at each end of the plane 
It is found that in cubic crystals these parts are either equa 
to one another, or one is double of the other, or treble ; or 
in some other simple ratio. The same is true in the other 
fundamental forms, except that, as stated, the relative height 
and breadth of the prism come into account, and influence 
the result. 

For example : in figure 70, 70 71 

(a section of a cube,) P M and ^ , > f , 
P N are equal edges, divided ^^^^ 
into equal parts ; now a plane • ^ 
on an edge of a cuhe^ as a &, ^/ 
removes, as is seen, equal parts \ 

of P M and P N ; another, as J 

a c, removes twice as many parts of one ^'" 
edge as of the other ; and so other planes ha've like simpY« 
ratios. In figure 71, a section <^ a prism, the lines P M and 
P N (height and breadth of the prism) are unequal : let them 
be divided into a like number of parts ; then a plane on an 
edge, as a J, will cut off as many parts of P M as of P N ; 
others, as a c, ^ d, tvrice as many parts of one as the other : 
and so on. a b truncates the edge in figure 70 ; but not so 
in figure 71. It is evident to the mathematical scholar that 
the inclination of a plane a5toPNorPM,is sufficient to 
determine the relative dimensions of P a and P h, or the rela- 
tive height and breadth of the fundamental form. 

These principles give a mathematical basis to the 
science. 

Thus we perceive that the attraction which guides each 
particle to its place in crystallization, produces forms of 
mathematical exactness. It covers the crystal with scores 
of facets of finished brilliancy and perfection ; and these 

What other law is there, respecting the occurrence of s*condarf 
»lanc8 1 Explain by the figures. 

4* 



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42 



STSUCTURE OF MINBRALt. 



fitcets are not only uniferm in number on similar parts of a 
crystal, but are even fixed in every angle and every edge.* 



COMPOUND CBY8TAL8* 



In the preceding pages, we have been considering simple 

crystals, and their secondary forms. The same forms are 

occasionally compounded so as to make what have been 

called twin or compound crystals. They will be understood 

79 73 74 75 




at once from the annexed figures. Figure 72 represents a 
crystal of snow of not unfrequent occurrence. It consists, as 

What is a twin or compound crystal 1 

• On a preceding page, it has been explained that in monometrie cys- 
tals the axes are equal ; in dimetric and hexagonal crystals the lateral 
axes are equal, and the vertical is of a different length, shorter or longer. 
In the other systems, the trimetric and the two oblique systenu, the 
three axes are all unequal. In the above paragraphs it has been shown 
that the relative lengths of the axes in a fundamental form of a crystal 
are fixed, and may be determined by simple calculations. These fixed 
relative dimensions are supposed to be the relative dimensions of the 
particles or molecules constituting crystals ; that is if the fundamental 
form of a crystal is twice as long as broad, the same is true of its mole- 
cules. The molecules of a cube must therefore be equal in different 
directions; those of a square prism must be longer or shorter than 
broad, but equal in breadth and thicknesss ; those of a rectangular prism 



2 



2a 



9|e 



© 



9 



must be unequal in three 
directions ; and the relative 
inequality is determinable as 
I just stated. The simplest and 
I most probable view of the 
forms of molecules is that they 
are spheres for monometrie 
solids ; and ellipsoids of different axes for the other forms. Figure 1 
represents a sphere. 

Figure 2 represents an ellipsoid with the lateral axes equal, as P««n 
in the cross section 2a ; it is the form in the dimetric and hexagonal 
iystems. 

Figure 3 represents an ellipsoid with the lateral axes unequal (fig. 3a), 
as in the trimetric and oblique systems ; a variation in the length of the 
axes will vary the dimensions, according to any particular case. 



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COMPOUND CRYSTALS. 



4r 




is evident to the eye, either of six crystals meeting in a point, 
or of three crystals crossing one another. Besides, there 
are numerous minute crystals regularly arranged along the 
rays. Figure 73 represents a cross (cruciform) crystal of 
staurotide, which is similarly compoimd, but made up of 
fcwer crystals. Figure 74, is a compound crystal of gypsiim, 
and figure 75, one of spinel. These will be understood from 
the following figures. 

Figure 76 is a simple crystal of gyp- 
sum ; if it be bisected along a 6, and 
the right half be inverted and applied 
to the other, it will form figure 74, i 
which is therefore a twin crystal, in 
which one half has a reverse position 
firom the other. Figure 77, is a simple 
octahedron ; if it be bisected through ( 
the dotted line, and the upper hal^ after beiug revolved half 
way around, be then united to the lower, it produces figure 
75. Both of these therefore are similar twins, in which one 
of the two component parts is reversed in position.* Com- 
pound crystals are generally distinguished by their reentering 
angles. 

Besides the above, there are also geniculated crystals, as 
in the annexed figure. The bending has here 
taken place at equal distances from the center 
of the crystal ; and it must therefore have 
6een subsequent in time to the commence- 
ment of the crystal. The prism began from 
a simple molecule : but afler attaining a certain 
length, an abrupt change of direction took place. The angle 
of geniculation is constant in the same mineral species ; for 
the same reason that the angles of secondary planes are 
^ed ; and it is such that a cross section directly through the 
geniculation is parallel to the position of a common secon- 
dary plane. In the figure given, the plane of geniculation is 
parallel to one of the terminal edges. 




Mention illustrations. Explain their structure in the c 
and spinel. What is said of geniculated crystals ? 



I of gypBuin 



» Such crystals have proceeded from a compound nucleus in which one 
if the two particles was reversed. Compound crystals of the kind 
above described, thus differ from simple crystals in having been fonned 
Tom & nucleus of two or more united molecules, instead of from a simple 
nucleus. 



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44 BTSUCTUBE OF MINBBALS. 

DZMOKFHISM. ^POLTMORPHISM. 

It was fermerly supposed that the same chemical com* 
pound could have but a single mode of crystallization. But 
later researches have discovered that there are many in- 
stances of substances crystallizing according to two distinct 
systems. Thus sulphur at different times crystallizes in ob- 
lique prisms and right rhombic octahedrons, or according to 
the two systems monocUnic and trimetric. Carbonate of 
lime at one time takes on the rhombohedral form, and is 
then called calc spar; at another, that of a rhombic prism, 
and it is then termed aragonite. Again, sulphuret of iron 
presents us both with cubical (monometric) crystals and 
rhombic prisms (trimetric.) As &r as investigation has gone, 
it has appeared that one of these forms is assumed at a lower 
temperature than the other ; and this takes place uniformly, 
so Uiat the temperature attending solidification, in certain 
cases at least, determines the forms and system of crystal- 
lization. How &LT other causes operate is unknown. 

This property is termed dimorphism, (from the Greek dis^ 
two or twice, and morphcj form,) and a substance presenting 
two systems of crystaUization is said to be dimorphous. In 
addition to the above, garnet and idocrase^ the one dodeca- 
hedral, and the other square-prismatic, are different forms 
of the same substance. RiUile, which is dimetric, anatase, 
dimetric also, but of different dimensions, and Brookite, which 
is trimetric, are three distinct forms of the same substance, 
axyd of titanium. In this last case, the property has been 
called trimorphism, (from the Greek tris, three times, and 
morphe, form.) As the number of forms may be still greater, 
the more general term polymorphism (polus, many, and 
morphe) has been introduced to include all cases, whatever 
the number of forms assumed. 

A polymorphous substance in its different states presents 
not merely difference of form. There is also a difference in 
hardness^ specific gravity and lusierj in fact, in nearly all 
physical qualities. Aragonite has the specitic gravity 2*93, 
and calc spar only 2'7 ; the hardness of aragonite is 8|, 
and that of calc spar but 3. 

May the same substance crystallize under more than one fiindamen 
tal form 1 Mention examples. What is this property called I Wha* 
is said of oxyd df Titanium 1 What is trimorphism ? polymorphism 
What other differences beside that of form are connected with potf 
morphism 1 



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IB]IBai7I.AXITIB8 OF CBTSTALS. 



45 



The fbnns of a dimorphous substance differ in suability 
Aragonite when heated gently &lls to powder, arising from 
a change in the condition of its particles. Aragonite has 
been obtained by evaporating a solution of lime over a watef 
bath, and calc spar when the same was evaporated at the ordi* 
nary temperature. When a right rhombic prism of sulphate 
of zinc (which is dimorphous) is heated to 126® F. certain 
points in its surface become opaque, and from these points, 
bunches of crystals shoot fi)rth in the interior of the speci- 
men ; and in a short time the whole is converted into an 
aggregate of these crystals, diverging from several centers on 
the surface of the original crystal. These small crystals 
are oblique rhombic prisms ; and the same form may be ob* 
tained by evaporating a solution at this temperature or above 
it. Many other similar cases might be cited, but these serve 
to explain the principle in view. 

IRBEOULABITIES OF CBYSTALS. 

Before concluding this subject, a few remarics may be 
added on the irregularities of crystals. 

Crystals of the same form vary much in length, and in the 
size of corresponding &ces. The same mineral may occur 
in very short prisms, or in long and slender prisms : and 
some planes may be so enlarged as to obliterate others ; 
a few figures of quartz crystals will illustrate these pecu- 
liarities. 

79 80 81 8d 83 





Figure 79 is the regular form of the crystal. Figure 80 is 
he same form with some faces very much enlarged, and 
•thers very small. Figure 81 is a very short prism and 
yramid of quartz, such as is oflen seen attached to the 
ur&ce of rocks ; and figure 82 is a similar form very much 
longated. Notwithstanding all these variations, every angle 

What are aome of tb^ irresularitiea of crystals t 



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46 



STBVCTURB OF MIinSBAUI. 




of inclination remains the same : and this is a gene*^ /act 
in all crystals, that whatever distortions take place, th^ angles 
are constant. Greater diversity is given to the shapes of 
crystals by these simple variations, without multiplying the 
number of distinct forms. Figure 83 is a tapering prism of 
the same mineral, with a minute pyramid at the apex. The 
faces of this pyramid have exactly the same inclinations as 
those of figure 79. 

The constancy of the angles shows that the fundamental 
form of the crystal, or, in other words, the form of its mole- 
cules, is constant, amid all these variations of size and shape* 

Crystals have sometimes curved faces. The faces of 
diamonds are usually convex, and some crystals are almost 

84 spheres. Figure 84 is one of these diamond 
crystals. It is the same form as is represented 
in figure 45. For cutting glass, they always 

I select those crystals that have a natural curved 
edge, as others are much inferior for the purpose 
' and sooner wear out. In figure 85 a different 
kind of curvature is represented. It is a curved rhombohe- 

85 ' dron, in which the opposite faces are parallel in 
^f^^^^ tl>®ir curving : it is a common form o^ spathic iron 

Mffm^^^^^^ P^(irl spar. The latter mineral from Lock- 
KMK^K port. New York, is always curved in this way. 
■^^^^^ Si ill more singular curvatures are sometimes 
"^ met with. In the mammoth cave of Kentucky, 

leaves, vines and flowers are beautifully imita- 
ted in alabaster. Some of the " rosettes" are 
a fiw>t in diiimeter, and consist of curving leaves, 
clusteretl in graceful shapes. The frostings on 
our windows in winter are often miniature pic- 
Itureg of foii^sts and vines with rolled tendrils, 
fit 19 one among the many singular results of 
Scry:?talJiziitbii- On the cool mornings of spring 
J or autumn, in this climate, twigs of plants are 
j occasionally found encircled by fibrous icy 
curls, {lig* 9fl,) which are attachexl vertically to 
i the stem. They are formed during the night, 
and disappear soon aflerthe appearance of the 




What is said of curved crystals? 
gypsum ? of ice ? 



What of curved crystallizations of 



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MBASUSEMENT OF CRYSlAXD. 47 

ON MEASUHING ANGLES OF CRTSTALS. 

A.S the angles of crystals are constant, minerals, as has 
been stated, may often be distinguished by measuring these 
angles. Thi^ is done by means of instruments call^ gonu 
ametersy a term meaning, literally, angle-measurers,* These 
are of two kinds ; one is called the common goniometer, the 
other the reflecting goniometer. 

The common goniometer depends on the 87 

very simple principle that when two straight a 
lines cross one another, as A E, C D in the ^ 
annexed figure 87, the parts will diverge 
equally on opposite sides of the point of in-^" 
tersection (O) ; that is, in mathematical language, the anglt 
A ODis equal to the angle COE,andAOC is equal toDOE 

The instrument in common use is here represented. 
88 





It consists of two arms, ah^cd, moving on a pivot at o : the arms 
open and shut, and their divergence, or the angle they make 
with one another, is read off on the graduated arc attached. 
In using it, press up between them, the edge of the crystal 
whosA angle is to be measured, and continue opening the arms 
thus till the inner edges lie evenly against the faces that include 

How are the angles of crystals measured 1 Explain the principle of 
die common goniometer from the figure. Explain the common goni* 
ometer and its use. 

* From the Greek gonu, angle, and matron, measure. 

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48 ITSITCTimB OF minBKAU. 

the required angle. To insure accuracy in this respect, hold 
the instrument and crystal between the eye and the light, 
and observe that no light passes between the arm and the 
applied faces of the crystal. The arms may then be secured 
in position by tightening the screw at o ; the angle will then 
be measured by the distance on the arc from k to the left 
or outer edge of the arm c d, this edge being in the line ol 
o, the center of motion. As the instrument stands in the 
figure, it reads 45®. The arms have slits at g hjti p, b} 
which they may be shortened so as to make them more con- 
venient for measuring small crystals. 

In some instruments of this kind the arc is detached &om 
the arms. When this is the case, after the measurement is 
made and the screw at o tightened, the arc (which has the 
shape of a y*^ in the annexed figure, except that from ato h 
is a solid bar) is adjusted to the upper edge of one of the 
arms, bringing the maik ato, the center, exacQy to the center of 
divergence of the arms. The angle is then readofifas before. 
With a little ingenuity the student may construct a goni- 
ometer £oT himself that will answer a good purpose. A semi- 
circle may be described on mica or a glazed card, of the 
shape in figure 88 : it should then be divided into halves at 
f, and again each half subdivided into nine equal parts. 
Each of these parts measures 10 degrees ; and if they are 
next divided into ten equal parts, each of these small divisions 
will be degrees. The semi-circle may then be cut out, and 
is ready for use. The arms might also be made of stiff card 
for temporary use ; but mica, bone or metal is better. The 
arms should have the edges straight and accurately parallel, 
and be pivoted together. The instrument may be used like 
that last described, and will give approximate results, suffi- 
ciently near for distinguishing most minerals. The ivory 
rule accompanying boxes of mathematical instruments, having 
upon it a scale of sines for measuring angles, will answer 
an excellent purpose, and is as con- 
venient as the arc. The annexed | ^ ^\k\\J^I /v^/ y^ 
figure will illustrate the mode of .^ ^ x-» >vji /^^.^^ 
using it The scale is graduated t 
along the margin, the middle point 
marking 00^, and the divisions 
either side 10 degrees (as in the figure) and also single de- 
How 18 it used when the arms are detached 1 How may a temporary 
^uiometer be made 1 How may a ecale of sines be used 1 



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XSASURBHBNT OF CR17STAL8. 49 

grees. Tbe arms are so applied to the scale, that the center 
of motion is exactly at the extremity of the middle line, 
marked 90 ; and the leg crossing the scale (or ^hat edge of it 
in the line of the center of motion) will then indicate by its 
position over the graduated margin, the angle desired.* 

In making such measurements it is important to remember 
that— 

1. An angle A O D (figure 87) and A O C, together, 
equal 180® ; so that if A O C be measured, A O D is ascer- 
tained by subtracting A O C from 180°. 

2. In a rhomb or rhomboid, bai and aha, to- «• 
gether, equal 180® ; and one may be ascertained ^>^ ^v 
by sul^racting the other from 180®. If an obtuse ^\ ^X^ 
angle of a rhombic prism has been measured and ^^ 
found to be 110®, and the acute angle on measurement is as 
certained to be 60®, the student should add the two togethe? 
to find whether the sum is 180® ; for if not, there is som^ 
error in the measurement, and it should be repeated. 110 
added to 60° makes 170°, showing in this case an erroi 
of 10°. 

3. In any polygon, the sum of ike angles is equal to twice 
as many right angles as there are sides less two. Let the 
number of sides, for example, be 6 : 6 leSs two is 4 ; and 
the angles together equal tunce 4, (or 8,) right angles, which 
is equivalent to 8 X 90° =720°. If we have a prism of sii 
sides, and wish to ascertain the angles between these sides 
the angles should be measured successively, and the whoh 
added together to ascertain whether the measurements art 
correct. If the sum is 720°, there is good reason to confidi 
in them. Crystals are at times a little irregular ; and this 
should be looked to, as part of the apparent error may at 
times be thus accounted for. This general principle and th^ 



What three points must be observed in making measurements 1 

* Another mode for approximate results consists in holding the cryB* 
lal with the two faces (whose inclination is to be measured) in an 
exactly vertical position over a piece of paper : then place a small rule 
parallel, as near as the eye can judge, to one face, and draw a line ; next 
do the* same for the other face. The angle between the two lines, 
measured either by an arc or the ivory rule just mentioned, ia the 
desired inclination. With practice, much skill may be acquired in 
such trials. They may be made with micros ,opic crystals un^er 
microscope. 



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50 



gTRUCTURB OF MINEBALS. 




preceding, which is only a simpler case of ^;he same, are of 
great importance in the measurements of crystals. 

Reflecting Goniometer. The reflecting goniometer affords 
a more accurate method of measuring crystals that have 
luster, and may be used with those of minute size. The 
principle on which this instrument is constructed will be un^ 
derstood from the annexed figure {&g. 90) representing a 
crystal, whose angle a b c is required. 
The eye, looking at the face of the 
crystal h c, observes a reflected image 
of 771, in the direction P n. On revolving^ 
the crystal till a h has the position of 
h c, the same image will be seen again in 
the same direction P n. As the crystal 
is turned, in this revolution, till ab d has the present position 
of b c, the angle d b c measures the number of degretes 
through which it is revolved. But d b c, subtracted from 
180^, equals the angle of the crystal a b e. The crystal is 
therefore passed in its revolution through a number of de- 
grees, which, subtracted from 180°, give the required angle. 
This angle, in the reflecting goniometer of WoUaston, is 
measured by attaching the crystal to a graduated circle which 
revolves with it, as here represented (fig. 91.) 

91 A B is the graduated cir- 

cle. The wheel, m, is at- 
tached to the main axis, and 
moves the graduated circle 
together with the adjustec^ 
crystal. The wheel, n, i^ 
connected with an axi. 
wljich passes through th€ 
mfiin axis, (which is hollow 
for the purpose,) and moves 
mt?rely the parts to which 
the crystal is attached, in 
orfJer to assist in its adjust- 
L ine lit. The contrivances for 
the adjustment of the crysta' 
are at |?, q, r, s. To use the instrument, it must be placed on 
a small stand or a table, and so elevated as to allow the ob- 
server to rest his elbows on the table. The whole, thus 




Explain the principle of the reflecting goniometer. Ex])lain the mode 
of uging the instrument. 



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MBASURCMENT OF CRYSTALS. 51 

finnly arranged, is to be placed in front of a window, distant 
from the same from six to twelve feet, and with the axis of 
the instrument parallel to it. Preparatory to operation, a 
dark line must be drawn below the window near the floor, 
parallel to the bars of the window ; or, what is better, on a 
slate or board placed before the observer on the table. 

The crystal is attached to the ipovable plate, q, by a piece 
of wax, and so arranged that the edge of intersection of the 
two planes forming the required angle, shall be in a line with 
the axis of the instrument. This is done by varying its 
situation on the plate, q, or the situation of the plate itself or 
by means of the adjacent joints and wheel, r, s, p, as will be 
readily understood from the instrument. 

When apparently adjusted, the eye must be brought close 
to the crystal, nearly in contact with it, and on looking into 
a fece, part of the window will be seen reflected, one bar of 
which must be selected for the trial. If the crystal is cor- 
rectly adjusted, the selected bar will appear horizontal, and 
on turning the wheel, n, till this bar, as reflected, is observed 
to approach the dark line below, seen in a direct view, it will 
be found to be parallel to this dark line, and ultimately to 
coincide with it. If there is not a perfect coincidence, the 
adjustment must be altered until this coincidence is obtained. 
Continue then the revolution of the wheel, n, till the same 
bar is seen by reflection in the next face, and if here there 
is also a coincidence of the reflected bar with the dark line 
seen direct, the adjustment is complete ; if not, alterations 
must be made, and the first face again tried. A few succes- 
sive trials of the faces, will enable one to obtain a perfect 
adjustment. 

The circle A B is usually graduated to half degrees, and 
by means of the vernier, r, minutes are measured. Afler 
adjustment, 180^ on the arc must be brought opposite 0, on 
the vernier. The coincidence of the bar and dark line is 
then to be obtained, by turning the wheel, n. When ob- 
tained, the wheel, m, should be turned until the same coinci- 
dence is observed, by means of the next face of the crystal. 
If a line on the graduated circle now corresponds with on 
the vernier, the angle is immediately determined by the 
number of degrees opposite this line. If no line corresponds 
with 0, we must observe which* line on the vernier coincides 
with one on the circle. If it is the 18th on the vernier, and 
the line on the circle next below on the vernier marks 125^ 



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52 8TRUCTUBE OF MINBKALS. 

the required angle is 121^ 18' ; if this line n^rks VZb'' 30' 
the required angle is 125® 48'. 

Some goniometers are furnished with a small polished re* 
fleeter, attached to the foot of the instrument below the part 
«, q, which is placed at an oblique angle so as to reflect a bar 
of the window. The reflected bar then answers the purpose 
of the line drawn below the window, (or on a slate,) and *8 
more conveniently used. 

Other modes of adjustment for the crystal, are also used 
but they will explain themselves to the student acquainted 
with the above explanations, and need not here be dwelt 
upon. 

AmASSIVB minerals, or IMFERFBCT CBTSTAIJ.IZATI0N8. 

Massive or imperfectly crystallized minerals either consist 
of fibers or minute columns, of leaves or laminse, or of grains : 
in the first, the structure is said to be columnar ; in the 
second, lamellar ; in the third, granular. We have a &miliar 
example of the lamellar structure in slate rocks and many 
minerals that occur in masses made up of separable laminse. 
The fibrous or columnar structure is common in seams of 
rocks, and sometimes in incrustations covering exposed sur- 
&ces ; the material of the seam or crust is made up of mi- 
nute fibers or prisms closely compacted together, produced 
by a rapid crystallization on the supporting surface. The 
granular structure is well seen in loaf sugar and statuary 
marble. 

1. Columnar Structure. The following are explana- 
tions of the terms used in describing the difierent kinds of 
columnar structure. 

Fibrous; when the columns are minute and lie in the 
same direction ; as gypsum and asbestus. Fibrous minerals 
very commonly have a silky luster: a fibrous variety of 
gypsum, and one of calc spar, have this luster very strongly, 
and each is oflen called saiin spar. 

Reticulated ; when the fibers, or columns, cross in various 
directions, and produce an appearance having some resem- 
blance to a net. 

Stellated ; when they radiate fi-om a eenter in all direc- 
tions, and produce a star-like appearance. Ex. stilbite, 
gypsum. 

What kinds of structure exist in massive minerals 1 Explain the dif- 
ibrtnt varieties of columnar structure, fibrous ; reticulate'l, &^ 



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IMPSSFBCT CBTSTALLIZATIONB. 53 

jRaduUed, divergent ; when the crystals radiate from .a 
center, without producing stellar forms. Ex. quartXy gray 
OMtimony. 

2. Lambllar Structure. In the lamellar structure, the 
laminae or leaves may be thick, or very thin ; they some- 
times separate easily, and sometimes with great difficulty. 

When the laminae are thin and separate easily, the struc- 
ture is said to be foliaceous. Mica is a striking example 
and the term micaceous is oflen used to describe thi 
structure. 

When the laminse are thick, the term tabular is oflen ap 
plied ; quartz and heavy spar afford examples. 

The laminsB may be eluatic^ as in mica, jlea»&2e, as in talc 
or graphite, or brittle^ as in diallage. 

Small laminae are sometimes arranged in stellar shapes 
this occurs in mica. 

3. Granular Structure. When the grains in the 
texture of a mineral are coarse, it is said to be coarsely gran- 
ular, as in granular marble ; when fake, finely granular, as 
in granular quartz ; and if no grains can be detected with 
the eye, the structure is described as impalpable, as in 
chalcedony. 

Granular minerals, when easily crumbled by the fingers, 
are said to he friable. 

Imitative Shapes. — Massive minerals also take certain 
imitaiive shapes, not peculiar to either of these varieties of 
structure. The following terms are used in describing imi- 
tative forms: 

Globular; when the shape is spherical or nearly so : the 
structure may be columnar and radiating, or it may be con- 
centric, consisting of coats like an onion. When they are 
attached, they are called implanted globules. 

Remform ; kidney-shaped. In structure, they are like 
globular shapes. 

Botryoidal ; when a surface consists ot a group of rounded 
prominences. The prominences or globules usually consist 
of fibers radiating from the center. 

Mammillary ; resembling the botryoidal, but consisting of 
larger prominences. 

Filiform ; like a thread. 

Adcular ; slender like a needle. 

Explain the varieties of lamellar structure ; of granular structure ; the 
•ereral imitative shapes, globular ; reniform, &c. 
5* 



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M STBaGTUBE OF KINEJIALS. 

Stalactitic ; having the form of a cylinder, or cone, hang- 
ing from the roofs of cavities or caves. The term stalactite 
is usually restricted to the cylinders of carbonate of lime 
hanging from the roofs of caverns : but other minerals are 
said to have a stalactitic form when resembling these in theii 
general shape and origin. Chalcedony and brown iron ore 
are often stalactitic. 

Reticulated; net-like. 

Drusy ; a 8ur&.ce is said to be drasy when covered with 
ninute crystals. 

Amorphous ; having no regular structure or form, either 
crystalline or imitative. The word is fi*om the Greek, and 
means without shape. 

PSBUDOMORPnOUS CRYSTALS. 

A pseudomorphous* crystal is one that has a form which is 
foreign to the species to which the substance belongs. 

Crystals sometimes undergo a change of composition from 
aqueous or some other agency, without losing their form ; 
for example, octahedrons of spinel change to steatite, still 
retaining the octahedral form. Cubes of pyrites are changed 
to red or brown iron ore. 

Again : crystals are sometimes removed entirely, and at the 
same time and with equal progress, another mineral is sub- 
stituted ; for example, when cubes of fluor spar are trans- 
formed to quartz. The petrifaction of wood is of the same 
kind. 

Again : cavities left empty by a decomposed crystal, are 
refilled by another species by irifiltration, and the new 
mineral takes on the external form of the -original mineral, 
as a fused metal the form of the mould into which it is cast. 

Again : crystals are sometimes incrusted over by other 
minerals, as cubes of fluor by quartz ; and when the fluor is 
afterwards dissolved away, as sometimes happens, hollow 
cubes of quartz are left. 

The first kind of pseudomorphs, are pseudomorphs by aL 
teration ; the second, pseudomorphs by replacement ; the^ 

What is a pseudomorphous crystal 1 What is the first, the second, 
the third and the fourth mode of pseudomorphism ? Wnat are they 
%Ued? 

* From the Greek pseudes, false, and morphe, form. 



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LUSTER OF MINEBAL8. 55 

third, pseudomorphs by infiltration ; the fourth, pseudomorpfu 
hy incrustation,* 

Pseudomorphous crystals are distinguished by having a 
different structure and cleavage from that of the mineral 
imitated in form, and a different hardness, and usually little 
luster. 

A large number of minerals have been met with as pseu- 
domorphs. The causes of such changes have operated very 
widely and produced important geological results. 

CHAPTER IIL— PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF 
MINERALS. 

CHARACTERS DEPENDING ON LIOHT. 

TJie characters depending on light are of Jive kinds, and 
arise from the power of minerals to reflect^ transmit^ or emit 
light. They are as follows : 

1. Luster; 2. Color; 3. Diaphaneity; 4. Refraction; 
5. Phosphorescence, 

LUSTER. 

90. The luster of minerals depends on the nature of their 
surfaces, which causes more or less light to be reflected. 
There are different degrees of intensity of luster, and also 
difierent kinds of luster, 

a. The kinds of luster are six, and are named from some 
familiar object or class of objects. 

1. Metallic : the usual luster of metals. Imperfect me- 
tallic luster is expressed by the term sub-metallic, 

2. Vitreous : the luster of broken glass. An imperfect 
vitreous luster is termed sub-vitreous. Both the vitreous and 
sub-vitreous lusters are common. Quartz possesses the 
former in an eminent degree ; calcareous spar often the lat- 
ter. This luster may be exhibited by minei-als of any color. 

3. Resinous : luster of the yellow resins. Ex. opal, zinc 
blende. 

4. Pearly : like pearl. Ex. talc, native magnesia, stil- 
bite, &c. When united with sub-metallic luster, the term 
meMlIic-pearJy is applied. 

How are pseudomorphous crystals distinguished ? What characters 
depend on light? Explain the varieties of luster, metallic, vitreous, &c. 

* This subject is farther treated of by the author in the Amer. Joui. 
-of Science, vol. xlviii, pp. 66, 81, 397. 



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00 FHT8ICAI FBOPBKTIBV OF KINSBALS. 

5. Silky : like silk ; it is the result of a fibrous stnictinre. 
Ex. fibrous carbonate of lime, fibrous ^rpsum, and many 
fibrous minerals, more especiallj those which in other form 
have a pearly luster. 

6. Adamantine : the luster of the diamond. When sub- 
metallic, it is termed nutamc-adamarUine, Ex* some yarie* 
ties of white lead ore. 

h. The degrees €f intensity are denominated as feUows : 

1. Splendent : when the surface reflects light with great 
brilliancy, and gives well defined images. Ex. £Uba iron 
ore, tin ore, some specimens of quartz and pyrites. 

2. Shining : when an image is (nxxluced, but not a weU 
defined image. Ex. calcareous spar, celestine. 

3. Glistenijig : when there is a general reflection from 
the surface, but no image. Ex. talc, copper pyrites. 

4. Glimmering : when the reflection is veiy impei^ect, 
and apparently from points scattered over the sur&ce. Ex* 
flint, chalcedony. 

A mineral is said to be dull when there is a total absence 
of luster. Ex. chalk. 

COLOB. 

In distinguishing minerals, both the external color and the 
color of a surface that has been rubbed or scratched, are 
observed. The latter is called the streak, and the powder 
abraded, the streak-powder. 

The colors are either metaJlie or nen-metalUe. 

The metallic are named ailer some familiar metal, as 
copper-red, bronze-yellow, Inrass-yellow, gold-yellow, steel- 
gray, lead-gray, iron-gray. 

The non-metallic colors used in characterizing minerals^ 
are various shades of white, gray, black, blue, green, yeUom^ 
red and brown. 

There are thus snow-white, reddish- white, greenish- white, 
milk-white, yellowish-white ; 

Bluish-gray, smoke-gray, greenish-gray, pearl-gray, ash* 
gray; 

Velvet-black, greenish-black, bluish-black ; 

Azure -blue, violet-blue, sky-blue. Indigo-blue ; 

Emerald-green, olive-green, oil -green, grass-green, applet 
green, blackish -green, pistachio-green (yellowish); 

What is observed respecting color 1 



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COLOR OF KINBBALS. 51 

Sulphur-yellow, straw-yellow, wax-yellow, ochre-yellow, 
honey-yellow, orange-yellow ; 

Scarlet-red, blood-red, flesh-red, brick-red, hyacinth-red, 
rose-red, cherry-red ; 

Hair-brown, reddish-brown, chesnut-brown, yellowish- 
Hrown, pinchbeck-brown, wood-brown. 

A play of colors : this expression is used when several 
prismatic colors appear in rapid succession on turning the 
mineral. The diamond is a striking example ; also precious 
opid. 

Change of colors : when the colors change slowly on turn- 
ing in different positions, as in labradorite. 

Opalescence : when there is a milky or pearly reflection 
from the interior of a specimen, as in some opals, and in 
cat's eye. 

Iridescence : when prismatic colors are seen within a 
crystal ; it is the effect of firacture, and is common in 
quartz. 

Tarnish : when the sur&ce colors differ from the interior ; 
it is the result of exposure. The tarnish is described as 
wised, when it has the hues of the rainbow. 

Pleochroism :* the property, belonging to some prismatic 
crystals, of presenting a different color in different directions 
The term dichroismj has been generally used, and implies 
different colors in two directions, as in the mineral ioHte^ 
which has been named dichroite because of the different 
colors presented by the bases and sides of the prism. Mica 
is another example of the same. The more general term has 
been introduced, because a different shade of color has been 
observed in more than two directions. 

These different colors are observed only in crystals with 
unequal axes.x The colors are the same in the direction of 
equal axes, and often unlike in the direction of unequal axes. 
This is the general principle at the basis of pleochroism. 

What is a play of colors 7 change of colors 7 opalescence ? iride*. 
eence 1 tarnish 1 dichroism and pleochroism 7 Mention examples of 
this last property ; also the law relating to it. 



* From the Greek pUos, full, and chrout color. 
I'From the Greek dis, twice, and chroa. 



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68 PHYSICAL PltOPERTIBS OF MINERALS. 

DIAPHANEITY. 

Diaphaneity is the property which many objects possess 
of transmitting light ; or in other words, of permitting more 
or less light to pass through them. This property is oflen 
called transparency, but transparency is properly one of the 
degrees of diaphaneity. The following terms are used to 
express the different degrees of this property : 

Transparent : a mineral is said to be transparent wheu 
the outlines of objects, viewed through it, are distinct. Ex* 
glass, crystals of quartz. 

Suhtransparent, or semitransparent : when objects are seen, 
but their outlines are indistinct. 

Translucent : when light is transmitted, but objects are not 
seen. Loaf sugar is a good example ; also Carrara marble. 

Suhtranslucent : when merely the edges transmit light 
faintly. When no light is transmitted, the mineral is de^ 
scribed as opaque. 

REFRACTION AND POLARIZATION. ^^ 

Light is always bent out of its course on passing from one 
medium into another of different density : as from air into 
water, or from water into air. This bending of the rays of 
light is called refraction. Thus if a ray of light, as R S, 
pass into water at S, it becomes changed 
in direction to S U, instead of going 
straight in its course, R S T. The line 
a S c is a perpendicular to the surface of 
I the water, and the greater refraction of 
the water is seen by the bending of the 
lay toward this perpendicular. If a 
_ circle be described about S as a center, 
and the lines R a and U & be drawn perpendicular to a c, or 
parallel to the surface of the water, we see by these lines 
the exact relation between the amount of refraction in these 
two cases ; for the refraction in water is as much greater than 
in air as U & is less than R a.* This relation is called the 

What is diaphaneity ' Explain the terms transparent y &c. What 
is meant by refraction ? Explain from the figure. 

* In mathematical language, U i is the sine of the angle of retrac- 
tion, and a R the sine of the angle a S R, the angle of incidence ; the 
ratio between the two sines is constant, it being alike for every angle o\ 
incidence. 




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REFRACTION AND POLARIZATION OF LIGHT. 59 

index of refraction. It is about IJ for water, or more accu- 
rately, 1*335. With diamond, the ray would be bent in the 
direct S V, which indicates a much greater amount of re- 
fraction ; its index is nearly 2^, or correctly, 2.439. The 
eye at R, looking into a diamond in the direction R S, would 
«ee an object in the direction of S V, and not in that of S T. 
The index of refraction has been obtained for many sub- 
stances, of which the following are a few : 



Air, 


1-000 


Calc spar, 


1-654 


Tabasheer, 


1-211 


Spinel, 


1-764 


Ice, 


1-308 


Sapphire, 


1-794 


Cryolite, 


1-349 


Garnet, 


1-815 


Water, 


1-335 


Zircon, 


1-961 


Fluor spar. 


1-434 


Blende, 


2-260 


Rock salt, 


1-557 


Diamond, 


2-439 


Quartz, 


1-548 


Chromate of lead. 


2-974 



Double Refraction. — Many crystals possess the pro- 
perty of refracting light in two directions, instead of one, and 
objects seen through them consequently appear double. 
This is called double refraction. It is most conveniently 
exhibited with a crystal of calc spar, and was first noticed 
in a pellucid variety of this mineral from Iceland, called from 
the locality Iceland spar. On drawing a line on paper and 
placing the crystal over it, two lines are seen instead of one — 
one by ordinary refitiction, the other by an extraordinary 
refraction. If the crystal, as it lies over the line, be turned 
aroun^, when it is in one position the two lines will come 
togetner. Instead of a line, make a dot on the paper, and 
place the crystal over the dot : the two dots seen will not 
come together on revolving the crystal, but will seem to re- 
volve one around the other. The dot will, in fact, appear 
double through the crystal in every direction except that of 
the vertical axis, and this direction is called the axis of double 
refraction. To view it in this direction, the ends must be 
ground and polished. The divergence increases on passing 
from a view in the direction of the axis to one at right angles 
with it, where it is greatest. In some substances, the re- 
fraction of the extraordinary ray is greater in the latter 
direction than that of the ordinary ray, and in others it is less. 

What is double refraction ? What takes place on revolving a trans- 
parent rhomb of calc spar over a line or dot ? In what direction is there 
no double refraction^ and in which is it greatest 1 



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00 



PHYSICAL PBOPERTIB8 OF MINERALS. 



In calc spar it. is less, it diminishing from 1*654 to 1*483 
In quartz it is greater, it increasing from 1*5484 to 1*5582. 
Tlie former is said to hare a negative axis, the latter a 
jxmtive. 

This property of double refraction belongs to such of the 
fundamental forms as have unequal axes ; that is, to all except 
those of the monometric system. Those ibrms in which the 
lateral axes are equal, (the dimetric and hexagonal systems, 
have one axis of double refraction ; and those in which they 
are unequal, (the trimetric, monoclinic and triclinic sys 
tems,) have two axes of double refraction.* 

Both rays in the latter are rays of extraordinary refraction. 
In niter, the two axes are inclined about 5° to each other ; 
in arragonite, 18^ 18 ; in topaz, 65°. The positions of the 
axes thus vary widely in difierent minerals. 

Polarization. — ^The extraordinary ray exhibits a pecu- 
liar property of light, termed polarization. Viewed by means 
of another doubly-refracting crystal, or crystalline plate, 
(called from this use of it an analyzing plate,) the ray of light 
becomes alternately visible and invisible as the latter plate 
is revolved. If the polarized light be made to pass through 
a crystal possessed of double refraction, and then be viewed 
In the manner stated, rings of prismatic colors are developed, 
93 94 95 96 




and on revolving the analyzing plate, the colored ringb and 



What is meant by positive and negative double refraction ? What 
crystalline forms exhibit double refraction 1 which have one and which 
two axes of double refraction 1 What are the effects due to polarization ? 

* The figures in the note to page 42, represent the form of the mole 
cules corresponding to these three conditions : 1, a sphere; 2, an ellip 
teid with equal transverse axes ; 3, an ellipsoid with unequal latera 
axes. 



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PH06PII0BESCENCE 61 

intervening dark rings successively change places. If crys- 
talline plates, having one axis of double refi*action, be viewed 
in the direction of the axis, the rings are circles, and they 
are crossed by a dark or light cross. Figure 93 shows the 
position of the colored rings and cross in calc spar, and 
figure 94, the same at inters als of 90 ' in the revolution of 
the plate. With a crystal having two axes of double refrac- 
tion, there are two series of elliptical rings, as in figures 95 
96 ; these figures show the character of the rings in niter 
♦he latter alternating with the former in the revolution of th 
plate. 

The same results are produced when the light is polarized 
by other means. For example, if a ray of light be reflected 
from a plate of glass at a certain angle, (56' 45',) it is polar- 
ized ; and on causing this ray to pass through crystals, as 
above, similar rings are shown with the same succession of 
changes on revolving the analyzing plate. 

There are some monometric 97 

crystals which have the property 
of polarization. The accompany- 
ing figure of a crystal of analcime, 
by Sir David Brewster, exhibits a 
singular symmetrical arrangement ^ 
of lines of prismatic colors and %;^ 
dark alternating lines with cross 
bands, producing a very brilliant 
effect An irregular palarization 
has also been detected in some 
diamonds. 

rnOSFHORI^SCENCE. 

Several minerals give out light either by friction or when 
gently heated. This property of emitting light is called 
phosphorescence. 

Two pieces of white sugar struck against one another give 
a feeble light, which may be seen in a dark place The 
same efifect is obtained on striking together fragments of 
quartz, and even the passing of a feather rapidly over some 
specimens of zinc blende, is sufficient to elicit light. 

Fluor spar is the most convenient mineral for showing 
phosphorescence by heat. On powdering it, and throwing 

What is said of the appearance of certain crystals in polarized light 
What is phosphorescence ? Mention examples explainirg the difFerei 
modes of exhibiting it. 

6 




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62 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF MINERALS. 

it on a shovel heated nearly to redness, the whole takes on 
a bright glow. In some varieties, the light is emerald green , 
in others, purple, rose, or orange. A massive fluor, from 
Huntington, Connecticut, shows beautifully the emerald 
green phosphorescence. 

Some kinds of white marble, treated in the same way 
give out a bright yellow light. 

After being heated for a while, the mineral loses its 
phosphorescence ; but a few electric shocks wiU, in many 
cases, to some degree, restore it again. 

ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM. 

Electricity. — Many minerals become electrilied on 
being rubbed, so that they will attract cotton and other lighl 
substances ; and when electrified, some exhibit positive, and 
others negative electricity, when brought near a delicately 
suspended magnetic needle. The diamond, whether polished 
or not, always exhibits positive electricity, while other gems 
become negatively electric in the rough state, and positive 
only in the polished state. Friction with a feather is suffi- 
cient to excite electricity in some varieties of blende. Some 
minerals, thus electrified, retain the power of electric attrac- 
tion for many hours, as topaz, while others lose it in a few 
minutes. 

Many minerals become electric when heated, and such 
species are said to be pyro-electric, from the Greek pur^ fire, 
and electric. 

If a prism of tourmaline, after being heated, be placed on 
a delicate frame, which turns on a pivot like a magnetic 
needle, on bringing a magnet near it, one extremity will be 
attracted, the other repelledf thus indicating the polarity al- 
luded to. The same is better shown if the ends of the crystal 
be brought near the poles of a delicately suspended magnetic 
needle. The prisms of tourmaline have different secondary 
planes at the two extremities, or, as it is expressed, are hemi- 
hedrally modified (page 37.) 

Several other minerals have this peculiar electric property, 

especially boracite and topaz, which, like tourmaline, are 

. hemihedral in their modifications. Boracite crystallizes in 

Will electricity restore the phosphorescent property when it is lost by 

eating a mineral 1 What two modes are there of exciting electricity 

n minerals? What is said of the diamond as compared with othei 

gems ? What is a pyro-electric 1 What is said of tourmaline ? wha 

of topaz and boracite ] 



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8PSCIFIC GRAVITY 68 

eubes^ with only the alternate solid angles similarly replaced 
(figs. 40, 41, page 37.) Each solid angle, on heating the 
crystals, becomes an electric pole ; the angles diagonally 
opposite, are differently modified and have opposite polarity 

Magnetism. — Lodestone includes certain specimens of an 
ore of iron, called magnetic oxyd of iron, having the power 
of attraction like a magnet ; it is common in many ore beds 
where this ore of iron occurs. When mounted like a horse- 
shoe magnet, a good lodestone will lift a weight of many 
pounds. This is the only mineral that has decided magnetic 
attraction. But several ores containing iron are attracted by 
the magnet, or, when brought near a magnetic needle, will 
cause it to vibrate ; and moreover, the metals nickel, cobalt, 
manganese, palladium, platinum and osmium, have been 
found to be slightly magnetic. 

Many minerals become attractable by the magnet after 
being heated, that are not so before heating. This arises 
firom a partial reduction, developing the protoxyd of iron. 

A- 

SPECIFIC GRAVITY. 

rhe spcGific gravity of a mineral is its weight compared 
with that of some substance, taken as a standard. For solids 
and liquids, distilled water at (90^ F. is the standard ordinarily 
used ; and if a mineral weighs twice as much as water, its 
specific gravity is 2 ; if three times, it is 3. It is then 
necessary to compare the weight of the mineral with the 
weight of an equal bulk of water. The process is as follows : 

First weigh a fragment of the mineral in the ordinary way, 
with a delicate pair of scales : neit sus- 98 

pend the mineral by a hair or fiber of 
silk to one of the scales, immerse it thus 
suspended in a tumbler of water, (keep- 
ing the scales clear of the water,) and 
weigh it again : subtract the second weight 
Irom the^r^/, to ascertain the loss by im- 
mersion, and divide the first by the dif- 
ference obtained : the result is the spe- 
cific gravity. The loss by immersion is 



ri 



■ 



What ore is at times possessed of magnetic attraction % What tl 
said of other minerals as regards magnetism 1 What is specific gravity 1 
fizplain. Mention the mode of ascertaining specific gravity. 



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64 PHYSICAL PROPBRT1E8 OF MINBRALB. 

equal to the weight of the same bulk of water as the 
mineral.* 

A better and more simple process than the above, and one 
available for porous as well as compact minerals, is per- 
formed with a light glass bottle, capable of holding exactly a 
thousand grains (or any known weight) of distilled water. 
The specimen should be reduced to a coarse powder. Pour 
out a few drops of water from the bottle, and weigh it ; then 
add the powdered mineral till the water is again to the brim 
and reweigh it : the difference in the two weights, divided 
by the loss of water poured out, is the specific gravity sought 
The weight of the glass bottle itself is here supposed to be 
balanced by an equivalent weight in the other scale. 



HARDNESS. 



C 



The comparative hardness of minerals is easUy ascer- 
tained, and should be the first character attended to by the 
student in examining a specimen. It is only necessary to 
draw the file across the specimen, or to make trials. of scratch- 
ing one with another. As standards of comparison, the 
foUowing minerals have been selected, increasing gradually 
in hardness firom talc^ which is very sofl and ealUy cut with 
a knife, to the diamond^ which nothing will cut. This table 
is called the scale of hardness. 

1, taJc^ common foliated variety ; 2, rock salt; 3, calc spar^ 
transparent variety; 4^ Jluor spar, crystallized variety; 5, 
apatUe, transparent crystal ; 6, feldspar, cleavable variety ; 
7, qtiartZj transparent varie^ ; 8, topaz, transparent crystal ; 
9, sapphire, cleavable variety ; 10, diamond. 

If on drawing a file across a mineral, it is impressed as 
easily SLsfluor spar, the hardness is said to be 4 ; if as easily 
AS feldspar, the hardness is said to be 6 ; if more easily than 

What other mode is fitted for poroos as well as compact minerals t 
How is the hardness of minerals ascertained ? What is rfie scale of 
hardness? Explain its use. What directions are given for trials of 
hardness? 

* For perfectly accurate results, the most delicate scales and weights 
should be used, and great care be observed in the trial. The purity and 
temperature of the water should also be attended to, and the height of 
the barometer. For the latter, an allowance is made for any variation 
from a height of 30 inches. The temperature of water at its marimum 
density, or at SO*' 1 F., is recommended as preferable to 60° F. 



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FRACTUSE. 65 

feldspar, but with more difficulty than apatite, its hardness is 
described as 5^ or 5*5. 

The file should be run across the mineral three or foui 
times, and care should be taken to make the trial on angles 
equally blunt, and on parts of the specimen not altered b} 
exposure. Trials should also be made by scratching the 
specimen under examination with the minerals in the above 
scale, as sometimes, owing to a loose aggregation of particles^ 
the file wears down the specimen rapidly, although the par 
tides are very hard. 

STATE OF AeOREGATION. 

Solid minerals may be either hriule, sectile, mdHeabh^ 
fLexibU or elastic. Fluids are either gaseous or liquid, 

1. Brittle : when parts of the mineral separate in powder 
on attempting to cut it. 

2. Sectik : when thin pieces may be cut off with a knife 
but the mineral pulverises under a hammer. 

3. Malleable : when slices may be cut off, and these slices 
will flatten out under the hammer. Example, native gold 
and silver. 

4. Flexible : when the mineral will bend, and remain bent 
after the bending force is removed. Example, talc. 

5. Elastic : when after being bent, it will spring back to 
its original position. Example, mica. 

A liquid b said to be viscous, when on pouring it the drops 
lengthen and appear ropy. Example, petroleum. 

FRACTUBE. 

The following are the several kinds of fracture in minerals : 

1. Conchoidal : when the mineral breaks with a curved, 
or concave and convex surface of fincture. The word con- 
choidal is from the Latin concha^ a shell. Flint is a good 
example. 

2. Even : when the sur&ce of fracture is nearly or quite 
flat. 

3. Uneven : when the surfece of fracture is rough with 
numerous small elevations and depressions. 

4. Hackly : when the elevations are sharp or jagged, as 
in broken iron/ 

Explain the use of the tenn brittle ; sectile ; malleable, &c. Explani 
the use of the term conchoidal ; even ; uneven. 
6* 



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tib CHEMICAL PR0FERTIB8 OF MINERALS. 

TASTE. 

Taste belongs only to the soluble minerals ; the kinds are-* 

1. Astringent: the taste of vitriol. 

2. Sweetish-astringent : the taste of alum. 

3. Saline : taste of common salt. 

4. Alkaline : taste of soda. 

5. Cooling : taste of saltpeter. 

6. Bitter : taste of epsom salts. 

7. Sour : taste of sulphuric acid. 

ODOR. 

Excepting a few gases and soluble minerals, minerals in 
the dry, unchanged state, do not give off odor. By friction, 
moistening with the breath, the action of acids and the blow- 
pipe, odors are sometimes obtained, which are thus designated : 

1. Alliaceous : the odor of garlic. It is the odor of burn- 
ing arsenic, and is obtained by friction and more distinctly 
by means of the blowpipe fi*om several arsenical ores. 

2. Horse'radish odor : the odor of deca3ring horse-radish. 
It is the odor of burning selenium, and is strongly perceived 
when ores of this metal are heated before the blowpipe. 

3. Sulphureous : odor of burning sulphur. Friction will 
elicit this odor from pyrites, and heat from many sulphurets. 

. 4. Fetid : the odor of rotten eggs or sulphuretted hydrogen. 
It is elicited by friction from some varieties of quartz and 
limestone. 

5. Argillaceous: the odor of moistened clay. It is given 
off by serpentine and some allied minerals when breathed 
upon. Others, as pyrargillite, afford it when heated. 

CHAPTER IV.— CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF ^ 
MINERALS. 

ACTION OF ACIDS. 

Acids are used in distinguishing certain minerals that arv 
decomposed by them. The acids employed are either the 
sulphuric, muriatic, or nitric. Carbonate of lime, (calca- 

What taste is astringent 1 sweetish astringent ? saline ? What wilS 
develop odor in some minerals? What is understood by an alliaceoui 
odor ? What mineral when heated produces this od©r ? What is the 
odor of fumes of selenium 1 How is a sulphureous odor obtained from 
certain minerals ? What gas has a fetid odor % What Is an argilla- 
ceous odor 1 



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U8B OF THB BLOWPIPB. 



67 



reous spar,) when dropped into either of these acids gives off 
bubbles of gas, which efiect is called effervescence. The 
same result takes place with some other minerals. The 
acid used in these tests, should be half water ; and to avoid 
error, it is best to put a little of it in a test tube, and drop in 
small fragments of the coarsely powdered mineral. Some- 
tunes heat will cause an effervescence, which does not take 
place with cold acid. Often efiervescence arises from some 
impurity present, which is discontinued before the solution 
^f the mineral in the acid is complete. 

Other minerals, that do not effervesce in the acids, be- 
come changed to a jelly-like mass. For trials of this kind, 
the strong acids should generally be used. The powdered 
mineral is allowed to remain for a while in the acid, and 
gradually a jelly-like mass is formed. Often heat is required, 
and in that case, the jelly appears, as the solution cools. 
The minerals belonging to the zeolite family more especially 
undergo this change from the action of acids, and it arises 
from the separation of their silica in a gelatinous state. 

BLOWPIPE. 

To ascertain the effect of heat on minerals, a small instru* 
ment is used called a blow- 100 10] 102 

pipe. In its simplest form, 
\j^* 100,) it is merely a bent 
tube of small size, 8 to 10 
inches long, terminating at 
one end in a minute orifice, 
not larger than a pin hole. 
It is used to concentrate the 
flame of a candle or lamp on 
a mineral, and this is done 
by blowing through it while 
the smaller end is just within 
the flame. 

Figures 101 and 102 are 
other forms of the blowpipe, 
containing air chambers (o) 
to receive the moisture which 
?B condensed in the tube 




What is efiervescence, and how produced 7 How should the acid be 
ised ? How are some minerals made to gelatinize ? On what does 
his properly depend ? What is the object of a blowpipe % 



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68 CHEMICAL PBOFBRTIBS OF MINERALS. 

during the blowing ; the moisture, unless thus removed, is 
often blown through the small aperture and interferes with 
the experiment. The air chamber in figure 102 is a cylin- 
der, into which the tube ab c is screwed at c, and the small- 
er piece d e f, ai d. For the convenience of packing it 
away, there is a screw at h. The part b c, after unscrewing 
it, may be run into the part a &, through the large end, (a,) 
and screwed up again, and thus it is half the length it haa 
when arranged for use. The mouth piece e f screws ofl^ 
and is made of platinum in order that it may be cleaned when 
necessary by immersion in an acid. The best material for 
the blowpipe is silver, or if a cheaper material is desired, 
tinned iron with the piece efoi brass. Brass gives a dis- 
agreeable smell to the moist fingers. 

In using the blowpipe, it is necessaiy to breathe and blow 
at the same time, that the operator may not interrupt the 
flame in order to take breath. Though seemingly absurd, 
the necessary tact may easily be acquired. Let the student 
first breathe a few times through his nostrils, while his cheeks 
are inflated and his mouth closed. After this practice, let 
him put the blowpipe to his mouth, and he will find no difii- 
culty in breathing as before ; while the muscles of the in- 
flated cheeks are throwing the air they contain through the 
blowpipe. When the air is nearly exhausted, the mouth may 
again be filled through the nose without interrupting the 
process of blowing. 

A lamp with a large wick, so as to give a broad flame, 
and fed with olive oil, is best ; but a camile is more conve- 
niently carried about when travelling. The wick should be 
bent in the direction the flame is to be blown. 

The flame has the form of a cone, yellow without and blue 
within. The heat is most intense just beyond the extremity 
of the blue flame. In some trials, it is necessary that the 
air should not be excluded from the mineral during the ex- 
periment, and when this is the case, the wiier flame is used. 
The outer is called the oxydating^ flame, and the inner the 
reducing flame. 

Explain the structure and mode of use. What is said of the flame 
of a candle before the blowpipe ? Which is the oxydating, and which 
the reducing flame ? 

• It is so called because when thus heated, oxygen, one of the con- 
■titnents of the atmosphere, combines in many cases with some partu 
•f the assay (or substance under experiment.) 



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USB OF THB BLOWPIPE. 



S9 



The mineral is supported in the flame, either on charcoal 
or by means of steel forceps, (fig. 103,) with platinum ei- 
tremitles (a b) ; the forceps are opened by pressing 103 
on the pins p p. The charcoal should be firm 
and well burnt. Charcoal is especially necessary 
when the reduction of the assay needs the presence 
of carbon ; and platinum when simple heat is re- 
quired. Platinum foil for enveloping the mineral, 
and small platinum cups are also used. When 
nothing better is at hand, the mineral mica or kyan- 
ite may be employed. The fragment of mineral 
under trial should be less than half a pea in size, 
and often a thin splinter is required. 

To test the presence of water or a volatile ingre- 
dient, the mineral is heated in a glass tube or test 
viaL The tube may be three or four inches long 
and as large as a quill. The flame is directed 
against the exterior of the tube beneath the assay, 
and the volatilized substance usually condenses in 
the upper part of the tube. By inserting into the 
upper end of the tube a strip of litmus or other 
test paper, it is ascertained whether the fumes are 
acid or not. 

Some species require for fusion the aid of what are 
caliedjluxes. Those more commonly used are borax^ 
salt of pJiospharus, and carbonate of soda. They 
are fused to a clear globule, to which the mineral is 
added ; or powdered and made up into a ball with 
the moistened mineral in powder. In this way 
some minerals are fused that cannot be attacked 
otherwise, and nearly all species, as they melt, im- 
dergo certain changes in color, arising from changes 
in composition, which are mentioned in describing 
minerals. 

The above mentioned fluxes also are ofien required in 
order to obtain the metals from the metallic ores. On heat- 
ing a fragment of copper pyrites with borax, a globule of 
copper is obtained ; and tin ore heated with soda yields a 
globule of tin. ^ 

What instnunents or appliances are used for holding minerals before 
the blowpipe 1 How is the presence of water ascertained ? How may 
Its acidity be tested 1 How are the common fluxes employed, and 
what IB their use 1 



yA 



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70 



CHEMICAL PKOPBRTIEef OF ICINEBALB. 



The following table contains the reactions of some of the 
metallic oxyds with the ordinary fluxes :* 



The following are other reactions : 

Nitrate of cobalt in solution added to the assay after heat- 
ing to redness, and then again heated, produces before fusion 
a blue color for alumina and a pale-red for magnesia. 

Boracic acid fused with a phosphate produces a globule, 
mto which if the extremity of a small iron wire be inserted, 
and the whole heated in the reduction flame, the globule at- 
tached to the wire will be brittle, as proved by striking it 
with a hammer on -an anvil. Before this trial it should be 
ascertained that no sulphuric or arsenic acid is present, which 
also may form a brittle globule with the iron ; nor any 
metallic oxyd reducible by the iron. 



For what is nitrate of cobalt used ? 
4cid used 1 



How and for what is boracie 



* O stands for oxy dating flame ; R for reducing flame ; Ch for char- 
coal ; trp for transparent ; hh bluish ; yw yellow ; gn green ; r red ; 
gyh grajrish ; w white ; PI in platinum forceps ; op opaque. 





Borax. 


SaltofPhosphortu. 


Soda, 


Titanic acid 


0, colorless or 


0, colorless, trp 


Deep yw, hot ; 




milky 




worgyh,cold 


Ozydofiron 


0,red,hot;ywh 


0, red, hot; paler or 






or colorless, 


colorless, cold 






cold 








R, green or bh 




i 


Oxyd of cerium 


0, r; yw on 


0, fine r, hot ; col- 


i 




cooling ; w 


orless, cold 


i 




enamel on 








flaming 








R, colorless or 








w enamel 






Oxyd of manga- 


0, amethystine 


0. amethystine 


PI. trp gn,hot 


nese 






bh-gn, cold 


Oxyd of cobalt 


0, trp blue 


0, blue 


PI. pale r, hot ; 
gray, cold 


Oxyd of chrome 


0,bn,hot; pale 


0, green 


0. PI. dull or- 




gn, cold 




ange ; op & y w 




R, emerald-gn. 


R, green 


on cooling 




cold 






Oxyd of copper 


0, green 


0, green 


P/.gn,hot;col, 




R, colorless. 


R, colorless, hot ; r 


op, cold 




hot ; but sud- 


on solidifying 






denly opaque 








and rdh on 




i 




cooling 







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CLASSIFICATION OF MINERALS. 71 

Tin-foil is used to fuse with certain peroxyds of metals to 
reduce them to protoxyds. The assay, previously heated in 
the reducing flame, should be touched with the end of the 
tin foil ; a very minute quantity of a metallic oxyd is thus 
detected. 

Saltpeter added along with a flux to a compound contain- 
ing manganese, gives the amethystine color, when the quan« 
tity is too small to be detected without it. 

Potash salts, if there is no soda present, give a slightly 
violet tinge to the flame. 

Soda salts give the flame a deep yellow color. 

Liihia salts give the flame a reddish tinge ; the sUicate 
require the addition of some fluor spar and bisulphate of pot* 
ash. By adding soda and heating on platinum, the lithia 
stains the platinum brown. 

Sulphurets, Sulphates. A glass made of soda and silica 
becomes red or orange yellow when sulphur is present. 
Heated on charcoal with soda, and then adding a drop of 
water, they yield sulphuretted hydrogen, which blackens a 
test paper containing acetate of lead. Sulphurets heated in 
a glass tube closed below, with litmus paper above, redden 
the litmus paper, and yield usually a sulphureous odor. 

SelenUts give ofi*a horse-radish odor. 

Arseniurets give ofl* an odor like garlic, which is brought 
out by heating with soda in the reduction flame, if not other- 
wise perceptible ; heated in a tube, orpiment is condensed. 

Fluorids. Heated with salt of phosphorus, previously 
melted in a glass tube, the glass is corroded ; and Brazil 
paper placed in the tube becomes yellow. The salt of 
phosphorus for this trial should be firee from all chlorids. 

Nitrates detonate on burning coals. \ 

CHAP, v.— CLASSIFICATION OF MINERALS. 

Under the term mineral, as explained, are included all 
inorganic substances occurring in nature. These substan- 
ces have been found to consist of various elements, some few 

How and for what is tin-foil used 1 saltpeter ? — ^What is said of the 
constitution of minerals 1 

* For full information on the use of the blowpipe and its reactions 
there is no better work than Berzelius on " thr Use of the Blowpipe," 
translated by J. O. Whitney. 238 pp. 8vo. Boston, 1845. 



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72 CLAB8IFICATI0K OF 1IINERAI.S* 

species being each a simple element alone, and others con- 
sisting of two or more elements in a state of combination 
The various native metals, as native gold, silver, copper, 
mercury, are some of the elements. Iron ores are com- 
pounds of the element iron with some other element or 
elements, as oxygen, sulphur, or oxygen and carbon, &;c. 
Marble is a compound of three elements, calcium, oxygen 
and carbon. Water consists of two elements, hydrogen and 
oxygen. Diamond is the simple element carbon, which is 
dentical with pure charcoal. All the so-called elements ot 
matter are found in the mineral kingdom, either in a pure or 
combined state ; and it is the object of chemical analysis 
to ascertain the proportions of each in the constitution of 
the several minerals. Upon Uiese results depends to a great 
degree our knowledge of those relations of the species upon 
which the classification of minerals is based. 

The number of elemental substimces in nature, according 
to the most recent results of chemistry, is sixty. Of 
these, forty-seven are metals, and five are gases ; the re- 
mainder, as, for instance, sulphur and carbon, are solids 
without a metallic luster, excepting one (bromine) which is 
a liquid at the ordinary temperature. Of these sixty 
elements, very much the lai^er part are of rare occurrence 
in nature. The rocks of the globe, with their most common 
minerals, are made up of about thirteen of the elements. 
These are the gases oxyget^, hydrogen, nitrogen, chlorine ; 
the non-metallic elements carbon, sulphur, silicon ; the metals 
calcium, (basis of lime,) sodium, (basis of soda,) potassium, 
(basis of potash,) magnesium, (basis of magnesia,) aluminium, 
(basis of alumina, the principle constituent of clay,) with 
iron. The element silicon combined with oxygen, forms 
silica. In this state, it is the mineral quartz, the most 
common in the constitution of the rocks of the globe : it 
is a constituent of granite, mica slate and the allied rocks, 
of the hard granular quartz rock ; and it is the essential part 
of all sandstones and millstone grits, as well as the principal 
ingredient of the sands of the sea shore and of most soils. 
Combined with lime, potash or soda, magnesia or alumina, 
and oflen with iron, it forms nearly all the other mineral in- 



What is the number of elements, and how many are metals 1 How 
many constituents are essential to the rocks of the globe, and what ara 
they 1 What is said of quartz 1 



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cLAvsmcAnoTT OF MnnsKALs. 73 

grediento of granite, mica slates, volcanic rocks, shales, 
sandstones and various soils. No element is therefore more 
important than this in the constitution of the earth's strata . 
and it is specially fitted for this preeminence by its superiot 
hardness, a character it communicates to the rocks in which 
it prevails. Next to silica, rank lime and carbon ; fi>r carbon 
with oxygen constitutes carhomc add, and this combined 
with Zifne, produces carbonate of lime, the ingredient which, 
when occurring in extended beds, we call limestone and 
marble- Again, lime combined with sulphur and oxygen, 
(sulphuric acid,) makes sulphate of lime, or common gypsum. 
Iron is very generally diffused ; it is one of the constituents 
of many siliceous minerals, and forms vast beds of ore. 
Oxygen^ as has been implied, is a constituent in all the rocks 
above mentioned, and besides, is an essential part of the 
atmosphere and water ; it is the most universally diffused of 
the elements. It is united with hydrogen in the constitu- 
tion of water, and with nitrogen in the constitution of the 
atmosphere. Chlorine combined with sodium constitutes 
common saU^ which occurs in sea water and brine springs, 
and is also found in vast beds in some rock strata. 

It is thus seen how few are the elements essential to the 
firamework of our globe. The various metallic ores, of less 
general difRision, are however of vast economical importance 
to man, and multiply considerably the number of mineral 
species. Those important to the general student, however, 
are conq)aratively few. The whole number of well estab- 
lished species in the mineral kingdom is about 600 ; of these, 
more than two-thirds are known only to the mineralogist. 

It is the province of chemistry to discuss fully the nature 
of the elements, and their modes of combination. It is suf- 
ficient to add here, for the benefit of any who may not have 
the requisite elementary chemical knowledge, how the chem- 
ical names of minerals indicate their composition. Terms 
such as oxyd of iron, chhrid of iron, express a combination 
of iron with the element oxygen, or chlorine ; so also sul- 
phurei of iron is a compound of iron with sulphur. The 
force of the terminations id or uret is always as here ex- 
plained. Protoxyd and peroxyd imply different proportions 



Which are the next most eoraniAn ingredients of rodLs 1 Mention 
die other ingredients alluded to. What it an oxyd 1 a chlorid ? a sal- 
lihiiret 1 a carbonate t 

7 



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74 CUISSIFICATION OF HINEKALB. 

of oxygen, the latter the highest. Terms such as cardonaU 
of lime, sulphate of lime, indicate that the substance is com- 
posed of an acid— <^arbonic acid, or sulphuric acid in the 
instances cited, with lime. So silicate of soda is a com- 
pound of soda and silicic acid (or silica) ; and all such com- 
pounds are theoretically said to consist of an acid and a hase-^ 
lime and soda, in the cases mentioned, being bases. 

The true foundation of a species in mineralogy must be 
derived from crystallization, as the crystallizing force is funda- 
mental in its nature and origin ; and it is now generally admit- 
ted that identity of crystalline form and structure is evidence 
of identity of species. This principle unites certain distinct 
chemical compounds into the same species : — ^for example, a 
silicate of magnesia and a silicate of iron crystallizing alike, 
constitute but one species in mineralogy, though chemically 
so different. Oxyd of iron and magnesia are themselves 
nearly identical in molecular ybrm and size, and on this fact 
depends vbeir power of replacing one another even in com- 
p>'X compouu'is. They are therefore said to be isomorphouB 
{fro^ the Greek Uos, similar, and morphe, form.) 

Thei.^ are many groups of these isomorphous substances^ 
and soBOt knowledge of them is necessary to enable the 
reader to u:Mlerstand why different varieties of a mineral 
species may differ so widely, as they oflen do, in composition* 
Some of these groups are as follows : 

1. Alumina, peroxyd of iron, peroxyd of manganese. 

2. Lime, magnesia, protoxyds of iron, manganese andzine* 

3. Baryta, strontia, oxyd of lead. 

4. Sulphur, selenium, tellurium. 

5. Tungsten, molydenum. 

6. Phosphoric acid, arsenic acid. 

In epidotd the alumina may be replaced by peroxyd c( 
iron or manganese, and the magnesia in part or whoUy by 
lime, or the protoxyds of iron or manganese. The same is 
true of garnet and several other minerals. The rhombohe- 
drons of carbonate of lime, carbonate of iron, and carbonate 
cf magnesia, are very nearly identical in angle, because the 
baoes are ismorphous. This subject is illustrated by the 
greater part of mineral species. 

Vvliat 1^ a sulphate ? a silicate ? What is the tes* of identity of 
.irpt.?it« in mineralogy] What are isomorphous substances] What 
62?e th^ common groups of isomorphous tobstanees in minerals ! Ek' 
<><^bs «zamp^<i8. 



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CLASSIFieATtON OP XINBRAL8* 75 



GENEBA.L VIEW OF THE CLASSIFICATION OF MINERALS. 

The classification adopted in this work is hased on the 
constitution of minerals. The following is a general view 
of it: 

Class I. Gases : consisting of or containing nitrogen oi 
hjdrogen. 

Class II. Water. 

Class III. Carbon, and compounds of carbon. 

Class IV. Sulphur. 

Class V. Haloid minerals : compounds of the alkalies 
and earths, with the soluble acids (sulphuric, nitric, carbonic, 
&c. or water,) or of their metals with chlorine or fluorine. 
1, Salts of ammonia ; 2, of potash ; 3, of soda ; 4, of baryta 

6, of strontia ; 6, of lime ; 7, of magnesia ; 8, of alumina. 
Class VI. Earthy minerals : silica and siliceous or alu- 
minous compounds of the alkalies and earths — 1, silica ; 2, 
lime ; 3, magnesia ; 4, alumina ; 5, glucina ; 6, zirconia , 

7, thoria. 

Class VII. Metals and metallic ores, (exclusive of the 
metals of the alkalies and earths) : 1, Metals easily oxydiZ' 
a&[e— cerium, yttrium, titanium, tin, molybdenum, tungsteui 
vanadium, tellurium, bismuth, antimony, arsenic, uranium^ 
iron, manganese, chromium, nickel, cobalt, zinc, cadmium, 
lead, mercury, copper ; 2, NMe metals : platinum, iridium, 
palladium, gold, silver. 



Gzplain the claaBificatidn adtipted 

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70 OAiBOUS MnnBSAtH. 



CLASS L— GASES 

The gases occurring native are as follows : 1. cowUumng 
#r consisting of nitrogen : atmospheric air, nitrogen. 2. 
containing hydrogen : carbureted hydrogen, phosphureted 
hydrogen, sulphureted hydrogen, muriatic acid. 3. cont4xin'' 
mg carbon or sulphur : carbonic acid, sulphurous acid. 

ATMOSPHESIC AIR 

1. Atmospheric air is the air we breathe It consists of 
oxygen 21 per cent, by weight, and nitrogeu 79 per cent., 
with a small proportion of carbonic acid. It has neither color 
odor, nor taste. It supports life and combustion through the 
oxygen which it contains, this gas being used or absorbed 
in respiration as well as in the burning of wood or a candle. 
The oxygen thus consumed is restored to the air again by 
vegetation which gives out oxygen through the day, and in 
this way the quality of the atmosphere requisite for lifo is 
s sustained. It is about 815 times lighter than water, and 
1 1,065 tim?3 lighter than mercury. A hundred cubic inches 
weigh aboKKt 31 grains. 

laTBOOEN OAS. 

Nitrogen destroys life, and has neither color, odor nor 
taste. It is one of the constituents of the atmosphere. It 
bubbles up through the waters of many springs, having been 
derived from air by some decompositions in progress within 
the earth, by which the oxygen of the air is absorbed. 

Lebanon springs in Columbia county. New York, and a 
region in the town of Hoosic, Rensselaer county, afford 
large quantities of this gas. There is another locality at 
Canoga, Seneca county, where the water is in violent ebul- 
lition from the escape of the gas ; its temperature is 40^ F. 
There are other nitrogen springs in Virginia, west of the 
Blue Ridge at Warm and Hot Springs ; in Buncombe 
county, N. C. ; and on the Washita in Arkansas. At Bath, in 
England, nitrogen is escaping from the tepid springs at the 

What gases occur in nature 1 What is the constitution of the at- 
mosphere 1 its general characters 1 the weight ? What is said of the 
eharacters of nitrogen 1 Where does nitrogen occur in nature t 



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OACaS CONTAINING HTDBO«SN. T7 

rate of 267 cubic inches a minute, or 222 cubic feet a day. 
The gas from 'these nitrogen springs contains only 2 or 8 
per cent, of oxygen, and often a very little carbonic acid. 

CARBUBBTTED HTDB06EN. 

Carburetted hydrogen consists of carbon 75, hydrogen 25; 
bums With a bright yellow flame. It is the same gas nearly 
that is used for lighting the streets in some of our cities. I 
issues abundantly from some coal beds and beds of bitumi 
nous slate. At Fredonia, in western New Yorit, near Lak 
Erie, it is given out so freely from a slate rock, that it i 
used for lighting the village. A vessel containing 220 cubi 
feet is filled in about 15 hours. A light-house at Portland 
harbor, on Lake Erie, four miles from Fredonia, is also 
lighted with the same gas from other springs. 

Another carburetted hydrogen, burning with a pale blue 
flame, rises in bubbles through pools of water, owing to 
vegetable decomposition in the soil beneath. 

PHOSPHUBBTTED HYDBOOEN. 

Phosphuretted hydrogen consists of phosphorus 91*29, and 
hydrogen 8*71. It takes fire spontaneously. The phos- 
phoric matter, called Jack-o'-lantern, sometimes seen float- 
ing over marshy places, is supposed to be phosphureted 
hydrogen. 

SULPUUBBTTED HYDBOGEN. 

Sulphureted hydrogen consists of sulphur 94*2, hydrogen 
5'8. It has the odor and taste of putrescent eggs and bums 
with a bluish flame. It is abundant about sulphur springs, 
issuing freely from the waters, as in western New York and 
in Virginia. It is sometimes found about volcanoes. It 
blackens silver and also a common cosmetic made of oxyd 
of bismuth. 

HUBiATic ACID. — HydrocMonc Acid, 

Muriatic acid gas consists of hydrogen 2*74, chlorine 
97*26. It has a very pungent odor and is acrid to the skin. 

What is the composition of carbureted hydrogen 1 its general charao 
ters 1 mode of occurrence in nature ? What la said of Fredonia 
Mention the characters of phosphureted hydrogen ; the characters of 
sulphureted hydrogen ; its mode of occurrence. Wliat is said of muri- 
atic acid 7 

7* 



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78 WATER, 

It is rapidly dissolved by water. If passed into a solution 
of nitrate of silver, it produces a white precipitate which 
soon blackens on exposure. It is given out occasionally by 
volcanoes.* 

CLASS n.— WATER. 

Water (oxyd of hydrogen) is the well known liquid of our 
streams and wells. The purest natural water is obtained by 
melting snow, or receiving rain in a clean glass vessel ; but 
it is absolutely pure only when procured by distiUation. It 
consists of hydrogen 1 part by weight, and oxygen 8 parts. 
It becomes solid at 32^ Fahrenheit, (or 0^ Centigrade) and 
then crystallizes, and constitutes ice or snow. Flakes of 
snow consist of a congeries of minute crys- 
tals, and stars like the annexed figure may 
often be detected with a glass. Various 
) other allied forms are also assumed. The 
^ rays meet at an angle of 60^, and the 
branchlets pass off at the same angle with 
perfect regularity. The density of water is 
greatest at 39^ 1 F. ; below this it expands as it approaches 
32^, owing to incipient crystallization. It boils at 212 F. 
A cubic inch of pure water at 60^ F. and 30 inches of the 
barometer, weighs 252*458 grains. A pint, United States 
standard measure, holds just 7342 troy grains of water, 
which is little above a pound avoirdupois (7000 grains troy.) 
Water as it occurs on the earth, contains some atmos- 
pheric air, without which the best would be unpalatable. 
This air, with some free oxygen also present, is necessary 
to the life of water animals. In most spring water there 
is a minute proportion of salts of lime, (sulphate, chlorid 
or carbonate,) often with a trace of common salt, carbo- 
nate of magnesia and some alumina, iron, silica, phospho- 
ric acid, carbonic acid, and certain vegetable acids. These 
impurities constitute usually firom i^ to 10 partQ, in 10,000 
parts by weight The Long Pond water, used in Boston, 

Of what does water consist 1 What is said of snow and ice t What 
of the density of water ? its boiling temperature 1 the weight of a pint 1 
What are the usiiai impurities of common spring or river water 1 

* Carbonic acid and sulphurous acid gaaes, are described, one undei 
tarbon, and tl^e other under sulphur. 



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OASES COMTAININe HTDR06EN. T9 

«u)ntains about i a part in 10,000 ; the Schuylkill of Phila- 
delphia, about 1 part in 10,000 ; the Croton, used in New 
York city, 1 to 1^ parts in 10,000. In the Schuylkill 
water the constituents of the 1 part of solid ingredients were, 
chlorid of sodium 1*47, chlorid of magnesium 0*094, sulphate 
of magnesia 0*57, silica 0*8, carbonate of lime 18*72, car- 
bonate of magnesia 3*51, carbonate of soda and loss 16*44.* 
The water towards the surface is always purer than that 
below. 

Sea water contains 32 to 37 parts pf solid substances in 
solution in 1000 parts of water. The largest amount in the 
Atlantic, 36*6 parts, is found under the equator, away from the 
land or the vicinity of fresh water streams ; and the smallest 
in narrbw straits, as Dover Straits where there are only 32*5 < 
parts. In the Baltic and the Black Sea, the proportion is 
only one-third that in the open ocean. Of the whole, one- 
half to two-thirds is common salt (chlorid of sodium.) The 
other ingredients are magnesian salts, (chlorid and sulphate,) 
amounting to four-fiflhs of the remainder, with sulphate and 
carbonate of lime, and traces of bromids, iodids, phosphates 
and fluoiids. The water of the British channel affords, water 
964*7 parts in 1000, chlorid of sodium 27*1, chlorid of pot- 
assium 0*8, chlorid of magnesium 3*7, sulphate of magnesia 
2-30, sulphate of lime 1*4, carbonate of lime 0*03, with some 
bromid of magnesium, and probably traces of iodids, fiuorids 
and phosphates. The bitter taste of sea water is owing to 
the salts of magnesia present. 

The waters of the Dead Sea contain 200 to 250 parts of 
solid matter in 1000 parts, (or 20 to 25 per cent.,) including 
7 to 10 ^er cent of common salt, the same proportion of 
magnesian salts principally the chlorid, 2^ to 3^ per cent, 
of carbonate and sulphate of lime, besides some bromids and 
alumina. The density of these waters is owing to this large 
proportion of saline ingredients. The brine springs of New 
York and other states south and west, are well known 
sources of salt, (see beyond under common salt. ) Many of the 
springs afford bromine, and large quantities of it are manufac- 
tured for making daguerreotype plates and other purposes. 

What proportion of soiid substances in sea water, and of this what 
proportion is common salt 1 What proportion magnesian salts 1 What 
6 the bitter taste of sea water owing to ? 

* Cbem. Exam, by B. Silliman, Jr., Jour. Sci., ii ser., ii, 218. 

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BO CARBON. 

Mineral waters vary much in constitution. They oftei* 
contain carbonate of iron, like those of Saratoga and Balls- 
town, and are then called chalybeate waters, from the ancient 
name for iron or steel, chalybs^ derived from the name of a 
counti^ on the Baltic. The water of Congress Spring, ac- 
cording to Dr. Steel, contains in a pint, chlorid of sodium 
48*1, bicarbonate of magnesia 12*0, carbonate (^lime 12*3^ 
carbonate of iron 0*6^ silica 0*2, iodid of sodium nearly 0.5 
with a trace of bromid of potash ; of carbonic acid 39*0 cubi 
inches and nearly 1 cubic inch of atmospheric air. 

Minute traces of salts of zinc and arsenic, lead, copper 
antimony and tin, have been found in some waters. What 
ever is soluble in a region through which waters flow, will of 
course be taken up by them, and many ingredients are 
soluble in minute proportions, which are usually described 
as insoluble. 



CLASS III.— CARBON AND COMPOUNDS OF 
CARBON. 

Carbon occurs crystallized in the diamond. In a massive 
form, and more or less pure state, it constitutes the various 
kinds of mineral coal. Combined with hydrogen, or hydro- 
gen and oxygen, it forms bitumen, amber, and a number of 
native mineral resins. 

DIA-M0iri>. 

Monometric. In octahedrons, dodecahedrons and more 
complex forms. Faces often curved, as in the annexed 
figures. Cleavage octahedral ; highly perfect. 

19 3 4 




Color white or colorless; also yellowish, red, orange. 

What are chalybeate waters ? What is the difference between the 
diamond and charcoal? What is the crystallization of the diamond t 
What other characters are mentioned 1 



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THE DIAMOND. 81 

green, brown or black. L ister adamantine. Transparent ; 
translucent when dark colored. H = 10. Gr = 3*48— ^ 
3-55. 

Composition. Pure carbon. It bums and is consumed at 
a high temperature, producing carbonic acid gas. Exhibits 
vitreous electricity when rubbed. Some specimens exposed 
to the sun for a while, give out light when carried to a dark 
place. Strongly refracts and disperses light 

Dif. Diamonds are distinguished by their superior hard 
ness ; their brilliant reflection of light and adamantine luster 
their vitreous electricity when rubbed, which is not afibrde 
by other gems unless they are polished ; and by the prac 
ticed ear, by means of the sound when rubbed together. 

Ohs. Diamonds occur in India, in the district between 
Golconda and Masulipatam, and near Parma, in Bundel- 
cund, where some of the roost magnificent specimens have 
been found ; also on the Mahanuddy, in Ellore. In Borneo, 
they are obtained on the west side of the Ratoos mountain, 
with gold and platina. The Brazilian mines were first dis- 
covered in 1728, in the district of Serra do Frio, to the north 
of Rio de Janeiro ; the most celebrated are on the river 
Jequitinhonha, which is called the Diamond river, and the 
Rio Pardo ; twenty-five to thirty thousand carats are export- 
ed annually to Europe from these regions. In the Urals of 
Russia they had not been detected till July, 1829, when 
Humboldt and Rose were on their journey to Siberia. The 
river Gunil, in the province of Constantino, in Africa, is re- 
ported to have afforded some diamonds. In' the United 
States, the diamond has been met with, in Rutherford county, 
North Carolina, (fig. 4,) and Hall county, Georgia. 

The original rock in Brazil appears to be either a kind of 
laminated granular quartz called iiacoIumUe ; or a ferruginous 
quartzose conglomerate. The itacolumite occurs in the Urals, 
and diamonds have been found in it ; and it is also abundant 
' in Georgia and North Carolina. In India, the rock is a 
quartzobe conglomerate. The origin of the diamond has 
been a subject of speculation, and it is the prevalent opinion 
that the carbon, like that of coal, is of vegetable origin. 
Some crystals have been found with black uncrystallized 
particles or seams within, looking like coal ; and this fact 
has been supposed to prove their vegetable origin. 

How is the diamond distinguished ? What ar« its principal localitiesi 



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62 CARBON. 

Diamonds with few exceptions are obtained from alluvial 
washings. In Brazil, the sands and pebbles of the diamond 
rivers and brooks (the waters of which are drawn off in the 
dry season to allow of the work) are collected and washed 
under a shed, by a stream of water passing through a sue- 
cession of boxes. A negro washer stands by each box, and 
inspectors are stationed at intervals. When a diamond is 
found weighing 17^ carats, the negro is entitled to his 
liberty. 

The largest diamond of which we have any knowledge is 
mentioned by Travemier, as in the possession of the Great 
Mogul. It weighed originally 900 carats, or 2769*3 grains, 
but was reduced by cutting to 861 grains. It has the form 
and size of half of a hen's egg. It was found in 1550, in the 
mine of Colone. The diamond which formed the eye of a 
Braminican idol, and was purchased by the Empress Catha- 
rine II. of Russia from a French grenadier who had stolen 
it, weighs 193 carats, and is as large as a pigeon's egg. 
The Pitt or regent diamond is of less size, it weighing but 
136*25 carats, or 419^ grains; but on account of its un- 
blemished transparency and color, it is considered the most 
splendid of Indian diamonds. It was sold to the Duke of 
Orleans by Mr. Pitt, an English gentleman, who was gover- 
nor of Bencolen, in Sumatra, for j& 1 30,000. It is cut in the 
form of a brilliant, and is estimated at j& 125,000. The Rajah 
of Mattan has in his possession a diamond from Borneo, 
weighing 367 carats. The Koh-i-noor, on its arrival in 
England, weighed 186.016 carats. It has since been re-cut 
and reduced one -third in weight. 

The diamonds of Brazil are seldom large. Maure men- 
tions one of 120 carats, but they rarely exceed 18 or 20. 
One weighing 254^ carats, called the ^Star of the Souths" 
was found in 1854. It will be reduced one-half in catting. 

Diamonds are valued according to their color, transpa- 
rwicy and size. When limpid (of pure water) and no ex- 
traonlinary magnitude, the value of a wrought diamond is 
estimated by first ascertaining the weight in carats.* The 

How are diamonds obtained 1 How are diamonds valued ? 

* A carat is a conventional weight, and is divided into 4 grains, 

which are a little lighter than 4 grains troy ; 74 1-16 carat grains are 

qual to 72 troy grains. The term carat is derived from the name of 

bean in Africa, which, in a dried state, has long been used in that 

country for weighing gold. These beans were early carried to India 

and were employed there for weighing diamonds. 



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THE DIAHOND. 69^ 

rule given is as follows : double the weight in caiats, ana 
multiply the square of the product by J£2. Thus a wrought 
diamond weighing 1 carat, would be worth £8 ; one of 4 
carats, £128; one of 10 carats, £800. Above 20 carats, 
the prices rise much more rapidly. A flaw, however mi- 
nute, or the slightest smokiness, diminishes very much the 
value. The average price of rough diamonds, of first 
quality, of 1 carat, is £2 ; of 2 carats,' £8, since it loses 
half ^ weight in cutting, and becomes then one of 1 carat 
wrought. 

The rule just given is scarcely regarded in market, as 
80 much depends upon the^ purity of water. In different 
countries, moreover, the standard of taste as regards dia- 
monds is very different, the market in England demanding 
the very first quality, while in other countries a somewhat 
inferior kind satisfies the purchaser. 

The rose diamond is more valuable than a snow-white 
diamond, owing to the great beauty of its color and its rarity. 
The green diamond is much esteemed on account of its 
color. The blue is prized only for its rarity, as the color is 
seldom pure. The black diamond, which is uncommonly 
rare and without beauty, is highly prized by collectors. The 
brown, gray and yellow varieties are of much less value than 
the pure white or limpid diamond. 

The diamond is cut by taking advantage of its cleavage, 
and also by abrasion with its own powder and by friction 
with another diamond. The flaws are first removed by 
cleaving it; or else by sawing it with an iron wire, which is 
covered with diamond powder — a tedious process, as the 
wire is generally cut through afler drawing it across five or 
six times. Afler the portion containing flaws has thus been 
cut off, the crystal is fixed to the end of a stick, in a strong 
cement, leaving the part projecting which is to be cut ; and 
another being prepared in the same manner, the two are 
nibbed together till a facet is produced. By changing the 
position, other facets are added in succession till the required 
' form is obtained. A circular plate of sofl iron is then charged 
with the powder produced by the abrasion, and this, by its 
revolution, finally polishes the stone. To complete a single 
fecet often requires several hours. Diamonds were first cut 
n Europe, in 1456, by Louis Berquen, a citizen of Bruges ; 

How are diamonds cut ? 



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64 CARBON. 

but in China and India, the art of cutting appears to hav« 
been known at a very early period. 

By the above process, diamonds are cut into hriUiant, rose 
and table diamonds. The brilliant has a crotm or upper 
part, consisting of a large central eight-sided facet, and a 
series of facets around it ; and a coUety or lower part, of pyr- 
amidal shape, consisting of a series of &cets, with a smaller 
series near the base of the crqivn. The depth of a brilliant 
is nearly equal to its breadth, and it therefore requ^s a 
thick stone. Thinner stones, in proportion to the breadth, 
are cut into rose and table diamonds. The sur&ce of the 
rose diamond consists of a central eight-sided fiicet of small 
size, eight triangles, one corresponding to each side of the 
table, eight trapeziums next, and then a series of sixteen tri- 
angles. The collet side consists of a minute central octagon, 
surrounded by eight trapeziums, corresponding to the angles 
of the octagon, each of which trapeziums is subdivided by a 
salient angle into one irregular pentagon and two triangles. 
The t(d>le is the least beautiful mode of cutting, and is used 
for such fragments as are quite thin in proportion to the 
breadth. It has a square central facet, surrounded by two 
or more series of four-sided facets, corresponding to the sides 
of the square. 

Diamonds have also been cut with figures upon them. As 
early as 1500, Charadossa cut the figure of one of the 
Fathers of the church on a diamond, for Pope Julius II. 

Diamonds are employed for cutting glass ; and for this 
purpose only the natural edges of crystals can be used, anc 
those with curved faces are much the best. Diamond dust 
is used to charge metal plates of various kinds for jewelers, 
lapidaries and others. Those diamonds that are unfit for 
working, are sold for various purposes, mider the name of 
hort. Fine drills ai*e made of small splinters of bort, which 
are used for drilling other gems, and also for piercing holes 
in artificial teeth and vitreous substances generally. 

The diamond is also used for lenses for microscopes. 
When ground plano-convex, they have but slight chromatic 
aberration, and consequently a larger field, and but little loss 
of light, compared with similar lenses of other materials. 
They oflen have an irregularity of structure when perfectly 

What are the three forms usually given the diamond 1 For what 
purposes are diamonds used 1 



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HINEBAL COAL. 85 

pellucid, which unfits them for this purpose, and such lense* 
therefore are seldom made. 



MINERAL COAL. 

Massive. Color black or brown, opaque. Brittle o§ 
■ectile. H = 1—2-5. Gr= 1-2— 1-75. 

Composition. Carbon, with usually a few per cent, of 
silica and alumina, and sometimes oxyd of iron ; often con. 
Cains a large proportion of bitumen. The bituminous varie 
ties bum with a bright flame and bituminous odor ; while 
those destitute of bitimien afford onlj a pale blue flame, 
arising from the decomposition of the water present and the 
formation of the gas called carbonic oxyd. 

Varieties. — L Without bitumen. 

Anthracite. Anthracite (called also glanee coal and stone 
coal) has a high luster, and is often iridescent. It is quite 
compact and hard, and has a specific gravity fix>m 1*3 to 
1'75. It (jiually contains 80 to 90 per cent, of carbon, with 
4 to 7 of ^mter, the rest consisting of earthy impurities. 
There is often some bitumen present, in which case it bumn 
with considcruble flame. 

Besides the use of anthracite forftiel, it is often made into 
inkstands, small boxes, and other articles, which have a high 
polish, and fine specimens of this kind of ware may be ob- 
tained in Philadelphia. 

2. Bituminous varieties. 

Bituminous coal varies much and indefinitely in the 
amount of bitumen it contains, and there is a gradual pas- 
sage in its varieties into varieties of anthracite. It is softer 
than anthracite and less lustrous. The specific gravity does 
not exceed 1*5. 

Pitching or caking coal^ as it is distinguished in England, 
at first breaks when heated, into small pieces, which, on 
raising the heat, again unite into a solid mass. Its color is 
velvet or grayish black. It bums readily with a lively yel- 
low flame, but requires frequent stirring to prevent its caking, 
and so clogging the fire. The principal beds at Newcastle, 
England, aflbid this kind of coal. Cherry coal resembles 
pitch coal in appearance, but does not soflen and cake. It 

Of what does mineral coal consist ? How does anthracite diffe? 
from other varieties 1 

8 



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86 CAKBON. 

is very brittle, and m mining there is consequently mucli 
waste. It bums with a clear yellow flame. It occurs at 
the Glasgow coal beds, and i^ named from its luster and 
beauty. The splint coal (or hard coal) of the same region 
is harder than the cherry coal. 

Cannel coed is very compact and even in texture, wit! 
littk luster, and breaks with a large conchoidal fracture. It 
takes fire readily, and bums without melting with a clear 
yellow flame, and has hence been used as candles — whence 
the name. It is oflen made into inkstands, snuff-boxes and 
other similar articles. 

Brown coal, wood coal, lignite, are names of a less perfect 
variety of coal, usually having a brownish black color, and 
burning with an empyreumatic odor. It has often the struc- 
ture of the original wood. . The term brown coal is, how- 
ever, applied generally to any coal more recent in origin 
than the era of the great coal beds of the world, although i1 
may not have any distinct remains of a woody structure, oi 
bum with an empyreumatic odor. The name lignite has 
sometimes the same general application, though without 
strict propriety. 

Jet resembles cannel coal, but is harder, of a deeper black 
color, and has a much higher luster. It receives a brilliant 
polish, and is set in jewelry. It is the Gagates of Dioscor- 
ides and Piiny, a name derived from the river Gagas, ia 
S3T:ia, near the mouth of which it was found, and the origin 
of the term jet, now in use. 

Obs. Mineral coal occurs in extensive beds or layers, 
interstratified with different rock strata. The associate 
rocks are usually clay shales (or slaty beds) and sandstones ; 
and the sandstones are occasionally coarse grit rocks. 
There are sometimes also beds of limestone alternating with 
the other deposits. In a vertical section through the coal 
measures — as the series of rocks and coal seams are usually 
called — ^there may be below, sandstones and shales in alter- 
nating layers, or sandstones alone and then shales; there 
may next appear upon the shale a bed or layer of coal, one, 
two or even thirty feet thick ; then above the coal, other 
layers of shale and sandstone ; and then another layer of 
coal ; again shale and sandstones in various alternations, or 

What is cannel coal? brown coal or hgnite? jet? How do beds of 
coal occur, and what are the associated rocks? 



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MINERAL COAL. 87 

perhaps layers of limestone ; and then a .hird bed of coal, 
and so on. By such alternations the series is completed. 
Immediately in the vicinity of the coal, the rock is generally 
rather a shale than a sandstone, and these shales are usually 
full of impressions of leaves and stems of plants. The clay 
shales are sometimes quite soft and earthy, and of a light 
clay color ; but in most coal regions they are hard and firm, 
with a brownish or black color, in the vicinity of the coal 
layer. The sandstones are either of a grayish, bluish, or 
reddish color. 

These various layers constituting coal beds, are some* 
times nearly or quite horizontal in position, as in New Hol- 
land and west of the Appalachians. They are very often 
much tilted, dipping at various angles and sometimes verti- 
cal, as is generally the case throughout central Pennsylvania ; 
and in some cases the beds are raised in immense folds, as 
the leaves of a book may be folded, by a side wise pressure. 
They are very commonly intersected by fractures, along 
which the coal seam on one side is higher or lower than on 
the other, owing to a dislocation, (then said to be fcailied) ; 
and miners working in a bed for a while, in such a case, 
find it to terminate abruptly, and have to explore above or 
below for its continuation. These are points of great im- 
portance in the mining of coal. 

There is no in&llible indication of the presence of coal 
distinguishable in the mineral nature of rocks ; for just such 
rocks as are here described occur where no coal is to be 
found, and where none is to be expected. The presence of 
fossil leaves of ferns, and of plants having jointed stems or a 
scarred or embossed surface, in the shales or sandstone, is a 
useftil hint ; the discovery of the coal itself a much better 
one. The geologist ascertains the absence of coal from a 
region by examining the fossils in the rocks ; these fossils 
being different in rocks of different ages, they indicate at 
once whether the beds under investigation belong to what is 
called the coal series. If they contain certain trilobites, 
and other species which are found only in more ancient 
rocks, there is no longer a doubt that coal is not to be ob- 
tained in any workable quantities ; and he arrives at the 
same conclusion if the remains are those of more recent 



What is said of the position of the beds 1 How do the rocks indicate 
whether coal is to be expected in a region or not? 



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88 CABIIOX. 

rocks, such as fossil fish of certain genera, or the remains or 
traces of birds or quadrupeds, or of such species of shells as 
never occur as low in the rocks as true coal beds. But if 
the fossUs are such as have been described as characterizing 
a coal series, there is then reason for exploration. It is 
impossible in this place to give such knowledge as will be 
practically useful. The inquirer must refer to treatises on 
geology, or better to the practical geologist, whose judgment 
in such questions might oflen have saved much useless 
mining and wasted expenditure. 

Mineral coal is very widely distributed over the world. 
England, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, Aus- 
tria, Sweden, Poland and Russia, have their beds of mineral 
coal. It is also abundant in India, China, Madagascar, Van 
Diem en's Land, Borneo and other East India Islands, New 
Holland, and at Conception in Chili. But no where is the 
coal formation more extensively displayed than in the United 
States, and in no part of the world are its beds of greater 
thickness, more convenient for working, or more valuable in 
quality. There are four extensive areas occupied by this 
formation. One of these areas commences on the north, in 
Pennsylvania and southeastern Ohio, and sweeping south 
over western Virginia and eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, 
to the west of the Apalachians, or partly involved in their 
ridges, it continues to Alabama near Tuscaloosa, where a 
bed of coal has been opened. It has been estimated to cover 
63,000 square miles. It embraces several isolated patches 
in the eastern half of Pennsylvania. A second coal area (the 
Illinois) lies adjoining the Mississippi, and covers the larger 
part of Illinois, the western part of Indiana, and a small 
northwest part of Kentucky; it b but little smaller than the 
preceding. A third occupies a portion of Missouri west of 
the Mississippi. A fourth covers the central portion of 
Michigan. Besides these, there is a smaller coal region (a 
fiflh) in Rhode Island, which appears near Portsmouth, not 
fsLT from the railroad to Boston, and also in Mansfield, Massa« 
chusetts. Out of the borders of the United States, on the 
northeast, commences a sixth coal area, that of Nova Scotia 
and New Brunswick, which covers 10,000 square miles, 



What is said of the distribution of coal over the glebe 7 How many 
coal areas are there in the United States, and what their positions t 
What is said of the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick conl beds { 



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HINKBAL COAL* 



86 



2500 square miles of which are in Nova Scotia At Capo 
Breton is still another field of coal. 

The coal of Rhode Island and eastern Pennsylvania is 
anthracite. Going west in Pennsylvania, the anthracite 
becomes more and more bituminous ; and at Pittsburg, at its 
western extremity, as also throughout the western states, it 
is wholly of the bituminous kind. The Rhode Island variety 
is so hard and compact and free from all volatile ingredients, 
that for many years it had been deemed unfit for use. The 
anthracite of eastern Pennsylvania afibids 3 to 6 per cent, 
of aqueous vapor, and 1 to 4 per cent of volatile combustible 
matter. In Uie Bradford coal field, lying near the eastern 
limits of the bituminous coal deposits, Prof. Johnson obtained 
1 to 8 per cent, of moisture, 9 to 15 per cent of inconden- 
sable gas, 5 to 17 of earthy matter, and 62 to 75 of carbon. 
In the bituminous coal of the Portage railroad, Cambria 
county, Penn., he obtained 18*2 per cent of volatile com- 
bustible matter ; in that of Caseyville, Ky., and Cannelton, 
Indiana, 80 to 84 per cent ; and in a coal from Osage river, 
Missouri, 41*35 per cent The general fact that the pro- 
portion of bitumen increases as we go westward, is here weU 
exhibited. 

Some of these resuks, deyved from an extensive series of 
experiments, are thus averaged by Prof. Johnson : 



Pennsylyaniaanthra- ] 



Maryland free burn- 
ing bituminous coal 

Pennsylvania free 
burning bituminous 
coal, 

Virginia bituminous, 

Cannelton, Indiana, 
bituminous. 



MBiiture. 
134 
1-25 

0-82 

164 
2-20 



Matter. 


Ashes and 
Clinker. 


3-84 


737 


15-80 


994 


17-01 


1335 


36 63 


10-74 


33-99 


497 



Fixed 
Carbon, 

87-45 
7301 

68-82 

50-99 

58-44 



It has also been shown that this &ct is connected with the 
geological condition of the country, the anthracite occurring 
in the east where the rocks are variously uplifted and thrown 
out of position by subterranean forces, evincing also other 

What is the relative geographical position of the anthracite and bitu- 
minous coal in the United States 7 What has probably made Uie dtf 
ference in these two kinds of coal 1 
8* 



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IN) CAKBOlf. 

e/fects of heat besides this debituminisation of the coal ; 
while the bituminous coal occurs where such disturbances of 
the rocks have not taken place : and the amount of bitumen 
increases as we recede from the region of greatest distur- 
bance. The heat and attendant siliceous solutions have 
therefore been the means of giving unusual hardness to the 
Rhode Island coal. 

Owing to the various upliflings or fi)ldings of the strata and 
subsequent denudations, the beds are oflen exposed to view 
in the sides of hills or ridges, and the coal in Pennsylvania is 
m most cases rather quarried out than mined. The layers 
are at times 20 to 35 feet thick, without any slaty seams, and 
the excavations appear like immense caverns, whose roofs 
are supported by enormous columns of coal, " into which a 
coach and six might be driven and turned again with ease." 

Besides the great coal beds of the eooZ era, as it is signifi. 
cantly called, there are small beds, sometimes workable, of 
a more recent date. The bed near Richmond, Va., belongs 
to a subsequent period ; there are also beds in Yorkshire, 
and at Brora in Sutherland. Tertiary coal occurs in 
Provence, and also in Oregon on the Cowlitz. These beds 
of more recent coals are seldom sufficiently extensive to pay 
for working, and are often muclycontaminated by pyrites. 

The amount of anthracite worked in 1820, in Pennsylvania, 
was only 880 tons; in 1847, it amounted to more than 
3,000,000 tons ; and the whole amount of both anthracite 
and bituminous coal worked in that state, in 1847, was not 
less than 5,000,000 tons. In Great Britain, the annual 
amount of coal mined is about 35,000,000 of tons. 

The uses of mineral coal are well known. The Pennsyl- 
vania anthracite was first introduced into blacksmithing in 
1768 or 1769, by Judge Obadiah Gore, a blacksmith, who 
early left Connecticut for Wilkesbarre. It is now employed 
in smelting iron ores, and for nearly every purpose in the 
arts for which charcoal was before employed. 

The formation of coke from pit coal, for smelting iron, is 
done in close furnaces or ovens. Afler heating up, the coal 
(about two tons) is thrown in at a circular opening at top, 
and remains for 48 hours ; the doorway is gradually closed 
to shut off the air as the combustion increases, and finally 
the atmosphere is wholly shut off, and in this condition it 

How is coke prepared ? 



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ORAPHITB. 9] 

remains for 12 hours. The volatile matter is thus expelled, 
and the cokes produced are ponderous, extremely hard, 6f a 
light gray color, and having a metallic luster. To. make 
another kind of coke, like charcoal, the pit coal is placed in 
a receptacle more like a baker's oven, and the air has 
more &ee access. Both of these kinds of coke are used in 
smelting. 

GRAPHITE. — Plumbago. /^ 

Occasionally in six-sided prisms, with a transversely foli- 
ated structure. Usually foliated, and massive ; also granu- 
lar and compact. 

Luster metallic, and color iron black to dark steel gray. 
Thin lamineB flexible. H=:l — 2. Gr=£2*09. Soils paper, 
and feels greasy. 

Composition. 90 to 96 per cent, of carbon, with the rest 
iron. Some specimens from Brazil contain scarcely a trace 
of iron. It is often called carburet of iron, but is not a 
chemical compound. It is infusible before the blowpipe. 
Doth alone and with reagents ; it is not acted upon by acids. 

Dif. Resembles molybdenite, but differs in being unaf- 
fected by the blowpipe and acids. The same characters 
distinguish the granular varieties from any metallic ores 
they resemble. 

Obs, Graphite (called also black lead) is found in crys- 
talline rocks, especially in gneiss, mica slate and granular 
limestone ; also in granite and argillite, and rarely in green- 
stone. Its principal English locality is at Borrowdale, in 
Cumberland. Ure observes that this mineral became so 
common a subject of robbery, a century ago, as to have en- 
riched many living in the neighborhood ; a body of miners 
would break into the mine and hold possession of it for a 
considerable time. The place is now protected by a strong 
building, and the workmen are required to put on a working 
dress in an apartment on going in and take it off on coming 
out. In an inner room two men are seated at a large table 
assorting and dressing the graphite, who are locked in while 
it work ai^d watched by the stewaid from an adjoining room, 
who is armed with two loaded blunderbusses. This is 
ieemed necessary to check the pilfering spirit of the Cum- 

What is the appearance of graphite 1 What is its prominent char- 
iM^ristic ? its composition 1 Wher« doe§ it occur ? Where is it worked 
kk England ? 



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92 OAAPHITB. 

berland mountaineers. In some years the net produce of 
the six weeW annual working of the mine, has amounted 
to £40,000. 

In the United States, graphite occurs in large masses in 
▼eins in gneiss at Sturbridge, Mass. It is also found in 
North Brookfield, Brimfield and Hinsdale, Mass. ; at Roger's 
rock, near Ticonderoga ; near Fishkill landing in Dutchess 
county ; at Rossie, in St. Lawrence county, and near Amity 
in Orange county, N. Y. ; at Greenville, L. C. ; in Corn- 
wall, near the Housatonic, and in Ashford, Ct. ; near Attle- 
boro, in Buck's county, Penn. ; in Brandon, Vermont ; in 
Wake, North Carolina ; on Tyger river, and at Spartanburg, 
near the Cowpens furnace, South Carolina. 

For the manufacture of pencils the granular graphite has 
been preferred, and it is this character of the Borrowdale 
graphite which has rendered it so valuable. At Sturbridge, 
Mass., it is rather coarsely granular and foliated, and has 
been extensively worked ; the mine yields annually about 
30 tons of graphite. The mines of Ticonderoga and Fish- 
kill landing, N. Y. ; of Brandon, Vt ; and of Wake, North 
Carolina, are also worked ; and that of Ashford, Ct, for- 
merly afibrded a large amount of graphite, though now the 
works are suspended. 

The material for lead pencils, when of the finest quality, 
is first calcined and then sawn up into strips of the requisite 
size and commonly set in wood, (usually cedar,) as they ap- 
pear in market It is much used now in small cylinders 
without wood for ever-pointed pencil cases. Graphite of 
coarser quality, according to a French mode, is ground up 
fine and calcined, and then mixed with the finest levigated 
clay, and worked into a paste with great care. It is made 
darker or lighter and of different degrees of hardness, by 
varying the proportion of clay and the degree of calcination 
to which the mixture is subjected ; and the hardness is also 
varied by the use of saline solutions. Lampblack is some- 
times addded with the clay. 

A superior method in use at Taunton, Mass., where the 
Sturbridge graphite is extensively employed, consists in 
finely pulverising it, and then by a very heavy pressure ob- 
tained by machinery, condensing it into thin sheets. These 



How are tbe best lead pencils made ? How are they manuiactiired 
from the Sturbridge bed 1 



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AMBES. M 

sheets arc then sawn up of the si^e required. The pencil js 
pure graphite, and the foliated variety is preferred on account 
of its being fi*eer from impurities. 

Graphite is extensively employed for diminishing the 
friction of machinery ; also for the manu&cture of crucibles 
and ftnmaces, and as a wash for giving a gloss to iron stoves 
and railings. For crucibles it is mixed with half its weight 
of clay. 

CARBONIC ACID. 

Carbonic acid is the gas that gives briskness to the Sara- 
toga and many other mineral waters, and to artificial soda 
water. Its taste is slightly pungent. It extinguishes com- 
bustion and destroys life. Composition: carbon 27*65; 
oxygen 72*35. 

Besides occurring in mineral waters, it is common about 
some volcanoes. The Grotto del Cane (Dog cave) near 
Naples, is a small cavern filled to the level of the en- 
trance with this gas. It is a common amusement for the 
traveler to witness its efilects upon a dog kept for the purpose. 
He is held in the gas a while and is then thrown out appa- 
rently lifeless ; in a few minutes he recovers himself, picks 
up his reward, a bit of meat, and runs ofiT as lively as ever. 
If continued in the carbonic acid gas a short time longer life 
would have been extinct. 

Carbonic acid combined with lime forms carbonate of lime 
or common limestone ; with oxydof ironit constitutes spathic 
iron, one of the common ores of iron ; with oxyd of zinc, it 
forms calamine, the most profitable ore of zinc. It is found 
in combination also in various other minerals. 

AMBER. 

In irregular masses. Color yellow, sometimes brownish 
or whitish; luster resinous. Transparent to translucent. 
H=2 — 2*5. Gr=l'18. Electric by friction. 

Composition. Carbon 79*0, hydrogen 10'5. oxygen lO'Sb 
Bums with a yellow flame and aromatic odor. 

Obs, Occurs in alluvium and on coasts, in masses from 
a very small size to that of a man's head. In the Royal 
Museum at Berlin, there is a mass weighing 18 pounds. On 

For what other purpoBes is it ueed 1 What is carbonic acid ? Com- 
bined with lime, what does it form 1 What ii the appearance of amber 7 
Where doea it oocnr 1 



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94 MINEBAL KESIN8. 

the Bakic coast it is most abundant, especially between 
Kdnigsberg and Memel. It is met with at one place in a 
bed of bituminous coal ; it also occurs on the Adriatic, in 
Poland, on the Sicilian coast near Catania, in France near 
Paris in clay, in China. It has been found in the United 
States, at Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard, Camden, N. J., 
and at Cape Sable, near the Magothy river, in Maryland. 

It is supposed with good reason to be a vegetable resin, 
which has undergone some change while inhumed, a part of 
which is due to acids of sulphur proceeding from decompo- 
sing pyrites or some other source. It often contains insects, 
and specimens of this kind are so highly prized as frequently 
to be imitated for the shops. Some of the- insects appear 
evidently to have struggled after being entangled in the then 
viscous resin, and occasionally a leg or a wing is found some 
distance from the body, having been detached in the struggle 
for escape. 

Amber is the eUletron of the Greeks ; from its becoming 
electric so readily when rubbed, it gave the name electricity 
to science. It was alsp called succinum, from the Greek 
guccum, juice, because of its supposed vegetable origin. 

Uses, Amber admits of a good polish and is used for or- 
namental purposes, though not very much esteemed, as it is 
wanting in hardness and brilliancy of luster, and moreover 
is easily imitated. It is much valued in Turkey for mouth- 
pieces to their pipes. 

Amber is the basis of an excellent transparent varnish. 
After burning, there is left a light carbonaceous residue, of 
which the finest black varnish is made. Amber aftbrds by 
distillation an oil called oU of amber, and also succinic add ; 
and as the preparation of amber varnish requires that the 
amber be heated or ftised, these products are usually obtained 
at the time. 

MINERAL CAOUTCHOUC. — EUutic BUumen, 

In soft flexible masses, somewhat resembling caoutchouc 
or India rubber. Color brownish black ; sometimes orange 
red by transmitted light. Gr=0*9-i-l'25. 

Composition: carbon 85*5, hydrogen 13'8. It burnt 
readily with a yellow flame and bituminous c-dor. 

What is said of the origin of amber? What term has it given to 
science T For what is amber used? What is mineral caontchouc ? 



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- VlNBRilL RESINS* 99 

Ohs, From a lead mine in Derbyshire, E'lgland, and « 
xwd mine at Montrelais. It has been found at Woodburj 
Ct., in a bituminous limestone. 

BETiNiTE. — Bxiifuisphdllum. 

In roundish masses. Color light yellowish brown,' green, 
red ; luster earthy or slightly resinous in the fracture. Sub- 
transparent to opaque, Oflen flexible and elastic when first 
dug up, but loses these qualities on exposure. H =s 1 — ^2*5 
Gr= 1-135. 

Composition: vegetable resin. 55, bitumen 41, earthy 
matter 3. Takes fire in a candle and bums with a bright 
flame and fragrant odor. The whole is soluble in alcohol 
except an unctuous residue. 

Obs. Accompanies Bovey coal at Deyonshire ; also found 
with brown coal at Wolchow in Morayia, and near Halle. 

BITUMEN. 

Both solid and fluid. Odor bituminous. Luster resinous ; 
of sur&ce of fracture ofren brilliant. Color black, brown or 
reddish when solid ; fluid varieties nearly colorless and trans- 
parent H=a— 2. Gr=0-8— 1-2. ' 

Vabieties: 

Mineral pitch or Asphdttum, The massive variety, often 
breaking witl^ a high luster like hardened tar. The earthy 
mineral pitch includes less pure specimens. 

Petroleum. A fluid bitumen of a dark color, which oozes 
from certain rocks and becomes solid on exposure. A less 
fluid variety is called maltha^ or mineral tar, 

Naphthoj or mineral oU. A limpid or yellowish fluid, 
lighter than water ; specific gravity 0*7 — 0*84. It hardens 
and changes to petroleum on exposure. It may be obtained 
from petroleum by heat, which causes it to pass off in vapor. 

Composition of naphtha : carbon 82*2, hydrogen 14*8. The 
above varieties bum readily with flame and smoke. 

Obs. Asphaltum is met with abundantly on the shores of 
the Dead Sea, and in the neighborhood of the Caspian. A 
very remariuible locality occurs on the island of Trinidad, 
where there is a lake of it about a mile and half in circum- 
ference. The bitumen is solid and cold near the shores ; 
but gradually increases in temperature and softness towards 

Describe bitumen. What is asphaltum 1 petroleum 1 naphtha t Wha 
is said of the asphaltum of Trinidad ? 



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96 MINVSAL Kssnra. 

the center, where it is boiling. The appearance of the 
solidified bitumen is as if the whole sur&ce had boiled up in 
large bubbles and then suddenly cooled. The ascent to the 
lake from the sea, a dbtance of three quarters of a mile, 
is covered with the haitlened pitch, on which trees and 
vegetation flourish, and here and there about Point La 
Braye, the masses of pitch look like black rocks among th^ 
fi>liage. 

Large deposits of asphaltum occur in sandstone in Albania 
It is also found in Dierbyshire, and with quartz and fluor in 
granite in Cornwall ; in cavities of chalcedony and calc spar 
in Russia and other places. 

Naphtha issues from the earth in large quantities in Persia 
and the Birman empire. At Rangoon, on one of the branches 
of the Irawady river, there are upwards of 500 naphtha and 
petroleum wells which afford annually 412,000 hogsheads. 
In the peninsula of Apcheron on the western shore of the 
Caspian, naphtha rises through a marly soil in vapor, and is 
collected by sinking pits several yards in depth, into which 
the naphtha flows. Near Amiano in the state of Parma, there 
is an abundant spring. 

In the United States petroleum is common^ The salines 
rf Kenawha, Va.; Scotsville, Ky. ; Oil creek, Venango 
county, Penn. ; Duck creek, Monroe county ; near Hinsdale 
in Allegany county, N. Y., and Liverpool, Ohito, are among 
its localities. It was formerly collected for sale by the Sen- 
eca and other Indians; the petroleum is therefore com- 
monly called Genesee or Seneca oiZ, under which name it is 
sold in market. The Rock oil of commerce is Naphtha. 

Uses, Bitumen in all its varieties was well known to the 
ancients. It is reported to have been employed as a cement 
in the construction of the walls of Babylon. At Agrigentum 
it was burnt in lamps and called Sicilian oU, The Egyp- 
tians made use of it in embalming. 

The asphaltum of Trinidad mixed with grease or common 
pitch is used for pitching (technically, paying) the bottoms 
of ships ; and it is supposed to protect them from the Teredo. 
Two ship loads of the pitch were sent to England by Admi- 
al Cochrane ; but it was found that the oil required to fit it 
for use exceeded i!i expense the cost of pitch in England ; 



Where IB naphtha obtained? What is Seneca oil? For wbtt if 
■flphaltum used ? 



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MINBSAL BB8INS 97 

and consequently the project of employing it in the arts was 
abandoned. 

Asphaltum is a constituent of the kind of black varnish 
called Japan. It is used in France in forming a cement for 
covering the roofs and lining water cisterns. ■ A limestone, 
thoroughly dried, is ground up fine and stirred well in a ves- 
sel containing about one-fiflh its weight of hot melted bitu- 
men. It is tiben cast into rectangular moulds, which are first 
smeared with loam to prevent adhesion. When cold, the 
frame of the mould is taken apart and the block removed. 

Petroleum is used in Birmah as lamp oil ; and when 
mixed with earth or ashes, as fuel. Naphtha afilbrds both fiiel 
and light to the inhabitants of Batku on the Caspian. The 
vapor is made to pass through earthen tubes and is inflamed 
as it passes out and used in cooking. The spring near 
Amiano is used for illuminating the city of Genoa. Both 
petroleum and naphtha have been employed as a lotion in 
cutaneous eruptions, and as an embrocation in bruises and 
rheumatic affections. Naphtha is oflen substituted for oil in oil 
paint, on account of its drying quickly. It is also employed 
for preserving the metals of the alkalies, potassium and 
sodium, which, owing to their tendency to unite with oxygen, 
cannot be kept in any liquid that contains this gas. 

The petroleum or Seneca oil of western New York, Penn- 
sylvania and Ohio, as it appears in the market, is of a dark 
brown color, and a consistency between that of tar and 
molasses. 

The following are the names of other kinds of fossil resin or wax : — 
Fossil Copal, Middletonite, Fiauzite, which are resinous and nearly or 
quite insoluble in alcohol ; (ruyaquilUte and Berengelitey from South 
America, resinous and soluble in alcohol like Retinite ; Scheererite, 
Hatchetine, Dysodile, Hartite, Ixolyte, Ozocerite, Fichtelite, Konlite, 
Branchitey found with coal, especially brown coal, and resembling wax 
or tallow. Idrialine is grayish or brownish black with a grayish luster, 
and occurs at the CinnalMir mines of Idria. 

CLASS IV.— SULPHUR. 

Sulphur exists abundantly in the native state. It occurs 
combined with various metals, fbrming*sulphurets and sul- 
phates ; and the sulphurets especially are very common ores. 
The sulphuret of iron is common iron pyrites , sulphuret of 
copper is the yellow copper ore of Cornwall and other re- 
giona ; sulphuret of mercury is cinnabar, the ore from which 




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96 NATIVE SULPHUR. 

mercuiy is mostly obtained ; sulphuret of lead is galena, the 
usual ore of lead. It is also sparingly raet with in the con- 
dition of sulphuric and sulphurous acids. 

NATIVE SULPHUR. 

Trimetric. In acute octahedrons, and secon- 
daries to this form, with imperfect octahedral 
cleavage. Also massive. 

Color and streak sulphur yellow, sometimes 
orange yellow. Luster resinous. Transparent 
to translucent. Brittle. H = r5 — 2*5. Gr = 
2-07. 

Native sulphur is either pure or contaminated with clay 
or bitumen. It sometimes contains selenium, and has then 
an orange yellow color. 

Dif. It is easily distinguished by burning with a blue 
flame and a sulphur odor. 

Ohs. The great repositories of sulphur are either beds 
of gypsum and the associate rocks, or the regions of active 
or extinct volcanoes. In the valley of Noto and Mazzaro in 
Sicily, at Conil near Cadiz in Spain, Bex in Switzerland, 
and Cnicow in Poland, it occurs in the former situation. 
Sicily and the neighborixig volcanic islands, Vesuvius and 
the Solfatara in its vicinity, Iceland, TenerifFe, Java, Hawaii, 
New Zealand, Deception island, and most active volcanic 
regions afford more or less sulphur. The native sulphur of 
commerce is brought mostly from Sicily, where it occurs in 
beds along the central part of the south coast and to some 
distance inland. It is often associated with fine crystals of 
sulphate of strontian. It undergoes rough purification by 
fusion before exportation, which separates the earth and clay 
with which it occurs. Sixteen or seventeen thousand tons 
are annually imported from Sicily into England alone. 
Sulphur is also exported from the crater of Vulcano, one of 
the Lipari islands, and from the Solfatara near Naples. 

On the Potomac, 25 miles above Weshington, fine speci- 
mens of sulphur are found associated with calc spar in a gray 
compact limestone. Sulphur is also found as a deposit about 
springs where sulphureted hydrogen is evolved, and in cavi- 
ties where iron pyrites have decomposed.. Localities of the 



What is the crystallization of sulphur ? Mention its other charactem. 
Where is the sulphur of the arts obtained? 



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MATIYS 8VLFBI7B. 9^ 

former kind are common in the state of New York, and of 
the 'latter in the coal mines of Pennsylvania, the gold rocks 
of Virginia and elsewhere. 

The sulphur of commerce is also largely obtained from 
copper and iron pyrites, it being given off during the roasting 
of these ores, and collected in chambers of brick work con- 
nected with the reverberatory furnace. It is afterwards 
purified by fusion and cast into sticks. 

Sulphur when cooled from fusion, or above 232° F., crys 
tallizes in oblique rhombic prisms. When poured into 
water at a temperature above 300^ F. it acquires the consis* 
tency of sofl wax, and is used to take impressions of gems^ 
medals, &c., which harden as the sulphur cools. 

The uses of sulphur for gunpowder, bleaching, the manu- 
facture of sulphuric acid, and also in medicines, are well 
known. Gunpowder contains 9 to 20 per cent. — 9 or 10 
per cent for the best shooting powder, and 15 to 20 for 
mining powder. 

SULPHUKIC AND SULPHUROUS ACIDS. 

Sulphuric add is occasionally met with around volcanoes, 
and it is also formed from the decomposition of sulpbureted 
hydrogen about sulphur springs. It is intensely acid. Com- 
position, sulphur, 40*14, oxygen 59*86. It is said to occur 
in the waters of Rio Vinagro, South America ; also in Java, 
and at Lake de Taal on Luzon in the East Indies; in Gen- 
esee Co., N. Y. ; and at Tuscarora, St* Davids and else- 
where, Canada West. 

Sulphurous acid is produced when sulphur bums, and 
causes the odor perceived during the combustion. It is com. 
mon about active volcanoes. It destroys life and extinguishes 
combustion. Composition, sulphur 50*00, oxygen 49*00. 

Selenium, Absenic. Selenium has close relations toi sulphur. Its 
most striking characteristic is the horse-radish odor perceived when it it 
heated. It occurs in nature combined like sulphur with various metals, 
and these ores, called seleniets or seleniurets, are at once distinguished 
by the odor when subjected to the heat of the blowpipe flame. 

Arsenic is also near sulphur in a chemical point of view, although 
metallic in luster. It forms similar compounds with the metals and 
metallic oxyds, which are called arseniurets and are often highly im- 
portant ores. The arseniurets of nickel and cobalt are the main sources 
of these metals. Its ores are distinguished by giving off when heated 
«n odor resembling garlic. 
II II i< 

What is said of sulphuric acid ] What is said of sulphurous acid? 

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100 SALTS OF AMMONIA. 

TsUtfrtfffii and Ogmium are other metals having chemical relationt 
to sulphur. They form similar compouudt with the metals. They are 
of rare occurrence. 

The minerals containing the elements arsenic, selenium, telluiium and 
osmium, are described under Class VII, including metals and metallic 
ores. 

CLASS v.— HALOID MINERALS. 

1. AMMONIA. 
The salts of ammonia are more or less soluble, and are 
entirely and easily dissipated in vapor before the blowpipe. 
By this last character they are distinguished from other 
salts. 

SAL AMMONIAC— Muriofe of Ammonitu 

Occurs in white crusts or efflorescences, ofien 
yellowish or gray. Crystallizes in regular 
octahedrons. Translucent— opaque ; taste sa- 
line and pungent. Soluble in three parts of 
water. 

Compo.fition : ammonium 33*7, chlorine 66'3. Gives off 
the odor of hirtshom when powdered and mixed with 
quicklime. 

Dif. Distinguished by the odor given off when heated 
ilong with quicklime. 

0&«. Occurs in many volcanic regions, as at Etna, 
Vesuvius, and the Sandwich Islands, where it is a product 
of volcanic action. Occasionally found about ignited coal 
seams. 

But the sal ammoniac of commerce is manu&ctured 
from animal matter or coal soot. It is generally formed in 
chimneys of both wood and coal fires. In Egypt, whence 
the greater part of this salt was formerly obtained, the fires 
of the peasantry are made of the dung of camels , and the 
soot which contains a considerable portion of the ammonia- 
cal salt is preserved and carried in bags to the works, where 
it is obtained by sublimation. Bones and other animal mat- 
ters are used in France, and a liquor condensed from the gas 
works, in England. 

What are general characters of the salts of anmionia I What is a 
distinctive character of sal ammoniac ? What is its composition ? From 
what is it ma mfac^ured 1 How is it manufactured in Egypt ? 



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SALTS OF POTASH — ^NITER. 101 

Uses, It is a valuable article in medicine, a ad is em- 
ployed by tinmen in soldering; also, mixed wilb iron filings 
or turnings to pack the joints in steam apparatus. 

Maaeagnine — Sulphate of Ammonia. In mealy crqsts, of n yellow^ 
i^-gray or lemon-yellow color. Translucent. Taste pungent and 
bitter. Composition, sulphuric acid 53'3^ ammonia 22*8, water 23-9. 
Easily soluble in water. Occurs at Etna, Vesuvius, and the Lipari Is- 
lands. It is one of the products from the combustion of anthracite coal 

Phosphate of ammonia^ bicarbonate of ammonia, and phosphate of 
magnesia and ammonia have been found native in guana The last is 
identical with struvite. 

Strumte, A phosphate of ammonia and magnesia, containing 13 
per cent of water. It occurs in yellowish subtraneparent rhombic crys- 
tals. G=1'7. H=:l. Slightly soluble in water. Found on the site 
of an old church in Hamburg, where there had been quantities of cattle 
dung. 

2. POTASSA. 
NITER. — Nitrate of Potash, 

Trimetric* In modified right rhombic prisms. M : M 
il8^ 50'. Usually in thin white subtransparent crusts, 
and in needleform crystals on old walls and in caverns. 
Taste saline and cooling. 

Composition: potassa 46*56, nitric acid 53*44. Bums 
vividly on a live coal. 

Dif. Distinguished readily by its taste and its vivid 
action on a live coal ; and from nitrate of soda, which it most 
resembles, by its not becoming liquid on exposure to the air. 

Uses. Niter, called also saltpeter, is employed in making 
gunpowder, forming 75 to 78 per cent, in shooting powder, 
and 65 in mining powder. The other materials are sulphur 
(12 to 15 per cent.) and charcoal, (9 to 12^ for shooting 
powder, and 20 for mining.) It is also extensively used in 
the manufacture of nitric and sulphuric acids ; also for pyro- 
technic purposes, fulminating powders, and sparingly in 
medicine. 

Obs, Occurs in many at the caverns of Kentucky and 

other Western States, scattered through the earth that form'' 

the floor of the cave. In procuring it, the earth is lixiviateo* 

•and the lye, when evaporated, yields the saltpeter. India is 

its most abundant locality, where it is obtained largely for 

. What does niter consist of? What effect is produced when it io 
put on a live coal ? What are its uses ? Where does it occur 1 
9* 



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1()2 8ALTS OF SODA. 

exportation. It is there used for making a cooling mixture • 
an ounce of powdered niter in five ounces of water reduces 
the temperature 15^ F. 

Spain and Egypt also afford large quantities of niter for 
conimerce. This salt forms on the ground in the hot weather 
succeeding copious rains, and appears in silky tufls or efflo- 
rescences ; these are brushed up by a kind of broom, lixiviated, 
and afler settling, evaporated and crystallized. In France, 
Germany, Sweden, Hungary and other countries, there are 
artificial arrangements called nitriaries or niter-beds, from 
which nit«r is obtained by the decomposition mostly of the 
nitrates of lime aud magnesia which form in these beds. 
Refuse animal and vegetable matter putrified in contact with 
calcareous soils produces nitrate of lime, which affords the 
niter by reaction with carbonate of potash. Old plaster 
lixiviated affords about 5 per cent. This last method is much 
used in France. 

Chlorid of potasaium, or sylvtne, has been observed with salt at 
Saltzburg. 

3. SODA. 

The following salts of soda are all more or less soluble : 

they are in general distinguished by giving a deep yellow 

light before the blowpipe. Hardness below 3 ; specific 

gravity below 2*9. 

GLAtTBER SALT. StdphotC of Soda, 

Monoclinic. In oblique rhombic prisms. Occurs in 
efflorescent crusts of a white or yellowish-white color ; also 
in many mineral waters. Taste cool, then feebly saline and 
bitter. Composition^ soda 19'3, sul. acid 248, water 55*9. 

Dif, It is distinguished from Epsom salt, for which it is 
sometimes mistaken, by its coarse crystals, and the yellow 
color it gives to the blowpipe fiame. 

Uses. It is used in medicine, and is known by the famil 
iar name of "salts." 

Obs, On Hawaii, one of the Sandwich Islands, in a cave 
at Kailua, glauber salt is abundant, and is constantly forming. 
It is obtained by the natives and used as medicine. Glauber 

What is a nitriory 7 What effect is produced on the blowpipe flame 
by soda? What is its composition? How is it distinguished from 
Epsom salt ? Where does Glauber salt occur native ? 



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CARBONATE OF SODA. lOS 

salt occurs also in efflorescences on the limestone below 
Genesee Falls, near Rochester, N. Y. It is also obtained 
in Austria, Hungary and elsewhere in Europe. 

The artificial salt was first discovered by a German 
chemist by the name of Glauber. It is usually prepared for 
the arts firt>m sea water. 

NITRATE OF SODA. 

Rhombohedral ; R: R=106^ 33'. Also in crusts or 
efilorescences, of white, grayish and brownish colors ; taste 
cooling. Soluble and very deliquescent. 

Composition: nitric acid 63 5, soda 36*5. Burns vividly 
on coal, with a yellow light. 

Dif. It resembles niter, (saltpeter,) but deliquesces, and 
gives a deep yellow light when burning. 

06s. In file district of Tarapaca, the dry Pampa for an 
extent of forty leagues is covered with beds of this salt, mixeo 
with gypsum, common salt, Glauber salt and remains of 
recent shells. The country appears to have been under the 
sea at no very remote period. 

Uses. It is used extensively in the manu&cture of nitric 
acid or aqua fortis. 

NATRON. — Carbonate of Soda. 

Monoclinic. Generally in white efflorescent crusts, 
sometimes yellowish or grayish. Taste alkaline. Effloresces 
on exposure, and the surface becomes white and pulverulent 

Composition : a simple hydrous carbonate of soda. Efier* 
vesces strongly with nitric acid. 

Dtf. Distinguished from other soda salts by effervescing, 
and from Trona, by efflorescing on exposure. 

Obs. Abundant in the soda lakes of Egypt, situated in a 
barren valley called Bahr-bela-ma, about 30 miles west of 
the Deha. Also in lakes at Debreczinin Hungary; in 
Mexico, north of Zacatecas, and elsewhere. Sparingly dis* 
solved in the Seltzer and Carlsbad waters. 

Trona is a sesquicarbonate of soda. In the province of 
Suckenna in Africa, between Tripoli and Fezzan, it forms a 



How does nitrate of soda differ in composition from niter? Whai 
are other peculiarities distinguishing 't? For what is it used? Whewi 
does it occur native 1 What are the distinctive characters of carbon a u 
of soda ? 



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104 



•ALTg OF 800A. 



fibrous layer an inch thick beneath the soil, and seyerai hnn 
dred tons are collected annually. At a lake in Maracaibo 
^H miles from Merido, it is very abundant. 

Uses. Carbonate of soda is used extensively in the manu- 
facture of soap. The powders put up for making soda water 
consist of this salt and tartaric acid. On mixing the two, 
the tartaric acid unites with the soda and the carbonic acid 
of the carbonate of soda escapes as a gas producing the effer- 
vescence. In Mexico, this salt (or the sesquicarbonate, 
trona) occurs in such abundance over extensive districts that 
it is employed as a flux in smelting ores of silver, especially 
the chlorid of silver which is a common ore. 

COMMON SALT. 

Mononletric. In cubes (fig 1) and its secondaries, as the 
following. Sometimes crystals harve the shape of a shallow 
1 2 3 4 



r^ 


V 


^>^ 




p 


p 


^^^ 




.0^ 




cup like figure 4, and are called hopper shaped crystals. They 
were formed floating ; the cup receiving its enlargement at 
the margin, this being the part which lay at (he sur&ce of 
the brine where evaporation was going on. Common salt 
is usually white or grayish, but sometimes presents rose red, 
yellow and amethystine tints. H=2. Gr= 2-257. Taste 
saline. 

Composition : chlorine 60'7, sodium SQ-ft. Crackles or 
decrepitates when heated. 

Dij. Distinguished by its taste, solubility, and blowpipe 
characters. 

Obs. Salt is usually associated with gypsum, and clays or 
sandstone. It occurs in extensive beds in Spain, in the P3rre- 
nees, in the valley of Cardona and elsewhere, forming hills 
300 to 400 feet high ; in Poland at Wieliczka ; at Hall in the 
Tyi'ol, and along a range through Reichenthal in Bavaria, 

For what is it used 1 What happens when tartaric acid and carboD« 
ate of soda are mixed 1 What are the forms of crystals of common 
salt 1 Of what does It consist ? Where are some of the m< et remarkahl« 
deposits of rock salt ? . 



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^OHMON SALT. 105 

Hallem in Saltzburg, Hallstadt, Ischel and Ebensee in Upper 
Austria, and Aussee in Stiria ; in Hungary at Marmoros and 
elsewhere ; in Transylvania ; Wallachia, Gallicia and Up- 
per Silesia ; at Vic and Dieuze in France ; at Bex in Swit- 
zerland ; in Cheshire, England ; in northern Africa in vast 
quantities, forming hills and extended plains ; in northern 
Persia at Teflis ; in India in the province of Lahore, and iu 
the valley of Cashmere ; in China and Asiatic Russia ; in 
South America, in Peru and the Cordilleras of New Grenada. 

The most remarkable deposits are those of Poland and 
Hungary. The former, near Cracow, has been woriced 
since the year 1251, and it is calculated that there is still 
enough salt remaining to supply the whole world for many 
centuries. Its deep subterranean regions are excavated into 
'jouses, chapels and other ornamental forms, the roof being 
supported by pillars of salt ; and when illuminated by lamps 
smd torches, they are objects of great splendor. 

The salt is o^en impure with clay, and is puvified by dis- 
solving it in large chambers, drawing it off after it has settled 
and evaporating it again. The salt of Norwich (in Cheshire) 
b in masses 5 to 8 feet in diameter, which are nearly pure, 
and it is prepared for use by crushing it between rollers. 

Beds of salt have lately been opened in Virginia in Wash- 
ington county, where as usual it is associated with gypsum. 
The Salmon mountains of Oregon also afford rock salt. 

Salt beds occur in rocks of various ages : the brines of 
the United States come from a red sandstone below the coal ; 
the beds of Norwich, England, occur in magnesian lime- 
stone ; those of the Vosges in marly sandstone beds of the 
lower secondary ; that of Bex in the lias or middle secondary ; 
that of the Carpathian Alps in the upper oolite ; that of 
Wieliczka, Poland and the Pyrenees, in the cretaceous for- 
mation or upper secondary ; that of Catalonia in tertiary : 
and moreover there are vast deposits that are still more re- 
cent, besides lakes that are now evaporating and producing 
salt depositions. 

Vast lakes of salt water exist in many parts of the world. 
Lake Timpanogos, or Youta, called also the Great Salt 
Lake, has an area of 2000 square miles, and is remarkable 
for its extent, considering that it is situated towards the sum- 



What is said of the beds of Cracow? Honr is this salt purified t 
Where do beds occar in North America ! What is said of salt lakes 1 



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106 8AI.T8 OF SODA 

mti of the Rocky Mountains, at an elevation of 4200 feet 
above the sea. The dry regions of these mountains and of 
the semideserts of California abound fn salt licks and lakes. 
There is a small spring on the Bay of San Francisco. In 
northern Africa large lakes as well as hills of salt abound, 
and the deserts of this region and Arabia abound in saline 
efflorescences. The Dead and Caspian seas, and the lakes 
of Khoordistan, are salt. Over the pampas of La Plata and 
Patagonia there are many ponds and lakes of salt water. 

The greater part of the salt made in this country is obtained 
by evaporation from salt springs. Those of Salina and 
Syracuse are well known ; and many nearly as valuable are 
worked in Ohio and other western states. At the best New 
York springs a bushel of salt is obtained from every 40 gal- 
Ions. — ( Beck. ) The springs of Onondaga county, New York, 
afforded in 1841 upwards of three millions of bushels of salt, 
and it is estimated that three hundred and twenty-two millions 
of gallons o^ brine were raised and evaporated during that 
year. — (Beck.) To obtain the brine, wells from 50 to 150 
feet deep are sunk by boring. It is then raised by machinery, 
carried by troughs to the boilers, which are large iron kettles 
set in brickwork, and there evaporated by heat. As soon as 
the water begins to boil, the water becomes turbid from the 
deposit of calcareous salts which are also contained in salt 
waters, and are less soluble than the salt. These are re- 
moved with ladles, called bittem ladles, with the exception 
of what adheres firmly to the sides of the boiler. The salt is 
next deposited ; it is then collected and carried away to drain. 
The liquid which remains contains a large proportion of 
magnesian salts, and is called bittem from the bitter taste of 
these salts. Some of the brine is also evaporated by expo- 
sure to the sun in broad, shallow vats. 

This last process is extensively employed in hot climates 
for making salt from sea water, wh:ch affords a bushel for 
every 300 or 350 gallons. For this purpose a number of 
large shallow basins are made adjoining the sea ; they have 
a smooth bottom of clay, and all communicate with one an- 
other. The water is let in at high tide and then shut off foi 
the evaporation to go on. This is the simplest mode, and is 

What is the source of the salt manufactured in the United States *? 
How much water is necessary to procure a bushel of salt ? How is 
the salt obtained from the brine ! How much salt is afforded by sea 
water, and bow is it obtained 1 



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BORAX. 107 

used even in uncivilized countries, as among the Pacific 
Islands. It is better to have a large receiving basin for 
the salt water, which shall detain the mechanical impurities 
of the water. 

Martinrite is a compound of 91 per cent, of chlorid of sodium and 
<r sulphate of magnesia. It is from the salines of Stassfurth. 

BORAX. — Borate of Soda, 

Monoclinic In right rhomboidal prisms, (see fig. 11, 
page 26) ; M : T=106 35'. Cleavage parallel with M per- 
fect. The crystals are white and transparent with a glassy 
luster. H=2 — 2*5. Gr= 1-716. Taste sweetish-alkaline. 

Composition : soda 16*25, boracic acid 36*58, water 
47*17. Swells up to many times its bulk and becomes 
opaque white before the blowpipe, and finaUy fuses to a 
glassy globule. 

Obs, Borax was originally brought from a salt lake in 
Thibet, where it is dug in considerable masses from the 
edges and shaUow parts of the lakes. The holes thus made 
in a short time become filled again with borax. The crude 
borax was formerly sent to Europe under the name oftincalf 
and there purified for the arts. It has also been found in 
Peru and Ceylon. It has of late been extensively made 
from the boracic acid of the Tuscan lagoons by the reaction 
of this acid on carbonate of soda. 

Uses, Borax is used as a flux not only by the mineralo- 
gist in blowpipe experiments, but extensively in metallurgi- 
cal operations, in thQ process of soldering, and in the manu 
&cture of gems. 

Boracic acid. Occurs in small scales, white or yellowish. Feel 
imooth and nnctuous. Taste acidulous and a little saline and bitter. 
Gr=il'48. Composition, boracic acid 56*38, water 43*62. Fuses easily 
in the flame of a candle, tinging the flame at first green. 

Found at the crater of Vulcano, and also at Sasso in Italy, whence it 
was called Saoaolin. The hot vapors of the lagoons of Tuscany afford 
it in large quantities. The vapors are made to pass through water, 
which condenses them ; and the water is then evaporated by the steam 
of the springs, and boracic acid obtained in large crystalline flakes. It 

Wliat are some of the characters of borax 1 What is its composition ? 
What are it s effects before the blowpipe ? What is it used for 1 Wheie 
was it originally obtained 1 How is it procured in Tuscany ? What 
is boracic acid 1 What is said of the boracic acid lagoons of Tuscany 1 



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108 SALTS OF BARYTA. 

Btill requires purification, as the boat tiua procured contains bni 50 pei 
cent, of the pure acid. 

It is employed in the manufacture of borax. Boron occurs in nature 
also, in datholite, tourmaline, and a few other species, but these are not 
a sufficient source to be employed in the art& 

Thenardite. Thenardite is an aahydrous sulphate of soda from Es- 
partine in Spain. 

Gay-Lussite, Occurs in oblocg crystals, in a lake in Maracaibo 
S. A. ; it is a hydrous compound of the carbonates of lime and soda. 

Glauberite. In oblique cystals, (usually flattened, with sharp edges, 
nearly transparent and yellowish-^y in color. Taste weak, slightly 
saline ; consists of 49 per cent, of sulphate of lime and 51 of sulphate of 
soda. Occurs in rock salt at Villa Rnbia, Spain, and also at Auasee ia 
Upper Austria, and Vic in France. 

4. BARYTA. ^ 
The saltfr of baryta are distinguished by their high specific 
gravity, which ranges from 3*5 to 4*8. They resemble the 
salts of strontia, and some of the metallic salts. From the 
latter they are distinguished by giving no odor nor metal- 
lic reaction be&re the blowpipe, when pure. Hardness 
below 4. 

HEATY SPAE. — Svlphote of Boryto. 

Trimetric. In modified rhombic and rectangular prisms, 
1 (figs. 1, 2) M : M = 101° 40' ; « 

P : a = 14r 10 ; P : a=^27^ 
18'. Crystals usually tabular. 
Massive varieties often coarse 
lamellar; also columnar, fibrous, gra-nular and compact. 
Luster vitreous ; color white and sometimes tinged yellow, 
red, blue or brown. Transparent or translucent. H =2'5-— 
8*5. Gr =4*3— 4*8. Some varieties are fetid when rubbed. 
Composition : sulphuric acid 34, baryta 66. Decrepitates 
before the blowpipe and fiises with difficulty. 

Dif. Distinguished by its specific gravity from oelestine 
and arragonite, and also by not effervescing with acids from 
the various carbonates ; from the metallic salts, by no metal- 
lic reaction before the blowpipe. 

Obs. Heavy spar is often associated with the ores of 



What is a striking character of the salts of baryta ? How are they 
distinguished from salts of the metals T What are the forms of the crys- 
tals of heavy spar ? What are the colors ? What is the composition ? 





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SALTS OF BAKrTA. 101 

metals. In this way it occurs at Cheshire, Conn. ; Hat- 
field, Mass. ; Rossie and Hammond, New York ; Perkio- 
men, Pennsylvania, and the lead mines of the west. A 
Scoharie and Pillar Point, near Sackett's harbor, are other 
local] lies. AJgo near Fredericksburg and elsewhere, Vir- 
ginia. The variety from Pillar Point receives a fine polish 
and looks like marble, the colors being in bands or clouds. 

Uses, Heavy spar is ground up and used as white paint, 
and in adulterating white lead. When white lead is miied 
in equal parts with sulphate of barytas it is sometimes called 
Venice whxte^ and another quality vnth twice its weight of 
barytes is called Harnburgh whiter and another, one-third 
white lead, is called Dutch white. When the barytes is very 
white, a proportion of it gives greater opacity to the colorf 
and protects the lead from being speedily blackened by sul- 
phureous vapors ; and these mixtures are therefore preferred 
for certain kinds of painting. There are establishments for 
grinding barytes near New Haven, Ct., where the spar from 
Cheshire, Ct., Hatfield, Mass., and Virginia, is used. The 
*Ton ore or ferruginous clay usually mixed with it, is separated 
by digestion in large vats of dilute sulphuric acid. 

wiTUEBiTE. — Carbonate of Baryta. 

Trimetric. In modified rhombic prisms, (fig. 8, p. 26.) 
M : M = 118° 30'; M : e=149° 15'. Also in six-sided 
prisms terminated with pyramids. Cleavage imper- 
%cU Also in globular or botryoidal forms: often 
massive, and either fibrous or granular. The mas- 
sive varieties have usually a yellowish or grayish 
white color, with a luster a little resinous, and are 
translucent. The crystals are often white and nearly trans 
parent. H=3— 3'75. Gr=4-29 — 4'36. Brittle. 

Composition : baryta 77*6, carbonic acid 22*4. Decrep- 
itates before the blowpipe and ftises easily to a translucent 
globule, opaque on cooling. Efifervesces in nitric acid. 

Dif, Distinguished by its specific gravity and ftisibility 
from calcareous spar and arragonite ; I y its action with 
acids ft^m allied minerals that are not carbonates ; by yield- 
ing no metal from white lead ore, and by not tinging the 
fliame red, from strontianite. 



What are the uses of heavy spar ? How is witherite distingiiisbed 
trom other minerals? 

10 



i 



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110 SALTS OF BARYTA. 

Obs. The most important foreign localities of witkerite 
are at Alstonmoor in Cumberland, and Anglezark in Lan- 
cashire. 

Uses, This mineral is poisonous, and is used in the north 
of England for killing rats. The salts of baryta are made 
from this species : these salts are much used in chemical 
analysis ; the nitrate affords a yellow light in pyrotechny ; 
the prepared carbonate is a common water color. 

Barytocalcite occurs at Alstonmoor ia Cumberlanii, fiugland, in 
whitish oblique rhombic crystals, M : M=il06° 54'. H=4. G=3-6— 
3*7. Consists of the carbonates of hme and baryta. 

Bromlite is a mineral of the same composition from Bromley Hit 
near Alston, and from Northumberland, England. Its crystals are right 
rhombic prisms. 

Dreelite is a compound of the sulphates of baryta and lime, occurring 
in small white crystals in France. 

^ulphatO'carhonate of Baryta occurs in siz-sided prisms. 

5. STRONTIA. 
The salts of strontia have a high specific gravity^ it 
ranging from 3*6 to 4*0. In this respect they most resemble 
the salts of bar3rta, and they are distinguished by the same 
characters as the baryta salts from the salts of the metals. 
Hardness below 4. 

CELESTiNE . — SiUphote of StroTitia. 

Trimetric. In modified rhombic prisms. M : M = 104^ 
to 104° 30'. Crystals sometimes flattened ; oflen long and 
slender, a : a =103° 58'. Cleavage distinct 
parallel with M . Massive varieties : columnar 
' or fibrous, forming layers half an inch or more 
thick with a pearly luster ; rarely granular. 
Color generally a tinge of blue, but sometimes clear white. 
Luster vitreous or a little peady ; transparent to translucent. 
H = 3—3*5. Gr =3*9—4. Very brittle. 

Composition : sulphuric acid 43*6, strontia 56*4. De. 
crepitates before the blowpipe, and on charcoal fuses rathei 
easily to a milk white alkaline globule, tinging the flame 
red. Phosphoresces when heated. 

Mow is witherite distinguished from strontianite ? What are its uses 1 
What is said of the salts of strontia 1 What is the usual color and 
appearance of celestine 1 What is the c amposition ? 




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SAirS OF 8TRONTIA. Ill 

Dif, The long slender crystals are distinguished at once 
from heavy spar, as the latter does not occur in such elon- 
gated forms. From all the varieties of heavy spar, it differs 
in a lower specific gravity and blowpipe characters ;. from 
the carbonates it is distinguished by not efifervescing with 
the acids. 

Ohs, A bluish celestine, in long slender ciystals, occurs 
at Strontian island, Lake Erie ; Scoharie, Lockport and 
Rossie, N. Y,, are other localities. A handsome fibrous 
variety occurs at Franktown, Huntington county, Pennsyl- 
vania. Sicily affords very splendid crystallizations associ- 
ated with sulphur : the preceding figure represents one of the 
crystals. The prisms arc attached by one end, and being 
crowded over the surface, they are in beautiful contrast with 
the yellow sulphur beneath. 

The pale sky-blue tint so common with the mineral, gave 
origin to the name celestine. 

Uses, Celestine is used in the arts for making the nitrate 
of strontia, which is employed for producing a red color in 
fire- works. Celestine is changed to sulphuret of strontium 
by heating with charcoal, and then by means of nitric acid 
the nitrate is obtained. 

sTRONTiAPaTB. — CarhoHote of Strontia, 

Trimetric. In modified rhombic prisms. M : M = 1 IT^ 
19'. Cleavage parallel to M, nearly perfect. Occurs also 
fibrous and granular, and sometimes in globular shapes with 
a radiated structure within. 

Color usually a light tinge of green ; also white, gray and 
yellowish-brown. Luster vitreous, or somewhat resinous. 
Transparent to translucent. H = 3-5—4. Gr = 8-6— 3-72. 
Brittle. 

Composition : strontia 70'2 carbonic acid 29*8. Fuses 
before the blowpipe on thin edges, tinging the flame red ; 
becomes alkaline in a strong heat ; effervesces with the 
acids. 

Dif, Its effervescence with acids distinguishes it from 
minerals that are not carbonates ; the color of the flame before 
the blowpipe, from witherite ; and this character and the 



For what is celestine used 1 How do strontianite and celestine dif- 
W in composition 1 What arc distinguishing characters of str«Dliami« 1 



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• 112 8ALT6 C F LIME. 

fusibility, although difficult, fix>in calc spar. Calc spar 9 le 
times reddens the flame, but Aot so deeply. 

Obs, Strontianite occurs in limestone at Scoharie, x^evf 
York, in crystals, and also fibrous and massive. Strontian 
in Argyleshire, England, was the first locality )inown, and 
gave the name to the mineral and the earth strontia. It 
occurs there with galena in stellated and fibrous groups and 
in crystals. 

Uses. This mineral is used for preparing the nitrate of 
strontia, which is extensively employed for giving a rea color 
to fire-works. 

6. LIME. 
With the exception of the nitrate of lime, none of the 
native salts of lime are soluble, unless in minute propoi. 
portions. They give no odor, and no metallic reaction before 
the blowpipe, except such as may arise from mixture with 
iron or manganese. The specific gravity is below 3*2, and 
hardness not above 5. The few metallic salts of lime 
(arsenate of lime, tungstate of lime, d;c.) are arranged with 
the metallic ores. 

OYPsuM. — Sulphate of Lime, 

Monoclin ic. Usually in right rhom- 
boidal prisms, with beveled sides. M : 
^ T=ll 1^14 a : a=3 143° 42' ; c : e= 
111° 42'. Figure 2 represents a com- 
mon twin (or arrow head) crystal. Emi- 
nently foliated in one direction and 
cleaving easily, affording laminsB that 
are flexible but not elastic. Occurs also 
in laminated masses, oflen of large size ; in fibrous masses, 
with a satin luster ; in stellated or radiating forms consisting 
of narrow laminae ; also granular and compact. 

When pure and crystallized it is as clear and pellucid as 
glass, and has a pearly luster. Other varieties are gray 
yellow, reddish, brownish, and even black, and opaque. 



Whence the name of the mineral and earth strontia ? For what is it 
used % What is said of the salts of 'lime 1 What are the prominent 
characters of gypsum ? 





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119 

H = l*& — 2, or 'so soft as to be easily cut .with a knife. 
Grs=:2*31 — 2*33. The plates bend in one direction and are 
brittle in another. 

Composition : lime 82*69 sulphuric acid 46*5, water 209. 
Before the blowpipe it becomes instantly white and opaque 
and exfoliates, and then fidls to powder or crumbles easily in 
the fingers. At a high heat it fuses with difficulty. No 
action with acids. 

The principal varieties are as follows : 

Sdenite^ including the transparent foliated gypsum, so 
called in allusion to its color and luster from selene^ the Greek 
word for moon. 

Radiated gypsum, having a radiated structure. 

Fibrous gypsum or satin spar, white and delicately fibrous. 

Snowy gypsum and alabaster, including the white or light- 
colored compact gypsum having a very fine grain. 

Dif. The foliated gypsum resembles some varieties of 
Heulandite, stilbite, talc and mica ; and the fibrous, looks like 
fibrous carbonate of lime, asbestus and some of the fibrous 
zeolites ; but gypsum in all its varieties is readily distin- 
guished by its softness ; its becoming an opaque white powder 
immediately and without fusion before the blowpipe, and by 
not effervescing nor gelatinizing with acids. 

Obs. New York^ near Lockport, affords beautiful selenite 
and snowy gypsum in limestone. At Camillus and Manlius, 
N. Y., and in Davidson county, Tenn., are other localities. 
Fine crystals of the form represented in figure 1, come fi*om 
Poland and Camfield, Ohio, and large groups of crystals front 
the St. Marys in Maryland. Troy, N. Y., also afi^rds crys. 
tals in clay. In the mammoth cave, Kentucky, alabaster 
occurs in singularly beautifol imitation of flowers, leaves, 
shrubbery and vines. Alabaster comes mostly from Caste- 
lino in Italy, 35 miles from Leghorn. Massive gypsum oc- 
curs abundantly in New York, from Syracuse westward to 
the western extremity of Genesee county, accompanying the 
rocks which afford the brine springs ; also in Ohio, Illinois, 
Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas and Nova Scotia. It is 
abundant also in Europe. 

Uses. Gypsum when burnt and ground up forms a white 



What is the composition of g3rp8uin? What is alabaster? What 
effect is produced by heat 1 How is gypsum distinguished from talc^ 
mica and other minerals 1 

10* 



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114 ©YPStTM. 

powder, wrhich, after being mixed with a little water, be- 
comes on diying, hard and compact. This ground gypsum 
is plaster of Paris, and is used for taking casts, making 
models, and for giving a hard finish to walls. Alabcuter is 
cut into vases and various ornaments, statues, &c. It owes 
its beauty for this purpose to its snowy whiteness, translu- 
cency and fine texture. It is moreover so soft as to be cut 
or carved with common cutting instruments. Gypsum is 
ground up and used for improving soils. 

ANHYDRITE. — Anhf/drous Sulphate of Lime. 

Tnmetric. In rectangular prisms, cleaving easily in three 
directions, and readily breaking into 
square blocks. The figure is a side view 
of a crystal; M : a=I24^ 10 ; M : a= 
153" 50 ; M : c = 135" 35. Occurs 
also fibrous and lamellar, often contort- 
ed; also coarse and fine granular and 
compact. 

Color white or tinged with gray, red, or blue. Luster 
more or less pearly. Transparent to subtranslucent. H = 
2-5— 3-5. Gr=2-9— 3. 

The crystallized varieties have been called muriacite, 
Vtdpinite is a siliceous variety containing 8 per cent, of 
^ilex, and a little above the usual hardness, (3*5.) 

Composidon ; lime 41 2, sulphuric acid 58*8. It is a ^- 
phate of lime like gypsum, but dififers in containing no water. 
Whitens before the blowpipe, but does not exfoliate like 
gypsum, and finally with some difficulty becomes covered 
with a friable enamel. No action with acids. 

Dif. Differs from gypsum in being harder and not ex* 
ioliating when heated ; from carbonate of lime and the 
zeolites which it sometimes resembles, in the non-action of 
acids, and its action before the blowpipe. Its square forms of 
crystallization and cleavage are also good distinguishing 
characters. 

Ohs, A fine blue crystallized anhydrite occurs with gyp- 
sum and calcareous spar in a black limestone at Lock- 
port. Foreign localities are at the salt mines of Bex in Swit- 
» 
What is plaster of Paris, and how is it used ? For what is alabastei 
used ? How is gypsum employed in agriculture ? How does anhydrite 
differ in composition from gypsum? Mention other distinguishing 
characters. 



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CALCAHEOrB BFAK. 



11» 



aerland, at Hall in the Tyrol, at Ischil in Upper Austria, 
Wieliczka in Poland and elsewhere. 

Uses. The viilplnite variety is sometimes cut and polished 
for ornamental purposes. 

V 
CALCiTE — Calcareous Spar — Carbonate of Lime, 

Rhombohedral, (fig. 1.) R : R=105° 5'. Cleavage easy 
Baiallel wiUi the ibices of the fundamental rhombohec&on. 
1 S 3 4 6 



<^^^::> 





Figure 1, is the fundamental rhombohedron ; figure 2, is a 
flat rhombohedron with the lateral angles removed, sometimes 
called naU'head spar ; figure 3, is a six-sided prism ; figure 
4, an acute rhombohedron ; figure 5, a scalene dodecahedron, 
the form of the variety called dog-tooth spar. Figures 28, 
28a, 30, 31, page 32 ; 62, 63, page 39 ; and 66, page 40, are 
other forms. Calcareous spar also occurs fibrous with a 
silky luster, sometimes lamellar, and oflen coarse or fine 
granular and compact. 

The purest crystals are transparent with a vitreous luster ; 
the impure massive varieties are oflen opaque, and without 
luster, or even earthy. The colors of the crystals are either 
white or some light grayish, reddish or yellowish tint, rarely 
deep red ; occasionally topaz yellow, rose or violet. The 
massive varieties are of various shades from white to black, 
generally dull unless polished. H=3. Gr=2'5 — 2*8. 

Composition : lime 56*0, carbonic acid 44*0 : sometimes 
impure from mixture with iron, silica, clay, bitumen and 
other minerals. Infusible before the blowpipe, but gives 
out an intense light, and is ultimately reduced to quicklime. 
Effervesces with the acids. Many varieties phosphoresce 
when heated. 

What is the fundamental form of calcite or calc spar 1 What are iti 
olors and appearance 1 What is its compoaitioa 1 



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116 0ALT8 OF LIME. 

This species takes on a great variety of forms and coliirft, 
and has received names for the more prominent varieties. 

Iceland spar. — ^Transparent crystalline calc spar, first 
brought from Iceland. Shows well double refraction. 

Satin ,spar. — A finely fibrous variety with a satin luster 
Receives a handsome polish. Occurs usually in veins 
traversing rocks of different kinds. 

Chalk. — ^White and earthy, without luster, and so sofl as 
to leave a trace on a board. Forms mountain beds. 

Rock milk. — White and earthy like chalk, but still sofler, 
and very fragile. It is deposited from waters containing 
lime in solution. 

Calcareous tufa. — ^Formed by deposition from waters like 
rock milk, but more cellular or porous and not so sofl. 

StalactUe^ Stalagmite. — ^The name stalactite is explained 
on page 54. The deposits of the same origin that cover 
the floor of a cavern, are called stalagmite. They gen 
erally consist of difi[erent colored layers, and appear banded 
or striped when broken. The so-called " Gibraltar rock*' 
is stalagmite from a cavern in the rock of Gibraltar. 

Limestone is a general name for all the massive varieties 
occurring in extensive beds. 

Oolite^ Pisolite. — Oolite is a compact limestone, consist- 
ing of small round grains, looking like the spawn of a fish ; 
the name is derived from the Greek don, an egg. Pisolite, a 
name derived from pisum, the Latin for pea, dififers from 
oolite in consisting of larger particles. 

Argentine.'^A white shining limestone consisting of 
laminaB a little waving, and containing a small proportion of 
silica. 

Fontainbleau limestone. — ^This name is applied to crystals, 
of the form in figure 4, containing a large proportion of sand, 
and occurring in groups. They were formerly obtained at 
Fontainbleau, France, but the locality is exhausted. 

Granular limestone.^^A limestone consisting of crystal- 
line grains. It is called also primary limestone. The 
coarser varieties when polished constitute the common white 
and clouded marbles, and the material of which marble 
buildings are made. The finer are used for statuary, and 

What is Iceland spar ? What is chalk ? How does satin spar under 
this species difler from that which is a variety of gypsum ? What ii 
calcareous tufa ? How are stalactites and stalagmite formed ? Wha* 
is limestone ? What is oolite 7 What is said of granular limestone 1 



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CALCAKEOUB 8PAB. 117 

called gtataary marble. The best is as clear and fine grained 
as loaf sugar, which it much resembles. 

Compact limestone, — ^The common secondary limestones, 
breaking with a smooth surface, without any appearance of 
grains. The rock is very variously colored, sometimes of 
a uniform tint, and frequently in bands, blotches or veinings, 
and always nearly dull until polished. The varieties form 
marbles of as many kinds. 

Stinkstone^ Anthraconite, — A limestone, either columnar 
or compact, which gives out a fetid odor when struck. 

Plumhocalcite, from Cornwall, contains 2*34 per cent, of 
carbonate of lead. 

Dif. The varieties of this species are easily distinguished 
by their being scratched easily with a knife, in connection 
with their strongly effervescing with acids, and their com« 
plete infusibility. Calc spar is not so hard as aragonitc, 
and differs entirely in its cleavage. 

Obs. Ciystallized calcareous spar occurs in magnificent 
forms in the vicinity of Rossie, New York. One crystal 
from there now at New Haven weighs 165 pounds. Some 
rose and purple varieties from this region are very beautiful. 
Splendid geodes of the dog-tooth spar variety occur in lime- 
stone at Lockport, along with gypsum and pearl spar. Ley- 
den and Lowville, N. Y., are other localities. Bergen Hill, 
N. J., affords beautiful wine-yellow crystals in amygdaloid. 
Argentine occurs near Williamsburg and Southampton, Mass. 
Rock milk covers the sides of a cave at Watertown, N. Y., 
and is now forming. Stalactites of great beauty occur in 
Weir's and other caves in Virginia and the Western States ; 
also in Ball's cave at Scoharie, N. Y. Chalk occurs in 
England and Europe, but has not been met with in the Uni- 
ted States. Granular limestones are common in the Eastern 
and Atlantic States, and compact limestones in the middle 
and Western, and some beds of the former afford excellent 
marble for building and some of good quality for statuary. 

Uses. Any of the varieties of this mineral when burnt, 
form quicklime. Heat drives off the carbonic acid and leaves 
the lime in a pure or caustic state. Some limestones con- 
^in a portion of clay disseminated throughout it, and these 
bum oflen to hydraulic lime^ a kind of lime, of which a 



What 18 said of compact limestone? Hew is this species distin' 
guiahed from other species? What are the ises of limestone 



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118 ftALTB HW LIME. 

cement or plaster is made that '' sets" under water* See 
further, the chapter on Rocks, for the uses of limestone. 

ARAGONITE. 

Trimetric. In rhombic prisms, (see fig. 8, page 26) ; 
M : M=116° 10'. Cleavage parallel with M. Usually 
in compound crystals having the form of a hexagonal prism, 
with uneven or striated sides, or in stellated forms consisting 
of two or three flat crystals crossing one another. Also in 
globular and coralloidal shapes; also in fibrous seams in 
different rocks. 

Color white or with light tinges of gray, yellow, green 
and violet. Luster vitreous. Transparent to translucent. 
H=3-5— 4. Gr=2-931. 

In composition, it is identical with calcareous spar, and in 
lis action before the blowpipe it dififers only in falling to 
powder readily when heated. Effervesces also with the 
acids. Phosphoresces when heated. Some varieties con- 
tain a few per cent of carbonate of stxontia, but this is not 
an essential ingredient. 

Dif. The same distinctive characters as calcareous spar, 
except its crystalline form and superior hardness, and its 
falling to powder before the blowpipe. -^ 

Obs, Ara^onite occurs mostly in gypsum beds and de ■ 
posits of iron ore ; also in basalt and other rocks. The 
coralloidal forms are found in iron ore beds, and are called 
fioS'ferri, flowers of iron. They look like a loosely inter- 
twined or tangled white cord. 

The floS'ferri variety occurs at Lockport with gypsum ; 
also at Edenville, at the Parish iron ore bed in Rossie, and 
in Chester county, Pennsylvania. Aragon in Spain afifords 
six-sided prisms of aragonite, associated with gypsum. This 
locality gave the name to the species. 

6. DOLOMITE — Magnesian Carbonate of Lime, 
Rhombohedral. R : R=106° 15'. Cleavage perfect 

# parallel to the primary faces. Faces of rhom- 
bodedrons sometimes curved, as in the annexed 
figure. Oflen granular and massive, constitu- 
ting extensive beds. 
Color white or tinged Avith yellow, red, green, 

What are the usual forms of arragonite ? Does it differ in compoai- 
tion fi-om calcite ? What are its colors and luster 1 What effect if 
produced by the blowpipe ? 



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POLOHITB. 119' 

brown, and sometimes black. Luster vitreoas, o. a little 
pearly. Nearly transparent to translucent. Brittle. H=i 
8-5 — 4. Gr=2-8— 2-9. 

Composition, Dolomite is a compound of carbonate of 
magnesia and carbonate of lime. The common variety con« 
sists of 54*4 of the latter to 45*6 of the former. InAisible 
before the blowpipe. Effervesces with acids, but more 
slowly than calc spar. 

The principal varieties of this species are as follows : 

DoUmite. — White crystalline granular, often not distin« 
guishable in external characters from granular limestone, 
except that it crumbles more readily. 

Pearl spar. — ^This variety bccurs in pearly rhombohe- 
drons with curved feces. 

Rhomb^ spar^ Brown spar, — In rhombohedrons, which 
become brown on exposure, owing to their containing 5 to 
10 percent, ofoxyd of iron or manganese. 

Miemite. — A yellowish brown fibrous variety from Miemo 
in Tuscany. 

GurTu^. — A compact white rock, looking like porcelain 
and containing a few per cent, of silica. 

Dif. Distinctive characters, nearly the same as for caj- 
careous spar. It is harder than that species, and differs in 
the angles of its crystals, and effervesces less freely ; but 
chemical analysis is often required to distinguish them. 

Obs. Massive dolomite is common in the Eastern States, 
and constitutes much of the coarse white marble used for 
building. Crystallized specimens are obtained at the Quar- 
antine, Richmond county, N. Y. Rhomb spar occurs in talc 
at Smithfield, R. I., Marlboro, Vt., Middlefield, Mass. ; pearl 
ppar in crystals of the above form at Lockport, Rochester, 
Glen's Falls ; gurhofite on Hustis's farm, Phillipstown, N. Y. 

Dolomite was named in honor of the geologist and traveler, 
Dolomieu. 

Uses. Dolomite bums to quicklime like calc spai, and af- 
fords a stronger cement. The white massive variety is used 
extensively as marble. The magnesian lime has been sup- 
posed to injure soils ; but this is believed not to be the case 
if it is air-slaked before being used. It is also employed in 
the manufacture of Epsom salts or sulphate of magnesia. 

What is the composition of dolomite 1 How does it differ from eal« 
dte ? What are its uses 1 



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IW SALTS OF LUU. 

The mineral is subjected to the action of sulphuric acid , the 
sulphate of lime being insoluble is deposited, leaving the sul- 
phate of magnesia in solution. A more economical method 
is to boil the calcined stone in proper proportions in bittern ; 
the muriatic acid of the bittern takes up the lime. 

Ankerite. This species resembles brown spar, and like that becomes 
brown on exposure. The primary is a rhombohedron of 106^ 12'. It 
consists of the carbonates of lime, magnesia, iron, and manganese. The 
Styrian iron ore beds and Saltzbnrg are some of its foreign localities. 
Tt is said to occur in veins at Quebec and at West Springfield, Mass. 



7.\A 



APATITE. — Phosphate of Lime. 

In hexagonal prisms. The annexed figure represents a 
y<:r^->>. crystal from St. Lawrence county, New York, 



Cleavage imperfect. 

Usually occurs in crystals ; but occasionally 
massive ; sometimes mammillary with a compact 
fibrous structure. Small crystals are occasionally 
transparent and colorless, but the usual color is 
green, often yellowish-green, bluish-green, and grayish-green ; 
sometimes yellow, blue, reddish or brownish. Coarse crys- 
tals nearly opaque. Luster resinous, or a little oily. H=5. 
Gr=3 — 3*25. Brittle. Some varieties phosphoresce when 
heated, and some become electric by friction. 

Composition: phosphate of lime 92*1, fluorid of calcium 
7*0, chlorid of calcium 0*9. Infusible before the blowpipe 
except on the edges. Dissolves slowly in nitric acid without 
efifervescence. Its constituents are contained in the bones 
and ligaments of animals, and the mineral has probably been 
derived in many cases from animal fossils.'*' 

Asparagus stone is a translucent wine-yellow variety oc- 
curring in talc at Zillerthal in the Tyrol. Phosphorite is a 
massive variety from Estremadura in Spain, and Schlacken- 
wald in Bohemia. Moroxite is a greenish-blue variety fi^m 
Arendal. Eupyrchroite (Emmons; is a fibrous mammillary 
vaiiety from Crown Point, Essex county, N. Y. 

What is the common form of apatite 1 is colors and appearance ? Ja 
It harder than calc spar ? What is the principal constituent in its com- 
position 1 What is a probable origin of this mineral in many cases ? 

* Bones contain 55 per cent, of phosphate of lime^ with some fluorid 
of calcium, 3 to 12 per cent, of carbonate of lime, some phosphate of 
magnesia and chlorid of sodium, besides 33 per cent, of animal ix^fter. 



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VLVOR SPAR 



121 



Dtf. Distinguished by its inferior hardness iron beryl, it 
being easily scratched with a knife ; by dissolving in acids 
without efiervescence from carbonate of lime and otheV car- 
bonates ; by its difficult fusibility, and giving no metallic 
reaction before the blowpipe from phosphate of lead and 
other metallic species, its phosphorescence is also an im« 
portant characteristic. 

Obs, Apatite occurs in gneiss and mica slate, granular 
limestone, and occasionally in ancient volcanic rocks. The 
finest localities in the United States occur in granular lime- 
stone. The ciystals from the limestone of St. Lawrence 
county, N. Y., are among the largest yet discovered in any 
part of the world. One from Robinson's farm measured a 
foot in length and weighed 18 pounds. But they are nearly 
opaque and the edges are usually rounded. They occur with 
scapolite, sphene, d^c. EdenviUe and Amity, Orange county, 
N. Y., afford fine crystals from half an inch to twelve inches 
long. At Westmoreland, N. H., fine crystals are obtained in 
a vein of feldspar and quartz ; also at Blue Hill bay in Maine. 
Bolton, Chesterfield, Chester, Mass., are other localities. A 
beautifiil blue variety is obtained at Dixon's quarry, Wil- 
mington, Delaware. 

The name apatite, from the Greek apaiao, to deceive^ was 
given in aUusion to the mistake of early mineralogists re- 
infecting the nature of some of its varieties. 

8. ' FLUOR SPAR — Fbiorid of Calcium^ Fluate oflAme, 

Monometric. Cleavage octahedral, perfect. Secondary 
forms, the Mowing : 




Rarely occurs fibrous ; often compact, coarse or fine gran- 
liar. Colors usually bright ; white, or some shade of light 
green, purple, or clear yellow are most common; rarely 
rose-red and sky-blue ; colors of massive varieties often 

How is apatite distingaished from beryll how from carbonates? how 
rom pho8pha«« of lead? What is said of the crystalline form and 
cleavage of 6uor spar ? What is said of its colors and appearance ? 
11 



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122 SALTS OF LIKB* 

banded. The crystals are transparent or translucent. H=x:4. 
Gr=3-14— 3-18. Brittle. 

Composition : fluorine 48*7, calcium 51'3. Phosphoresces 
on a hot iron, giving out a bright light of different colors ; 
in some varieties the light is emerald green ; in others, pur- 
pie, blue, rose-red, pink, or an orange shade. Before the 
blowpipe it decrepitates, and ultimately fuses to an enameL 
Pulverised and moistened with sulphuric acid, a gas is given 
off which corrodes glass. 

The name cMorophane has been given to the variety that 
affords a green phosphorescence. 

Dif. In its bright colors, fluor resembles some of the 
gems, but its soflness at once distinguishes^ it. Its strong 
phosphorescence is a striking characteristic ; and also its 
affording easily, with sulphuric acid and heat, a gas that cor- 
rodes glass. 

Ohs, Fluor spar occurs in veins in gneiss, mica slate, 
clay slate, limestone, and sparingly in beds of coal. It is the 
gangue in some lead mines. 

Cubic crystals of a greenish color, over a foot each way, 
have been obtained at Muscolonge Lake, St. Lawrence 
county, N. Y. Near Shawneetown on the Ohio, a beautiful 
purple fluor in grouped cubes of large size is obtained from 
limestone and the soil of the region. At Westmoreland, 
N. H., at the Notch in the White Mountains, Blue Hill Bay, 
Maine, Putney, Vt., and Lockport, N. Y., are other locaU- 
ties. The chlorophane variety is found with topaz at Hun- 
tington, Conn. 

In Derbyshire, England, fluor spar is abundant, and hence 
it has received the name of Derbyshire spar. It is a common 
mineral in the mining districts of Saxony. 

Fluorid of calcium is also found in the enamel of teeth, 
in bones and some other parts of animals ; also in certain 
parts of many plants ; and by vegetable or animal decompo- 
sition it is a&rded to the soil, to rocks, and also to coal beds 
in which it has been detected. 

Uses, Massive fluor receives a high polish and is worked 
into vases, candlesticks and various ornaments, in Derbyshire, 
England. Some of the varieties from this locality, consisting 
of rich purple shades banded with yellowish white, are very 

What is said of the phosphorescence of calc sparl Of what does it 
coiudst? What is chlorophane ? How is flnor spar distinguished from 
the gems? What are its uses 1 



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TLVon SPAS. 123 

beautiful. The mineral is difficult to woik on account of be« 
ing brittle. It is usually turned in a lathe, and worked down 
first with a fine steel tool ; then with a coarse stone, and 
afterwards with pumice and emery. The crevices which 
occur in the masses are sometimes concealed by filling them 
with galena, a mineral ofien found with the fluor. Fluor 
spar is also used for obtaining fluoric acid, which is employed 
in etching. T© etch glass, a picture, or whatever design it 
is desired to etch, is traced in the thin coating of wax* with 
which the glass is first covered ; -a very small quantity of the 
liquid fluoric acid is then washed over it ; on removing the 
wax, in a few minutes, the picture ib found to be engraved on 
the glass. The same process is used for etching seals, and 
any siliceous stone vnll be attacked with equal facility. Fluor 
spar is also used as a flux to aid in reducing copper and 
other ores, and hence the name ^t<or. 

Hayesine or Hydrous Borate of Lime. Occurs in snowy white inter- 
woven fibers> with gypsum and alum on the plains of Iquique, S. A. 

Hydroboracite. A hydrous borate of lime and magnesia resembling 
Bomewhat a white fibrous gypsum. It is of Caucasian origin. 

Oxalate of Lime. Observed on calc spar in small oblique crystals. 
Locality unknown. 

Nitrate of Lime. In white delicate efflorescences ; deliquescent. 
Also in solution in some waters. The salt is formed in calcareous 
caverns and covered spots of earth where the soil is calcareous. It ii 
extensively used in the manufiacture of saltpeter, (nitrate of potash.) 
Occurs in the caverns of Kentucky and other Western States. 

7. MAGNESIA. 

The sulphates and nitrate of magnesia are soluble, and are 
distinguished by their bitter taste. The other native mag- 
nesian salts are insoluble. The presence of magnesia when 
no metallic oxyds are present is indicated by a blowpipe 
experiment : afler heating a firagment, moisten it with a solu- 
tion of nitrate of cobalt^ and then subject it again to the heat 

How is glass etched by means of fluor spar? What is the origin of 
the name fluor 1 What is said of the occurrence and uses of nitrate 
ot lime ? What is the taste of soluble salts of magnesia 1 What blow- 
ppe test distinguishes them ? 



* The best material is a mixture of bees wax and turpentine renii 
melted together. 



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124 SALTS OF XAGinBSIA. 

of the blowpipe, and it will become pale-red, and deepen in 
color by fusion. 

Specific gravity of the species in this family, below $• 
Hardness of some species as high as 7. 

EPSOM SALT. — Sulphate of Magnesia. 

Trimetric. In modified rhombic prisms, (^* 8, page 26.) 
M : M = 90® 34'. Cleavage perfect parallel with the shorter 
diagonal. Usually in fibrous crusts, or botryoidal masses, 
of a white color. Luster vitreous— earthy. Very soluble, 
and taste bitter and saline. 

Composition : magnesia 16*3, sulphuric acid 32*5, water 
60*2, Deliquesces before the blowpipe. Does not efifer* 
vesce with acids. 

Dif, The fine spicula-like crystalline grains of Epsom 
salt, as it appears in the shops, distinguish it from Glauber 
salt, which occurs usually in thick crystals. 

Obs* The floors of the limestone caves of the West often 
contain Epsom salt in minute crystals mingled with the 
earth. In the Mammoth Cave, Ky.,it adheres to the roof in 
loose masses like snow-balls. It occurs as an efiiorescence 
on the east face of the Helderberg, 10 miles from Coejrmans. 
The fine efflorescences suggested the old name hair saU, 

At Epsom in Surrey, England, it occurs dissolved in min- 
eral springs, and from this place the salt derived the name 
it bears. It occurs at Sediitz, Aragon, and other places in 
Europe ; also in the Cordilleras of Chili ; and in a grotto in 
Southern Afirica, where it forms a layer an inch and a half 
thick. 

Uses, Its medical uses are well known. It is obtained 
for the arts from the bittern of sea-salt works, and quite 
largely from magnesian carbonate of lime, by decomposing 
it with sulphuric acid. The sulphuric acid takes the lime 
and magnesia, expelling the carbonic acid ; and the sulphate 
of magnesia remaining in solution is poured off from the sul- 
phate of lime, which is insoluble. It is then crystallized by 
evaporation. 

MAGNEsiTj:. — Carbonate of Magnesia* 

Rhombohedral ; R : R = 107° 29. Cleavage rhombohe- 
dral, perfect. Oflen in fibrous plates the surface of which 

Of what does Epsom salt consist 1 Where does it occar? Whenot 
the name Epsom ? 



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CAJUBOHATB OF MAOlfSBIA. 125 

fihequentlj consists of minute acicular CTjstals ; b\w granular 
and compact and in tuberous forms. Color white, yellow, 
ish or grayish-white or brown. Luster vitreous; fibrous 
varieties often silky. Transparent to opaque. H=3 — 4^. 
dr ^B ^,^._3. 

Composition: carbonic acid 52*4, and magnesia 47 *G. 
Infusible before the blowpipe. Dissolves slowly with little 
effervescence in nitric or sulphuric acid. 

Dif, Resembles some varieties of carbonate of lime and 
dolomite ; but efifervesces more feebly in acids, does not bum 
to quicklime, and the light before the blowpipe is less intense. 
The fibrous variety is distinguished from amianthus and other 
fibrous minerals associated with it, by its greater hardness 
and more vitreous luster, and from siliceous minerals gen- 
erally by its complete solubility in acids. 

Obs. Magnesito is usually associated with magnesian 
rocks, especially serpentine. At Hoboken, N. J., it occurs 
in this rock in fibrous seams ; similarly at Lynnfield, Mass. ; 
and at Bolton, imperfectly fibrous, traversing white lime- 
stone. 

Uses. When abundant it is a convenient material for the 
manufacture of sulphate of magnesia or Epsom salt, to make 
which, requires simply treatment with sulphuric acid. 

BRuciTE. — Hydrate of Magnesia. 

In foliated hexagonal prisms and plates. Structure thk 
foliated, and thin laminae easily separated and translucent * 
flexible but not ela'^tic. Color white and pearly, often gray- 
ish or greenish. H = 1'5. Gr=2*35. 

Composition: magnesia 69*9, water 31 '0. Infusible be- 
fore the blow^pipe, but becomes opaque and friable. Entirely 
soluble in the acids without effervescence. 

Dif. It resembles talc and g\ psum, but is soluble in acids ; 
it differs from heulandite and stilbite, also by its infusibility. 

Obs. Occurs in serpentine at Hoboken, N. J., and Rich- 
mond Co., N. Y., also at Swinaness in Unst, one of the 
Shetland Isles. 

Nemalite is a fibrous hydrate of magnesia or brucite. The 
following are its characters ; 

a, 

Of what does magncsite consist? How is it distinguished from most 
earthy minerals ? How firom calc spar? For what -ase is it fitted! 
What is the appearance of nemalite ? its composition ? its locality) 
II* 



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126 SALTS OF M AONEIIA. 

Neatly fibrous and silky ; fibres brittle and easOy sepenu 
ble. Color whitish, grayish or bluish white ; transparent, 
but becomes opaque and crumbling on exposure. H=2. 
Gr=235— 2-4. 

Composition : magnesia 62*0 ; protoxyd of iron 4*6 ; water 
28*4 ; carbonic acid 4*1 ; — (Whitney.) In the flame of a 
candle the fibres become opaque, brownish and rigid, and in 
this state easily crumble in the fingers. Phosphoresces with 
a yelTow light when rubbed with a piece of iron. 

Dif, Resembles abestus or amianthus, but differs in 
becoming brittle before ^he blowpipe. 

Obs. Occurs in serpentine at Hoboken, N. J., in green- 
stone at Piermont, Rockland Co., N. Y., and Bergen Hill, 
N.J. 

Hydromagnesite, A pearly crystalline, or earthy white 
pulverulent hydrous carbonate of magnesia, from Hoboken, 
N. J., and Texas, Pa. 

BORACiTE. — Borate of Magnesicu 

Monometric. Cleavage octahedral; but only in traces. 

-T yp _ ^^ Usual in cubes with only the 
alternate angles replaced ; or 
having all replaced, but four 
of them diflferent from the oth- 
er four. The crystals are 








translucent and seldom more than a quarter of an inch 
through. Color white or grayish ; sometimes yellowish or 
greenish. Luster vitreous. H=7. Gr=2'07. Becomes 
electric when heated, the opposite angles of the cube be- 
coming of opposite poles, one north and the other south. 

Composition: boracic acid 70*0, magnesia 30*0. Intu- 
mesces before the blowpipe and forms a glassy globule, 
which becomes crystalline and opaque on cooling. 

Dif. Distinguished readily by its form, high hardness, 
and pyro-electric properties. 

Obs. Boracite is found only with gypsum and common 
salt. It occurs near Luneberg in Lower Saxony, and near 
Kiel in the adjoining dutchy of Holstein. 

Nitrate of Magnesia. Occurs in white deliquescent efflorescences, 
having a bitter taste, associated with nitrate of lime, in limestone cav- 

What is Brucite ? What is its appearance ? How is it distinguished 
from talc, gypsum, and other minerals ? What is said of the crystals of 
boracite 1 What is stated of its electric properties? What is its com* 
position ? What is its mode of occurrence 1 



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SALTS OF ALUMINA. 127 

erns. It is used, like its associate, in the manufactare of aaltpeter 
(see page 102.) 

Folyhalite. A brick-red saline mineral, with a weak bitter taste, 
occurring in masses which have a somewhat fibrous appearance. Con- 
sists of 3ie sulphates of lime, potash and magnesia, with six per cent. 
of water. 

Wagnerite. A fluo-phosphate of magnesia, occurring in yellowish 
or grajrish oblique rhombic prisms. Insoluble. Hsb5 — 5*5. Grss3*l. 
From Salzberg, Germany. 

Ehodizite. Resembles boracite in its crystals, but tinges the blow- 
pipe flame deep red. Occurs with the red tourmaline of Siberia. 

8. ALUMINA. 

The compounds of alumina may oflen be distinguished by 
a blowpipe experiment. If a fragment of alumina after 
having been heated to redness be moistened with a solution 
of nitrate of cobalt and again heated, it assumes before fli- 
sion a blue color. This is a good test, and distinguishes 
aluminous from magnesian minerals, except when the oxyds 
of the metals are present. 

The sulphates, fluorids and some of the phosphates, (tho 
salts included in this family,) are soluble with more or less 
difficulty, in the acids ; and some of the sulphates (the vari- 
ous alums) dissolve readily in water. 

The solution in acids takes place without eflfervescence, 
and without forming a jelly like many silicates of alumina 
(the zeolites, &c.) 

Specific gravities of the species below 3*1. Hardness of 
some species as high as 6. 

NATIVE ALUM. 

Monometric. Cleavage octahedral. Occurs in octahe- 
drons ; but usually in silky fibrous masses, or in 
efflorescent crusts. Taste sweetish astringent. 

There are several kinds of native alum, dif- 
fering in one of the ingredients in their consti- 
tution, but resembling one another in crystalli- 
zing in octahedrons, and in containing the in- 
gredients in exactly the same proportions. They all contain 

What blowpipe experiment distinguishes alumina 1 Wliat is said ei 
(he sulphates of alumina 1 What is the composition of the alums 1 




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128 »ALTB OF ALUMXlfiU 

24 parts of water to 1 part of sulphate of alumSiiay and I pari 
of some other sulphate. In potash-alum^ this sulphate is a 
sulphate of potash. This is the common alnm of the shops. 

The corresponding sulphate in the other alums is as fol- 
lows : — 

Soda-alum^ sulphate of soda ; 

Magnesta-aiumy sulphate of magnesia ; 

Ammonia-alwny sulphate of ammonia ; 

Iron-alum^ sulphate of iron ; 

Manganese-alum^ sulphate of manganese. 

Besides these there is also a hydrous sulphaie of alumina 
without any other sulphate ; it is called feather-alum^ and is 
. even of more common occurrence than any of the true 
alums. 

These alums are formed from the decomposition of pyritesi 
in contact with clay. Iron pyrites is a compound of sulphui 
and iron ; in decomposition, its sulphur and iron unite with 
oxygen derived from the moisture present, and it then be- 
comes sulphate of iron, or a compound of sulphuric acid and 
oxyd of iron. This sulphuric acid, or part of it, by uniting 
with the alumina of the clay rock, produces a sulphate of 
alumina. To form a true alum, a little potash, or soda, dz;c. 
must be present in the clay. The iron of the iron alum pro- 
ceeds from the pyrites which undergoes the decomposition 

These compounds differ but little in taste and appear- 
ance. 

Obs, Potash alum and more abundantly the sulphate of 
alumina (or feather alum), and sulphate of alumina and iron, 
impregnate frequently clay-slates, which are then called 
aluminous slates or shales. These alum rocks are oflen 
quarried and lixiviated for the alum they contain. The rock 
is first slowly heated afler piling it in heaps, in order to de- 
compose the remaining pjrrites and transifer the sulphuric 
acid of any sulphate of iron to the alumina and thus produce 
the largest amount possible of sulphate of alumina. It is 
next lixiviated in stone cisterns. The lye containing this sul- 
phate id afterwards concentrated by evaporation, and then 
the requisite proportion of potash (sulphate or muriate, alum 
containing potash as well as alumina) is added to the lix- 



What 18 the composition of eommon potash atom ? What of a soda 
ahun ? What are alum shales 1 Whence the alum or sulphate of akim 
ina they contain 1 How is alum obtain frcm alum shale 1 



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ALim ST>lfB 129 

mum. A precipitate of ahun falls which is afterwards wash- 
ed and re-ciystallized. The mother liquor left after the pre- 
cipitation is also treated for more alum. This process is 
carried on extensively in Germany, France, at Whitby in 
Yorkshire, Hurlett and Campsie, near Glasgow, in Scot- 
land. Cape Sable in Maryland, affords large quantities of 
alum annuaUy. The slates of coal beds are often used to 
advantage in this manufacture, owing to the decomposing 
pyrites present. At Whitby, 130 tons of calcined schisi 
give one ton of alum. In France, ammoniacal salts are 
used instead of potash, and an ammoniacal alum is formed. 
Soda alum has been observed at the Solfataras in Italy, 
near Mendoza in South America, on the island of Milo in 
the Grecian Archipelago. Magnesia alum forms large fib- 
. rous masses, delicately silky, near Iquique, S. A. This is 
the Pickeringite of Mr. A. A. Hayes. Ammonia alum oc- 
curs at Tschermig in Bohemia. 

Alunitb.— -ilZtfm SUme. 

Rhombohedral, with a perfect cleavage parallel with a, 
(fig. 62, p. 39.) R : R=89*> 10'. Also massive. Color 
white, grayish or reddish. Luster of crystals vitreous, or a 
little pearly on a. Transparent to translucent H=4. Gr= 
2-58— 2-75. 

Composition: sulphuric acid 38*5, alumina 37*1, potash 
11*4, water 13*0=100. Decrepitates in the blowpipe flame 
and is infusible both alone and with soda. In powder, sol« 
uble in sulphuric acid. 

Dif. Distinguished by its inflisibUity, in connection with 
its complete solubility in sulphuric acid without forming a 
jelly. 

Ohs, Found in rocks of volcanic origin at T0I&, near 
Rome, and also at Beregh and elsewhere in Hungary. 

Uses. At Tolfa, alum is obtained from it by repeatedly 
roasting and lixiviating it and finally crystallizing by evapo- 
ration. The variety fi)und in Hungary is so hard as to ad- 
mit of being used for millstones. 

Websterite. Another sulphate of alumina, in . compact reniform 
masses and tasteless. From Newhaven in Sussex, Epemay in France^ 
and Halle in Prussia. It is called also aluminite. 

What is the color and appearance of alum stone ? What its compo- 
ntion 1 What its use, and where is it extensively employed 7 



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130 SALTS OF ALUMINA. 



WAVELLITB. 




Trimetric. Usually in small hemispheres a third or half 
an inch across, attached to the 
surface of rocks, and having a 
finely radiated structure within ; 
when broken off they leave a 
stellate circle on the rock. 
Sometimes in rhombic crystals. 

Color white or yellowish and brownish, with a somewhat 
pearly or resinous luster. Sometimes green, gray or black. 
Translucent.. H=3-5 — 4. Gr=2-23— 2-37. 

Composition : alumina 33*8, phosphoric acid 34*9, water 
26*6, fluorid of aluminium, 4*6. Whitens before the blow- 
pipe but does not fuse. 

Dif, Distinguished from the zeolites, ,some of which it 
resembles, by giving the reaction of phosphorus and also by 
dissolving in acids without gelatinizing. Cacoxene, to which 
it is allied, becomes dark reddish-brown before the blowpipe, 
and gives the reaction of iron. 

Obs. Near Saxton's River, Bellows Falls, Vt., and also 
at Washington mine, Davidson Co., N. C. It was first dis- 
covered by Dr. Wavel, in clay slate in Devonshire. Occurs 
also in Bohemia and Bavaria. 

Fiacherite is another hydrous phosphate of alumina containing less 
phosphoric acid. Gr=3'46. Color dull green. Translucent. Some- 
times in six-sided prisms. From the Ural. 

TURQUOIS. 

In opaque reniform masses without cleavage, of a bluish 
green color and somewhat waxy luster. H=6. Grss 
2-9—3. 

Composition : phosphoric acid 30*9, alumina 44*5, oxyd of 
copper 3*7, protoxyd of iron 1*8, water 19*0=99'9« 
Before the blowpipe it is infusible, but colors the fiame green 
and in the inner cone becomes brown. Loses its bliie color . 
in muriatic acid. 

Dif, Distinguished from bluish green feldspar, which it 
resembles, by its infusibility and the reaction of phosphorus. 

Obs, Turquois is brought from a mountainous district in 

What is the usual appearance of Wavellite? What is its composi- 
tion ? What distinguishes it from the zeolites ? What is the color and 
appearance of turquois 1 Its constituents ? How is it distinguished 
from a variety of feldspar ? Where ip H found ? 



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eiBBBITB. 181 

Persia, not ikr from Nichabour, and according to Agaphi 
occurs in veins, that traverse the mountain in every direc- 
tion. 

The caU-ais of Pliny was probably turquois. Pliny, in 
his description of it, mentions the fable that it was found in 
Asia, projecting from the sur&ce of inaccessible rocks, 
whence it was obtained by means of slings. 

Uses. Turquois receives a fine polish and is highly es- 
teemed as a gem. In Persia it is much admired, and the 
Persian king is said to retain for himself^ all the large and 
more finely tinted specimens. The occidental or hone Tur- 
quois, a much inferior and softer stone, is fossil teeth or 
brines, colored with a little phosphate of iron. Green malam 
chife is sometimes substituted for turquois, but it is much soft- 
er and has a different tint of color. The stone is so well 
imitated by art as scarcely to be detected except by chemi- 
cal tests. The imitation is much softer than true turquois. 

GiBBsiTE. — Hydrate of Alumina. 

In small stalactitic shapes or mammillary and incrusting. 
Color grayish or greenish white ; surface smooth but nearly 
dull. Structure sometimes nearly fibrous. Rarely in hex« 
agonal crystals. Hc=s3 — 3*5. Gr==2'3 — 2*4. 

Composition : alumina 65*6, water 34*4.-^Torrey.) Re- 
cent examinations have shown that the mineral contains 
phosphoric acid only in traces. Prof. B. Silliman, Jr.^as 
also found, in specimens examined by him, as impurity ci 
proportion of silica without phosphoric acid. The mineral 
has resulted from the decomposition of feldspar or some 
aluminous mineral, and probably varies in composition. It 
whitens but does not fuse before the blowpipe. 

Dif. Resembles chalcedony but is softer. 

Obs. Occurs in a bed of brown iron ore at Richmond, 
Mass., and at Unionvale, Dutchess county, N. Y. This 
species was named in honor of Col. George Gibbs. 

Lazulite, In compact masses ; rarely in oblique crystals. Color 
fine azure blue, and nearly opaque, with a vitreous luster. H=5 — 6. 
Gr=3-057. Brittle. Contains phosphoric acid 41-8, alumina 35*7 
magnesia 9-3, silica 2], protoxyd of iron 2*6, water 6-l=97*7. It in* 

What is said of its use ? How is it distingniplied from false or arti- 
ficial turquois 1 What is the appearance of Gibbsite 1 What is said 
of its composition ? How is it distinguished from chalcedony ? Wiiat 
is the constitution of lazulite 1 its color ] 



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132 



RTLICA. 



tumesces before the blowpipe without fusing. Octars in reins hi cloy 
slate at Salzberg and in Styria; in the United States, near Crowdei 
Mountain, Lincoln county, N. C. 

Mellite or Honey atone. In square octahedrons, looking like a honey- 
yellow resin ; may be cut with a knife. It is mellatc of alumin& 
Found in Prussia and Austria. 

Cryolite. In snow white masses, having rectangular cleavages, and 
remarkable for melting easily in the flame of a candle, to which its 
name (from the Greek kruo8, tee,) alludes. H=<bS 25— 2 5. Grs2'95. 
It is a fluorid of aluminium and sodium. From Greenland. 

Chiolite is near cryolite in composition and characters. HsS'S. 
Gr=3&— 3-90. From Siberia. 

JFluellite. From Cornwall, in minute white rhomlHC octahedrons. 
Contains fluorine and aluminium. 

Childrenite. Found in Derbjrshire, Eng., in minute yellowish brown 
crystals coating spathic iron. Consists of phosi^ricadd, alumina and 
iron, with water. 

Amhlygonite. A compound of phosphoric acid, alumuui and lithia. 
Found in Saxony, in pale green crystals. 

Diaspore, or Vihydrate of Alumina. Occurs in irregular lamellat 
prisms, having a brilliant cleavage ; color greenish gray or hair brown. 
H=6— 7*0. Gr=3-43. It decrepitates with violence be/ore the blow- 
pipe. From the Urals, in granular limestone. At Trumbull, Ct 

CLASS VT.— EARTHY MINERALS. 

1. SILICA. 

QUAKTZ. 

Rhombohedral. Occurs usually in six-sided prisms, more 
or liss modified, terminated with six-sided pyramids : R ; R=* 
94° 15'. No cleavage apparent, seldom even in traces ; but 
sometimes obtained by heating the crystal and plunging it 
into cokH^ater. The following are some of its forms : 
1 a 3 4 5 




Occurs sometimes in coarse radiated forms ; also coarse 
and fine granular ; also^compact, either amorphous or pre« 
senting stalactitic and mamillary shapes. 

Crystals are often as pellucid as glass, and usually color 

What is the usual form of quartz crvstaJst 



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QtTABTZ. 139 

lesB ; but sometimes present topaz^jellow, amethjstiiiey rose 
or smoky tints. Also of all degrees of transparency to 
opacity, and of various shades of yellow, red, green, blue and 
brown colors, to black. In some varieties the colors are in 
bands, stripes, or clouds. H=7. Gr==2*6 — 2'7. 

Composition : quartz is pure silica. Opaque varieties of- 
ten contain oxyd of iron, clay, chicnrite or some other mineral 
disseminated through them. Alone be&re the blowpipe infu- 
sible, but with soda melts readily with a brisk efifervescence* 

Dif. Quartz is a constituent of many rocks, and composes 
most of the pebbles of the soil or gravel beds. There is no 
mineral which takes on so many forms and colors, yet 
none is more easily distingubhed. A few simple trials 
are all that is required. 

1. Hardness — scratches glass with facility* 

2. InfusibHity — ^not melting in any heat obtained with the 
blowpipe. 

3. Insolubility — ^not being attacked, like limestone, in any 
way, by the three acids. 

4. Absence of any thing like cleavage. One variety ap- 
pears to be laminated, but it consists merely of apposed 
plates, which are the result of having been formed or de- 
posited in successive layers, and cannot be mistaken for 
cleavage plates. 

To these characteristics, its action with soda might be 
added. In the crystallized varieties, the form alone is suffi- 
cient to distinguish it. 

Varibties. — ^The varieties of quartz owe their peculiar- 
ities either to crystallization, mode of formation, or impuri- 
tieis, and they fall naturally into three series. 

I. The vitreous varieties^ distinguished by their glassy 
fracture. 

n. The chalcedonic varieties^ having a subvitreous or 
a waxy luster, and generally translucent. 

in. The jaspery varieties, having barely a glimmeiing 
luster and opaque. 

1. Vitreous Varieties. 

Rock Crystal. Pure pellucid quartz. 

This is the mineral to which the word crystal was first 
applied by the ancients ; it is derived from the Greek krus* 

What is said of the color and appearance of quartz ? How is it dis- 
tingaiahed ? What are the three claases of varieties 1 What is the 
origin of the word crystal ] 

12 



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184 SILICA. 

taUaSj meaning ice. The pure specimens are often cut and 
used in jewelry, under the name of " white stone." 

It is oflen used for optical instruments and spectacle gla^s, 
and even in ancient times was made into cups a^d vases. 
Nero is said to have dashed to pieces two cups of this kind 
on hearing of the revolt that caused his ruin, one of which 
cost him a sum equal to 93000. 

Am^hyst. A purple or bluish-violet variety of quartz- 
crystal, oflen of great beauty. The color is owing to a 
trace of oxyd of manganese. It was so called on account 
of its supposed preservative powers against intoxication. 
The amethyst, especially when large and finely colored, 
is highly esteemed as a gem. It is always set in gold. 

Rose Quartz, A pink or rose-colored quartz. It seldom 
occurs in crystals, but generally in masses much fractured, 
and imperfectly transparent. The color fades on exposure 
to the light, and on this account it is little used as an orna- 
mental stone, yet is sometimes cut into cups and vases. 
The color may be restored by leaving it in a moist place. 

Fedse Topaz. This name is applied to the light yellow 
pellucid crystals. They are oflen cut "and set for topazes. 
The absence of cleavage distinguishes it from true topaz. 
The name citrine, oflen applied to this variety, alludes to its 
yellow color. 

Smoky Quartz. A smoky-tinted quartz crystal. The 
color is sometimes so dark as to be nearly black and opaque 
except in splinters. Crystals of the lighter shades are often 
extremely beautiful and are used for seals and the less deli- 
cate kinds of jewelry. It is the caimgorum stone. 

Milky quartz, A milk-white, nearly opaque, massive 
quartz, of very common occurrence. It has often a greasy 
luster, and is then called greasy quartz. 

Prase. A leek-green massive quartz, resembling some 
shades of beryl in tint, but easily distinguished by the ab- 
sence of cleavage and its infusibility. It is supposed to be 
colored by a trace of iron. 

Aventurine Quartz. Common quartz spangled throughout 
with scales of golden-yellow mica. It is usually translucent, 
and gray, brown, or reddish brown, in color. The artificial 



What use is made of rock crystal ? What is the color of amethyst 1 
'^y was it so called 1 What is rose quartz ? What is said of its 
'olor ? What is false topaz 7 How is it used 1 What is smoky quartz 1 
^hat is milky quartz? What is prase? What is aventurine quartz 7 



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auARrz. 135 

imitations of this stone are more beautifiL than the natural 
aventurine. 

Ferruginous Quartz, Includes opaque, yellow, brcwnish- 
yellow, and red crystals. The color is due to oxyd of iron. 
These crystals are usually very regular in their forms, (fig 
ure 2,) and not distorted like the limpid crystals. They are 
sometimes minute and aggregated like the grains of sand in a 
sandstone. 

II. Chalcedonic Varieties. 

Chalcedony. A translucent massive variety, with a glis- 
tening and somewhat waxy luster ; usually of a pale grayish, 
bluish, or light brownish shade. It often occurs lining or 
filling cavities in amygdaloid and other rocks. 

These cavities are nothing but little caverns, into which 
siliciceous waters have filtrated at some period. The stalac- 
tites are ^ icicles" of chalcedony, hung from the roof of the 
cavity. Some of these chalcedony grottos are several feet 
in diameter. 

Chrysoprase. An apple-green chalcedony. It is colored 
by nickel. 

Cornelian. A bright red chalcedony, generally of a clear 
rich tint. It is cut and polished and much used in the more 
common jewelry. The colors are deepened by exposure of 
several weeks to the sun's rays. It is oflen cut for seals and 
beads. The Japanese cut great numbers into beads of the 
form of the fruit of the olive. 

Sard. A deep-brownish red chalcedony, of a blood-red 
color by transmitted light. 

Agate. A variegated chalcedony. The colors are dis- 
tributed in clouds, spots, or concentric lines. These lines 
take straight, circular, or zigzag forms ; and when the latter, 
it is Q^^ fortification agate, so named from the resemblance 
to the angular outlines of a fortification. These lines are 
the edges of layers of chalcedony, and these layers are the 
successive deposits during the process of its formation. 
Mocha stone or Moss agate is a brownish agate, consisting 
of chalcedony with dendritic or moss-like delineations, of an 
opaque yellowish brown color. They arise firom dissem- 
inated oxyd of iron ; all the varieties of agate are beau- 

What is ferruginous quartz 1 Describe chalcedony. What is said 
jf its formation 1 What is chrysoprase 1 What is camelian ? How ig 
its color deepened 1 For what is it used 1 What is sard ? Describe 
«S&te. 



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IS6 stLICA. 

tlful Btones when polbhcd, but are not much used in fin<) 
jewelry. The colors may be darkened by boilmg the stone 
in oil, and then dropping it into sulphuric acid. A little oil 
is absorbed by some of the layers, which becomes blackened 
or charred by- the acid. 

Onyx. This is a kind of agate with the colors arranged 
in flat horizontal layers. They are usually light clear brown 
and an opaque white. When the stone consists of said 
and white chalcedony in alternate layers, it is called «ar- 
donyx. 

Onyx is the material used for cameos, and is well fitted 
tor this kind of miniature sculpture. The figure is carved 
out of one layer and stands in relief on another. The most 
noted of the ancient cameos is the M antuan vase at Bruns- 
wick. It was cut from a single stone, and has the form of a 
creampot, about 7 inches high and 2^ broad. On its out- 
side, which is of a brown color, there are white and yellow 
groups of raised figures, representing Ceres and Triptolemus 
in search of Proserpine. The M useo Borbonico contains an 
onyx measuring eleven inches by nine, i-epresenting the 
apotheosis of Augustus ; and another exhibiting the apothe- 
osis of Ptolemy on one side and the head of Medusa on the 
other. Both are splendid specimens of the ait, and the 
former is supposed to be the largest in existence. 

Cats eye. This is a greenish-gray translucent chalcedo- 
ny, having a peculiar opalescence, or glaring internal reflec- 
tions, like the eye of a cat, when cut with a spheroidal sur- 
face. The effect is owing to filaments of asbestus. It 
comes from Ceylon and Malabar, ready cut and polished, and 
is a gem of considerable value. 

Flinty Homstone. Flint is massive compact silica, of dark 
shades of smoky gray, brown, or even black, and feebly trans- 
lucent. It breaks with sharp cutting edges and a conchoid- 
al surface. It is well known as the material of gun-flints. 
It occurs in nodules in chalk : not unfrequently the nodules 
are in part chalcedonic. Homstxme resembles flint, but is 
more brittle, and therefore unfit for making into flints. It is 
found in limestone, and one of these rocks is called cherty 
limestone, firom the abundance of it 

Plasma. This is a faintly translucent variety of chalce- 

How may the colors of agate be deepened ? What is onyzl For 
what is it used ? What are some of the remarkable cameos ? What 
is cat's eye ? What is flint? How does it differ from homstone. 



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QUARTZ 187 

danj approaching jasper, of a greenish color, sprinkled with 
yellow and whitish dots. 

III. Jaspery Varieties. 

Jasper. A^ull red or yellow siliceous rock, containing 
some clay and yellow or red oxyd of iron. The yellow 
jasper becomes red by heat, owing to its rendering the iron 
anhydrous.^ It also occurs of green and other shades. Ru 
hand jasper is a jasper consisting of broad stripes of green, 
yellow, gray, red or brown. Egyptian jasper consists of 
these colors in irregular concentric zones, and occurs in no* 
dules, which are usually sawn across and polished. Ruin 
jasper is a varieQr with delineations like ruins, of some 
brownish or yeUowish shade on a darker ground. Porcelain 
jasper is nothing but a baked ckty, and differs from jasper in 
beiujg fusible before the blowpipe. Red porphyry resembles 
red jasper; but this is also fusible, and consists almost purely 
of feldspar. 

Jasper admits of a high polish, and is a handsome stone 
for inlEdd work, but is not used as a gem. 

Bloodstone or Heliotrope. This is a deep green stone, 
slightly translucent, containing spots of red, which have 
some resemblance to drops of blood. It contains a few per 
cent, of clay and oxyd of iron mechanically combined with 
the silica. The red spots are colored with iron. There is 
a bust of Christ in the royal collection at Paris, cut in this 
stone, in which the red spots are so managed as to represent 
drops of blood. 

hydian stone^ Touchstonej Basanite. A velvet-black si* 
liceous stone or flinty jasper, used on account of its hardness 
and black color for trying the purity of the precious metals ; 
this was done by comparing the color of the tracing left on 
it with that of an alloy of known character. 

Besides the above there are also two or three other varie- 
ties, arising from structure. 

Float stone. This variety consists of fibres or filaments, 
aggregated in a spongy form, and so light as to float in wa- 
ter. It comes J&om the chalk formations of Menil Montaui, 
near Paris. 

Tabular quartz. Consists of thin plates, either parallel 
or crossing one another and leaving large open cells. 

Crranular quartz, A rock consisting of quartz grain 
compactly cemented. The colors are white, gray, flesh-red 

Whatisplaona? Whatis^aaper? >Vhat is bloodstone? Lydian stone 
12* 



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138 SILICA. 

yellowish or reddish brown. Sandstone often consists of' 
nearly pure quartz. 

Silic'Jied wood. Petrified wood often consists of quartz. 
Some specimens, petrified with chalcedony or agate, are 
remarkably beautifiil when sawn across and polished, re- 
taining all the texture or grain as perfect as in the original 
wood. 

Penetrating mbstances. Quartz crystals are sometimes 
penetrated by other minerals. Rutile, asbestus, actinolite, 
topaz, tourmaline, chlorite and anthracite, are some of these 
substances. The rutile often looks like needles or fine hairs 
of a brown color passing through in every direction. They 
are cut for jewelry, and in France pass by the name o^Fliches 
d^amour, (love's arrows.) The crystals of Heritimer county, 
N. Y., often contain anthracite. Other crystals contain 
cavities fiUed with some fluid, as water, naphtha or lomo 
mineral solution. 

Zroc. Fine quartz crystals occur in Herkimer county, 
New York, at Middlefield, Little Falls, Salisbury and New- 
port, in the soil and in cavities in a sandstone. The beds of 
iron ore at Fowler and Hermon, St. Lawrence county, af- 
ford dodecahedral crystals. Diamond rock near Lansing- 
burg is an old locality, but not afifording at present good 
specimens. Diamond Island, Lake George, Pelham and 
Chesterfield, Mass., Paris and Perry, Me., and Meadow Mt., 
Md., are other localities. Small unpolished rhombohedrons, 
the primary form, have been found at Chesterfield, Mass. 
Rose quartz is found at Albany and Paris, Me., Acworth, 
S. H., and Southbury, Conn. ; smoky quartz at Goshen, 
Mass., Paris, Me., and elsewhere ; amethyst at Bristol, R. L, 
and Kewenaw Point, Lake Superior ; chalcedony and agates 
of moderate beauty near Northampton, and along the trap of 
the Connecticut valley — but finer near Lake Superior, upon 
some of the Western rivers, and in Oregon; chryroprase 
occurs at Belmont's lead mine, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., 
and a green quartz (often called chryroprase) at New Fane, 
Vt, along with fine drusy quartz ; red jasper occurs on the 
banks of the Hudson at Troy, and at Saugus near Boston, 
Mass. , yellmc jasper is found with chalcedony at Chester, 
Mass. ; Heliotrope occupies veins in slate at Blooomingrove, 
Orange county, N. Y. 

What is granular quartz ? What is said. of silicified wood t What 
are common penetrating substances ? 



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SILICA. 180 



OFAL. 



Compact and amorphous ; also in reniform and stalactitio 
shapes. Presents internal reflections, oilen of several colors, 
and the finest opals exhibit a rich play of colors of deli- 
cate shades when turned in the hand. White, yellow, red, 
browii, green and gray are some of the shades that occur, 
and impure varieties are daik and opaque. Luster sub- 
vitreous. H=5-5— 6-5. Gr.=2-21. 

Campasition : opal consists of soluble silica and 5 to 12 
per cent of water. 

Yaristibs. 

Precious opal^ Noble oped. External color usually milky, 
but within there is a rich play of delicate tints. Composu 
lion, silica 90, water 10, (Klaproth.) This variety forms a 
gem of rare beauty. It is cut with a convex surface. The 
largest mass of which we have any knowledge is in the im- 
perial cabinet of Vienna ; it weighs 17 ounces, and is nearly 
as large as a man's fist, but contains numerous fissures and 
is not entirely disengaged from the matrix. This stone was 
well known to the ancients and highly valued by them. 
They called it paiderosj or chUd beautiful as Lave, . The 
noble opal is found near Cashau in Hungary, and in Hon- 
duras, South America ; also on the Faroe Islands. 

Fire opalj Girasol. An opal with yellow and bright hya- 
cinth or fire-red reflections. It comes from Mexico and the 
Faroe Islands. 

Common opal^ Semiopal. Common opal has the hardness 
of opal and is easily scratched by quartz, a character which 
distinguishes it from some silicious stones often called semi- 
opal. It has sometimes a milky opalescence, but does not 
reflect a play of colors. The InSter is slightly resinous, and 
the colors are white, gray, yellow, bluish, greenish to dark 
grayish green. Translucent to nearly opaque. Philiips 
&und nearly 8 per cent, of water in one specimen. 

Hydrophone. This variety is opaque white or yellowish 
when dry, but becomes translucent and opalescent when im- 
mersed in water. 

Cacholong. Opaque white, or bluish white, and usually 



Describe opal. How does it differ from quartz in compositioD 1 What 
9 said of the appearance and value of noble opal 1 What is fiie opal 1 
ommon opal ? 



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140 BILIOA. 

associated with chalcedony. Much of what is so called fa 
nothing but chalcedony ; but other specimens contain water, 
and are allied to hydrophane. It contains also a little alum- 
ina and adheres to the tongue. It was first brought from 
the river Cach in Bucharia. 

Hyalite^ MttUer^s glass. A glassy transparent yarie^ 
occurring in small concretions and occasionally stalactitic. 
It resembles somewhat a transparent gum arable. Com- 
position, silica 92*00, water 6*83, (Bucholz.) 

MenUiie. A brown opaque variety, in compact reniform 
masses, occasionally slaty. Composition, silica 85*5, water 
11*0, (Klaproth.) It is found in slate at Menil Montant, 
near Paris. 

Wood oped. This is an impure opal, of a gray, brown or 
black color, having the structure of wood, and looking much 
like common silicified wood. It is wood petrified with a 
hydrated silica, (or opal,) instead of pure sUica, and is dis 
tinguished by its lightness and inferior hardness. Specific 
gravity, 2. 

Opal jasper. Resembles jasper in appearance, and con- 
tains a few per cent, of iron ; but it is not so hard owing to 
the water it contains. 

Siliceous sinter has often the composition of opal, though 
sometimes simply sUica. The name is given to a loos« 
porous siliceous rock usually of a grayish color. It is de- 
posited around the Geysers of Iceland in cellular or compact 
masses, sometimes in fibrous, stalactitic or cauUflower-like 
shapes. Pearl sinter, or forite occurs in volcanic tufii in 
smooth and shining globular or botryoidal masses, having a 
pearly luster. 

Tabasheer is a siliceous aggregation found in the joints of 
the bamboo in India. It contains several per cent, of water, 
and has nearly the appearance of hyalite. 

Dif, Infusibility before the blowpipe is the best character 
for distinguishing opal from pitchstone, pearlstone, and other 
species it resembles. The absence of anything like cleav- 
age or crystalline structure is another characteristic. Its 
mferior hardness separates it from quartz. 

Ohs. Hyalite is the only variety of opal that has yet 
been found in the United States. It occurs sparingly at the 



What is hyalite ? wood opal ? siliceous sinter 7 tabasheer 7 How iC 
opal distinguished from pitchstone and quartz ] 



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TABULAR 8PAB. 141 

Phillips ore bed, Putnam county, N. Y., and in Burke and 
Scriven counties, Georgia. The Suanna spring in Georgia 
afibrds small quantities of siliceous sinter. 

9. UME. 

The sOicates and borosilicate of lime gelatinize readily 
and perfectly with muriatic acid. In hardness they are not 
above feldspar, (6,) and their specific gravities do not exceed 
8. They fuse before the blowpipe with different degrees of 
&cOity, affording no metallic reaction.. 

W0LLA8T0NITB. — Toibular Spar* 

Monoclinic. Rarely in oblique flattened prisms. Usual- 
ly massive, cleaving easily in one direction, and showing a 
lined or indistinctly columnar sur&ce, with a vitreous luster 
inclining to pearly. 

Usually white, but sometimes tinged with yellow, red, or 
brown. Translucent, or rarely subtransparent. Brittle. 
H=4— 5. Gr=2-75— 2-9. 

Composition : silica 52, lime 48. Fuses with difficulty to 
a subtransparent, colorless glass ; forms with borax a clear 
glass. 

Dif. Differs from any carbonates in not e^rvescing with 
acids ; from asbestus and nemalite in its more vitreous ap- 
pearance and fracture ; and from these and tremolite in its 
forming a jelly with acids ; from natrolite, scolecite and dys- 
clasite in its very broad «u&-fibrous cleavage surface and 
more difficult fusibility ; from feldspar in the lined appear- 
ance of a cleavage sur&ce and the action of acids. 

Obs. Usually found in granite or granular limestone; 
occasially in basalt or lava. 

At Willsboro', Lewis, Diana, and Roger's Rock, N. Y., 
it is abundant, of a white color, along with garnet. At 
Boonville, it is found in boulders with garnet and pyroxene. 
Grenville, Lower Canada, and Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
are other localities. Occurs also at Kewenaw Point, Lake 
Superior. 

What are the prominent characters of the silicates and borosilicate 
of lime 1 What is the color and appearance of tabular spar ? Of what 
does it consist 1 How does it differ from the carbonatet 1 how from 
asbestufl, tremoUte, and feldspar? 



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143 UMB. 



VATKOLiTR^-Baronliciite of lAme. 

Trimetric. In hemihedral rhombic prisms. M : M=l 16* 
26'. Crystals without distinct cleavage ; small and glassy. 
Also botryoidal, with a columnar structure, and then called 
botryolUe. Color white, occasionally grayish, greenish, yel- 
lowish or reddish. Translucent. H=«5 — 5*5. Gr=2'9 
—3. 

Composttion: silica 37*4, lime 85*7, boracic acid 21*3 
water 5*7. Botryolite contains twice the proportion of water 
Rendered friable in the flame of a candle. Before the blow 
pipe becomes opaque, intumesces and melts to a glassy 
globule coloring the flame green. Forms a jelly easily with 
nitric acid. 

Dif, Its small glassy complex crystallizations without 
cleavage are unlike any other mineral that gelatinizes with 
acid, except some chabazites, from which it is distinguished 
by tinging the blowpipe flame green, and having greater 
hardness. 

Obs, Occurs in amygdaloid and gneiss. In Connecticut, 
the finest come from Roaring brook, 14 miles from New 
Haven. The Rocky Hill quarry near Hartford, Berlin, M id- 
dlefield Falls, Conn., and Bergen Hill and Patterson in New 
Jersey, are other localities ; also in great abundance at 
Eagle Harbor in the copper region, Lake Superior. 

Uses, Where abundant, as near Lake Superior, it may 
be profitably employed in the manufiicture of boracic acid. 
It is suggested by Dr. C. T. Jackson as a good flux for the 
copper ores. 

Okenite. In white fibrous seams or masses, consisting of delicate 
fibers, and singularly tough under the hammer ; color whitish, yellowish 
or bluish. Hs4'5. GrsS'28— 3-36. Composition, silica 570, lima 
26*4, water 16*6. Fuses on the edges. Grelatinizes easily in muriatic 
acid. From the Faroe Islands in trap ; also from Greenland. DtfBcla- 
site is this species. 

PectoliU, Divergent, fibrous and rtsembling dysclasite. Luster weak 
pearly. H=4 — 5. Grs2*69. Com;Nintton, silica 52*5, alumina, 36*1 , 
soda 8.0, water 3*4. Fuses to a white transparent glass. From the 
Tyrol and Fassa-thaL Also from Bergen Hill and Isle Royale, Lake 
Superior. The Bergen Hill mineral has been called stellite. 

What is said of the crystals of datholite ? How much boracio add 
oes datholite contain 1 How is it distinguished ? 



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TALC. 148 

Danhurite, A silicate of lime and boracie acid, of a yellowish white 
color. H=7. Gr=2-96. Occars at Danbury, Ct., with oligoclaae. 

3. MAGNESIA. 
The blowpipe test for distinguishing magnesia when not 
disguised by the presence of a metallic oxyd, is given on 
page 123. None of the silicates of magnesia gelatinize with 
acids. The species vary in hardness from 1 to 8.* 

1. Hydrous Silicates of Magnesia, 

TALC. 1^ 

Trimetric. In right rhombic or'hexagonal prisms. M : 
M = 120° Usually in pearly foliated masses, separating 
easily into thin translucent folia. Sometimes stellate, or 
divergent, consisting of radiating laminae ; oflen massive, con- 
sisting of minute pearly scales ; also crystalline granular, or 
of a fine impalpable texture. 

Luster eminently pearly, and feel unctuous. Color some 
shade of light green or greenish white ; occasionally silvery 
white ; also grayish green and dark olive green. H = 1 — 
1*5 ; easily impressed with the nail. Gr = 2*5 — 2*9. Lam- 
inse flexible, but not elastic. 

Varieties. 

Foliated talc. The purest talc, occurring in foliated masses, 
of a white or greenish white color, and having an unctuous 
isei. 

Soapstane^ or Steatite. A gray or grayish green massive 
talc, showing often when broken a fine crystalline texture, 
occasionally yellowish or reddish. The Brianqon variety is 
milk-white, with a pearly lustre, very greasy to the feel, or 
like soap. 

Patstone, or Ijopis oUaris. An impure talc, of grayish 
green and dark green colors and slaty structure. Feel 
unctuous. 

Do any sUicates of magnesia gelatinize with acids? Describe talc. 
Vhatis steatite] What is potstone? 

» The base magnesia is replaceable by protoxyd of iron, protoxyd of 
manganese, or lime, as illustrated in the species pyroxene, and conse 
qnently this group embraces compounds which are not purely silicate 
•f magnesia 



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144 KAomsiA. 

Indurated talc. A slaty talc, of compact texture, and 
above the usual hardness, owing to impurities. Feel some 
what unctuous. This passes into talcose da^, still less 
pure and less unctuous in its feel, and coarser in its slaty 
structure. 

RenssdaerUe. This name has been given by Professor 
Emmons to a kind of soapstone from St. Lawrence, Jeffer- 
son county, N. Y., which has a very compact structure, a 
soapy feel, slight transkcency, and hardness 3 to 4. It oc- 
curs of white, yellow, or gi*ayish white colors, and even 
black. It works up with a very smooth and handsome sur- 
face, and is made into inkstands. 

Composition of foliated talc, silica 62*8, magnesia 32*4, 
with protoxyd of iron 1*6, alumina 1*0, water 2*3. Water 
is considered by some chemists an essential ingredient, and 
4 per cent, have been detected in some talcs. 

Composition of steatite, silica 62*2, magnesia, 30*5, pro- 
toxyd of iron 2*5, water 5*0. Before the blow-pipe talc loses 
its color and fuses with great difficulty. 

Dif* The unctuous feel, foliated structure, and pearly 
uster of talc are good characteristics. It differs from mica 
also in being inelastic, although flexible; 6rom chlorite, 
saponite and serpentine in yielding no water when heated 
in a glass tube. Only the massive varieties*resemble the last 
mentioned species, and chlorite has a dark olive-green color. 

Obs. Handsome foliated talc occurs at Bridgewater, Vt. ; 
Smithfield, R. I. ; Dexter, Me. ; Lockwood, Newton and 
Sparta, N. J., and Amity, N. Y. On Staten Island, near 
the quarantine, both the common and indurated are obtained; 
at Cooptown, Md., green, blue and rose colored talc occur. 
Steatite or soapstone is abundant, and is quarried at Graf 
ton, Vt., and an adjacent town ; at Francestown and Orfbrd, 
N. H. It also occurs at Keene and Richmond, N. H. ; at 
Marlboro and New Fane, Vt. ; at Middlefield, Mass. ; in 
Loudon county, Va., and at many other places. 

Uses. Steatite may be sawn into slabs and turned in a 
lathe. It is used fer fire stones in furnaces and stoves, and 
for jambs fer fire-places. It receives a polish after being 
heated, and has then a deep olive-green color. It is borea 
out for conveying water, in place of lead tubes. Steatite is 

How does talc difier from mica 1 Of what does talc consist 1 Why 
» it useful for fire stones? What other uses has it? 



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tmLORITB. 145 

also used in the manu&cture of porcelain , it makes the bis- 
cuit semi-transparent, but brittle and apt to break with slight 
changes of heat. It forms a polishing material for serpen- 
tine, alabaster and ^ass, and removes grease spots from 
cloth. When ground up, it is employed for diminishing the 
friction of machinery. Potstone is worked into vessels for 
culinary purposes, at Como in Lombardy. 

CULOSITK. )^ 

Usually in dark olive-green masses, having a granular 
texture : rarely in hexagonal crystals, foliated like talc and 
in radiated forms. Luster a little pearly. Rarely subtrans^ 
parent ; subtranslucent to opaque. Laminae inelastic. H = 
1*5. Gr=2'65 — ^2*85. Feel scarcely unctuous* 

Composition: silica 30*4, alumina 17, ^magnesia 34*0, 
protoxyd of iron 4*4, water 12*6. Fuses with difficulty on 
the thinnest edges. Yields water when heated in a glass 
tube. 

This species has lately been subdivided on chemical 
grounds, and the name Ripidolite applied to the new species 
instituted. 

Dif. Its olive green color and granular texture when 
massive are characteristic, and the latter character will dis- 
tinguish it 6rom serpentine and potstone. From talc and its 
varieties it is distinguished also by yielding water in a glass 
tube ; from green iron earth in its (Uificult fusibility. 

Obs. Chlorite and chlorite slate, the latter an impure 
slaty variety, form extensive deposits in many regions, 
and the latter often contains crystals of magnetic iron, horn- 
blende Of tourmaline* 

Saponite. Soft and almost like butter, but brittle on drying ; color 
white, or tinged with yellow, blue or red. Composition, silica 45*0, 
magnesia 24*7, alumina 9*3, peroxyd of iron 1*0, potash, 0*7, water 
18-0=98"7. From Lizard's Point, Cornwall, and the north shore of 
Lake Superior. It may be kneaded like doagh when first extracted. 

SERPENTINE. vV 

Rarely in right rectangular prisms. Cleavage indistinct. 
Usually massive and compact in texture, of a dark oil green, 
olive-green, or blackish-green coloi. Occurs also fibrous 

What eflfect has it in porcelain t What is the color and usual appear- 
iDce of chlorite ? How is chlorite distinguished firom green iron earth ! 
What IB the color and appearance of serpentine 7 * 
13 



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146 MAGNESIA. 

and lamellar. T]n. lamellar yarietles consist of thin folia, 
sometimes siparabjc, but brittle ; colors greenish-white, and 
light to dark-green. 

Lustef weak ; resinous, inclining to greasy. Finer varie* 
ties translucent ; also opaque. Hass2^— 4. May be cut 
with a knife. Gr=a:2'5— 2*6. Becomes yellowish-gray on 
exposure. Feel sometimes a little unctaous. 

Varieties and Composition. 

Precious serpentine. Purer specimens of a rich oil green 
color, and translucent, breaking with a splintery fracture. 
It is a beautiful stone when polished. Composition : silica 
42*3, magnesia 44*2, protoxyd of iron 0*2, carbonic acid 0*9, 
water 12-4. Gives off water when heated ; becomes brown- 
ish-red before the blowpipe, but fuses only on the edges. 

Common serpentine. Opaque of dark 'green shades of 
color. 

Picrolite^ Schiller ashestus. A fibrous serpentine, of an 
olive-green color, constituting seams in seipentine. The 
fibers are coarse or fine, and brittle. Resembles some forms 
of asbestus, but differs in its difficult fusibility. Thomson'^ 
Bdiimorite belongs here. Amianthus is a silky variety. 

Marmdiie. A foliated serpentine, of greenish white and 
light green shades of color, and pearly luster, consisting of 
thin folia rather easily separable. The folia are brittle, and 
the variety is thus distinguished from talc and brucite. 
Composition: silica 40*1, magnesia 41*4, jNTotoxyd of iron 
2*7, water 15*7, (Shepard.) 

Kerolite. Near marmolite, but folia not separable. 

Dif. Precious and common serpentine are easily distin- 
guished from other green minerals by their dull resinous lus- 
ter and compact structure, in connection with their sofbiess, 
being easily cut with a knife, and their low specific gravity, 

Obs. Serpentine occurs as a rock, and the several varie- 
ties mentioned either constitute the rock or occur in it. 
Occasionally it is disseminated through granular limestone, 
giving the latter a clouded green color : this is the verd an" 
tique marble. 

Good Serpentine is found in the United States at Phil- 



What is the hardness of serpentine ? Of what docs it consist ? What 
18 precious serpentine ? What are the peculiarities of marmolite and 
kerolite t How is serpentine distingufsbed ? How does serpentine 
occur? 



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NEPHRITE. lAt 

fipstown, Port Henry, Gouvemeur, Warwick, N. Y. ; New 
buiyport, Westfield, and Blandford, Mass. ; at Kellyvale and 
New Fane, Vt. ; Deer Isle, Maine ; New Haven, Conn. ; 
Bare Hills, Md., &c. Marmolite and kerolite, at Hoboken, 
N. J., and Blandford, Mass. The quarries of Milford and 
New Haven, Ct, afford a beautiful verd-antique, and have 
been wrought ; but the works are now suspended. 

Uses. Serpentine forms a handsome marble when pol- 
ished, especially when mixed with limestone, constituting 
verd^arUiqae marble. Its colors are often beautifully clouded, 
and it is much sought for, as a material for tables, jambs for 
fire-places, and ornamental in-door work. Exposed to the 
weather, it wears uneven, and soon loses its polish. Chromic 
iron is usually disseminated through it, and increases the 
variety of its shades. Dr. C. T. Jackson of Boston has lately 
shown that Epsom salts (sulphate of magnesia) may be prof* 
itably manufactured from serpentine. 

NEPHRITE. — Jade. 

Massive, and very tough and compact ; greenish or bluish 
to white. Translucent to subtranslucent. Luster vitreous. 
H =6-5— 7-5. Gr=2-9— 3-03. 

Compositum : contains silica, magnesia, and some water, 
with or without alumina, oxyd of iron, and lime. It varies 
in constitution, and has been lately considered a massive 
tremolite. Inftisible alone before the blowpipe. 

Dif. Differs from beryl in having no cleavage ; and from 
. quartz by its finely uneven surface of fracture, instead of 
smooth and glassy. 

Obs. A greenish and reddish-gray variety is found at 
Easton, Pa., and Stoneham, Mass. The so-called nephrite 
from Smithfieldy R. I., has the composition of serpentine. 

Nephrite is made into images, and was formerly worn as 
a charm. It was supposed to be a cure for diseases of the 
kidney, whence the name, from the Greek nephros, kidney. 
In New Zealand, China and Western America, it is .carved 
by the inhabitants or polished down into various fanciful 
shapes. Much of the mineral from China called jade is 
prehnite. 

What is verd-antique? What are the uses of serpentine? Wha 
are the characters of nephrite ? What is the origin of the name ! 



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148 MAGNESIA. 



MBES8CHAUM. ScC FrOtk. 



Dull white, opaque and earthy, nearly like clay. H=2 
Gr=2-6— 3-4. 

Composition of a variety from Anatolia : silica 60*9, mag* 
ne^ia 27'8, water 11*3, oxyd of iron and alumina 0*1. 
When heated it gives out water and a fetid odor, and be- 
comes hard and perfectly white. When first dug up it is 
soil, has a greasy feel and lathers like soap ; and on this 
account it is used by the Tartars in washing their linen. It 
is used for making the bowls of Turkish pipes, by a process 
like that for pottery ware. When imported into Germany, 
the bowls of the pipes are prepared for sale by softening 
them first in tallow, then in wax, and finally polishing them. 

Aphrodite is another meerschaum from Longbanshyttan. 

Quincite is a variety or related species of a reddish color. 

SCHILLER SPAR. 

Triclinic. Occurs massive, with cleavage in two direc- 
tions, producing a thin foliated structure. Folia brittle and 
separable. Color olive and blackish-green, inclining on the 
cleavage &ce to pinchbeck-brown. Luster metallic-pearly 
on a cleavage fiice ; vitreous in other directions. H=3*5 — 
4. Sectile. Gr =2*5— 2*7. 

Composition : silica 43*9, magnesia 25*9, oxyd of iron and 
chromium 13*0, water 12*4, alumina 1*3, lime 2*6, protoxyd 
of manganese 0*5. Oives off watei', and becomes pinch- 
beck-brown and magnetic before the blowpipe, but fuses 
only on the thinnest edges. 

Dif. Distinguished from diallage, which also occurs in 
serpentine, and is the only species with which it can be 
confounded, by its yielding water before the blowpipe. 
Marmolite is much sofler. Talc and mica are flexible. 

Obs. Occurs imbedded in serpentine. Baste in the Hartz 
is a foreign locality. Blandford and Westfield, Mass., and 
Amity, N. Y., are given as American localities. 

Clintofdte. In oblique crystals : bat usually massive, thin foliated, 
and brittle, with a submetallic luster, and reddish or yellowish-brown, 
or copper-red color. Streak yellowish-gray. Composition, silica 17*0, 
alumina 376, magnesia 24-3, lime 107, protoxyd of iron 50, water 

What is meerschaum 1 its appearance 1 What la the structure of 
Schiller spar? its luster? What does it occur with? How does if 
differ from diallage ? 



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SCHILLER SPAR. 149 

3*6, (Clemson.) Infusible. Affords a transparent bead with borax. 
Acted on by the acids when pulverised. Occurs in limestone with ser- 
pentine at Amity, N. Y. It was named in honor of De Witt Clinton. 
it has also been called Seybertite. 

Xanthophyllite is considered by Rose, its describer, as identical with 
Clintonite. 

Pennine. Near chlorite ; occurs in hexagonal tables, secondary ta 
a rhombohedron of 118^. From the Pennine Alps. 

Picroamine. A green or greenish-white mineral, either fibrous like 
asbestos, or in recungular prisms. H=2*5 — 3. GrBs3*59 — 2-1. Gives 
out water when heated, and has an argillaceous odor when moistened 
with the breath. Near serpentine in composition. From an iron mine 
in Bohemia. 

Monradite is a cleavable yellowish mineral near'picrosmine in com- 
position. 

JSetinaUte. A massive mineral, having a resinous appearance, found 
with and allied to serpentine. From Granville, Upper Canada. 

Dermatine. Occurs massive, reniform or in crusts on serpentine, of a 
resinous luster and green color. Feel greasy. Odor when moistened 
argillaceous. 

ViUareUe. Occura in yellowish rhombic octahedrons in dolomite at 
Traversella, in Piedmont. Allied in composition to serpentine. 

Aniigorite, A brownish or leek green mineral, in foliated masses and 
resembUng Schiller spar. 

Spadaite. A flesh-red mineral, near Schiller spar. 

PyralUlite. A white or greenish cleavable pnineral, dull and a little 
resinous in luster. Becomes black and then white again before the 
blowpipe, whence the name, from the Greek pyr, fire, oXIm, other, and 
Uthoe, BXone, From Pargas,Fmland. It is altered augite. 

PyroaeUrite. A hydrous silicate of magnesia and alumina, of a light 
green, violet or grayish color, soft, and often foliated or micaceous. 
KtBinmererite is a violet variety of this mineral. Occurs in the Urals, 
at Unst in the Shetlands, at Texas in Pennsylvania. 

PyrophyUite. Foliated and pearly like talc ; plates more or less 
radiating ; very soft. Color white or greenish. It swells up and spreads 
out in fan-like shapes before the blowpipe. Occurs in the Urals. 

Vermiculite is probably identical with pyrosclerite. It looks and 
feels like steatite ; but when heated before the blowpipe, worm-like 
projections shoot out, owing to a separation of the thin leaves composing 
the grains, arising from the vaporization of the water present. Occura 
at Milbury, Massachusets. 

Periclaee, Occurs at Vesuvius in small transparent octahedrons, 
and is pure magnesia. Luster vitreous ; nearly as hard as feldspar. 
Gr=3-75. 

Steatitie peeudonwtpha, Pseudomorphous crystals often consist of a 
kind of steatite. A pseudomorph of this kind from Warwick, N. Y., 
having the form of hornblende, but so soft as to be easily cut with a 
knife, afforded Beck, silica 34-7, alumina 253, lime 5-1, magnesia 25-2, 
water 9"1. These crystals have been produced by a change of the 
original hornblende. Others have the form oi spinel, &.c. 

The Beneaelaerite of Emmons is believed to be a steatitie pseudo- 
morph, or altered pyroxene. 

13* 



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150 MAGNESIA. 



2. Anhydrous Silicates of Magnesia^ and Compounds 
Isormorphotis loith them. 

PYROXENE. 

Monoclinic. In modified oblique rhombic prisms ; M : 
M=87'' 6'. Cleavage perfect parallel with, the sides of the 

prisms, and also distinct parallel with the diagonals. 

Usually in thick and stout prisms, of 6 or 8 sides, 

terminating in two faces meeting at an edge ; a ; 

a= 120" 32', M : ^=133" 33, M : e=136° 27'. 

Occurs also in oblique octahedrons, much modified. 

Massive varieties of a coarse lamellar structure ; 
also fibrous, usually very fine and often long capillary ; also 
granular, usually in coarse angular grains and friable, some- 
times round ; sometimes fine and compact. 

Colors green of various shades, verging to white on one 
side and brown and black on the other, passing through blue 
shades, but not yellow. Luster vitreous, inclining to resin- 
ous or pearly ; the latter especially in fibrous varieties. 
Transparent to opaque. H=5 — 6. Brittle. Gr=3*2 — 
3-5. 

Pyroxene consists of silica and magnesia, combined with 
one or more of the bases, lime, protoxyd of iron, or protoxyd 
of manganese. These bases replace one another in a com- 
pound without changing the crystalline form, and have the 
same form nearly in their own ciystallizations, as explained 
on page 74. The varieties of pyroxene arise from the va- 
riations in composition dependent on this isomorphism, and 
they differ much in appearance. 

Varieties and Composition. The varieties may be divided 
mto three sections — ^the light colored, the dark colored, and 
the thin foliated. 
X I. White malacolite or white augite — includes white or 
grayish-white crystals or crystalline masses. Diopside , in 
greenish-white or grayish-green crystals, and cleavable 
masses cleaving with a bright smooth sui'&ce.Y SaMite ; of 
a more dingy green color, less luster and coarser structure 
than diopside, but otherwise similar ; named from the place 

What is the character of the crystals of pyroxene ? What is a com« 
moi. form? What is said of its massive vaneties? its colors and lus- 
wr % What are the constituents of pyroxene ? 



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PYROXENE. 151 

Sahla, where it occurs. Fatsaite ; in crystals of rich green 
shades and smooth and lustrous exterior. The name is de- 
rived from the foreign locality Fassa. Alalite ; a diopsido 
from Piedmont. 1/ Coccolite is a general name for granular 
varieties, derived from the Greek coccoSf grain* The green 
is called green coccoliie^ the white, white coccolite. The 
specific gravity of these varieties varies from 3*25 to 3*3. 

Composition : silica 55*3, lime 27*0, magnesia 17*0, pro- 
oxyd of manganese 1*6, protoxyd of iron 2*2. Fuse before 
he blowpipe to a colorless glass ; with borax or soda form a 
ransparent glass. 

Asbesius, This name includes fbrous varieties of both 
pyroxene and hornblende ; it is more particularly noticed 
under the latter species. 

II. Augite includes black and greenish-black crystals, 
mostly presenting the form figured above. Specific gravity 
3*3—3*4. Hedenbergite is a greenish-black opaque variety, 
in cleavable masses affording a^ greenish-brown streak. 
Specific gravity 3*5. Polylitej Htidsontte^ and Jeffersonite 
fiiU here. 

The varieties in this section contain a large proportion of 
iron, or iron and manganese. Composition of one variety, 
silica 54*1, lime 23*5, magnesia 11*5, protoxyd of iron 10*0, 
protoxyd of manganese 0*6=99*7. Fuse like the prece- 
ding, but the globule obtained is colored with iron. 

III. DiaUage is a thin-foliated, clear green variety, occur- 
ring imbedded in serpentine ; folia thin, brittle, translucent 
Brmtzite occurs in serpentine and greenstone, and is similar- 
ly tbliated ; its colors are dark green, or greenish brown, 
with a metallic-pearly luster, or like bronze. Specific grav- 
ity 3*25. Hypersthene is less thinly foliated than bronzite, 
but cleaves readily ; color gi-ayish or greenish black, and 
luster metallic-pearly, Gr=3' 39. The Labrador hornblende^ 
and Metcdloidal diallage are here included. 

Composition of hypersthene, silica 54*25, lime 1*5, magne- 
sia 14*0, protoxyd of iron 24*5, protoxyd of manganese a 
trace^ alumina 2*25, water 1*0. The edges fiise with diffi- 
culty to a grayish green semi-opaque glass ; some varieties 
wholly fuse. Other hypersthenes contain much less iron and 

large proportion of lime. 

Dif. Resembles hornblende, but is distinct in cleavage 

What is coccolite ? What is the appearance of asbcstus ? What 
m diallage? What ie hypersthene ? 



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153 MACnfSBIA* 

and ill the angles of ite crystals. Moreover, the crystals aro 
usually stout and thick, and never have the slender bladed 
form common with hornblende. Some fibrous varieties, 
however, can scarcely be distinguished except by analysis ; 
yet it is a general fact, that asbestus occurring where pyrox- 
ene abounds, belongs to this species, and that with hornblende 
pertains to hornblende. White crystals of scapolite may be 
mistaken for this species, especially where two of the pyra- 
midal faces in a crystal of scapolite are enlarged so as to 
resemble the oblique roof-like termination of crystals of py- 
roxene ; but the angle between these &ces in die former is 
lae** 7', while it is 120^ 32' in pyroxene* Their relations 
to schiUer spar and serpentine have already been stated. 
The species is never yellowish green like ep»dote. 

Ohs, Pyroxene is one of the most common minerals* 
It occurs in granite, granular limestone, serpentine, basalt 
and lavas. In basalt and lavas the crystals are generally 
small and black or greenish black. In the other rocks, they 
occur of all the shades of color given, and of all sizes to a 
foot or more in length. One crystal from Orange county, 
measured 6 inches in length, and 10 in circumference* 
White crystals occur at Canaan, Conn., Kingsbridge, New 
York county, and the Singsing quarries, Westchester coim- 
ty, N. Y., in Orange county at several k)calities; green 
crystals at Tiiimbull, Ct., at various places in Orange coun- 
ty, N. Y., Roger^s Rock and other localities in Essex, Lew- 
is, and St. Lawrence Co's. Dark green or black crystals 
are met with near Edenville, N. Y., Diana, Lewis county. 
Green coceolite is fomid at Roger's Rock, Long Pond, and 
Willsboro, N. Y. ; black coceolite, in the forest of Dean, 
Orange county, N. Y. Diopside, at Rajmond and Rumford, 
Me., Hustis's fiiim, Phillipstown, N. Y. 

Pyroocene was thus named by Haity from the Greek puf 
fire, and xenos stranger, in allusion to its occurring in lavas, 
where, according to a mistake of Hatty, it did not belongs 
The name augite is from the Greek auge^ luster. 



-<, 



HORNBLENPIU 

Monoclinic In oblique rhombic prisms more of 

What is said of the occurrence of pyroxene 1 How does it diffei 
from hornblende 1 how from scapolite 1 What is the derWation of th* 
nanaes pyroxen* and augite. 



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HORNBLENDE. 



158 



Cleavage perfec 
1 




less modified; M : M = 124'' 30. 
allel with the sides of the prism. Of- 
ten in long slender flat rhombic prisms, 
(fig. 3) breaking easily transversely ; also 
4, 6, and 8 sided prisms with oblique ex- 
tremities, e : e= 148** 30'. Occurs also 
frequently columnar, with a bladed struc- 
ture ; often fibrous, the fibers coarse or 
fine and fi:«quently like flax, with a pearly 
or silky luster; also lamellar; also granu- 
lar, either coarse or fine ; generally firmly 
compact ; rarely friable. 

Colors from white to black passing through bluish green, 
grayish green, green, and brownish green shades, to black. 
Luster vitreous, with the cleavage &ce inclining to pearly. 
Nearly transparent to opaque. H=:5 — 6. Gr=2'9 — 3.4. 

Varieties and Composition. This species, like pyroxene, 
has numerous varieties, differing much in external appeal 
ance, and arising from the same causes — isomorphism and 
crystallization. Alumina enters into the constitution of some 
and replaces part of the other ingredients. The following 
are the most important : 

1. Light Colored Varieties. 

TremolUe^ Grammatite. Tremolite comprises the white, 
grayish, and light greenish slender crystallizations, usually 
in blades or long crystals, penetrating the gangue or aggre- 
gated into coarse columnar forms. Sometimes nearly trans- 
parent. Gr=2'93. The name is firom the foreign locality, 
Tremola in Switzerland. 

Actinolite, The light green varieties. Glassy actindite 
includes the bright glassy crystals, of a rich green color, usu- 
ally long and slender {^g, 3) and penetrating the gangue 
like tremolite. Radiated actinolite includes olive green 
masses, consisting of aggregations of coarse acicular fibers, 
ladiating or divergent Asbestifarm actinolite resembles the 
radiated, but the fibers are more delicate. Massive actinc- 
lite consists of angular grains instead of fibers. Grsr3*02 
— 3*03. The name actinolite alludes to the radiated struc- 



What is the cTystallization of hornblende 1 What are common fonns t 
What is said of the columnar and fibrous varieties'} What are its col- 
ors? On:what do the characters of its varieties depend? What is tre- 
molite 1 what actinolite 1 Mention the characters of the varieties of 
actinolite 1 



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154 MAGNESIA. 

ture of some varieties, and is derived from the Greek aktiftt 
a ray of the sun. It is often mispelt (zctynolite. 

Asbestus, In slender fibers easily separable, and some- 
times like flax. Either green or white. Amianthus occurs 
in narrow seams, with a rich satin luster : much so-called 
is serpentine. Ligniform ashesius is compact and hard ; it 
occurs of brownish and yellowish colors, and looks somewhat 
like petrified wood. MounJUdn leather occxxm in thin tough 
sheets, looking and feeling a little like kid leather. It con- 
sists of interlaced fibers of asbestus, and forms thin seams 
between layers or in fissures of rocks. Mountain cork is 
similar, but is in thicker masses ; it has the elasticity of 
cork, and is usually white or grayish- white. 

The preceding light colored varieties contain little or no 
alumina or iron. Composition of glassy actinolite, silica 
59*75, magnesia 21*1, lime 14*25, protoxyd of iron 3*9, pro- 
toxyd of manganese 0*3, hydrofluoric acid 0*8, (Bonsdorf.) 

2. Dark Colored Varieties. 

Pargasite, This name is applied to dark green crystals, 
short and stout, (resembling fig. 1,) with bright luster, of 
which Pargas in Finland is a noted locality. Gr=3*ll. 

Hornblende. The black and greenish-black crystals and 
massive specimens. Often in slender crystallizations like acti- 
nolite ; also short and stout like figures I and 2, the latter more 
especially. It contains a large per-centage of oxyd of iron, 
and to this owes its dark color. It is a tough mineral, as is 
implied in the name it bears. This character however is 
best seen in the massive specimens. Pargasite and horn- 
blende contain both alumina and iron. 

Composition of hornblende, silica 48*8, magnesia 13*6, 
lime 10*2, alumina 7*5, protoxyd of iron 18*75, protoxyd of 
manganese 1*15, hydrofluoric acid and water 0.9, (Bons- 
dori:) 

Composition of pargasite, silica 46*3, magnesia 19*0, lime 
14*0, alumina 11*5, protoxyd of iron 3*5, protoxyd of man- 
ganese 0*4, hydrofluoric acid and water 2*2. 

Amphtbole is a name ofl;en given to this species. 

The varieties of hornblende fuse easily with some ebulli- 
tion, the white varieties forming a colorless glass and the 
gi'een a globule more or less colored by iron. 

What is asbestus and amianthus ? mountain leather and mountaii 
cork? What is the peculiarity lu composition of the light colored va* 
rieties of hornblende* ? what of the dark varieties? 



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HORNBLENDE. 15ri 

Dif* Distinguished from pyroxene as stated under that 
species , the black variety from black tourmaline by its per- 
fect cleavage, (tourmaline having none,) and also by the 
form of its crystals ; the fibrous varieties from picrosmine, 
nemalite, and tabular spar, as stated under those species ; 
from the fibrous zeolites by not gelatinizing, and, when 
in limestone or serpentine, by its gangue. 

Ohs* Hornblende is an essential constituent of certain 
rocks, as syenite, trap and hornblende slate. Actinolite is 
usually found in magnesian rocks, as talc, steatite or serpen- 
tine ; tremolite in granular limestone and dolomite ; asbes- 
tus in the above rocks and also in serpentine. Black crys- 
tals of hornblende occur at Franconia, N. H., Chester, Mass., 
Thomaston, Me., Willsboro', N. Y. in Orange county, N. 
Y., and elsewhere. Pargasite occurs at Phipsburg and Par- 
sonsfield, Me. ; glassy actinolite, in steatite or talc, at Wind- 
ham, Readsboro', and New Fane, Vt., Middlefield and Bland- 
ford, Mass. ; and radiated varieties at the same locaiites and 
many others. Tremolite and gray hornblende occur at Ca- 
naan, Ct., Lee, Newburgh, Mass., in Thomaston and Ray- 
mond, Me., Lee and Great Barrington, Mass., Dover, Kings- 
bridge, and in St. Lawrence county, N. Y., at Chesnut Hill, 
Feun., at the Bare Hills, Md. Asbestus at many of the 
above localities ; also at Milford, Conn., Brighton and Shef- 
field, Mass., Cotton Rock and Hustis's farm, Phillipstown, 
N. Y., near the quarantine, Richmond county, N. Y. Moun- 
tain leather is met with at the Milford quarries, and also at 
Brunswick, N. J. 

Uses. Asbestus is the only variety of this species of any 
use in the arts. The ^ax-like variety is sometimes wo- 
ven into cloth ; it has been proposed of late to use clothes 
of it for firemen, and patents have been taken out. Its in- 
combustibility and slow conduction of heat, render it a com- 
plete protection against the flames. It is oflen made into 
gloves. A garment when dirty, need only be thrown into 
the fire for a few minutes to be white again. The ancients, 
who were acquainted with its properties, are said to have 
used it for napkins, on account of the ease with which it 
was cleaned. It was also the wicks of the lamps in the an- 
cient temples ; and because it maintained a perpetual flame 

Hov^ does the species hornblende differ from tourmaline and other 
minerals mentioned ? What is said of the occunence of hornblende 1 
What are the uses of asbestus 1 Why was it so calhid ? 



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156 MAOV^nA. 

without being consumed, thej named it asbestos, ancon- 
sumed. It is now used for the same purpose by the nativet 
of Greenland. The name araianthns alludes to the ease of 
cleaning it, and is derived from amiantosj undefiled. Asbes- 
tus is now extensively used for lining iron safes. The best 
locality for collecting asbestus in the United States, is that 
near the quarantine, in Richmond County, N. Y. 

Anthophyllite. In obloDg grayish, greenish or brownish crystals, or 
in needles, imbedded in mica riate, or penetrating it. Brittle ; fibers 
sharp. 6ras2'9 — 3' 16. It is a variety of hornblende. Occurs at 
Haddam and Guilford, Conn., and Ch««terfield, Chester ahd Blandford, 
Mass. 

Cummingtonite. Fibrous; the fibers divergent, stellular or scopi- 
form ; ash-gray ; a little silky. A variety of hornblende. From Cam- 
mington and Piainfield, Mass., in mica slate. 

Aemite. In long highly polished prisms, of a dark brown or reddish- 
brown color, with a pointed extremity, penetrating granite, near Kongs- 
berg in Norway. M : MssgS^ 56'. Resembles pyroxene. Fuses 
easily before the blowpipe. 

Babingionite. Resembles some varieties of pyroxene. It occurs in 
greenish-black splendent crystals is quartz at Arendal in Norway. 

SPODUMBNB. 

Monoclinic. Crystals like (hose of pyroxene. Surface 
of cleavage pearly. Color grayish or greenish. Translu- 
cent to subtranslucent. H=6*5 — 7. Gr=s=3'l— 3'19. 

Composition: silica 64*5, alumina 29*3, lithia 6*2. Intu« 
mesces before the blowpipe, and fuses to a transparent glass. 
In fine powder mixed with bisulphate of potash and fluor, 
and dised on platinum foil, it tinges the flame red, owing to 
the lithia contained. 

Dif. Resembles somewhat feldspar and scapolite, but 
has a higher specific gravity and a more pearly luster, and 
affords rhombic prisms by cleavage. 

Obs. Occurs in granite at Goshen ; also at Chesterfield, 
Norwich and Sterling, Mass. ; at Windham, Me. ; at Brook- 
field, Ct. It is found at Uton, in Sweden, Sterzing in the 
Tyrol, and at Killiney bay, near Dublin. 

Triphane is another common name of this mineral. 

Uses. This mineral is remarkable for the lithia it con- 
tains, and has been used for obtaining this rare earth. 

Mention. the characters of spodomene. How moch lithia does ** 
contain? How does it differ from feldspar and scapolite 1 

14 



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CHuMDiCODITS. 167 

CHRT80LITB. — OUtine. 

Tiimetric. In right rectangular prisms, having perfect 
cleavage parallel with the smaller lateral plane. Usually 
in imbedded grains of an olive green color, looking like green 
bottle glass. Also yellowish-green. Transparent to trans- 
lucent. H=a6-5--7. Gr=3-3 — 3-5. Looks much like 
glass in the fracture, except in the direction of the cleavage. 

Composition : silica 38*5, magnesia 48*4, protoxyd of 
iron 11*2, oxyd of manganese 0*3, alumina 0*2. Darkens 
before the blowpipe but (except certain varieties) does not 
fuse. Forms a green glass with borax. 

Dif. Distinguished from green quartz by its occurring 
H inseminated in basaltic rocks, which never so occurs ; also 
in its cleavage. On account of its gangue it cannot be mis- 
taken for beryl. From obsidian or volcanic glass it difiers 
in its infusibility. 

Obs. Occurs disseminated through basalt and lavas, and 
is a characteristic mineral of some varieties of these rocks. 
Has been found in New Hampshire. Boltonite, from lime- 
stone at Bolton, Mass., is a variety of chrysolite. 

Uses, Sometimes used as a gem, but it is too soft to be 
valued, and is not delicate in its shade of color. 

CHONDRODITE. 

Usually m imbedded grains or small rounded or flattened 
kernels or nodules in limestone, and apearing brittle. Struc- 
ture finely granular without cleavage. Color brownish yel- 
low or brown, sometimes reddish or white, and occasionally 
black. Luster vitreous, inclining a little to resinous. Streak 
rarely colored. Translucent or subtranslucent. Fracture 
uneven. H==6— 6 5. Gr=:31— 3*2. 

Composition: silica 33*1, magnesia 55*5, protoxyd of iron 
3*6, fluorine 7-6. From New Jersey. Fuses with difficulty on 
the edges. With borax fuses easily to a yellowish -green glass. 

Dif. As it occurs only in limestone it will hanlly be con- 
founded with any species resembling it in color when the 
gangue is present. The specific gravity is less than that of 
tourmaline or garnet, some brownish yellow varieties of 
which it approaches in appearance ; moreover, it is seldom 
in crystals, and when so, the faces are not polished. This 

What is the crystallization of chrysolite 1 describe its character ; its 
blowpipe action ; composition ; occurrence ; differencea Describe 
cnondrodite. 



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158 ALUMINA. 

miDoral has been called Brucite ; but chondrodite is of prior 
authority ; it is from the Greek chondros, a grain. 

Obs. It is abundant in the adjoining counties, Sussex, N, 
J,, and Orange, N. Y., occurring at Sparta, and Bryam, N. 
J., and in Warwick and other places in New York. At 
Vesuvius it occurs in small crystals, caUed Humite. 
4. ALUMINA. 

1. Uncombined* 

OORUNDUtf. 

Rhoml)ohedral. R : R==86' 4'. Cleavage someames 
perfect parallel with a. Usual in six-sided 
prisms, often with uneven surfaces, and 
sometimes so irregular that the form is 
scarcely traceable. Occurs also granular. 
Colors blue, and grayish-blue most com- 



! I 



mon ; also red, yellow, brown, and nearly ^^o:^ 
black ; oflen bright. When polished on the surface a, a star 
of six rays, corresponding with the six-sided form of the 
prism, is sometimes seen within the crystal. Transparent 
to translucent. H=:9, or next to the diamond. Exceed- 
ingly tough, when compact. Gy=S'9 — 4*16. 

Composition : pure alumina. It remains unaltered before 
the blowpipe both alone and with soda. Fuses with diffi- 
culty with borax. 

Varieties. The name sapphire is usually restricted in 
common language to clear crystals of^bright colors, used as 
gems; while dull, dingy-colored crystals and masses are 
called corundum^ and the granular variety of bluish-gray and 
blackish colors is called emery. 

Blue is the true sapphire color. When of other bright 
tints, it receives other names ; as oriented ruby, when red ; 
oriental tapaz^ when yellow ; oriental emerald, when green ; 
oriented amethyst, when violet; and adamantine spar, when 
hair-brown. Crystals with a radiate chato3rant interior are 
often very beautiful, and are called asteria, or asteriated 
sapphire. 

What is the usual form of crystals of corundum ? What are their 
olors i hardness ? Ot what does sapphire consist 1 What are the red, 
ellow and green varieties called? What the hair-brown variety 1 
JV^hat are coixindum and emery? What is asteriated sapphire? 



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BAPPHISE. 159 

Dif. Distinguished readily by its hardness, exceeding aU 
species except the diamond, and scratching quartz crystals 
with great facility. 

Ohs. The sapphire is usually found loose in the soil; 
primitive rocks, and especially gneissoid mica slate, talcose 
rock and granular limestone, appear to be its usual matrix 
It is met with in several localities in the United States, but 
seldom sufficiently fine for a gem. A blue variety occurs at 
Newton, N. J,, in crystals sometimes several inches long ; 
bluish and pink, at Warwick, N. Y. ; white, blue and red- 
dish crystals, at Amity, N. Y. ; grayish, in large crystals in 
Delaware and Chester counties, Pennsylvania ; pale blue 
crystals have been found in boulders at West Farms and 
Litchfield, Ct It occurs also in considerable quantities in 
North Carolina ; also in Chester county, Georgia, where a 
fine red sapphire has been obtained. 

The principal foreign localities are as follows : blue, from 
Ceylon ; the finest red from the Capelan Mountains in the 
kingdom of Ava, and smaller crystals from Saxony, Bohemia 
and Auvergne ; corundum, from the Camatic, on the Malabar 
coast, and elsewhere in the East Indies ; adamantine spar, 
from the Malabar coast ; emery, in large boulders from near 
Smyrna, and also at Naxos and several of the Grecian 
islands. 

The name sapphire is from the Greek word sapj^heirosj 
the name of a blue gem. It is doubted whether it included 
the sapphire of the present day. 

Uses. Next to the diamond, the sapphire in some of its 
varieties is the most costly of gems. The red sapphire is much 
more highly esteemed than those of other colors. A crystal 
weighing 3^ carats, perfect in transparency and color, has 
been valued at the price of a diamond of the same size. They 
seldom exceed half an inch in their dimensions. Two splen- 
did red crystals, as long as the little finger and about an inch 
in diameter, are said to be in the possession of the king of 
Arracan. 

Blue sapphires occur of much larger size. According to 
Allan, Sir Abram Hume possesses a crystal which is three 
inches long ; and in Mr. Hope's collection of precious stones 



How is the species sapphire distinguished 1 In what rocks does the 
sapphire occur *? What are some of the American localities? what ar« 
the principal foreign 7 What is said of the value of sapphires % 



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160 



ALtTMINA. 



there is one crystal formerly belonging to the Jardin des 
Plantes of Paris, for which he gave £3000 sterling. 

The largest oriental ruby known was brought from China 
to Prince Gargarin, governor of Siberia ; it afterwards came 
into the possession of Prince Menzikofl^and constitutes now 
a jewel in the imperial crown of Russia. 

2. Combined vnth other oxyds. 

SPINEL. 

Monometric. In octahedrons, more or less modified, and 
dodecahedrons. Figure 1, is the octahedron with truncated 
1 3 3 4 




edges ; figure 3, the same with beveled edges ; figure 2, the 
dodecahedron. Occurs only in crystals ; cleavage octahedral, 
but difficult Figure 4 represents a twin crystol. 

Color red, passing into blue, green, yellow, brown and 
black. The red shades often transparent and bright ; the 
dark shades usually opaque. Luster vitreous. H=8. 
Gr=3-5— 3;6. 

Composition : of a red spinel, from Ceylon, alumina 69*0, 
magnesia 26*2, protoxyd of iron 0*7, silica 2'0, chromic acid 
1*1. Essentially alumina and magnesia. Infusible alone, 
and with difficulty with borax. 

Varieties, The following are the varieties of this species 
that have received distinct names : The scariet or bright 
red crystals, spinel why; the rose-red, balas-ruhy ; the 
orange-red, rubicelle ; the violet, atmandine-rvhy ; the green, 
cKlorospinel ; while the black varieties are called pleonaste. 
Pleonaste crystals contain sometimes 8 to 20 per cent, of 
oxyd of iron. 

Dif, The form of the crystals and their hardness dis- 
tinguish the species. Garnet is fiisible. Magnetic iron ore 



What is the usual crystalline form of spinel ? What is its hardnesB t 
What are its colors 1 Of what does it essentially consist ? Mention the 
colors and names of some of the varieties ? 



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tPinrsL. 16 1 

is attracted bj the magnet. Zircon has a high specific 
gravity and is not so hard. 

Ohs. Occurs in granular limestone ; also in gneiss and 
volcanic rocks. At numerous places in the adjoining coun- 
ties of Sussex in New Jersey, and Orange county, of various 
colors from red -to brown aiKl black ; especially at Franklin, 
Newton and Sparta, in the former, and in Warwick, Amity 
and Edenville, in the latter. The crystals are octahedrons, 
and often grouped or disseminated singly in granular lime? 
stone. Chie crystal found at Amity by Dr. Heron, weighs 
49 pounds. The limestone quarries of Bolton, Boxborough, 
Chelmsford and Littleton, Mass., afibrd a fow crystals. 

Crystals of spinel are occasionally soft, having undergone 
a change of composition, and approaching steatite in all 
characters except form. They are true psetidomorphs. They 
are met with in Sussex and Orange counties. 

U^es. The fine colored spinels are much used as gems. 
The red is the common ruby of jewelry, the oriental rubies 
being sapphire. Crystals weighing 4 carats have been 
valued at half the price of a diamond of the same size. 

Automolite. A variety of spinel, containing 30 — 35 per ct of ozyd 
of zinc. Color dark green or black. H=7-5— 8. Gr=4 — 4-6. With 
soda it fonns at first a dark scoria, and when fused again with more 
soda, a ring of ozyd of zinc is deposited on the charcoal. Infusible 
alone, and nearly so with borax. 

Occurs in granite at Haddam with beryl, chrysoberyl, garnet, &c. In 
Sweden, near Fahlun, in talcose slate. 

Dysluite. A variety of the species spinel, containing ozyd of 
iron and zinc. Color yellowish or gra3rish-brown. H=s7'5— 8. Gsa 
4*55. Composition, alumina 30*5, ozyd of zinc 16*8, perozyd of iron 
41*9, protozyd of manganese 7*6, silica 3, moisture 0*4. Becomes red 
before the blowpipe, but loses the color on cooling. Infusible alone 
with borax affords a translucent bead of a deep garnet-red color. The 
name dyaluite is from the Greek dua, with difficulty, and luo, to dis« 
solve. From Sterling, N. J., with Franklinite and Troostite. 

Hereinite. A spinel consisting of alumina and protoxyd of iron, with 
only 2*9 per cent, of magnesia. 

3. Hydrous comMnations with Silica. 

UALLOTSITE. — Hydrous Silicate of Alumina. 
Massive and earthy, resembling a compact steatite* 
Yields to the nail, and may be polished by it. 

How IS spinel distinguished from magnetic iron 1 from garnet ? from 
lireon 1 For what are spinels used 1 What is automolite 1 What is 
the appearance of halloyUte 1 

14* 

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162 ALUMINA. 

Color white or bluish. Adheres to the tongue, and small 
pieces become transparent in water. Gr=l*8 — ^2'1. 

Composition : silica 39*5, alumina 34*0, water 26*5. Dis- 
solves in sulphuric acid, yielding a jelly. Becomes milk- 
white before the blowpipe. 

Obs. From Liege and Bayonne, France. Named iu 
honor of the geologist, Omalius d' Holly. 

Note. — ^There are several other hydrous silicates of alnmina allied to 
halloylite, having the following names : Pholerite, kollyrite, eimolite, 
hole, fettboly rock soap, rositc, groppite, malthacitey and amelite. They 
are in general soft and earthy, often clay-like, and are distinguished 
from similar magnesian species by the blowpipe test for alumina. 

There are also stalactitic hydrous silicates, found in volcanic and other 
<gneou8 rocks, and formed by the decomposition of feldspar or other in- 
gredients. Such silico-aluminous stalactites are not uncommon in the 
Pacific Islands. They are of mixed composition, as necessarily results 
from their mode of origin. Gibbsite is in some cases of this character. 
When containing an alkali they become zeolites. 

Allophane. Reniform and massive, occasionally with traces of crys- 
tallization ; sometimes almost pulverulent. Color pale blue ; sometimes 
green, brown or yellow. Luster vitreous or resinous. Splendent and 
waxy internally. Streak white. H=3. Gr=l-85— 1*90. Compo- 
sition, alumina 29*2, silica 21*9, water 44*2, mixed clay 47. Becomes 
opaque, colorless and pulverulent before the blowpipe, intumesces a lit- 
tle and tinges the flame green. Forms a jelly with acids. In marl in 
Thuringia and Saxony, and in chalk at Beauvais in France. 

The name allophane is from the Greek alios, other, and phaino, to 
appear, alluding to its changes of appearance before the blowpipe. 

Sckratterite, or opal allophane, resembles allophane ; it consists of 
silica 12*0, alumina 46*3, water 36-2, with some iron, copper and 
lime. 

p AHLUNiTB .— ChlorophyUUe — Finite. 

In six and twelve-sided prisms, usually foliated, parallel to 
the base. Folia soft and brittle, of a grayish.green to dark 
olive-green color, and pearly luster. Gr=2*7. 

Composition : of Fahlunite^ silica 44*9, alumina 30'7, per- 
oxyd of iron 7*22, potash 1*38, magnesia 6*04, water 8*65, 
protoxyd of manganese 1*90, lime 0*95, (Wachtmeister.) 
Of CMorophyllitef silica 45*2, alumina 27*6, magnesia 9*6, 
protoxyd of iron 8*2, protoxyd of manganese 4*1, water 3*6, 
(Jackson.) Yields water before the blowpipe and becomes 
bluish -gray, but fuses only on the edges. 

Dif, It is distinguished from talc by affording water be- 

Of what does halloylite consist 1 



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ZXOLITBB. 163 

fore the blowpipe, and readily by its association with iolite, 
and its large hexagonal forms, with brittle folia. 

Ohs, Occurs with iolite in granite at Haddam, Ct, and 
at Unity, N. H. The iolite and chlorophyllite are often in- 
terlaminated, and the latter appears to result from the alter- 
ation of the former^ in which the principal change is the 
addition of water. A variety from Brevig, in Norway, has 
been called esmarkite. The fahlunite is from Fahlun, Swe. 
den. 

The name chlorophyllite, given to this species by Dr. 
Jackson, is derived from the Greek Mdrosy green, and phul^ 
lofij leaf. 

Finite includes the alkaline varieties of altered iolite. The 
cleavage is often indistinct. Color gray to grayish green. 
Occurs in Auvergne, in decomposed feldspar-porphyry, and 
at Schneeberg, in Saxony. 

The following species, like chlorophyllite in crystallization, appear 
also to have proceeded from the alteration of iolite. 

Gigantolite. Color greenish to dull steel gray. Gr=2.85— 5-88. 
From Tamela, Finland. Iberite is near gigantolite. Color pale grayish 
green. Gr=2-89. J/y<2rou«toZtfsofBonsdorf, differs from chlorophyllite 
in containing one per cent, more of water. 

Aspasioltte is another hydrous mineral allied to the above, and found 
associated with iolite. It usually resembles a light green serpentine, 
and occurs in six-sided prisms. 



ZEOLITE FAMILY. 

Note.— The following species from heulandite to chaba- 
zite, inclusive, constitute what has been called the zeolite 
family, so named because the species generally melt and intu- 
mesce before the blowpipe, the term being derived from the 
Greek zeo^ to boil. They consist essentially of silica, alum- 
ina and some alkali, with more or less water. The most of 
them gelatinize in acids, owing to the separation of the 
silica in a gelatinous state. 

They occur filling cavities in rocks, constituting narrow 
seams, or implanted on the surface, and rarely in imbed- 
ded crystals ; and never disseminated through the body of 

rock like crystals of garnet or tourmaline. All occur 

What is the meaning of the word zeolite t What is the constitution 
f the zeolites 1 their mode of occurrence 1 



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164 ALUMINA. 

in amygdaloid, and some of them occasionally in granite of 
gneiss. The first fi>ur, fieidanditey laumonite, afophyUite^ 
stUInte, have a strong pearly cleavagej and do not occur in 
^ne fibrous crystallizations ; when columnar, the structure is 
thin lamellar. -Excepting laumonite, these species dissolve 
in the strong acids, but do not gelatinize. The species 
natrclUe^ scohcite^ steUite, and thmsonite^ are often fibrous^ 
and the crystallizations generally slender. The remaining 
species, harmatome^ analcime, sodalite^ JumynCy lapis laztdif 
and chahazite^ occur in short or stout glassy crysUds, and are 
s^dom fibrous. To the second division above given might 
be added the species dysdasite and pectolite, described under 
Lime, They have a more pearly or silky luster than 
natrolite. 

HEULANDITE. 

Monoclinic. In right rhomboidal prisms and their modi- 
fications. P on M or T=90 '. M : T=129«» 40'. 
Cleavage highly perfect, parallel to P. Luster of 
I cleavage &ce pearly, of other faces vitreous. Color 
white ; sometimes reddish, gray, brown. Transpa- 
rent to subtranslucent. Folia brittle. H=:8'6— 4. 
Gr=2'2. 
_ Composition : silica 59*8, alumina 16*8. lime 9*2, 
water 14*7. Intumesces and fuses, and becomes phospho- 
rescent. Dissolves in acid without gelatizing. 

Dif, Distinguished from gypsum by its hardness and the 
action of acids and the blowpipe ; fi*om apophyllite and stil- 
bite by its crystals. 

Obs, Found in amygdaloid ; occasionally in gneiss, and 
in some metalliferous veins. 

Occurs at Bergen Hill, N. J., in trap ; at Hadlyme, Ct, 
and Chester, Massachusetts, on gneiss ; near Baltimore, on 
a syenitic schist ; at Peter's Point and Cape Blomidon, 
Nova Scotia, in trap. 

The species was named by Brooke in honor of Mr. Heu. 
land, of London. Lincdnite is here included. 

Brewsterite, Crystals right rhomboidal prisma, with a perfect 
pearly cleavage like healandite ; but M : T=93^ 40^. Hs4i — 5 
Gr=2'l — ^2*5. From Argyleshire and the Giant's Cdnseway. 



What 18 the appearance and structure of heulandite ? How is ll 
distinguished from gypsum 1 how from apophyllite and stilbitet 




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APOPHYLUTE. m 

STILBITE* 

In right rectangular prisms, more or less modified clear 
age perfect parallel with if. The prism is usually v<f\ 
flattened parallel with the cleavage face, (annex- /^^^^n)s 
ed figure,) and terminates in a pyramid ; a : as 
llO"". Also in sheath-like aggregations and thin 
columnar. 

Color white ; sometimes yellow, brown or red. 
Luster of cleavage fece pearly, of other faces vitreous. Sub 
transparent to translucent. H = 3*5— 4. Gr=2*13 2"15. 

Composition : silica 57'6, alumina 16'3, lime 89, water 
16*3. Befi)re the blowpipe fuses with intumescence to a 
colorless glass. Does not gelatinize except after long boil- 
ing in nitric acid. 

Dif. Distinguished from gypsum like heulandite ; and 
from heulandite by its crystals, which are usually thin, elon- 
gated rectangular prisms, with pyramidal terminations, often 
uneven in sur&ce. 

Ohs> Occurs mostly in amygdaloid ; also on gneiss and 
granite. 

It is found sparingly at the Chester and Charlestown sy- 
enite quarries, Mass., at Thatchersville and Hadlyme, Ct., 
dt Phillipstown, N. Y., at Bergen Hill, N. J., in trap, in the 
copper region of Lake Superior, in amygdaloid. In beauti- 
fill crystallizations at Partridge Island, Nova Scotia. 

The name stilbite is derived from the Greek stUhe, luster 

APOPHTLLITB. 

Dimetric. In right square prisms or octahedrons. Cleav- 
age parallel with the base highly perfect Prisms 
often terminate in a sharp pyramid, (annexed fig- 
ure,) a : a=104' 2 and 121 \ Massive and fo- 
liated. Color white or grayish ; sometimes with 
a shade of green, yellow, or red. Luster of P 
pearly : of the other feces vitreous. Transparent 
to opaque. H=4-5— 5. Grs=:2-3— 2'4. 

Composition : silica 51*9, lime 25*2, potash 5*1, water 
16*0. Exfoliates and ultimately fiises to a white vesicular 
glass. In nitric acid separates into flakes and becomes 
somewhat gelatinous and subtransparent. 

What is the ciyBtallizatioii of stilbite 1 What are its general char^ 
acteristics? How is it distinguished 1 What is the form and dispvage 
of crystals of apophyllite 1 What are its other characters 1 




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166 ALUMINA. 

Dif. The acute pyramidal terminations of its glassj 
crystals at once distinguish it fi-om the preceding, as also its 
cleavage across the prism. 

The name alludes to its exfoliation before the blowpipe, 

Obs. Found in amygdaloidal trap and basalt. 

Occurs in fine crystallizations at Peter's Point and Part- 
ridge Island, Nova Scotia, and at Bergen Hill, N. J. 

LAUMONITE. 

Monoclinic. In oblique rhombic prisms ; M : M=86'' 
15 , P : M=68° 40'. Cleavage parallel to the acute lateral 
edge ; also massive, with a radiating or divergent structure. 

Color white, passing into yellow or gray. Luster vitre- 
ous, inclining to pearly on the cleavage face. Transparent 
to translucent. H=3*5 — 4. Gr=2*3. Becomes opaque 
on exposure, and readily crumbles. 

Composition: silica 51*1, alumina 21*8, lime 11*9, water 
15*2. Intumesces and Rises to a white frothy mass. Ge- 
latinizes with nitric or muriatic acid, but is not affected by 
sulphuric unless heated. 

Dif, The alteration this species undergoes on exposure 
to the air, at once distinguishes it. This result may be pn 
vented with cabinet specimens, by dipping them into a soh 
tion of gum arable. 

Obs. Found in amygdaloid and also in gneiss, porphyi} 
and clay slate. Peter's Point, Nova Scotia, is a fine localitj 
of this species. Occurs also at Phipsburg, Me. ; Charles 
town syenite quarries, Mass. ; Bergen Hill, N. J. ; in the 
amygdaloid of the copper region, Lake Superior. 

Leonhardite resembles laumonite ; it contains silica 55, alumina 24*1, 
lime 10-5, water and loss 12*30. 

NATBOLITE. 

Trimetric. In right rhombic prisms, usually slender and 
^yw terminated by a short pyramid ; M : M=9P 10' ; e : 
'^-^ e=143' 14', M : e=116^ 37'. Cleavage perfect 
parallel with M. Also in globular, stellat^ and di- 
vergent groups, consisting of delicate acicular fibers, 
the fibers often terminating in acicular prismatic 
crystals. 

Color white, or inclining to yellow, gray, or red. 

How is apophyllite distinguished 1 What are the ehamc ten of ?aii* 
monite 1 What takes place when it is exposed to the air ! What it 
the crystallization of natrolite ? mention other characters. 



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THOM80NITE. 167 

Luster N^treous. Transparent to translucent. H=:4*5 — 5'5, 
Brittle. Gr=2-14— 2-23. 

Composition : silica 47*4, alumina 26*9, soda 16*2, watei 
9*5 Becomes opaque before the blowpipe and fuses to a 
glassy globule. Forms a thick jelly in the acids, (ifter heat- 
ing as well as before, 

Dif, Distinguished firom scolecite by its action before the 
blowpipe. 

Ohs. Found in amygdaloidal trap, basalt and volcanic 
rocks. The name natrolite is from natron^ soda. 

Occurs in the trap of Nova Scotia and Bergen Hill, N. J 

Scolecite resembles natrolite, and differs in containing lime in place 
<rf 9oda. The luster is vitreous or a little pearly. Before the blowpipe 
it carls up like a worm (whence the name from the Greek skolex a 
worm) and then melts. From StafTa, Iceland, Finland, Hindostan. 

Poohnahlite is a related species, from Poohnah, Hindostan. M : M= 
9)** 49'. 

Mesole is another related species, occurring usually in implanted glo- 
bules, having a flat columnar or lamellar radiated structure, with a 
pearly or silky luster. Gr^2'35— 2'4. Fuses easily before the blow- 
pipe and gelatinizes readily with acids. From the Faroe islands and 
Greenland. Harringtonite from the north of Ireland, and Brevicite 
from Brevig, Norway, appear to be identical with mesole. 

Natrolite, scolecite, mesole, and some other zeolites, together corres- 
pond to the old species mesotype, 

th9iisonite. 

Trimetric. In right rectangular prisms. Usually iu 
masses, having a radiated structure within, and consisting ol 
long fibers or acicuiar crystals ; also amorphous. 

Color snow-white. Luster vitreous, inclining to pearly. 
Transparent to translucent. H=5 — 5^. Brittle. Gr=as 
2-3— 2-4. 

Composition : silica 37*4, alumina 31*8, lime 13*0, soda 
#•8, water 13*0. Intumesces and becomes opaque ; but the 
edges merely are rounded at a high heat. When pulverized, 
it gelatinizes with nitric or muriatic acids. 

Dif. Distinguished from natrolite and other zeolites by 
its difficult fusibility. 

Obs, Occurs in amygdaloid, near KUpatrick, Scotland ; 
in lavas at Vesuvius ; in clinkstone in Bohemia. Also at Pe- 
tor's Point, Nova Scotia, in trap. 

The species was named in honor of Dr. Thomas Thorn* 
fk)n, of Glasgow. 

The species comptonitt and ozarkite are identical with thomsonite 



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108 



ALtTMINA. 



HABKOTOME. 

Trimetric In modified rectangular prisms; and very 
vf^>^ commonly twin crystals similar to Uie annexed 

^^ >^ I Color white ; sometimes grayish, yellowish, 

or brownish* Subtransparent to translucent. 

Luster vitreous. H=4'— 4*5. Brittle. Gts^ 

1 2-39— 2-5. 

S^s^'^'^jKy Composition : silica 44*0, alumina 16*6, ba- 

^^'^^^ ryta 24'8, water 14"6. Fuses without intumes- 

ence to a clear globule. Phosphoresces with a yellow light 

when heated. Scarcely attacked by the acids unless they 

are heated. 

Dif. Its twin crystals, when distinct, cannot be mistaken 
for any other species except phillipsite. It is much more 
fusible than glassy feldspar or scapolite ; it does not gelatin 
nize in cold acids like thomsonite. 

Ohs, Occurs in amygdaloid, gneiss, and metalliferous 
veins. Fine crystallizations are found at Strontian in Ar- 
gyleshire, Andreasberg in the Hartz, and Kongsberg in 
Norway. 

The name harmotome is from the Greek karmos a jomt, 
and temno to cleave. 

PhUlipeite. Near harmotome in i1;p cruciform ersrstals and other 
characters ; but differing in containing lime in place of baryta. It dif- 
fers also in gelatinizing with acids and in fusing with some intumes- 
cence. It also occurs in sheaf-like aggregations and in radiated crys- 
tallizations. From the Giant's Causeway, Capo di Bove, and Vesuvius. 

Zeagonite^ from the last two localities mentioned, is identicai with 
Phillipsiie. 

ANALCIMB. 

Monometric. Occurs usually in trapezohedrons, (fig. 1,) 
1 also fig. 2 ; cleavage cubic and 3 

only in traces. 

Often colorless and transparent, 
) also milk-white, grayish and red- j 
dish- white, and sometimes opaque. 
The appearance sometimes seen 
in polarized light is shown in figure 96, page 61. 
Luster vitreous. H=5— 5-5. Gr==2-07— 2-28. 





What is the common form of harmotome 1 what its color and ap- 
pearance 1 What are its distinguishing characters 1 What is the foia 
of crystals of analcime 1 the color and other characters 1 



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CHABAZITE. 



169 



composition : silica 54*6, alumina 23*2, soda 14*0, water 
(^•1, Fuses before the blowpipe on charcoal without intu- 
mescence to a clear glassy globule. Gelatinizes in muriatic 
acid, with difficulty. 

Dif, Characterized by its crystallization, without cleav 
age. Distinguished from quartz and leucite by its inferioi 
hardness ; from calc spar by its fusibility, and by not efier- 
▼escing with acids ; from chabazite and its varieties by fu- 
sing without intumescence to a glassy globule, and by the 
crystalline form, 

Ohs. Found in amygdaloid and lavas ; also in gneiss. 

Ck^urs in fine crystallizations in Nova Scotia ; also at 
Bergen Hill, N. J. ; Perry, Me. ; and in the amygdaloid of 
the copper region, Lake Superior. The Faroe Ids., Iceland, 
Vicentine, the Hartz, SicUy, and Vesuvius are some of the 
foreign localities. 

The name arudcime is from the Greek analJds^ weak^ al- 
luding to its weak electric power when heated or rubbed. 

CHABAZITE. 

Rhombohedral. (Men in rhombofaedrons, much resem* 
bling cubes. (Fig. 1.) R : Rss94'' 46'. Cleavage paral- 




lel to the primary fiices. Also in complex modifications oi 
this form, and double six-sided pyramids or short six-sided 
prisms terminating in truncated pyramids. (Fig. 2.) Also 
in compound crystals, {%%. 8.) Never massive or fibrous. 

Color white, also yellowish and red. Luster vitreous. 
Transparent to translucent. H=4 — 4*5. Gr=2*06— 2*17. 

Composition : silica 46*4, alumina 19*3, lime 8*7, potash 
2*5, water 2M. 

This species includes gmdinitej occurring in small glassy 
crystals of the form in figure 2 ; also leoyne^ occurring in 
compound crystals (fig. 8 ;) also hdererite^ which has the &rm 



Mention some of the distinctive characters of analcime. What is 
Mid of the crystalliaation of chabadte? mention other characters. 
1ft 



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170 ALUMIWA. 

of gmelinite,but appears to differ in containing just one third 
the proportion of water ; also phacolite^ occurring in small 
glassy crystals having the form of double six-sided pyramids. 
The acadiolite is a red variety from Nova Scotia. Herscheh 
ite is another variety in small hexagonal tables. 

The varieties intumesce and whiten before the blowpipe 
Gmelinite forms a jelly with acids. 

Dif, The nearly cubical form often presented by the crystals 
of cbabazite is a striking character. It is distinguished from 
analcime as stated under that species ; from calc spar by its 
hardness and action with acids ; from fiuor spar by its form 
and cleavage, and its showing no phosphorescence. 

Obs. Found in trap, gneiss, and syenite. Chabazite is 
met with in the trap of the Connecticut valley, but in poor 
specimens ; also at Hadlyme, and Stonington, Ct., at Charles- 
town, Mass., Bergen Hill, N. J., Piermont, N. Y. Nova 
Scotia affords common chabazite and also the ledererite. The 
Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Giant's Causeway are some of 
the foreign localities. Chnelijiiie comes from the Vicentine ; 
also the county of Antrim, Ireland ; levyne from Glenarm 
Scotland ; also Iceland, Faroe, dec. 

Haydenite. Resembles chabazite in the appearance of its crystals 

and is probably the same species. Occurs with healandite at Jones's 
Falls, near Baltimore. 

PSEHNITE. 

Primary form a right rhombic prism; M : M=99** 56. 
Cleavage, basal. Usually in six-sided prisms, round- 
ed so as to be barrel-shaped, and composed of a 
series of united plates ; also in thin rhombic or 
hexagonal plates. Often renifbrm and botryoidal ; 
texture compact. 

Color light green to colorless. Luster vitreous, 
except the face P, which is somewhat pearly. Subtranspa- 
rent to translucent. H=6 — 6'5. Gr=:2*8— 2*96. 

Composition : silica 43*0, alumina 23*25, lime 26*0, pro- 
toxyds of iron and manganese 2*25, water 4*0. On char- 
coal before the blowpipe froths «nd melts to a slag of a light 
green color. Dissolves slowly in muriatic acid without ge- 
latinizing, leaving a flaky residue. 

How is chabazite distinguished from calc spar 7 how from fluorspar 
What is the usual form and structure of prehnite? What is its 
color? luster? hardness? 



W 

H < K 



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PKEHlflTB 171 

Dif, Distinguished fiH)m beryl, green quartz, and chalce* 
dony by fusing before the blowpipe, and from the zeolites by 
its superior hardness. The ordinary broken appearance of 
its crystals is quite characteristic. 

0£r. Found in trap, gneiss, and granite. 

Occurs in the trap of Farmington, and Woodbury, Ct., 
West Springfield, Mass., and Patterson and Bergen Hill, N. 
J. ; in gneiss at Bellows Palls, Vt. ; in syenite at Charlestown, 
Mass. ; and very abundant, forming a large vein, in the cop- 
per region of Lake Superior, three miles south of Cat har- 
bor, and elsewhere. 

The Fassa valley in the Tyrol, St. Crystophe in Dauphi- 
ny, and the Salisbury Crag, near Edinburgh, are some of the 
foreign localities. 

V9e». Prehnite receives a handsome poUsh and is some- 
times used for inlaid work. In China it is polished for orna- 
ments, and large slabs have been cut from masses brought 
from there. 

Epistilbite, A hydrous silicate of alumina and lime. Occurs in 
thin rhombic prisms, of a white color, with a perfect pearly cleavage 
like stilbite. HssS^— 4. 6r=2'25. Before the blowpipe froths and 
forms a vesicular enamel. Does not gelatinize. From Iceland and 
Hindostan, and sparingly at Bergen Hill, N. J. 

Antrimolite. A stalactitic zeolite, from Antrim, Ireland. 

Edingtonite. In small right sqaare prisms, with lateral cleavage. 
Nearly colorless ; luster vitreous. Hs4 —4*5. Gr=2*7 — ^2*75. Ob- 
curs with thomsonite at Dumbartonshire. 

Carpkolite. In minute radiated and stellate tufts of a straw yellow 
color, and silky luster. From the tin mines of Schlackenwald, Aus- 
tria, with fluor. 

Chhrastrolite. Light bluish-green, with a radiated structure, and 
somewhat like prehnite. H=s5*5— -6. Gr=3*l8. Occurs on the shores 
of Isle Royale, Lake Superior. Named from the Greek ehhroa, green, 
astron, star, lithos, stone. 

Faujasite, " A hydrous silicate of alumina, lime and soda. Crystals 
square octahedrons. A : A=lll^ 30' and 105<> BCV. Scratches glass. 
Occurs with augite, at KaiserstuhL 

Glottalite. A hydrous silicate of alumina and lime, said %o be mon- 
ometric in crystallization. U=3-5. Gr=s2*18. Color white. Luster 
vitreous. Translucent. From Scotland. 

Margarite, a mineral resembling a pearly mica, but hardly elastic 
and Euphyllite, are hydrous species, somewhat related both to chlorite 
and to mica. They are mentioned on page 193. Emerylite «b iden- 
tical with margarite ; diphamte may also be the same species. 

Where does prehnite occur ? How is it distinguished from the zeo> 
lites and quartz 1 What are its uses ? 



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172 ALUMINA. 

Damourite, Occnn in lamellar pearly cry^^ls, a little harder than 
talc Gr=3'7 — 2*82. It is a hydrous silicate of alumina and potash. 
Reported frum Leiperville, Penn., and Chesterfield, Mass. It may be 
only a hydrous mica. 

Chloritoid. A coarsely foliated mineral, folia bent, brittle ; color 
greenish-black. H=5-5— -Gr=3*55. Infusible before the blowpipe, 
but becomes finally black and magnetic. From the UraL Siamondint 
LB a related mineral from St. Marcal. 

Masottite is chloritoid. Occnrs coarsely foliated or tabular; colot 
dark gray; luster nearly pearly ; folia brittle and often curved. HasG. 
6p=3*45. Fuses with difficulty on the edges. From the vicinity of 
Natic village, Rhode Island. 



4. Anhydrous combinations leith Silica. 

BILLIMANITB. 

In long, slender rhombic prisms, often much flattened, 
penetrating the gangue. M : M =110**— 98**. A brilliant 
and easy cleavage, parallel to the longer diagonal. Also in 
masses, consisting of aggregated crystals or fibers. 

Color hair-brown or grayish -brown. Luster vitreous, in- 
clining to pearly. Translucent crystals break easily. Hss 
6— .7-5. Gr=3-2— 3-3. 

Composition : silica 37*0, alumina 63*0. Identical there- 
fore with kyanite. Infusible alone and with borax. 

Dif. Distinguished from tremolite and the varieties gen« 
erally of hornblende by its brilliant diagonal cleavage, and 
its infusibility ; from kyanite by its brilliant cleavage, and a 
rhombic, instead of flat-bladed crystallization. 

Ohs. Found in gneiss at Chester, Ct., and the Falls of 
the Yantic, near Norwich, Ct. The long, slender prisms 
penetrate the gangue in every direction. Also in Yorktowui 
Westchester county, N. Y. 

This species was named by Bowen in honor of Prof. B. 
Silliman, of Yale College. 

Bucholzite is supposed to be a variety of Sillimanite. Composition, 
silica 46'4, alumina 52*9, (Thomson.) A specimen from Chester, 
Fenn., gave Erdmann, silica 40*1, alumina 58*9, protozyd of manga- 
nese. From Fassa, Tyrol ; also from Chester, Penn. ; Munroe, Orange 
county, N. Y. ; Worcester, Mass. ; and Humphreysviile, Conn. 

What is the crystallization and appearance of Sillimanite 7 What 
IS its hardness 1 How is it diBtinguished from tremolite and kyanite T 



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KTANITB. 178 

The analyses of hueholzite and sillimanite give varying resalta, and 
Btill they make but one species. FibroUte is another variety of this 
mineral from the Carnatic. 

KTANITE. 

Triclinic. Usually in long thin-bladed crystals aggre- 
gated together, or penetrating the gangue. The annexed 
figure is a portion of one of these crystals. Crystals 
sometimes short and stout Lateral cleavage, dis- 
tinct. Sometimes fine fibrous. 

Color usuaUy light blue, sometimes white, or a 
blue center with a white margin ; sometimes gray, 
green, or even black. Luster of flat &ce a little 
pearly. H=5— 7. Rather brittle, but less so than 
Sillimanite. Gr=3-6 — 3.7. 

Composition : silica 37*0, alumina 63*0. Unaltered aloms 
before the blowpipe. With borax forms slowly a transparent 
colorless glass. 

Dif. Distinguished by its infusibility from varieties of 
the hornblende family. The short crystals have some re- 
semblance to staurotide, but their sides and terminations are 
usually irregular; they differ also in their cleavage and 
luster. 

Ohs, Found in gneiss and mica slate, and often accom- 
panied by garnet and staurotide. 

Occurs in long-bladed crystallizations at Chesterfield and 
Worthington, Mass. ; at Litchfield and Washington, Conn. ; 
near Philadelphia ; near Wilmington, Delaware ; and in 
Buckingham and Spotsylvania counties, Va. Short crystals 
(sometimes caUed improperly ^ftroZi^a) occur in gneiss at 
Bellows Falls, Vt., and at Westfield and Lancaster, Mass. 

In Europe, transparent crystals are met with at St. Goth- 
aid in Switzerland, and in Styria, Carinthia, and Bohemia 
Villa Rica in South America, affords fine specimens. 

The name kyanite is from the Greek kuanos^ sky-blue. 
It is also called sappar, a corruption of sapphire ; also dis* 
thene, and when white, rhcetizite. 

Uses. Kyanite is sometimes used as a gem, and has 
some resemblance to sapphire. 

Wisrikite. Resembles kyanite, but gives off water before the blow- 
pipe. It may be an altered kyanite. From St. Petersburg. 

Describe kyanite 1 What is the origin of the name 1 For what is 
it used? 

15* 



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174 



ALUMINA. 




ANDALU8ITE. 

Trimetric. In right rhombic prisms. M : M=x90<* 44' 
Cleavage lateral, distinct; also massive and 
indistinctly coarse columnar, but never fine 
fibrous. 

Colors gray and flesh-red. Luster vitreous, 
or inclining to pearly. Translucent to opaque. 
Tough. H=7-6. Gr»=31— 3-32. 
Composition : silica 370, alumina 63'0. In- 
liisible. VVith borax fuses with extreme difficulty. 

Varieties. Chiastolite and made are names given to 
crystals of andalusite which show a tesselated or 
cruciform structure when broken across and pol- 
ished. The annexed figure represents one from 
Lancaster, Mase. The structure is owing to im- 
purities, (usually the material of the gangue,) disseminated 
by the powers of crystallization in a regular manner along 
the sides, edges and diagonals of the crystal. Their hard- 
ness is sometimes as low as 3. The same structure has 
been observed by Dr. Jackson in staurotide crystals. 

Dif. Distinguished from pyroxene, scapolite, spodumene 
and feldspar, by its infusibility, hardness and form. 
Ohs, Found in granite and gneiss. 
Westford, Mass. ; Litchfield and Washington, Ct. ; Ban- 
gor, Me. ; Chester, Penn., are some of its American locali- 
ties. Chiastolite occurs at Sterling and Lancaster, Mass., 
and near Bellows FaUs, Vermont. This species was first 
found at Andalusia in Spain. 

BTAUSOTIDE. 

Trimetric. In right rhombic and six-sided prisms. M : 
1 M==129<> 20'. Cleavage imperfect. a 

f^^^ P^ : a=124^ 38', M : fe:115^ 20 . 
^^ Figure 2 is a common cruciform 
crystal, (consisting of two prisms 
crossing one another.) Never in 
massive forms or slender crystalli- 
zations. 




What is the appearance of andalusite ? What is chiastolite or made ? 
Ho'.T is andalusite distinguished from pyroxene and spodumene ? What 
cryatalline forms are presented by staurotide ? Is it ever found massive T 



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LBucira. 175 

C'llor dark brown or black. Luster vitreous, inclining to 
rej>i 1 ms ; sometimes bright, but often dull. Translucent to 
opaque. H=7 — 7*5. Gr=3-65 — 3-73. 

Composition : silica 29*3, alumina 53*5, peroxyd of iron 
17*2. Before the blowpipe it darkens, but does not fuse. 

Dif. Distinguished from tourmaline and garnet by its 
infusibility and form. 

Obs. Found in mica slate and gneiss, in imbedded 
crystals. 

Very abundant through the mica slate of New England. 
Franconia, Vt. ; Windham, Me. ; Lisbon, N. H. ; Chester- 
field, Mass. ; Bolton and Tolland, Ct. ; on the Wichichon, 
eight miles from Philadelphia, and near New York city, are 
some of the localities. St. Gothard in Switzerland, and the 
Greiner mountain, Tyrol, are noted foreign localities. 

The name staurotide is from the Greek staurosy a cross. 

LEUCITE. 

Occurs only under the form of the trapezohedron, as in the 
annexed figure. Cleavage imperfect. Usually 
in dull glassy crystals, of a grayish color ; some- 
times opaque-white, disseminated through lava. 
Translucent to opaque. H=5*5 — 6. Brittle. 
Gr=2-48— 2-49. 

Composition : silica 55*1, alumina 23*4, potash 21*5= 100, 
Infusible except with borax or carbonate of lime, and ther 
with difficulty to a clear globule. A fine blue color, with 
cobalt solution. 

Dif. Distinguished from analcime by its hardness and 
infusibility. 

Obs, In lavas, especially those of Italy. Abundant at 
Vesuvius. Crystals from a pin's head to an inch in di- 
ameter. 

The name leucite is from the Greek leuJcos, white. 

Saeeharite resembles a granular feldspar, of a white or greenish- white 
color, but has the constitution of leucite. Infusible alone, and with 
great difficulty with soda. From Silesia. Perhaps Andesine. " 



What arc the colors and hardness of staurotide 1 What is its con- 
Etitution 1 What is its mode of occurrence ? How is it distinguished 
from tourmaline 1 Describe the forms and appearance of leucite. How 
does it differ from analcime 1 




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176 ALjnasAm 

OBTHOCLA&B.^-Cofnmoft Feldspar.* / 

Monoclinic. In modified oblique rhombic prisms. 
T=118" 49', P : T=67' 15'; T : e=120" 40 " 
1 in thick prisms, often rectangular, (£g. 2,) 
/~7V and also in modified tables, (^. 1.) 

W 




Cleavage perfect parallel with e, the 
shorter diagonal ; also distinct parallel ' 
to P. Also massive, with a granular 
stincture, or coarse lamellar. Colors light ; 
white, gray, and flesh-red common ; also greenish and bluish 
white and green. Luster vitreous ; sometimes a little pearly 
on the face of perfect cleavage. Transparent to subtrauslu* 
cent. H==6. Gr==2-39— 2-62. 

Composition: silica 64*20, alumina 18*40, potash 16*95. 
Fuses only on the edges. With borax forms slowly a trans- 
parent glass. Not acted upon by the acids. 

Varieties. Common feldspar includes the common sub- 
translucent varieties ; adularia^ the white or colorless sub- 
transparent specimens. The name is derived from Adula, 
one of the highest peaks of St. Gothard. Glassy feldspar 
and icC'Spar include transparent vitreous crystals, found in 
lavas. Some crystals called by these names belong to the 
species anorthite. Ryacolite and Loxoclase belong here. 

Moonstone is an opalescent variety of adularia, having 
when polished peculiar pearly reflections. Sunstone is simi- 
lar 'y but contains minute scales of mica. Aventurine feld* 
spar often owes its iridescence to minute crystals a( specular 
or titanic iron, or limonite. 

Dif. Distinguished from scapolite by its more difficult 
fusibility, and by a slight tendency to a fibrous appearance 
in the cleavage surface of the latter, especially in massive 
varieties ; &om spodumene by its blowpipe characters. 

Obs. Feldspar is one of the constituents of granite, 
gneiss, mica slate, porphyry and basalt, and often occurs in 
these rocks in crystals. St. Lawrence county, N. Y., affords 
finn crystals ; also Orange county, N. Y. ; Haddam and 

What is the crjrstallization and appearance of feldspar 1 What is iti 
hardness 1 what its composition 1 Mention the principal varieties, with 
their peculiarities ? In what rocks is xldspar an ingredient 1 



* The following species, from feldspar to nefheline inclusive, Sorm a 
natural group called the feldspar family. 



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FELDSPji.a 177 

Middletown, Conn. ; South Royalston and Barre, Mass., 
besides numerous other localities. Green feldspar occurs at 
Mount Desert, Me. ; an aventurine feldspar at Lejperville, 
Penn. ; Adularia at Haddam and Norwich, Conn., and Par- 
sonsfield, Me. A fetid feldspar (sometimes called necronite) 
is found at Rogers' Rock, Essex county ; at Thomson's 
quarry, near 196th street New York city, and 21 miles from • 
Baltimore. Carlsbad and Elbogen in Bohemia, Baveno in 
Piedmont, St. Gothard, Arendal in Norway, Land's End, and 
the Mourne mountains, Ireland, are some of the more inter* 
esting foreign localities. 

The name feldspar is from the German word/eZi, mean- 
mgjield. 

Uses. Feldspar is used extensively in the manu&cture of 
Porcelain. Moonstone and SunsUme are oflen set in jewelry. 
They are polished with a rounded surface, and look some- 
what like cat's-eye, but are much sofler. 

Kaolin, This name is applied to the clay that results 
from the decomposition of feldspar. It is the material used 
for making porcelain or china ware. The change the feld- 
spar undergoes in producing kaolin consists principally in a 
removal of the alkali, potash, with part of the silica and the 
addition of water. Composition of a specimen from Schnee- 
berg, silica 43*6, alumina 37*7, peroxyd of iron 1*5, water 
12*6, (Berthier.) It occurs in extensive beds in granite re- 
gions, where it has been derived from the decomposition of 
this rock. A granite containing talc seems to be the most 
common source of it. See &rther, the chapter on Rocks. 

ALBITE. X^ 

Triclinic. In modified oblique rhomboidal prisms* 
M : T=122^ 15', P : T=115° 6 ; P : M=±=I10^ 
5l\ The crystals are usually more or less thick 
and tabular. Also massive, with a granular or 
lamellar structure. Laminae brittle. 

Color white ; occasionally light tints of bluish 
white, grayish, reddish and greenish. Luster 
vitreous to pearly, and sometimes a bluish opalescence is 
exhibited. Transparent to subtranslucent. H=6. Grrs 
2-6— 2-7. 



What are the uses of feldspar ? What is kaolin, and for what ia it 
used ? What is the crystallizat'on and appearancse of albite ? 



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178 ALUMINA. 

Composition : silica 68*5, alumina 19 '3, peroxyd of iron 
and manganese 0*3, lime 0*7, soda 9 1. Acts like feldspar 
before the blowpipe, but tinges the flame yellow. 

Cleavdandite is a lamellar variety occurring in wedge- 
shaped masses at the Chesterfield albite vein, Mass. 

Dif. Albite differs from feldspar in containing a large 
proportion of soda. It may generally be distinguished when 
associated with that species by its uniform white color ; also 
by the form of the crystals, which are more oblique and ir- 
regular, often tabular, with two of the edges very acute ; also 
by the yellow tinge given the blowpipe flame. 

Obs. Albite like feldspar is a constituent of many rocks^ 
replacing feldspar. Albite granite is commonly lighter 
colored than feldspar granite, arising from the usual white- 
ness of the albite. Fine crystals occur at Middletown and 
Haddam, Conn., at Goshen, Mass., and Granville, N. Y. 

The name albite is from. the Latin aUmSy white. 

Andesine, Triclinic, like albite. H=6. Gr=2-65— 2-74. Color 
white, gray, greenish, yellowish, flesh -red. Composition of a specimen 
from the Andes, silica 59*6, alumina 24*2, peroxyd of iron 1*6, lime 
5-8, magnesia 1*1, potash 1*1, soda 6*5=99*92, (Abich). Foand in 
the Andes at Marmato ; in the Vosges, France ; in Canada. 

Anorthite, Near albite. The form is an oblique rhomboidal prism, 
P : T=sllO<> 57' T : T=120<> 30'. Its crystals are glassy and tabular 
\n form. H=6. Gr=B2*6 — ^2.8. Differs from albite in not tinging 
the blowpipe flame deep yellow, nor affording a clear glass with soda. 
From Mount Somma, near Naples. 

Bytownite of Thomson, is a greenish -white massiye mineral from 
Bytown, Canada. H«6— 6*5. Gr=s2*7— 2-8. 



liABRADORITE. 

Triclinic. P : M=93^ 28', P : T=114^ 48', M : T= 
^xT-^...,,^^ 119' 16'. Cleavage parallel with P, nearly per 
^ >S-/^ ^^^ » ^ distinct. Usually in cleavable massive 
H It forms. 

^^ v..^ Color dark gray, brown, or greenish brown ; 
^^*kJx^ and. usually a series of bright chatoyant colors 
from internal reflections, especially blue and green, with 
more or less of yellow, red and pearl-gray. Translucent, 



How does albite differ from feldspar ? What is cleavelandite ? What 
ifi peculiar in the colors of labradorite ? Mention other characters. 



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LABRADOBITE. 170 

subtranslucent. Luster of principal cleavage face pearly 
other faces vitreous. H=6. Gr=2"69 — 2*76. 

Composition: silica 53*1, alumina 30*1, lime 12*3, soda 
4-5, water 0*5. Like feldspar before the blowpipe, but fuses 
with a little less difficulty to a colorless glass. Entirely dis« 
solved by muriatic acid. 

Dif. Differs from feldspar and albite in containing a 
large percentage of lime, and it is farther distinguished by 
dissolving in muriatic acid, and generally by its chatoyant 
reflections. 

Obs, A constituent of some granites, and was originally 
from J«abrador. It is abundant in Essex county, N. Y., at 
Moriah, Westport and Lewis. 

Uses. Labradorite receives a fine polish, and owing to 
the chatoyant reflections of rich and delicate colors, the speci- 
mens are often highly beautiful. It is sometimes used in 
jewelry. 

Glaucolite. Considered by Frankenheim identical with Labradorite. 
Color lavender-blue, passing into green. From near Lake Baikal in 
Siberia. 

OligocUue. A feldspar-like mineral, with a distinct cleavage, nearly 
white color, of imperfectly vitreoua to somewhat greasy luster. H=6. 
Gr=2-58-- 2-67. Composition, silica 63*5, alumina 23-1, lime 24, 
potash 2*2, soda 9*4, magnesia 0*8. Fuses with difficulty, and not at- 
tacked by acids. Occurs at Stockholm in granite, and at Arendal, 
Morway, and elsewhere, in granular limestone. Also found at Had- 
dam, Ct., with iolite ; at Danbury, Cu ; at Unionville, Fenn. 

Couzeranite, another allied species from the Pyrenees, oi a gray or 
^eenish gray color. Composition near that of Labradorite. 

Latrobite, Resembles some reddish scapolites, but occurs in oblique 
rhomboidal priflms, like the feldspars, and has been referred to the 
■pecies anorthite. Occurs iti crjrstals and also in cleavable masses. H 
=6. Gr=s2-7— 2 8. Compoaition, silica 41 -8, alumina 32*8, lime 9*8, 
oxyd of manganese with magnesia 5*8, potash 6*6. water 2*0. Fuses 
with some intumescence. From Labrador in granite. 

Amphodelite is united with the species anorthite. 

NEFHELINE. 

In hexagonal prisms. Also massive; some- yCE>v 
times thin columnar. lv/_v^ 

Color white, or gray, yellowish, greenish, bluish- 
red. Luster vitreous or greasy. Transparent to 
opaque, H=5-5 — 6. Gi-=2-4 — 2*65. 

Varieties and Composition. Nepheline includes 

How does it differ from feldspar and albite ? For what is it usedl 
What is the form of crystals of nepheline 1 Mention its colors and luster 



K M 



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180 ALUIUNA 

glassy crystals from Vesuvius, which .hecome clouded ti» 
- nitric acid. The name is from the Greek nephel^ a cloud. 

EUboHU (from elakn^ oil) includes the dingy translucent 
or subtranslucent cleavable masses having a strong greasy 
luster. Altered crystals from Greenland have been called 
gieseckUe, 

Nepheline contains silica 43*4, alumina 33*5, peroxyd 
of iron 1*5, lime 0*9, soda 13*4, potash 7*1, water 1*4 
Rounded on the edges before the blowpipe : some varieties 
frise readily. In nitric acid, fitigments become clouded and 
gelatinize. 

Dif. Distinguished from scapolite and feldspar by the 
greasy luster when massive, and forming a jelly with acids ; 
from apatite by the same characters, and also its hardness. 

Ohs. Nepheline occurs at Vesuvius and near Rome, in 
lava. EUsolite i» obtained at Brevig and other places in 
Norway; also in Siberia. It is also found in the Ozark 
mountains in Arkansas, and at Litchfield in Maine. 

SCAPOLITB. r/ 

Dimetric. In modified square prisms, often terminating in 

^/'^Vv^ pyramids; e : e=136^ 7'. Cleavage rather 
/\ ^ 3*^\ i^^istinct parallel with M and e. SXso mas- 

\-< ^n give, sublamellar or subfibrous. 

Colors light ; white, pale blue, green or red* 
Streak uncolored. Transparent to nearly 
. L, jv opaque. Luster usually a little pearly. H= 

^<^J^--syy/ 6—6. Gr= 2*6— 2*75. 

^V^/^ Composition, : silica 49*3 alumina 27 9 

lime 22'8. Before the blowpipe it fuses slowly with intu- 
mescence. With borax dissolves with effervescence to a 
transparent glass. 

Dif. Its square prisms and the angle of the pyramid at 
summit are characteristic. In cleavable masses it resembles 
fddspar, but there is a slight fibrous appearance often dis- 
tinguished on the cleavage surface of scapolite, which is 
peculiar. It is more fusible than feldspar, and has higher 
specific gravity. Spodumene has a much higher specific 
gravity, and difters in its action before the blowpipe. Tabu^ 

What have jspecimens with a greasy luster been called ? What is the 
fleet of nitric acid? What is the usual form of scapolite crvatalsl 
What are its colors and hardness 1 What is its cooipodtion t Ho¥p 
does it differ from feldspar and tabular spar ? 



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HEIOKITE. 18J 

lar spar is more fibrous in the appearance of the surface, 
and is less hard ; it is also phosphorescent, and gelatinizes 
with acids. 

Obs. Found mostly in the" older crystalline rocks, and 
also in some volcanic rocks. It is especially common in 
granular limestone. Fine crystals occur at Gouvemeur, N. 
Y., and at Two ponds and Amity, N. Y. ; at Bolton, 
Boxborough and Littleton, Mass. ; at Franklin and Newton, 
N. J. It occurs massive at Marlboro', Vt. ; Westfield, Mass. ; 
Monroe, Ct. Foreign localities are at Arendal, Norway ; 
Warmland, Sweden ; Pargas in Finland, and also at Vesu- 
vius, whence comes the small crystals called meUmUe. 

Nuttallite, Wemerite, and Glaucolite are varieties of this spedes. 

Dipyre from the Pyrenees, occurring in four or eight-sided prisms, has 
also been considered one of its varieties. It however contains siUca 
55'5, alumina 24*8, lime 9*6, with 9*4 per cent, of soda, and is more 
allied in composition to the feldspars. Sp. gr.=:2'65. Occurs with talo 
and chlorite. 



MBIONITB. 

Dimetric. In small glassy square prisms, terminating in 
pyramids, and resembling scapolite ; e : e=136^ W. Cleav- 
age rather perfect, parallel with M and c. 

Colorless or white, and transparent to translucent. H=: 
5-5—6. Gr=2.5— 2-75. 

Composition: silica 42*1, alumina 31*9, lime 26*0. Be- 
fore the blowpipe yields a colorless glass. 

* Dif. Differs from scapolite in the angle of the summit 
and in composition , from the zeolites in being anhydrous. 

Ohs, Found at Mt. Somma, near Naples, in small crys- 
tals in geodes in lava. 

Mizzoniie is closely similar. It has for the angle o : e=: 
135^ 56', (Scacchi.) 

Sarcolite. Dimetric. Resembling somewhat analcime in appear- 
ance, being fiesh-red to reddish white. Extremely brittle. Gelatinizes 
with acids. Of rare occarrence at Mt Somma. 

GeJUenite. Crystals square prisms like meionite : color gray ; nearly 
opaque. H=5-5-— 6. Gr^2-9 — 3-1 . Cowjjowtion, silica 29 '6, alum- 
ina 24-8, lime 353, protoxyd of iron 66, water 33. Infusible. With 

' In what rodcB does it occur 1 Mention the characters of spodumene 
How much lithia does it contain 1 How does it differ from feldspar and 
scapolite 1 

16 



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162 ALUMINA. 

borax fuses with difficulty. Gelatinizes in muriatic acid. From the 
Faesa valley, Tyrol. 

Humboldtilite. Grjrstals as above. Cleavage basal, distinct. Goloi 
brown or yellow; luster vitreous. H=5. Gr*=2*9--3-2. Composi- 
tion, silica 440, alumina 11*2, lime 32*0, magnesia 6*1, protozyd ol 
iron 2*3, soda 4*3, potash 0*4. Gelatinizes with nitric acid. From 
Vesuvius in lava. SomMrvilliU and fntlliUtt are here included. 

PBTALITB. 

In imperfectly cleavable masses, afibrding a prism of 142^ 
Color white or gray, or with pale reddish or greenish shades. 
Luster vitreous to subpearly. Translucent. H=6— 6'6. 
Gr=2'4— 2-45. 

Composition : silica 77*0, alumina 17*7, lithia 3*1, soda 
1*3. ' Phosphoresces when gently heated. Fuses with dif. 
ficulty on the edges. Gives the reaction of lithia like spod- 
umene. 

Dif. Its lithia reaction allies it to spodumene, but it di& 
fers u'om that mineral in luster, specific gravity, and greater 
fusibility. 

Castor. Supposed to be petalite. Zygadite is another lithia min- 
eral : it occurs in twins like albite. From the Hartz. 

Violan is a dark violet-blue mineral, resembling glaucophane. 

GUtucophane occurs in cleavable masses of a dull bluish color, and 
in thin prisms. Translucent Gr=l*08. Ha^5*5. Fuses easily. Con- 
tains silica 56-5, alumina 12*2, protozyd of iron 10 9, proioxyd of man- 
ganese 0*5, magnesia 80, lime 2 2, soda 9*3. From the Island of 
Syra. 

Wichtine is a black mineral rectangularly cleavable in two direc- 
tions. Contains silica 56*3, alumina 13*3, protoxyd of iron 13*0, per- 
oxyd of iron 4*0, soda 3*5, lime 6*0, magnesia 3*0. From Wichty in 
Finland. • 

BPIDOTE. ^ 

Monoclinic In right rhomboidal prisms more or less 
modified, often with six or more sides. M : T=115° 
T ; e=128" 19' ; a : &=109° 
27 ; e : &=125^^ 16' 

Cleavage parallel to M ; less (* I m 
distinct parallel to T. — Also 
I massive granular and of a co- 
lumnar structure. 

Describe petalite. What is the proportion of lithia in its constitution t 
low does it differ from spodumene 1 Where does it occur 1 What is 
he form of epidote ? 



^ 



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EPIDOTE. 183 

Color yellowish-green (pistachio-green) and ash or haii 
brown. Streak uncolored. Translucent to opaque. Lus. 
ter vitreous, a little pearly on M ; often brilliant on the faces 
of crystals. Brittle. H=6— 7. Gi'=3-25— 3-46. 

Varieties and Com'position. There are three prominent 
varieties of this species ; one of a yellowish -green color, 
another called zoisite, of a grayish-brown or hair-brown ; a 
third of dark reddish shades, which contains 14 per cent, of 
oxyd of manganese, and is called Manganesian epidote. 
Thulite is another red variety, of paler color. 

The yellowish-green epidote is sometimes called Pistadte. 
The mineral BtickUmdite is an iron-epidote. 

The green epidote consists of silica 37*0, alumina 26*6, 
lime 20*0, protoxyd of iron 13*0, protoxyd of manganese 0.6, • 
water 1*8. 

Zoisite consists of silica 40*2, alumina 30*3, lime 22*5, 
peroxyd of iron 4*5, water 2.0. Before the blowpipe, epidote 
and zoisite fuse on the edges and swell up, but do not liquefy. 
The manganesian epidote and thulite fuse readily to a black 
glass. 

Dif. The peculiar yellowish-green color of ordinary ep- 
idote distinguishes it at once. The prisms of zoisite are 
oflen longitudinally striated or fluted, and they have not the 
fi>rm or brittleness of tremolite. 

Obs. Occurs in crystalline rocks, and also in some sedi- 
mentary rocks that have fceen heated by the passage of dykes 
of trap or basalt. Splendid crystals, six inches long, and 
with brilliant faces and rich color, have been obtained at 
Haddam, Ct. Crystallized specimens are also found at Fran- 
conia, N. H., Hadlyme, Chester, Newbury and Athol, Mass., 
near Unity and Monroe, N. Y., Franklin and Warwick, N. 
J. Zoisite in columnar masses is found at Willsboro and 
Montpelier, Vt., at Chester, Goshen, Chesterfield, and else- 
where in Massachusetts ; at Milford, Ct. 

The name epidote was derived by HaQy from the Greek 
epididomij to increase, in allusion to the fkci that the base of 
^e primary is frequently much enlarged in the crystals. 

The mineral Allanite^ p. 207, is near epidote in form and 
composition, although containing cerium. 



What are the colors and other characters of epidote ? What is the col- 
or of the variety zoisite ? What is the composition of epidote ? ^hat 
nre its distinguishing characters 1 



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184 ALUimrA. 



ID0CKA8E. 



Dimetric. In square prisms usually modified. P a=3 
/^T^ 142^ 53' ; a : a=129^ 29', a : e=127^ 07 . 
fj^^t^ Cleavage not very distinct parallel with M. Also 
found massive granular and subcolumnar. 

Color brown ; sometimes passing into green. 
(1 11 J In some varieties the color b oil-green in the direc- 
^CV^ tion of the axis and yellowish-green at right angles 
with it. Streak uncolored. Subtransparent to nearly opaque. 
H=6-5. Gr=3-33— 3.4. 

Composition : silica 37*4, alumina 23*5, protoxyd of iron 
4*0, lime 29*7, magnesia and protoxyd of manganese 5*2. 
Befbre the blowpipe fuses with effervescence to a yellow 
translucent globule. 

Dif. Resembles some brown varieties of garnet, tourma- 
line and epidote, but besides its difference of crystallization, 
it is much more fusible. 

Obs, Idocrase was first found in the lavas of Vesuvius, 
and hence called Vesuvian, It has since been obtained in 
Piedmont, near Christiania, Norway, in Siberia, also in the 
Fassa valley. Specimens of a brown color from Eger, Bo- 
hemia, have been called egeran. Cyprine includes blue 
crystals from Tellemarken, Norway ; supposed to be colored 
by copper. 

In the United States, idocrase occurs in fine crystals at 
Phipsburg and Rumford, Parsonsfield and Poland, Me.; 
Newton, N. J. ; Amity, N. Y., and sparingly at Worcester, 
Mass. The xanthite of Amity is nothing but idocrase. 

The name idocrase is from the Greek eidoy to see, and 
krasisj mixture ; because its crystalline forms have much re- 
semblance to those of other species. 

Uses. This mineral is of little value except as a minora- 
logical curiosity. It is sometimes cut as a gem fw rings. 

OABNBT. ^ 

Monometric. Common in dodecahedrons, (fig. 1,) also in 
trapezohedrons, (fig. 2,) and both forms are sometimes vari- 
ously modified. Cleavage parallel to the fkces of the dode- 

What is the ciystallization of idocrase 1 its color, hardness, and lus* 
ter 1 its composition ? How does it differ from garnet and touimaiine 7 
What is the usual form of garnet t 



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GARNET. 185 

eahedron rather distinct Also found massive granular ami 
coarse lamellar. 

Color deep red, prevalent; also bro^ni, black, green« 
13 3 4 




white. Transparent to opaque. Luster vitreous. Brittle, 
H=6*5— 7-5. Gr=3-5— 4-3. 

Varieties and Composition* Garnet is a compound of three 
or four silicates, the silicates of alumina, lime, iron, and 
manganese, and the varieties of color arise from their vari- 
ous combinations. Oxyd of chrome is sometimes present, pro- 
ducing an emerald-green variety. 

Precious garnet or cdmandine is a clear deep red variety, 
and is used much in jewelry. A specimen from New York 
affi)rded Wachtmeister, silica 42*5, alumina 19' 15, protoxyd 
of iron 33*6, protoxyd of manganese 5*5. 

Common garnet has a brownish red color, and is imper- 
fectly translucent or opaque. 

Cinnamon stone^ called also essonite^ is of a light cinna- 
mon-yellow color and high luster. It differs from the pre- 
ceding principally in containing but 5 or 6 per cent, of iron 
and 30 to 33 percent of lime. Toptadite is another yellow 
variety, approaching topaz in color, and presenting the form 
in figure 3. 

MeUmxte (firom the Greek melas^ black) is a black garnet 
containing 15 to 25 per cent, of the oxyds of iron and man- 
ganese. Pyrendite is another name for a black variety from 
France. 

Manganesian garnet has a deep red color, and is usually 
quite brittle. A Haddam specimen afforded Seybert, silica 
35*8, alumina 18*1, protoxyd of iron 14*9, protoxyd of man- 
ganese 31*0. 

Grrossvlarke occurs in greenish trapezohedrons ; and c(»i- 
tams 30 to 34 per cent, of lime with but little iron. 

Ouoaronite is a chrome garnet, containing 22*5 per cent, of 
oxyd of chromium, and having the rich color of the emerald. 

What IB the color and hardnea of garnet 1 of what does it consist 
what ia precious garnet 1 What is cinnamon stone % What is ouvaro- 
vitel 

16* 



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186 ALUMINA. 

CoiophonUe. (from the Greek kolophonia^ a resin) is a 
coarse granular variety, usually presenting iridescent hues 
and a resinous luster. 

Aplame is a deep brown garnet, sometimes inclining to 
orange. It presents the form in figure 4, and has a cleavage 
paraUel to the shorter diagonal of the fitces. For this rea- 
son it has been separated from the species garnet, and a cube 
is considered its primary form. 

The different varieties fuse with more or less difficulty to 
a dark vitreous globule. 

Dif. The vitreous luster of fractured garnet, without a 
prismatic structure even in traces, and its usual dodecahedral 
forms, are easy characters for distinguishing it. Staurotide 
differs in being infusible ; tourmaline has less specific grav- 
ity ; idocrase fiises much more readily. 

Obs. Garnet occura abundantly in mica slate, hornblende 
slate, and gneiss, and somewhat less frequently in granite 
and granular limestone ; sometimes in serpentine and lava. 

The best precious garnets are from Ceylon and Greenland ; 
cinnamon stone comes from Ceylon and Sweden ; grossularite 
occurs in the Wilui river, Siberia, and at Tellemarken in Nor- 
^&J ; green garnets are found at Swartzenberg, Saxony ; 
melanite^ in Uie Vesuvian lavas ; ouvaromtey at Bissersk in 
Russia ; iopazolite, at Mussa, Piedmont ; aplome, in Siberia, 
on the Lena, and at Swartzenberg. 

In the United States, precious garnets^ of small size, occur 
at Hanover, N. H. ; and a clear and deep red variety, some- 
times called pyropCy comes from Green's creek, Delaware 
county, Penn. Dodecahedrons, of a dark red cdor^ occur at 
Haverhill, N. H. , some 1^ inches through ; also at New 
Fane, Vt., still larger ; also Lyme, Conn. ; at Unity, Bruns- 
wick, Streaked Mountain, and elsewhere, Maine ; at Monroe, 
Conn. ; Bedford, Chesterfield, Barre, Brookfield, and Brim- 
field, Mass. ; Dover, Dutchess county, Roger's rock. Crown 
Point, Essex county, Franklin, N. J. Cinnamon colored 
crystals occur at Carlisle, Mass., transparent, and also s.f 
Boxborough ; with idocrase at Parsonsfield, Phippsburg and 
Rumford, Me. ; at Amherst, N. H. ; at Amity,- N. Y., and 
Franklin, N. J., ; at Dixon's quarry, seven miles from Wil- 
mington, Del., in fine trapezohedral crystals. Melanite is 
found at Franklin, N. J., and Germantown, Penn. Colopk- 

What is colophonite 1 What is aplome 1 How is garnet distinguished t 

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TOVSMALim. 



18T 



umto is abundant at Willsborough and Lewis, Essex county, 
N. Y. ; it occurs also at North Madison, Conn. 

The garnet is the carbuncle of the ancients. / The ala* 
bandic carbuncles of Pliny were so called because cut and 
polished at Alabanda, and hence the name Almandine now 
in use. The garnet is also supposed to have been the A^o- 
cvnUi of the ancients. 

Uses. The clear deep red garnets make a rich gem, 
and are much used. Those of Pegu are most highly valued. 
They are cut ^uite thin, on account of their depth of color. 
An octagonal garnet, measuring 8^ lines by 6^ has sold for 
near $700. The cinnamon stone is also employed for the 
same purpose. Pulverized garnet is sometimes employed as 
a substitute for emery. When abundant, as in some parts of 
Germany, garnet is used as a flux to some iron ores. 

Pliny describes vessels, of the capacity of a pint, fi>rm- 
ed from large carbuncles, '* devoid of luster and transparen- 
cy, and of a dingy color," which probably were large gar- 
nets. 

Pyrope or Bohemian garnet. Occurs usually in rounded grains, re- 
sembling a rich garnet, but the primary form is supposed to be the cube. 
Cleavage none. H=7-5. Gr=3-69— 38. C!iwioo«<ion .• silica 430, 
alumina 22*3, oxyd of chromium 1'8, magnesia 18*5, protoxyd of iron 
8*7, lime 5*7 ; and, according to Apjohn, there are also 3 per cent, of 
yttria. From Bohemia, in trap tufii. 

Helvin, a wax yellow garnet-like mineral, occurring in teirahedral 
crystals. From Saxony and Norway. 



TOURMALINE 

Rhombohedral. Usual 
pyramid. R : R = 134" 
03. R : e=r:112' 59'; ^- : 
R:a=141 30 ; e : e= R 
154059', The crystals are | 
hemihed rally modl/ied, or 
have unlike secondary 1 
planes at the two extrem- ; , 
ities, as shown in figure ''^l [J 
3. They are commonly long, and often there are 
prismatic sides, which are convex and strongly 




but three 
furrowed. 



How IS garnet distinguished ? What are its uses? What is said of 
die ancient carbuncle ? What is pyrope 1 What are the usual forms and 
appearance of tourmaline ? 



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188 AxmaNA. 

Occurs also compact massive, and coarse columnar, the col« 
umns sometimes radiating or divergent from a center. 

Color black, blue-black, and dark brown, common ; alsc 
bright and pale red, grass-green, cinnamon-brown, yellow, 
gray, and white. Sometimes red within and green external- 
ly, or one color at one extremity and another at the other. 
Transparent ; usually translucent to nearly opaque. Luster 
vitreous, inclining to resinous on a sur&ce of fracture. 
Streak uncolored. Brittle ; the crystals often fractured 
across and breaking very easily. H=7*8. Gr=3— 3'1. 
Electrically polar when heated, (page 62.) 

Varieties and Composition. Tourmalines of different col- 
ors have been designated by different names, as follows : — 

Rubdlite is red tourmaline. 

Indicolite is blue and bluish-black tourmaline. 

Schorl, formerly included the common black tourmaline, 
but the name is not now used. 

A black variety afforded, on analysis, silica 33*0, alumina 
38-2, lime 0*8, protoxyd of iron, 23*8, soda 3*2, boracic acid 
1-9. 

A red variety from Siberia, silica 39*4, alumina 44*0, pot- 
ash 1*3, boracic acid 4*2, lithia 2*5, peroxyd of manganese 
5*0. The presence of boracic add is the most remarkable 
point in the constitution of this mineral. It is also observed 
that lithia is sometimes present ; over 4 per cent, have been 
obtained from a green tourmaline from UtOn, Sweden. 

Before the blowpipe the dark varieties intumesce, and fuse 
with difficulty ; the red and light-green only become milk- 
white and a little slaggy on the surface. 

Dif. The black and the dark varieties generally, are 
readily distinguished by the form and luster and absence of 
distinct cleavage, together with their difficult fusibility. The 
black when fractured often appear a little like a black resin. 
The brown variety resembles zoisite, though very dis- 
tinct in crystallization. The light brown looks like garnet 
or idocrase, but is more infusible. The red, green, and yel- 
low varieties are distinguished from any species they resem- 
ble, by the crystalline form, the prism of tourmaline always 
having 3, 6, 9, or 12 prismatic sides, (or some multiple of 



What is the color and hardnecB of tourmaline ? what has been called 
schor]? What is rubeliite? What are the distinctive characters of 
tourmaline 1 



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TOUKKALINE. 189 

8.) The electric jKAsiity of the crystals, when heated, is 
another remarkable character of this mineral. 

Obs. Tourmalines are common in granite, gneiss, mica 
slate, chlorite slate, steatite, and granular limestone. They 
usually occur penetrating the gangue. , The black crystals 
are often highly polished and at times a foot in length, though 
perhaps of no larger dimensions than a pipe-stem, or even 
more slender. This mineral has also been observed in 
sandstones near basaltic or trap dikes. 

Red and green tourmalines, over an inch in diameter and 
transparent, have been obtained at Paris, Me., besides pink 
and blue crystals. These several varieties occur also, of less 
beauty, at Chesterfield and Goshen, Mass. Good black tour- 
malines are found at Norwich, New Braintree, and Carlisle, 
Mass. ; Alsted, Acworth, and Saddleback Mountain, N. H. ; 
Haddam, Conn. ; Saratoga and Edenville, N. Y. ; Franklin 
and Newton, N. J. 

Dark brown tourmalines are obtained at Orford, N. H. ; in 
thin black crystals in mica at Graflon, N. H. ; Monroe, Ct. ; 
Gouvemeur and Amity, N. Y. ; Franklin and Newton, N. 
J. A fine cinnamon brown variety occurs at Kingsbridge, 
Amity, and also south in New Jersey. A gray or bluish- 
gray and green variety occurs near Edenville. 

The word tourmaline is a corruption of the name in Ceylon, 
whence it was first brought to Europe. Lyncurium is sup- 
posed to be the ancient name for common tourmaline ; and 
the red variety was probably called hyacinth. 

Uses. The red tourmalines, when transparent and free 
from cracks, such as have been obtained at Paris, Me., are 
of great value and afford gems of remarkable beauty. They 
have all the richness of color and luster belonging to the 
ruby, though measuring an inch across. A Siberian speci- 
men of this variety, now in the British museum, is valued at 
<£500; The yellow tourmaline, from Ceylon is but little in- 
ferior to the real topaz, and is oflen sold for that gem. The 
green specimens, when clear and fine, are also valuable for 
gems. A stone measuring 6 lines by 4, of a deep green 
color, is valued at Paris at 815 to 820. The thin crystals 
of Graflon, N. H. are transparent, and may be used as sug- 
gested by B. Silliman, Jr., in polarizing instruments. 

Where have fine specimens of red and green tourmaline been found 
in the United States 1 What is said of yellow tourmaline 1 What « 
the value of tourmaline as a gem 1 



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190 ALtTMnrA. 



AXINITE. 




Triclinic. In acute edged oblique rhomboidal prisms ; 
P : M = 134^ 40, P : T-115° 5, M : T=a 
135^ 10'. Cleavage indistinct Also rarely 
t massive or lamellar. 

Color clove brown; dif]fering somewhat in 
' shade in two directions. Luster vitreous. Trans- 
parent to subtranslucent. Brittle. H=6'5— 
7. Gr=3*27. Pyro-electric. 

Composition : silica 45, alumina 19, lime 12*5, peroxyd of 
iron 12*25, peroxyd of manganese 9, boracic acid 2*0, mag- 
nesia 0*2. In another specimen 5*6 per cent, of boracic 
acid were found. Before the blowpipe fuses reaJdily with in- 
tumescence to a dark green glass, which becomes black in 
the oi^dating flame. 

Dif, Remarkable for the sharp thin edges of its crystals, 
and its glassy brilliant appearance, without cleavage. The 
crystals are implanted, and not disseminated like garnet In 
aa& or all of these particulars, and also in blowpipe reaction, 
it differs from any of the titanium ores. 

Obs. St. Cristophe in Dauphiny, is a fine locality of this 
mineral. It occurs also at Kongsberg in Norway, Normark 
in Sweden, and Cornwall, England ; also Thum in Saxony, 
whence the name Thummerstein and Thumite. 

In the United States, it has been found at Phippsburg In 
Maine, by Dr. C. T. Jackson. 

lOLiTE. — Dichroite^ Cordierite. 

Trimetric. In rhombic and hexagonal prisms. Usually 
occurs in six or twelve-sided prisms, or disseminated in 
masses without distinct form. Cleavage indistinct; but 
crystals often separable into layers parallel to the baso. 

Color various shades of blue ; often deep blue in the di- 
rection of the axis, and yellowish-gray transversely. Streak 
uncolored. Luster and appearance much like that of glass. 
Transparent to translucent Brittle. H=7— 7'5. Gr= 
2-6_2-7. 

Composition of a specimen from Haddam, Ct : silica 48*3, 

What is the form and color of axinite ? What characters distinguish 
It ? Why was it so called ? What are the forms of iolite 1 What 
N are its colors, appearance and hardness 1 



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MICA. 191 

alumina 32*5, magnesia 10, protoxyd of iron 6*0, protoxjd 
of manganese 0*1, water (hygrometric) 3*1 . Before the 
blowpipe fuses on the edges with difficulty to a blue glass 
resembling the mineral. 

Dif. The glassy appearance of iolite is so peculiar that 
It can be confounded with nothing but blue quartz, from 
wbich it is distinguished by its fusing on the edges. It is 
easily scratched by sapphire. 

Ohs, Found at Haddam, Conn., in granite ; also in gneis 
at Brimfield, Mass. ; at Richmond, N. H., in talcose rock 
The principal foreign localities are at Bodenmais in Bava- 
ria ; Arendal, Norway ; Capo de Gata, Spain ; Tunaberg, 
Finland ; also Norway, Greenland and Ceylon. 

The name ioKie is from the Greek toc2e«, violet, alluding 
to its color ; it is also called dicJiroitCj from dis, twice, and 
chroeiy color, owing to its having different colors in two 
directions. 

Uses, Occasionally employed as an ornamental stone ; 
when cut it presents different shades of color in different 
directions. 

NoTB. — ^Iolite exposed to the air and moisture undergoes a gradual 
alteration, becoming a hydrate (absorbing water) and assuming a foli- 
ated micaceous structure, so as to resemble talc, though more brittle 
and hardly greasy in feel. Hydrous iolite, ehhropkyUite, and esmark- 
iU, are names that haye been given to the altered iolite ; and faMunite 
and giganiolite are of the same origin. (See pages 162, 163.) 

y KiOA. — Muscamie. 

Trimetric. In oblique rhombic prisms of about 120^ and 
60^ ; but the fundamental form right rhom- 
bic. Crystals usually with the acute edgia ^^^ l> 
replaced. Cleavage eminent, parallel to P, 
yielding easily thin elastic laminiB of ex- 
treme tenuity. Usually in thinly foliated masses, plates or 
scales. Sometimes in radiated groups of aggregated scales 
or small folia. 

Colors from white through green, yellowish and brownish 
shades to black. Luster more or less pearly. Transparent 
or translucent. Tough and elastic. H=2 — ^2*5. Gr=s 
2-8—3. 

Composition : silica 46-3, alumina 36-8, potash 9*2, per- 

How is iolite distinguished from quartz and sapphire 7 Why was it 
called iolite and dichroite 1 Describe mica. What is its composition 1 




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192 ALusnrA. 

oxyd of iron 4*5, fluoric acid 0*7, water 1*8. Before tl» 
blowpipe infusible, but becomes opaque white. 

Varieties. — A variety in which the scales are arranged in 
a plumose form is caUed plumose mica ; another, in which 
the plates have a transverse cleavage, has been termed jprt« 
matic mica, 

Dif. Mica differs from talc in affording thinner folia and 
being elastic ; also in not having the greasy feel of thav 
mineraL The same characters, excepting the last, distin- 
guish it from gypsum ; besides, it does not crumble so readily 
on heating. 

Ohs. Mica is one of the constituents of granite, gneiss 
and mica slate, and gives to the latter its laminate structure. 
It also occurs in granular limestone. Plates two and three 
feet in diameter, and perfectly transparent, are obtained at 
Alstead, Acworth and Graflon, New Hampshire. Other 
good localities are Paris, Me. ; Chesterfield, Barre, Brim- 
field, and South Royalston, Mass. ; near Greenwood furnace, 
Warwick and Edenville, Orange county, and in Jefferson 
and St. Lawrence counties, N. Y. *; Newton and Franklin, 
N. J. ; near Germantown, Pa., and Jones's Falls, Maryland. 
Oblique prisms from near Greenwood are sometimes six or 
seven inches in diameter. 

A green variety occurs at Unity, Maine, near Baltimore, 
Md., and at Chestnut Hill, Pa. Prismatic mica is found at 
Russel, Mass. 

Uses. Mica, on account of the toughness, transparency 
and the thinness of its folia, has been used in Siberia for glass 
in windows : whence it has been called Muscovy glass. It 
was formerly employed in the Russian navy, because not 
liable to fracture from concussion. It is in common use for 
lanterns, and also for the doors of stoves. It affords a oon- 
venient material for preserving minute objects for the micros- 
cope, and is sometimes used for holding minerals before the 
blowpipe flame. 

The best localities of the mineral in this country for the 
arts, are those of New Hampshire. 

Lepidolite, or Lithia miea. Occurs in cr3rBtaIs or lamine, of a pur- 
plish color, and often in masses consisting of aggregated scales. A 
■pecimen from the Ural consisted, according to Resales, of silica 47*7, 

How does mica differ from talc and gsrpsum ? Of what rocks m 
t a constituent? What are its uses? What is the peculiarity of 
ferndolite t 



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HICA. 193 

alumina 20*3, lime 61, protozyd of manganese 4*7, potash 11*0, lithia 
2-8, soda 2*2, flaorine 10-2, chlorine 1-2. 

Lepidolite occurs at the albite vein in Chesterfield, Mass., and at 
Goshen in the same state ; also at Paris, Me., with red tourmalines, and 
near Middletown, Ct. 

Fucksiie. A green mica from the Zillerthal, containing nearly 4 
per cent, of oxyd of chromium. 

Biittite, Resembles common mica or muscovite, but crystals usually 
right prisms, and angle between the optical axes 
only 1 or 2 degrees or less; while in muscovite 
the angle is 56 to 75 degrees. The form is usually 
regarded as hf-xnironal and not trimetric. Colora 
mo:;tly dark ^x^en to black, sometimes white. H 
«:2-5— 3, Gr=:2-7— 31. 

Composition : essentially like garnet. A variety from Monroe, N. 
Y., afforded Smith and Brush, silica 39*9, alumina 15*0, peroxyd of 
iron 7-7, magnesia 23-7, soda 1-1, potash 9*1, water 1-3, fluorine 0*9, 
chlorine 0*4. Biotite is a magnesia mica. 

Obs, Occurs at Vesuvius, at Greenwood Furnace in Monroe, N. Y., 
and elsewhere. Most of the black and greenish-black micas are biotite. 

Pklogopite, A mica, near biotite in the form of 
the crystals, but angle between the optical axes 5 to ^ p 
20 degrees. Form trimetric. Color usually brown, 
yellowish brown, sometimes white. 

Composition: a variety from Edwards, N. Y., af- 
forded Craw, silica 40*15, alumina 17*36, magnesia 28*10, potash 10'56, 
E'oda 0-63, fluorine 4 20. 

Obs, Occurs in granular limestone, being characteristic of that rock. 
Found at Gouverneur and other places in northern New York, War- 
wick, Orange Co., Ac. 

Margaritty or Ptarl Mica. In hexagonal prisms, having the struc- 
ture oi mica ; and also in intersecting laminsB. Luster pearly, approach- 
ing talc, but difTeriog fiK»m that mineral in being a silicate of alumina 
instead of magnesia. Color nearly white, or gray. It intumesces and 
fuses before the blowpipe. From Sterzing in the Tyrol, associated with 
chlorite. Emerflite and diphanite belong here. 

EuphflUte is a new species, related somewhat to margarite, and 
found a^sociated with emerylite and corundum in Pennsylvania and 
elsewhere. Rather brittle. 

Margarodits, or Schistose talc of Zillerthal^ is near common mica, 
but contains 4 or 5 per cent, of water. 

Lepidomelans. A black iron-mica, occurring in six-sided scales or 
tables aggregated together. It contains silica 37-4, alumina 11*6, per- 
oxyd of iron 27*7, protoxyd of iron 12*4, magnesia and lime 0*3, potash 
9-2, water 0-6. From Wftrmland. Oltrelite (which includes the phyl- 
lite from Sterling, Mass.,) is an allied mineral occurring in black scales, 
disseminated through the rock. 

What are other kinds of mica 1 

17 



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N* 


e^ 


'K 


K 


#' 



194 ALUMIlfA. 

5. Combination of a Silicate and Fluoride 

TOPAZ. 

Trimetric. In right rhombic prisms, usually dififerentlj 
modified at the two extremities. Pyro-electric. ^ </^^ 
M : M=124° 19'. Cleavage perfect, parallel to ( ^ { %^ 
the base. 

Color pale yellow ; sometimes greenish, blu- 
ish, or reddish. Streak white. Luster vitreous. 
Transparent to subtranslucent. Fracture sub- 
conchoidal, uneven. 

Compositiofi : silica 34*2, alumina 57*5, fluorine 15*0. 
Infusible alone on charcoal before the blowpipe. Some 
varieties are changed by heat to a wine yellow or pink tinge. 

Dif. Topaz is readily distinguished from tourmaline 
and other minerals it resembles by its brilliant transverse 
cleavage. . 

Obs, Pycnite has been separated from this species. It 
differs from topaz mainly in the state of aggregation of the 
particles, it presenting a thin columnar structure and forming 
masses imbedded in quartz. The fhysalite or pyrophysalifs 
of Hisinger, is a coarse, nearly opaque variety, found in 
yellowish-white crystals of considerable dimensions This 
variety intumesces when heated, and hence its name- from 
fihusao^ to blow. 

Topaz is confined to granitic regions, and commonly oocurs 
in granite, associated with tourmaline, 'beryl, occasionally 
with apatite, fluor spar and tin. With quartz, tourmaline 
and lithomarge, it forms the mixture called topaz rock by 
Werner. 

Fine topazes are brought &om the Uralian and Altai 
mountains, Siberia, and from Kamschatka, where they occur 
of green and blue colors. In Brazil they are found of a deep 
yellow color, either in veins or nests in lithomarge, or in 
loose crystals or pebbles. Magnificent crystals of a sky-blue 
color have been obtained in the district of Caimgorum, in 
Aberdeenshire. The tin mines of Schlackenwald, Zinnwald, 
and Ehrenfriedersdorf in Bohemia, St. Michael's Mount in 



What are the forms and cleavage of top>az crystals? What are their 
colors ? their luster and hardness ] their composition ? How is topa7 
distinguished from tourmaline and other minerals? How does topai 
occur? 



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TOPAZ. 19d 

Cornwall, etc ^ afford smaller crystals. The phjsalite varie* 
ty occurs in crystals of immense size at Finbo, Sweden, in 
a granite quarry, and at Broddbo, in a* boulder. A well 
defined crystal from this locality, in the possession of the 
College of Mines of Stockholm, weighs eighty pounds. Al- 
tenberg in Saxony, is the principal locality of pycnite. It is 
there associated with quartz and mica. 

Trumbull, Conn., is the principal locality of this species in 
the United States. It seldom affords fine transparent crystals 
except of a small size : these are usually white , occa 
sionally with a tinge of green or yellow. The large coarse 
crystals sometimes attain a diameter of several inches^ 
(rarely six or seven,) but they are deficient in luster, usually 
of a dull yellow color, though occasionally white, and often 
are nearly opaque. 

The ancient tapazion was found on an island in the Red 
Sea, which was often surrounded with fog, and therefore 
diflicult to find. It was hence named from topazo^ to seek. 
This name, like most of the mineralogical terms of the an- 
cients, was applied to several distinct species. Pliny de- 
scribes a statue of Arsinoe, the wife of Ptolen v Philadelphus, 
four cubits high, which was made of topazion, or topaz, but 
evidently not the topaz of the present day, nor chrysolite, 
which has been supposed to be the ancient topaz. It has 
been conjectured that it was a jasper or agate ; others have 
imagined it to be prase, or chrysoprase. 

Uses, Topaz is employed in jewelry, and for this purpose 
its color is often altered by heat The variety from Brazil 
assumes a pink or red hue, so nearly resembling the Balas 
ruby, that it can only be distinguished by the facility with 
which it becomes electric by friction. The finest crystals for 
the lapidary are brought from Minas Novas, in Brazil. From 
their peculiar limpidity, topaz pebbles are sometimes denomi- 
nated gouttes d^eau. When cut with ^ets and set in rings, 
they are readily mistaken, if viewed by daylight, for diamonds. 
The coarse varieties of topaz may be employed as a substi- 
tute for emery in grinding and polishing hard substances. 

Topaz is cut on a leaden wheel, and is polished on a cop. 
per wheel with rotten stone. It is usually cut in the fonr 
of the brilliant or table, and is set either with gold foil or 
jour. The white and rose-red are most esteemed. 

What are the uaei of topaz ? What is the effect of heat 1 



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106 ALUMINA. 

6. Combination of a Silicate and Sulphate. 
LAPis-LAzuLi. — Ultramarine. 

Honometric. In dodecahedrons. Cleavage imperfect 
Also massive. Color rich Berlin or azure 
blue. Luster vitreous. Translucent to opaque. 
H=s5*5. Gr=2-3 — 2-5. 

Composition : silica 45 '5, alumina 31*8, 
soda 9*1, lime 3*5, iron 0*8, sulphuric acid 
5*9, sulphur 0'9, chlorine 0*4, water 0*1. 
Fuses to a white translucent or opaque glass, and if calcined 
and reduced to powder loses its color in acids. The color 
of the mineral is supposed to be due to sulphuret of sodium. 
Dif. Distinguished from azmite by its hardness and by 
giving no indications of copper before the blowpipe ; and 
from lazulite by its fusibility, hardness, and not giving the 
reaction of phosphoric acid. 

Ohs. Found in granite and granular limestone, and is 
brought from Persia, China, Siberia, and Bucharia. The 
specimens oflen contain scales of mica and disseminated 
pyrites. 

Uses. The richly-colored lapis lazuli is highly esteemed 
for costly vases, and for inlaid work in ornamental furniture. 
Magnificent slabs are contained in some of the Italian cath- 
edrals. It is also used in the manufacture of mosaics. 
When powdered it constitutes the most beautiful and most 
durable of blue paints, called ultramarine, and has been one 
of the most costly colors. The late discovery of a mode of 
making an artificial ultramarine, quite equal to the native, 
has afforded a substitute at a comparatively cheap rate. 
This artificial ultramarine consists of silica 45*6, alumina 
23*3, soda 21*5, potash 1*7, lime trace, sulphuric acid 3*8, 
sulphur 1*7, iron 1*1, and chlorine a small quantity unde- 
termined. It has taken the place in the arts, entirely, of the 
native lapis-lazuli. 

Hauyne, (including nosean and spinellane.) In dodecahedrons, and 
allied to the preceding. Color bright blue, occasionally greenish. 
Transparent to translucent. H=6. Gr=2-28 — 2-5. Ompontian, 

Wliat is the crystalline form of lapis-lazuli ? What is its color ? ita 
ardness ? its composition 1 How is it distinguished from apatite and 
azulite ? How does it occur 1 What are its uses ? What is said of 
he artificial ultramarine ? 



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BERYL. 197 

siliea 35*0, alumina 37*4, soda 9*1, lime 12*6, sulphuric acid 13*6, with 
traces of chlorine, sulphur and water. The nosean afforded silica 35'9| 
alumina 32*6, soda 17'8, sulphuric acid 92, with a small per-centage 
of other ingredients. A variety from Litchfield, Maine, afforded Dr. 
Jackson nearly the same proportions — silica 35*4, alumina 31*75, soda 
17*6, sulphuric acid 6*5, with oxyd of manganese 4*4, and lime 1*8. 
Hauyne comes from the Vesuvian lavas and near Rome. The nowan 
is found in blocks with feldspar mica and zircon on the Rhine, near 
the Laacher See. Also at Litchfield, Maine. 

7. Silicate with a ChhricU 

SODAIiITE. 

In dodecahedrons like lapis-lazuli. Color brown, gray, or 
blue. H = 6. Gr=2-25— 2-3. 

Composition: silica 37*2, alumina 31*7, soda 19*1, sodium 
4*7, chlorine 7'3=100. 

From Greenland, Vesuvius and Brisgau. 



5. GLUCINA. 

The minerals containing glucina are above quartz (7) 
in hardness, excepting one, (leucophane,) which contains 
largely of lime. The specific gravity is between 2'7 and 
3*75. Excepting leucophane, they fuse before the blowpipe 
with extreme difficulty, or not at all. 

A BEBTL. — Emerald. 

Hexagonal. In hexagonal prisms. Usually in long, stout 
prisms, without regular terminations. Cleavage ^c P_ ~> 
basal, not very distinct ; rarely massive. (V — <^^~^ 

Color green, passing into blue and yellow ; 
color rather pale, excepting the deep and rich 
green of the emerald. Streak uncolored. Luster 
vitreous , sometimes resinous. Transparent to 
subtranslucent. Brittle. H=7'5 — 8. Gr=3 
2-65—2*75. 

Varieties and Composition. The emerald includes the 
rich green variety; it owes its color to oxyd of chrome. 
Beryl especially includes the paler varieties, which are col- 



What is sodalite? What is said of minerals containing glucina 1 
What is the cryshiiUne form of beryl ? it colors and hardness ? 
17* 



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1^8 GLVOIITA. 

ored by oxyd of iron. Aquamarine includes clear beryls of 
a sea-green, or pale-bluish or bluish-green tint. 

The heryl consists of silica 66*9, alumina 19*0, giucina 
14-1=100. Emerald contains less than one per cent, of 
oxyd of chromium. Before the blowpipe becomes clouded, 
but fuses on the edges with difficulty. 

Dif> The hardness distinguishes this species from apa 
tite ; and this character, and also the form of the crystals, 
from green tourmaline ; the imperfect cleavage, from euclase 
and topaz. 

Ohs. The finest emeralds come from Grenada, where 
hey occur in dolomite. A. crystal from this locality, 2| 
inches long and about 2 inches in diameter, is in the cabinet 
ef the Duke of Devonshire. It weighs 8 oz. 18 dwts., and 
though containing numerous flaws, and therefore but partially 
fit for jewelry, has been valued at 150 guineas. A more 
splendid specimen, but weighing only 6 oz., is in the pos- 
session of Mr. Hope of London. It cost £500. Emeralds 
of less beauty, but of gigantic size, occur in Siberia. One 
specimen in the royal collection of Russia measures 4^ 
inches in length and 12 in breadth, and weighs 16f pounds 
troy. Another is 7 inches long and 4 broad, and weighs 6 
pounds. Mount Zalora in Upper Egypt, afifords a less dis« 
tinct variety. 

The finest beryls {aquamarines^) come from Siberia, Hin- 
dostan and Brazil. One specimen belonging to Don Pedro 
is as large as the head of a cal( and weighs 225 ounces, or 
more than 18^ pounds troy ; it is transparent and without a 
flaw. 

In the United States, beryls of enormous size have been 
obtained, but seldom transparent crystals. They occur in 
granite or gneiss. One hexagonal prism from Grafton, N, 
H., weighs 2900 pounds and measured 4 feet in length, with 
one diameter oi 32 inches and another of 22 ; its color was 
bluish-green, excepting a part at one extremity, which was dull 
green and yellow. At Royalston, Mass., one ciystal has 
been obtained a foot long, and pellucid crystals are some* 
times met with. Haddam, Conn., has aflbrded fine crystals, 

What is the composition of beryl ? What are the different yarietiea 
nd their distinctions ? How is beryl distinguished from apatite and 
ourmaline ? Where are the finest emeralds brought from ? What is 
aid of the Siberian emeralds? What of the finest beryls? What is 
he size of some beryls found in the United States *? 



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XUCX«A8C. 



199 



{see the figure.) Other localities are Barre, Fitchhurg, 
Goshen, Mass. ; Albany, Norwich, Bowdoinham and Topham, 
Me. ; Wilmot, N. H. ; Monroe, Conn. ; Leyperville, Penn. 
The name beryl is from the Greek heryUos. 

EUCLASE. 

Monoclinic. In oblique rhombic prisms ; M : M=sll5^. 
Cleavage in one direction highly perfect, affording smooth 
polished faces. 

Color pale green. Luster vitreous ; transparent. Vsry 
brittle. H==7-5. Gr=2-9— 31. Pyro-electric. 

Composition : silica 43*2, alumina 32'6, glucina 24*2. Be- 
fore the blowpipe with a strong heat it intumesces, and finally 
fuses to a white enamel. 

Dif, The very perfect cleavage of this glassy mineral is 
like that of topaz, and at once distinguishes it from tourma- 
line and beryl. It dififers from topaz in its very oblique 
crystals 

Ohs, Occurs in Peru, and with topaz in Brazil. 

Uses. The crystals of this mineral are elegant gems of 
themselves, but they are seldom cut for jewelry on account 
of their brittleness. 

CHRYSOBEHYL. 

Trimetric. In modified rectangular prisms. 
1 46, M :c=125' 20'. Cleavage 

not very distinct, parallel to M. 
Also in compound ciystals, as in 
fig. 2. Crystals sometimes thick ; 
I j often tabular. 

/Jxl } Color bright green, from a light 
shade to emerald green; rarely 
raspberry or columbine red by transmitted light. Streak 
tincolored. Luster vitreous. Transparent to translucent. 
H=8-5. Gr=3-5— 3-8. 

Composition: alumina 30*2, glucina 19*8=100. A little 
Iron is sometimes present. Infusible and uimltorecl before 
the blow-pipe. 

Alexandrite is a name given to an emerald-green variety 
from the Urals, which is supposed to be colored by chrome, 



m. . 



e:e 


=119' 


2 




f«!^. 


w >■- ^y 


L 







What is the form and cleavage of euclase ? what the color and luster 1 
How is it distinguished ? What are its u?es? What is the appearance 
of chrysoberyl ? its hardness? its composition? What is alexandrite 1 



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ZIKGONIA. 

and to l>ear the same relation to ordinaiy chrysdlrerjl as 
emerald to beryl. 

Dif, Near beryl, but distinct in its often tabular crystal- 
lizations, and its entire infiisibility. 

Ohs. Chrysoberyl occurs in the United States in granite 
at Haddam, Conn., and Greenfield, near Saratoga, N. Y., 
associated with beryl, garnet, etc. 

The name chrysoberyl is from the Greek chrysos^ golden^ 
and beryllas, beryl. Cymophttne is another name of the 
species, alluding to its opalescence, and derived from the 
Greek kurmtj wave, and phaino^ to appear. 

Uses. The crystals are seldom sufficiently pellucid and 
clear from fkws to be valued in jewelry ; but when of fine 
quality, it forms a beautifiil gem, and is often opalescent. 

Phenaeite. Colorless or bright wine-yellow, incUning to red, of 
vitreous luster and transparent to opaque. Crystals and cleavage rhom- 
bohedral. H=8. Gr=2-97. Composition, silica 54'3, glucina 46*7, 
with a trace of magnesia and alumina. Unaltered before the blowpipe. 
From Perm, Siberia, with emerald. 

Leucopk€tne. Resembles somewhat a light green apatite. Hs3-5. 
Gr=2-97. Powder phosphorescent. Pyro-electric. Compontion, silica 
47*8, glucina 11*5, lime 250, protoxyd of manganese I'Ol, potassium 
0*3, sodium 7*6, fluorine 6*2. From Norway in syenite, accompanying 
albite and ekeolite. 

Hehoin. Helvin occurs in Saxony and Norway in tetrahedrons of a 
wax yellow or brownish color. H=6 — 6*5. GrssB'l — 3*3. Lustef 
vitreous. It contains silica, oxyds of iron and manganese, solpburet of 
manganese, with glucina and alumina. 

6. ZmCONIA. 

ZIRCON. 

Dimetric. In square prisms and octahedrons. M : e = 
132'> 10 ; e : e=123^ 19. Cleavage parallel to 
M , but not strongly marked. Usually in crystals ; 
but al80 granular. 

Color brownish-red, brown, and red, of clear 
tints ; also yellow, grvij and white. Streak un« 
colored. Luster more or less adamantine. Often 
transparent ; also nearly opaque. Fracture con- 
choidal, brilliant. H=7-5. Gi=4-0— 4-8. 

How does chrysoberyl differ from beryl? Where and how docs it 
occur? Whar is the origin of the name chryso'beryl? What arc ita 
use^ ? rvpcribe zircon ? 



>(^^ 



« M 



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ZIRCOIT. 901 

Varieties and Composition, 1 ransparent red specimens 
are called hyacinth, A colorless variety from Ceylon, hav- 
ing a smoky tinge, is called jargon ; it is sold for inferioi 
diamonds, which it resembles, though much less hard. The 
name zirconite is sometimes applied to crystals of gray or 
brownish tints. Consists of silica 88*2, zirconia 6b*8« In- 
fusible before the blowpipe, but loses color. Forms with 
borax a diaphanous glass. 

Dif, The hyacinth is readily distinguished from spinel 
by its prismatic form and specific gravity, as well as its 
adamantine luster and a less clear shade of red. Its infusi- 
bility, hardness, and other characters, distinguish it from 
tourmaline, idocrase, staurotide, and the minerals it re- 
sembles. 

Obs. The zircon is confined to the crystalline rocks, in- 
cluding lavas and granular limestone. Hyacinth occurs 
mostly in grains, and comes from Ceylon, Auvergne, Bohe- 
mia, and elsewhere in Europe. Siberia affords crystals as 
large as walnuts. Splendid specimens come from Greenland. 

In the United States, fine crystals of zircon occur in Bun- 
combe county, N. C. ; of a cinnamon red color in Moria, Es- 
sex county, N. Y. ; also at Two ponds and elsewhere, Orange 
county, in crystals sometimes an inch and a half long ; in 
Hammond, St. Lawrence county, and Johnsbury, Warren 
county, N. Y. ; at Franklin, N. J. ; in Litchfield, Me. ; Mid- 
dlebury, Vt. ; Haddam and Norwich, Conn, 

The name hyacinth is from the Greek huakinthos. But 
It is doubtful whether it was applied by the ancients to stones 
of the zircon species. 

Uses, The clear crystals (hyacinths) are of common use 
in jewelry. When heated in a crucible with lime, they lose 
heii color, and resemble a pale straw-yellow diamond, tor 
which they are substituted. Zircon is also used in jewelling 
watches. The hyacinth of commerce is to a great extent 
cinnamon stone, a variety of garnet. 

The earth zirconia is also found in the rare minerals eudialyte and 
wOklerite ; also in polymignite, aschynite, arstedite ; also sparingly in 
ferguaonite. 

What is the composition of zircon ? What are its varieties? Hew 
does it differ from spinel and other minerals'? How does it occur t 
What is said <A its uses ? Does the earth zirconia occur in other min* 
erals? 



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202 METALS. 

Eudialyte. In modified acute rhombohedroiis ; Htreons and of a red 
color. R : R=73° 30'. Transverse cleavage, perfect; opaque oi 
nearly so. It is a silicate of zirconia, lime, soda and iron, and gelatin- 
izes in acids. From West Greenland, in white feldspar. 

Wohlerite. In tabular crystals of light yellow and brownish shades ; 
sometimes transparent. Consists mainly of silica, columbic acid, zirco- 
nia, (15 per cent.,) lime and soda. From Brevig, Norway. 

^chynite. A titanate of zirconia and oxyd of cerium, with some 
lime and oxyd of iron. Black and submetallic, or resinous in luster. 
H=5— 6. Gr==4-9— 5-2. From the Ural. 

CErstedite. A titanate and silicate of zirconia. Color brown. 
Hs5'5. Gr=3.629. In brilliant crystals from Arendal, Norway. 

Malaeone. Contains silica 313 zirconia 63-4, with water 3. Form 
that of zircon. Gr=3-9. H=6. Appears to be a zircon containing 
water. Color bluish white, brownish, reddish. Streak colorless. 

7. THORIA. 

The earth Thoria has been found only in a rare mineral 
named from its constitution thorite^ and in the ores monazUej 
(p. 206,) and pyrocMore, (p. 208.) 

Thorite is a hydrous silicate of thoria. Color black to 
resin-yellow. Powder light orange to brown. Gr=s4*6— 
5*3. From Norway. 

CLASS VIL— METALS AND METALLIC ORES. 

General condition of Metals and MetaUic Ores in nature, — 
Metals are found either native, or mineralized by combination 
with other substances. The common ores are compounds 
of the metals with oxygen, sulphur, arsenic, carbonic acid^ 
or silica. For example, the oxyds and carbonate of iron are 
the common workable iron ores ; sulphuret of lead (called 
galena) is the lead ore of the arts ; arsenical cobalt is the 
principal source of cobalt and arsenic. 

Only a few of the metals occur native* in the rocks. Of 
these, gold, platinum, palladium^ iridium, and rhodium, are 
with a rare exception, found only native. The bismuth 

What is said of thoria? How do metals occur? What are ores? 
Give examples from ores of iron, lead, cobalt ? What metals occur 
principally native 1 

* By native is understood either pure, or aU^yed with other metae, ex- 
cludmg those metals, like arsenic or tellurium, which destroy the mal- 
leability of the metal and disguise its character. Native gold is much of 
it an alloy of gold and silver. But aurotellurite, b. compound of gold and 
te'.l irium with some lead and silver, is properly mineralized gold. 



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HETALLIC 0HX8. 203 

of the shops is obtained from native bismuth. Native silver 
native mercury ^ and native copper, are sometimes abundant, 
but are far from being the main sources of these metals. 
The other native metals are mineralogical rarities. Perhaps 
we should except from this remark native iron, which con- 
stitutes large meteoric masses, though very rarelj if ever 
seen of terrestrial origin. 

Their associations and impurities, — ^The ores of the 
metals are often much disguised by mixtures with one an- 
other or with earthy material. Tlius a large part of the 
iron ore worked in England and this country is so mixed 
with clay or silica, that its real character might not be sus- 
pected without some experience in ores. 

Occasionally ores contain phosphate of iron or some arsen- 
ical ores or certain sulphurets, scattered through them ; and 
on account of the difficulty of separating the phosphorus, sul- 
phur, or arsenic, the ore is renderec comparatively useless. 
By this intimate mixture of species, tiie difficulties of reducing 
ores are much increased. 

When different ores are not intimately commingled, they 
are frequently closely disseminated together through the 
rock. We find ores of lead and zinc often thus associated ; 
also of cobalt and nickel ; of iron and manganese ; the ores 
of silver, lead and copper, and often cobalt and antimony ; 
platinum, iridium, palladium and rhodium. 

Position in rocks. — Metals and their ores occur in the 
rocks in different ways : 

1. In beds or layers between layers of rock, as some iron 
ores ; 

2. Disseminated through rocks in grains, nests, or crystals, 
or extended masses, as is the case with iron pyrites, cinna- 
bar, or mercury ore, and much argillaceous iron ; 

8. In veins, intersecting different rocks, as ores of tin, 
lead, copper, and nearly afl metallic ores ; 

4. Very frequently, metallic ores, instead of occurring in 
true veins, are found in rocks near their intersection with a 
mass or dike of igneous rock, as in the vicinity of a por- 
phyry or trap dike. This is the case with much of the cop- 
per ore in Connecticut and Michigan, as well as with much 



What i? snid of native iron 1 How are ores often disguised 7 Explain 
by exainplr. How do they occur together ? What is an effect of this 
mixture ? What are the positions of ores in the rocks ? 



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204 KETAL8. 

silver ore and mercury in South America and elsewhere 
and often the igneous rock itself contains the same metals 
disseminated through it. 

Gangue. — The rock immediately enreloping the ore is 
called the gangue. A rein often consists for the most part 
of the rock material called the gangue ; and the ore either 
intersects the gangue in a continued band, or more cont 
monly, is partly disseminated through it in some places, and 
is continuous for long distances in others. Often a good 
vein gradually loses its character, the metal disappears, and 
the gangue alone is left ; but by following on for some dis- 
tance, it will often resume its former character. 

The usual gangue in metallic veins is either quetrtz, cole 
spar, or ?ieavy spar ; less frequently fiuor spar. Calc spai 
is the gangue of the Rossie lead ore ; heavy spar of much of 
the lead ore of the Mississippi valley ; fluor spar in some 
places of the lead of Derbyshire, England. 

Reduction of Ores. — In the reduction of an ore, the object 
is to obtain the metal in a pure state. It is necessary for 
this purpose to separate, 1, the gangue ; 2, the impurities or 
minerals mixed with the ore ; and 3, the ingredient with 
which the ore is mineralized— as the sulphur, for example, 
in the common ore of lead. 

1. Much of the gangue will be separated in the process of 
mining and selecting the ore. Another portion is in many 
cases removed by pounding the ore coarsely, while a current 
of water is made to pass over it ; the water carries off* the 
lighter earthy matters and leaves the heavier ore behind* 
This process is called washing. With a fusible native metal, 
as bismuth, it is only necessary to heat the pounded ore in 
crucibles, and the metal flows out. A ftisible ore, as gray 
antimony, is separated from the rock in the same manner. 
In' the case of gold, which is usually in disseminated grains, 
mercury is mixed with the pounded rock after washing, 
which unites with the gold ; and thus the gold is dis<;o]ved 
out from the gangue as water dissolves a salt; b; apor- 
izing the solvent, mercury, the gold is afterwards obtained. 

With iron ores, there is no special effort tQ separate the 
gangue beyond what is done in the process of mining. 

What is the gangue ? What is said of the ore in the gangue ? What 
are the common kinds of gangue 1 What is meant by the r eduction of 
an ore 1 What is necessary for this purpose 1 How is the gargue 
lepurated ? How with a fusible metal or ore ? How with gold? 



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METALS. 205 

2. l*he separation of the mineralizing ingredients when 
jhe ore is pure, is sometimes effected by heat alone ; thus the 
common ores of mercury and lead, both sulphurets, will give 
up the sulphur in part when heated. In n^jost cases, some 
material is added to combine with the mineralizing ingre- 
dient and carry it off; as when certain iron ores (oxyds of 
iron) are heated with charcoal, the charcoal takes the oxygen 
(forming the gas carbonic acid which escapes) and leaves 
tke iron pure. 

3. When two or more metals are mixed in the ore, one is 
sometimes removed by oxydation, or in other words, it is 
burnt out. Thus lead containing silver, is heated in a draft 
of air ; the lead unites with the oxygen of the air and forms 
an earthy slag, while the silver, which is not thus oxydated* 
remains untouched. Such a process, carried on in a vessel 
of bone-ashes, or some material of the kind, which will ab- 
sorb the oxyd of lead formed, is called cupellation. (See 
beyond under gold.) Much of the iron in the ordinary cop- 
per ore (copper pyrites) is removed in the common process 
of reduction ^in England by repeated fusions and stirring, 
while exposed to a draft of air. 

4. When there are impurities present, or a mixture of the 
gangue, which is commonly the case, a material is sought 
for which will form, when heated, a fusible compound with 
the gangue and impurities ; and this material is called a, flux. 
Most iron ores are associated with quartz or clay, quartz be- 
ing pure silica, and clay containing 75 per cent, of silica. 
Common limestone readily fuses into a glass with silica, 
when used in the requisite proportions, and hence it is gen- 
erally employed as a flux in iron furnaces. A salt of soda 
or potash would produce the same result, for these are the 
ingredients which form with silica common glass. The 
glass formed is more or less frothy, and is called slag or scoria. 

Before reduction, the volatile impurities and anj water 
present, are often removed by a process called roasting. 

The processes of reducing the ordinary metallic ores in 
the arts are combinations of the different steps here pointed 
out. There are other chemical methods for certain cases, 
which it is unnecessary to allude to in this place. 

How is the mineralizing ingredient separated in some cases ? How 
in others 1 Explain by examples. How in cases of mixture. Ex 
plain the process of cnpellauon. How in still other cases, and explain th 
use of fluxes by an example. What is said in conclusion of the pro 
I of reduction ? 

18 



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METALS. 
1. 2. 3. CKRIUM. YTTRIUM, LANTHANUM. 

Cerium and Yttrium kre not used in the arts. The spe- 
cies are infusible alone before the blowpipe or only in the 
thinnest splinters. 

YTTROCESITE. 

Massive, of a violet-blue color, somewhat resembling a 
purple fluor spar; sometimes reddish-brown. Opaque. 
Luster glistening. H=4 — 5. Gr=3*4 — 3'5. 

Composition : fluoric acid 25*1, lime 47*6, oxyd of ceri- 
um, 18^2, and jttria 9*1 . Infusible alone before the blow 
pipe. 

Obs. From Finbo and Broddbo, near Fahlun in Swe- 
den, with albite and topaz in quartz. Also from Massachu- 
setts, probably in Worcester county, and from Amity, Orange 
county, N. Y. 

Flueerine and Basic Flucerine. These two fluorids of cerium have 
a bright yellow or yellowish-red color. Infusible alone in the blowpipe 
flame. They are from Sweden. 

ParUite. Occurs in bipyramidal dodecahedrons, (fig. 65, page 39,) 
of a reddish-brown or brownish-yellow color and vitreous fracture. 
Cleavage easy parallel to the base. Grs4'35. Infusible alone. Com- 
position : carbonic acid 23 '5, protozyds of cerium, lanthanum and 
didymium 59 4, lime 3*2, fluorid of calcium 11*5, water 2*4. From 
New Grenada. 

Lanthanite. Trimetric. In thin minute tables or scales of whitish 
or yellowish color. H=2'5 — 3. Composition •• carbonate of lantha- 
num 77*48, water 24 09. From Bastnas, Sweden, and Saucon valley 
n Lehigh Co., Pa. 

MONAZITE. 

Monoclinic. in modified oblique rhombic prisms ; M 
^^ — V M = 93 10, e on a=140*^ 40 , M : e=136^ 
A J\ 35 . Perfect and brilliant basal cleavage. Ob- 
^ "^ served only in small imbedded crystals. 

Color brown, brownish-red ; subtransparent 

to nearly opaque. Luster vitreous inclining 

to resinous. Brittle. H=5. Gr=4*8 — 5*1. 

Composition : oxyd of cerium 26*0, oxyd oi 



ianthanum 23'4, thoria 17*95, phosphoric acid 28*5, with 



What is said of the blowpipe action of ores of cerium and jrttrium 
What is the appearance and composition of jrttrocerite ? What if 
uonazite? 



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CXBIUM AND YTTRIUM ORES. 207 

oxyd of tin 2*1, protoxyd of manganese 1.9, lime 1*7. In- 
fusible or nearly so. Decomposed bj muriatic acid, evolving 
chlorine. 

Dif, The brilliant easy transverse cleavage distinguishes 
monazite from sphene. 

Ohs. Occurs near Slatoust, Russia. In the United 
States it is found in small brown crystals, disseminated through 
a mica slate at Norwich,^ Conn. ; also at Chester, Conn., and 
Yorktown, Westchester county, N. Y. 

Cryptolite. A phosphate of the oxyd of ceriam in minute prisms 
(apparently six-sided,) found with the apatite of Arendal, Norway 
Color pale wine yellow. Gr=4-6. 

ALLANITE. 

Monoclinic. In oblique rhombic prisms like epidote. 
Cleavage only in traces. Also massive and in acicular ag- 
gregations, the needles sometimes a foot long. 

Color pitch-brown, brownish-black, streak greenish or 
brownish-gray, luster pitchy and submetallic. Opaque or 
nearly so. Brittle. H=5-5— 6. Gr=3*3— 4-2. 

Varieties and Composition, Allanite^ cerine, and orthiU 
are names of different varieties of this species* The last 
occurs in acicular crystals as well as massive. They consist 
of silica and alumina, with oxyds of iron, cerium, lanthanum, 
and lime. They fiise before the blowpipe to a black glassy 
globule or pearl. 

Dif. AUanite difiers from garnet, some varieties of which 
it resembles, in its inferior hardness, and colored streak. Gad- 
olinite fuses with more difficulty and glows on charcoal, be« 
sides gelatinizing in nitric acid. 

Ohs. AUanite was first brought from Greenland. It oc- 
curs in Norway, Sweden, and the Ural. 

In the United States it has been found in large crystals in 
Allen's vein, Haddam Conn. ; at Bolton, Athol, and South 
Royalston, Mass. ; at Monroe, Orange county, N. Y. • 

Pyrorthite. This appears to he an impure orthite, containing bome 
carbon, in consequence of which it bums when heated. Hence the 
name from the Greek pur, fire, and orthite. It comes irom near Fah- 
lun, Sweden. Moaandrite is related to allanite. 

Cerite. A hydrated silicate ot cerium. Color between clove-brown 
and cherry-red. Luster adamantine. Crystals hexagonal. From 
itefltnas, Sweden. 

How is it distinguished from Bphene 1 What is the appearance and 
composition of allanite 1 what are its varieties 1 



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208 aiETALS. 

Bodenite is a cerium ore, resembling orthite. From Boden lA 
fiazony. 

FYROCHLORE. 

In small octahedrons, with a cleavage parallel to the facei^ 
1 of the octahedron sometimes dis- 2 

tinct. 

Color yellow to brown. Sub- y^j 
transparent to opake. Luster/^ 
vitreous inclining to resinous. 
H=5. Gr=3*8— 4-3. 

Composition : essentially co- 
lumbic acid, with oxyds of cerium, thorium, and lime. Ti- 
tanic acid sometimes replaces part of the columbic acid. 
Fuses with very great difficulty before the blowpipe. 
The microltte of Prof. Shepard appears to be pyrochlore. 
Dif* The color, difficult fusibility and colored streak 
distinguish this species from others crystallizing in octahe- 
drons. It is much softer than spinel. 

Ohs. Occurs in syenite in Norway, and also in Siberia. 
In the United States it is found in minute octahedrons at the 
Chesterfield albite vein, Mass. 

The following species contain yttrium or cerium as a char- 
acteristic ingredi(^nt : — 

Xenotime is a phosphate of yttrJa, having a yellowish-brown color 
pale brown streak, opaque, and resinous in luster. Crystals square prisms, 
with perfect lateral cleavage. H=4 — 5. Gt=4'6. Infiisible alone 
before the blowpipe ; insoluble in acids. From Lindesnaes, Norway. 

Gadolinite has a black or greenish-black color, resinous or subvitre- 
ous luster, greenish- gray streak. Crystalline form an oblique rhombic 
prism, with no distinct cleavage. H=6*5— 7. Gr.5=4'l— 4*4. Con- 
sists mainly of silica, yttria, glucina, and protoxyd of iron, with also the 
recently discovered oxyd of lanthanum. From Fahlun and Ytterby, 
Sweden ; also from Norway and Greenland. 

Fergusonite is a columbate of yttria, crystallizing in secondaries to a 
square prism. . Color brownish-black ; luster dull, but brilliantly vitre- 
ous on a surface of fracture. Infusible before the blowpipe but loses its 
color. From Cape Farewell, Greenland. 

YttrO'iantalite is a tantalateof yttria containing half as much yttria 
as the preceding. There are three varieties, the black, the yellow, and 
the brown or aark-colored. They are infusible. From Ytterby, Swe- 
den, and at Broddbo and Finbo, near Fahlun. 

Euxenite is a columbate of yttria with some titanic acid and oxyd of 
uranium. Massive. Color brownish-black. Streak powder reddis^i* 
brown. Infusible. From Norway. 



What is the appearance and composition of pyroohlore ? 



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TITANIVM OBBS. 209 

T^hefkinite. Resembles gadotinite. Color velvet-black. Luster 
vitreous. Streak dark brown. H=5— 5'5. Gr=B4-5 — 4*6. It is a 
Biiico-titanate of cerium. Gelatinizes readily on heating in muriatic 
acid. From thellmen Mountains, in Siberia. 

Polymignite is principally a titanate of zirconia/yttria, iron and ce- 
rium. It has a black color, a brilliant submetallic luster within, a dark 
brown streak, and a conchoidal fracture. Generally in sknder striated 
crystals, secondaries to a rectangular prism. H=s6-5. Gr«s4*7«»^*9. 
From Norway. Also, as observed by Prof. C. U. Shepard, from Bev- 
erly, Mass. 

Felycrase is near polymignite. Massive, and in thin linear crystals, 
of bright luflter. Color black. Streak grayish-brown. H=s5'5. 6r 
=5-1. With orthite in Norway. 

Samartkite is a columbate of ursnium, yttria and iron. Velvet- 
bhick. H=5-5— 6. Gr=5-4— 5*7. From the Urals, also from North 
Carolina. 

.Mschynite. In crystals, black to brownish yellow ; luster resinous 
to submetallic ; streak gray to yellowish brown or black. H=:5— 6. 
Gr=34-9 — 5*1 . A titanate of zirconia and cerium. From Miask in 
the Urals, in feldspar with mica and zircon. 

Rutherfordite. Blackish brown, with a vitreo*resinous fracture and 
no cleavage ; powder yellowish-brown. From the gold mines of Ruth- 
erford Co., N. C, along with rutile, brookite. zircon and monazite. It 
contains 58*5 per cent, of titanic acid with 10 per cent of lime, and 
perhaps cerium and yttrium. 



4. TITANIUM. 

Titanium occurs in nature combined with oxygen, forming 
titanic acid or oxyd, and also in combinations with difierent 
bases. It has not been met with native. 

The ores are infusible alone before the blowpipe, or nearly 
80. Their specific gravity is between 3 and 4*5. With 
salt of phosphorus, in the inner flame on charcoal, a globule 
is obtained with some difficulty, which is violet blue when 
cold. 

In the species called silico-titanates, that is, containing 
silica and titanic acid, the titanic acid is a babe. Titanium 
and iron, and allied elements, are isomorphous, and analo- 
gous oxyds replace one another. See author's System of 
Min., 4th tsdition. 

How does titanium occur ? What is said of its ores ? 



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210 METALS. 



RUTILE. 




Dimetric. In prisms of eight, twelve, or more sides, 
ivith pyramidal terminations, and often bent 
as in the figure; a : a ==123^ 8'. Crystals 
oflen acicular, and penetrating quartz. Some- 
times massive. Cleavage lateral, somewhat 
distinct. 

Color reddish -brown to nearly red ; streak very pale . 
rown. Luster submetallic-adamantine. Transparent to 
opaque. Brittle. H=6— 6-5. Gr=4-15 — 4-25. 

Composition : titanium 6 1 , oxygen 39. Sometimes contains 
iron, and has nearly a black color ; this variety is called 
nigrine. Unaltered alone before the blowpipe. Forms a 
hyacinth-red bead with borax. 

Dif. The peculiar subadamantine luster of rutile, and 
brownish-red color, much lighter red in splinters, are striking 
characters. It differs from tourmaline, idocrase, and augite, 
by being unaltered when heated alone before the blowpipe ; 
and from tin ore, in not affording tin with soda ; from sphene 
in its crystals. 

Ohs. Occurs imbedded in granite, gneiss, mica slate, 
syenite, and in granular limestone. Sometimes associated 
with specular iron, as at the Orisons. Yrieix in France, 
Castile, Brazil, and Arendal in Norway, are some of the 
foreign localities. 

In the United States, it occurs in crystals in Maine, at 
Warren; in New Hampshire, at L)nme and Hanover; in 
Massachusetts, at Barre, Windsor, Shelburne, Leyden, Con- 
way ; in Connecticut, at Monroe and Huntington ; in New 
York, near Edenville, Warwick, Amity, at Kingsbridge, and 
in Essex county at Gouvemeur ; in the District of Columbia, 
at Georgetown ; in' North Carolina, in Buncombe county ; 
in the gold district of Georgia. 

17869. The specimens of limpid quartz, penetrated by long 
acicular crystals, are oflen very elegant when polished. A 
remarkable specimen of this kind was obtained at Han- 
over, N. H., and less handsome ones are not uncommon. 
Polished stones of this kind are called fieches d' amour (iove'f 
arrows) by the French. 



Describe rutile. Of what does it consist? How is it disungoiihed 
rom other minerals 1 What are its uses ? 



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0BB8 OF TITANIUM. 



2n 



This ore is employed in painting on porcelain, and quite 
largely for giving the requisite shade of color and enamel 
appearance to artificial teeth. 

Anatase. Brookite. These species have the same composition as 
nitile. Anatase occurs in slender nearlj transparent octahedrons, of a 
brown color. A : A=97» 56'. H=5-5— 6. Gr=3-8— 3 9. From 
Dauphiny, the Tyrol, and Brazil. Said to accompany native titanium 
in slags from the iron furnaces of Orange county, N. Y. 

Brwkite is met with in thin hair-brown crjrstals, attached by one 
edge. H=s5*5— 6. The crystals are secondaries to a rhombic prism. 
From Dauphiny, and Snowdon in Wales. Said to occur at the Phenijt- 
viUe tunnel on the Reading railroad. Pa. Arkanaite is Brookite. 

8PHENB* 

Monoclinic. In very oblique rhombic prisms ; the lat* 
eral faces having angles either of le"" 1', 113^ 28' (r : r) 
1 9 3 




136<> 4' (n : n), or 133'' 48'. The crystals are usually thin 
with sharp edges. Cleavage in one direction sometimes 
perfect. Occasionally massive. 

Color grayish-brown, gray, brown or black ; sometimes 
yellow or green ; streak uncolored. Luster adamantine to 
resinous. Transparent to opaque. H = 5— -5.5. Or =3 
32— 3-6. 

Composition: silica 30*5, titanic acid 41*3, lime 28*2. 
Before the blowpipe, the yellow varieties are unaltered in 
color, and others become yellow ; on charcoal, they fuse on 
the edges with a slight intumescence to a dark glass. 

The dark varieties of this species were formerly called 
''itanite, and the lighter sphene. The name spTiene alludes 
o the wedge-shaped crystals, and is from the Greek sphcn^ 

wedge. 

What is said of the crystals of sphene % What are the color, lusteii 
and hardness ? the composition t 



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212 



METALS. 



Dif. The crystals, in general, by their thin wedge shape, 
readily distinguish this species when crystallized ; bu» soma 
crystals are very complex. From garnet, tourmaline, and 
idocmse, this species is distinguished by its infusibility befom 
the blowpipe. 

Ohs, Sphene occurs mostly in disseminated crystals in 
granite, gneiss, mica slate, syenite, or granular limestone. It 
is usually associated with pyroxene and scapolite, and often 
with graphite. It has been found in volcanic rocks. The 
crystals are commonly ^ to ^ an inch long ; but are some- 
times 1 to 2 inches. 

Foreign localities are Arendal in Norway; at St. Gothard 
and Mount Blanc ; in Argyleshire and Galloway in Great 
Britain. 

In the United States, it is met with in good crystals in 
New York, at Rogers' Rock on Lake George, with graphite 
and pyroxene, at Gouverneur, near Natui-al Bridge in Lewis 
county, (the variety called lederite,) in Orange county in 
Monroe, Eklenville, Warwick, and 'Amity, near Peekskill in 
Westchester county, and near West Farms. In Massachu- 
sets, at Lee, Bolton, and Pelham. In Connecticut, at Trum- 
bull* In Maine, at Thomaston. In New Jersey, at Frank- 
lin. In Pennsylvania, near Attleboro', Bucks county. In 
Delaware, at Dixon's quarry, 7 miles from Wilmington. In 
Maryland, 25 miles from Baltimore, on the Gunpowder. 

Greenovite is a sphene containing manganese. 

Perofskite, This is a titanate of lime. It occurs in minute modified 
cubes, grayish to iron-black in color. 6r=4'0l7. H=5'5. From the 
Urals. 

PyrrhiU. In minute regular octahedrons, of a yellowish color. 
Transparent; vitreous. H=6. From near Mursinsk, Siberia; also 
from the Western Islands, as first detected by Mr. J. £. Teschemacher 
of Boston. Supposed to contain titanic acid. 

Keilhauite, or yttrO'titanite. Related to sphene. Brownish-black, 
with a grayish-brown powder. Gr=3-69. H=6 5. Fuses easily. 
Contains silica 300, titanic acid 29*0, yttria 9*6, lime 18*9, peroxyd of 
iron 6'4, alumina 61. From Arendal, Norway. 

Warwickite. It occurs in prismatic crystals, of a brownish to an iron- 
gray color, often tarnished bluish or copper-red. Luster metallic pearly 
to imperfectly vitreous or resinous. H=5 — 6. Gr=3 — 3*3. Infusible 
alone before the blowpipe. From magnesian limestone, with ilnienite 
and spinel, at Amity, Orange county, N. Y. 

What are distinctive characteristics of the species sphene? In what 
rocjts does it occur ? 



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OSES OF Tin. 2J3 

The analysis of warwickite, by Smith and Brush, has shown that it 
contains 20 per cent, of boracic acid, and therefore is a borotitanate. 

Schorlomite. Black, and ofien irised tarnished. Streak grayish- 
black. H — 7 — 7-5. Gr — 3-80. Fuses readily on charcoal. Easily 
decomposed by the acids, and gelatinizes. Near gadolinite. From the 
Ozark Mountains, Arkansas. 

Besides the ores here described, titanium is an essential 
constituent also of ilmenite, (titanic iron) ; also in the zir- 
conia and yttria ores {Bschynite, mrsteditey and polymignitej 
and in some other rare species ; sometimes in pyrochlore. 

The metal titanium has seldom been obtained in the me. 
tallic state, and is not used in the arts. The uses of the 
oxjd have been mentioned. 

6. TIN. 

Tin has been reported as occurring native. There are 
two ores, the oxyd and a sulphuret. It also occurs in some 
ores of columbium. The specific gravity of the sulphuret is 
between 4*3 and 4*4 ; that of the oiyd, between 6*5 and 7*1. 
With carbonate of soda on charcoal, a globule of tin is ob- 
tained. When the tin is in minute quantities in a mineral, 
it is well to add also some borax, and by this means, especi- 
ally if any iron present be first removed, or if it be only in 
small quantaties, even a i per cent, of tin may be detected. 

Native tin is found in gray metallic grains in the gold 
washings of the Ural. The crystals of pure tin are either 
tesseral (cubic), or dimetric, this metal being dimorphous. 

riN PYRITES. — Sulphuret of THn, 

In cubes and massive. Color steel-gray or yellowish 
Streak black. Brittle. H=4. Gr=4-3— 4-6. 

Composition : sulphur 30, tin 27, copper 30, iron 13. 

Ohs. This rare ore has been found only in Cornwall 
wh^e it is often called helUmetcd ore, from its frequent 
bronze appearance. 



How does tin occur in the mineral kingdom 1 How is it detected 
7 the blowpipe? What is the appearance and con'positiDn of tin 
yritesl 



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214 



HBTAL8. 



TIN ORE. — Oxyd of Tin. 

Dimetric. In modified square prisms and octahedrons 

^xVn^^^^ often compound : e : 6=121° 
/^^ y^\ 4^' ; a : a (over the summit) 
I Vv^^N^ 112° 10' ; a : a (over a ter- 
minal edge) ISa"" %V\ M : 
e=133*> 34'; M : c=135^ 
. L, j^ Cleavage indistinct. Also 

^^^^^^s,/y massive or in grains. 

^v,/^ Color brown or black, with 

a high adamantine luster when in crystals. 




Streak 



gray to brownish. Nearly transparent to opaque. H =6— 
7. Gr=6-5— 71. 

Composition : when pure, tin 78«88, oxygen 21*62 ; often 
contains a little oxyd of iron, and sometimes oxyd of colum- 
bium. Before the blowpipe alone, infusible; with soda, 
affords a globule of tin. 

Stream tin is the gravel-like ore fi)und in debris in low 
grounds. Wood tin occurs in botryoidal and reniform shapes 
with a concentric and radiated structure ; and tocuTs-eye tin 
is the same on a small scale. 

Dif, Tin ore has some resemblance to a dark garnet, 
to black zinc blende, and to some varieties of tourmaline. It 
is distinguished by its infiisibility, and its yielding tin before 
the blowpipe on charcoal with soda. It differs from blende 
also in its superior hardness, and in giving no fumes on char- 
coal before the blowpipe. 

Obs, Tin ore occurs in veins in the crystalline rocks 
granite, gneiss, and mica slate, associated often with wolfram, 
copper and iron pyrites, topaz, tourmaline, mica or talc, and 
albite. Cornwall is one of its most productive localities. 
It is also worked in Saxony, at Altenberg, Geyer, Ehren- 
fiiedersdorf and Zinnwald ; in Austria, at Schlackenwald and 
other places ; in Malacca, Pegu, China, and especially the 
Island of Banca in the East Indies. It has also been found 
in Galicia, Spain ; at Dalecarlia in Sweden ; in Russia ; in 
Mexico, Brazil, and Chili ; in the United Statesy at Chester- 
field and Goshen, Mass., in some of the Virginia gold mines, 

What is the ciystallization of tin ore ? Mention its other physical 
characters ? What is its composition and blowpipe reactions ? What 
is stream tin 1 wood tin, and toad's eye ? How is tin ore distinguished 
from gameti blende, and tourmalme ? 



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OBE« OF Tttk 215 

and In Lyme and Jackson, N. H. At the last mentioned 
place, where this ore was discovered by Dr. C. T. Jackson, 
there are sufficient indications to warrant ex( loration. 

GENERAL REMARKS ON TIN AND TIN ORES. 

The principal tin mines now worked, are thom of Cornwall, Bancs 
tnd Malacca, Saxony, and Austria. 

Hie Cornwall mines are supposed to have been worked long befor 
the Christian era. Herodotus, 450 years before Christ, is believed to 
•Uade to the tin islands of Britain under the cabalistic name Cassiteridea 
derived from the Greek kaasiteros, signifying tin.* The Phceniciana 
■re allowed to have traded with Comubia, (as Cornwall was called, it 
is supposed from the horn shape of this western extremity of England.) 
The Greeks reaidmg at Marseilles were the next to visit Cornwall, or 
the isles adjacent, to purchase tin ; and after them came the Romans, 
whose merchants were long foiled in their attempts to discover the tin 
market of their predecessors. 

Camden says: " It is plain that the ancient Britons dealt in tin mines 
from the testimony of Diodorus Siculus, who lived in the reign of Augus- 
tus and Timaus, the historian in Pliny, who tells us that the Britonii 
fetched tin out of the Isle of Icta, (the Isle of Wight,) in their little 
wicker boats covered with leather. The import of the passage in 
Diodorus, is that the Britons who lived in those parts dug tin out of a 
rocky sort of ground, and carried it in carts at low water to certain 
neighboring islands ; and that from thence the merchants first trans- 
ported it to Gaul, and afterwards on horseback in thirty days to the 
springs of Eridanus, or the city of Narbona, as to a common mart. 
JSthicus too, another ancient writer, intimates the same thing, and adds 
that he had himself given directions to the workmen." In the opinion 
of the learned author of the Britannica here quoted, and others who have 
followed him, the Saxons seem not to have meddled with the mines, or 
according to tradition, to have employed the Saracens ; for the inhabi- 
tants of Cornwall to this day call a mine that is given over working 
Attal'Sarannf that is, the leavings of the Saracens.t 

The Cornwall veins, or lodeg, mostly run east and west, with a dip — 
hade, in the provincial dialect — ^varying from north to south ; yet they are 
very irregular, sometimes crossing each other, and sometimes a prom- 
ising vein abruptly narrows or disappears ; or again they spread out into 
a kind of bed or floor. The veins are considered worth working when 
iMit three inches wide. The gangue is mostly quartz, with some chlo- 



Where are the principal tin mines? What is said of the Coin wall 
veins? 

* This term and the atannum of the Romans, or plumbum candtdum^ 
are supposed to include the white compounds of lead and other metals ; 
•nd it has even been doubted whether the xnetal tin was ordinarily 
included. 

t Manuf in Metals : London, 1834. iii. 2. 



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21o METALS. 

rite. Much of the tin is also obtained from loose stones, (called shodeB^) 
and courses of sach stones or tin debris are called streams, whence the 
name stream tin. 

The ore taken from the mines is first pounded or stamped in a stamp- 
ing mill, and then washed by running water, which carries off to a groat 
ezt€;nt the lighter impurities and leaves the heavy ore behind, with siili 
some of the gangue. It is next roasted in a reverberatory furnace, to 
expel any arsenic or sulphur derived from-the presence of other ores, and 
then again washed. After being thus purified as far as possible, the ore 
is usually mixed with pit-coal and a little lime, and strongly heated in 
eitjier a reverberatory furnace or what is called a blowing furnace. A 
state of fusion is kept up for about eight hours. The metal is then 
drawn off into iron vessels. As it contains still some slag or earthy 
matters, it ia remelted at a lower temperature, which does not fuse the 
impurities, and kept agitated for a while by wet charcoal or carbonized 
wood ; it is then skimmed and run into blocks, weighing from 275 
to 325 pounds each. The tin thus made firom the ore derived from the 
mines, is called block tin, and is less pure than that from the stream ore ; 
the latter was formerly called grain tin, though now this is a genera' 
term applied to the purest kinds of tin in commerce. 

In an assay of tin ore, after pulverizing, washing, roasting, and weigh- 
ing, the ore ahoiild be mixed with lampblack or charcoal, and heated 
quickly in a covered orucible to a white heat. On removing the crucible 
ii-om the fire, a buUon of tin will be found in it. If the ore is not pure, 
carbonate of soda or borax may be added to the lampblack. The result 
is good if the tin obtained is malleable and not brittle. The tin may be 
fiirther purified by fusing it in a ladle, and pouring it into another ves- 
sel whenever the cooling has hardened the alloys, or just before the tin 
itself begins to harden ; it will flow out, leaving the impurities behind. 

The best tin ores afford 65 to 70 per cent, of tin in the large way. 

The annual production of tin in different countries, is as follows 

Great Britain, 140,000 cwt. 

Banca and Malacca, - - - 100,000 « 

Saxony, 3,500 " 

Austria, 380 " . 

Sweden, 750 « 

Tin is used in castings, and also for coating other metals, especially 
iron and copper. Copper vessels thus coated were in use among the 
Romans, though not common. Fliny says that the tinned articles could 
scarcely be distinguished from silver, and his use of the words incoquere 
and incoctilia, seems to imply, as a writer states, that the process was 
the same as for the iron vares of the present day, by immersing the 
vessels in melted tin. Ttie sheets of iron for tinning are cleaned with 
acid, heated, and then cold-rolled ; again subjected to -iilute acid, and 
afterwards scoured with sand in pure water : then two or three hundred 



What are the steps in the process of reduction ? Describe the mode 
f assaying tin ore. What is the yield of Great Britain in tin ? What 
be whole amount from* the tin mines of the world 1 How is iron 
ianed? 



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OttSS OF MOLtBDENUM. 217 

rfieets in a vetHcal position are immersed, first in a vat of grease, and 
tJMn in a cast iron bath containing about 5 cwt. of melted tin ; they 
remain in the tin for an hour and a half, and are then taken out. Aa 
there is now two or three times too much tin on the plates, they are 
made to undergo a process called washing y in a vessel of melted grain 
tin, by which the excess of tin is removed ; after which they are cleaned 
and rubbed in bins of dry bran until they receive the characteristic edl- 
yer polish. 

When tin plate slightly heated is sponged over quickly by an acidi 
(nitro-muriatic,) the crystalline character of the tin is brought out, and 
the ware so treated is called moir€ metallique. The plate before sub- 
}ecting it to the acid should be well washed with alkali ; and after the 
action it should be immediately washed in clean water and dried. 

Tin is also used extensively as tinfoil, the sheets of which are about 
1000th of an inch thick ; also with quicksilver it is used to cover glass 
in the manufacture of mirrors. It is alloyed with copper in various pro- 
portions, constituting thus 7 to 10 per cent, of bronze ; 20 per cent, of 
the ancient bronze for weapons ; 30 per cent, of the metal for cymbals 
and the Chinese gong ; 20 to 30 per cent, of bell metal ; and 30 to 40 
per cent, of speculum metal. 

The oxyd of tin, as obtained by chemical processes, is employed on 
account of its hardness for forming a paste for sharpening fine cutting 
instruments. The chlorid of tin is an important agent in the precipi- 
tation of many colors as takes, and in fixing end changing colors in 
dyeing and calico printing. The bisulphuret of tin has a golden luster, 
and was termed aurum musivuniy or mosaic gold, by the alchemists. 
It is much used for ornamental painting, for paper hangings and other 
porpoaes, under the name of bronze powder. 

Pins are tinned by boiling them for a few minutes in a solution of 1 
part of cream tartar, 2 of alum, 2 of common salt, in 10 or 12 of water, 
to which some tin filings or finely granulated tin are added.' 

Tin medals or castings, are bronzed by being washed over with a 
solution of 1 part of protosulphate of iron, 1 of sulphate of copper, in 20 
of water ; this gives a gray tint ; they are then brushed over with a 
solution of 4 parts of verdigris in 11 of distilled vinegar, and then 
polished with a soft brush and colcothar. 

6. MOLYBDENUM. 
Molybdenum occurs in nature as a sulphuret, and sparingly 
as an oxyd. Also as molybdic acid, in molybdate of lead. 

1. MOLYBDENITE. — Sfdphuret of Molyhdcnum, 

In hexagonal crystals, plates, or masses, thin foliated like 
graphite, and resembling that mineral. Color pure lead- 
gray; streak the same, slightly greenish. Thin lamina 
very flexible ; not elastic. H=l — 1*5. Gr=4*5— 4'75. 

In what othef way is tin usedt What aUoys are made with iti 
What are the characters of molybdenite ? 



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218 



METALS. 



Composition: molybdenum 59H), sulphur 4 IK). Infusible 
before the blowpipe, but when heated on charcoai, sulphur 
fumes are given off, which are deposited on the coal. Dis- 
solves in nitric acid, excepting a gray residue. 

Dif, Resembles graphite, but difiers in its paler colof 
and streak, and also in giving fumes of sulphur when heated, 
as well as by its solubility in nitric- acid. 

Obs, Occurs in granite, gneiss, mica slate, and allied 
rocks ; also in granular limestone. It is found at Numedahl 
in Sweden, Arendal in Norway, in Saxony, Bohemia, at 
Caldbeck Fell in Cumberland, and in the Cornish mines. 

In the United States, it occurs in Maine at Blue Hill' 
Bay, Camdage farm, Brunswick, and Bowdoinham ; in New 
Hampshire at Westmoreland,* Landaff, and Franconia ; in 
Massachusetts at Shutesbury and Brimfield ; in Connecticut 
at Haddam and Saybrook ; in New York, near Warwick ; in 
New Jersey, near the Franklin furnace. 

JBdolydie ocher. An earthy yellow or whitish ozyd of molybdemim, 
(or rather molybdic acid,) occurring only as an incraslatioa. Ocean 
at Westmoreland, N. H. 

For moiyhdaU of lead, see under Lead, 

7. TUNGSTEN. 

Tungsten is found in combination with iron, lead, and lime, 
constituting wolfram, (p. 244,) tungstate of lead, (p. 283,) 
and tungstate of lime. It also occurs sparingly in some ores 
of columbium, as in certain varieties of the minerals pyro- 
chlore, columbite, and yttro-columbite. It is met with in 
very small quantities as an ocher, or as tungstic acid^ form- 
ing a yellow powder on other tungsten ores. 

Lane's mine, Monroe, Conn., the adjoining town of Hunt- 
ington, and Camdage farm, Blue Hill Bay, Me., are the only 
American localities of tungsten ores yet discovered. Lane's 
mine affords wolfram and the calcareous tungsten, and also 
the tungstic ocher. These ores are frequent associates of 
tin ore. 

No use in the arts has been made of this metal or its com- 



What is its composition ? How does it differ from graphite ? What 
are the principal ores of tungsten 1 Has any use been made of them in 
the arts ? 



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0HS8 OF TBLLVRIUM. 219 

pounds. Tungstic acid is a fine yellow, even brighter than 
chrome yellow ; but it turns green on exposure to the sun's 
rays. 

The metal tungsten was so called from the Swedish word 
tungy meaning heavy, the calcareous tungsten being pecu- 
liarly heavy for an earthy looking mineral. It has also been 
called Bcheelium^ in honor of the chemist Scheele. 

Tungstate of lime. In square octahedrons ; A : A=100'' 
8' and ISO'' 20'. Cleavage octahedral, perfect. Coloryel 
lowish-white, or brownish. Brittle. H=4— 4'5. Ghpsa 
6*075. Composition, tungstic acid 7*8, lime 19*06. Infu 
sible alone, or only on the thinnest edges. Found with wol 
fram at Lane's mine, Munroe, Conn. 

8. VANADIUM. 
Vanadium is a rare metal. It is found in nature as vanadic 
acid in the vanadate of lead (p. 285), and vanadate of cop- 
per (p. 802), and also combined with lime. The last men« 
tioned has a brick-red color, a foliated structure, and a bright 
shining luster. 

9. TELLURIUM. 

Tellurium occurs native, and also in combination with 
gold, silver, lead, and bismuth. 

The metal is distinguished from arsenic and selenium 
by giving no odor before the blowpipe ; from antimony 
and bismuth by affording fumes in a glass tube below 
the temperature of fusing the glass ; and when heated on 
charcoal, the oxyd covers the coal with a brownish-yellow 
Qxyd, like bismuth ; but (he inner flame directed on this oxyd 
is tinged bright green, while bismuth gives no color. This 
last test distinguishes also the ores of tellurium. 

Native teUurium ocean in six-sided priams, of a tin- white color, and 
al^o massive. firitt}e. H«-»2— 2*5. Gr-~6'1 — 6*3. Compontion, 
pore tellurium with a little gold. From Transylvania. 

Telluric Ochre, Occurs with native tellurium in Transylvama, m 
small whitish or yellowish masses, radiated in structure, and also as an 
earthy coating. Supposed to be tellurous acid. 

In what minerals is vanadium found 1 How does tellurium occu- is 
satvre? How is this metal distinguished from arsenic and seleniuio t 



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320 METALS. 

10. BISMUTH. 

Bismuth occurs native, aad also in combination with 8ul« 
phur, tellurium, oxygen, carbonic acid and silica. The ores 
fuse easily before the blowpipe, and an oxyd is produced 
which stains the charcoal brownish or yellow, without rising 
in fumes.* Specific gravity of the ores, between 4*8 and 
9-5. 

NATIVE BISMUTH. 

Rhombohedral. Cleavage rhombohedral, perfect. In 
rhombohedrons, near cubes in form, R : R=87® 40' ; gen- 
erally massive, with distinct cleavage : sometimes granular. 

Color and streak silver white, with a slight tinge of red. 
Subject to tarnish. Brittle when cold, but somewhat mal- 
leable when heated. H=2— 2-5. Gr=9'7— 9'8. Fuses 
at a temperature of 476® F. 

Composition : pure bismuth, with sometimes a trace of 
arsenic. Evaporates before the blowpipe, and leaves a yel 
low coating on charcoal. 

Obs. Bismuth is abundant with the ores of silver and co 
bait of Saxony and Bohemia, and occurs also in Cornwall 
and Cumberland, England. At Schneeberg, it forms arbo- 
rescent delineations in brown jasper. 

In the United States, it has been found at Lane's mine, 
Monroe, where it occurs with tungsten, galena and pyrites, 
but is not abundant ; also at Brewer's mine, in Chesterfield 
district. South Carolina. 

There are other ores of bismuth, but none of them are common. 
Sulphuret of bitmuth. Massive and in acicular crystals, of a lead- 
gray color. ttmJSi — ^2*5. Gr^6*55. Contains bismuth 81, sulphur 

What are the color and physical characters generally of native bis* 
muth ? What is its temperature of fusion 1 With what ores is it usually 
associated ? 



* Tellurium produces a similar stain on charcoal, but on directing 
the inner flame on the coating, it colors the flame strongly green, while 
with bismuth no color is obtained. Antimony gives white fwnes, pro- 
ducing a white coating on charcoal, and the flame diiected on it is 
colored greenish- blue. 



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OBBS OF BISMUTH. 221 

18*7. Fuses in the flame of a candle. From Cumberland, Cornwall, 
Johanngeorgenstadt, and Sweden. 

Acicular bigmuth. A sulphuret of bismuth, lead and copper, con- 
taining a trace of gold. In acicular crystals of a dark lead-gray color, 
with a pale copper- red tarnish. Gi^—6-1. Fuses easily, emitting fumes 
of sulphur. From Hiberia. A cupreous bismuth, of a pale lead-gray 
color, contains 34- 7 per cent, of copper. 

Tetradymite. Consists of tellurium and bismuth. It has a foliated 
structure, a pale steeUgr&y color, and soils like molybdenite. Gi^— 7*5. 
From Schemnitz and Retzbanya, Brazil, Virginia and North Carolina. 

BUmutiie, In acicular crystals and massive. Color greenish or yel- 
lowish. H— 4 — 4*5. 6i^-6*8 — 7*7. It is a carbonate of bismuth. 
From Cornwall ; also South Carolina. Bismuth ocher is an iropurt 
oxyd, occurring massive and earthy ; color greenish, yellowish, or gray- 
ish-white. From Saxony, Bohemia and Siberia. 

Bismuth blende is a silicate of bismuth. Color dark hair-brown, or 
yellow. H--3-6 — 4-5. Gr— 5*9 — 6*0. In dodecahedrons and mas- 
sive. From Saxony. 



GENERAL REMARKS ON BISMUTH AND ITS ORES. 

The first notice of the metal bismuth is in the writings of Agricola, 
In 1529. It is known in the arts under the name of tin glass, from the 
Fxench name etain de glace. It is obtained for the arts from the native 
bismuth alone, and much the greater part of the metal comes from 
Schneeberg in Saxony. The American mine at Monroe, Conn., has 
been but little explored, and has afforded only a few small specimens. 
The metal is obtained by heating the powdered ore in a furnace, wben 
the bismuth melts, and separating from the gangue, is drawn off into 
cast iron moulds. 

Bismuth is employed in the manufocture of the best type metai, to 
give a sharp, clear face to the letter. Equal parts of tin, bismuth and 
mercury form the mosaic gold used for various ornamental purposes 
Plumber's solder , used for soldering pewter wares and other purposes, 
consists of 1 part of bismuth, 5 of lead, and 3 of tin. Bismuth is one 
of the constituents of fusible metal, of which spoons are made, as toys, 
that will melt on putting them into a cup of hot tea ; this fusible alloy 
consists of 8 parts of bismuth, 5 of lead, and 3 of tin ; or better of 10^ 
parts 6f bisnauth, 5 parts Gf lead, and 3 of tin. It may be rendered 
more fusible still by adding mercury. An alloy of tin and bismuth in 
equal parts melts at 260^ F. But with less bi$imuth, tin is increased in 
hardness. 

The magestens of bismuth, a white hydra ted oxyd precipitated by 
adding water to a solution of the nitrate, is used as a cosmetic. It con- 
tains a little nitric acid. Pearl powder is a similar preparation made 
in the same way from a nitrate containing some chlorid of bismuth 
These powders blacken when exposed to an offensive atmosphere. 

What is said of Bismuth and its ores 1 



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222 METALS. 

IL ANTIMONY. 

The metal antimony is occasionally found native. It is 
usually combined with sulphur, or sulphur and lead. It is 
also found in combination with arsenic, oxygen, and lime ; 
also with nickel, silver, and copper. 

It rises easily in white fumes before the blowpipe with- 
out odor, and in one or both of these particulars, it is dis- 
tingubhed from other vaporizable metals. The ores fuse 
very easily, and all evaporate, some giving off fumes of sul- 
phur. Specific gravity below 7. 

NATIVE ANTIMONY. 

Rhombohedral. Usually massive, with a distinct lamellar 
structure. Color and streak tin- white. Brittle. H=8— - 
8-5. Gr=6-6— 6-75. 

Composition : pure antimony, often with a little silver or 
iron. Fuses easily and passes off in white fiunes. 

Obs. Occurs in veins of silver and other ores in Dau- 
phiny, Bohemia, Sweden, the Hartz, and Mexico. 

ORAT ANTIMONY. — Sulphuret of AfUimony. 

Trimetric. In right rhombic prisms, with striated lateral 
fiices. M : M=90® 45'. Cleavage in the direction of the 
shorter diagonal, highly perfect. M : e = 145°29' /tv 
e : e = 109° 16'. Commonly divergent, columnar or [*^<JPi 
fibrous. Sometimes massitre granular. 

Color and streak lead-gray; liable to tarnish. 
Luster shining. Brittle ; but thin laminsB, a little 
flexible. H=2. Gr= 4-5— 4-62. 

Composition: antimony 73, sulphur 27. Fuses 
readily in the flame of a candle. On charcoal it is absorbed, 
giving off white fiimes and a sulphur odor. 

Dtf. Distinguished by its extreme fusibility and its vapo- 
rizing before the blowpipe. 

Obs. Gray antimony occurs in veins with ores of silver, 
lead, zinc, or iron, and is often associated with heavy spai 

How does antimony occur in nature 1 What are its blowpipe char- 
acters ? What are the characters of native antimony 1 What is the 
CT) stallization and appearance of gray antimony ? What is its compo- 
tat^on 1 How is it distingruished 1 How does this ore occur 1 
26 



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OBES OF ANTIHONlt. 223 

or quartz. Its most celebrated localities are at Scbemnitz, 
Kremnitz, and Felsobanya, in Hungary. It also occurs in 
the Hartz, Auvergne, Cornwall, Spain. 

In the United States, it has been found sparingly at Car. 
mel, Me., Lyme, N. H., and at '' Soldier's Delight," Md. 

Uses. Tills ore affords nearly all the antimony of com- 
merce. 

SULPHURETS OF ANTIMONY AND LEAD. 

There are sereral snlphurets of antimony and lead, all of which fuse 
veiy easily, giving oiT white fumes, with a sulphur odor, and covering 
the charcoal with yellowish oxyd of lead. The color and streak are 
between lead-gray and dark steel-gray. 

JameatmiU. Occurs in right rhombic crystals, and also fibrous or 
columnar. M:M= 101^20'. Streak and color steel-gray. £[=2— 
2'5. 6r=5-5 — 5*8. Contains antimony 36 per cent., lead 44, and 
sulphur 20 . From Cornwall, Siberia, and Hungary. 

Feather ore. In fine capillary crystallizations, Uke a cobweb, or piu- 
mose. Color dark lead-gray. Contains antimony 31, lead 50, sulphur 
19. From the Eastern Hartz. 

Boulangerite. In plumose masses. Color bluish lead-gray. H=3 
S'5. Gr^5'97. Contains antimony 24*1, lead 58*0, sulphur 18. From 
Moli^res in France ; also fi-om Lapland and Russia. 

Flagiomte. lu oblique rhombic crystals. M : M=120^ 49^. Color 
blackish lead-gray. Brittle. H=2-5. Gr=5'4. Contains antimony 
38, lead 41, sdphur 21. From Wolfsberg in the Hartz. 

Zinkenite. In hexagonal prisms ; also fibrous and massive. Color 
8teel-gray. H=3 — 3*5. Gr=5-3. Contains antimony 44, lead 35, 
sulphur 22. From Wolfsberg in the Hartz. 

Geoeronite, Kilbnckenite. Massive, with an imperfect cleavage, and 
also granular. Color light gray. H=2 — ^2'5. Gr=6'4 — 6*6. Con- 
tains antimony 16*7, (which is sometimes partly replaced by arsenic,) 
lead 67, sulphur 16'5. From Gallicia, Kilbricken in Ireland, and Sala 
in Sweden. 

Kobellite. Radiated like gray antimony. Grs=6'3. Contains 33 
per cent, of sulphuret of bismuth, along with 46 of sulphuret of lead, and 
13 of sulphuret of antimony. From Hvena in Sweden. 

Steinmannite. In cubes with cubic cleavage, and massive. Hs=2*5. 
Gr=6-83. Color lead-gray. Affords before the blowpipe fumes of 
sulphur and antimony, and a globule of lead containing silver. 

Besides these, there are also — 

BerthieritCt (called also haidingerite,) which resembles gray antimony, 
but contains 27 per cent, of sulphuret of iron with sulphuret of antimony. 
Another species contains 15 per cent, of sulphuret of iron. From 
Chazelles in Auvergne. 

Artenical antimony. Granular, massive ; color tin- white or reddish- 
ray. H = 2 — 4. Gr=6'2. Composition, antimony 36*4, arseuM 
3*6. From Allemont and Boheipia. 

Arc there other ores of antimony 1 What is their general constitution t 



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224 HETALS. 

WHITE ANTIMONY. 

In white, gniyish, or reddish rectangular crystals, with 
perfect cleavage, affording a rhombic prism of 136^ 58'. 
Also in tabular masses, and columnar and granular. H = 
2*5 — 3. Gr=6'57. Luster adamantine to pearly. From 
Bohemia, Saxony, Hungaiy, Dauphiny. It is an oxyd of 
antimony containing 84*3 per cent, of antimony. 

The antimonie and antimonou8 acids have been obsenred in a 
white pulverulent fonn. Stiblite is the name of a compound of oxyd 
of antimony and an antimony acid, (an antinoonate of antimony.) 

Bed antimony ia a compound of oxyd and aulphuret of anomony 
Occurs usually in tufts of capillary crystals^or in flakes,^ Color cherry- 
red ; streak brownish-red. Luster adamantine. H=sl^'5. 6r3=4*4 — 
4*6. From Hungary, Dauphiny, Saxony, and the Hartz. 

Someine is an antimonate of lime. It occurs in Piedmont in groups 
of minute square octahedral crystals, of a hyacinth or honey-yellow 
color. Scratches glass. 

Antimonate of lead. A rare mineral consisting of antimonie acid 
31*7, oxyd of lead 6i'8, water 6*5. Amorphous, compact. Color yel- 
low ; also gra3n8h, green, or black. Luster resinous. 6r^4.6-— 4*76 
From Nertschinsk, Russia. 

Senarmontite is the same compound as white antimony in octahe- 
drons. Gr-=.5-2 — 5-3. From Aljiiers. 

GENERAL REMARKS ON ANTIMONY AND ITS ORES. 

The antimony of commerce is obtained from the sulphuret of anti- 
mony. This ore is worked at Schemnitz and Kremnitz in Lower Hun- 
gary, ^here it is associated with ores of silver, copper, lead, zinc, and 
manganese, and some gold. This region affords 6000 quintals of an- 
timony annually. It has also been brought in considerable quantities 
from Borneo to Boston and then reduced. Several mines have been 
opened and abandoned in Auvergne and Dauphiny, but they are not now 
worked. There are also mines in France and Great Britain. 

To obtain the crude antimony of the shops, the ore is placed in 
crucibles having a hole at bottom, and these are inserted in other ves- 
sels : heat is applied above, and the ore melts from its gangue and flows 
into the vessel below, where it becomes solid. It is not altered in com- 
position. It is reduced by carefully roasting the crude antimony in a 
reverberatory furnace, and thus obtaining a gray oxyd. This oxyd is 
then mixed with a tenth of its weight of crude tartar, placed in large 
melting pots, and heated in a wind furnace. The metal antimony 
(called regtdua of antimony) is thus obtained pure, excepting generally 
some little iron. By melting it again with one-fourth its weight of th< 
oxyd of antimony, the impurities separate and form a slag above, leav 
ing the metal beneath. It is a silver-white, brittle metaU coarsely cryff 
lalline in texture. It fuses at about 800° F. 

What ore affords the antimony of commerce ? Where is it mostly 
obtained ? How is crude antimony obtained, and how reduced X 



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OSB8 OF AKSENIC. 225 

The sulphuret may be reduced also by heating it wi h iron filings ; 
the iron takes the sulphar and liberates the antimony. 

Antimony forms an important part of type meted. The proportions 
vary in different establishments ; they have been stated at 1 of antimony 
to 4 to 12 oi lead. A little tin is sometimes used, and also bismuth for 
the best type. The alloy is specially fitted for this purpose because 
it expands a little on cooling, filling well the mould and making • 
sharp, clear letter. The Britannia metal, which has superseded the 
use of pewter, consists of 100 parts of the best block tin, with 8 parts of 
the metal antimony, and either 2^ parts of each copper and brass, or 
parts of copper and bismuth. A soft solder is used in the manufacture 
of Britannia ware, consisting of fine tin alloyed with about 30 per cent, of 
lead. Antimony with tin, forms the metal on which music is engraved 

The glass of antimony, which is much used for making pharmaceu- 
tical preparations, is a mixture of the sulphuret and oxyd of antimony 
usually 85 of the latter to 15 of the former ; it is formed by partially re- 
ducing the sulphuret to an oxyd by roasting, and then raising the b^at 
till the whole melts. 

Antimony in the condition of tartrate of antimony and potaasa, is the 
tartar emetic of the apothecary. 

12. ARSENIC. 
The metal arsenic occurs native, and united with oxygen 
or sulphur. It also occurs in combinations with various 
metala, as iron, cobalt, nickel, silver, copper, manganese, and 
antimony ; also as an acid in combination with the oxyds of 
iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, lead, and with lime. Its ores are 
distinguished readily by giving off an odor like garlic when 
heated on charcoal before the blowpipe. Its compounds with 
the metals and bases have already been described. 

NATIVE ABSBZaO. 

Rhombohedral. R : R^lSd^^ 41'. Cleavage basal, im. 
perfect. Also massive, columnar, or granular. 

Color and streak tin-white, but usually daik grayish from 
tarnish. Brittle. H=3'5. Grs=s5-65— 5-95. 

Volatilizes very readily before fusing, with the odor of 
garlic ; also bums with a pale bluish flame when heated just 
below redness. 

Ohs, Occurs with silver and lead ores. It is found in 
considerable quantities at ihe silver mines of Freiberg and 

How is erode antimony reduced 1 For what is antimony used 
What is Britannia metal 1 How does arsenic occur in the minera 
kingdom ? How is it distintfuished 1 Describe native arsenic. Wit 
what is it found 1 



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226 



METALS. 



Schneeberg; also in Bohemia, the Hartz, at Kapnik in Up- 
per Hungary, in Siberia in large masses, and elsewhere. 

In the United States, It has been observed at Haverhill^ 
N. H., in mica slate, and also at Jackson in the same state. 

The name arsenic is derived from the Greek ttrsemkxm^ 
or arrenikan, masculine, a term applied to orpimentj a sul- 
phuret of arsenic, on account of its potent properties. 

WHITB ARSBiao. — Arscnous Add. 

In minute capillaij crystals, and botryoidal or stalactitic. 
Color white. Soluble; taste astringent, sweetish. H=s 
1*5— Gr=3*7. Composition, arsenic 75*8, oxygen 24*2. 

This is the same compound with the conmion arsenic of 
the shops. It is found but sparingly native, accompanying 
ores of silver, lead and arsenic in the Hartz, Bohemia, and 
elsewhere. 

Uses. It is a well known poison. 

Pharmacolite, is an arsenate of lime, occurring in white or greyiali 
crystalB. H=2— 25 ; Gr=2-6— 2 8. 

HauUngerite. Haidingerite is another arsenate of lime. 

SULPHUBBTS OF AB8ENIC. 

There are two sulphurets of arsenic. 

Orpiment or the yellow sulphuret of arsenic* 
masses, and sometimes in prismatic crystals, 
with a perfect diagonal cleavage. Color and 
streak fine yellow. Luster brilliant pearly, 
or metallic pearly on the face of cleav* 
age. Subtransparent to translucent : sectile. 
Hssl*5— 2. Gr=3*4— 3*5. Composition^ 
sulphur 39*0, arsenic 61*0. Wholly evapo- 
rates before the blowpipe with an alliaceous 
odor, and on charcoal bums with a blue 
dame. From Hungary, Koordistan in Turkey in Asia* 
China, and South America. Occurs at Edenville, N. Y., as 
a yellow powder, resulting from the decomposition of arseni- 
cal iron. 

Realgar^ or Bed sulphuret of arsenic. In oblique prisms, 
and also massive : cleavage much less perfect than in orpi- 
ment. Color fine clear red, aurora red to orange. Luster 
resinous. Transparent to translucent. H=3l*5— 2. Gr=s 



In foliated 




What is white arsenic? 
^hat of realgar ^ 



What are the characters of orpiment? 
26* 



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ORBB OF ABBBiraO. 227 

8 '35— 3*65. Composition^ sulphur 30, arsenic 70. Like 
the preceding before the blowpipe. From Hungary, Bohe- 
mia, Saxony, the Hartz, Switzerland, and Koordistan in 
Asiaticr Turkey. It has been observed in the lavas of 
Vesuvius. 

GENERAL REMARKS ON ARSENIC AND ITS ORES. 

Arsenic is most used in the state of arsenous acid, called also white 
anenic. This substance is prepared principally at Joachimstahl in Bo- 
hemia, and in Hungary, and is obtained from arsenical cobalt and iron. 
These ores are roasted in reverberatory furnaces, (the cobalt ores for the 
cobalt they contain,) and the vapors (which are white arsenic) are con- 
densed in a long hori2ontal chimney ; after undergoing a second subli- 
mation, usually with a little potash, it is ready for commerce. The 
manufacture is very destructive to life, and those engaged in it seldom 
live over 30 or 35 yeara. 

White arsenic, besides its use as a poison, is employed as a flux for 
glass, and also to give a peculiar milky or porcelain-like hue to glass 
ware. When too much is added, the glass becomes unsafe for domestio 
use. 

The sulphurets aflford valuable pigments. Orpiment is the basis of 
the pigment called king'9 yeUow. The ammoniacal eolution of orpi- 
ment is recommended for dyeing. It affords a yellow which is perma- 
nent, but is injured by soap. Realgar is used in the preparation of the 
pyrotechnical compound called white Indian fire, which consists of 24 
parts of saltpeter, 7 of sulphur, and 2 of realgar, finely powdered and well 
mixed. It burns with a white flame and great brilliancy. 

The sulphurets are obtained for commerce by distilling arsenical 
pyrites and iron pyrites, (sulphuret of iron,) or from white arsenic and 
rough brimstone ; the product is realgar or orpiment according to the 
proportions employed. 

A combination of the arsenous acid with oxyd of copper, obtained by 
mixing arsenite of potash and sulphate of copper, produces a fine green 
pigment called Scheele's green. 

Arsenic is mixed in a small quantity (less than 1 per cent.) with lead, 
in the manu&cture of shot, as it renders the metal more ready to break 
up into minute drops when caused to fall through a sieve from a height, 
as in the shot tower, and the grains assume a more spherical form 
on the descent, besides being less malleable than if of pure lead. In 
shot towers, the melted lead falls usually about 150 feet into a vessel 
of water at the bottom of the tower. They are afterwards sifled in 
neves of different degrees of fineness, from No. 1, the finest, to No. 12, 
and thus the several sizes of shot are separated and assorted. There 
are still some imperfect shot among them ; and to separate them the 
shot are made by a shake to roll from trays a little inclined into a bin ; 
those that are imperfect roll sluggishly and are behind in the movement, 
iind are thus separated to be melted over again. 

liow do orpiment and realgar differ in composition ? From what ores 
aruenic obtained 7 How is white arsenic prepared 1 For what i^ 
»^«;nic used '* How are shot made I 



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228 METALS. 

13. URANIUM. 
The uranium ores have a specific gravity not above 7, and 
a hardness below 6. The ores are either of some shade of 
light green or yellow, or they are dark brown or black and 
dull, or submetallic without a metallic luster when powdered 
They are not reduced when heated with carbonate of soda ; 
and the brown or black B];>ecies fuse with difficulty on the 
edges or not at all. 

piTCHBLBNDS. — Oxyd of Uranium, 

Massive and botryoidal. Color grayish^ brownish, or vel 
vet- black. Luster submetallic or dull. Streak powder 
black. Opaque. H=5-5. Gr=6-47. 

Composition : 79 to 87 per cent, of protoxyd of uranium 
with silica, lead^ iron, and some other impurities. Infusible 
alone before the blowpipe, but ibrms a gray scoria with 
borax. Dissolves slowly in nitric acid, when powdered. 

Ohs, Occurs in veins with ores of lead and silver in 
Saxony, Bohemia and Hungary ; also in the tin naines of 
Cornwall, i>ear Redruth. In the United States, at Middle 
own and Haddam, Conn. 

Uranic ochre is a light yellow pulverulent mineral, be- 
coming orange yellow when gently heated. It is believed 
to be peroxyd of uranium, sometimes combined with car* 
bonic acid. Accompanies pitchblende in Cornwall and in 
Bohemiat It occurs sparingly in a yellow powder with co- ^ 
lumbite and uranite at the feldspar quarry, near Middletown, 
Conn. 

Uses, The oxyds of uranium are used in painting upon 
porcelain, yielding a fine orange in the enameling fire, and 
a black color in that in which the porcelain is baked, 

Coractte (Le Conte). An ore resembling pitchblende, and probably 
that species. From the north shore of Lake Superior, in a vein h 
inches wide, near the jnnction of trap and syenite. 

Eliasite, A similar ore, containing 10^ per cent, of water. 

VBANITB. 

Dimetric. In short square prisms, thinly foliated parallel 

What b said of the ores of uranium 1 Describe pitchblende. What 
ia its composition ? What are the uses of the oxyds 7 



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IBON ORES. 22S^ 

to the base, almost like mica ; ]aminsB brittle and not flex- 
ible. 

Color bright clear yellow and green ; streak a littJe paler. 
Luster of laminae pearly. Transparent to subtranslucent. 
H=2— 2-5. Gr«=3— 3-6. 

Composition. There are two ores here included^ the yel- 
low one containing phosphoric acid 16, oxyd of uranium 63, 
and lime 6, with water 15 ; the other of a green color, 
(sometimes called chalcolite^) containing oxyd of copper in 
place of lime. They fuse before the blowpipe to a blackish 
mass, and the green variety colors the flame green. 

Dif. The micaceous structure connected with the light 
color is a striking character. The folia of mica are not 
brittle like those of uranite. 

Ohs. Occurs with uranium, silver and tin ores. It is 
found at St. Symphorien, near Autun, and also near Limoges, 
and in the Saxon and Bohemian mines. Cornwall afibrds 
splendid crystallizations of the green variety. 

Found sparingly at Middletown, Conn., and Chesterfield, 
Mass., of a yellow color* 

Samarakitt (formerly named uranotantaUU and yttro-UiMmt*) Ib a 
compound of oxyd of uranium with columbic and tungstic acids^ from 
Miask in the UraL It is of a dark brown color and submetallic luster. 
H=5*5. Gr=5*4 — 5*7. Also occurs in North Carolina. 

Jokannite or uranvitriol i» a sulphate of uranium. It has a fine 
emerald-green color, and a bitter taste. From Bohemia. 

14. IRON. 

Iron occurs native or alloyed with nickel in meteoric iron. 
Its most abundant ores are the ox yds and sulphurets. It is 
also found combined with other metals, and with silica and 
carbonic and other acids. Its ores are widely disseminated. 
They are the ordinary coloring ingredients of soils and many 
rocks, tinging them red, yellow, dull green, brown and black. 

The ores have a specific gravity below 8, and the ordi- 
nary worknhle ores seldom exceed 5. Many of them are in- 
fusible betbre the blowpipe, and a great part become attract- 
able by the magnet after heating, when not so before. When 
undisguised by other metals, they aflbrd with borax, in the 

What 18 the color and structure of uranite ? its composition 1 How 
is it distinguished finom other species ? What is said of the modes of 
occurence of iron 1 What characters of its ores are mentioned ? 

20 



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280 METALS. 

inner flame, a bottle-^reen glass. By their difficult fusi- 
bllity, the species with a metallic luster are distinguished 
from ores of silver and copper, and also more decidedly from 
these and other ores by blowpipe reaction and reduction. 

NATIVE IRON. 

Monometric. In regular octahedrons ; cleavage parallel 
to the faces of the octahedron. Usually massive, with a 
more or less fine granular structure. 

Color and streak iron-gray. Fracture hackly. Malleable 
and ductile. H=4*5. Gr=7'3 — 7*8. Acts strongly on 
the magnet. 

Obs. Native iron, as it occurs in meteoriteS| is usually 
alloyed with nickel and other metals. Whether terrestrial 
native iron has been observed, is a question of some doubt. 
A mass from Canaan, Conn., reported as of this character, 
has been shown by Dr. A. A. Hayes to be artificial, beyond 
doubt. Steinbach and Eibenstock in Saxony, and the mine 
of Hackenberg have been mentioned as foreign localities. 
Another occurs in Western Africa. "* 

Meteoric iron occurs in nearly all meteorites, and almost 
wholly constitutes a large part of those that have been dis- 
covered. A mass weighing 1635 pounds is now in the 
cabinet of Yale College ; it came from Texas. It contains 
90 to 92 per cent, of iron, and 8 to 10 per cent of nickel, 
the alloy not being uniform throughout. Meteoric iron ofien 
has a very broad crystalline structure, long lines and trian- 
gular figures being developed by putting nitric acid on a 
polished surface. The coarseness of this structure difiers 
in different meteorites, and serves to distinguish specimens 
not identical in origin. The Texas iron is remarkable for 
the large size of the crystallization. 

The most remarkable masses of meteoric iron occur in 
the district of Chaco-Gualamba in South America, where 
there is one whose weight is estimated at 30,000 pounds. 
The large Pallas meteorite weighed originally 1600 pounds ; 
it contains imbedded crystals of chrysolite. 

Besides nickel, which sometimes amounts nearly to 20 
per cent., meteoric iron oflen contains a small per centage of 

What is the crystallization of iron 7 its hardness, gravity, and other 
character ? How does it occur nativiE; 1 What is said of meteoric iron 7 



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IBON OBSS. 



231 



cobalt, tin, copper and manganese ; and frequently nodules of 
magnetic iron pyrites are imbedded in the mass. Chlorine 
has been detected in some specimens by Dr. C. T. Jackson. 

Of still greater interest is the occurrence of a phosphuret 
of nickel (called SckreibersUe) in most iron meteorites. It 
is in steel-gray masses, grains or folia, imbedded in the iron* 
and consists, according to Dr. J. L. Smith, of phosphorus 
13*9, iron 57*2, nickel 25 8, cobalt 0*3, copper a trace, silica 
1*6, alumina 1*6, lime atraxie^ chlorine 0*1. Its special in- 
terest arises from the fact that no phosphuret occurs among 
terrestrial minerals, and could not occur in any planet where 
oxygen is an abundant constituent, as on the earth. This 
mineral therefore, as stated by Dr. Smith, confirms the tes- 
timony from the native iron, that these meteoric bodies in 
space are in general without an atmosphere like ours, although 
not wholly destitute of oxygen, since there are several sil- 
iceous minerals present in many of them, as chrysolite, 
augite, feldspar, &c. 

Meteoric iron is perfectly malleable, and may be worked 
like manufactured iron. The nickel diminishes much its 
tendency to rust. 

IKON PTEiTBs. — Blsvlpkuret'of Iron. 

Monometric. Usually in cubes (fig. 1) simple or modifi- 
12 3 4 




»d, (2, 4,) or in pentagonal dodecahedrons (3) ; also in octa« 
hedrons. Faces of cubes often striated as in figure 1. Oc- 
curs also in imitative shapes, and massive. 

Color bronze.yellow ; streak brownish-black. Luster of 
crystals often splendent metallic. Brittle. H=6 — 6*5. 
Gr=4*8 — 5*1. Strikes fire with steel. 

Composition : iron 46*7, sulphur 53*3. Before the blow- 
pipe gives off sulphur, and ultimately afifords a globule at- 
tractable by the magnet. 

What is the crystallization of iron pyrites? its color and other char* 
acters 1 its composition ? 



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232 METALS. 

Pyrites sometimes contains a minute quantity of gold, and 
is then called auriferous pyrites, 

Dif. Distinguished from copper pyrites in being too hard 
to be cut by a knife, and also in its paler color. The ores 
of silver, at all approaching pyrites, instead of having its 
pale bronze-yellow color, are steel-gray or nearly black; 
and besides, they are easily cut with a knife and quite fusi- 
ble. Gold is sectile and malleable ; and besides, it does not 
give off a sulphur odor before the blowpipe, like pyrites. 

Ohs. Iron pyrites is one of the most common ores on the 

flobe. It occurs in rocks of all ages. Cornwall, Elba, 
ledmont, Sweden, Brazil, and Peru, have afforded magnifi- 
cent crystals. Alston Moor, Derbyshire, Kongsberg in Nor- 
way, are well known localities. It has also been observed 
in the Yesuvian lavas. 

In the United States, the localities are numerous. Fine 
crystals have been met with at Rossie, N. Y. ; also in New 
York state at Scoharie, at Johnsburg and Chester, Warren 
county ; at Champion and near Oxbow, in Jefierson county ; 
at Warwick and Deerpark, Orange county. In Vermont, 
crystals occur at Shoreham ; in Massachusetts, at Heath, 
Barre, and Boxborough ; in Maine, at Corinna, Peru, Wa- 
terville and Farmington ; in Connecticut, at Monroe, Orange, 
Milfbrd and Staffoi^ ; in Pennsylvania, at Little Britain, 
Lancaster county. Massive pyrites occurs in Connecticut at 
Colchester, Ashford, Tolland, Stafford, and Union ; in Mas- 
sachusetts, at Hawley and Hubbardston ; in Maine, at Bing- 
ham, Brooksville, and Jewell's Island ; in New Hampshire, 
at Unity ; in Vermont, at Strafford, where there is a vein in 
mica slate four rods wide, and also abundantly at Woodbury, 
and other places ; in New York, in Franklin, Putnam and 
Orange counties, and elsewhere ; in Maryland, abundant and 
worked at Cape Sable. 

Uses. This species is of the highest importance in the 
arts, although not afibrding good iron on account of the diffi- 
culty of separating entirely the sulphur. It affords the 
greater part of the sulphate of iron (green vitriol or copper* 
as) and sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) of commerce, and also 
a considerable portion of the sulphur and alum. I'he py- 

How is iron pyrites distinguished from copper pjrrites ? from silver 
ores % from gold ? What is said of the occurrence of pyrites 7 Why 
docs not this ore afford good iron 1 What are its uses '? How is vitriol 
obtained from it ? 



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IRON ORKS. 233 

rites is sometimes healed in claj retorts, by which about 17 
per cent, of sulphur is distilled over and collected. The ore 
is then thrown out into heaps, exposed to the atmosphere, 
when a change ensues, by which the remaining sulphur and 
iron become sulphuric acid and oxyd of iron, and form sulphate 
of iron or copperas.* The material is lixivated, and par- 
tially evaporated, preparatory to its being run off into vats 
or troughs to crystallize. In other instances, the ore is 
coarsely broken up and piled in heaps and moistened. Fuel 
is sometimes used to commence the process, which after 
wards the heat generated continues. Decomposition takes 
place as before, with the same result. At Strafibrd, Ver. 
mont, about 1000 tons of copperas have been produced an- 
nuaUy, valued at 2 cents a pound, or (40,000. The quanti- 
ty manu&ctured might easily be much increased. The py- 
rites of Cape Sable, Maryland, also affords large quantities 
of copperas. The lixivated liquid is often employed in Ger- 
many for the production of sulphm*ic acid ; at a red heat, the 
acid passes off^ leaving behind a red oxyd of iron, which is 
called colcotJiar. Cabinet specimens of pyrites, especially 
granular or amorphous masses, often undergo a spontaneous 
change to copperas, particularly when the atmosphere is moist. 

The naxne pyrites is from the Greek pur, fire, because, as 
Pliny states, '^ there was much fire in it," alluding to its strik- 
ing fire with steel. This ore is the mundic of miners. 

White iron pyrites. This ore has the same composition as common 
iron pyrites, but crystallizes in secondaries to a right rhombic prism ; 
M : M=106® 36'. The color is a little paler than that of common py- 
rites, and it is more liable to decomposition ; hardness the same ; spe- 
cific gravity 4-6— 4"85. Radiated pyrites, hepatic pyrites, cocks" 
comb pyrites, (alluding to its crested shapes,) and spear pyrites are 
names of some of its varieties. It occurs in crystals at Warwick and 
Phiilipstown, N. Y. Massive varieties are met with at Cummington, 
Mass. ; Monroe, Trumbull, and East Haddam, Conn. ; and at Haver- 
hUl, N. H. 

FTBBHOTINE. — MAGNETIC PYRITES. Stdphuret of Iron. 

Hexagonal. Occurs occasionally in hexagonal prisms, 
which are often tabular ; generally massive. 

Color between bronze-yellow and copper-red ; streak dark 

How is sulphuric acid obtaine ? and what is colcothar ? What is tha 
origin of the name pyrites 1 What is the crystallization and appear 
ance of magnetic pyrites? 

» This change consists in the utiion of oxygen with the sulphur an 
iron 



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234 METALS. 

grayish-black. Briltle. H=3-5 — 4-5. Gr=4-4— 4-65 
Slightly attracted by the magnet. Liable to speedy tarnish 

Composition : sulphur 39*5 iron 60*5. Before the blow- 
pipe on charcoal in the outer flame it is converted into a glo- 
bule of red oxyd of iron. In the inner flame it fuses and 
glows, and aflbrds a black globule which is noagnetic, and has 
a yellowish color on a surface of fracture. 

Dif. Its inferior hardness and shade of color, and its 
magnetic quality distinguish it from conmion iron pyrites ; and 
its paleness of color from copper pyrites. It diflers from the 
cobalt and nickel ores in aflbrding a magnetic globule before 
the blowpipe. 

Ohs. Crystallized specimens have been found at Kongs- 
berg in Norway, and at Andreasberg in the Hartz. The 
massive variety is found in Cornwall, Saxony, Siberia, and 
the Hartz ; also at Vesuvius and in meteoric stones. 

In the United States, it is met with at Trumbull and Mon^ 
roe. New Faii-field, and Litchfield, Conn. ; at Strafford and 
Shrewsbury, Vt. ; at Corinth, New Hampshire ; and in 
many parts of Massachusetts and New York. This ore at 
Litchfield is quite abundant. 

Uses. Same as for conunon pyrites. 

MispicKEL. — Arsenical Iron Pyrites. 

Trimetric. In rhombic prisms, with cleavage parallel to 
the faces M ; M : M=lir 40' to IW. Crystals /^ 
sometimes elongated hoiizontally, producing a»/ ^\ 
rhombic prism of lOO*' nearly, with M and M the L^ | 

end planes. Occurs also massive. I J 

Color silver- white ; streak dark grayish -black. \ ^ 
Luster shining. Brittle. H=5-5— 6. Gr=6-3. \L>^ 

Composition : iron 34*4, arsenic 46*0, sulphur 19*6. A 
cobaltic variety contains 4 to 9 per cent, of cobalt in place 
of part of the iron. The Danaite of New Hampshire, con- 
sists of iron 32*9, arsenic 41*4, sulphur 17*8, cobalt 6*5. 
Affords arsenical fumes before the blowpipe, and a globule 
of sulphuret of iron which is attracted by the magnet It 
gives fire with a steel and emits a garlic odor. 

Dif. Resembles arsenical cobalt ; but is much harder, 

What is the constitution of magnetic pyrites ? How is it distingruish- 
ed from common iron pyrites 1 how from copper pyrites ? from cobalt 
and nickel ores. For what is it used 1 What is the form and appear- 
ance of mispickel ? 



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IBON 0KE8. 235 

it giving fire with steel ; it differs also in yielding a mag- 
netic globule before the blowpipe and in not affording the 
reaction of cobalt with the fluxes. - 

Obs. Mispickel is found mostly in primitive regions, and 
is commonly associated with ores of silver, lead, iron, or 
copper. It is abundant at Freiberg, Munzig, and elsewhere 
in Europe, and also in Cornwall, England. 

It occurs in crystals in New Hampshire, at Franconia, 
Jackson, and Haverhill ; in Maine, at Blue Hill, Corinn 
Newfield, and Thomaston ; in Vermont, at Waterbury ; i 
Massachusetts, massive at Worcester and Sterling ; in Con 
necticut, at Chatham, Derby, and Monroe ; in New Jersey, 
at Franklin ; in New York, in Lewis, Essex county, and near 
Edenville and elsewhere in Orange county ; in Kent, Put- 
nam county. 

Leueopyrite. This is the name of an arsenical iron, containining no 
Bolphnr, or but few per cent. It resembles the preceding in color and 
in its crystals ; M : M=122^ 26'. It has less hardness and higher spe- 
cific gravity. H=5— 5*5. Gr=7-2 — 7*4. Contains iron 32-4, ar- 
senic 65*9, with some sulphur. From Styria, Silesia, and Carinthia. A 
crystal weighing two or three ounces has been found in Bedford county, 
Penn. ; and in Randolph county, N. C, a mass was found weighing two 
pounds. 

HAONETiTE. — OctaJiedrcd Iron Ore, 

Monoraetric. Oflen in octahedrons and dodecahedrons, 
Cleavage octahedral; sometimes 
jjistinct. Also granularly mas- 
sive 

Color iron-black. Streak black. 
Brittle. H== 5-5-^-5. Gr = 
5.0 — 5'1. Strongly attracted by 
the magnet, and sometimes having polarity. 

Compositmt: peroxyd of iron 69, protoxyd of iron 31 ; or 
iron 72'4, oxygen 27'6. Infusible before the blowpipe. 
Yields a bottle-green glass when fused with borax in the 
inner flame. 

Dif. The black streak and magnetic properties distin- 
guish this species from the following. 

What are the constituents of mispickel? What is the effect before 
he blowpipe] How does it differ from arsenical cobalt? What ia 
be crystallization of magnetic iron ? its other physical characters ? Xa 
omposition ? What is the action of magnetic iron before the blowpipe 1 
low is it distinguished from specular iron ? 





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236 METALS. 

Obs. Magnetic iron ore occurs in extensive beds, and 
also in disseminated crystals. It is met with in granite, 
gneiss, mica slate, clay slate, syenite, hornblende, and chlo* 
rite slate ; and also sometimes in limestone. 

The beds at Arendal, and nearly all the Swedish iron ore, 
consist of massive magnetic iron. At Dannemora and the 
Taberg in Southern Sweden, and also in Lapland at Kurun- 
avara and Gelivara, there are mountains composed of it 

In the United States, extensive beds occur in Warren, 
Essex, and Clinton counties, N. Y. ; also in Orange, Putnam, 
Saratoga, and Herkimer counties; at Mount Desert and 
Marshall's Island, Maine ; in Somerset, Vermont ; in Bcr- 
nardstown and Hawley, Massachusetts ; at Franconia, Lis- 
bon, and Winchester, New Hampshire. The mountainous 
districts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania afford this ore, and 
also the eastern side of Willis mountain in Buckingham 
county, Virginia. Crystals occur in New Hampshire, at 
Franconia in epidote ; also at Swanzey, (near Keene,) Unity, 
and Jackson ; in Vermont, at Marlboro', Bridge water and 
Troy, in chlorite slate ; in Connecticut, at Haddam ; in Maine, 
at Raymond, Davis's Hill, in an epidotic rock ; in New York, 
at Warwick, Orange county, and also at O'Neil mine ) in 
New Jersey, at Hamburgh, near the Franklin fiimace ; in 
Maiyland, at Deer Creek ; in Pennsylvania, at Morgantown, 
Berks county ; also in the south paTt of Chester county. 

Masses of this ore in a state of magnetic polarity, consti- 
tute what is called lodestone or native magnets. They are 
met with in many beds of the ore. Siberia and the Hartz 
have afibrded fine specimens ; also the bland of Elba. They 
also occur at Marshall's Island, Maine ; also near Providence, 
Rhode Island. The lodestone is called magnes by Pliny, 
irom the name of the country, Magnesia, (a province of an- 
cient Lydia,) where it was found ; and it hence gave the 
terms magnet and magnetism to science. 

Uses, No ore of iron is more generally diffused than 
the magnetic ore, and none is superior for the manufitcture 
of iron. The ore after pounding may be separated from im 
purities by means of a magnet ; and machines are in use in 
northern New York and elsewhere, for cleaning the ore on 
a large scale for furnaces. 

How does magnetic iron occur 1 What arfr its oaes ? What is said 
of lodestone ? 

19 



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IKON OSES. 237 

BPBCULAR IRON ORE. — HEMATITB. 

Rhombohedral. In complex modifications of a rhombohe- 




dron of 85^ 58' ; crystals occasionally thin tabular. Cleavage 
usuaUy indistinct Often massive granular; sometimes 
lamellar or micaceous. Also pulverulent and earthy. 

Color dark steel-gray or iron-black, and often when crys- 
tallized having a highly splendent luster; streak-powder 
cherry-red or reddish-brown. The metallic varieties pass 
into an earthy ore of a red color, having none of the external 
characters of the crystak, but perfectly corresponding to them 
when they are pulverized, the powder they yield being of a 
deep red color, and earthy or without luster. Grass4.6— 
5*3. Hardness of crystals 5*5—6*5. Sometimes slightly 
attracted by the magnet 

Varieties and Composition. 

Specular iron. Specimens having a perfectly metallic 
luster. 

Micaceous iron. Specular iron, with a foliated structure. 

Red hematite, Submetallic, or unmetalMc, and of a brown- 
ish-red color. 

Red ocher. Soft and earthy, and often containing clay. 

Red chdUc. More firm and compact than red ocher, and 
of a fine texture. 

Jaspery clay iron. A hard impure ore, containing clay, 
and having a brownish-red jaspery look and compactness. 

Clay iron stone. The same as the last, the color and ap- 
pearance less like jasper. 

This is one variety of what is called "clay iron stone." 
Much of it belongs to the fi)llowing species, and a large 
part also is spathic iron, as is the case with that of the Eng- 
lish coal measures. 

Lenticular argillaceous ore. A red ore, consisting of 
small flattened grains, something like an oolite. 

Oligiste iron, iron glance, and rhombohedral iron ore^ are 
€ther names of the species specular iron. 

What 18 the cryttftUizaUon of specular iron 1 What are its phinod 
eharacteni Dessribe the varieties. 



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METALS. 

ComposUion of the pure ore : iron 70, and oxygen 30. 
The varieties without a perfect metallic luster often contain 
more or less clay or sand. Before the blowpipe alone invi- 
sible ; with borax in the inner flame gives a green glass, 
and a vellow glass in the outer flame. 

Dif, This ore is distinguished from magnetic iron ore 
by its red powder ; and from any silver or copper ores by 
its hardness and infusibility. The word hematite, from the 
Greek Judma, blood, alludes to the color of the powder. 

Obs, This ore occurs in both crystalline and stratified 
rocks, and is of all ages. The more extensive beds of pure 
ore abound in the primary rocks; while the argiUaceous 
varieties occur in stratified rocks, being oflen abundant in 
coal regions and other strata. Crystallized specimens occur 
also in some lavas. 

Splendid crystallizations of this ore come from Elba, whose 
beds were known to the Romans ; also from St. Gothard ; 
Arendal, Norway ; Langbanshyttan, Sweden ; Lorraine and 
Dauphiny. Etna and Vesuvius affi)rd handsome specimens. 

In the United States, this is an abundant ore. The two 
iron mountains of Missouri, situated 90 miles south of St. 
Louis, consist mainly of this ore, piled '' in masses of all 
sizes from a pigeon's egg to a middle size church." One of 
them is 300 feet high, and the other, the '^ Pilot knob," is 700 
feet. Both the massive and micaceous varieties occur there 
together with red ochreous ore. Large beds of specular 
iron have been explored in St Lawrence and JejQTerson 
counties, N. Y. ; Plymouth, Bartlett and elsewhere in New 
Hampshire ; Woodstock and Aroostook, Maine, and Liberty, 
Maryland, are other localities ; also the Blue Ridge, in the 
western part of Orange county, Va. The micaceous variety 
occurs at Hawley, Mass., Piermont, N. H., and in Stafibid 
coun^, Va. Lenticular argillaceous ore is abundant in 
Oneida, Herkimer, Madison, and Wayne counties, N. Y., con- 
stituting one or two beds 12 to 20 inches thick in a compact 
sandstone ; it contains 50 per cent of oxyd of iron, with 
about 25 of carbonate of lime, and more or less magnesia and 
clay. The coal region of Pennsylvania affords abundantly 
the clay iron ores, but they are mostly the argillaceous carbo 
nate of iron or limonite. 

What iB the composition of specular iron ? What are its distinguiab* 
ing eliaractersi What is its mode of occurrence? What is said ot 
the iron mountains of Missouri ? 



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nON ORES. 



239 



Ufes. Valuable as an iron ore, though less easily woiked 
when pure and metallic than the magnetic and hematitic 
ores. Pulverized red hematite is used for polishing metals. 
Red chalk is a well known material for red pencils. 

LIMONITB. BHOWN IRON OIIB. 

Usually massive, and often with a smooth botryoidal or 
Btalactitic surface, having a compact fibrous structure within 
Also earthy. 

Color dark brown to ocher-yellow ; streak yellowish 
brown to dull yellow. Luster sometimes submetallic ; oftei 
dull and earthy : on a surface of fracture frequently silky 
H=85— 5-5. GV=3-6— 4. 

Varieties and Composition. The following are the princi- 
pal varieties : 

Brown hematite. The botiyoidal, stalactitic and associated 
compact ore. 

Brown ocher, Yellow ocher Earthy ochreous varieties, 
of a brown or yellow color. 

Brown and yellow clay irofi stone. Impure ore, hard and 
compact, of a brown or yellow color. 

Bog iron ore. A loose earthy ore of a brownish-black 
color, occurring in low grounds. 

Composition when pure : peroxyd of iron 85*6, (seven-tenths 
of which is pure iron,) and water 14'4 ; or it is a hydrous 
feroxyd of iron^ containing when pure about two-thirds its 
weight of pure iron. Before the blowpipe, blackens and be- 
comes magnetic. Gives with borax in the inner flame a 
green glass. 

Dif. This is a much softer ore than either of the two pre 
ceding, and is peculiar in its frequent stalactitic forms, and 
in its aflbrding water when heated in a glass tube. 

Obs. Occurs connected with rocks of all ages, but ap- 
pears, as shown by the stalactitic and other forms, to have 
resulted in all cases from the decomposition of other iron ores, 
probably the sulphuret. 

This is an abundant ore in the United States. The fol- 
lowing are a few of its localities. Extensive beds exist at 
Salisbury and Kent, Conn., in mica slate ; also in the neigh- 

What it said of the uses of specular iron ? What it the appearance 
of brown iron ore 1 its composition ? Describe its varieties. What 
are distinguishing characters 7 How does this ore occur ? 



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240 ttlSTALS. 

\ 

boring towns of Beekman, Fishkill, Dover, and Ainen a, N. 
Y. ; £uso in a similar situation north, at Richmond and Lenoi, 
Mass. ; also at Bennington, Monkton, Pittsford, Putney, and 
Ripton, Vermont. Large beds are found in Pennsylvania, 
the Carolinas, near the Missouri iron mountains, and also iv 
Tennessee, Iowa and Wisconsin. 

Uses, This is one of the most valuable ores of iron. It 
8 also pulverised and used for polishing metallic buttons and 
other articles. As yellow ocher, it is a common materia, 
for paint. 

Oothite, Leptdohrokite. These are names given to crystals of a by 
drous pcroxyd of iron, differing in composition from brown iron ore by 
containing half as much water. The crystals are of a brown color, and 
Uood-red by transmitted light when subtransparent. Streak brownish- 
yellow to ocher-yellow. H=5. 6rs=4'0 — 4*3. Occurs with hematite 
at Eiserfeld in Nassau ; at Clifton in Cornwall ; in Siberia and else- 
where. 

FRANKLINTTE. 

Monometric In octahedral and dodecahedral crystals, 
and also coarse granular massive. Color iron- 
black; strekk dark reddish-brown. Brittle. 
H=5'5— 6-5. Gr=:4-85— 5-1 ; acts slightly ^^f A' 
on the magnet 

Composition: peroxyd of iron 66, sesquoxyd 
of manganese 16, oxyd of zinc 17. Alone in- 
fusible. At a high temperature zinc is driven ofi| and is 
deposited on the charcoal ; with borax on a platinum wire, 
in the outer flame, it gives the violet color due to manganese ; 
and in the inner flame on charcoal, the green color due to iron. 

Dif, Resembles magnetic iron, but the exterior color is 
a more decided black. The streak is not black, and the 
blowpipe reactions are different. 

Obs. This is an abundant ore at Sterling and Hamburgh, 
in New Jersey, near the Franklin furnace ; at the former 
place, the crystals are sometimes 4 inches in diameter. It is 
said to occur also in the mines of Altenberg, near Aix-la- 
Chapelle. 

Uses. The attempts to work this ore fi>r zinc have not 
leen successful. 

What is said of the uses of brown iron ore 1 What is the appear* 
noe of franklinite ? What is its composition ? How is it distingoiih- 
d from magnetic iron ore 1 

19* 




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IKON OltBB. 241 

XLMENiTE.-— TYtaitic iron. 

In ciystailization near specular iron. R : R3x85° 59' 
Often m thin plates or seams in quartz ; also in grains. 
Crystals sometimes very large and tabular. 

Color iron-black; streak metallic Luster metallic oi 
submetallic. H=5 — 6. Gr=4'5— 5 ; acts slightly on the 
magnetic needle. 

Composition : oxyd of iron, with a variable proportion of 
titanic acid or oxyd of titanium. Infusible alone before the 
blowpipe. 

Crichtonite^ Umenxte^ menaccanite, hystatOe, and iserine^ 
are names of some of the varieties of this species. The hys* 
tatite variety includes the toashingUmite of Professor Shepard. 
Octahedral and cubic crystals of this mineral have been found 
with titaniferous sand, which are supposed to be pseudo- 
norphous. 

Dif. Near specular iron, but differs in the less luster of 
its crystals, and its metallic streak. 

Ohs. Crystals an inch or so in diameter occur in War- 
wick, Amity, and Monroe, Orange county, N. Y. ; also near 
Edenville and Greenwood furnace ; also at South Royalston 
and Goshen, Mass. ; at Washington, South Britain, and 
litchfied, Conn. ; at Westerly, Rhode Island. 

Utes. Of no value in the arts. 

CHROMIC IRON. — ChromoAs of Iron. 

, Monometric. In octahedral crystals, without distinct clea- 
vage. Usually massive, and breaking with a rough un- 
polished surfitce. 

Color iron-black and brownish-black ; streak dark brown. 
Luster submetallic ; oflen faint. H=5*5. Grs=4'8— 4*5. 
In small fragments attractable by the magnet. 

Compositum : green oxyd of chromium 60'0, protoxyd of 
iron 20*1, alumina 11*8, magnesia 7*5. The alumina and 
magnesia are variable. Infusible alone before the blowpipe. 
Fuses slowly with borax to a beautiful green globule. 

Dif, The little luster of this ore on a surfitce of fracture 
is peculiar ; also its fine green glass with borax, which dis- 
tinguishes it from ores of iron and other metals. 

Ueieribe titanic iron. Of what doe^ it consist ? How does it di^r 
Vom sptenlar iron t What is the appearance of chromic iron 1 its com* 
pMition X How is it distinguished from other ores t 



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242 HKTALg. 

Obs. Occurs usually in serpentine rocks, in imbedded 
masses or veins. Some of the foreign localities are the 
Gulsen mountains in Styria ; the Shetland Islands ; the de« 
partment of Var in France ; Silesia, Bohemia, etc. 

In the United States, it is abundant in Maryland in the 
Bare HUls near Baltimore, and also in Montgomery county 
at Cooptown in Harford county, and in the north part ot 
Cecil county ; occurs also in Townsend and Westfield, Ver 
mont, and at Chester and Blandford, Mass. It is also foun 
at Hoboken, N. Y., and at Milford and West Haven, Conn, 
in Pennsylvania in Little Britain, Lancaster county, am 
West Branford, Chester county, and on the Wisahicon, 11 
miles from Philadelphia. 

Uses. The compomids of chrome are extensively used 
as pigments. These compounds are obtained either from 
chromic iron or the native chromate of lead, (see under 
lead.) The chromate of lead and copper (vauquelinite) is 
too rare to be employed for this purpose. The chromate of 
potash is readily formed by mixing equal parts of nitre and 
the powdered chromic iron and exposing the mixture in a 
crucible to a strong heat for some hours. The soluble part 
is then washed out, and the process is repeated with the in- 
soluble portion (digesting it first in muriatic acid to remove 
the free oxyd of iron and alumina) till all the ore is decom- 
posed. The colored liquid obtained from the washing^ is 
carefully saturated with nitric acid, and concentrated by 
evaporation till crystals of nitre cease to be deposited. Being 
then set aside for a week or two, it gradually deposits abun- 
dant crystals of the yellow chromate of potash. Chromate 
of leiEul, called also chrome yellow, is the most common chrome 
paint used. It is made by adding to the liquid obtained as 
above stated, before its crystallization, a solution of acetate 
of lead (sugar of lead) till it is saturated. The yellow pre- 
cipitate washed out and dried, is the chrome yellow of com- 
merce. It is used as a yellow pigment both in oil and water 
colors, calico printing, dyeing, and porcelain painting. This 
material is largely manufactured at Baltimore, Md. The 
native nitrate of soda of Peru, has been suggested as a sub- 
stitute for nitre in the above process. 

Another mode of this manufacture recently proposed, fton- 



Whcre docs chromic iron occur ? What are its uses ? How is 4« 
re treated 1 What is chrome yellow, and how is it made 1 



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IRON OSES. 343 

Bists in making a chromate of lime from the chromic iron. 
It is as follows : 1. Pulverize very finely chalk and chromic 
iron,' and mix the sifled material well by means of a revolv- 
ing barrel. 2. Calcine for nine or ten hours at a bright red 
heat in a reverberatory furnace, when, if complete, the whole 
has a yellowish-green color, and dissolves entirely in muri- 
atic acid. 3. The porous mass afler being crushed under a 
mill, to be mixed with hot water and kept agitated, adding 
Hv little sulphuric acid till it slightly reddens blue litmus 
paper. 4. Triturated chalk should then be added, and the 
oxyd of iron is thus removed. 5. Afler being left quiet for 
a while, the clear supernatant liquid is to be drawn off: it 
contains bichromate, with a little sulphate of lime. The 
chromate of potash may then be made from it by adding car- 
bonate of potash ; the chromate of lead, by adding acetate 
of lead ; chromate of zinc, by adding chlorid of zinc 

The bichromate of potash has a fine red color, and is much 
used by calico printers. It is made from the chromate by 
adding nitric or acetic acid to its solution, (enough to give it 
a sour taste,} and setting it aside to crystallize. The green 
joxyd of chromium gives the fine green color to glass of 
borax in blowpipe experiments with chromic iron ; and it 
is used to produce this tint in porcelain and enamel painting. 
It is the coloring ingredient of the emerald, and the emerald- 
colored chrysoberyl of the Urals ; and occurs in 6ome varie- 
ties of diallage and serpentine. It has been found native. 
Chromic acid is said to be the coloring matter of the red 
sapphire or ruby. With oxyd of tin, it affords a pink color, 
which is used in porcelain painting. 

COLUMBITB. 

Trimetric. In rectangular prisms, more or less modified 
Also massive. Disseminated in the gangue 
Cleavage parallel to the lateral fitces of the 
prism, somewhat distinct 

Color iron-black, brownish-black ; oflen 
with a characteristic iiidescence on a sur&ce 
of fracture ; streak dark brown, slightly red- 
dish. Luster submetallic, shining. Opaque. 




Describe another mode of treating chromic iron % What is the color- 
tag ingredient of the emerald? what of the red sapphire? What an 
the color, luster and form of columbite % 



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244 MBTALS. 

Brittle. H=5— 6. Gr=5'3— 6'4. American 5-3 — 5'71. 
Bavarian 5'7— 6*4. 

Composition of an American specimen; columbic acid 
79*6, protoxyd of iron 16'4, protoxyd of manganese 4*4, oxyd 
of tin 0*5, oxyds of copper and lead 0*1. The Bavarian 
columbite, besides having a higher specific gravity than the 
American, has also a black streak. Damour has proposed 
for it the name Baierine ; but the differences, as far as yet 
known, are not important. 

Infusible alone before the blowpipe. With borax in a fine 
powder fuses quite slowly, but perfectly, to a dark green glass, 
which indicates only the presence of fron. 

Dif, Its dark color, submetallic luster, and a slight iri- 
descence, together with its breaking readily into angular 
fragments, will generally distinguish this species from the 
ores it resembles. 

Obs. Occurs in granite at Bodenmais in Bavaria, and 
also in Bohemia. In the United States, it is found in the 
same rocks, feldspathic or albitic, at Middletown and Had- 
dam, Conn. ; at Chesterfield and Beverly, Mass., and at 
Ac worth, N. H. A crystal was found at Middletown, which 
originally weighed 14 pounds avoirdupois ; and a part of it, 
6 inches in length and breadth, weighing 6 lbs. 12 oz., is now 
in the collections of the Wesleyan University of that place. 

This mineral was first made known from American speci- 
mens, by Mr. Hatchett, an English chemist, and the new 
metal it was found to contain was named by him columbium, 

Tanialite or Ferrotantalite. This is an allied mineral, often called, 
from its locality at Kimito in Finland, kimitO'tantalitt. It is a neutral 
lantalate of iron. H=5— 6. Gr=7-2 — 8*0. A "variety from Broddbo 
contains 8 per cent, of oxyd of tin, with 6 of tungstic acid. Sp. gr. 
=65. 

Note. — The metal named C^umbium by Hatchett, is the same that 
has since been called Niobium ; and the Tantalum of the Swedish ores 
is a different metal For other ores of columbium and tantalum, see 
pages 208, 209. 

WOLFRAM. — Tungstafe of Iron and Manganese. 

Trimetric. In modified rhombic or rectangular prisms ; 
sometimes pseudomorphous in octahedrons imitative of tung* 
state of lime. Also massive. Color dark grayish-black ; 

Of what does columbite consist 7 How does it differ from other ores f 
Describe wolfram. 



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ixon ORBS. 245 

gtreak dark reddish brown. Luster submetallic, shining, oi 
duU. H=5— 5-5. Gr=7;l— 7-9. 

Composition : tungstic acid 75*89, protoxyd of iron 19*24, 
protoxyd of manganese 4*97. Fuses with difficulty. Gives 
a green bead with borax, and a deep red globule with salt of 
phosphorus. 

Found often with tin ores. O^xurs in Cornwall, and ai 
Zinnwald and elsewhere in Europe. In the United States 
it is found at Monroe and Trumbull, Conn. ; on Camdag 
&nn near Blue Hill, Me. ; near Mine la Motte, Missouri 
in the gold regions of North Carolina. 

SILICATES OF IBON. 

There are several compounds of silica andoxyd ofiron, none of which 
are of special interest in an economical point of view. 

Hedenbergite is a variety of augite, consisting essentially of these in- 
gredients, (see page 151.) 

Iron chrysolite differs from ordinary chrysolite in containing ozyd of 
iron in place of magnesia. 

Isopyre is a black glassy amorphous mineral, found in granite. Ha 
6 — 6*5. GrsS'S — 3. Consists of silica 47' 1, alumina 13 -9> peroxyd of 
iron 20*1, lime 15*4, oxyd of copper 1*9. 

Lievrite, (called also yenite and UvaiteJ) Occurs in rhombic prisms, 
often with the sides much striated or fluted ; color black or brownish 
black. Luster submetallic. Streak black> greenish or brownish. H= 
5-5—6. 6r=3-8 — 41. Contains about 50 to 55 per cent, of ozyd of 
iron with 14 of lime and 29 of silca. Fuses to a black globule. From 
the island of Elba in large crystallizations ; also from Norway, Siberia^ 
Silesia. At Cumberland, Rhode Island, yenite occurs in slender black 
or brownish-black crystals, in quartz. 

The following are hydrous species, giving off water when heated in 
a tube before the blowpipe. 

Nontronite and pinguite, are earthy ahnost like clay, of a yellowish 
or greenish color. 

ChloropcU is a harder species, (H=3 — 4,) of a greenish-yellow or 
pistachio-green color. Grengesite, thuringiie, knebeliie, and Artnoan- 
ite, are other allied species. 

Chreen earth. Includes different compounds of a green earthy ap- 
pearance. The green earth occupying cavities in amygdaloid is near 
chlorite. It is a silicate of the peroxyd of iron with some potash, mag- 
nesia and water ; often with other ingredients. The green grains of 
the green sand of New Jersey, consist of silica 51*5, alumina. 6-4, pro- 
toxyd of iron 243, potash 9 96, water 7-7. 

Hisingerite, cronstedtite, anthosiderite,polyhydrite, sideroschisolite 
chamoisite, stilpnomelane, and xylite, are lames of dark brown cf 
black species. 

Of what does wolfram consist? With what ores is it usually assod 
ated 7 What is said of the compounds of oxyd of iron with silica 1 



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246 MRTNL*?. 

Crocidoliie has a fibrous structure much resembling asbestus, and 
has been called blue asbestus. Color laveuder-blue or leek-greea, 
H=4. Gr=3 2— 3-3. From Southern Africa. 

Pyrosmalite occurs in hexagonal prisms with a perfect basal cleavage^ 
and pearly surface. Color pale liver-brown, grayish, or greenish. H= 
4—4*5. Gr=3'8. Contains 14 per cent, of chlorid of iron, and gives 
off fumes of muriatic acid before the blowpipe. 

Iron-zeolite. A hydrous silicate of the oxyds of iron and manganese^ 
forming incrustations at a mine near Freyberg. ^ 

ooFFBRAS. — StdphcUe of Iron, or Green VUriol. 

Monoclinic. In acute oblique rhombic prisms. M : M=a 
82' 21' ; P : M=80' 37'. Cleavage parallel to P, perfect. 
Generally pulverulent or massive. 

Color greenish to white. Luster vitreous. Subtranspa- 
rent to translucent. Taste astringent, sweetish, and metallic. 
Brittle. H=2. Gr=l-83. 

Compositian: oxyd of iron 25*42, sulphuric acid 29'01, 
water 45*57. Becomes magnetic before the blowpipe. 
Yields a green glass with blowpipe ; and a black color with 
a tiacture of nut galls. On exposure, becomes covered with 
a yellowish powder, which is a persalt of iron. 

Obs. This species is a result of the decomposition of 
pyrites, which readily affords it if moistened while exposed to 
the atmosphere, as stated under pyrites. The old mine of 
Rammelsberg in the Hartz, near Goslar, is its most noted 
locality ; but it occurs wherever pyrites is found. 

Copperas is much used by dyers and tanners, on account of 
its giving a black color with tannic acid, an ingredient in nut- 
galls and many kinds of bark. It for the same reason foiinp 
the basis of ordinaiy inA;, which is essentially an infiision of 
nutgalls and copperas. It is also employed in the manufacture 
of Prussian blue. With prussiate of potash, any soluble per- 
salt of iron, even in minute quantity, gives a fine blue color 
to the solution, (due to the formation of Prussian blue,) and 
this is a common test of the presence of iron. 

About 1800 tons of copperas are used in the United States 
annually. The colcothar of vHriol is the browish-red oxyd 
of iron, obtained from copperas by calcination and other 
processes. It is much used as a polishing powder. 

Coqviwhiie, or white copperas, and yellow copperas, are names of 
tv^o sulphates of the peroxyd of iron. Fittizite,finro-ferrite, are aUied 

What is the appearance and taste of copperas ? its composition 1 
What is its origin in nat^ire ? For what is it used 7 



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IBON ORBS. 247 

eonipounds. Apatelite is st'U another, peculiar in containing bat 4 v^f 
cent, of water. 

Voltaite is a double sulphate of iron, alumina, potash and water, crya« 
tallizing like alum in octahedrons. From the Solfatara, near Naples. 

SPATHIC IRON. — Carbonate of Iron, — Chalybite, 

Hexagonal. In rhombohedrous and six-sided prisms, easily 

^^^^^ cleavable parallel to a rhombohedron of 107^. 

^^^^^ Faces often cui'ved. Usually massive, with a 

jKM^^m foiisded structure, somewhat curving. Some- 

4^^Hp times in globular concretions or implanted 

^^^^ globules. 

Color light grayish to brown ; often dark brownish-red, or 
nearly black on exposure. Streak uncolored. Luster pearly 
to vitreous. Translucent to nearly opaque. H=3— 4*5. 
Gr=3-7— 3-85. 

Composition, when pure : protoxyd of iron 62*07, carbonic 
acid 37 '98. Often contains some oxyd of manganese or 
magnesia, replacing part of the oxyd of iron. Before the 
blowpipe it blackens and becomes magnetic ; but alone it is 
infusible. Colors borax green. Dissolves in nitric acid, but 
scarcely effervesces unless pulverized. 

The ordinary crystallized or foliated variety is called 
gpathic or sparry iron, because the mineral has the aspect of 
a spar. The globular concretions found in some amygda- 
loids or lavas, have been called spherosiderite. An argilla- 
ceous variety, occurring in nodular forms, is often called clay 
iron stone, and is abundant in the English coal measures. 

Dlf, This mineral is foliated like calc spar and dolomite , 
but it has a much higher specific gravity. It readily becomes 
magnetic before the blowpipe. 

Obs. Spathic iron occurs in rock of various ages, and 
often accompanies metallic ores. The largest beds are found 
in gneiss and graywacke, and also in the coal formation. 
In Styria and Carinthia, it is very abundant in gneiss, and 
in the Hart2 it occurs in graywacke. Cornwall, Alstonmoor 
and Devonshire, are English localities. 

A vein of considerable extent occurs at Roxbury, near 
New Milford, Conn., in quartz, traversing gneiss ; at Ply- 
nouth, Vt., and Sterling, Mass., it is also abundant It oc- 

Describe spathic iron. What is its constitution? What are its 
heraical characters ? How does it differ from calc spar 1 What are 
til varieties ? How does it occur ? 



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248 METALS, 

curs also at Monroe, Conn. ; in New York state in Antwerp^ 
Jefferson county, and in Hermon, St. Lawrence county. The 
argillaceous carbonate in nodules and beds, is very abun- 
dant in the coal regions of Pennsylvania. 

Uses. This ore is employed extensively for the manufac- 
ture of iron and steel. 

Tkomaite is a carbonate of iron occurring in rhorabie prisms. 6ra> 
3'1 . From the Siebengebirge nnnes. Junkerite has proved to be com 
men spathic iron. 

Mesitine spar, (Breunnerite.) A carbonate of iron and manganese 
occurring in yellowirii rhombohedrons of 107° 14'. H=4. Gr3=3-3- 
3*6. This includes much of what is called rhomb spar, or brown spar 
which becomes rusty on exposure. 

^ Oligon spar. A carbonate of iron and manganese. Angle of rh<»ii* 
bohec&on 107® 3'. Color yeltew or reddi^-brown. 6r=3.75. 

VIVIANITB. 

Monoclinic. In modified oblique prisms, with cleavage 
in one direction highly perfect. Also radiated, reniform, 
and globular, or as coatings. 

Color deep blue to green. Crystals usually green at right 
aftgles with the vertical axis, and blue parallel to it. Streak 
bluish. Luster pearly to vitreous. Transparent to translu- 
cent; opaque on exposure. Thin laminsB flexiUe* H^ 
1-5—2. Gr=2-6d. 

Composition : protoxyd of iron 42*4, phosphoric acid 28*7, 
water 28*9. Loses its color before the blowpipe and be- 
comes opaque ; and if pulverized, fiises to a scoria, which is 
magnetic. Afibrds water in a glass tube, and dissolves in 
nitric acid. 

Dif. The deep blue color connected with the softness, 
are decisive characteristics. The blowpipe affords a con- 
firmatory test. 

Obs, Found with iron, copper and tin ores, and some- 
times in clay, or with bog iron ore. St. Agnes in Cornwall, 
Bodenmais, and the gold mines of V&rdspatak in Transylva- 
nia, afford fine crystallizations. In the United States, good 
crystals have been found atImle3rtown, N. J. At Allentown, 
Monmouth county, and MuUica Hill, Gloucester county, N. 
J., are other localities. It c^en fills the interior of certain 
fossils. Occurs also at Harlem, N. Y., in Somerset and 

For what is spathic iron need 1 What i» the eclLor and structure ol 
vivianite 1 Of what does it consist ? 
20 



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IRON OltBS. 249 

Worcester counties, Md., and with bog ore in Stafford 
county, Va. 

The blue iron earth is an earthy variety, containing about 30 per 
cent, of phosphoric acid. The mineral from Mullica Hill has been 
called tnullicite. 

Anglarite, from Anghir, France, is a similar mineral, with less phos- 
phoric acid. 

TViphyline occurs in cleavable masses, of a greenish-gray or bluish 
color. H=:5. 6rss3'6. It is an anhydrous phosphate of the pro- 
tozyds of iron, and manganese, with some lithia. From Bodenmais ui 
Bavaria, and Norwich, Mass. 

TripUte. Another phosphate of iron and manganese, of brown ot 
blackish-brown color. From Limoges, in France. 

Green iron stone, (kraurite,) alluaudite, melancklor, and heraunite, 
are names of phosphates of the peroxyd of iron. Color of the first two, 
dull leek-green ; structure fibrous. Luster silky. Color of the third, 
black ; of the fourth, hyacinth-red, becoming darker on exposure. 

Cacoxene. This is a handsome species, occurring in radiated silky 
tufts of a yellow or yellowish-brown color. H=3— 4. Gr=3-38. It 
is a phosphate of alumina and iron. It differs from wavellite, which it 
resembles in its more yellow color and iron reactions. It also resembles 
carpholite, but has a deeper color. It occurs on brown iron ore in 
Bohemia. 

Carphosiderite is another yellow phosphate of iron from Greenland 
It occurs in reniform masses. 

ABSENATKS OF IHON. 

Cube ore. Occurs in cubes of dark green to brown and red colors 
Jjuster adamantine, not very distinct. Streak greenish or brownish. 
11=2*5. Grss3. It is a hydrous arsenate of the peroxyd of iron, con- 
taining 38 per cent, of arsenic acid. From the Cornwall mines ; also 
from France and Saxony. 

Scorodite. Crystallizes in rhombic prisms, modified. M : Mssl20^ 
10'. Color pale leek-green or liver brown. Streak uncolored. Luster 
vitreous to subadamantine. Subtransparent to nearly opaque. H=a 
3-5—4. Grs3*l — 3*3. Scorodite is a hydrous arsenate of the per- 
oxyds of iron, containing 50 per cent, of arsenic acid. From Saxony, 
Carinthia, Cornwall, and Brazil. 

It occurs in minute crystals near Edenville, N. Y., with arsenical 
pyrites. The name of this species is from the Greek skorodon, garlic, 
alluding to the odor before the blowpipe. 

Iron sinter is a yellowish or brownish hydrous arsenate of the peroxyd 
of iron, containing but 30 per cent, of arsenic acid. Areeno-siderite is 
another fibrous arsenate, containing 34 per cent, of arsenic acid. 

Symplesite is a blue or green mineral, supposed to be an arsenate of 
the protoxyd of iron. Its crystals are right rhomboidal, with a perfect 
cleavage. H=2-5. Gr=2.96. From Voigtland. 

Oxalate of iron. This is a soft, yellow, earthy mineral of rare oc- 
eurrence. It blackens instantly in the flame of a candle. Occurs in 
Bohemia ; it is supposed to have resulted from the decomposition of 
succulent plants. 



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250 UBTALS. 



GENERAL REMARKS ON IRON AND ITS ORES. 

The metal iron has been known from the most renr.ote historicai 
period, but was little used until the last centuries before the Christian 
era. Bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, was the almost universal sub- 
Btitute, for cutting instruments as well as weapons of war, among the 
ancient Egyptians and earlier Greeks ; and even among the Romans 
(as proved by the relics from Pompeii) and also throughout Europe, it 
continued long to be extensively employed for these purposes. 

The Chalybes, bordering on the Black Sea, were workers in iron and 
steei at an early period ; and near the year 500 B. C, this metal was 
introduced from that region into Greece, so as to become common for 
weapons of war. From this source we have the expression chalybeate 
applied to certain substances or waters containing iron. 

The iron mines of Spain have also been known from a remote epoch, 
and it is supposed that they have been worked '* at least ever since the 
times of the later Jewish kings ; first by th€i Tyrians, next by the Car- 
thagenians, then by the Romans, and lastly by the natives of the coun- 
try." These mines are mostly contained in the present provinces of 
New Castile and Aragon. Elba was another region of ancient works, 
" inexhaustible in ii« iron," as Pliny states, who enters somewhat ftiUy 
into the modes of ;Ganu&cture. The mines are said to have yielded 
iron since the time of Alexander of Macedon. The ore beds of Styria 
in Lower Austria, were also a source of iron to the Romans. 

Iron ores. The ores from which the iron of commerce is obtained, 
arc the spathic iron or carbonate, magnetic iron, specular iron, brown 
iron ore or hematite, and bog iron ore. In England, the principal ore 
used is an argillaceous carbonate of iron, called often clay iron stone, 
found in nodules and layers in the coal measures. It consists of car- 
bonate of iron, with some clay, and externally has an earthy, stony 
look, with little indication of the iron it contains except in its weight. 
It yields from 20 to 35 per cent, of cast iron. The coal basin of 
South Wales, and the counties of Stafibrd, Salop, York, and Derby, 
yield by far the greater part of the English iron. Brown hematite 
is also extensively worked. In Sweden and Norway, at the famous 
works of Dannemora and Arendal, the ore is the magnetic iron ore, 
and is nearly free from impurities as it is quarried out. It yields 50 to 
60 per cent, of iron. The same ore is worked in Russia, where it 
abounds in the Urals. The Elba ore is the specular iron. In Germany, 
Styria, and Carinthia, extensive beds of the spathic iron are worked. 
The bog ore is largely reduced in Prussia. 

In the United States, all these different ores are worked. The local- 
ities are already mentioned. The magnetic ore is reduced in New 
England, New York, northern New Jersey, and sparingly in Pennsyl- 



What was the usual substitute for iron among the ancients ? What 
s said of the Chalybes 1 What of the working of the Spanish mines ? 
What of the Elba mines ? What are the common ores of iron ? What 
s said of the most common in England 1 in Sweden and Norway? at 
Elba, Styria, and Carinthia ? What ores abound in the United States T 



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IRON OliKS. 251 

vaaia and other states. The brown hematite is largely worked along 
Weatem New England and Eastern New York, in Pennsylvania, and 
many states south and west. The earthy argillaceous carbonate like 
that of England, and the hydrate, are found with the coal deposits, and 
are a soarce of much iron. 

The several kinds of ore differ somewhat in the quality of the iron 
they afford ; but the greatest part of the supposed difference, if we ex- 
cept the bog ore, depends on the mode of working, and the use of pro- 
per fluxes in the right proportion. The bog ore (a bog formation) often 
contains phosphorus from animal decomposition, and generally yields 
a brittle product, though from its fusibility good for some kinds of 
casting. 

Mode of Assay. In the assay of ores in the dry way, for economical 
purposes, somewhat different means are used for the different ores. As 
in the reduction in the large way, the object is to separate the iron from 
the oxygen with which it is united, and from the impurities clay, lime, 
or quartz, if such be present. 

With the pure oxyds, or the carbonate in a pure state, a simple mix- 
ture of the pulverized ore and charcoal strongly heated in a crucible, 
will effect a reduction. But it is found better to add carbonate of lime 
or burnt lime, with clay, or glass, or borax, which fuse into a slag, and 
besides aiding the reduction, protect the reduced iron from combustion. 
For specular irorif with 10 pans of the ore finely pulverized, mix as 
much chalk or limestone, 6 to 8 parts of bottle glass, and sixteenth or 
a twentieth of the whole by weight of charcoal. For a magnetic iron 
ore, mix with 10 parts of the ore 12 of glass, and as much chalk, with 
one part of charcoal ; or, say 3 parts of each burnt lime and burnt clay, 
and 2^ of charcoal. For b, brown hematite, 10 parts of burnt Ume, as 
many of burnt clay, and 3 of charcoal. These proportions, taken from 
M ushet, are not given as invariably necessary, but simply to guide the 
experimenter. The fitness of the proportions is to be determined from 
the result. If the slag is clear and nearly colorless, the reduction is 
perfect. If dark colored, it contains unreduced oxyd, and too much 
glass or clay may have been added ; if opaque or porcellanous, too 
much lime has been used. In the case of an argillaceous ore, the pro- 
portions of lime and glass should be determined from the proportions, of 
lime and clay in the ore. 

The prepared ore with the fluxes, well mixed, is placed in a crucible 
lined with moistened and well compacted charcoal dust ; the crucible ia 
filled with charcoal, and closed with a hited lid of fire clay. The 
heat should be very slowly raised, not using the bellows for three quar- 
ters of an hour, and finally sustained for a quarter of an hour at a white 
heat, and then the crucible may be removed and the button of cast iron, 
after cooling, taken out. 

Seduction of ores. In the reduction of iron ores, the simplest and 
oldest process consists in heating the pounded ore with charcoal in an 
open forge, (see beyond, page 237.) By the improved process, the ore 
4B heated in a blast furnace along with charcoal, coke, or mineral coal. 

What is said of the iron from different ores ? Describe the general 
mode of assaying iron ores? What is the usual mode of reduction ] 
Describe the blast furnace. 



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2r)2 



MET. It J. 



and also tt certain proportion of some i!uz, nsoally limestone. Tbs 
lime forms a glass with the silicious impurities of the ore, while the 
carbon (first faMBcoming carbonic oxyd) takes the oxygen which is in 
combination with the metal. A small proportion of the carbon also en 
ters into the metal after it is reduced, giving it the fusibility it has a« 
east iron. 

Before descriUng the process, a brief descriptioa may be giTen of a 
blast famace.* l^e foUowing figure (excluding the structure on the 
right, to be afterwards explained,) represents the essential features of 
foroace, in an exterior ade view. 

1 




It is essentially a broad truncated four-sided pyramid of brick and 
itone, containing within a cavity where the ore is heated and reduced 

* I am indebted to Mr. S. S. Haldeman for the following figures an 
their descriptions. They are l-20th of an inch to a foot. The fiiniaoo 
was built for anthracite, as is explained beyond. It is a model of ths 
fine works near Columbia, Pa., owned by the Messrs. Haldeman. 
20* 



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IRON OREJ?. 



253 




The annexed figure 2, exhibits the interior laid open. The main 
■tmcture is called the- stack. Of the interior cavity, the lower part, 
2 H, h, is the hearth, H is four- 

sided ; B B, the boshes,* having 
nearly the shape of a funnel, ex- 
cept that it is square below ; above 
b, is the proper furnace, usually 
about 30 feet high ; below the cru- 
cible, lies the hearth, commonly of 
refractory grit rock. The furnac 
is circular, and is lined with fir 
brick (/) ; next to this, is a layer oi 
dry sand (r,) and then one of brick 
(ft) -constituting the inner part of 
the stack. The layer of sand al- 
lows the interior to expand by 
heat, without cracking the exte- 
rior ; and moreover, the whole, I, 
r, r^, may bo removed for repairs 
without injuring the exterior work. 
At f, 18 one of the twters, (or tuyeres,) the tubes by which the blast of 
air is driven into the fiimace. At wi, is a partial partition of fire brick, 
called the tymp, separating the back and front of the hearth, but not 
extending to the bottom or hearth-stone. The hearth-stone is made of 
a refiractory grit rock. 

In each side of the four-sided stack, at bottom, there is a door-like or 
arched opening, (A, figs. J ,2,) which extends in to the stonework that en- 
closes the hearth. Three of these opening are called the twier-arches, 
and the other is the front or working arch ; the twiers enter by the 
twier-arches to the interior, and at t, (fig. 1,) is shown the place of en- 
trance of one. The view in figure 1, gives a front view of a twier arch ; 
and in figure 2, at A, there is a si£ view, with the twier in place. 

To prevent the melted metal, 
which often rises above the 
twiers, fi-om flowing into the 
blast pipe, in case of the blast 
being accidentally checked, 
there is at V (fig. 2) a valve, 
which is raised by the blast and 
closes when it stops ; and at k, 
a place for inserting a rod to 
remove any slag that may cling 
to the twier. 

Figure 3, is a horizontal sec* 
tion, at bottom ; A, A, A, are 
the twier arches, separated by 
the masonry of the stack ; H, 
A, the position of the hearth or 
crucible ; m is the tymp be- 
tween H and h ; t, t, t, are the 




* This word is fi'om the Grerman word bOschung, a dope. H. 



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254 Mr.TALs 

twiers, the three blast tubes of which connect with a common tube that 
extends round, by the passage g g, (figs. 1, 3,) in the form of a semi- 
circle, and receives ihe blast through the tube p. The dotted circle 
within corresponds to the inner outline of the hre brick lining of the 
widest part of the furnace. 

The melted iron runs into the lower part of the hearth, and is covered 
by tte cinder. It is prevented from running out by the damstone e 
(figs. 2, 3) ; and farther to hinder the metal from being forced oat by 
the blast, clay is rammed beneath the tymp around the twiers and upon 
the surface at A, where it is retained by heavy iron plates. These 
-plates are raised every few hours to allow the cinder to run olT, which 
passes out over the damstone, along the dust-plate, e t, (figs. 2, 3.) The 
metal is drawn off every twelve hours at the lower lev€k a, through an 
aperture at the bottom of the damstone. 

Great economy in making iron has of late been secured by heating 
the blast to three to six hundred Fahrenheit. The cooling effect of the. 
vast volumes of air thrown into the furnace is avoided ;* and this ia ab- 
solutely necessary when anthracite coal is used, as is the case in many 
works of recent construction. In the view above given,/, /, (fig. 2,) 
represent two (out of three) passages in the upper part of the furnace, 
by which the waste flame is led off, first to heat boilers at W, W, (fig. 
1,) and then to a hot-oven chamber, o. In the last there is a great 
number of iron pipes, arranged m series ; the blast by the action of the 
engine, is thrown through all the pipes in succession, and after being 
thus heated, flows on to p, (fig. 3,) whence it passses to the twiers, (t, <, 
t.) When the engine is separated from the furnace, the oven is usually 
placed upon the front side (instead of back) of the top, and the flame 
passes ill by a smgle aperture. The works here figured are situated 
upon a side hill. It is important that the blast should not be too great, 
as it wastes the metal by oxydation ; and at the same time it should be 
fiufliciently copious to supply the requisite qantity of oxygen. 

The first step in the process of reduction, consists in roasting the ore 
to drive off any volatile ingredients, and open its texture. This is effect- 
ed by piling the ore in heaps, made of alternate layers of coal or coke 
and ore, covering up the heap loosely with earth and firing it. The 
carbonic acid, if it contains any, the moisture, and any sulphur present, 
are thus expelled, and the ore is in a looser state for redaction. The 
furnace is filled with coal and slowly heated up— ten or twelve days 
being required for this, to avoid the efllect of too sudden heat on the fur- 
nace. The charge, next to be added, consists of coal, the roasted ore, 
and limestone, (if this be the flux,) in certain proportions, and it is car- 

What is said of the hot blast ? Describe the method of heating the 
engine, and air of the blast. Mention the several steps in the process 
f reduction. 

* The weight of air thrown into a Glasgow furnace in 24 hours, has 
een estimated at 6192 cwt., or 6292 cubic feet per minute, while the 

hole weight of coke, ore and limestone added in the same time, was 
nly €66^ cwt. In ordinary cases, the weight of the air is at 'east four 
unes as much as that of the charges. 



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; 



IRON OKB'^. 255 

ried to the top of the furnace, often by a railway, and thrown in at inter* 
vala of an half hour or so, as the coal sinks, so that the furnace is kept 
full. The charge at the top of the iiirnace is two days or more in de- 
scending to where it comes within the direct action of the blast. The 
fu»on of the ore finally takes place a short distance above the twiers, and 
its reduction is completed at the same time by the burning coal and flux 
in a few hours the hearth fills with metal and slag, and as it accumulates, 
the fused iron displaces the slag which is continually running over and 
conveyed off by the workmen : the metal being let out below by remov- 
ing a luting of clay, is run into moulds of sand, to form pigs— oblong 
masses of about 180 pounds each. The slag in this process serves to 
protect the metal from combustion as it is reduced. It^color and condi- 
tion indicate the success of the reduction. If of a dark color and heavy, 
it shows that all the ore is not reduced, and much metal lost ; probably 
owing to too little coal or too rapid working. If dark vitreous, with 
streaks of green, there is some oxyd of iron carried off by the silica, 
which may probably be remedied by adding more lime to take up the 
silica. If light colored, all is going on well.* 

The proportion of flujtes depends on the ore and its condition, and 
no general nile can be given. With the argillaceous carbonate of iron 
of Siaflfordshire, limestone alone is used, 10 to 12 per cent, being em- 
ployed for 45 per cent, of ore, and 45 of coke. Even this addition is 
anneoRSsary when the ore is associated with much lime. For the ordi- 
nary argillaceous ores, the weight of Umestone used is about one-fourth 
the weight of the ore, or from one-third to one-sixth. When there ia 
no silica in the ore, it is added in nearly equal proportions with the 
lime and other earthy ingredients present. Previous assays must de- 
termine what is required for each variety of ore. The brown hematite 
is easily reduced, and requires much coal with a slow process, or only 
a white iron is produced ; 8 to 12 per cent, of limestone is added to a 
charge as a flux. 

Grood metal is strong of a dark gray color, with a grammar texture, 
and runs fluid when melted ; while the bad metal is light colored and 
brittle, and nms thick and sluggish. There are numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, in 
market, including the two kinds just described and two intermediate 
grades. Ntunber 1 is best fitted for castings, as it contains the most 
carbon and is more fusible than the otheis. Cast iron sometimes con- 
tains a trace of silicium without injury, and according to Berzelius, the 
best Swedish iron contains after it is made into wrought iron 1-20 per 
cent, of silicium. Sulphur and phosphorus are highly deleterious, ex- 
cept when a fusible metal is desired with the strength comparatively 
onessential. 

tVroitght or malleable iron. As cast iron owes its fusibility princi- 
pally to Sie carbon present, the change of east to wrought iron, called 

What is said of the slag ? Oi. what does the proportion of fluxes 
epend ? 

• The slag firom Merthyr Tydvil, in South Wales, afibrded Berthier on 
nalyns, siUca 40-4, lime 38*4, magnesia 5*2... alumina 11*2, protoxyd 
of iron 3*8, and a trace of sulphur. 



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250 METALS 

refining, mast coneist in the removal of this carbon ana any remaining 
impurities. This is done by burning it out, and for this purpose the 
poorer kinds of cast iron answer as well as the best. Formerly the 
metal was melted three or four times, and then hammered with a large 
forging hammer to remove the scoria. In the nest improvement, the 
metal while in fusion was stirred for a while to effect the more com- 
plete combustion of the carbon ; and in this way it gradually lost its fusi- 
bility and became stiff enough for forging. This process is called pud- 
dling. The metal passes first through one fusion as preparatory. It if 
next placed on plates in a furnace of the reverberatory kind, the metal 
being loosely piled in the middle of the horizontal furnace ; 3^ cwt. is 
an ordinary chai^. The flame plays over it, and in half an hour it 
begins to melt. The worlunen now stir it about, occasionally dashing 
in a scoopfol of water. The metal gives off freely bubbles of gas, which 
bum with a blue flame, (carbonic ozyd) ; in about twenty minutes the 
whole falls to pieces like a coarse gravel, and a lurid flame appears over 
it. The whole is still kept in motion and well heated, and soon it be- 
gins to unite again, when it is separated into several lumps of the size 
of three or four bricks. These masses as they assume a clotty consis- 
tency (sometimes called " coming into nature,") are drawn from the 
furnace and doUeyed or stamped into cakes with hammers. The plates 
are thrown while hot into water, which renders them brittle ; they are 
then broken into pieces, again placed together in the furnace, heated to 
a welding heat, and finally forged under a ponderous hammer, moved by 
machinery, into short thick bars called blooms. 100 parts of cast iron 
yield about 63 of blooms. Some of the steps in this process are often 
neglected in making the ordinary iron. 

It has been found that full 24 per cent, of the gas escaping from an 
iron furnace is carbonic ozyd, and in the boshes this is the only gas 
This gas has been used as fuel in the refining of the iron, and by this 
means the whole expense of fuel for refining is saved. (See the Amer. 
Jour. Sci.,Jvols. i. and ii., 2d ser., where the theory of the bhst fiimace 
it well explained.) 

The iron produced is said to be cold short if it is brittle when cold, 
and this has been attributed to the presence of silicinm. It is termed 
red short when it becomes brittle on heating. 

Cast iron is also changed to malleable iron by covering castings with 
powdered hematite or other oxyd of iron, and exposing to heat below 
fusion. The carbon is /Amoved by the oxygen of the oxyd. The scales 
of oxyd thrown off in the forging of iron are much used. This process 
was first introduced in 1804, and is one of great importance in the arts. 
Malleable iron is also obtained directly fi'om the ore by a single fusion 
in what is called a Catalan forge. It has a rectangular crucible or basin 
below the fire, about 18 inches by 21 in width and 1 7 inches deep. The 
twier enters about 9^ inches above the bottom and receives the blast 
from a water-blowing machine ; and it admits of a change of position 
BO as to give a change of direction to the blast as is required in the 

Describe the manufacture of wrought fi-om cast iron. How is the 
gas used in heating 1 What are cold short and red short iron ? What 
other mode is there of rendering cast iron malleable 1 Describe a mode 
of obtaining malleable iron direct fix)m the ore. 



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/ 



IBON ORES. 257 

difierent stages o( the process. The ore after a pieyions roasting in a 
kiln, is pounded up and sifted ; the coarser part is piled up in the forge 
on the side opposite the blast, and charcoal fills up the rest of the space. 
After the heat is well up, the finer siftings are thrown at intervals upon 
the charcoal fire. The basin below, which has been previously lined 
with two or three coats of pounded charcoal, or loam and charcoal, re- 
ceives the iron as it is reduced and runs down. The dag is occasionally 
removed from the surface of the basin through holes opened for th« 
purpose. The iron, when sufficiently accumulated, is taken out in a 
pasty sute and at once forged. The process usually lasts five or six 
hours. A lump or bloom o( malleable iron is thus produced in three or 
four hours. This cheap and simple process has long been used in Cat- 
alonia, and it is hence called the method of the Catalan forge. By a 
alow operation, and but a small quantity of sif^ings, worked with an 
upraised twier, the proportion of steel obtained by the process is in- 
creased. This mode of reduction is adapted only for the purer and 
more fosible ores ; and moreover it requires a large consumption of fuel 
and ifs attended by a considerable loss. The argillaceous ore of the coal 
region would yield only an iron glass in a Catalan forge. 

By another mode of reduction, the iron ore coarsely powdered is 
mixed with coal in certain proportions, or a material containing the 
requisite amount of carbon, and the charge is heated in a reverberatory 
funiace till reducdon has taken place. The carbon carries ofif the 
oxygen of the ore, and if the proper proportions have been employed, it 
leaves a mass of malleable iron behind. 

Steel. Wrought iron is changed to steel by a process called cemefi" 
tati&n. The best iron is heated with charcoal ; a portion of carbon is 
thus absorbed, and the iron at the same time acquires a hlitiered sur- 
&ce, and becomes fine grained and fusible. When the blistered steel 
is drawn down into smaller bars and beaten, it forms tilted steel; and 
this broken up, heated, welded, and again drawn out into bars, forms 
shear steel. Ccut steel is prepared by fusing blistered steel with a flux 
and casting it into ingots, and then by gentle heating and carefdl ham- 
mering or rolling, giving it the form of bars. 

Steel is also formed direct from certain ores of iron, more particularly 
when oxyd of manganese is associated with them, and especially from 
the spathic iron, which often contains a portion of carbonate of manga- 
nese. The oxygen of the manganese is said to remove part of the car- 
bon from the cast iron, and thus reduce it to the state of steel. There 
are 1 or 2 per cent, of manganese in the metal thus obtained. The 
product is of inferior quality as steel, but is largely manufactured in 
Crermany. The wootz of India is a steel obtained fi'om a black ore of 
iron, in a furnace even simpler than the Catalan forge. It is said to 
eontain a minute proportion of silicium and aluminium. 

The amount of iron manufiictured in the United States in 1863, (over 
a third in Pennsylvania,) was 1,000,000 tuns ; in Great Britain, in 1852, 
8,700,000 tans; in France, in 1849, 514,000; in Russia, in 1845, 
400,000 ; in Sweden, in 1846, 145,000 ; other pans of Europe, (Aus 
tria, Belgium, Germany,) 700,000 tons. 

How is steel made ? Describe the kinds of steel. Flow is steel mad« 
direct from ores of iron ? 



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258 K^TALS. 

15. MANGANESE. 

The ores of manganese have a specific gra\ity below 5*2. 
They aflfbrd a violet-blue color with borax or salt of phos- 
phorusy in the outer flame of the blowpipe ; and on heating 
the oxyd with muriatic acid, fumes of chlorine are given out 
which are derived from the acid* 

RHODONITE. — MANOAITESE SPAK. 

Monoclinic ? In oblique rhombic prisms, isomorphous with 
pyroxene ; usually large massive, the cleavage oflen indistinct. 
Possibly triclinic, and the same as FQtderite, 

Color reddish, usually deep flesh-red ; also brownish, 
greenish, or yellowish, when impure ; streak uncolored. 
Luster vitreous. Transparent to opaque. Becomes black 
on exposure. H=5*5 — 6-5. Gr=3'4 — 3'7. 

Composition : oxyd of manganese 52*6, silica 39*6, oxyd 
of iron 4*6, lime and magnesia 1*5, water 2'7. The impure 
varieties, Bustamite^ Photizite, and AllagitCj contain varia- 
ble proportions of carbonate of iron, lime, or manganese, 
beside sJumina. Becomes dark brown when heated, and fuses 
with borax in the outer flame, giving a hyacinth red globule. 

Dif, Resembles somewhat a flesh-red feldspar, but dif- 
fers in greater specific gravity, in blackening on long expo- 
sure, and in the glass with borax. 

Obs. Qccurs in Sweden, the Hartz, Siberia, and else- 
where. In the United States it is found in masses, at Plain- 
field, and Curamington, Mass. ; also abundantly at Hinsdale, 
and on Stony Mountain, near Winchester, N. H. ; at Blue 
Hill Bay, Me. The black exterior is a more or less pure 
hydrated oxyd.of manganese. 

Uses. Dr. Jackson has suggested the use of this ore for 
making a violet-colored glass, and also for a colored glazing 
on stone ware. The finely pulverized mineral, spread on 
stone ware as a paste, will afford a permanent glazing, 
which will have a black color if it be of considerable thick- 
ness, and of a deep violet-blue if quite thin. It may be 
used along with the usual salt glazing. 

What is said of the ores of manganese ? What is the appearance 
•f manganese spar ? its composition and blowpipe characters 1 Ho\i 
is it distinguished from feldspar? For what may it De used? 



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KANOANSSS 0RK8. 259 

It receives a high polish, and is sometimes employed for 
inlaid work. 

Ttphroite, A silicate of manganese, occarriog massive and cleavable. 
Color ash-gray. H— 5*5. Gr— 4. From Franklin, N. J. Compo- 
Htion: silica S9*8, protozyd of manganese 70*2. Fuses easily to a 
black scoria. Knebeliie is a related speeiea 

Fowlerite {Paisbergite). Probably same as Rhodonite. Form <rt- 
dinie. In crystals at Franklin, N. J., and Paisberg, Sweden. 

PYROLusiTK — Binoxyd of Manganese. 

. Trimetric. In small rectangular prisms, more or less 
modified. M : M=93' 40' ; M : c=a 
IS6^ 50'. Sometimes fibrous and ra- 
diated or divergent. Often massive 
and in reniform coatings. 

Color iron-black ; streak black, un- 
metallic. H=2— 25. Gr=4-8— 5-0. 
Composition: essentially the bin- 
oxyd ot manganese, consisting of oxygen 37, and manganese 
63. With borax it gives an amethystine globule. It yields 
no water in a matrass. 

Dif. Differs from psilomelane by its inferior hardness, 
and from ores of iron by the violet glass with borax. 

Obs. This ore is extensively worked in Thuringia, Mo- 
ravia, and Prussia. It is common in Devonshire, Somerset- 
shire, and Aberdeenshire, in England. In the United States 
it is associated with the following species in Vermont, at 
Bennington, Brandon, Monkton, Chittenden, and Irasburg ; 
it occurs also in Maine, at Conway, and Plainfield, in Mas- 
sachusetts ; at Salisbury, and Kent, in Conn., on hematite. 

The name pyrolusite is from the Greek pur, fire, and /mo, 
to wash, and alludes to its property of discharging the brown 
and green tints of glass, for which it is extensively used. 

Uses, Besides the use just alluded to, this ore is exten- 
sively employed for bleaching, and for afiS>rding the gas oxy- 
gen to the chemist. 

PSJLOUELANE. 

Massive and botryoidal. Color black or greenish-black. 
Streak reddish or brownish-black, shining. H =5«— 6. Grzs 
•4. 



Describe pyrolusite. What is ita constitution ? What are its uses I 
Describe psilomelane T How does it differ from pyrolusite. 



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260 XSTALS* 

Campasition : essentially binoxjd of manganese with one 
per cent, of water, and alsp some baryta or potassa. The 
compound is somewhat varying in its constitution. Before 
the blowpipe like pyrolusite, except that it affords water. 

Obs. This is an abimdant ore, and is associated usually 
with the pyrolusite. Prof. Silliman, jr., has lately detected 
oxyd of cobalt mixed with this ore. It occurs at the di£[er« 
ent localities mentioned under pyrolusite, and the two are 
often in alternating layers ; it has been considered only an 
impure variety of the pyrolusite. The name is from the 
Greek psilos, smooth or naked, and mdas, black. 

Uses. Same as with pyrolusite. 

Heteroelin and mareeline are similar orec, containing 10 to 16 pet 
«ent. of silica. 

WA-D.—Bog manganese. 

Massive, reni&rm or earthy ; also in coatings and dendri- 
tic delineations. 

Color and streak black or brownish-black. lousier uua^ 
earthy. H==l. Gr=3-7. Soils. 

Composition. Consists of peroxyd of manganese, in vary- 
ing proportions, from 30 to 70 per cent, along with peroxyd 
of iron, 20 to 25 per cent, of water, and often several pei 
cent, of oxyd of cobalt or copper. It is a hydrated peroxyd, 
mechanically mixed with other oxyds, organic acids and 
other impurities, and like bog iron ore, is formed in low places 
from the decomposition of minerals containing manganese. 
Gives off much water when heated, and aftbrds a violet glass 
with borax. 

Obs, Wad is abundant in Columbia and Dutchess coun- 
ties, N. Y., at Austerlitz, Canaan Center, and elsewhere ; 
also at Blue Hill Bay, Dover, and other places in Maine ; at 
Nelson, Gilmanton, and Grafton, N. H. ; and in many other 
parts of the country. 

Uses. May be employed like the preceding in bleaching, 
but is too impure to afford good oxygen. It may also be 
used for umber paint. 

TRiFLiTE. — Ferruginous Phosphate of Manganese. 
Massive, with cleavage in three directions. Color black 
ish -brown. Streak yellowish-gray. Luster resinous ; near 
fy or quite opaque. H=:5 — 5*5. Gr=3'4 — 3'8. 

What is wad? its composition? its origin? For what may it b« 
used ? What is triplite ? 

21 



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MANOANSSB OKBS. 261 

Composition: protoxyd of manganese 83*2, protoxyd of 
iron 33*6, phosphoric acid 33*2, with some phosphate of lime* 
Fuses easily to a black scoria, before the blowpipe ; dis* 
solves in nitric acid, and gives a violet glass with borax. 

Ohs. From Limoges m France. Rather abundant at 
Washington, Conn., and sparingly found at Sterling, Mass. 

HeterosUe is another phosphate of the oxyds of manganeee and 
iron, of a greenish-gray or bluish color. Contains 41*77 per cent, of 
phosphoric acid. Huraulite is a hydrous phosphate of the same oxyds, 
containing 18 per cent, of water and 38 of phosphoric acid. Occurs 
in transparent^ oblique^ reddish -yellow crystals. Both heterosite and 
bareaulite are regarded as either altered triphyline or triplite, 

Hausmannite. A sesquiozyd of manganese containing 73*1 per 
cent, of manganese, when pure. Brownish-black and submetalhc, oc- 
curring massive and in square octahedrons; H= 5—^*5. GrB4-7 
From Thuringia and Alsatia. 

Braunite, A protoxyd of manganese, containing 69 per cent, of 
manganese when pure. Color and streak dark brownish-black, and 
luster submetallic. Occurs in square octahedrons ; H=6 — 6*5. Gr=3 
4*8. From Piedmont and Thuringia. 

Manganiie. A hydrous sesquioxyd of manganese. Occnrs mas* 
sive and in ihombic prisms. Color steel-black to ifon-black. Hs4 — 
45. Gr=4-3— 4*4. From the Hartz, Bohemia, Saxony, and Aber- 
deenshire. 

Pehconite is an ore of manganese and iron, of a bluish-black color, 
and liver brown streak, with a weak vitreous luster. From Chili. 

Manganblende, or Alabandine. A sulphuret of manganese, of an 
iron-black color, green streak, submetallic luster. Has3*&~4. Gr=3 
3*9 — 4*0. Crystals, cubes and regular octahedrons. From the gold 
mines of Nagyag, in Transylvania. 

Hauerite is a sulphuret, containing twice the proportion of sulphur in 
the last. Color reddish-brown and brownish-black, resembling zinc 
blende. H=4. Grs=3*46. From Hungary. 

There is also an arseniuret of manganese, of a grajrish-white color, 
and metallic luster, which gives off alliaceous fumes. Gs5'55. From 
Saxony. 

DiaUogite, A carbonate of manganese. Color rose-red to brown- 
ish ; streak uncolored. Luster vitreous, inclining to pearly. Translu- 
cent to snbtranslucent. Crystals rhombohedral. Hbb3*5. GrBs3*59. 
Infusible alone. From Saxony, Transylvania, and the Hartz. Also 
from Washington, Conn., with triplite. 

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE ORES OF MANGANESE. 

Manganese is never used in the arts in the pure state ; but as an oxyd 
t is laigely employed in bleaching. The importance of the ore for thii 
purpose, depends on the oxygen it contains, and the facility with which 

On what does the value of manganese ores depend in the art of bleacV 
inft 



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S02 MUTALR* 

this gaa is given np. Ab the ores are often impure^ it Is important 
to ascertain their value in this respect. This is raost readily done by 
heating gently the pulverised ore with muriatic acid, and ascertaining 
the amount of chlorine given off. The chlorine may be made to pasi 
into milk of lime, to form a chlorid, and the value of the chlorid then 
tested according to the usual modes. The amount of chlorine derived 
from a given quantity of muriatic acid depends not only on the amount 
of oxygen in the ore, but also on the presence or absence of baryta and 
such other earths as may combine with this acid. The binozyd of man- 
ganese when pure, affords 18 parts by weight of chlorine, to 22 parts 
of the oxyd ; or 23^ cubic inches of gas from 22 grains of the oxyd. 
The best ore should give about three-fourths its weight of chlorine, or 
about 7000 cubic inches to the pound avoirdupois. 

The chlorine for bleaching is used commonly in combination with 
lime. To make the chlorid of lime, the chlorine is generally obtained 
either through the action of muriatic acid on the oie, (3 to 4 parts by 
weight of the former, to 1^ of the latter,) or more commonly by mix- 
ing 1 part of the ore with l\ parts of common salt, 2 or 2\ parts of con- 
centrated sulphuric acid, and as much water. As the chlorine passes 
off, it is conveyed into chambers containing slaked lime, by which it ia 
absorbed. 

Manganese is also employed to give a violet color to glass. The 
sulphate and the chlorid of manganese are used in calico printing. The 
sulphate gives a chocolate or bronze color. 

The best beds of manganese ores in the United States, which have 
been opened, are at Brandon, Chittenden, and Irasburg, Yt. 

16. CHROMroM. 

The ores of chromium are the chromates of lead and 
chromic iron, which are described under Lead and Iron. 
There is also a native chromic ochre, supposed to consist of 
silica chromic acid, alumina, and iron. Wolchonshnte is an 
allied mineral. MUoschine or Serbian is considered a chro- 
miferous clay. 

17. NICKEL. 

The ores of nickel, excepting one or two, have a metallic 
luster, and pale color ; their specific gravi^ is between 3 
and 8, and hardness mostly between 5 and 6, (in one, about 
8.) They resemble some cobalt ores, but do not like them 
give a deep blue color with borax. 



How is manganese used? For what other purpose is manganese 
used 1 What is said of the ores of chromium 1 What if said of thit 
ores of nickel ? 



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lacxHXi ORBS. 263 

COPPER mcKT&L.'^Arseniccu Nickel, 

HexagonaL Usually massive. Color pale copper-red ; 
streak pale brownish-red. Luster metallic. Brittle. H= 
5—5-5. Gr=7-3— 7-7. 

Composition : nickel 44, and arsenic 56 ; sometimes part 
of the arsenic is replaced by antimony. Gives off arsenical 
(alliaceous) fumes before the blowpipe, and fuses to a pale 
globule, which darkens on exposure. Assumes a green 
coating in nitric acid, and is dissolved in aqua-regia. 

Dif. Distinguished from iron and cobalt pyrites by its 
pale reddish shade of color; also from the former by its 
arsenical fumes, and from the latter by not giving a blue 
color with borax. None of the ores of silver with a metallic 
luster have a pale color, excepting native silver itself. 

Obs, Accompanies cobalt, silver, and copper ores in the 
mines of Saxony, and other parts of Europe ; also sparingly 
in Cornwall. 

It is found at Chatham, Conn., in gneiss, associated with 
white nickel or chloanthite. 

CLOANTHITE. — While Nickel. 

Monometric. In cubes. Color tin-white. Streak grayish- 
black. H=:5-5— 6. Gr=:6-4— 6*7. 

Composition : nickel 28*40, arsenic 70*34, (from Kams- 
dorf.) Often contains cobalt, and graduates into smaltine. 

It also sometimes contains iron, and this variety is the 
saffioriie of Haidinger, or chathamite of Shepard. The ore 
from Chatham, Conn., afibrds 10 to 12 per cent, of nickel, 
1 to 3 of cobalt, and 12 to 18 of iron. 

Found usually with smaltine at its various localities. 

Niektl glance is another arsenical ore, occurring in cubes and massive* 
Color silver- while to steel-gray. Contains i8 to 30 per cent of nickel 
witli arsenic and sulphur. H^5'5. 6r^-"6 1. From Helsingland, in 
Sweden, and also in the Hartz. Also at Schladming, in Austria, con- 
taining 38 per cent, of nickel, and having the specific gravity 6*6 — 6*9. 
This ore has been called Gersdorffite, 

Nickel Stibine. An antimonial sulphuret, called sometimes Nickel- 
iferous antimony ore, containing 25 to 28 per cent, of nickel Color 
steel-gray, inclining to silver-white. In cubical crystals and als* 
massive. H3=5 — 5*5. Gr=6*45. From the Duchy of Nassau. 

What is the crystallization and appearance of copper nickel ? of what 
does it consist 1 How is it distinguished from iron and cobalt pyrites 
iiow from silver ores ? Where does it occur 1 



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tlB4 MBTAUk 

Antimomal nickel. Contains 29 per cent, of nickel and no sulphur. 
It has a pale copper-red color, inclining to violet. Ha^S'S— 6. Grsa* 
7*5. Crystals hexagonal From the Andreasberg mountaina 

Nickel pf rites or capillary pyrites. A brass- yell«»r sulphuret of 
nickel, occurring usually in delicate capillary forms ; also in rhombo- 
faedral crystals. Grs=5'28. Contains 64*3 per cent of nickel From 
Bohemia, Saxony and Cornwall Also occurs in needles at Antwerp, 
N. Y., and in Lancaster Ca, Penn. The mineral has been named 
Millente, 

A sulphuret of iron and nickel, of a light bronze-yellow, has been 
reported from southern Norway. It contains 23 per cent of nickel 
Gr«4-6. 

ChrUnauite. Still another sulphuret, (called bismuth nickel,) contains 
10 to 14 per cent of bismuth, with 22 to 40*7 of nickel. Color light 
steel-gray to silver-white ; often tarnished yellowish. Hss4*5. Gr-« 
5*13. From the district of Altenkirchen, Prussia. 

Nickel green. An arsenate of nickel, containing 37*6 per cent of 
oxyd of nickel Color fine apple-green. Occurs with other nickel ores 
in Dauphiny, Prussia, and elsewhere. It is found with copper nickel at 
Chatham, Conn. 

EMERALD NICKEL. 

Incrusting, minute globular or stalactitic. Color bright 
emerald green. Luster vitreous. Transparent or nearly so. 
Ha=3— 3*25. Gr=2-5— 2*7. 

It is a carbonate of nickel, containing 28*6 per cent, of 
water. Infusible before the blowpipe alone, but loses its colon 

Obs, Occurs with chromic iron and carbonate of mag- 
nesia, on serpentine, in Lancaster county, Pennsjlrania. 

An earthy oxyd of nickel and sulphuret occurs with black 
cobalt, at Mine la Motte, Missouri. 

Pimdite is a clay colored by green oxyd of nickel. Kla* 
proth found 15*6 per cent, in one specimen. Quartz is 
sometimes colored by nickel. Chyroprase is a chalcedony 
thus colored. 

GENERAL REMARKS ON NICKEL AND ITS ORSa 

The nickel of commerce is obtained mostly from the copper nickel 
and chloanthite, or from an artificial product called speiss, (an impure 
arseniuret,) derived from roasting ores of cobalt with which arsenin- 
retted nickel ores are mixed. The ores are nowhere very abundant* 
aifd the most productive are those of Saxony and Grermany. 

Nickel also occurs in meteoric iron, forming an alloy with the iron, 
which is characteristic of most meteorites. The proportion sometimes 
amounts to 20 per cent The great Texas meteorite, now in the Yaie 
College collections, contains 8*8 to 9*7 per cent, of this metaL 

Nickel is obtained in the pure state from the speiss, by the following 

Describe the green hydrate of nickel. What is pimeUte 1 What orea 
affi>rd the nickel of commerce. Where else is it foond ? 



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KIC&BL ORES. tM5 

pTDCeiB, proposed by Wohler : 1 part of the ore ib fused with 3 of 
pearlash and 3 of sulphur. The arsenic forms a soluble compound 
with the sulphur and potash, and the nickel an insoluble sulpburet. 
This is well washed with water and dissolved in nitric acid ; and the 
solution, after any lead, copper, or bismuth, that may be present, have 
been precipitated by a current of sulphuretted hydrogen, is precipitated 
by caustic or carbonated potash or soda. The washed precipitate i 
now acted on by an excess of oxalic add, which forms with the peroxyd 
of iron, that is generally present, a soluble, and with the ozyd of nickel 
an insoluble, oxalate, which of course includes any cobalt that the ore 
may haye contained. The oxalate is now dissolved in an excess of am- 
monia, and the solution exposed to the air. As the ammonia escapes, 
&e nickel is deposited as an insoluble double oxalate, while the cobalt 
remains dissolved as a soluble double oxalate of the metallic oxyd with 
anunonia. The nickel salt^ being ignited, leaves an oxyd which may 
be reduced by heating with charcoal ; or it may be dissolved in acid and 
again converted into oxalate, which this time is free from cobalt and 
appears as an apple-green powder. The oxalate of nickel, being well 
washed, dried and ignited in a closed crucible, with an aperture for the 
escape of gas, leares metallic nickel, which, if the heat be very intense, 
is frised to a button. Its color is between that of silver and tin. 

As nickel does not rust or oxydize, (except when heated,) it is supe- 
rior to steel, for the manufacture of many philosophical instruments. 

An alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc, has been much used for various 
purposes, under the name of German silver, or argentane. Good Ger- 
man silver consists of copper 8 parts, nickel 3, zinc 3^. An inferior 
article is made of copper 8, nickel 2, zinc 3j. Below the proportion 
of nickel last stated, the alloy approaches pale brass and tamishei 
readily, while the better kind has the appearance of silver, and retains 
well its polii^. It is, however, easily distinguished from silver by a 
somewhat greasy feel. 

But ** Grerman silver" is not a very recent discovery. In the reign 
of Wiiham III, an act was passed making it felony to blanch copper in 
imitation <^ silver, or mix it with silver for sale. " WkUe copper'* has 
long been used in. Saxony for various small articles ; the alloy employed 
18 stated to consist of copper 88' 00, nickel 8*75, sulphur vnth a littla 
antimony 0*75, silex, clay and iron, 1 * 75. A similar alloy is well knows 
in China, and is smuggled into various parts of the East Indies, where 
it is called packfong. It has been sometimes identified with iIm 
Chinese tutenague. M. Meurer analsrzed' the white copper of China, 
and found it to consist of copper. 65*24, zinc 19*52, nickel 13, silver 2*5; 
with a trace of cobalt and iron. Dr. Fyfe obtained copper 40*4, nickel 
31*6, zinc 25.4, and iron 2*6. It has the color of silver, and is .^mark- 
ably sonorous. It is worth in China about one-fourth its weight of sil 
ver, and is not allowed to be carried out of the empire. 

Nickel alloyed with iron, as in meteoric iron, renders it less liable to 
Tost ; but with steel the tendency to rust is increased. 

Articles art now plated with nickel, by galvanic precipitation from 
ihe sulphate. 



How is nickel obtained from the ore ? For what is nickel used ? 
What is German silver 1 Wha is the Chinese packfong? 



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260 KBTAL8. 

la COBALT. 
Cobalt has not been found native. The ores of cobalt 
having a metallic luster, vary in specific gravity from 6*2 to 
7*2 ; and the color is nearly tin-white or pale steel-gray, in- 
clining to copper-red. The ores without a metallic luster 
have a clear red or reddish color, and specific gravity of 
nearly 3. The ores are remarkable £)r giving a deep blue 
color to glass of borax, even when the proportion of cobalC 
b small. 

SMALTINE. — Tin-whiie Cobalt. 

Monometric. Occurs in octahedrons, cubes, and dodeca- 
hedrons, more or less modified. (See figs. 1, 2, 3, page 25, 
and 32, 37, page 36.) Cleavage octaliedral, somewhat dis- 
tinct. Also reticulated ; often massive. 

Color tin- white, sometimes inclining to steel-gray. Streak 
grayish-black. Fracture granular and uneven. Hss=5-3 — 
Gr =6-4— 7-2. 

Composition : essentially cobalt and arsenic ; the cobalt 
varies from 18 to 23*5 per cent, and the arsenic from 69 to 
79 per cent. A variety contains 9 to 14 per cent, of cobalt 
and is called radiated white cobalt; another variety con- 
tains iron. See further, CMoanthite, 

Gives off arsenical fiimes in a candle. Colors borax and 
other fluxes blue, and affords a pink solution with nitric acid. 

Dif. The arsenical cobalts are at once distinguished 
from mispickel or white iron pyrites, by the blue color they 
give with borax ; and also by their crystals and specific 
gravity. 

Obs. Usually in veins with ores of cobalt, silver, and 
copper. Occurs in Saxony, especially at Schneeberg ; also 
in Bohemia, Hessia, and Cornwall. 

In the United States it is found in gneiss with copper 
nickel, at Chatham, Conn. 

Cohaltine. Thifl is another arsenical ore of cobalt, containing sul- 
phur as well as arsenic. Color silver-white, inclining to red. Con- 
tains 33 to 37 per cent, of cobalt. Forms of crystals, figures 42, 46^ 
page 37. From Sweden, Norway, Siberia, and Cornwall. The most 



What IS said of the ores of cobalt 1 Describe tin-white cobat* ' 
What is its composition 1 its blowpipe characters 1 How is it disUn- 
fuished from mispicke) and white iron pyrites? 



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COBALT OHSS. 267 

productive mines are those of Wehna, in Sweden* which were first 
opened in 1809. 

Cobalt pyrites is a sulphuret of cobalt^ of a pale reddish or steel-gray 
color. H=:5-5. Gr=6'3 — 6*4. Crystals cubic. From Sweden* and 
also Prussia ; also Mine La Motte, Missouri. Named LinnaiU, 

Another sulphuret of cobalt, with a less proportion of sulphur than 
in the last, has been observed in Hindostan. Color steel-gray, a littk 
yellowish. Named Syepoorite. 

EAKTHY COBALT. — Black oxj/d of CohoU* 

Earthy, massive. Color black or blue-black. Soluble 
in muriatic acid, with an evolution of. fumes of chlorine. 

Obs, Occurs in an earthy state mixed with oxyd of man- 
ganese, and in Missouri has been mistaken for black oxyd 
of copper. It is quite abundant at Mine La Motte, Missouri, 
and also near Silver Blufi^ South Carolina. The analyses 
vary in the proportion of oxyd of cobalt associated with the 
manganese, as the compound is a mere mixture. Sulphuret 
of cobalt occurs with the oxyd. The Carolina ores afforded 
Dr. J. L. Smith, oxyd of cobalt 24, oxyd of manganese 76. 
The ore from Missouri, as analyzed by Prof. Sflliman, Jr., 
afforded 40 per cent, of oxyd of cobalt, with oxyds of nickel^ 
manganese, iron and copper. It has also been detected 
with hematite, in Chester Ridge, Pa. 

This ore has been found abroad in France, Germany, 
Austria, and England, but much of it contains very little 
oxyd of cobalt. 

Uses. The ore of Missouri is exported to England in large 
quantities, and there purified and made into smalt, for the arts. 

BRTTBRiNE. — COBALT BLOOM. — Arsenate of CchaJU 

Monoclinic. In oblique crystals having a highly perfect 
cleavage and foliated structure like mica. Laminae flexible 
in one direction. Also as an incrustation, and in reniform 
shapes, sometimes stellate. 

Color peach and crimson red, rarely grayish or greenish ; 
streak a little paler, the powder dry lavender blue. Lus- 
ter of laminse pearly ; earthy varieties without .uster. Trans- 
parent to subtranslucent. H = l*5 — 2. Gr=2*95. 

Composition : oxyd of cobalt 37*6, arsenic acid 38*4, wa- 



What is said of the black (fttyd of cobalt 1 What is the appearanco 
and stmcture of cobalt bloom ? of what does it consist ? 



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268 XBTAL8. 

ter 24*0. Gives arsenical fumes when heated, and fimn ; 
jields a blue glass with borax. 

The earthy ore is sometimes called peach blossom ore^ 
from its color ; and also red cobtalt ochre, 

Dif, Resembles red antimony, but that species wholly 
volatilizes before the blowpipe. From red copper ore it dii- 
fers in giving a blue glass with borax ; moreover the color 
of the copper ore is more sombre. 

Obs. Occurs with ores of lead and silver, and other co- 
balt ores. Schneeberg, in Saxony, Saalfield in Thuringia, 
and Riechelsdorf, in Hessia, are noted European localities. 
It is found also in Dauphiny, Cornwall, and Cumberland. 
Occurs in the U. States, at Mine La M otte, Missouri. 

Uses, Valuable as an ore of cobalt, when abundant 

JRatelite. A rose-red mineraU related to, if not identical with, ci>- 
balt bloom. 

Arsenite of cobalt is a compound of arsenous acid and oxjd of cobalt, 
and results from the decomposition of other cobalt ores. 

Sulphate of cobalt, or Cobalt vitriol. It has a flesh or rose-red tint, 
and astringent taste. Consists of sulphuric acid, ozyd of cobalt and 
water. 

GENERAL REMARKS ON COBALT AND ITS ORES. 

The two arsenical ores of cobalt afford the greater part of the cobalt 
of commerce. The earthy oxyd is so abundant in the United States, 
that it promises to be a profitable source of this metal. Cobalt is never 
employed in the arts in a metallic state, as its alloys are brittle and un- 
unportant. It is chiefly used for painting porcelain and pottery, and 
is required for this purpose in the state of aA ozyd, or the silicated ozyd 
called smalt and azure. 

Cobalt comes from Germany mostly in the silicated condition. The 
Zaffire is prepared by calcining the ores of cobalt in a reverberatory fur- 
nace ; the sulphur and arsenic are thus volatilized, and an impure ozyd 
remains, which is nezt mized and heated with about twice its weight 
of finely powdered flints. 

By another process the ore is pulverized and roasted, to ezpel the 
greater part of the arsenic ; a eulpbate is then formed by heating for 
an hour with concentrated sulphuric acid The sulphate is dissolved in 
water, and a solution of carbonate of potash added to separate the iron ; 
and when the blue color of the cobalt begins to be thrown down, the 
f upematant liquid is decanted and filtered, and the cobalt is precipitated 
ay means of a solution of silicated potash, (prepared by heating to* 
gether 10 parts of potash, 15 of finely pulverized quartz, and 1 of char- 
coal, and afterwards treating the melted mass with boiling water.) The 
silicate of cobalt thus prepared is said to be superior to that procured 

How does cobalt bloom differ from red antimony ? From what ores 
is the cobalt of commerce obtained ? For what is cobalt used ? In 
what condition is it imported from Germany 1 What is zafifre % 



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METALS. 269 

in any other way, for staining porcelain, or for the manufiicture of blaa 

Smalt and azure, which have a rich blue color. Are made by fusing 
zaffre with glass ; or by calcining a mixture of equal parts of roasted 
cobalt ore, common potash, and ground glass. The zafire is used for 
coloring glass, and for painting enamel and pottery ware. The arsenic 
volatilized in the above process is condensed in chambers ; it- consti- 
tutes Ae greater part of the arsenic of commerce. The separation of 
the nickel from ores rich in this metal, is sometimes efiected by exposing 
the moistened ore to the atmospbiere. The nickel is unaltered, while 
the other metals are oxydized. 

The annual 3deld of zaffre or smalt, in Saxony, amounts to 8000 
cwt. ; in Bohemia, mainly from Schlackenwald, 4000 cwt. ; in th^ 
Reisengebiige, in Prussia, 600 cwt. ; at Kongsberg, in Norway 
4000 cwt. 

19. ZINC. 

Zinc 0CCUV9 in combination with sulphur, oxygen, silica, 
carbonic acid, and sulphuric acid. It is also found in com- 
bination with alumina, constituting one variety of the spe- 
cies spinel. 

The ores of zinc are in&sible, or very nearly so ; but 
they yield on charcoal, with more or less difficulty, white 
fumes of the oxyd of zinc. Specific gravity below 4*5. 

BLENDE. — Stdphuret of Zinc. 

Monometric. In dodecahedrons, octahedrons, and other 
allied forms, with a perfect dodecahedral cleavage. Also 
1 massive ; sometimes fibrous. ^ 

Color wax-yellow, brownish- 
yellow, to black, sometimes green 
or red ; streak white, to red- 
dish-brown. Luster resinous or 
waxy, and brilliant on a cleavage 
fiice ; sometimes submetallic. — 
Transparent to subtranslucent. Brittle. H=3-5 — 4. Gr= 
4«0--4*l. Some specimens become electric with friction, and 
give off a yellow light when rubbed with a feather. 

Composition : zinc 66'72, sulphur 83*28. Contains fre. 
quently a portion of sulphuret of iron when dark colored ; 

What are smalt and azure 1 How are they used in porcelain paint- 
ing ? What is said of the ores of zinc? What is the crystallization 
of blende. What are its lusf'.r, color, and other physical characters 1 
Of what does it consist { 





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*70 METALS. 

often also 1 or 2 per cent of sulphuret of cadmium, espe 
cially the red variety. Infusible alone and with borax 
Dissolves in nitric acid, emitting sulphuretted hydrogen 
Strongly heated on charcoal yields fumes of zinc. 

Z>tf. This ore is chai-acterized by its waxy luster, per- 
feet cleavage, and infusibility. Some dark varieties look a 
little like tin ore, but their cleavage and inferior hardness 
distinguish them; and some clear red crystals which re- 
semble garnet are distinguished by the same characters and 
also by their infusibility. 

Obs, Occurs in rocks of all ages, and is associated gen- 
erally with ores of lead ; oflen also with copper, iron, tin, 
and silver ores. The lead mines of Missouri and Wiscon- 
sin, afford this ore abundantly. Other localities are in 
Maine, at Lubec, Bingham, Dexter, Parsonsfield ; in New 
Hampshire, at Eaton, Warren, Haverhill, Shelbume ; in 
Vermont, at Thetford ; in Massachusetts, at Sterling, South- 
ampton, and Hatfield ; in Connecticut, at Brdokfield, Berlin, 
Roxbury, and Monroe ; in New York, at the Ancram lead 
mine, the Wurtzboro lead vein, at Lockporr, Root, 2 miles 
B. E. of Spraker's basin, in Fowler, at Clinton ; in Pennsyl- 
vania, at the Perkiomen lead mine ; in Virginia, at Austin's 
lead mine, Wjrthe county ; in Tennesse, near Powell's River, 
and at Haysboro. 

This ore is the Black Jack of miners. 
Uses. Blende is a useful ore of zinc, though more diffi- 
cult of reduction than calamine. By its decomposition, 
(like that of pyrites,) it affords sulphate of zinc or white 
vitriol. 

ziirciTB.— BED ZINC ORE.^ — Red 6xyd of zinc, 

Trimetric. Usually in foliated masses, or in disseminated 
grains ; cleavage eminent, nearly like that of mica, but the 
laminae brittle, and not so easily separable. 

Color deep or bright red ; streak orange-yellow. Luster 
brilliant, subadamantine. Translucent or subtranslucent 
H=4 — 4'5. Gr=5*4 — 5*56. Thin scales by transmitted 
light deep yellow. 

Compos-iticm : zinc 80*3, oxygen 19'7=100. Infusible 

What is the action of zinc blende before the blowpipe ? How is it dis- 
tinguished 1 How does it occur 1 What is the appearance of red zinc 
ore ? its coinposr.tion ? 



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ZINC OBXS. 271 

alone, but yields a yellow transparent glass with borax. Dis- 
solves in nitric acid, without effervescence. 

Dif» Resembles red stiibite, but distinguished by its in 
fusibility and also by its mineral associations. 

Ohs, Occurs with Franklinlte at Franklin and Sterling, 
N. J. 

Uses. A good ore of zinc when abundant, and easily re- 
duced. It may be readily and economically converted into 
sulphate of zinc, or white vitriol. 

VoUiitt. A compound of eolphnret and ozyd of zinc. Occurs in 
mplanted globules of a dirty rose-red color, with a pearly luster on a 
tsleavage suface. From France. 

608LABITE.— -6ULPHATB OF ZINC— WAJte YUrtoL 

Trimetric. Cleavage perfect in one direction. Crystals 
rhombic prisms, of 90° 42'. 

Color white. Luster vitreous* Easily soluble ; taste as- 
tringent metallic, and nauseous. Brittle. H=r=2 — ^2*5. — 
. Grb=l-9— 2-1. 

Composiiian : oxyd of zinc 28*09, sulphuric acid 27*97, 
wrater 43*94. Gives off fumes of zinc when heated on char- 
coal, which cover* the coal. * 

Obs, Results from the decomposition of blende. Occurs 
in the Hartz, in Hungary, in Sweden, and at Holywell in 
Wales. 

Uses, Sulphate of zinc is extensively employed in medi- 
cine and dyeing. For these purposes it is prepared to a large 
extent from blende, by decomposition like pyrites, though 
this affords, owing to its impurities, an impure sulphate. It 
is also obtained by direct combination of zinc with sulphuric 
acid ; zinc is exposed to the action of dilute sulphuric acid, and 
the solution obtained i« then evaporated for crystallization. 
The red oxyd of zinc, of New Jersey, may become an abun- 
dant source of this salt. 

White vitrioU as the term is used in the arts, is one form 
of sulphate of zinc, made by melting the crystallized sulphate, 
and agitating till it cools and presents an appearance like 
loaf sugar. 

How does it differ from red stiibite ? For what may it be ua^4 1 
What is the appearance and taste of white vitriol 7 Of what does if 
onsist *? How is it formed ] For what is it used ? 



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^2 MVTAL8* 

SKXTHsomTB. — Carbonote cf Zinc* 

Rhombohedral. R : RslOT'' 40'. Cleavage rhombf . 
hedral, perfect. Massive or incnisting ; reniform and stal* 
actitic. 

Color impure white, sometimes green or brown ; streak 
imcolored. Luster vitreous or pearly. Subtransparent to 
translucent. Brittle. H=:5. Gr=4'3 — 4-45. 

CampasUion : oxyd of zinc 64*54, {four-fifiTis of which is 
pure zinc,) and carbonic acid 35*46. Onen contains some 
cadmium. Infusible alone before the blowpipe, but carbonic 
acid and oxyd of zinc are finally vaporized. Efl^rvesces in 
nitric acid. Negatively electric by friction. 

Dif. The effervescence with acids distinguishes this 
mineral from the following species ; and the hardness, diffi- 
cult fusibility, and the zinc fiimes before the blowpipe, from 
the carbonate of lead or other carbonates. 

Obs, Occurs commonly with galena or blende, and usu- 
ally in calcareous rocks. Found in Siberia, Hungary, Sile- 
sia ; at Bleiberg in Carinthia ; near Aix-la-Chapelle in the 
Lower Rhine, and largely in Derbyshire and elsewhere in 
England. In the United States, it is abundant at VaUee's 
Diggings in Missouri, and at other lead ^ diggings" in Iowa 
and Wisconsin ; also in Claiborne county, Tenn. Sparingly 
also at Hamburg, near the Franklin furnace, N. J. ; at the 
Perkiomen lead mine. Pa., and at a lead mine in Lancaster 
county ; at Erookfield, Conn. 

Zinc bloom is an earthy carlxmate of zinc, containing 69 per cent, of 
oxyd of zinc, and 15 of water. From Bleiberg, Carinthia. 

OALAXiifs. — Silicate of zinc. 

Trimetric. In modified rhombic prisms, the opposite ex- 
tremities with unlike planes. M : M=:103^ 54'. Cleavage 
perfect parallel to M. Also massive and incrusting, manmiU- 
lated or stalactitic. 

Color whitish or white, sometimes bluish, greenish, or 
brownish. Streak uncolored. Transparent to translucent. 
Luster vitreous or subpearly. Brittle. H=4*5 — 5. Gr= 
3-35 — ^3-49, Pyro-electric. 

What is the usual appearance of calamine 1 What is its eonstitutioB 
and the effects before the blowpipe ? What effect is produced l)y file* 
tion ? What are distinguishing characteristics 1 How does it occur 
What is electric calamirie 1 

22 



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ZINC 0BB8. 273 

Composition: silica 25' 1, oxyd of zinc 67*4, water 7*5, 
Before the blowpipe it slowly intumesces and emits a green 
phosphorescent light ; but alone it is infusible. Forms a clear 
glass with borax. In heated sulphuric acid it dissolves, and 
Uie solution gelatinizes on cooling. 

2>tf. Dilfers from carbonate of lime or aragoiiite by its 
action with acids ; from a salt of lead or any zeolite, by its 
in&sibility ; from chalcedony, by its inferior hardness and its 
gelatinizing with heated sulphuric acid. 

Obs. Occurs with calamine. In the United States^ it is 
found at Valine's Diggings, at the Perkiomen lead mines on 
the Susquehanna, opposite Selimsgrove, and abundantly at 
Austin's mines, Wythe county, Va., and Friedersville, Pa. 

Uses. Valuable as an ore of zinc. 

WiUemite u an anhydrous silicate of zinc, of a yeliowish or brownish 
color. Hsas5 — 5*5. Gi*— 4—41. Occnrs in large grayish hexagonal 
prisms with rhombohedral terminations, at Stirling Hill, N. J., being 
the mineral formerly called Troostite. Consists of silica 27*15, and 
oxyd of zinc 72-85. Also obtained at Moresnet in Belgium. 

Hopeite is a rare mineral occurring in grayish-white crystals or ma»- 
sive, with calamine, and supposed to be a phosphate of zinc. 

Franklinitet an ore of iron, manganese and zinc, is described under 
Iron, on page 240. 

AurichdUiU is a hydrous carbonate of zinc and copper, occurring in 
drusy incrustations of acicular crystals, having a verdigris green color. 
From Siberia, Hungary, England, vid Lancaster, Pa. 

GENERAL REMARKS ON ZING AND ITS ORES. 

The metal zinc {spelter of commerce) is supposed to have been un- 
known in the metallic state to the Greeks and Romans. It has been 
long worked in China, and was formerly imported in large quantities by 
the Elast India Company. The ores from which it is obtained are the 
carbonate and silicate of zinc, (calamine and electric calamine,) and to 
some extent the sulphuret, (blende,) and the oxyd. Blende, the black 
jack of English miners, was considered useless until the year 1738, when 
a mode of reducing it was introduced. 

The principal mining regions of zinc in the world are in Upper Silesia 
at Tarnowitz and elsewhere ; in Poland ; in Carinthiaat Raibel and Bleir 
berg ; in Netherlands at Limberg ; at Altenberg, near Aix-la-Chapelle 
m the Prussian province of the Lower Rhine ; in England, in Derby- 
shire, Alstonmoor, Mendip Hills, etc. ; in the Altai in Russia ; besides 
others in China, of which little is known. In the United States, thf 
calamine and electric calamine occur with the lead of the west in large 

How is electric calamine distinguished from calc spar and chalcedony 1 
From what ores is the metal zinc obtained ? What is zinc called in 
commerce? When was blende first used in England? Where are 
zinc mines in the United States ? 



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274 



METALS. 



quantities, and till a recent period were considered worthless and thrown 
aside under the name of " dry bone." In Tennessee, Claiborne county, 
there are workable mines of the same ores. Calamine is successfully 
worked at Friedersville, Pennsylvania. The red oxyd of zinc of Frank- 
lin, N€«w .Tersey, contains 75 per cent, of pure zino, and the ore is a 
valuable one. Blende is sufficiently abundant to be worked at the 
Wurtzboro' lead mine, Sullivan county, N. Y. ; at Eaton and Warren 
in New Hampshire ; at Lubec in Maine ; and at Austin's mine, Wythe 
county, Virginia. 

The calamine and electric calamine are prepared for reduction by 
breaking the ore into small fragments, separating the impurities as far as 
possible, and then calcining in a reverberatory furnace. This furnace 
differs little from that figured on a following page under Silver, except 
that the sole is flat. The ore is frequently stirred, and after five or six 
hours it is taken out ; by this process, water and carbonic acid are ex- 
pelled. The prepared ore is then mixed with about one-seventh by 
weight of charcoal, and in the English process, is reduced in large 
crucibles. 

Figure 1, represents a vertical section of the furnace, and figure 2, 
1 




half of a horizontal section across the line 1, 3. The oven has an arched 
or cupola top, (a,) and contains 6 or 8 crucibles or pots, (A, h, h, A,) 

2 




placed upon the sole of the earth, (i, », », ».) The crucibles hare a hols 



How is calamine reduced ? 



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ZINC OKES. 275 

at bottom, to which a sheet iron tube (k) is adapted, which tube extencii 
down to small vessels of water, or condensers, (l, I); and the sole of th« 
hearth is perforated accordingly below each crucible. If one of the tubes 
becomes clogged with metal, it is cleared by a hot iron bar. In charg- 
ing, the hole in the bottom of the crucible is stopped by a wooden plug, 
which afterwards becomes reduced to charcoal by the heat. The pots 
are charged and cleared out through holes (d, d, d, d) in the cupola (a.) 
The covers (of fire-tile, m) are placed on whenever a blue flame begins 
to appear, as this indicates the vaporization of the zinc. 

The fire is made on the grate e, through the door/; g is the ash-pit 
below ; m, m, m, m, in figure 2, show the position of the pots as seen in 
a bird's-eye view. The smoke escapes from the oven by the apertures 
d, (fig. I,) into a conical chimney, (6,) by which a strong draught is 
kept up. In this chimney there are as many doors {c, c, c, c) as there 
are pots ; and in the cupola there are the same number of openings for 
inserting or removing the pots, which are afterwards closed up by 
brickwork ; the pots are many times refilled without removal. The 
refuse after an operation, is shaken out through the hole in the bottom 
of each pot, after the mbe k is removed. 

The zinc as it is reduced, rises in vapor and passes down the tubes into 
the condensers, where it collects in drops or powder with some oxyd ; 
the metal is afterwards melted and cast into bars ; and the oxyd which 
is skimmed ofi* is returned to the crucibles. A charge occupies about 
three days, and the ore afibrds from 25 to 40 per cent, of zinc. 

In Liege, where the ore from Altenberg is reduced, the ore is heated 
in horizontal earthen tubes, 3 feet long and 4 to 6 inches in diameter 
set thickly across a furnace, and around which the heat circulates. 
From the description given, it is obvious how the process might be 
varied, and larger combinations of pots or tubes arranged. 

The blende is roasted in a reverberatory furnace, 8 or 10 feet square, 
the ore being placed in the furnace several inches deep, and kept con- 
stantly stirred for 10 or 12 hours. The roasted ore is then reduced in 
crucibles in the same manner as above explained. In England, the 
roasted blende is mixed with as much calcined calamine and twice the 
quantity of charcoal. 

The annual production of zinc in different countries is as follows : 

Great Britain, 1,000 tons. 

Upper Silesia and Poland, . • . . 36,000 " 

Belgium, 16,000 " 

Carinthia, 1^00 « 

United States, ... . 6,000 «« 

Brass is made directly from the ore by heating copper with calcinea 
calamine and charcoal. At Holywell, England, 40 pounds of copper 
and 60 of calamine yield about 60 pounds of brass. It is also made 
from copper and roasted blende, but the product is less pure. Dr. Jack- 
son states that he has obtained brass of an inferior quality by heating 
ogether in a crucible copper pyrites and blende after roasting them. 
Brass is commonly made in this country by melting together the metals 
inc and copper. 



How 18 blende reduced 1 How is brass made ? 



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276 HSTAL8. 

The proportions vf zine in its alloys with copper are giren in the re- 
marks on copfier. Zinc is a brittle metal, but admits of l^ing rolled into 
sheets when heated to about 212^ F. In sheets it is extensively used for 
rcofinjsr and other purposes, it being of more difficult corrosion, much 
harder, and also very much lighter than lead. Its combustibility is a 
strong objection to it as a roofing material. 

The biddery ware of the £^t Indies is made firom an alloy of copper 
16oz., lead 4oz., and tin 2oz., which is melted together and then mixed 
with 16oz. of spelter to every 3oz. of alloy. 

The white oxyd of zinc is much used for white paint, in place of 
white lead. 

An impure oxyd of zinc called cadmia, often collects in large quan 
tities in the flues of iron and other furnaces, derived from ores of zin 
mixed with the ores undergoing reduction. A mass weighing 60(1 
pounds was taken from a furnace at Bennington, Vt. It has been ob 
served in the Salisbury iron fiimace, and at Ancram in New Jersey, 
where it was formerly called ancramke. 

20. CADMIUM. 

There is but a single known ore of this rare metal. It is 
a sulphuret, and is called greenockite. It occurs in hexago- 
nal prisms, with pyramidal terminations, of a yeUow color, 
high luster, and nearly transparent. H=3 — 3*5. Gr:= 
4*8— 4-9. From Bishopton, Scotland. 

Cadmium is often associated in small quantities with zinc 
blende and calamine. In a black fibrous blende from Przi 
bram, LOwe found 1*5 to 1*8 per cent. 

31. LEAD. 

Lead occurs rarely native ; generally in combination with 
sulphur ; also with arsenic, tellurium, selenium, and various 
acids. 

The ores of lead vary in specific gravity from 5*5— 8*2« 
They are soft, the hardness of the species with metallic lu8« 
ter not exceeding 3, and ethers not over 4. They are easily 
fusible before the blowpipe, (excepting plumbo-resinite) ; and 
with carbonate of soda on charcoal, (and often alone,) mal- 
leable lead may be obtained. The lead often passes off in 
yellow fumes, when the mineral is heated in the outer flame* 
or it covers the charcoistl with a yellow coating. 

Where have we the first notice of the metal bismuth ? From what 
source is it obtained for the arts ? What is it often called in the arts 
How is the metal obtained 1 For what is biemath used 1 How does 
lead occur in nature ? What is said of the tests ? 



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LBAD 0BB8. 



2T7 



NATIVE LEAD. 

A rare mineral, occurring in thin laininsB or globules 
Grsssl 1 -as. Said to have been seen in the lava of Madeira ; 
at Alston in Cumberland with galena ; in the county of 
Kerry, Ireland ; and in an argillaceous rock at Carthagena. 

GALENA. — Sulpkuret of Lead. 

Monometric. Cleavage cubic, eminent. Occurs under 
the form oi the cube and its secondaries. 



_^^p ^^ 


p 

J 


p 


^-^ 


„„*'^ 




Cleavage cubic, perfect, and very easily obtained. Also 
coarse or fine granidar ; rarely fibrous. 

Color and streak lead gray. Luster shining metallic. 
Fragile. H=2-5. Gr= 7.5—7-7. 

Composition: when pure, lead 66*55, sulphur 18*45. 
Often contains some sulphuret of silver, and is then called 
argenttferous galemij and at times sulphuret of zinc is pres* 
ent. ^Before the blowpipe on charcoal, it decrepitates un- 
less heated with caution, and fuses, giving off sulphur, and 
finally yields a globule of lead. 

Dtf. Galena resembles some silver and copper ores in 
color, but its cubical cleavage, or granular structure when 
massive, will usually distinguish it. Its sulphur fumes ob- 
tained before the blowpipe prove it to be a sulphuret ; and 
the lead reaction before the blowpipe show it to be a lead 
ore. 

Obs, Galena occurs in granite, limestone, argillaceous 
and sandstone rocks, and is oflen associated with ores of 
zinc, silver and copper. Quartz, heavy spar, or carbonate 
of lime, is generally the gangue of the ore ; also at times 
iiuor spar. The rich lead mines of Derbyshire and the 
northern districts of England, occur in mountain limestone ; 
and the same rock contains the valuable deposits of Bleiberg 

Where has native lead been found ? What is the structure of galena 
its physical characters? its composition and blowpipe characters 
How ]■ it distinguished from silver and copper ores ? Where does i< 
occur? 



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278 MBTAL6. 

and the neighboring deposits of Carinthia. At Freiberg in 
Saxony, it occupies veins in gneiss ; in the Upper Hartz, and 
at Przibram in Bohemia, it traverses clay slate ; at Sahla, 
Sweden, it occurs in crystalline limestone ; the ore of Lead- 
hills, England, is in graywacke. There are other valuable 
beds of galena, in France at Fouilaouen and Huelgoet, Brit- 
tany, and at Villefort, department of Lozere ; in Spain in the 
granite hills of Linares, in Catalonia, Grenada and else- 
where ; in Savoy ; in Netherlancfs at Vedrin, not far from 
Namur ; in Bohemia, southwest of Prague ; in Joachimstahl, 
where the ore is worked principally for its silver ; in Siberia 
in the Daouria mountains in limestone, argentiferous and 
worked for the silver. 

The deposits of this ore in the United States are remark- 
able for their extent. They abound in what has been called 
" cliff limestone," in the states of Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, and 
Wisconsin ; argillaceous iron, iron pyrites, calamine, (" dry 
bone" of the miners,) blende, (" black jack,") carbonate 
and sulphate of lead, are the most common associated min- 
erals, together often with ores of copper and cobalt. In 
1720, the lead mines of Missouri were discovered by Francis 
Renault and M. La Motte ; and the La Motte mine is still 
known by this name. Afterwards, the country passed into 
the hands of the Spaniards, and during that period a valu- 
able mine was opened by Mr. Burton, since called Mine a 
Burton. The mines of Missouri are contained in the coun- 
ties of Washington, Jefferson, and Madison. 

The lead region of Wisconsin, according to Dr. D. D. 
Owen, comprises 62 townships in Wisconsin, 8 in Iowa, and 
10 in Illinois, being 87 miles from east to west, and 54 miles 
from north to south. The ore, as in Missouri, is inexhaust- 
ible, and throughout the region, there is scarcely a square 
mile in which traces of lead may not be found. The prin- 
cipal indications in the eyes o£ miners, as stated by Mr. 
Owen, are the following : fragments of calc spar in the soil, 
unless very abundant, which then indicate that the vein is 
wholly calcareous or nearly so ; the red color of the soil on 
the surface, arising from the ferruginous clay in which the 
ead is often imbedded ; fragments of lead (" gravel mineral,") 
long with the crumbling magnesian limestone, and dendritic 
pecks distributed over the rock ; also, a depression of the 

What is said of the exten; of the United States mines t 



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LBAD OBE8. 279 

country, or an elevation, in a straight line ; or " sinkholes ;" 
or a peculiarity of vegetation in a linear direction. The 
'* diggings" seldom exceed 25 or 30 feet in depth ; for the 
galena is so abundant that a new spot is chosen rather than 
the expense of deeper mining. From a single spot, not ex- 
ceeding 50 yards square, 3,000,000 lbs. of ore have been 
raised ; and at the diggings in the west branch of the Pecca- 
tonica, not over 12 feet deep, two men can raise 2000 lbs. 
per day ; in one of the townships, two men raised 16,000 lbs. 
in a day ; 500 lbs. is the usual day's labor from the mines 
of average productiveness. 

Galena also occurs in the region of Chocolate river and 
elsewhere. Lake Superior copper region ; at Cave-in-Rock 
in Illinois, along with fluor ; in New York at Rossie, St, 
Lawrence county, in gneiss, in a vein 3 to 4 feet wide ; near 
Wurtzboro' in Sullivan county, a large vein in millstone grit ; 
at Ancram, Columbia county ; Martinsburg, Lewis county, 
N. Y., and Lowville, are other localities. All these mines 
have been worked, but they are now abandoned. Dr. Beck 
says of the Sullivan county and St. Lawrence mines, " in 
the latter the ore is in small veins with good associates, and 
is easUy reduced ; but the situation of the mines is bad. 
In the former, the ore is in large veins with bad associates, 
(zinc blende,) and is more difficult of separation and reduc- 
tion ; but the mines are admirably situated, whether we re- 
gard the removal of the ore or the facility of transporting 
produce to them." 

In Maine, veins of considerable extent occur at Lubec ; 
also of less interest at Blue Hill Bay, Birmingham and Par- 
sonsfieid. In New Hampshire, galena occurs at Eaton, Bath, 
Tamworth and Haverhill. In Vermont, at Thetford ; in 
Massachusetts, at Southampton, Leverett, and Sterling, but 
without promise to the miner. In Virginia, in Wythe coun- 
ty, Louisa county, and elsewhere. In North Carolina, at 
King's mine, Davidson county, where the lead appears to be 
abundant. In Tennessee, at Brown's creek, and at Hays- 
boro', near Nashville. An argentiferous variety occurs 
sparingly at Monroe, Conn., which afforded Prof. Silliman 
3 per cent, of silver ; also at Middletown, Ct. 

Uses, The lead of commerce is obtained from this ore. 
It is often worked also for the silver it contains. It is also 
employed in glazing common stone ware : for this purpose 
jt is ground up to an impalpable powder and mixed in watei 



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380 XBTAL8. 

with clay ; into thi^ liquid the earthen vessel is dipped and 
then baked. 

Cuproplumbite is a galena containing 24*5 per cent of sulphuret ^f 
copper. From Chili. 

ASSENTTHBTS, SELENIDS, AND TELLUKIDS OF LEAD. 

These varions ores of lead are distingaished by the fhmes before the 
blowpipe, and by yielding altimately a globule of lead. 

Cobaltie lead ore is an arseniuret of lead, containing a trace of cobalt 
From the Hartz. Gives an alliaceous odor (from the arsenic) befor 
the blowpipe. Gr=8'44. 

Dufrenoysite is an arseniuret and sulphuret of lead ; in dodecahe 
drons of a dark steel-gray color. Gr=5*55. From the Dolomite of St 
Gothard. 

Clauethalite, or seUnid of lead, has a lead-gray color, and granular 
fracture. Gr=37'19. Gives a horse-radish odor (that of selenium) be- 
fore the blowpipe. From the Hartz. There are three selenids of lead 
and copper which give the reaction of all the diflferent constituents be- 
fore the blowpipe. The sp. gr. of one is 5*6 ; of the second 7*0 ; the 
third 7*4. From the Hartz. There is also a selenid of lead and mer- 
eury occurring in foliated grains or masses, of a lead-gmy to bluish and 
iron-black color. 

Tellurid of lead. This is a tin- white cleavable mineral. Gr=8*l6. 
From the Altai mountains. 

Foliated tellurium is a less rare species, remarkable for being foli- 
ated like graphite. Color and streak blackish lead-gray. H=al — 1*5. 
Grss7-085. It contains tellurium 322, lead 540, gold 90, with often 
silver, copper, and some sulphur. From Transylvania. 

MINIUM. — Oxyd of Lead. 

Pulverulent. Color bright red, mixed with yellow. Gr=ss 
4*6. It is a sesquioxyd of lead. Afibrds globules of lead 
in the reduction flame of the blowpipe. 

Ohs. Occurs at various mines, usually associated with 
galena, and is found abundantly at Austin's mines, Wythe 
county, Virginia, with white lead ore. 

Uses. Minium is the red lead of commerce : but for the 
arts it is artificially prepared. Lead is calcined in a rever- 
beratory furnace, and a yellow oxyd (massicot) is thus 
formed : the massicot is afterwards heated in the same fur- 
nace in iron trays, at a low temperature, by which the lead 
absorbs more oxygen and becomes red lead. A much better 
material is obtained by the slow calcination of white lead. 

Plumbic ocher is another similar ore, of a yellow color ; it is a pro* 
toxyd of lead. Occurs in Wythe county, Va,, also in Mezica 

What is minium 1 What are its characters 1 



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LEAD ORK8. 281 

AN6LESITE. — StUpkote of Lead. 

PrinMiry form a right rhombic prism, with imperfect lat 
eral cleavage. M : Ms=sl03^ 38^ Often in slender im 
planted crystals. Also massive ; lamellar or granular. 

Color white or slightly gray or green. Luster adamaki« 
tine ; sometimes a little resinous or vitreous. Transparent 
to nearly opaque. Brittle. H=a2-75— 8. GrasB6-26 — 6*8 

CompatUion : a sulphate of lead, containing about 78 pei 
cent, of oxyd of lead. Fuses before the blowpipe \o a slag 
and yields lead with carbonate of soda. 

Dif* Resembles somewhat some of the zeolite minerals^ 
and also arragonite and some other earthy species ; but thit 
and the other ores of lead are at once distinguished by spe- 
cific gravity, and also by their yielding lead in blowpipe 
trials. Differs from the carbonate of lead in not dissolving 
with efiervescence in nitric acid. 

Obs. Usually associated with galena, and results from 
its decomposition. Occurs in fine crystals at Leadhills and 
Wanlockhead, Great Britain, and also at other foreign lead 
mines. In the United States, it is found at the lead mines 
of Missouri and Wisconsin ; in splendid crystallizations at 
Phenixville, Pa. ; sparingly at the Walton gold mine, Louisa 
county, Va. ; at Southampton, Mass. 

Cuprenu anglente. A hfdrons azure-bine nUphate of Umd and 
copper. It 18 remarkable for a very perfect cleavage in one direction, 
and nnother inclined to the first 102^ 45'. Gri^5'3---5'5. From Lead- 
hilis and Roughten Gill, England. Very rare. 

uKifUsiTB. — WHITE LEAD ORB. — Carhonote of Lead. 
Trimetric. In modified right rhombic prisms. M : M=a 
19 3 




117<> 13'. M ; 6=12r 24 ; a ; a = 140« 15'. Often in 



What is the appearance of angledte 7 its compoedtion 1 How m it 
diatingnished from arragonite and the zeolites 1 What is the crystal* 
Jization of white lead ore ? 



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iS2 MSTALS. 

compoond crystals, either six-sided prisms like aragonite, or 
wheel-shaped groups of 4 or 6 rays (fig. 3.) Also massive 
rarely fibrous. 

Color white, grayish, light or dark. Luster adamantine. 
Brittle. H=3— 3-5. Gr=6-46— 6-48. 

Composition: oxyd of lead 83*46, carbonic acid 16*54 
Decrepitates before the blowpipe, fuses, and with care af- 
fcrds a globule of lead. Effervesces in dilute nitric acid. 

Dif* Like anglesite, distinguished from most of the 
species it resembles by its specific gravity and yielding lead 
when heated. From anglesite it differs in giving lead alone 
before the blowpipe, as well as by its solution and efiferves' 
cence with nitric acid, and its less glassy lustre. 

Obs. Associated usually with galena. Leadhills, Wan- 
lockKead, and Cornwall, have afforded splendid crystalli- 
zations ; also other lead mines on the continent of Europe. 

In the United States, very handsome specimens are ob- 
tained at Austin's mines, Wythe county, Virginia, and at 
King's mine in Davidson's county. North Carolina. At the 
latter place it constitutes a wide vein, and has been worked 
for lead. It is associated with native silver and phosphate 
of lead. Perkiomen and Phenixville, Penn., afford good 
crystals. It occurs also at *' Valine's Diggings," Jefierson 
county, Missouri ; at Brigham's mine near the Blue Mounds, 
Wisconsin ; at " Deep Diggings" in crystals ; and at other 
places in the West, both massive and in fine crystallizations. 
Rossie, N. Y., and Southampton, Mass., have afforded this 
ore. 

Uses. When abundant, this ore is wrought for lead. Large 

quantities occur about the mines of the Mississippi valley. 

It was formerly buried up in the rubbish as useless, but it 

.has since been collected and smelted. It is an exceedingly 

rich ore, affording in the pure state 75 per cent, of lead. 

Carbonate of lead is the " white lead" of commerce, so 
extensively used as a paint. The material for this purpose 
is, however, artificially made. In most manu&cturing es- 
tablishments, sheets of lead are suspended over a liquid made 
of vinegar and wine lees, and a gentle heat is applied either 



What are the color and luster of white lead ore? its composition and 
blowpipe reaction ? How is it distinguished from anglesite ? How 
from minerals not lead ores 1 What use is made of white lead ? How 
itf white lead manufactured f 



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LEAD ORBS. 283 

by stoves or from fermenting bark ; the r€ suit is that the lead 
becomes carbonated from the acid fumes that rise from be 
neath,* The carbonate is then removed by shaking the 
plates smartly, and after washing and levigation, it is dried 
for market. According to another good process, (Thenard's,) 
carbonic acid, either from burning coke, brewers' vats, oi 
some other source, is made to pass through a solution of sub- 
acetate of lead, the solution of subacetate being formed by 
digesting litharge and neutral acetate of lead. In place of 
this solution, litharge moistened slightly with vinegar, has 
been proposed. In the processes in the arts more litharge 
is made than is demanded in trade, and this use of it is con- 
sidered more economical than its reduction to lead. 

Carbonate of lead, mixed with sulphate of barytes, forms 
what is called Venice white. 

Carbonate aad sulphate of lead. There are two whitish or grayish 
ores of this composition called dioxylite and leadhillitef or respectively 
sulphato-siirbonate and sulphato-tricarhonate of lead. The former 
contains 71 per cent, of carbonate of lead ; the latter 47. Dioxylite haa 
* perfect basal cleavage. Gr=B:6-2 — 6:5. Leadhillite cleaves into lami- 
ne that are fle2uble like gypsum. Gr=6-8 — 7. From Leadhills. 

Caledonite is a compound of the carbonates of lead and copper and 
Bnlphate of lead, and is called the cupreous sulphato-carbonate of lead. 
In crystals of a deep verdigris or bluish green color. Gr=6'4. From 
Leadhills and Red Gill ; also from the Missouri mines. 

PYROMORPHITE. Pkospkote of Lcod* 

Primary form, a hexagonal prism. Cleavage lateral, in 
^p- — r^ traces. Usual in clustered hexagonal prisms, 
^ — ^ forming crusts. Also in globules, or reniform, 
I with a radiated structure. 

■I Color bright green or brown; sometimes fine 

-^ orange-yellow, owing to an intermixture with 
chromate of lesd. Streak white or nearly so. Luster more 
or less resinous. Nearly transparent to subtranslucent. 
Brittle. H=3-5— 4. Gr =6-5— 7-1. 

Composition of a brown variety : oxyd of lead 78*58, mu- 
riatic acid 1*65, phosphoric acid 19-73. Before the blow- 
l>ipe on charcoal Rises, and on cooling, the globule becomes 

Describe pyromorphite. Of what does it consist? 

• A subacetate is supposed to form first, and then to be immediately 
decomposed by the rising carbonic acid. 



Mi MX 



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2S4 



METAL8* 



angular. In the inner flame, gives off fumes of lead. With 
boracic acid and iron, gives a phosphuret of iron and metallic 
lead. 

Dif. Has some resemblance to beryl and apatite ; but is 
quite different in its action before the blowpipe, and much 
higher in specific gravity. 

Obs. Leadhills, Wanlockhead, and other lead mines of 
Europe are foreign localities. In the United States, very 
handsome crystallized specimens occur at King's mine in 
Davidson county, N. C. : other localities are the Perkiomen 
and Phenixville mines. Pa. : the Lubec lead mines, Me. ; 
Lenox, N. Y. ; formerly, a mile south of Sing Sing, N. Y. ; 
and the Southampton lead mine, Mass. 

The name pyramarpkite is from the Greek pur^ fire, and 
morphe, form, alluding to its crystallizing on cooling from 
fusion before the blowpipe. 

Mimetene.. An arsenate of lead, reflembling pyromorphite in crys- 
tallization, but giving a garlic odor on charcoal before the blowpipe. 
Color pale-yellow, passing into brown. H==2'75 — 3 '5. Grsi6-41. 
From Cornwall and elsewhere ; PhenixviUc, Pa. 

Hedyphane. An arseno-phosphate of lead and lime, containing 9 
per cent, of chlorine. It occurs amorphous, of a whitish color, and ada- 
mantine luster. HaB3-5— 4. Gr=5-4 — 5-5. From Sweden. 

CRocoisiTE. — Chromate of Lead. 

Occurs in oblique rhombic prisms, massive, of a bright 
red color and translucent. Streak orange-yellow. Hss 
2-5—3. Gr=6. 

Composition : chromic acid 81*85, protoxyd of lead 68*15. 
Produces a yellow solution in nitric acid. Blackens and 
fuses before the blowpipe, and forms a shining slag contain, 
ing globules of lead. 

0&«. Occurs in gneiss at Beresof in Siberia, and also in 
Brazil. This is the chrome yellow of the painters. It is 
made in the arts by adding to the chromate of potash in so- 
lution, a solution of acetate or nitrate of lead. The chro- 
mate of potash is usually procured by means of the ore 
chromic iron, which see, (p. 241 .) 

Melanochroite is another chromate of lead, containing 23*64 of chro- 
mic acid, and having a dark red color; streak brick red. Crystals 
usually tabular and reticulately arranged. Gr=5-75. From Siberia. 

How is pyromorphite distinguished from beryl and apatite 7 What ja 
the color of chromate of lead 1 its composition ? What is it called in 
the arts, and how used ? 



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LBAD ORESp 285 

Vau^uelinite id a cbromate c^lead and copper, of a yery dark green 
or pearly black color, occurring usaally in minute irregularly aggregated 
crystals; also reniform and massive. Hss2-S — 3. Grass 5*5 — 5*8. 
From Siberia and Brazil. It has been found by Dr. Torrey at the lead 
mine near Sing Sing, in green and brownish-green mammillary concre- 
tions, and also nearly pulverulent. 

Mcndipite. Color white, yellowish or reddish nearly opaque. Luster 
pearly. Gr=7 — T-1. Contains chlorid of lead 38*4, oxyd of lead 61 'B. 
From Mendip Hills, Somersetshire. Cotunntte is another chlorid of 
lead, occurring at Vesuvius in white acicular crystals. It contains 745 
per cerft. of lead. 

ComeouB Uad. A chloro-carbonate of lead, occurring in whitish 
adamantine crystals. Gr»6 — 6-1. From Derbyshire and Germany. 
Also said to occur at the Southampton lead mine, Massachusetts. 

Molybdate of lead. In dull-yellow octahedral crystals, and also 
massive. Luster resinous. Contains molybdic acid 34' 25, protozyd 
of lead 64*42. From Bleiberg and elsewhere in Carinthia ; also Hun- 
gary. It has been found in small quantities at the Southampton lead 
mine, Mass., and in fine crystals, at Phenizville, Peon. 

Selenate of lead. A sulphur-yellow mineral, occurring in small 
globules, and affording before the blowpipe on charcoal a garlic odor, 
and finally a globule of lead. 

Vanadinite. A vanadate of lead, occurring in hexagonal prisms 
like pyromorphite, and also in implanted globules. Color yellow to 
reddish brown. H=2-75. Gr=6-6 — 7*3. From Mexico ; also firom 
Wanlockhead in Dumfriesshire. 

Tungstate of lead. In square octahedrons or prisms. Color green, 
gray, brown, or red. Luster resinous. H=2'5— 3. Gr=7'9— 8*1. 
Contains 51 of tnngstic acid and 49 of lead. 

PlunUHhreainite, In globular forms, having a luster somewhat like 
gum arable, and a yellowish or reddiah-brown color. H=4 — 4-5. 
Gr=s6*3 — 6-4. Consists of protoxyd of lead 40' 14, alumina 3700, 
water 18'8. From Huelgoet in Brittany, and at a lead mine in Beai^jeu ; 
also fix>m the Missouri mines, with black cobalt. 

GENERAL REMARKS ON LEAD AND ITS ORES. 

The lead of commerce is derived almost wholly from the sulphuiet 
of lead or galena, the localities of which have aheady been mentioned. 

This ore is reduced usually by heat alone in a reverberatory furnace. 
The process consists simply in burning out the sulphur after the ore is 
picked, pounded and washed. The galena is kept at a heat below that 
required for its fusion, and air is freely admitted to aid in the combus- 
tion. The sulphur is driven oif, leaving the pure lead, or an oxyd formed 
in the process which passes to the state of a slag. The latter is heated 
again with charcoal, which separates the oxygen. A portion of quick- 
lime is often added to stifien the slag. In England, the whole ope- 
ation of a smelting shift takes about 4^ hours, and four periods may 
le distinguished : — The^rff^ fire for roasting the ores, which requires 

What is the source of the lead of commerce 1 How is the on 
IBduced? 



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286 MBTAL8. 

Tery moderate firing, and lasts two hours ; the second fire for smelting 
requiring a higher heat Mdth shut doors, and at the end the slags are 
dried up with limei and the iiirnace is also allowed to cool a little ; the 
third and fourth fireo^ also for smeltiRg, requiring a still higher tem- 
perature. 

A furnace for using the hot blast with lead has been contnTed. The 
heated blast is made to diffuse itself equally through the whole " char^," 
carrying with it the flame of the burning tuel, and the redaction of the 
ore is efiected with an economy and dispatch iiitherto unknown in the 
processes of reducing this metal.* 

According to another mode which has been practised in Germany and 
France, old iron (about 28 per cent.) is thrown into the melted ore, 
heated in a reverberatory furnace of small size ; the iron acts by ab- 
sorbing the sulphur, and the lead thus reduced flows into the bottom 
of the basin. There is here a gain of time and labor, but a total loss 
of the iron. 

The mode of obtaining the silver fi'om lead ore, is mentioned under 
Silver. 

The principal mines of lead in the world are mentioned under Galena. 
The following is a statement of the approximate amount of lead pro- 
duced by the mines of Europe : 



Great Britain and 

Ireland, . . 1,200,000 cwt 
Spain, .... 600,000 " 
Austria, . . . 140,000 " 
Russia and Poland, 6,000 " 
France, .... 30,000 " 



Sweden and Norway, 4,000 cwt 
Prussia, . . . 160,000 " 
Germany, . 160,000 •' 

Belgium, . . . 20,000 " 
Piedmont and Switz- 
erland, . . . . 10,000 " 



According to the Statistical Tables of J. D. Whimey,t the mines of 
the Upper MissiBsippi and Missouri have afibrded as follows : 

)Jpper MissiflsippL MlMouri Mines. 

1826, ... 428 tonsw . . . 1,343 tona 
. 1830, . . 5,331 . , . 1,832 

1835, . . . 8,469 . . . 3,227 

1840, . . 11,987 . . . 2,793 

1842, . . . 13,993 . . . 3,348 

1845, . . 24,328 
1847, . . . 24,145 

1850, . . 17,768 . . . 1,500? 

1853, . . . 13,307 
The present yield of the Missouri mines is set down as not over 1500 
tons. The proceeds of the western mines have been for many years 
on the decrease. 

What other method is mentioned 1 What country aflbrds the largest 
amount of lead at the present time, and how much ? What is the yield 
of the mines of the Upper Mississippi What of the Lower or- Mis- 
souri mines ? 

* See Amer. Jour. ScL xlii, p. 169. 

t Whitney's Metallic Wealth of the United States, p. 421. 



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METAL». 



287 



22. MERCURY, 

Mercury occurs native, alloyed with silver, and in combi* 
nation with sulphur, chlorine, or iodine. Its ores are com- 
pletely volatile, excepting the one containing silver. 

NATIVE MERCURir. 

]\|[onometric ; in octahedrons. Occurs in fluid globule 
scattered through the gangue. Color tin-white. Gr=rl3'6 
Becomes solid and crystallizes at a temperative of— 39° F. 

Mercury, or quicksilver as it is often called, (a translation 
of the old name ^ argentum vivura,") is entirely volatile be- 
fore the blowpipe, and dissolves readily in nitric acid. 

Obs, Native mercury is a rare mineral, yet is met with 
at the diflerent mines of this metal, at Almaden in Spain, 
Idria in Camiola, (Austria,) and also in Hungary and Peru. 
It is usually in disseminated globules, but is sometimes ac- 
cumulated in cavities so as to be dipped up in pails. 

Uses, Mercury is used for the extraction of gold and sil- 
ver ores, and is exported ih'large quantities to South Amer- 
ica. It is also employed for silvering mirrors, for thermome- 
ters and barometers, amd for various purposes connected with 
medicine and the arts. 

Native Amalgam. This mineral is a compound of mercury and sil- 
ver, containing 64 to 72 per cent, of mercury, and occurring in silver- 
white dodecahedrons. H=2— 2-5. Gr=10-5 — 14. Principally from 
the Palatinate ; also from Hungary and Sweden. The arqueriU of 
fierthier is an amalgam from Coquimbo, containing only 13*5 per cent. 
of silver. 

CINNABAR. — Sulphuret of Mercury, 

Rhombohedral. R : R=71^ 47'. Cleavage transverse, 
highly perfect Crystals often tabular, or six-sided prisms* 
Also massive, and in earthy coatings. 

Luster unmetallic, adamantine in crystals; often duU. 
Color bright red to brownish-red, and brownish-black. 
Streak red. Subtransparent to nearly opaque. Hs3:2 — ^2*5. 
Gri=6-7— 8-2. Sectile. 

Composition : when pure, mercury 86*29, sulphur 13*71 ; 



In what condition does mercury occur ? What is a characrteristic of 
its ores ? Describe native mercury ? Where is it found ? For what 
Ji it used ? What are the physical characters of cinnabar 1 



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2188 iTBTAIiS. 

but often contains impurities. The liver ore^ or hepatic ctn- 
nahar^ contains some carbon and clay, and has a brownish 
streak and color. The pure variety volatilizes entirely before 
the blowpipe. 

Dif. Distinguished from red oxyd of iron and chromate 
of lead by evaporating before the blowpipe ; from realgar b> 
giving off on charcoal no allicaceous fumes. 

Ohs. Cinnabar is the ore from which the principal part 
« i' the mercury of commerce is obtained. It occurs mostly 
in connection with talcose and argillaceous shale, or other 
stratified deposits, both the most ancient and those of more 
recent date. The mineral is too volatile to be expected in 
any abundance in proper igneous or crystalline rocks, yet 
has been found sparingly in granite. The principal mines 
are at Idria in Austria, Almaden in Spain, in the Palatinate 
on the Rhine, and at Huanca Velica in Peru. Mercury oc- 
curs also at Arqueros in Chili, at various places in Mexico, 
in Hungary, Sweden, at several points in France, and at 
Ripa, in Tuscany ; also in China and Japan. A large mine 
has been discovered in Upper California. The ore there 
occurs in a ridge of the Sierra Azul, twelve miles south of 
San Jos6, a few miles from the coast, and about halfway from 
San Francisco to Monterey. The mouth of the principal 
mine (the mine of New Almaden) is a few yards down from 
the summit of the highest hill containing the ore, and is 
about 1200 feet above the neighboring plain. The prevail- 
ing rock is a greenish talcose rock. The ore is interspersed 
through the slate, in a yellow ochreous matrix, which forms 
a bed 42 feet in thickness. The richest ore is from the upper 
part of the bed. The supply is abundant, and of excellent 
quality, and one to two millions of pounds of mercury are 
now extracted annually. The rock is a metamorphic rock, 
much tilted and contorted ; but its exact age has not been 
ascertained. 

Uses, This ore is the principal source of the mercury of 
commerce. It is also used as a pigment, and as a coloring 
ingredient for red sealing wax, and it is called in the shops 
Vermillion. The Vermillion of commerce is often adulterated 
with red lead, dragon's blood and realgar. Its entire volatil- 
ity, without odorous fumes, will distinguish the pure material. 

Horn Quicksilver, (chloiid of mercary.) A tough, sectile ore, of m 

oV what does cinnabar consist? Where are the principal imnea? 
For what is it used ? 



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OHB8 OP HBRCVRY. 289 

Igfat yeUowish or grajrish color, and adamantine ioster, translucent oi 
sabtranslucent, crystallizing in secondaries to a square prisn. H=l — 
2. Gr=6*48. It contains 85 per cent, of mercury. 

Iodic Mercury is a still rarer ore from Mexico. Color reddish-brown. 

Selenid of mercury^ a dark steel-gray ore, which is wholly evapo- 
rated before the blowpipe. Occurs in Mexico near San Onofre. 

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE ORES OF MERCURY. 

The mines of Idria were discovered in 1497. The mining is carried 
•n in galleries, as the rock is too fragile to allow of large chambers. 
The ore is obtained at a depth of about 750 feet, and is mostly a bitu- 
minous cinnabar, disseminated through the rock along with native mer- 
cury. The latter is in some parts so abundant that when the earthy 
rock is fresh broken, large globules fell out imd roil to the bottom of the 
gallery. The pure mercury is first sifted out ; the gangue is then 
washed, and prepared for reduction. For this purpose there is a large 
circular building, 40 feet in diameter by 60 in height, the interior of 
which conmiunicates through small openings with a range of chambers 
around, each 10 or IS feet square, and having a door communicating 
with the external air. The central chamber is filled with earthen pans, 
containing the prepared earth, the whole is closed up and heat is ap- 
plied. The mercury sublimes and is condensed in the cold air of the 
smaller chambers, whence it is afterwards removed. After filtering, it 
is ready for packing. These mines afford annually 5000 cw't. 

The above mode of reduction is styled by Ure " absolutely barba- 
rous." He observes that the brick and mortar walls cannot be ren- 
dered either tight or cool ; and that the ore ought to be pounded, and 
then heated in a series of cast-iron cylinder retorts, after being mixed 
with the requisite proportion of quicklime, (the lime aiding in the re- 
duction of llae cinnabar by taking its sulphur,) and the retorts should 
communicate with a trough through which a stream of water passes, 
for the purpose of condensing the mercury. An apparatus of this kind 
planned by Ure, is used at Landsberg, in Rhenish Bavaiia. 

The mines of the Palatinate, on the Rhine, and those of other parts 
of Germany, are stated by Burat to yield 7.600 quintals. 

The mines of AJmaden are situated near the frontier of Estremadu- 
ra, in the province of La Mancha. They have been worked from a 
remote antiquity. According to Pliny, the Greeks obtained vermillion 
from them 700 years before our era, and afterwards imported annually 
100,000 pounds. The mines are not over 300 yards in depth, although 
so long worked. The rock is argillaceous schist and grit, in horizontal 
beds, which are intersected by granitic and black porphyry eruptions. 
The mass of ore at the bottom of the principal vein, is 12 to 15 yards 
thick, and yields in the aggregate 10 per cent, of mercury. It is taken 
to the furnace without any kind of mechanical preparation. There are 
many veins in the vicinity, several of which have been explored. The 
fimacet of Almadenejos are fed almost exclusively by an ore obtained 
jiMt east of the village, whioh i^ a black schist, strongly impregnated 



What is said of the Idria mines ? How is th« ore reduced 7 What 
Is a baiMi process ? What is said of the mines of Aimaden 1 



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gOn METALS. 

with native mereury and cinnabar, with but little visible. These mines 
afford annually about 25.000 cwt. of mercury. The granitic and por- 
phyritic eruptions of the region have been supposed to account for the 
presence of the mercury in the rocks : the heat produced exhalations 
of mercury and sulphur, which gave origin both to the cinnabar and the 
Dative mercury. 

The mines of Huanca Velica, in Peru, have afforded a large amount 
of mercury for amalgamation at the Peruvian silver mines. Between 
the years 1570 and 1800, they are estimated to have produced 537.000 
tons ; and their present annual jrield is 1800 quintals. 

The Chinese have mines of cinnabar in Shensi, where the ore is re- 
duced by the rude process of burning brushwood in the wells or pita 
dug out for the purpose, and then collecting the metal after condensa- 
tion. 

23. COPPER. 

Copper occurs native in considerable quantities; also 
combined with oxygen, sulphur, selenium, and various acids. 

The ores of copper vary in specific gravity from 3*5 to 8*5, 
and seldom exceed 4 in hardness. Many of the ores give, to 
borax a green color in the outer flame, and an opaque dull- 
red in the inner. With carbonate of soda on charcoal, 
nearly all the ores are reduced, and a globule of copper ob- 
tained ; borax and tui foil are required in some cases where 
a combination with other metals conceals the copper. When 
soluble in the acids^ a clean plate of iron inserted in the so- 
lution becomes covered with copper, and ammonia produces 
a blue solution. 

NATIVE COPPER* 

Monometric. In octahedrons; no cleavage apparent 
Often in plates or masses, or arborescent and fitiform shapes. 

Color copper-red. Ductile and malleable. Hsbs2*5-— 3. 
Gr=8-58. 

Native copper oflen contains a little silver, disseminated 
throughout it. Before the blowpipe it fuses readily, and on 
cooling it is covered with a black oxyd. Dissolves in ni- 
ti'ic acid, and produces a blue solution with amironia. 

Obs. Native copper accompanies the ores of copper, and 
usually occurs in the vicinity of dikes of igneous rocks. 

How does copper occur 1 Rvw are copper ores distinguif hed t What 
are the characters of native copper *{ 



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^ COPPER ORES. 291 

Siberia, Cornwall, and Brazil, are noted for the coppei 
they have produced. A mass supposed to be from Bahia, 
now at Lisbon, weighs 2616 pounds. The vicinity of lake 
Superior is one of the most extraordinary regions in the 
world for its native copper, where it occurs mostly in ver^ 
tical seams in trap, and also in the enclosing sandstone. A 
mass weighing 3704 lbs. has been taken from thence to Wash- 
ington city : it is the same that was figured by Schoolcraft 
in the American Journal of Science, volume iii, p. 201 
Masses from 1000 to 3700 pounds, from this region, hav 
been exposed on the wharves of Boston, Mass. This i 
small compared with other pieces which have since b{'ei 
laid open. One large mass was quarried out in the ^^ Cliff 
mine," whose weight has been estimated at 2(H) ons. li w as 
40 feet long, 6 feet deep, and averaged 6 inches in thickness. 
This copper contains intimately mixed with it about fy per 
cent, of silver. Besides this, peifectly pure silver, in strings, 
masses, and grains, is oflen disseminated through the cop- 
per, and some masses, when polished, appear sprinkled with 
large white spots of silver, resembling, as Dr. Jackson ob 
serves, a porphyry with its feldspar crystals. Crystab 
of native copper are also found penetrating masses of preb 
nite, and analcime, in the trap rock. 

This mixture of copper and silver cannot be imitated b} 
art, as the two metals form an alloy when melted together. 
It is probable that the separation, in the I'ocks, is due to the 
cooling from fusion being so extremely gradual as to allow 
the two metals to solidify separately, at their respective 
temperatures of solidification — the trap being an igneous 
rock, and ages oflen elapsing, as is well known, during the 
cooling of a bed of lava, covered from the air. 

Small specimens of native copper have been found in the 
states of New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts, where 
the same formation occurs. One mass from near Somerville 
weighs 78 pounds, and is said originally to have weighed 
128 pounds. Near New Haven, Conn., a mass of 90 pounds 
was formerly found. Near Brunswick, N. J., a vein or sheel 
of copper, from a sixteenth to an eighth of an inch thick, 
has been observed and traced along for several rods. 



Where has naiive copper been found in the United States 7 Wha 
is said of its associations with silver ? What explanation 'e given ot 
this mixture of copper and silver ? 



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292 XBTAL8. 

COPPER GLANCE. — ^VITBEOCft COPPER ORB. 

Trimetiic. Cleavage parallel to the faces of a right rhoin« 
bic prism, but indistinct. IVf : M=119^ 35'. Secondary 
forms, variously modified rhombic prisms. Also in com- 
pound crystals like arragonite ; often massive. 

Color and streak blackish lead-gray, often tarnished blue 
r green. Streak sometimes shining. H=2*5— 3. Gi«a 
•6—5-8. 

Composition : sulphur 20*6, copper 77*2, iron 1*5. Be- 
fore the blowpipe it gives off ftimes of sulphur, ftises easily 
n the external flame, and boils. After the sulphur is driven 
oE, a globule of copper remains. Dissolves in heated nitric 
acid, with a precipitation of the sulphur. 

Dif. The vitreous copper ore resembles vitreous sO- 
ver ore ; but the luster of a surface of fracture is less bril- 
liant, and they afford different results before the blowpipe. 
The solution made by putting a piece of the ore in nitric 
acid, covers an iron plate (or knife blade) with copper, while 
a similar solution of the silver ore covers a copper plate 
with silver. 

Obs. Occurs with other copper ores in beds and veins. 
At Cornwall, splendid crystallizations occur. Siberia, Hesse, 
Saxony, the Bannat, Chili, dz;c., afford this ore. 

In the United States, a vein affording fine crystallizations 
occurs at Bristol, Conn. Other localities are at Wolcott- 
ville, Simsbury, and Cheshire, Conn. ; at Schuyler's Mines, 
and elsewhere, N. J. ; in the U. S. copper mine district, 
Blue Ridge, Orange county, Virginia ; between New Mark- 
et and Taneytown, Maryland ; and sparingly i\t the copper 
mines of Michigan and the Western states ; also at some 
mines north of Lake Huron. 

Blue Copper is a dull blae- black massive mineral Gr=3'8 — . Ii 
contains 65 per cent, of copper. It is named Covelline. 

Harrisite is a copper glance, with cubic cleavage, from Canton 
mine, Ga., probably a pseudomorph after Galena. 

COPPER PYKiTBS. — Sulpkuret of Copper and Iron. 
Dimetric. Crystals tetrahedral or octahedral ; sometimes 

What are the physical characters of vitreois copper 1 its constitutioii 
nd chemical characters 1 How does it differ from silver ores ? 



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COPPBR ORBS. 293 

compound. A : A=109*> 53', and 108® 40'. Cleavage in 

_1 distinct. Also massive, 2 

and of various imitative 
shapes. 

Color brass-yeUow, 
oflen tarnished deep yel- 
low, and also iridescent. 
Streak unmetallic, greenish-black, and 
but little shining. H=3-5 — 4. Gr= 
4-15 — 4-13. 

Composition : sulphur 34*9, copper 
34*6, iron 30*5. Fuses before the blowpipe to a globul 
which is magnetic, owing to the iron present. Gives sul 
phur fumes on charcoal. With borax affords pure copper 
The usual effect with nitric acid. 

Dif. This ore resembles native gold, and also iron py. 
rites. It is distinguished from gold by crumbling when it is 
attempted to cut it, instead of separating in slices ; and from 
iron pyrites in its deeper yellow color and in yielding easily 
to the point of a knife, instead of striking fire with a steel. 

Ohs, Copper p3rrites occurs in veins in granitic and al- 
lied rocks ; also in graywacke, &c. It is usually associated 
with iron p3rrites, and oflen with galena, blende, and carbon- 
ates of copper. The copper of Fahlun, Sweden, is obtained 
mostly fiim this ore, where it occurs with serpentine in 
gneiss. Other mines of this ore are in the Hartz, near 
Goslar; in the Bannat, Hungary, Thuringia, dz;c. The 
Cornwall ore is mostly of this kind, and 10 to 12,000 tons 
of pure copper are smelted annually. The ore for sale at 
Redruth is said to be by no means a rich ore. It rarely 
yields 12 per cent, and generally only 7 or 8, and occasion- 
aUy as litde as 3 to 4 per cent, of metal. In the latter case 
such poverty of ore is only made up by its facility of trans- 
port, the moderate expense of fuel, or the convenience of 
smelting. Its richness may generally be judged of from the 
color : if of a fine yellow hue, and yielding readily to the 
hammer, it is a good ore ; but if hard and pale yellow it con- 
tains very largely of iron pyrites, and is of poor quality. 

In the United States there are many localities of this ore. 

What forms are presented by copper pyrites ? What is its color ana 
streak ? its composition? How is it distinguished from iron pyrites and 
gold 7 What is said of the modes of occurrence of this ore and of its 
mines 1 



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294 METALS. 

It occurs in Massachusetts, at the Southampton lead minesy 
at Turner'« Falls on the Connecticut, at Hatfield and Ster. 
ling ; in \ ermont, at Sti-afford, where it was for a time 
worked, and at Shrewsbury, Corinth, Waterbury ; in New 
Hampshire, at Franconia, Shelburn, Unity, Warren, Eaton, 
Lyme, Haverhill ; in Maine, at the Lubec lead mines, and 
Dexter ; in New York, at the Ancram lead mine, also near 
Rossie, and at Wurtzboro ; in Pennsylvania, at Morgantown ; 
•n Virginia, at the Phenix copper mines, Fauquier county, 
uid at the Walton gold mine, Luzerne county ; in Maryland, 
in the vicinity of Liberty and iNew London, in Frederick 
Co., and at the Patapsco mines, near Sykesville ; in North 
Carolina, in Davidson and Guilford counties. In Michigan, 
where native copper is so abundant, this is a rare ore ; but 
It occurs at Presqu'isle, at Mineral Point, and in Wisconsin, 
where it is the predominating ore. In Tennessee, in Polk 
county, at the Hiwassee mines, where, however, only the 
overlying black copper is worked. 

Uses, This ore, besides being mined for copper, is ex- 
tensively employed in the manufacture of blue vitriol (sul- 
phate of copper,) in the same manner that sulphate of iron 
(copperas) is obtained from iron pyrites. 

Cuban is a sulphuret of copper and iron, containing sulphur 390, 
iron 380, copper 19-8, silica 2-3=99-l2. 

ERUBESCITE. VARIEGATED COPPER PYRITES. 

Monometric. Cleavage octahedral, in traces. Occurs in 
cubes and octahedrons. Also massive. 

Color between copper-red and pinchbeck-brown. Tar- 
nishes rapidly on exposure. Streak pale grayish-black and 
but slightly shining. Brittle. H==3. Gr=5. 

Composition : specimen from Bristol, Conn., sulphur 25*7, 
copper 62*8, iron 11*6. Fuses before the blowpipe to a 
globule attractable by the magnet. On charcoal affords 
^mes of sulphur. Mostly dissolved in nitric acid. 

Dif. This ore is distinguished from the preceding by its 
pale reddish-yellow color. 

Obs. Occurs with other copper ores, in granitic and al- 
lied rocks, and also in secondary formations. The mines 
of Cornwall have afFoi-ded crystallized specimens, and it is 
there called from its color " horse-flesh ore." Other foreign 



What is the appearance and com^iosition of variegated copper py- 
rites 1 How is it distinguished from the preceding species ? 
24 



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COPPER oubs. 295 

localities of massive varieties are Ross Island, KiUarnej, 
Ireland ; Norway, Hessia, Silesia, Siberia, and the Bannat. 
Fine crystallizations occur at the Bristol copper mine, 
Conn., in granite ; and also in red sandstone, at Cheshire, in 
the same state, with malachite and heavy spar. Massive va- 
rieties occur at the New Jersey mines, and in Pennsylvania* 

TETRAHEDRITE.— ORAT COPPER. 

Monometric. Occurs in modified tetrahedrons, and also 
In compound crystals. Cleavage octahedral in traces. 
Color between steel-gray and \ 
iron-black. Streak nearly as the 
color. Rather brittle. H=3 — 
4. Gr=4-75— 51. 

Composition : sulphur 26*3, 
copper 38*6, antimony 16*5, arsenic 7*2, along with some 
iron, zinc, and silver, amounting to 15 per cent. It some- 
times contains 30 per cent, of silver in place of part of the 
copper, and is then called argentiferous gray copper ore^ or 
sHver faMerz. The amount of arsenic varies from to 10 
per cent. One variety from Spain included 10 per cent, of 
platinum, and another from Hohenstein some gold ; another 
from Tuscany 2*7 per cent, of mercury. 

These varieties give of^ before the blowpipe, fumes of ar- 
senic and antimony, and after roasting yield a globule of cop- 
per. Dissolve, when pulverized, in nitric acid, affording a 
brownish-green solution. 

Dif. Its copper reactions before the blowpipe and in so- 
lution in nitric acid, distinguish it from the gray silver ores- 
Ohs. The Cornish mines, Andreasberg in the Hartz, 
Krenmitz in Hungary, Freiberg in Saxony, Kapnik in 
Transylvania, and Dillenberg in Nassau, afford fine crystal- 
lizations of this ore. It is a common ore in the Chilian 
mines, and it is worked there and elsewhere for copper, and 
often also for silver. 

Boumoniie contains sulphur 20-3, antimony 26-3, lead 40-8, copper 
12.7. Its crystals are modified rectangular prisms, of a steel-gray color 
and streak, and are often compounded into shapes like a cog-wheel, 
whence it is called wheel-ore. H=2-5 — 3. Gr=5-766. From the 
Hartz, Transylvania, Saxony, and Cornwall. Another allied ore, con- 
aining 47 per cent, of antimony, is called antimonial copper; it oc- 

Describe gray copper ore. Mention its composition and blowpipe 
characters. How is it distinguished from silver ores ? 



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296 TWTkttf. 

enn in slender aggregated prisms, of a dark ead-gray color. Anothei 
containing also arsenic, is called antimonial copper glance. 

TennantiU is a compound of copper, iron, sulphur, and arsenic. It 
occurs in dodecahedral crystals, brilliant, with a dark lead-gray color 
and reddish-gray streak. From the Cornbh mines near Redrath and 
St. Day. Dofneykite is arsenical coppet 

SeUtiid of Copper t is a silver-white ore, affording the horse-radish 
odor of selenium before the blowpipe. It contains 64 per cent, of cop- 
per. From Skrikerum, Sweden. 

BED COPPER ORB. 

Monometric. In regular octahedrons, and modified forma 
of the same. Cleavage octahedral. Also massire, and 
1 sometimes earthy. * 

Color- deep red, of various 
shades* Streak brownish-red. 
Luster adamantine or submetal- 
lic ; also earthy. Subtranspa- 
rent to nearly opaque. Brittle. 
H=3-5— 4. Gr=6. 
Composition : copper 88'8, oxygen 1 1 '2* Before the blow- 
pipe, on charcoal, it yields a globule of copper. Dissolves 
in nitric acid. The earthy varieties have been called tile 
ore, from the color. 

Dif. From cinnabar it differs in not being volatile before 
the blowpipe ; and from red iron ore, in yielding a bead of 
copper on charcoal, and copper reactions. 

Obs. Occurs with other copper ores in the Bannat, Thur- 
ingia, Cornwall, at Chessy near Lyons, in Siberia, and Bra- 
zil. The octahedrons are ofien green, from a coating of 
malachite. 

In the U. States, it has been observed crystallized and 
massive, at Schuyler's, Somerville, and the Flemington cop<- 
per mines, N. J. ; also near New Brunswick, N. J. ; at 
Bristol, Ct. ; also near Ladenton, Rockland county, N. Y. 

Black Copper, Tenorite. An oxyd of copper, occurring 
as a black powder and in dull black masses, and botiyoidal 
concretions, in veins or along with other copper ores- From 
Cornwall, and also the Vesuvian lavas. It is an abundant 
ore in some of the copper mines of the Mississippi valley 
and yields 60 to 70 per cent, of copper. It results from the 



What is the crystallization of red copper ore t Of what does it coo 
ffist y How^' doe? it differ firom cinnabar and re I iron ore I 



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COPPBR 0BE8. 297 

decomposition of the sulphurets and other ores. At the Hi- 
wassee mine, Pollc Co., Tennessee, it is abundant, and is 
worked as an ore. It was found of excellent quality in the 
Lake Superior copper region, but has there been exhausted. 
The oxyds of copper are easily smelted by heating with 
the aid of charcoal alone. They may be converted directly 
into the sulphate or blue vitriol, by means of sulphuric acid, 
but are more valuable for the copper they afibrd. 

BLUB VITRIOL. — Sulphoie of Copper. 

Triclinic. In oblique rhomboidal prisms. Also as an 
efflorescence or incrustation. 

Color deep sky-blue. Streak uncolored. Subtransparent 
to translucent Luster vitreous. Soluble^ taste nauseous 
and metallic. H=2— 2-5. Gr=2-21. 

Composition: sulphuric acid 32*1, oxyd of copper, 31*8, 
water 36* )• A polished plate of iron in a solution becomes 
covered with copper. 

Obs. Occurs with the sulphurets of copper as a result of 
their decomposition, and is often in solution in the waters 
flowing from copper mines. Occurs in the Hartz, at Fahlun 
in Sweden, and in many other copper regions. 

Uses, Blue vitriol is much used in dyeing operations and 
in the printing of cotton and b'nen ; also for various other 
purposes in the arts. It has been employed to prevent dry 
rot, by steeping wood in its solution : and it is a powerful 
preservative of animal substances ; when imbued with it and 
dried, they remain unaltered. It is afibrded by the decom- 
position of copper pyrites, in the same manner as green vit- 
riol from iron pyrites, (p. 213.) 

It is manufactured for the arts from old sheathing copper, 
copper turnings, and copper refinery scales. The scales are 
readily dissolved in dilute sulphuric acid at the temperature 
of ebullition ; the solution obtained is evaporated to the point 
where crystallization will take place on cooling. Metallic 
copper is exposed in hot rooms to the atmosphere after it has 
been wet in weak sulphuric acid. B^ alternate wetting and 
exposure, it is rapidly corroded, and affords a solution which 



What is blue vitriol ? Describe it. What is said of its mode of oc« 
cnrrence? For what is it used? How is it manufactured in the artst 
How is copper obtained from solutions in some mines ? Describe 
green malachite. 



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<,98 METALS. 

B evaporated for crystals. 400,000 lbs. is the annual con- 
umption of blue vitriol in the United States. 

In Frederick county, Maryland, blue vitriol is made from 
t black earth which is an impure oxyd of copper with cop- 
^r pyrites. The black oxyd of copper, which was found 
01 the Lake Superior copper region, may be directly con- 
/erted into blue vitriol. 

In some mines, the solution of sulphate of copper is so 
•bundant as to afford considerable copper, which is obtained 
py immersing clean iron in it, and is called copper ofcemeiu 
witton. At the copper springs of Wicklow, Ireland, about 500 
tons of iron were laid at one time in the pits ; in about 12 
months the bars were dissolved, and every ton of iron yielded 
a ton and a hal^ and sometimes nearly two tons, of a pre- 
cipitated reddish mud, each ton of which produced 16 cwt. 
of pure copper. The Rio Tinto Mine in Spain, is another 
instance of working the sulphate in solution. These waters 
yield annually 1800 cwt. of copper, and consume 2400 cwt. 
of iron. 

Brockantite. An insoluble sulphate of copper, containing 17*5 per 
cent, of sulphuric acid. Color emerald green. In tabular rhombic crys- 
tals, at Eatherinenberg, in Siberia. Blackens before the blowpipe with- 
out fusing. Krisuvigit* and Konigite nie the same species. 

MALACHITE. — Green Carbonate of Copper. 

Monoclinic« Usual in incrustations, with a smooth tul»c- 
rose, botryoidal or stalactitic sur&ce ; structure finely and 
firmly fibrous. Also earthy. 

Color light green, streak paler. Usually nearly opaque; 
crystals translucent. Luster of crystals adamantine incli- 
ning to vitreous ; but fibrous incrustations silky on a cross 
fracture. Earthy varieties dull. H=3'5— 4. Gr=4. 

Composition : carbonic acid 20, oxyd of copper 71*9, wa- 
ter 8*2. Dissolves with effervesence in nitric acid. De- 
crepitates and blackens before the blowpipe, and becomes 
partly a black scoria. With borax it flises to a deep green 
globule, and ultimately affords a bead of copper. 

Dif. Readily distiiguished by its copper-green color and 
its association with copper ores. It resembles a siliceous 
ore of copper, chrysocolla, a common ore in the mines of 
he Mississippi valley ; but it is distinguished by its complete 

What is the composition of green malachite ! How is It distill 
guished ? 

24* 



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COPPBU ORES. 299 

solution and effervescence in nitric acid. The color also 
is not the bluish-green of chiysocoUa. 

Obs, Green malachite usually accompanies other ores 
of copper, and forms incrustations, which when thick, have 
the colors banded and extremely delicate in their shades and 
blending. Perfect ciystals are quite rare. The mines of 
Siberia, at Nischne Tagilsk, have affoi-ded great quantities 
of this ore. A mass partly disclosed, measured at top 9 
feet by 18 ; and the portion uncovered contained at least 
half a million pounds of pure malachite. Other noted for- 
eign localities are Chessy in France, Sandlodge in Shetland, 
Schwartz in the Tyrol, Cornwall, and the island of Cuba. 

The copper mine of Chesbii'o, Conn., has afforded hand- 
some specimens ; also Morgantown, Perkiomen and Phenix- 
ville, Penii. ; Schuyler's mine, and the New Brunswick 
copper mine, N. J. : it occurs also in Maiyland, between 
Newmarket and Taneytown, and in the Catoctin mountains ; 
in the Blue Ridge, Penn., near Nicholson's Gap, and it is 
found more or less sparingly with all kinds of copper ores. 

At Mineral Point, Wisconsin, a bluish silico-carbonate 
of copper occurs, which is for the most part chrysocoUa, or 
a mixture of this mineral with the carbonate. An analysis 
of the rough ore afforded Mr. D. D. Owen, copper 35-7, 
carbonic acid 10*0, water lO'O, iron 15*7, oxygen 7, sulphur 
8, silex 13-0. Specific gravity 3-69— 3-87. The vein ap- 
pears also to the northwest on Blue River, and southeast on 
the Peccatonica. This ore is abundant ; it has been smelted 
on the spot and also exported to England. 

Uses. This mineral receives a high polish and is used 
for inlaid work, and also ear-rings, snuffboxes, and various 
ornamental articles. It is.. not much prized in jewelry. 
Very large masses are occasionally obtained in Russia, 
which are worked into slabs for tables, mantel-pieces and 
vases, which are of exquisite beauty, owing to the delicate 
shadings of the radiations and zones of color. At Versailles, 
there is a room furnished with tables, vases, and other arti- 
cles of this kind, and similar rooms are to bt found in many 
European palaces. At Nischne Tagilsk, a block of mala 
chite was obtained weighing 40 tons. 

Malachite is sometimes passed off in jewelry as turquois, 
hough easily distinguished by its shade of color and much 



How does green malachite occur 1 What are its usep '> 



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300 WWTALS. 

inferior hardness. It is a valuable ore when abundant ; but 
it is seldom smelted alone, because the metal is liable to es- 
cape with the liberated volatile ingredient— carbonic acid. 

AzuKiTE. — Blue Carbonate of Capper. 
MtKiciinic. In modified oblique rhombic prisms, the 
crystals rather short and stout; 
lateral cleavage perfect. Also 
massive. Oflen earthy. 

Color deep blue, azure or Ber- 
lin-blue. Transparent to nearly 
opaque. Streak bluish* Luster 
vitreous, almost adamantine. — 
Brittle. H=3-5— 4-5. Gr=± 
3.5—3.85. 

Composition : carbonic acid 25*6, oxyd of copper 69*2| 
water 5*2. Before the blowpipe and in acids, it acts like 
the preceding. 

Oha. Azurite accompanies other ores of copper. At 
Chessy, France, its crystallizations are very splendid. It is 
fi>und also in Siberia, in the Bannat, and near Redruth in 
Cornwall ; at Phenixville, Fa., in crystals. 

As incrustations and rarely as crystals, it occurs near 
Singsing, N. Y. ; near New Brunswick, N. J. Also neaj 
Nicholson's Gap, in the Blue Ridge, Penn. 

Uses. When abundant it is a valuable ore of copper. It 
makes a poor pigment, as it is liable to turn green. 

CHRYsocoLLA. — SUicote of Copper. 

Usually as incrustations ; botryoidal and massive. Also 
in thin seams and stains ; no fibrous structure apparent, nor 
any appearance of crystallization. 

Color bright green, bluish-green. Luster of surfiwe ot in- 
crustations smoothly shining ; also eailhy. Translucent to 
opaque. H=2 — 3. Gr=2 — 2*3. Composition: — 





8IBEIUAN. 
v. KobelL 




Berthier. 


NEW JER8ET. 

Bowen. 


Beck. 


Oxyd of copper 


400 




551 


452 


426 


Silica 


36-5 




35-4 


373 


400 


Water 


20-2 




28-5 


170 


160 


Carbonic acid 


21 


loss 


10 





.^^ 


Oxyd of iron 


10 










1-4 



Describe blue malachite. How does it differ from green malachit 
in composition ? What is the appearance of chrysc«olla ? its composi 
tionl 



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COPPKK ORES. 301 

The mineral varies much in the proportion of its constitu- 
ents, as it is not crystallized. It blackens in the inner fiamo 
of the blowpipe without melting. With borax it is partly 
reduced. No effervescence nor complete solution in nitric 
acid, cold or heated. 

Dif, Distinguished from green malachite as stated undei 
that species. 

Obs. Accompanies other copper ores in Cornwall, Hun- 
gary, the T^ol, Siberia, Thuringia, &;c. In ChiU it is 
abundant at the various mines. In Wisconsin and Missouri 
it is so abundant as to bei worised for copper. It was for« 
merly taken for green malachite. It also occurs at the Som- 
erville and Schuyler's mine, N. J., at Morgantown, Penn., 
and Wolcotville, Conn. 

Uses. This ore in the pure state affords 30 per cent, of 
copper ; but as it occurs in the rock will hardly yield one- 
thiid this amount Still when abundant, as it appears to be 
in the Mississippi valley, it is a valuable ore. It is easy of 
reduction by means of limestone as a flux. 

Dioptase is another silicate of copper, occurring in rhombohedral 
crystals and hexagonal prisms. R : R»126^ 24/, Color emerald- 
green. Luster vitreous. Streak greenish. Transparent to nearly 
opaque. H=5. Gr=3-28. From the Kirgheae Steppes of Siberia. 

Besides the above salts of copper, there are the following species, 
which are of little use in the arts. 

Ar9etMte9 of Copper. — Etiehroite has a bright emerald-green color, 
and contains 33 per cent, of arsenic acid, and 48 of oxyd of copper. 
Occurs in modified rhombic prisms H=3"75. Gr=3-4. From Li- 
bethen, in Hungary. Aphanesite is of a dark verdigris- green inclining 
to blue, and also dark blue, Hs2'5 — 3. 6r=s4'19. It contains 30 
per cent, of arsenic add and 54 of oxyd of copper. From Cornwall. 
Earinite has an emerald-green color, and occurs in mammilated coat- 
ings. H=s4'5 — 5. 6rs4'04. Contains33-8of arsenic acid and 59*4 
of oxyd of copper. From Limerick, Ireland. Liroeonite varies from 
aky-blue to virdigris-green. It occurs in rhombic prisms, sometimes 
an inch broad. H=b2*5. Gr^S'S — 2*9. Contains 14 per cent, of 
arsenic acid, 49 of oxyd of copper. Olivenite presents olive-green to 
brownish colors, and occurs in prismatic crystals or velvety coatings. 
H=3. Gr=4'2. Contains 36*7 per cent, of arsenic acid, to 56*4 of 
oxyd of copper. Copper Mica is remarkable for its thin foliated or 
mica-like structure. The color is emerald or grass-green. 11=^2. 
Gr:=2'55. It contains 21 per cent, of arsenic acid, 58 of oxyd of cop- 
per, and 21 of water. From Cornwall and Hungary. Copper Froth 
is another arsenate of a pale apple-green and verdigris gieen color. I 

How does chrysocoUa differ from green malachite? Where is il 
abundant in the U. States 1 What is its use ? 



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802 METALS. 

has a perfect deayage. It contains 25 per 2ent of arsenic acid, 43*9 
of oxyd of copper, 17*5 of water, with 136 of carbonate of lime. From 
Hungary, Siberia, the Tyrol, and Derbyshire. Co7idurrtte has a brown- 
ish-black or blue color. From Cornwall. These different arsenates of 
copper give an allicaceous odor when heated on charcoal before the 
blowpipe. 

Fhospkates of Copper. — Fseudo-malachite occurs in very oblique 
crystals, or massive and incrusting, and has an emerald or blackish- 
green color. H=4'5 — 5. Gr=4-2. Contains 68 per cent, of oxyd 
of copper. From near Bonn, on the Rhine, and also from Hungary. 
Libethenite has a dark or olive-green color, and occurs in prismatic 
crystals and massive. H=4. Gr=:3'6 — 3*8. Contains 64 per cent, 
of oxyd of copper. From Hungary and Cornwall. Tkrombolite is a 
green phospate occurring massive in Hungary. Contains 39 per cent, 
of cxyd of copper. These phosphates give no fumes before the blow- 
pipe ; and have the reaction of phosphoric acid. 

Chlorid of Copper. — Atacamite. Color green to blackish-green. 
Luster adamantine to vitreous. Streak apple-green. Translucent to 
gubtranslucent. Occurs in right rhombic prisms and rectangular octa- 
hedrons, also massive. Consists of oxyd of copper 76'6, muriatic acid 
106, water 12*8. Gives off fumes of muriatic acid before the blowpipe 
and leaves a globule of copper. From the Atacama desert, between 
Chili and Peru, and elsewhere in Chili ; also from Vesuvius and Sax- 
ony. It is ground up in Chili, and sold as a powder for letters undei 
the name of arenillo. 

A SulphatO' chlorid of Copper has been observed in Cornwall, in bine 
Acicular crystals, apparently hexagonal. 

Vanadate of lead and copper. Reported as occurring in Chili 
Color -dark brown or brownish black; texture earthy, looking like a 
terriiginous earth. Occurs with other ores of lead and copper. 

Vanadate of copper. Massive and foliated, or pulverulent ; folia 
citron -ye How, pearly. From the Ural. 

Buratite. A hydrous carbonate of copper, zinc, and lime, occurring 
in bluish radiating needles. Gr=3-2. From Chessy, France ; the Al- 
tai mountains ; and Tuscany. Probably same as> Auncliaiciie. 

Velvet Copper Ore. In velvety druaes or coatings, consisting of 
short fine fibrous crystallization. Color fine smalt blue. 

GENERAL REMARKS ON COPPER AND ITS ORES. 

The metal copper has been known since the earliest periods. It is 
obtained for the arts mostly from pyritous copper, the gray sulphurets, 
and the carbonate ; also to some extent from the black oxyd, and from 
solutions of the sulphate, (page 296.) 

Assay of Ores. For the assay of copper ores by the dry way, tk"- 
following is a common method. A portion of the prepared ore, roasted 
in a closed tube, will show by the garlic or sulphurous smell of the 
umes, and by the depositions on the tube, whether arsenic, sulphur, or 
oth, be the mineralizers. If this last is the case, which often happens, 
00 or 1000 grains of the ore are to be mixed with < ue half of itt 
▼eight of sawdust, then imbued with oil, and heated moderately in a 

What is the mode of assaying copper ores in the dry way T 



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COPPBB OSES. 303 

crcdble, till all the arsenical fumes are dissipated. The residuum, be- 
ing cooled and tritwated, is to be exposed in a shallow earthen dish, 
made of refractory material, to a slow roasting heat, and stirred till the 
sulphur and cLarcoalare burned away ; what remains being ground and 
mixed with half its weight of calcined borax, or carbonate of soda, one- 
twelfth its weight of lamp black, (finely pulverized charcoal will an- 
swer,) and next, made into a dough with a few drops of oil, is then to 
be pressed down into a crucible, which is to be covered with a luted 
lid, and subjected in a powerful air-furnace, first to a dull red heat, then 
to vivid ignition ibrseven-to twenty minutes. On cooling and breaking 
the crucible, a button of metallic copper will be obtained, which may 
be refined by melting again with borax in an open crucible. Its color 
and malleability indicate pretty well the quality, as does its weight the 
relative value, of the ore. It may be cupelled with lead to ascertain 
if it contain silver or gold ; or it may be treated for the same purpose 
with nitric acid. 

If the blowpipe trial show no arsenic, the first calcination may be 
%mitted ; and if neither sulphur nor arsenic are present, a portion of the 
pulverized ore should be dried and treated directly with borax, lamp- 
black, and oil. 

The ores of copper, (the sulphuret as well as the oxyds, carbonates, 
&c.) may be reduced in the wet way, by solution in strong nitric acid. 
The solution, if made from the sulphuret, will contain sulphuric acid 
and free sulphur, as well as all the bases, (iron, nickel, cobalt, lead, sil- 
yer, &,c.) which may have been present in the original ore. If silver 
is present it will be found as a heavy white curdy precipitate, at the 
bottom, if the nitric acid employed contained any hydrochloric acid ; 
and if the addition of this acid to the solution occasions no such pre« 
cipitate, no silver is present. If the solution is free from lead, anti- 
mony, arsenic, and other metals precipitable by sulphureted hydrogen, 
the copper may be thrown down as sulphuret by means of a current of 
this gas, the black precipitate, collected on a filter washed with water, 
and redisBolved in aqua regia, largely cfiluted, and finally precipitated by 
caustic potash, which throws down the black oxyd of copper. This 
dried and weighed will yield the true value of the ore in metallic cop- 
per. If only iron and copper are present, (which may be previously de- 
termined by the blowpipe,) they may be separated from their solutions 
in nitric acid by ammonia, which throws down the iron as hydrated 
peroxyd, but redissolves the copper precipitated by the first additions of 
ammonia. The determination of the weight of the iron may then give 
the amount of copper by the difference of weight, or the copper may 
again be thrown down by potash as before directed. 

Seduction of Ores. Copper ores are reduced in England in a rever- 
beratory furnace, and the process consists in alternate calcinations and 
fusions. The volatile ingredients are carried off by the calcinations, 
and any metals in combination with the copper are oxydized. The 
osions serve to get rid of the various impurities, and finally bring out 
he pure metal. 

The calcinations or roastings are ferformed either in a furnace, oi 
J making piles in the open air. In this latter mode, which is in use 

What is the mode of assaying copper ores in the wet way f How 
tie copper ores reduced 1 Describe the process of calcination 1 



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304 MRTAT.S. 

on the continent of Europe, the ore, after behig pounded and assortedj 
is piled up in high pyramidal mounds, which moun^ aru covered with 
mortar, sod, &c., and have a chimney at the center. Hemispherical 
cavities are dug on the upper sunace for the purpose of receiving ihe 
tfulphur during the roasting, which arrives liquified at the surface. This 
process lasts about six months. In England, at Swansea, where the 
ores are carried for reduction, the calcinations are performed more rap- 
idly in a reverberatory furnace ; and this is especially necessary when 
the ores do not contain a sufficient proportion of iron pyrites to furnish 
enough sulphur to sustain the combustion. After calcination, the ore is 
black and powdery. In the Swansea establishments, the calcined ore 
is introduced into the furnace, (a reverberatory smaller than that used 
for calcination,) and is spread over the bottom, 1 cwt. at a time. The 
heat is raised, and the furnace closed. When fusion has taken place 
the liquid mass is well rabbled or stirred, so as to allow of the complete 
separation of the slags from the metal ; afterwards the slags are skimmed 
off. Then a second charge is added, and after a similar process, a 
third charge, if the furnace is deep enough to receive it without the 
metal's flowing from the door. After the last charge is reduced also, 
the tap-hole is opened, and the metal flows out into water, where it ip 
granulated. The slags if not free from metal are again returned to the 
ftimace, when other charges are put in. This granulated metal is 
usually about one-third copper ; it contains sulphur, copper, and iron. 

This coarse metal is next calcined, just as the ore was first calcined ; 
by which the iron is oxydized. The charge remains in the furnace 24 
hours, and is repeatedly stirred and turned. 

It is then transferred to the furnace for melting, and there melted 
along with some slags from the previous fusion. The sulphur reduces 
any oxyd and the whole fuses down. The slags are skimmed off and 
the furnace tapped : the metal is again drawn off into water. In this 
state it contains about 60 per cent, of copper, and it is called fine 
metal. The fine metal is then calcined like the coarse metal ; and next 
it is melted as before. It results in a coarse copper containing 80 to dO 
per cent, of pure metal. 

The coarse copper is then roasted in the melting furnace ; the air 
drawing in large quantities over the copper in incipient fusion, oxydizes 
the iron and the volatile substances are driven off. The metal is fused 
toward the end of the operation, which is continued from 12 to 24 
hours, and is then tapped into sand beds. The pigs formed are cov- 
ered with black blisters and they are cellular within. The copper is 
then remelted in a melting furnace ; it is heated slowly to allow of any 
farther oxydizing that may be necessary. The slag is removed and the 
metal is examined from time to time, by taking out some of it, and 
when it is in the right condition, it is next subjected to the process of 
toughening. It is now brittle, of a deep red color inclining to purple, 
with an open grain and a crystalline structure ; the copper in this state 
IS what is termed dry. The surface of the melted metal is first cov- 
ered with charcoal ; a pole, commonly of birch, is held in the liquid 
matter, causing considerable ebullition ; and this poling is continued, 
with occasional additions of charcoal, till it is found in the assays taken 
• 

"What are the several steps in reduction 1 



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COPPER ORSS. 305 

mit lliat the crystalline grain has disappeared, and the copper when cut 
through* has a silky polished appearance, and the color is light red. 
It is then ladeled out into moulds, usually 12 inches in width by 18 long. 
Leati is sometimes added in the purification, to aid by its own oxyda- 
tion in the oxydation of the iron present. 

The process of melting copper on the continent is done by blast fur- 
naces instead of the reverberatory, and they are said to be more eco« 
nomical in fuel, and produce a less waste of copper in the slags. Thi«/ 
mode is used at the works at Boston, while the Swansea mode has 
been adopted at the Baltimore furnaces, Maryland. At the Ha'ford 
works. South Wales, a furnace of three tiers of hearths has been intro- 
duced, which answers the double purpose of calcination and fusion at 
the same time. 

Galvanism has been turned to account in the reduction of copper 
ores. The ore is converted into a sulphate by roasting with the 6ree 
access of the atmosphere. From this sulphate the copper is deposited 
in a pure state by galvanic decomposition. See on this subject Ameri- 
can Jouraal of Science, ii ser., volume iv, p. 376, or Franldin Journal, 
▼olume xi, p. 128. 

Copper Mines. The principal mines of copper in the world are those 
of Cornwall and Devon, England ; of the island of Cuba ; of Copiapo, 
and other places in Chili ; Chessy, near Lyons, in France ; in the 
Erzgebirge, Saxony ; at Eisleben and Sangerhausen, in Prussia ; at 
Goslar, in the Lower Hartz; at Schemmitz, Kremnitz, Kapnik, and 
the Bannat, in Hungary ; at Fahlun, in Sweden ; at Turinsk and Nisch- 
ni-Tagilsk, and other places in the Urals ; also in China and Japan. 
Lately extensive mines have been opened in Southern Australia. 

In the United States, considerable quantities have been raised from 
the mines of New Jersey, and those of Simsbury, Conn. At Bristol, 
Conn., is a fine vein of vitreous copper, now under profitable exploration. 
The Hiwassee mine, Tennessee, and the mine at Corinth, Vermont, 
are at present productive. 

The most extensive deposits are those of Northern Michigan, near 
L. Superior. The Michigan mines are vertical veins mostly in the trap 
rock which intersects a red sandstone, probably identical in age with 
the red sandstone of Connecticut and New Jersey. The first discov- 
eries of copper ore in this place were made at Copper harbor, where the 
chrysocolla and carbonate occur. Near Fort Wilkins the black oxyd 
was afterwards found in a large deposit, and 40,000 pounds of this ore 
were shipped to Boston. On farther exploration in the trap, the Cliff 
mine, 25 miles to the westward, was laid open, where the largest masses 
of native copper have been found, and which still proves to be highly 
productive. Other veins have since been opened in various parts of the 
region, at Eagle harbor. Eagle river. Grand Marais, Lac La FJelle, 
Agate Harbor, Torch Lake, on the Ontonagon, in the Porcupine moun- 
tains, and elsewhere. At Mineral Point, Wisconsin, a blue siliceous 
carbonate is found. Other mines are opened in Missouri. The country 
north of Lakes Superior and Huron, also a fiord copper ores. 

What is the process of reduction on the continf^nt of Europe ? Whert 
are the principal foreign mines of copper t Where ut copper found 1% 
the United States? 



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306 



KBTALS. 



Id the Lake Superior Region, the four larger mines have afforded^ 
according to Whitney : 

N. American. Northweofc 





Cliff Mine. 


Minnesoti 


1845, 


8-88 tons. 




1846. 


16-79 




1847, 


18338 




1848, 


444-85 


4-00 


1849. 


572-38 


34.00 


1850, 


319-04 


6600 


1851, 


377-89 


165-00 


1852, 


37025 


208-50 



1853, 



41500 



48019 



22.90 
76-20 
76-50 
22 90 
112-32 



15.32 

8706 

130-89 

12017 

102-27 



The total yield from all the mines in 1853, was 1,296*94 tons. 

Mr. Whitney observes that various attempts have been made to work 
the mines associated with the trappean rocks north of Lake Superior 
and Lake Huron, but as yet with little success. On Spar Island, and 
also on Michipicoten Island, veins have been opened which are aban- 
doned. The Brace Mine, on Lake Huron, is the only one in those 
regions now worked with profit It is situated about fifty miles below 
Saut Ste. Marie, and due north of the extremity of St. Joseph's Island. 
The ore is chiefly copper pyrites, with some variegated copper ore. 
I>uring the year 1853, 1650 tons of ore were shipped. The Wallace 
Mine, 16 miles from La Clocke, a station of the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany, is said to furnish copper pyrites, like Brace's Mine, and also nickel 
and cobalt orea* 

The amount of copper produced by difierent mining countries in 
Europe is as follows : 

Great Britain, 300,000 cwt.t 

Russia, 130,000 " 

Austria, 60,000 « 

Germany, 12,000 « 

Sweden and Norway, 40,000 " 

Other countries afford in 1853 (Whitney's Met. Wealth) : 

Africa, 1,200 cwt 

Asia 60,000 " 

Australia and New Zealand, . 60,000 " 

Chili 280,000 " 

South America, exclusive of Chili, 26,000 " 

Cuba 50,000 " 

United States and Canada, . . 40,000 " 
Making the total for the world of about 1,150,000 cwt, or 55,750 tons. 

Whnt three countries are most productive in copper? Where are 
the principal mines in the United States ? 

» Whitney's Metallic Wealth of the United States, 
t 5-6ths of the whole from Cornwall. 



Denmark, 


8.500 cwt 


Prussia, 


30,000 " 


France, 


2,000 «« 


Spain, 


8,000 « 



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COPPER OBXS. 307" 

What will be ultimately the proceeds of the copper region of Lake 
Superior, cannot now be fully determined. But there is every prospect 
that the country will prove boundless in its resources. 

U9e8. The metal copper was known in the earliest periods and wai 
used mostly alloyed with tin, forming bronze. The mines of Nubia 
and Ethic^ia are believed to have produced a great part of the copper 
of the early Egyptians. EubsBa and Cyprus are also mentioned as 
affording this metal to the Greeks. It was employed for cutting in- 
struments and weapons, as well as for utensils ; and bronze chisels are 
at this day found at the Egyptian stone-qnarries, that were once em- 
ployed in quarrying; This bronze, (ehalkos of the Greeks, and tea of 
the Romans,) consisted of about 5 parts of copper to 1 of tin, a pro- 
portion which produces an alloy of maximum hardness. Nearly the 
same material was used in early times over Europe ; and weapons and 
tools have been found consisting of copper, edged with iron, indicating 
the scarcity of the latter metal Similar weapons have also been found 
in Britain ; yet it is certain that iron and steel were well known to the 
Romans and later Greeks, and to some extent used for warlike weapons 
and cutlery. ^ 

Copper at the present day is very various in its applications in the 
arts. It is largely employed for utensils, for the sheathing of ships, and 
for coinage. Alloyed with zinc it constitutes brass, and with tin it forms 
bell-meial as well as bronze. 

The best brass contains 2 parts of copper to 1 of zinc ; the proportion 
of 4 of copper to 1 of zinc, makes a good brass. Pinehbeck contains 
5 of copper to 1 of zinc ; and tombac and Dutch gold, are other allied 
compounds. Bath metal consists of 9 of zinc to 32 of brass. A 
whitish metal used by the button-makers of Birmingham, and called 
platina, is made of 5 pounds of zinc to 8 of brass. 

Bronze is an alloy of copper with 7 to 10 per cent, of tin. This is 
the material used for cannon. With 8 per cent, of tin, it is the bronze 
for medals. With 20 of tin, the material for cymbals. With 30 to 33 
parts of tin, it forms speculum metal, of which the mirrors for optical 
instruments are made. Lord Rosse used for the speculum of his great 
telescope, 126 parts of copper to 57^ parts of tin. 

The brothers Keller, celebrated for their statue castings, used a metal 
consisting of 91*4 per cent, of copper, 5*53 of zinc, 1*7 of tin, and 1*37 
of lead. An equestrian statue of Louis XIV, 21 feet high, and weigh- 
ing 53,263 French pounds, was cast by them in 1699, at a single jet 

Bell metal is made of copper, with a third to a fifth as much tin by 
weight, the proportion of tin varying according to the size of the bell 
and sound required. The Chinese gong contains 80 parts of copper to 
20 or 25 of tin ; to give it its full sonorousness, it must be heated and 
suddenly cooled in cold water. 

Sheet copper is made by heating the copper in a furnace and rolling 
it between iron rollers. Copper is also worked by forgmg and casting. 
In sasting, it will not bear over a red heat without burning. 

How did the ancients use copper ? What is the proportion of alloy 
in the ancient bronze ? 



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908 msTALf. 

2. NOBLE METALS. 
1. PLATINUM.— IRIDIUM.— PALLADIUM. 

NATIVE PLATINUM. 

In flattened or angular grains or irregular masses, the 
masses occasionally large. Crystalline form cubic, but sel- 
dom observed. Cleavage none 

Color and streak pale or dark steel-gray. Luster metallic, 
shining. Ductile and malleable. H=4— 4*5. Gr=16— 
19. 

Composition, Platinum is usually combined with more or 
less of the rare metals Iridium, Rhodium, Palladium, and 
Osmium, besides copper and iron, which give it a dai^er 
color than belongs to the piure metal, and increase its hard- 
ness. A Russian specimen afforded, platinum 78*9, iridiimi 
5*0, osmium and iridium 1*9, rhodium 0*9, palladium 0*3, 
copper 0*7, iron 11*0=98*75. 

Platinum is soluble in heated aqua regia. It is one of 
the most infusible substances known, being wholly unaltered 
before the blowpipe. It is very slightly magnetic, and this 
quality is increased by the iron it may contain. 

Dif. Platinum is at once distinguished by its malleabil- 
ity and extreme infusibility. 

Obs. Platinum was first detected in grains in the alluvial 
deposits of Choco and Barbagoa in South America, where it 
received the name platina, derived from the word plata^ 
meaning silver. Although before known, an account by 
Ulloa, a Spanish traveller in America in 1735, directed at- 
tention in Europe, in 1748, to the metal. It has since been 
found in the Urals, on Borneo, in the sands of the Rhine, and 
in those of the river Jocky, St. Domingo ; and recently traces 
have been observed in the United States, in North Carolina. 

The Ural localities of Nischne Tagilsk, and Goroblagodat, 
have afforded much the larger part of the platinum of com- 
merce. It occurs, as elsewhere, in alluvial beds ; but the 
courses of platiniferous alluvium have been traced to a great 
extent up Mount La Martiane, which consists of crystalline 

What is the condition and appearance ef native platinam 1 What 
fesaid of its crystallization ? What is its specific gravity ? With what 
is it usually combined? Where and when was it first found ? Whert 
else does it occur? 



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PLATINUM. 809 

rocks, and is .the origin oftke detritus. One to three pounds 
are procured from 3700 pounds of sand. 

Though commonly in small grains, masses of considerable 
size have occasionaUy been found. A mass weighing 1088 
grains was brought by Humboldt from South America and 
deposited in the Berlin Museum. Its specific gravity was 
18*04. In the year 1822, a mass from Condoto was de. 
posited in the Madrid museum, measuring 2 inches and 4 
lines in diameter, and weighing 11,641 grains. A more 
remarkable specimen was found in the year 1827 in the 
Urals, not far from the Demidoff mines, which weighed llj 
(more accurately, 11*57) pounds troy; and similar masses 
are now not uncommon. The largest yet discovered weighed 
21 pdunds troy; it is in the Demidoff cabinet. 

Russia afibrds annually about 80 cwt. of platinum, which 
is nearly ten times the amount from Brazil, Columbia, St. 
Domingo, and Borneo. Borneo affords six or eight hundred 
pounds per year. 

The North Carolina platinum was found with gold in 
Rutherford coimty. It was a single reniform granule, weigh 
ing 2*54 grains. Other instances are reported from the 
southern gold region, and from Point Orford and elsewheie 
in California* 

Uses. The infusibility of platinum and its resistance to 
the action of the air, and moisture and most chemical agents, 
renders it of great value for the construction of chemical and 
philosophical apparatus. The large vessels employed in the 
concentration of sulphuiic acid are now made of platinum, as 
it is unaffected by this corrosive acid. It is also used for 
crucibles and capsules in chemical analysis ; for galvanic bat- 
teries ; as foil or worked into cups or forceps for suppoiting 
objects before the blowpipe. It alloys readily when heated 
with iron, lead, and several of the metals, and is also at- 
tacked by caustic potash, and phosphoric acid, in contact with 
carbon ; and consequently there should be caution when heat- 
ing it not to expose it to these agents. 

It is employed for cbating copper and brass; also for 
painting porcelain and giving it a steel luster, formerly highly 
prized. It admits of being drawn into wire of extreme ten- 
lity : Dr. WoUaston obtained a wire not exceeding a two- 
housandth of an inch in diameter. 

Platinum is coined in Russia, but is not a legal tender 

What ue the osts of platinum t 



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The coins have the value of 11 and 22 nibles each. The 
amount coined from 1826 to 1844 equals 2^ millions of 
dollars. 

For many years afler its discovery, platinum was almost a 
useless metal on account of the difficulty of obtaining it in 
masses. The grains weld when heated, but because of their 
small size, this was interminable labor, and moreover the 
metal was not pure. Dr. Wollaston introduced the proces 
now in use, which consists in dissolving the metal in nitro 
muriatic acid, and throwing down from the solution an orange 
precipitate by means of muriate of ammonia. This precipi 
tate (a double chlorid of platinum and ammonium) is then 
heated and thus reduced to the metallic state ; the platinum is 
now in an extremely minute state of division. This black 
powder (" spongy platinum") is next compressed in steel 
moulds by the aid of heat and strong pressure ; and when 
sufficiently compact, is forged under the hammer and then re- 
duced at last to solid masses. 

This metal fuses readily before the " compound blowpipe ;" 
and Dr. Hare succeeded in 1837 in melting twenty-eight 
ounces into one mass."" The metal was almost as malle- 
able and as good for working as that obtained by the .other 
process ; it had a specific gravity of 19'8. He aflerwards 
succeeded in obtaining from the ore masses which were 90 
per cent, platinum, and as malleable as the metal in ordinary 
use, though somewhat more liable to tarnish, owing to some 
of its impurities. 

Platin-iridium. Grains of iridium have been obtained at Nischne 
Tagilsk, consisting of 76'8 iridium, and 19'64 platinum, with some 
palladium and copper. A similar platin-iridium has been obtained at 
Ava in the East Indies. Another from Brazil contained 27*8 iridium, 
55*5 platinum, and 6*9 of rhodium. 

Iridosmine. A compound of iridium and osminni from the platinum 
mines of Russia, Somb Anierica, the Cast Indies and California. The 
crystals are pale steel-gray hexagonal prisms: occurs usually in flat 
graina H=6 7. Gr—19-5— 211. Malleable with difficulty. 

The composition varies. One variety contains iridium 46-8, osmium 
49'3, rhodium 3*2, iron 0*7. Another, iridium 25*1, osmium 74*9 ; 
another, iridium 20, osmium 80. They are distinguished by their su- 
perior hardness from the grains of platinum, and also by the peculiar 
odor of osmium when heated with niter. Iridosmine is common with 
the gold of California, and injures its quality for jewelry. It is pro- 
posed to separate it by keeping the gold melted for a short time, to 
allow the grains of iridosmine to settle. 

What is the value of Russian platinum coins? How is platinum 
worked into masses % 



^ American Jour. ScL. xzxiii, 195 ; zxzvlii, 155, 163 and ii ser. iv« 39. 

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PALLADIUM. 311 

The metal iridium is extremely hard, ani is used as well as rhodium 
for nibs to gold pens. Its specific gravity is 21*8. Rhodium (1 to 2 pei 
cent.) gives great hardness to steel, and would be a useful metal were 
it more abundant. 

NATIVE PALLADIUM. 

In regular octahedrons*. Also in hexagonal lubles. Occurs 
mostly in grains, apparently composed of divergent fibers. 
Color steel-gray, inclining to silver-white. Ductile and 
malleable. H. above 4-5. Gr=ll-8— 12-2. 

Consists of palladium, with some platinum and iridium 
Fuses with sulphur, but not alone. 

Obs. Occurs in Brazil with gold, and is distinguished 
from platinum with which it is associated by the divergent 
structure of its grains. SdenpaUadiie is nothing but the 
native palladium. 

Uses, This metal is malleable, and when polished has a 
splendid steel-like luster which does not tarnish. A cup 
weighing 3^ pounds was made by M. Breant in the mint at 
Paris, and is now in the garde-meuble of the French crown. 
In hardness it is equal to fine steel. 1 part fused with 6 of 
gold forms a white alloy ; and this compoimd was employed, 
at the suggestion of Dr. Wollaston, for the graduated part of 
the mural circle, constructed by Troughton for the Royal 
Observatory at Greenwich. Palladium has been employed 
also for certain surgical intruments. 

Quite large masses of the metal palladium are brought 
from Brazil. It is extracted from the auriferous sands by 
first fusing it with silver, and consequently forming a quater- 
nary alloy of gold, palladium, silver and copper, which is 
granulated by projecting it into water. By means of nitric 
acid all but the gold is dissolved ; and from the solution, the 
silver is first precipitated by common salt as an insoluble 
chlorid, and then, after separating the chlorid, the palladium 
and copper are precipitated by plates of zinc. This pre- 
cipitate is redissolved in nitric acid, an excess of ammonia 
added, and then hydrochloric acid sufficient to saturate ; a 
double chlorid of palladium and ammonia is deposited aa 
a crystalline yellow powder, which on calcination produces 
spongy palladium. 



Describe native palladium ? Where and how does it occur ? How i 
It used? 



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812 HBTALS. 

2. GOLD. 

Gold occurs mostly native, being either pure or dlojed 
with silver and other metals. It is occasially found miner- 
alized by tellurium. 

NAXni^E GOLD. 

Monometric. In cubes, without cleavage. Also in grains, 
thin laminae and masses ; sometimes filiform or reticulated. 

Color various shades of gold-yellow ; occasionally nearly 
silver- white, from the silver present. Very ductile and mal- 
leable. 11=5 2*5 — 3. Gr=12 — ^20, varying according to 
the metals alloyed with the gold. 

Compositum, Native gold usually contains silver, and in 
very various proportions. The finest native gold from Rus- 
sia yielded gold 98-96, silver 0*16, copper 0*35, iron 0'05 ; 
Gr= 19*099. A gold from Marmato afforded only 73*45 
per cent, of gold, with 26*48 per cent, of silver ; Gr= 12*666. 
This last is in the proportion of 3 of gold to 1 of silver. The 
following proportions also have been observed : 3^ to 1 ; 5 
to 1 ; 6 to 1 ; 8 to 1, and this is the most common ; 12 to 1, 
also of frequent occurrence. 

Copper is oflen found in alloy with gold, and also palla- 
dium and rhodium. A rhodium-gold from Mexico gave the 
specific gravity 15*5^16*8, and contained 34 to 43 per cent, 
of rhodium. 

Dif, Iron and copper p3rrites are oflen mistaken for gold 
by those inexperienced in ores. Gold is at once distinguished 
W being easily cut in slices and flattening under a hammer* 
The pyrites when pounded are reduced to powder ; iron 
pyrites is too hard to yield at all to a knife, and copper pyr- 
ites affords a dull greenish powder. Moreover, the pyrites 
give off sulphur when strongly heated, while gold melts with- 
out any such odor. 

Obs. Native gold is mostly confined to those suocrys- 
talline slaty or schistose rocks that abound in quartz veins, 
and more especially to talcose and chloritic slates. It occurs 

In what condition does gold occur in nature 1 What is the crystal- 
lization of native goldl What are its common forms in the rocks 1 
Mention its characters. With what is it alloyed 1 How is gold dif • 
Unguished from iron and copper pyrites'? From what rocks is gold o 
riT>ed 1 



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GOLD. 3 id 

Bparingly in granite, gneiss or mica slate, for the veins of 
these more highly crystalline rocks are commonly feldspathic 
or granitic rather than quartzose, and granitic veins seldom 
afford gold. The quartz veins often intersect (ha slaty rocks 
In great numbers, are generally very irregular in size, and 
often lie as beds conformable to the lamination. The quartz 
is frequently rather cellular, containing cavities in which it is 
crystallized. It generally contains more or less pyrites, and 
sometimes galena and other minerals. The decomposition 
of the pyrites leaves the quartz very cavernous, and some- 
what rusty in appearance ; and occasionally a little sulphur 
lines the cavities, derived from the removed pyrites. The 
rock in this cavernous state, (as it is very liable to be near 
the surface,) is rather easily quarried out ; but deep below, 
where the minerals are not removed by decomposition, 
mining is far more difficult. 

The pyrites itself is nearly as hard as quartz, when un- 
altered, and readily strikes fire with a steel. This pyrites 
is often very abundant, and contains throughout it consider, 
able gold ; but the gold is so finely distributed, that httle of 
it can be removed by the ordinary process of crushing and 
amalgamation, and nature's way of decomposing the pyrites 
and thereby making it drop its load, is the only efifectual one. 
This is accomplished by exposing the pyrites in heaps, with 
moisture and perhaps a little heat, by which it changes to 
copperas, which may be dissolved and the gold obtained. 
The galena of a gold region is also usually auriferous. 

Gold sometimes occurs in the slate rocks adjoining the 
veins, though mostly confined to the latter. The quartz may 
contain gold when none is visible to the naked eye. 

The minerals most common in gold regions are platinum, 
iridosmine, magnetic or titanic iron, iron pyrites, galena, 
copper pyrites, blende, tetradymite^ zircon, rutile, heavy spar ; 
also in some cases, brookite, monazite and diamond. Pla- 
tinum and iridosmine accompany the gold of the Urals, 
Brazil and California ; and diamonds are found in the gold 
region of Brazil, and occasionally in the Urals and Eastern 
United States. 

Gold is widely distributed over the globe. It occurs in 
Brazil (where formerly a greater part of that used was ob. 
tained) along the chain of mountains which rans nearly par- 
allel with the coast, especially near Villa Rica, and in the 



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814 MBTAL8. 

proviDce of Minas Geraes ; in New Grenada at Antioquia, 
Choco, and Giron ; in Chili ; sparingly in Peru and Mexico ; 
in the southern of the United States. In Europe, it is most 
abundant in Hungary at Konigsberg, Schemnitz and Felso- 
banya, and in Transylvania at Kapnik, VdrOspatak and Of- 
fenbanya ; it occurs also in the sands of the Rhine, the Reuss 
and the Aar ; on the southern slope of the Pennine Alps 
from the Simplon and Monte Rosa to the valley of Aosta ; 
in Piedmont ; in Spain, formerly worked in Asturias ; in the 
county of Wicklow, Ireland ; in Sweden at Edelfors. 

in the Urals are valuable mines at Beresof, and other 
places on the eastern or Asiatic flank of this range, and the 
comparatively level portions of Siberia ; also in the Altai 
mountains. Also in the Cailas mountains in Little Thibet. 

There are mines in Africa at Kordofan, between Darfour 
and Abyssinia ; also south of Sahara in the western part of 
Africa, from the Senegal to Cape Palmas ; also along the 
coast opposite Madagascar, between the 22d and 35th degrees 
south latitude, supposed to have been the Ophir of the time 
of Solomon. Other regions are China, Japan, Formosa, 
Ceylon, Java, Sumatra, western coast of Borneo, the Phil- 
ippines, Australia, Van Diemen's land and New Zealand. 

The present total yield of the gold mines of the world is 
not less than 195 tons. Much the larger part of this (about 
175 tons) comes from Asiatic Russia, South America, Aus- 
tralia and California. 

The ^ Russian mines till recently ranked first in pro- 
ductiveness. They are principally alluvial washings, and 
these washings seldom yield more than 65 grains of gold for 
4000 pounds of soil ; never more than 120 grains. The 
alluvium is generally most productive where the loose ma- 
terial is most ferruginous. The mines of Ekaterinenberg 
are in the parent rock — a quartz constituting veins in a half 
decomposed granite called " beresite," which is connected 
with talcose and chloritic schists. The shafts are sunk ver- 
tically in the beresite, seldom below 25 feet, and from them 
jau^ral galleries are run to the veins. These mines afforded 
betvireen the years 1725 and 1841, 679 poods of gold, or 
about 30,000 pounds troy. The whole of the Russian mines 
yiel led in 1842, 970 poods of gold, or 42,000 pounds troy, hah' 

W.hat is said of the distribution of gold over the globe t Vliat 
count *ieB afford the greatest part of the gold of commerce t 



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GOLD. 815 

of which was from Siberia, cast of the Urals. In 1843, the 
yield was nearly 60,000 pounds troy, or about tld,000,000 ; 
in 1845 it amounted to 1 13,250,000; and in 1846, to 1722*746 
poods, equal to 75,353 troy pounds, and tl6,500,000.* 

At the Transylvania mines of V0r6spatak, the gold is ob. 
tained by mining, and these mines have been worked since 
the time of the Romans. 

The annual yield of Europe, exclusive of Russia, is not 
above $1,000,000. Austria afforded in 1844, 6785 mnks. 
The sands of the Rhone, Rhine and Danube contain ; i in 
small quantities. The Rhine has been most producuve be- 
tween Bale and Manheim ; but at present only $9000 arc 
extracted annually. The sands of the richest quality contain 
only about 56 parts of gold in a hundred millions ; sands 
containing less than half this proportion are worked. The 
whole amount of gold in the auriferous sand of the Rhine 
is estimated at $30,000,000, but it is mostly covered by soil 
under cultivation. 

Africa yields annually at least 4500 pounds troy, ($850,000,) 
and Southern Asia and the East Indies 25,000 pounds. 

The mines of South America and Mexico were estimated 
by Humboldt to y\e\d annually about (11,500,000 ; but the 
amount is now not over $10,000,000. Brazil of late has 
hirnished about 6000 pounds troy ; New Grenada, etc., 
15,000; Peru 1900; Bolivia 1200; Chili 3000; in all for 
South America 27,100 pounds. Mexico yields about 10,000 
pounds annually. It is estimated that between 1790 and 1830, 
Mexico produced $31,250,000 in gold. Chili $13,450,000, 
and Buenos Ayres $19,500,000, making an average annual 
yield of $16,050,000. 

The whole product of Europe, Asia, Africa and South 
America, is not far from 125,000 pounds troy, annually ; and 
this is far less than is derived at the present time from either 
Australia or the United States. 

The gold mines of Australia afford- at this time about 

What amount was furnished by Russia in 1846 1 What is the annual 
yield of the other mines of Europe 7 

* The value of gold, silver and platinum, coined in Ruasia from 1644 
to 1844, at present rates equals 545,360^17 silver mbles, or 400,020,000 
dollars, in addition to which, during the same period, the value of 
37,500,000 dollars in copper was coined. 



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316 KBTALS 

250,000 pounds. These mines occur in eastern and south* 
eastern Australia, about the mountains called the Australian 
Alps, and their continuation north beyond the Blue Mountains. 
They were first made known to the world in 1851. The 
localities discovered were on Summer Hill Creek and the 
Lewis Pond River, (near lat. 33® N., long. 149° — 150° E.,) 
streams which run from the northern flank of the Corio- 
bolas down to the river Macquarie, a river flowing west- 
ward and northward. It was afterwards found on the Turon 
river, which rises in the Blue Mountains ; and finally a re- 
gion of country 1000 miles in length, north and south, was 
proved to be auriferous. The country is a region of meta- 
morphic rocks, granite and slates, and in some parts abounds 
in quartz veins. The gold has been obtained mainly firom 
alluvial washings. 

Van Diemen's Land or Tasmania, and New Zealand, also 
afiibrd the precious metal. 

The mines of California yield per year about 200,000 
pounds troy, or $50,000,000. The first discovery was made 
early in the spring of 1848, on the American Fork, a tribu- 
tary to the Sacramento, near the mouth of which Sutter's 
establishment was situated. Soon Feather river, another 
afliuent, 18 or 20 miles north, was also proved to abound in 
gold about iU upper portions ; and it was not long after before 
each stream in succession, north and south, along the western 
slope of the Sierra Nevada was found to flow over auriferous 
sands. The gold as now developed extends along that chain, 
through the whole length of the great north and south valley 
which holds the rivers and plains of the Sacramento and San 
Joaquin. It continues south nearly to the Tejon pass, in 
latitude 35 ', and north beyond the Shasty mountains to the 
Umpqua, and less productively into Oregon and Washington 
territories. Gold also occurs in some places in the coast 
range of mountains. Even the very site of San Francisco 
has been found to contain traces. Beyond the Shasty moun- 
tains there are important mines on the Klamath and the 
Umpqua, and some of the best on the sea-shore between 
Gold BluflT, in 41® 30' south of the Klamath (30 miles south 
of Crescent City) to the Umpqua. What once was Rogue 
river is now called Gold river. 

The gold of the Sierra Nevada occurs mainly about tne 
upper parts of the tributaries to the Sacramento and other 



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GOLD. 817 

rivers, rather high up among the mountains ; and not only 
along the streams where the torrents perform annually the 
washing process, but also in the gravelly material or drift 
that covers the country, and over the slopes of the valley. 
At places along the valley where the descending waters meet 
an obstacle or a projecting rock, both in the river bed and 
on the declivities, ** pockets " of gold are found. Certain 
layers of the drifl are especially rich in the metal. This 
dritt material is explored by turning the streams across it by 
artificial channels, where nature has not prepared the way, 
and thus the gold is separated and gathered. 

The gold is mostly in thin scales or grains, usually of quite 
small size, and sometimes in plates or lumps ; occasionally 
in masses of fifteen or twenty pounds, mixed more or less 
with quartz. Each region is generally 
distinguished by some peculiarity in the 
form or size of the scales, or their color, 
the lighter colored containing the most 
silver. Some of the plates are beauti- 
fully crystaHized in dentritic or plumose 
forms made of united crystals. A few 
simple crystals of large size have been 
found. The annexed figure represents 
one of natural size, figuried and described 
by Mr. Alger, of Boston. 

The gold of the alluvial washings, as in other case.v, has 
been derived from gold-bearing rocks. By some long action 
of denudation, those rocks have been extensively worn down 
to gravel and sand, and the gold is distributed ahng the 
water courses or on the slopes. As the metal is so very 
heavy — seven times heavier than the gravel — it has mostly 
been dropped by the waters high up the streams. The 
smaller scales have been carried farthest away, and no doubt 
minute traces exist throughout the Sacramento valley. The 
forujs of the scales have arisen partly from the original la- 
mellar form in the rocks, and partly from the process of wear. 

Quartz veins, rich in gold, have been found in many parts 
of the country, and great efforts have been made to woi k 
them, especially in Nevada, Tuolumne, and Placer counties. 
For a knowledge of particular localities in California, see an 
article by W. P. Blake, in the American Journal of Science, 
volume XX, page 72, 1855. 



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31 d UBTALS. 

Other gold mines exist in Lower California, the Great 
Basin 'and New Mexico. 

The gold mines of the Eastern United States have pro- 
duced of late less than a million of dollars. They are mostly 
confined to the states of Virginia, North and South Carolina, 
and Georgia, or along a line from the Rappahannock to the 
Coosa in Alabama. But the region may be said to extend 
north to Canada ; for gold has been found at Canaan, N. H.| 
Bridgewater, Vt., Dedham, Mass., Albion and Madrid in 
Maine, and on the Chaudi^re river and elsewhere in Canada. 
Gold also occurs in Arkansas and Texas. 

In Virginia, the principal deposits are in Spotsylvania 
county, on the Rappahannock, at the United States mines 
and at other places to the southwest ; in Stafford county, at 
the Rappahannock gold mines, ten miles from Falmouth ; in 
Culpepper county, at the Culpepper mines, on Rapidan river: 
in Orange county, at the Orange grove gold mine, and at the 
Greenwood <'old mines ; in Goochland county, at Moss and 
Busby's mines ; in Louisa county, at Walton's gold mine ; 
in Buckingham county, at Eldridge's mine. In North Car- 
oliria, the gold region is mostly confined to the counties of 
Montgomery, Cabarrus, Mecklenberg and Lincoln, which 
are situated about in a line running n. e. and s. w., parallel 
nearly with the coast. The mines at Mecklenburg are prin- 
cipally vein deposits : those of Burke, Lincoln, McDowell 
and Rutherford, are mostly in alluvial soiL In Georgia, 
gold mines occur in Habersham county, and at many places 
in Rabun and Hall counties, and the Cherokee country. In 
South Carolina, the gold regions are the Fairforest in Union 
district, and the Lynch's creek and Catawba regions, chiefly 
in Lancaster and Chesterfield districts; also in Pickens 
county, adjoining Georgia. The only mine not deserted is 
the Dom mine in the Abbeville district. There is gold also 
in eastern Tennessee. 

Viewing the gold region of the eastern United States as a 
whole, it is perceived that it ranges along the Appalachians, 
particularly the Eastern slope, from Maine to Alabama, 
having nearly a northeast and southwest course. 

Masses of ^old of considerable size have been foun<l in 
North Carolina. The largest was discovered in Cabarrus 
county ; it weighed twenty-eight pounds avoirdupois, ("steel- 
yard weight," equals 37 lbs. troy,) and was 8 or 9 inches long 



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GOLD. 319 

by 4 or 5 broad, and about an inch thick. In Paraguay, 
pieces from I to- 50 pounds weight were taken from a mass 
of rock which fell from one of the highest mountains. Sev- 
eral specimens weighing 16 pounds have been found in the 
Ural^ and one of 27 pounds : and in the valley of Taschku- 
Targanka, in 1842, a mass was detached weighing very 
nearly 100 pounds troy. This mass is now in the museum 
of the Institute of Mining Engineers at St. Petersburg. 

The largest mass yet discovered in any part of the world, 
is one from California, weighing 134 pounds 7«ounces, and 
affording 109 pounds 11 ounces of pure gold: it sold for 
£5,532. Another of 27^ pounds, here figured, 



was found at Forest Creek, Mount Alexander, in the colony 
of Victoria. It was 11 inches long and 5 in breadth at its 
broadest part. 

The origin of gold veins, or rather of the gold in the 
veins, is little understood. The rocks, as has been stated, 
are metamorphic slates that have been crystallized by heat ; 
and they are the talcose and argillaceous, that have been 
but imperfectly crystallized, rather than the mica schist and 
gneiss which are well crystallized : ^and the veins of quartz 
which contain the gold, occupy fissures through the slates, 
and openings among the layers, which must have been made 
when the metamorphic change or crystallization took place. 
It was a period, for each gold region, of long continued heat, 
(occupying, probably, a prolonged age,) and also of vast up- 

What is said of the gold rock of the United States ? 



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920 METALJT. 

liftings and disturbances of the beds ; for the beds are tilted 
at various angles, and the veins show where were the frac- 
tures of the layers, or the separations and gapings of the 
tortured strata. The heat appears not to have been of the 
intensity required for the better crystallization of the more 
perfectly crystalline schists. The quartz veins could not 
have been filled from below, by injection, — a view not now 
accepted for the generality of mineral veins. They must 
have been filled either laterally or from above. In all such 
conditions of continued heat beneath an ocean, the hot water 
would dissolve silica freely within the rocks or from them^ 
(as happens at the Geysirs of Iceland and elsewhere,) so 
that the region would become one of hot siliceous solutions 
permeating and overlying the upheaving strata. Thus silica 
would be free to consolidate or metamorphose the strata, and 
to fill up all rents or openings, whether they were no thicker 
than a sheet of paper, or rods in width. The waters would 
work laterally into these fissures, as this would be the ten- 
dency of the internal flow or movement, and they would 
carry mineral material of various kinds with them ; besides^ 
the superficial waters might deposit what mineral matter 
they contained along with the silica ; and at the same time 
vapors might rise from below along the lines of rents, and 
be still a third source of metallic or mineral material. Be- 
tweea these methods appears to lie the process by which 
the gold was introduced into the quartz veins, and it remains 
fur turther research to ascertain the particular facts in the 
case. The pyrites formed in the veins is usually auriferous, 
showing that they were crystallized under the sanje circum- 
stances as the depositing of the gold in strings, crystals and 
grains. Murchison has stated, that in the Urals the gold 
diminishes on descending in a vein ; but this is not yet re- 
garded as an established truth. The time when the gold 
veins were formed may diflfer in dif^rent regions. Along 
our eastern coast it appears to have been afler the coal period. 
An examination of a gold rock for gold is a simple process. 
The rock is first pounded up fine and sifted ; a certain 
quantity of the sand thus obtained is washed in a shallow 
iron pan, and as the gold sinks, the material above is allowed 
ro pass off into some receptacle. The largest part of the 
gold is thus lefl in the angle of the pan ; by a repetition of 
the procss a further portioa ia obtained; and when the bulb 



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GOLD. 321 

the bulk of sand is thus reduced to a manageable quantity 
the gold is amalgamated with clean mercury ; the amalgam 
is next strained to separate any excess of mercuiy, and filial- 
ly IS heated and the mercury expelled, leaving the gold. In 
this way by successive trials with the rock, the proportion 
of gold is quite accurately ascertained. It is the same pro. 
cess used with the larger washings, though on a small scale. 
Mercury unites readily with gold, and thus separate^t from 
any associated rock or sand ; and it is employed in all exten. 
sive gold minings, though much gold may be often obtained 
by simple washing without amalgamation. 

The operation of hand washing is called in Virginia pan' 
ning. With a small iron pan, they wash the earth in a tub or 
in some brook, and thus extract much gold from the gravel or 
soil, which is said to pan well or pan poorly according to the 
result. Masses of quartz, with no external indications of 
gold, examined in the above way at a Virginia mine, afford- 
ed an average of more than eight dollars to the bushel of 
gold rock. 

When gold is alloyed with copper or silver, the mode of 
assay for separating -the copper depends on the process of 
cupellation ; and that for separating the silver, on the 
power of nitric acid to dissolve silver without acting on the 

The process of cupellation consists in heating the assay 
in a small cup (called a cupel,) made of bone ashes, (or in 
a cavity containing bone ashes,) whUe the atmosphere has 
tree access. .The heated metal is oxydated by the air pass- 
ing over it, and the oxyd formed sinks into the porous cup, 
1 leaving the precious metal ^^ 



behind. The shape of the ^^|^^^^^ 

R^S cupel IS shown m fig. 1. In |||^ — ^ 

\JH order to fuse the alloy and lyj^H I I I I I 

still have the atmosphere ^^ ^j * * ■ ■ ■ 



circulating over it, the cupel is placed in a ^[iiall oven-shnped 
vessel, called a mufHe (fig. 2 :) it is of infusible stone ware, 
and has a number of oblong holes, through which to admit 
the flame from the fire, and give exit to the atmosphere 
which passes into it. The muffle is inserted in a hole fitting 
it in the side of a vertical furnace, with the open mouth out 



How is a rock examined for gold ? What are the processes for sepa 
rating gold from silver or copper ? Describe the process of cupellation 
27* 



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S22 METALS. 

ward and even nearly with the exterior sur&ce of the fur 
nace. The fire is made within the furnace, below, a'^'ound. 
and above ; and after heating up, the cupel is put in the muffle 
with the assay in its shallow cup-shaped cavity. It thus has 
the heat of the furnace to fuse the assay, and the air at the 
same time is drawn in over it through the large opening of 
the muffle. The oxygen of the atmosphere unites with the 
lead of the assay, and produces an oxyd, which oxyd sinks 
into the cupel, leaving the silver or gold behind. The com- 
pletion of the process is at once known by the change of the 
assay suddenly to a bright shining globule. 

In the cupellation of gold containing copper, lead is melted 
with the assay. The lead on being fused in a draft of air oxy- 
dizes, and also promotes the oxydation of the copper, and 
both oxyds disappear in the pores of the cupel leaving the 
gold behind, and the silver alloyed with it. In this process 
the gold is melted with three times its weight of silver, (a 
quartation as it is termed, the gold being one part out of focir 
of the alloy,) in order by its diftusion to effect a more com* 
plete removal of the silver as well as the contained copper. 
The cupel is placed in the heated furnace, and the gold, sil- 
ver, and lead, on the cupel ; the heat is continued until the 
sur&ce of the metal is quiet and bright, when the cupella- 
tion is finished ; the metal then is slowly cooled and re- 
moved. The button obtained, after annealing it by bringing 
it to a red heat, is rolled out into a thin plate and boiled in 
strong nitric acid. This process is repeated two or three 
times with a change of the acid each time, and the silver is 
thus finally removed. At the United States mint, half a 
gramme of the gold is submitted to assay. The assay-gold 
and quartation-silver are wrapped in a sheet of lead weigh- 
ing about ten times as much as the gold under assay. After 
cupellation, the plate of gold and silver, loosely rolled into a 
coil, is boiled for 20 minutes in 4 J oz. of nitric acid, of 20 to 
22 Beaum6 ; the acid is then poured off and another por- 
tion of stronger acid is added, about half the former quantity, 
and boiled 10 minutes ; then the same again. The gold 
thus purified is washed and exposed to a red heat, for the 
purpose of drying and annealing it, and then weighed. 

Uses. The uses of gold are well known ; and also that 
it owes a great part of its value to its extreme malleability, 
and the fact of its not tarnishing on exposure. 'Although a 
costly metal, it is one of the cheapest means of ornament. 



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* SILVEB ORES. 323 

on account of the thinness of the leaves into which it 
is beaten. A ^rain of the metal may be made to cover 
56J square inches of surface, and the thinnest leaf is but 
1.280,000th of an inch thick. 

Perfectly pure gold is denominated gold of 24 carats^ or 
fine gold. If it contains 22 parts of pure gold to 2 of silver, 
or to 1 of copper and 1 of silver, it is said to be 22 carats fine ; 
so also for 20 carats fine, it contains 20 parts of pure gold. 
The carat is divided into J, j^, y^, Jj pails, for a more min- 
ute specification of the quality of gold. 

The standard gold of the United States consists of 900 
parts of gold to 100 of an alloy of copper and silver. The 
eagle (10 dollars) contains 232 grains of fine g^old. 

AuroieUuriUy called also Sylvanite, is a grayish or silver-white 
mineral, containing gold combined with Tellurium. 

3. SILVER. 

Silver occurs native and alloyed ; also mineralized with 
sulphur, selenium, arsenic, chlorine, bromine, or iodine, and 
in combination with different acids. 

The ores of silver fuse easily and decompose before the 
blowpipe, affording a globule of silver either alone or with 
■oda ; the globule is known to be silver by its flattening 
out readUy under a hammer, and also by its sectility. The 
species vary in specific gravity from 5*5 to 10*5. 

NATIVE SILVEB. 

Monometric. In octahedrons. No cleavage apparent. 
Occurs often in filiform and arborescent shapes, the threads 
having a crystalline character ; also in laminae. 

Color and streak silver-white and shining. Sectile. Mal- 
leable. H=2-5— 3. Gr=10-3— 10-5. 

Composition : native silver is usually an alloy of silver and 
copper, the latter ingredient often amounting to 10 per cent. 
[t is also alloyed with gold, as mentioned under that metal. 
A. bismuth silver from Copiapo, S. A., contained 16 per cent, 
of bismuth. 

What surface may a grain of gold be made to cover I How much 
ure gold is there in the American eagle 1 What is the use oi' the 
enn carat ? What is the condition of silver in nature 1 Describe na- 
ti?e silver. 



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324 METALS. • 

Before the blowpipe it fuses easily and affords a globule 
which becomes angular on cooling. Dissolves in nitric acid, 
from which it is precipitated by putting in a clean piece of 
copper. 

Dif. Distinguished by being malleable ; from bismuth 
and other white native metals by affording no fumes before 
the blowpipe ; by affording a solution with muriatic acid, 
which becomes black on exposure. 

Ohs, Native silver occurs in masses and string- like ar 
borescences, penetrating rocks, and is found in igneous rock 
and in sedimentary strata, in the vicinity of dikes of trap 
and porphyry. 

The mines of Norway, at Kongsberg, formerly afforded 
magnificent specimens of native silver, but they are now 
mostly under water. One specimen from this locality, at 
Copenhagen, weighs five hundred pounds. Other European 
localities are in Saxony, Bohemia, the Hartz, Hungary, 
Dauphiny. Peru and Mexico also afford native silver. A 
Mexican specimen from Batopilas, weighed when obtained, 
400 pounds ; and one fcom Southern Peru, (mines of Huan- 
tajaya,) weighed over 8 cwt. In the United States, elegant 
specimens are associated with the native copper of Lake Su- 
perior. The silver generally penetrates the copper in masses 
and strings, and is very nearly pure, notwithstanding the 
copper about it 

Much of the galena of the west contains a very small per 
centage, of silver, and that of Monroe, Conn., yields nearly 3 
per cent. 

Native silver has also been observed near the Sing Sing 
state prison ; at the Bridgewater copper mines, N. J. ; and 
in handsome specimens at King's piine, Davidson county, 
North Carolina. 

Uses. The uses of silver are, for the manufacture of va- 
rious articles of luxury, for plating other metals, for philo- 
sophical instruments, for coinage, and also various purposes 
in the arts. For coins, it is alloyed in this country with 
copper, and is thus rendered harder and more durable ; 1000 
parts of the coin contains 100 parts of copper. When thi 
alloy is boiled with a solution of cream of tartar and sea 
salt, or scrubbed with water of ammonia, the superficia. 

How is native silver distinguished 1 How does it occur «nd in wha 
rocks ] Where does silver occur in the U. States, and how ? What 
are the uses of silver 1 



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SILVER OBES. 825 

particles of copper are removed, and u surface of fine silvei 
is lefl. Silver is much less malleable than gold, and can- 
not be beaten into unbroken leaves less than 160,000th 
part of an inch thick. 

In expressing in the arts the purity of silver, if absolutely 
pure, it is said to be silver of 12 pei»ny weights ; if it con 
tain 1^ of its weight of alloy it is called silver of 11 penny 
weights ; if 2-12ths be alloy, it is called silver of 10 penny 
weights, and so on. 

SILVER GLANCE. — Suiphvret of Silver. 

Monometric. In dodecahedrons nore or less modified 
Fig. 22a, page 30, and also other modifications. Cleavage 
sometimes apparent parallel to the fiices of 
the dodecahedron. Also reticulated and mas- 
sive. 

Luster metallic. Color and streak black- 
ish lead-gray ; streak shining. Brittle. H = 
2—2-5. Gr=7-19— 7-4. 

Composition: when pure, silver 87*04, sulphur 12*96. 
Before the blowpipe it intumesces, gives off an odor of sul- 
phur, and finally affords a globule of silver. Soluble in di- 
lute nitric acid. ' 

Dif. Resembles some ores of copper and lead, and other 
ores of silver, but is distinguished as a sulphuret by giving 
the odor of sulphur before the blowpipe, and as an ore of 
silver by affoi-ding a globule uf* this metal, by heat alone. 
Its specific gravity is much higher than any copper ores, and 
it is sectile. 

Ohs. This important ore of silver occurs in Europe, 
principally at Annaberg, Joachimstahl, and other mines of 
the Erzgebirge ; at Schemnitz, and Kremnitz, in Hungary, 
and at Freiberg in Saxony. It is a common ore at the Mex- 
ican silver mines, and also in the mines of South America. 

A mass of sulphuret of silver, is stated by Troost, to have 
been found in Sparta, Tennessee. It also occurs with na- 
tive silver and copper in Northern Michigan. 

Uses. This is a common and highly valuable ore of sil- 
ver. 

BeBides this sulphuret of silver there are two others, which contaii 
also sulphuret of iron or copper. 



. What is the appearance of vitreous silver % What is its composition 1 
What is its value % How is it distinjsuished ? 



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326 METALS. 

Stromeyerite. This ib a Bteel-gray sulphuret of silver and copfei 
eontaining 52 per cent, of silver. Gr=6-26. Before the blowpipe v 
fuses and gives an odor of sulphur ; but a silver globule is not obtained 
except by cupellation with lead. A solution in nitric acid covers a 
plate of iron with copper, and a plate of copper with silver indicating 
the copper and silver present. From Peru, Siberia, and Europe. 

Sternbergite. A sulphuret of silver and iron containing 33 per cent, 
of silver. It is a highly foliated ore resembling graphite, and like it 
leaving a tracing on paper ; the thin laminse are flexible and may be 
smoothed out by the nail. Luster metallic, color pinchbeck brown. 
Streak black. It affords the odor of sulphur and a globule covered 
with silver on charcoal, before the blowipe. With borax a globule of 
■ilver is obtained. From Joachimstahl, in Bohemia. 

BRITTLE SILVER ORE. — Sulpkuret of SUver and Antimony. 

Trimetric. In modified right rhombic prisms. M : M= 
1 15^ 39 . No perfect cleavage. Often in compound crys- 
tals. Also massive. 

Luster metallic ; streak and coloriron-black. H =2—2*5. 
Gr=6-27. 

Composition : Sulphur 16 '4, antimony 14*7, silver 68*5, 
copper 0*6. Before the blowpipe it gives an odor of sulphur 
and also fumes of antimony, and yields a dark metallic glob- 
ule from which silver may be obtained by the addition of 
soda. Soluble in dilute nitric acid, and the solution indi- 
cates the presence of silver by silvering a plate of copper. 

Dif. The black color of this ore distinguishes it from 
the preceding ; and more decidedly the fumes of antimony 
given off before the blowpipe. By the trial with nitric acid 
as well as by soda and the blowpipe, it is ascertained to be 
an ore of silver. 

Obs, It occurs with other silver ores at Freiberg, Schnee- 
berg, and Johanngeorgenstadt, in Saxony ; also in Bohe- 
mia, and Hungary. It is an abundant ore in Chili, Peru, 
and Mexico. It is sometimes called black silver. 

An antimonial sulphuret of silver is said to occur vidth 
native silver and native copper, at the copper mines in 
Michigan. 

Uses. This is a very important ore for obtaining silver, 
especially atjhe South American mines. 

Besides this there are other antimonial, and also anenical and wle- 
iferous ores of silver. 

What is the composition of brittle silver ore ? its color and appeftr- 
nee *? For what is it valued ] 



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SILVER ORES. 327 

Aniimonial Sileer, consists simply of silver and antimooy (77 parts * 
10 23») and has nearly a tin-white color. 6rs=9 4 — 9*8. Before the 
blowpipe gray fumes of antimony pass off, leaving finally a globule of 
silver. Called also Discrasite. 

Folybtuite is near brittle silver ore in color, specific gravity, and com- 
position, but contains some arsenic and copper, with 75*3 per cent, of 
silver. The crystals are usually in tabular hexagonal prisms, without 
cleavage. From Mexico and Peru. 

Miargyrite is an antimonial sulphuret of silver, containing but 36*5 
per cent, of silver, and having a dark cherry-red Hreak, though iron- 
black in color. Before the blowpipe gives off fames of antimony and 
an odor of sulphur ; and with soda, a globule is left which finally yields 
a button of pure alver. 

Dark Bed Silver Ore, and Light Red Silver Ore, are two allied ores 
rhombohedral in their crystals. The former contains silver (59 per 
cent.,) antimony, and sulphur, and has a color varying from black to 
cochineal red, a metallic adamantine luster, and a red streak, H=2'5. 
Gr=5 7— 5 9. 

The latter consists of silver, (65 4 per cent.) arsenic, and sulphur. 
Its color and streak are cochineal red, H=2 — 2'S, Gr=5'4 — 
5' 6. Before the blowpipe these species fuse easily, give off fiimes, one 
of antimony, the other of arsenic ; and finally a globule of silver is ob- 
tained. They are abundant ores in Mexico, and occur also in Saxony, 
Hungaiy, and Bohemia. These ores have been called ruby silver. 

£ucairi!te is a seleniferous ore of silver and copper occurring in black 
metallic films. It gives before the blowpipe fumes of selenium, having 
an odor like that of decaying horse-radish. From Sweden. Another 
seleniferous ore, from the Hartz, called selensilver, contains silver 
and selenium, with a little lead, and crystallizes in cubes. 

Telluric Silver is a Russian ore, of a steel-gray color, containing 
silver 62 '8, and tellurium 37*2. Another variety contains 18 per cent, 
of gold. Gr=83 — ^8*8. With soda, silver is obtained. 

Xanthocone is another silver ore, containing silver (66*2 per cent.) 
combined with sulphur and arsenic. Color dull red to clove-brown ; 
powder yt-llow. 

HORN SILVER. — CUortd of Silver. 

Monometric. In cubes, vs^ith no distinct cleavage. Also 
massive, and rarely columnar ; oflen incrusting. 

Color gray, passing into green and blue, and looking 
somewhat like horn or wax. Luster resinous, passing into 
adamantine. Streak shining. Translucent to nearly opaque. 
Cuts like wax or horn. 

Composition: when pui-e, silver 75*3, chlorine 24'7. 
Fuses in the flame of a candle, and emits acrid fumes. Af. 
ords silver easily on charcoal. The surface of a plate of 
ron rubbed with it is silvered. 



Descnbe horn silver. Of what does it consist? 



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328 METALS. 

Obs* A veiy common ore and extensively worked in the 
mines of South America and Mexico, where it occurs with 
native silver. It also occurs at the mines of Saxony, Sibe 
ria, Norway, the Hartz, and in Cornwall. 

Iodic Silver, Bromic Silver. Silver also oocure in nature united 
with iodine and bromine. These rare ores occur with the preceding 
in Mexico, and the latter in Chile, and at Huelfiroet, in Brittany. 

Embolite. A chlorobromid of silver, resembling the chlorid or horn 
silver. Color aspara gus to olive green. Contains 5 1 of chlorid of silver 
to 49 of bromid. This ore is not less common in Chili than the chlorid 
It has also been fi>und in Chihuahua, Mexico. 

REMARKS ON SILVER AND ITS ORES. 

The ores from which the silver of commerce is mostly obtained are 
the vitreovs silver, brittle or bktck silver ore, red silver ore and horn 
silver, in addition to native silver. Besides these, silver is obtained in 
large quantities from galena, (lead ore,) and from different ores of cop- 
per : and some galenas are so rich in silver that the lead is neglected 
for the more precious metal. This metal occurs in rocks of various 
ages, in gneiss, and allied rocks, in porphyry, trap, sandstone, lime- 
stone, and shales ; and the sandstone and shales may be as recent as the 
middle secondary, as is the case in Prussia, and probably also in our 
own Michigan mining region. The silver ores are associated often 
with ores of lead, zinc, copper, cobalt, and antimony, and the usual 
gangue is calc spar or quartz, with frequently fluor spar, pearl spar, or 
heavy spar. 

The silver of South America is derived principally from the horn sil- 
ver, brittle silver ores, including arseniuretted silver ore, vitreous silver . 
ore, and native silver. Those of Mexico are of nearly the same charac- 
ter. Besides, there are earthy ores called colorados, and in Feru paeos, 
which are mostly earthy oxyd of iron, with a little disseminated silver ; 
they are found near the surface where the rock has undergone partial 
decomposition. The sulphurets of lead, iron, and copper, of the mining 
regions, generally contain silver, and are also worked. 

The mines of Mexico are most abundant between 18° and 24° north 
latitude, on the back or sides of the Cordilleras and especially the west 
side ; and the principal are those of the districts of Guanaxuato, Zaca- 
tecas, Fresnillo, Sombrerete, Catorce, Oaxaca, Pachuca, Real del Monte, 
Moran, and Pasco. The veins traverse very different rocks in these 
regions. The vein of Guanaxuato, the most productive in Mexico, in- 
tersects argillaceous and chloritic shale, and porphyry ; it affords one- 
fourth of aM the Mexican silver. The Valencian mine is the richest in 
Guanaxuato, and has yielded for many years, from one to two millions 
of dollars annually.. In the district of Zacatecas the veins are in gray- 



Where is horn silver a common ore ? From what ores is the silver 
if commerce mostly obtained ? How do they occur 1 What are the 
f/ommon ores of South America ? 



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BILTES ORES. 329 

ir«cke. In Sombrerete they occur in limestoBe ; and there are exten- 
sive veins of the antimonial sulphuret, one of which ga>e In six months 
700,000 marcs, (418,000 lbs. troy) of silver. The Pachcca, Real del 
Monte, and Moran districts, are near oae another. Four great parallel 
veins transverse these districts, through a decomposed porphyry. From 
the vein Biscaina, in Real del Monte, $5,000,000 were realized by the 
Count de Regla, in twelve years. 

In South America the Chilian mines are on the western slope of the 
Cordilleras, and are connected mostly with stratified deposits, of a shaly, 
sandstone, or conglomerate, character, or with their intersections with 
porphyries. The chlorids and native amalgams are found in regions 
more towards the coast, while the sulphurets and antimonial ores 
abound nearer the Cordilleras. The mountains north of the valley of 
Huasco contain the richest silver mines of Chili. The mines of Mt. 
Chanarcillo produces at the present time more than 60,000 marcs of 
fllver per year. The veins abound in horn silver, and begin to yield 
arKsnio-sulphurets at a depth of about 500 feet. The mines of Punta 
Brava, in Copiapo, which are nearer the Cordilleras, afford the arseni- 
u'etted ores. 

In Peru, the principal mines are in the districts of Pasco, Chota, and 
Hnantaya. Those of Pasco are 15,700 feet above the sea, while those 
of Huantaya are in a low desert plain, near the port of Yquique, in the 
southern part of Peru. The ores afforded are the same as in Chili. 
The mines of Huantaya are noted for the large masses of native silver 
they have afforded. 

The Potosi mines in Buenos Ayres, occur in a mountain of argilla.- 
ceous shale, whose summit is covered by a bed of argillaceous porphyry. 
The ore is the red silver* the vitreous ore along with native silver. It has 
been estimated that they have afforded since their discovery |^ 1,300 ,- 
000,000. These mines have diminished in value, though they still rank 
next to those of Guanaxuato. 

In Europe the principal mines are those of Spain, of Kongsberg in 
Norway, of Saxony, the Hartz, Austria, and Russia. The mines of 
Kongsberg occur in gneiss and hornblende slate, in a gangue of calc 
■par. They were especially rich in native silver, but are now nearly 
exhausted. The silver of Spain is obtained mostly from galena, and 
principally in the Sierra Almagrera in Grenada. 

The mines of Saxony occur mostly in gneiss, in the vicinity of Frey- 
berg, Ehrenfriedensdorf, Johangeorgenstadt, Annaberg and Schneeberg. 

The ores of the Hartz are mostly argentiferous copper pyrites and 
galena, yet the red silver, vitreous silver ore, brittle silver ore, and ar- 
senical diver, occur* especially at Andreaskreutz, and the mines of that 
vicinity. The rock intersected by the deposits is mostly an argillace- 
ous shale. Carbonate of lime is the usual gangue, though it is some- 
times quartz 

In the Tyiol, Austria, sulphuret of silver, argentiferous gray copper, 
and mispickel occur in a gangue of quartz, in argillaceous schist. The 
Hungarian mines at Schemmitz and Kremnitz, occur in syenite and 
hornblende porphyry, in a gangue of quartz, often with calc spar or 
heavy spar, and sometimes fluor. The ores are sulphuret of silrrer 



Where are the principal mines in Europe 1 
28 



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30 METALS. 

gray copper, galena, blende, pyritous copper and iron ; and the galen% 
and copper ores are argentiferous. 

The Russian mined of Kolyvan in the Altai, and of Nertchinsk in th« 
Daouria mountains, Siberia, (east of Lake Baikal,) are increasing in 
value, and yield annually at this time, 58,000 troy pounds of silver. 
The Daouria mines afford an argentiferous galena which is worked foi 
its silver. It occurs in a crystalline limestone. The silver ores of the 
Altai occur in Silurian schists in the vicinity o( porphyry, which con- 
tain besides silver ores, gold, copper, and lead ores. 

In England argentiferous galena is worked for its silver. 40,000 
tons of the ore were reduced in 1837, one half of which contained 8 to 
8^ oz. of silver to the ton of lead, and the other half only 4 to 5 oz. ot 
■ilver. 

In the United States, the Washington silver mine, in Davidson coon 
ty, N. CaroUna, had afforded up to 1845, 30,000 dollars of silver. The 
native silver of Michigan is associated with copper in trap and sand- 
stone. These mines promise to be highly productive. 

The silver mines of the world have been estimated to yield at the 
present time $50,000,000 annually. 

The annual product of the several countries of Europe is nearly as 
follows : — 

Pounds troy. Poands troy 

British Isles, 70,000 ~ " " " ^ 



France, 5,000 other parts of Germany, J 



Saxony, the Hartz, and [ j^q qqq 



Belgium, 440 



Piedmont, Switzerland and ) co tu\t\ 
Russia, f ^^'^^ 



Austria, 90,500 

Sweden and Norway, 20,000 
Spain, 130.000 

making in all nearly 500,000 troy pounds, or about 7,750,000 dollars 
annually. This is small compared with the amount from America* 
which at the beginning of the present century equaled 2,100,000 pounds* 
or 31^ millions of dollars, nearly six times the above sum ; and it is 
probable that these mines wilt again yield this amount when properly 
worked. The annual amount from Mexico is set down at 1,750,000 
pounds, and from Chili, Peru and Bolivia, near 700,000 pounds. The 
whole sum from Russia, Europe and America, makes nearly 3,000,000 
pounds troy. 

The common modes of reducing silver ores in the large way are two ; 
by amalgamation f and by smelting, Both mercury and lead have a 
strong affinity for silver, and these reducing processes are based on this 
fact. In amalgamation, the silver ore is brought to the state of a chlo- 
rid by a mixture of the powdered ore (or " schlich,") with about ten per 
cent, of common salt ; the chlorid is reduced by means of salts or sul- 
phurets of iron, or metallic iron in fiUngs, and at the same time mer- 
cury which has been added, combines with the liberated silver, and thus 
separates it in the condition of an amalgam, (a compound of mercury 
and silver;) The mixture of salt and " echlich" requires several days to 
become complete. Heat is employed at the Saxon mines, but not at 
hose of Mexico, where the climate is tropical. After the mercury ia 
ut in, (6 or 8 parts to 1 of silver,) the mixture is kept in constant agi« 

Where are the Russian mines? What is the yield of the silvci 
nines of the world 1 What was afforded by South America at the be- 
tnning of tliis century 1 Describe the process of amalgamation. 



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BILVEB ORES. 



3^1 



tation until the process is finished. In the best arrangements, at iq 
Saxony, this agitation is performed in revolving barrels, and the resul . 
-fS accomplished in a few hours ; but in Mexico it is effected by the 
'reading of mules or oxen, and requires two or three weeks or more. 
The amalgam, separated from the muddy mass, by a current of water 
or washing, is then filtered of the excess of mercury ; as a last step it is 
subjected to heat in a distilling frimace, by which the silver is left be- 
hind, the mercury passing off in a state of vapor to be condensed in a 
condensing chamber or receptacle. The loss of mercury by the pro- 
cess is often large. 

In case of the ordinary sulphurets and arseniurets of silver, or the 
chlorid, in Mexico and South America, the poorer ores are first fiisea 
with a flux, and the result, (called the " matt") is then roasted to expel 
the sulphur ; afterwards it is mixed with better ores, again fiised, and 
on cooling, again roasted. This ftision and roasting is again repeated 
with the best ores. The result from this fiision is next mixed thorough- 
ly with melted lead ; the lead separates the silver ; and the impurities 
which float on the surface, are removed in plates as a crust cools, to be 
again melted with new ores, as the slag is apt to contain some of the 
silver. 

When the argentiferous galena is the ore, it is reduced by roasting in 
a reverberatory ftimace in the ordinary way for lead ore ; the resulting 
lead contains also the silver. 

The accompanjdng sketch represents the essential characters of a 
fcverberatory fiimace. It is a transverse section, a is the grate on 
irhich the fire is made^ | — | 
and from which the flame 
proceeds through the hor- 
izontal chamber or gen- 
eral cavity of the fiimace, 
(usually very low,) to 
the flue at e. k ia the 
■ole of the hearth, for re- 
receiving the ore or as- 
say, having an elliptical or circular form according to the shape of 
the fiimace ; c is the fire bridge, separating the fire from the sole ; 
d is the arched roof. The flame plays horizontally over the charge of 
ore, and as the air may be made to pass freely with it, we may have in 
such a fiimace a combined effect derived from the heat and the pres- 
ence of the atmosphere ; the ore, or its metal, if capable of uniting with 
the oxygen of the atmosphere, may be oxydated by the process, pre- 
cisely as in the outer or oxydating flame of the blowpipe. In an or- 
dinary blast fiimace, (page 233,) the ore and its flux are confined from 
the atmosphere, (except the air that enters with the blast,) and the re- 
sult is the reduction of an ore or its deoxydation, as in the inner or re- 
ducing flame of the blowpipe. This latter effect may in many cases 
be obtained also with a reverberatory fiimace, when the atmosphere ia 
excluded except what is essential to feeding the fire. 

In the reverberatory furnace, there is a small door near the fire-grate, 
m, for putting in fuel. There is also an opening either at top, or on the 




Deseiihe a reverberatory fiimace. 



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r32 MBTAL8. 

side, for introducing the charge ; also there may be (oe or more doors 
on each side for working the charge while exposed to the heat. There 
may also be a tap hole for drawing, off the reduced metal into one or 
more pots attached for the purpose ; another in some cases for the es> 
cape of slag as in cupellation, and where there is a vaporizable ingre- 
dient to be condensed, one or two flues leading to a condensing cham- 
ber. In large establishments several of these reverberatory iiimacea 
connect with a single chimney. They are actually like hirge elliptical 
or circular ovens, of brick or atone, conmiunicating with a common 
flue. 

In reverberatory furnaces adapted for melting metals, the hearth is 
a gently inclined plane, sloping to a spot towards one end, in order that 
the fused metal may flow down together and be convenient for drawing 
off. For many other purposes, the aoU is flat, and the depth is greatei 
than in the above figure. 

To separate the silver from the lead, the lead is heated in a reverbe* 
ratory furnace, the hearth of which is covered with wood ashes and 
clay, so as to give it the nature of a cupel. The air received through 
an aperture on one side, passes over the metal in fusion, in a constant 
current, oxydizing it and changing it to litharge, which is from time to 
time drawn out ; finally the lead is thus removed, and the silver remains 
nearly pure. The completion of the process is known by the metal be- 
commg brilliant. It is again subjected to another similar operation, and 
thus rendered quite pure. The litharge from the latter part of the pro- 
cess is also subjected to another operation for the silver it usually con- 
tains. 

According to Pattinson's new process, adopted in England, the silver 
is separated by melting the lead, and, as it begins to cool, straining out 
the crystals with an iron strainer. The portion left behind contains 
nearly all the silver. This is several times repeated, each time the re- 
maining lead becoming richer in silver. This is then cupelled. An 
ore containing only 3 ounces of silver to the ton of lead, (or but 1- 
10,000th part,) may thus be profitably worked, and with little loss of 
lead. 

When the ore containing silver is a copper ore, as is often the case 
with gray copper ore, the calcined ore is mixed with lead or lead ore, 
and fused and calcined, and the resulting products are either liquated to 
nceat out the silver or cupelled. Tn liquation, the coppei is run into 
oigs, (called liquation cakes,) and kept above a red heat for two or three 
days ; the lead first melts and flows in drops into cast iron troughs, car- 
rying with it the silver, which is afterwards obtained by cupelling. 
The copper still contains some of the lead. 

In iriaU by cupellation, a piece of lead of known weight is placed in 
ft cup of bone-ashes, and this is subjected to heat in a small air cham- 
ber or oven, and placed in a furnace so that the air shall have fi-ee ac- 
cess. The lead is oxydized, and the oxyd sinks into the cupel, leaving 
a globule of silver behind. The globule being then weighed, and com- 
pared with the weight of lead, the proportion of silver is ascertained. 
Silver may thus be found in almost any specimen of the lead of com- 



What is the process of amalgamation with an argentiferous lead orcl 
What is the mode oi* trial bv cuoellation ? 



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SILVER ORBS. '333 

tnerce, however small the proportion. The weight of the globule, es- 
pecially when quite minute, may be also ascertained by measurement, 
according to a scale given by Prof. W. W. Mather, in the American 
Journal of Science, volume iii, second series, page 414. Much that 
has been mentioned in the preceding pages on the American mines oi 
silver, has been derived from an article by Prof. Mather, in volume xxiv 
of the same Journal. 

Other modes of reducing silver ores without quicksilver, have been 
proposed. According to one, the ore is calcined with common salt, as 
iu Mexico, and converted thus to a chlorid. It is then removed to some 
proper vessel, and a hot solution of salt poured over it ; this takes up 
the chlorid of silver and holds it in solution. The liquid is transferred 
to another vessel, and by means of metallic copper the silver is de- 
posited. 

Another process consists in roasting the sulphurets and converting 
them in a reverberatory furnace to sulphates ; then by boiling water, 
dissolving the sulphates in a proper vessel, and finally precipitating as 
above by copper. This process requires the presence of a good deal ot 
sulphur, and is the best when there is much iron and copper pyrites 
present. 

In the assay to separate copper from silver, the alloy is dissolved in 
Ditric acid, and the silver precipitated in the state of a chlorid by com- 
mon salt. The amount of silver may then be ascertained by weighing 
the precipitated chlorid, and observing that 75'33 per cent, of the chlo- 
rid is pure silver. 

SUPPLEMENT. 

Forms of Gema. — Gems are cut either by cleaving, by sawing with, 
a wire armed with diamond dust, or by grinding. Some remarks on 
the cutting of the diamond are given on page 83. The harder stones, 
as the sapphire and topaz, are cut on a copper wheel with diamond 
powder soaked with olive oil, and are afterwards poUshed with tripoli. 
For other gems, less hard, a lead wheel with emery and water is first 
used, and then a tin or zinc wheel with putty of tin or rotten stone 
and water. 

The following are some of the common forms. It will be remem- 
bered that the upper truncated pyramid is called the table, the lower 
part or pyramid, the collet, and the line of junction between the two 
parts, the girdle* Figures 1 and 2 represent the brilliant, the best form 
of the diamond, used also for other stones, as well as pastes. Figs. 3 
and 4 are views of a variety of the rose diamond. Figs. 5 and 6 the 
same of an emerald. The cut in steps is called the pavilion cut. Fig. 
7 is an upper view of a mode of cutting the sapphire, A side view 
would be nearly like figure 6, except that the collet is more like that of 
figure 8. Fig. 8 represents a side view of an oriental topaz. The 
table has the brilliant cut, like figs. 1 and 2. Figure 9 represents a 
Bohemian garnet, which is made thin because its color is deep. The 
common topaz is cut like figure 8 ; often also like figure 9, but much 
thicker, and frequently having the table bordered by two or more rows 
of triangular facets. Figure 10 is a very simple table. Figures 11 and 
12 represent the form *' en eabockon" given the opal; and figures 19 
and 13, " en caboehon" with facets, a mode of cutting the chrysobervl 



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S84 



8UPFLBMENT. 



The following are some of the common forms. It will be Yemeni • 
bered that the upper truncated pyramid is called the tahlcyihe I >wer pari 
or pyramid, the collety and the line of junction between the two parts, 
the girdle. Figures 1 and 2 represent the hrillianU the best form of the 
diamond, used also for other stones, as well as pastes. Figs. 3 and 4 
are news of a variety of the rose diamond. Figs. 5 and 6 the same of 
Ml emerald. The cut in steps is called the pavilion cut. Fig. 7 is an 
1 8 3 . 




upper view of a mode of cntting the sapphire. A tide view would be 
nearly like figure 6, except that the collet is more like that of figure 8. 
Fig. 8 represents a side view of an oriental topaz. The table has the 
briUiant cut, like figs. 1 and 2. Figure 9 represents a Bohemian gar- 
netf which is made thin because its color is deep. The common topax 
is cat like figure 8 ; often also like figure 9 but much thicker, and fie- 
quently having the table bordered by two or more rows of triangular 
&cets. Figure 10 is a very simple table. Figures 11 and 12 represent 
the form ** en cahochovl' given the opal; and figures 12 and 13, '* •• 
eabochouC* with facets, a mode of cutting the ehryeoberyl. 



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ThiB re-cutting has diminished the weight of the diamond Otoi one 
third, a sacrifice of magnificence to mere ornamental brilliancy 



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CHAPTER VII. 

; CHEiaCAL COMPOSITION AND FORMULAS OP MINBRALS. 

On a former page a brief explanation is given of the con- 
ttitution of minerals. The following table contains the names 
of all the elements thus far discovered by Chemistry, to- 
gether with the abbreviations or symbols by which they are 
indicated in chemical formulas, and the combining or atomic 
weights. Thus Al stands for the element Aluminium, Sb for 
Antim<my (derived from Stibium, the Latin name for Anti- 
mony). Ab all the elements combine with oxygen, and oxyds 
(as such compounds are called), are the most common of all 
compounds, Berzelius proposed to use a dot over a letter for 
oxygen, that is, one dot for one proportion of oxygen, tujo for 
two proportions, three for three proportions, <fec. In this way, 
"ta. means that one part of oxygen is combined with one of 
Baryum ; the compound is protoxyd of baryum. So i^ sig- 
nifies that five parts of oxygen are combined with one of 
phosphorus ; the compound is phosphoric acid. Again to 
express two of Aluminium, a bar crosses the letter A, so that 
Si means a compound of three of oxygen and tv>o of alu- 
minium ; 9e means three of oxygen and two of iron, or a 
sesquioxyd of iron. Besides the atomic weights of the 'ele- 
ments, the principal occurring oxyds are given, with their 
atomic weights, and also the percentage of oxygen in each. 

Table of Atomic Weights, 



Aluminium, Al, 


ITI'26 


Alumina, 3tl, 


642-6 (0, 46-7) 


Antimony (Stibium), Sb, 


1612-6 


Arsenic, As, 


QST-e 


Bartum, Ba, 


866-26 


Baryta, fia, 


956-26 (0, 10-46) 


Bismuth, Bi, 


2600 


Boron, B, 


1S6-2 


Boracic add, B, 


486-2 (0, 68-8) 


Brominb, Br, 


1000 



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TABUE X>y ATOKIC WVIGHTB. 



^S'i 



Cadmioh, Od, 


«96*8 


Oaloium, Ca, 


256 


Lime, Oa, 


S60 (0, 28-57) 


€arbon, G, 


75 


Oarboaic add, C, 


276 


OBEIUM,Ce, 


«87-5 


P^otoxyd of 0., de, 


687-5 (0, 14-5«) 


Chlorine, 01, 


. 443-3 


Hydrochloric add, HOI, 


455-8 


Chromkjm, Or, 


«33-75 


Oxyd of Oh^ <&:, 


«67-5 (0, ZtO) 


Ohromic add, Or, 


•633-76 (0, 47-8) 


€OBALT, Oo, 


868-6> 


OoiiUMSlUM, Ob, 


23001 


Oolumbic acid, Ob, 


^600 (0, 11-5) 


Copper (Ouprum), Ou, 


896-25 


Oxyd of Oopper, ^h, 


^92-6 (0, 11-2) 


Oxyd of Oopper, Ou, 


496-25 (0, 20-lft) 


DlDTMIUM, B. 




Erbium, £b. 




Fluorine, F, 


«87-6 


HydrofLadd,HF, 


250-0 


Glucinum (Beryllium), Be, 


68-76 


Gludoa, Se, 


476-25(0,68) 


Gold (Aorum), Au, 


:231-25 


Stdrogkn, H, 


12-5 


Water, fl, 


112-5 (0, 88-89) 


Iodine, I, 


1587-5 


Iridium, Ir, 


1237-6 


Iron (Ferrum), Fe, 


850 


Pi-otoxyd of L, {"e. 


450 (0, 22-22) 


Sesquioxyd of I., 3Pe, 


1000 (0,80) 


Lanthanum, La, 


687-5 


Protoxyd of L., ta. 


687-5 (0, 14-i) 


Lbao (Plumbum), Pb, 


1294-6 


Protoxyd of Lead, ^b, 


1894-6 (0,7-W) 


Lithium, Li, 


81-6 


Lith]a,td, 


181-6 (0, 55) 


Haonbsium, Mg, 


150 


Magiie6ia,% 


S60 (0, 40) 



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938 



CHEMICAl COMPOSITION OF HIHSRALS. 



Manoarw, Md, 


844-7 


Protoxyd of IL. ftn. 


444-7 (0, 22-6) 


Sesquiozyd of M^ Stn, 


»89-4 (0, 80-8) 


HOLTBDKNUM, Mo, 


676 


Molybdicacid,fio, 


876 


STiGKXLyNi, 


869-8 


Protoxyd of Nl, iSTi, • 


469-8 (0, 21-8) 


NiTBOGKir, N, 


176 


Nitric acid, ft. 


676 (0,74) 


Osmium, Ob. 


1243*6 


OZTOKN, O, 


100 


Palladium, Pd, 


666-6 


Phosphokus^ P, 


887-6 


Phosphoric add, P, . 


887-6 (O, 66-84) 




1237 6 


Potassium (Kalium), K, 


488-9 


Potassa, i, 


688-9 (0, 16-98) 


QuiOKsn.YiEB (Hjdrargynun), Hg, 


1260 


Rhodium, Rd, 


662 


Ruthenium, Ru, 


662 


Selenium, Se, 


493-76 


81LICIUM, Si, 


266-26 


Silica, Si, 


666-26 (0, 62-98) 


Silver (Argentum), Ag, 


1360 


Sodium (Natrium), Na, 


287-6 


8oda,Sa, 


387-6 (0,26-8) 


Strontium, Sr, 


647-6 


Strontia, dr, 


647-6 (0, 16-44) 


Sulphur, S, 


200 


Sulphurous acid, S, 


400 


Sulphuric acid, S, 


600 (0,60) 


Tantalum, Ta, 


2300 


Tantalic acid, Ta, 


2600 


Tellurrtm, Te, 


801-8 


Terbium, Tb. 




Thorium, Th, 


743-9 


Tin (Staonum), Sn, 


726 


Oxyd of Tin, Sn, 


926 (0,21-6 


Titanium, Ti, 


312-6 


Oxyd of Titanium, Ti 


926 (0,82-4) 


Titanic acid, Ti, 


512-6 (0, 39) 



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OBBMIOAL OOMPOSITIOH OF MHOBRALflL 880 



TuNQSTKN (Wolfram), W, 


1160 


Tungstic add, % 


1460 


UHANIUM, U, 


760 


Protoxyd of U^ tJ, 


860 


Peroxyd of U, ^, 


1800 


Vanadium, V, 


866-9 


TTTRIUlf, Y, 


402-6 


Yttria, Y, 


602-6 (0, 19-9) 


ZiNO, Zd, 


406-6 


Oxyd of Zinc, 2d, 


606-6 (0, 19-'74) 


ZmooNiuM, Zr, 


419-T 


Zirconia, £Sr, 


1139-6 (0, 26-8) 



By atomic weights is understood the combining propcrtions 
of the elements. For example, when iron and oxygen com- 
bine, they unite in the proportions of 350 parts by weight of 
iron to 100 of oxygen, or in some simple multiple of these 
numbers. The protoxyd contains one part or atom of each, and 
has therefore the atomic weight 460 ; the peroxyd (more pre- 
cisely sesquioxyd) contains 2 of iron (2X3 50= 7 00) to 3 of 
oxygen (3X100:=300), and therefore has the atomic weighs 
1000(700+300=1000). To ascertain the per-centage of 
oxygen in this oxyd, we hare 300 of oxygen in 1000 parts; 
hence the ratio, — 1000 are to 300 as 100 to the number of 
parts in 100; therefore dividing 300X100 by 1000 give 
the oxygen per-centage. Hence too' if. we multiply the per- 
centage of oxygen by the atomic weight of the oxyd, we ob- 
tain as a result, after dividing by 100, the oxygen amount in 
the compound. For alumina, 46-7X642-5-i-100z=300, the 
amount of oxygen ; and in this way the correctness of the 
oxygen per-centage may be verified. 

The mode of deducing chemical formulas may be illustra- 
ted by two or three examples. 

1. We have an analysis of Red. Silver Ore as follows : 
Silver 69-02, antimony 23*49, and sulphur 17*49 per cent 
It is desired to ascertain the relative number of atoms of 
each element in the compound. This number must depend 
on the weights of the atoms, as compared with the quantity 
of each, for the less the weight, the greater the number of 
atomsi The rule consequently is, — Divide the per-centage of 
ioch element by the atomic weight of the same ; as, 5.'02 by 



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340 CHEMIOAL COMPOSITION OF MINBRAU. 

1360, the atomic weight of silver, and so on. (See preoed 
ing table.) This process gives the relation, 
0-0437 : 0-0146 : O'OSib, 
and dividing each hy the 8malle4tt, to simplify it, it becomes 

3:1:6, 
which is therefore the number of atoms of each, silver, anti- 
mony, and sulphur. The formula 3Ag+lSb+6S, or Ag* 
Sb S®, expresses this relation. 

As chemistry makes known a sulphuret of silver consisting 
of 1 of sulphur to 1 of silver, and also a sulphuret of anti- 
mony containing 3 of sulphur to 1 of antimony, the ingre- 
dients are regarded as thus combined in the compound. The 
3Ag take 3S, making 3AgS, and leave 38 for the ISb to 
form l(SbS') ; so that Red Silver Ore is supposed to be rep- 
resented by the formula 

8AgS-f-SbS» or Ag'Sb, 
if the mark ( ' ) be used, as is common, for sulphur. 

2. An analysis of Feldspar gives in 100 parts. 

Silica 64-78, Alumina 18-38, Potash 16-84. 

Now if we ascertain the proportion of oxygen in these con- 
stituents we learn the ratio of the constituents, since we know 
that silica contains 3 of oxygen, alumina 3, and potash 1. 
From the above table we find that 100 of silica contain 62-98 
of oxygen; consequently if 100 give 62*98, the amount in 
64-78 parts will be found by multiplying 62-98 by 64*78, 
and dividing by 100; or what is equivalent, multiplying 
0*5298 by 64-78. So in 100 parts of alumina the oxygen is 
46*7 ; hence the oxygen in 18-38 parts of alumina will equal 
18-38X46-7-^-100. In this way we ascertain that 

64*78 of silica contain 34*32 oxygen, ) or'diTidine (12 
18*38 of alumina " 8*58 '* t •aJshbythe J 3 

16-84 of potash " 2*86 " ) "°*""^ / 1 

Hence the amount of oxygen in the potash, alumina, and 
silica, is as 1 : 3 : 12. Now as each atom of silica contains 3 
of oxygen, 12 atoms of oxygen correspond to 4 of silica: so 
also 3 of oxygen for the alumina correspond for a like reason 
to 1 of alumina ; and 1 of oxygen for the potash to 1 atom 
of potash. The compound therefore contains 4 parts of silica 
to 1 of alumina and 1 of potash. 



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OHSMIOAL TORMULAS OF MINERALS. 941 

The next step in the usual method, is to determite ho\f 
these constituents are combined; how much of the silica 
with the potash, and how much with the alumina. Refer- 
ence is made to the possibility or probability of certain com- 
pounds, which Chemistry alone can teach ; but aid is found 
in the principle, that the number of atoms of oxygen in each 
acid and base is usually some simple multiple, the one of the 
other. If in the above compound, 1 of silica be united with 
1 of potash, the ratio alluded to is 1 to 3 ; and if the alu- 
mina be combined with the remaining 3 atoms of silica, the 
same ratio holds. This is the mode of combination com-> 
monly adopted ; it is expressed in the following formula, the 
dots as explained, indicating the oxygen : 

i3i+*lSi». 

The index * expresses the number of atoms of silica : had 
the 3 been written as a prefix, thus, 3£lSi, it would have 
meant 3 atoms of a compound of silica and alumina. 

The formula might also be written with equal precision, 
and without dividing the silica between the bases, as follows : 

(i+il)Si*. 

In a similar manner, an analysis of Garnet affords the ra- 
tio of ingredients as follows : 

8 of lime (sOa), 1 of alumina (I'M), 2 of silica (23i), 

corresponding to the oxygen ratio 3:3:6 or 1:1:2. Ap- 
portioning the silica to the bases, we have the formula 

Ca»Si-|-ilSi, 

in which the oxygen ratio for each member is 1 : 1. Idocrase 
and Meionite afford other simple examples. 

3. In Feldspar, above cited, the protoxyd portion is often 
not potash alone, but part soda or lime. Again, in Garnet, 
the protoxyds, instead of being all lime, may be part magne- 
sia, protoxyd of iron, <fec. In each case, however, all the 
protoxyds added together, make up the same specific number 
of atoms as if there were but one alone. So the peroxyd 
portion may not be all of it alumina, but part peroxyd of 
iron, the amount of this peroxyd of iron being just equiva- 
lent to the deficiency in the alumina; that is, an equivalent 
not in actual weight, but in atomic weight. In Garnet, as 
stated above, the oxygen ratio is 1 : 1 : 2 ; and whatever the 



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842 CHXMIOAL OOMPOSITION OF MIKEKALS. 

peroxyds or protoxyds, the ratio still holds. Suppose an 
analysis of Garnet affords the per-centage, Silica 39*6, alu- 
mina 22-5, lime 82*6, protoxyd of iron 6*3 : we ascertain the 
oxygen in each constituent in the manner explained, (in the 
Silica, by multiplying 0*6298 by 39*6, — in the alumina, by 
multiplying 0*4 6 7 by 22*5, — in the lime by multiplying 
0*2857 by 32*6, — in the protoxyd of iron by multiplying 
0-2222 by 6-3) ; then on adding the oxygen of the protoxyd 
of iron to that of the lime, the amount just equals that of 
the alumina, as the oxygen ratio requires. Moreover the 
oxygen of all the protoxyds and peroxyds together equals 
the oxygen of the silica. 

As different protoxyds may thus replace one another, and 
as different peroxyds Ukewise admit of mutual replacement, 
it is common to write lEt as a general symbol for the prot- 
oxyds of a compound, and S for the peroxyds. It is also 
common to write the special symbols of the protoxyds which 
replace one another, in parentheses, with a comma between 
them. Thus in the Garnet referred to, in which lime and 
protoxyd of iron replace one another, the general formula 
may be either 

ft»Si+3tlSi ; or (Ca, i'e)»Si+Xl5l 

The proportions of the lime and protoxyd of iron are not 
here stated, but may be ; if 1 : 2, the formula becomes 

(i(5a-hf:f'e)3Si+5lSL 

Again, the formula (Ca, ]ilg)(3, signifies that the compound 
is a carbonate of lime and magnesia, in definite or indefinite 
proportions ; (|Ca-fi]ii[g)0 that the proportion is 1 : 1 ; (f^a+ 
jMg)C that the proportion is 2 : 3, f and f having this ratio, 
and together equaling a unit. ^Q is a general expression for 
a carbonate of any protoxyd. 

4. The formula for Garnet, B*Si+3cl§i, may also be writ- 
ten witli equal precision as follows : 

(ife»+i3tl)§i, 
the ratio 1:1:2 being still retained, and the fact being also 
presented to the eye that the oxygen of all the oxyds is to 
that of the silica as 1 : 1. In Gehlenite, another silicate of 
alumina and lime, the oxygen ratio is 3 : 3 : 4, which gives 
6 : 4 or 3 : 2 for the ratio of the oxyds and silica (that is, the 
oxygen of the silica is two-thirds that of all the oxyds), whil« 



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€BEMICAL TORMULAB OF MINBRAL8. 343 

ihat of the protoxyds and peroxyds is 1 : 1, The formula 
may hence be 

ft«Si*+fiSi* ; or (i&»+ifi)Si*. 

In the first of these formulas each of the two members has 
the same oxygen ratio 3:2; in the second this ratio is also 
retained, and is more briefly expressed, without the hypothet- 
ical idea that the silica in the compound is divided off between 
the protoxyd and peroxyd bases. 

5. To deduce the per-centage atomic relations from a for- 
mula, the process above described is reversed. For example : 
for Feldspar we have 4 of silica, 1 of alumina, 1 of potash. 
In the preceding table the atomic weight of silica is 566*25, 
and four times this is 2265. Setting this down and the 
atomic weights of alumina and potash below it, and adding, 
we have 

4 of silica, 2266 

1 of alumina, .... 642*5 

1 of potash, .... 588-9 



Total atomic weight of the feldspar, 8496*4 

Kow if this amount (3496*4) of feldspar contains 2265 
of silica, what will 100 parts contain ? Hence, to obtain the 
per-centage, we divide the atomic weight of each constituent 
in succession by the sum of the whole, and this gives the per- 
centage relation for each; viz. silica 64*78, alumina 18*38, 
potash 16*84. 

The following are the forftiulas of the more common min- 
eral species following the order of the book. 

Table of Chemical Formulas of Minerals. 



Sal Ammoniac (100), 


NH4C1 


Niter (101), 


^ 


Glauber Salt (102), 


]sraS-|-ioA 


Nitratine (Nit. Soda, 108), 


]i^a« . 


Natron (108), 


]S"a<3-|-io:ft 


Trona (108), 


Sa«0«+%fl 


Common Salt (104), 


NaCl 


Borax (107) 


SaB^i-lOBE 


Barytes (Heavy Spar, 108), 


£aS 


Witherite(109), 


&0 



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Z44 



CHSMIOAL OOMPOBinOir GW MUTBAikUb 



CelestiDe (110), 


SrS 


Strontianite (lllX 


SrO 


Gypsum (112), 


Ca3+2£[ 


Aiihytlrite (114X 


OaS 


Calcite(n6), 


6aC 


AragODite (118> 


Oad 


Dolomite (11&), 


(ea,fig)0 


Apatite (120X 


ea»P+iOa(01. F) 


Fiuor spar (121), 


OaF 


Epsomite (Epsom salt, 124}, 


ftgS+7S 


Mag^nesite (124), 


iigO 


Brucite (125), 


ftgft 


Boracite (126), 


figsB^ 


Potash ahim (I27> 


fi:s+iiS'+24]e[ 


Soda alum (128), 


Jrag+*lS»-h24fl[ 


Alunitc (129V 


tg-i-3*i5+6fl 


Wavellite (130)„ 


(Sl«P»+18ft)-HAIF* 


Gibbeite (131)^ 


Sl£[3 


Quartz (132), 


Si 


Opal (189), 


Bi(-|-Aq.) 


WoUastonite (141)„ 


Ca»Si» 


DathoUte (142). 


(Ca>,tf,B)Si* 


Tklc (148), 


]fl[g6Si6+2fi 


Chlorite (146),. 


(fe»,fi)§i*+Hfi 


Ripidolite (146), 


(fe»,fi)gi*+liA 


Serpentiue (146), 


MgsSi'+liftgfia 


Meerschaum (T48)» 


flgSi+fi? 


Clintonite (148), 


(ll»,fi)(Si,il)*-hi« 


Pyroxene (150), 


(%, Ca, f^e, An)»§l» 


HomWeDde (152), 


(Mg,(5a,*'e,]an)*gi» 


Spodumene (166), 


(U]*a)'Si*+4Sig£» 


Chrysolite (167), 


(%, *e. (5a)8Si 


Chondrodite (167), 


(Mg, i'e)<Si 


Corundum (158)^ 


£1 


Spfuel(160X 


(%X1) 


Automolite (rar. of Spmel, 161), 


2lo£l 


Hercinite, « 


^e^ 


Ceylanite, ** 


(A&f'e)*. 


Dysluite, 


(^liln)(3fcl,?e) 



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CHEMICAL FORMULAS OF MINERALS. 



345 



Kreittonite, (rar. of Spinel), 
HaUojBite (161), 
Heulandite (164), 
StUbite (166), 
Apophyllite (166), 
Laumontite (166), 
Natrolite (166), 
Scolecite (167), 
ThomsoDite (167), 
Hannotome (168), 
Analcime (168), 
* Cbabazite (169), 
Prehnite (170), 
Sillimanite (172), 
Kyanite (178), 
Andalusite (174), 
Staurotide (174), 
Leucite (175). 
Orthoclase (176), 
Albite (177), 
Labradorite (178), 
Nepheline (179), 
Scapolite (180), 
Meionite (181), 
PetaUte (182), 
Epidote (182), 
Allauite (183, 207), 
Idocrase (184), 
Garnet (184), 
Tourmaline (187), 
Axinite (190), 
lolite (190), 
MuBOovite (191), 
Biotite (198), 
Phlogopite (198), 
Topaz (194), 
Beryl (197), 



(2n,*e)(Xl;Pe) 

3fclSi-|-3fl: (in part) 

CaSi-fatlSi3+5fi 

CaSi-|-XlSi8+6fl[ 

Ca,i,§i,ftF. 

Ca»Si»+3*lSi»+*2fl 

]SraSi+3tlSi+2fl[ 

Ca§i+3tl8i4-8fi 

fe»Si+8atlSi-f7fi 

BaSi+3tlSi'»+6fi 

S"a«Si»+33fclSi» + 6fl: 

fe»Sia4-33tlSi»+18fi 

2(5a«SiH-83tl5i-ffi^Si 

ilSi*; (partly XlSi?) 

3tl# 

ilSi^ 

XlSi* 

fc3gi9r_|_3XlSi» 

(B:H-3tl)Si^=feSi+3tlSi» 

(^a+atl)Si*=]?faSi+3agi3 

(Ca-f3fcl)3i«=(5agi+3tl§i 

(^a+*l)Si^=]5ira«Si+2*lSi 

(^Ifc«4^atI)§i4=fe3Si+*l2S» 

(^(5a3+f3tl)Si=Ca3gi-f2*lSi 

(ifi3^l3ti)gi=ft3gi-|- 2iigi 

(iJt34.|3fcl)gi=Jt3gi_|_ilgi 

(i^'+|3tl)Si=3R^SH-2ilSi 

(fe3,*l,B)Si* 

(Ifc3,fi,S)gi 

(^R34.^3ti)Sit=fi3gii4.8*igii 
(^ijjB3+i§fi)Sii=fl3§ii+i2figii 
(ift3+i3tl)Si=fi3gi_{.3tisi 

(ffe3+f3tl)Si=3R3gi-f23trSi 

3fcl§i^ with F replacing part of O 
(i»e+iAl)S12=iiiS.2+Al§i2 



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34e 



CHSMIOAL COMPOSITION OF MINERALS. 



Eaclase (199), 


(iBe+iSl)5i^=aeSi^Sl9i^ 


Ohryaoberyl (199X 


Be+£13 


Zircon (200), 


ZrSi 


Yttrocerite (206), 


(Oa,Oe,Y)F 


MoDazite (206), 


(6e,La,ll^)'^ 






ButUe (210), 


Ti 


SpheDe(211), 


(6a+fi)gi*=(S)Si* 


Tin Pyrites (218), 


<3aS(Sn«S». Fe*S») 


Tin Ore (214), 


Sn 


Molybdenite (217), 


MoS* 


Molybdic ocher (218), 


fio 


Tungstic ocher (218), 


iv' 


Scheelite (Tungstate of lime. 


219), Caw 


Gray Antimony (222), 


Sb«S» 


White Antimony (224), 


Sb«0« 


White Arsenic (226), 


A8«0» 


Oroimeut (226), 


A8»S» 


Realgar (226), 


AsS 


Uranite (228), 


Oa*P+^45P+16fl 


Clialcolite (229), 


Cu»P+^P+16fl 


Pyrites (281), 


FeS» 


Pyrrhotine (288), 


Fe^SS; FeS. 


Mispickel (234), 


Fe(As,S)« 


Magnetite (236), 


fePe 


Specular Iron (287), 


Fe 


Limonite (239), 


Pe»fi» 


Gothite (240), 


Pe^ 


Franklinite (240), 


^n(9e.S^) 


Ilmenite (241), 


(I»e,fi) 


Chromic Iron (241), 


M^T) 


Oolumbite (248), 


*e»Ob« 


TantaUte (ferrotantaUte, 244^ 


*eTa 


Wolfram (244), 


{te,An)yf 


Copperas (246), 


*eS+7fl 


Spathic Iron (247), 


*eO 


Vivianite (248), 


*e»P+8fi 


Bhodonite (268), 


]S[n>Sis 


Pyrolusite (269> 


fla 



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CHBMIOAL VOBMULAS OF MISKRALS. 



U1 



PsUomelane (269), 


ftXtna+fll 


Wad (260), 


ftan+fll 


TripUte (260), 


(SLa^teyP 


Oopper Nickel (268^ 


NiAs 


Ohloanthite (263), 


(Ni,Co)Afi» 


Safflorite (268), 


(Ni,Co,Fe)Ai« 


Nickel aiance (268), 


Ni(S,Afl)a 


Capillary Pyrites or MUlente 


(264), NiS 


Emerald Nickel (264), 


Nifl+2Srifi» 


Smaltine (266), 


(Co,Ni)A88 


Erythrine (267), 


Oo'ls+Sfl 


Blende (269), 


ZnS 


Zindte (270). 


2n 


Sulphate of Zinc (271), 


2ng+7fl 


Smithsonite (272), 


anc 


Calamine (272), 


2n>3i-hHA 


Galena (277), 


PbS 


Minium (280), 


Pb»04 


Anglesite (281), 


P\S 


Cerusite (281^ 


l»bO 


Pyromorphite (288), 


l»b«]?+iPbOl 


Orocoiaite (284), 


l»bOr 


Cinnabar (287), 


HgS 


Copper Glance (292), 


€uS 


Copper Pyrites (292), 


€aS4-Fe2S» 


Erubescite (294), 


(Fe,€u)S 


Tetrahedrite (296), 


€uS+i(Sb.A8)»S» 


Red Copper (296), 


6u 


Blue Vitriol (297), 


CuS+5fl 


Malachite (298), 


Ousfl+fl 


Azurite (300), 


26uO+Cufl 


Chrysooolla (800), 


0u«Sia+6fl 


Bioptase (301), 


6u»gi«+8fi 


SUver Glance (826), 


' AgS 


Britde SUyer Ore (826), 


AgS+iSbjS* 


Dark Red Silyer Ore (827), 


AgS-HSb8S» 


Light Red SUver Ore (827), 


AgS+iAs«S» 


Horn Silver (827), 


AgCi 


Bromic Silver (827), 


AgBr 


EmboUte (827, 


Ag(Cl,Br) 



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KOCKS. 



CHAP. VIIL— ROCKS OR MINERAL AGGREGATES. 

General Nature of Rocks. In the early part of this voU 
ume it is stated that the rocks of the globe are mineral in 
their nature, and consist either of a single mineral in a mas 
sive state, or of intimate combinations of difierent minerals. 
I«imestone, when pure, is a single mineral, — ^it is the spe 
cies calcite or carbonate of lime ; common granUe is a com- 
pound or aggregate of three minerals, quartz, feldspar, and 
mica. Sandstones may consist of grains of quartz alone, like 
the sands of many sea-coasts, being such a rock as these 
sands would make if agglutinated ; it is common to find along 
with the quartz, grains of feldspar, and sometimes mica. 
Clay slates consist of quartz and ^Idspar or clay, with some- 
times mica, all so finely comminuted, that ofien the grains can- 
not be observed. Conglomerates or jmddingstones, may be 
aggregates of pebbles of any kind : of granite pebbles, of 
quaitz pebbles, of limestone pebbles, or of mixtures of differ- 
ent kinds, cemented together by some cementing material, 
such as silica, oxyd of iron, or carbonate of lime. 

Texture or structure of Rocks, — Rocks differ also in tex. 
ture. In some, as granite, or syenite, the texture is crys- 
talline : that is, the grains are more or less angular, and 
show faces of cleavage ; the aggregation was the result 
of a cotemporaneous crystallization of the several ingredi- 
ents. Common statuary or white building marble, consists 
of angular grains, aiid is crystalline in the same manner. 
But a pudding-stone is evidently not a result of crystalliza- 
tion ; it consists only of adhering pebbles of other rocks with 
a cementing material which is oflen not apparent. Sand- 
stones also are an agglutination of grains of sand, — just such 
rocks as would be made from ordinary sand by compacting 
it together ; and clay slates are oflen just what would result 
from solidifying a bed of clay. There are therefore crystal^ 
line and uncrystaUine rocks. It should be remembered, 
however, that in each kind of rock the grains themselves 
are crystalline, as all solid matter becomes solid by crystal- 
lization. But the former kind is a crystalline aggregation 
of grains, the latter a mechanical aggregation. 

HI crystalline rocks it is not always possible to distinguish 
the grains, as they may be so minute, or the rock so com 



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ROUK5. 349 

pact, that they are not visible. Much of the crystalline rock 
called basalt is thus compact. 

Positions f or modes of occurrence of Rocks, A great part 
of the rocks of the earth's surface constitute extensive beds 
or layers, lying one above the other, and varying in thick- 
ness &om a fraction of an inch to many scores of yards. 
There are compact limestones, beds of sandstone, and shales 
or clay slates^ in many and very various alternations. In 
some i*egions, certain of these rocks, or certain parts of the 
series, may extend over large areas or underlie a whole 
country, while others are wholly wanting or present only in 
thin beds. The irregularities in their geographical ar- 
rangement and in the order of superposition are very nume- 
rous, and it is one object of geology to discover order amid 
the apparent want of system. Thus in Pennsylvania, over a 
considerable part of the state, there are sandstones, shales, 
and limestones, connected with beds of coal. In New York 
there are other sandstones, shales, and limestones, without 
coal ; and the geologist ascertains at once by his investiga- 
tions, (as was observed in the remarks on coal,) that no coal 
can be expected to be found in New York. These rocks 
contain each its own peculiar organic remains, and these 
are one source of the confident decision of the geologist. 
The stratified rocks bear evidence in every part — ^in their reg- 
ular layers, their worn sand or pebbles, and their fossils, — 
that they aris the result of gradual accumulations beneath wa- 
ter, marine or fresh, or on the shores of seas, lakes or 
rivers. 

Besides the stratified rocks alluded to, there are others 
which, like the ejections from a volcano, or an igneous vent, 
form beds, or break through other strata and fill fissures oflen 
many miles in length. The rock filling such fissiures, is 
called a dike. Such are the trap dikes of New England 
and elsewhere ; they are fissures filled by trap. Porphyry 
dikes, and many of the veins in rocks, are of the same kind. 
Similar rocks may also occur as extensive layers ; for 
the lavas of a single volcanic eruption are sometimes con- 
unuous for 40 miles. They may appear underlying a wide 
region of country, like granite. 

The stratified rocks, or such as consist of material in reg- 
ular layers, are of two kinds. The worn grains of which 
they are made are sometimes distinct, and the remains of 
shells &rther indicate that they are the result of gradual accui 



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350 ROCKS. 

mulation. But others, or even certain parts of beds that 
elsewhere contain these indications, have a crystalline tex- 
ture. A limestone bed may be compact in one part, and 
granular or crystalline, like statuary marble, in another. 
Here is an effect of heat on a poilion of the bed ; heat, 
which has acted since the rock was deposited. Other rocks, 
such as mica slate, gneiss, and probably some granites, have 
thus been crystallized. They are called metamorphic rocks. 

In these few general remarks on the structure of the globe, 
we have distinguished the following general facts : 

1. The great variety of alternations of sandstone, conglo- 
merates, clay shale, and limestones. 

2. The existence of igneous rocks in beds and intersect- 
ing dikes or veins. 

3. The mechanical structure of sandstone, conglomerate, 
and shales. 

4. The crystalline character of igneous rocks. 

5. The crystalline character of many stratified or sedi- 
mentaiy rocks, arising from the action of heat upon the beds 
of rock themselves, after they were first formed. 

We follow this comprehensive survey of the arrangement 
and general nature of rocks, with descriptions of the more 
prominent varieties and a mention of their applications in 
the arts.* 



• One of the most important uses of stone is for architectural pur- 
poses. The character of the material depends not only upon its dura- 
bility, but also its contraction or expansion from changes of tempera- 
ture. This latter cause occasions fractures or the opening of seams, 
and produces in cold climates serious injuries to structures. The fol- 
lowing table, by Mr. A. J. Adie, gives ^e rate of expansion in length 
tor different materials, for a change of temperature of 180** F. — Proe, 
Roy. Soc. Edinh., i, 95, 1835. 

Granite, 0008968— -0007894 

Sicilian white marble, -00 110411 

Carrara marble, 0006539 

Black marble, from Gfdway, Ireland, 00044519 

Sandstone, (Craigleith quarry, Scotland,' -0011743 

Slate, Penryhn quarry, Wales, -0010376 

Greenstone, -0008089 

Best brick, -0005502 

Fir« brick, 0004928 

Cast iron, 00114676— -001 1021 M 

Rod of wedgewood ware, '00045294 



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ORAIVITB. S51 



GRANITE. SYEXITK. 



Granite consists of the three minerals, quartz, feldspar, 
and mica. It has a crystalline granular structure, and usual- 
ly a grayish-white, gray, or flesh-red color, the shade vary- 
ing with the color of the constituent minerals. When i^ 
contains hornblende in place of mica, it is called syenite , 
hornblende resembles mica in these rocks but the laminse 
separate much less easily and are brittle. 

Granite is said to be micaceous, feldspathic^ or quartzose^ 
according as the mica, feldspar, or quartz, predominates. 

It is called porphyritic granite, when the feldspar is in 
large crystals, and appears over a worn sur&ce like thickly 
scattered white blotches, often rectangular in shape. 

Ctraphic granite has an appearance of small oriental cha- 
racters over the surface, owing to the angular arrangement 
of the quartz in the feld- 
spar, or of the feldspar in 
the quartz. 

When the mica of the i 
granite is wanting, it is 
then a granular mixture [ 
of feldspar and quartz, 
called ^ranuZite or leptyA 

'****• Grap/iic Granite. 

When the feldspar is replaced by albite, it is called alhUe 
granite. The albite is usually white, but otherwise resem- 
bles feldspar. When replaced by talc, it is called protoffine. 

Granite is the usual rock for veins of tin ore. It con- 
tains also workable veins of pjrritous, vitreous, and gray 
copper ore, of galena or lead ore, of zinc blende, of specu- 
lar and magnetic iron ore, besides ores of antimony, cobalt, 
nickel, uranium, arsenic, titanium, bismuth, tungsten, and 
silver, with rarely a trace of mercury. The rare cerium and 
yttria minerals are found in granite, and mostly frequently in 




The expcrimenta of W. H. C. Bartlett, Lieut. U 
the following results.— -4mcr. /. Set., xxii, 136, 

For l^F. 
Granite, ^000004825 
Marble, -000005668 ' 
Sandstone, -000009532 
Hammered copper, 000009440 


. S. Engineers, led 
1832. 

For 180° F. 
•00086904 
•00102024 
•00171596 
.00169920 



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352 ROCKS. 

albitic granite. It also contains emerald, topaz, conindunii 
zircon, fluor spar, garnet, tourmaline, pyroxene, hornblende, 
epidote, and many other species. 

Dioriie is a rock of the granitic series, consisting of horn- 
blende and feldspar. Color dark green or greenish -black 
Crystalline texture distinct. 

Granite is one of the most valuable materials for build- 
ing. The rock selected for this purpose, should be fine 
and even in texture, as the coarser varieties are less dura* 
ble ; it should especially be pure from pyrites or any ore of 
iron, which on exposure to the weather will rust and destroy, 
as well as deface, the stone. The only certain evidence of 
durability, must be learned from examining the rock in its na- 
tive beds; for some handsome granites which have every 
appearance of durability, decompose rapidly from some cause 
not fully understood. The more feldspathic are less en- 
during than the quartzose, and the syenitic (or homblendic) 
variety more durable than proper granite itself. The rock, 
afler removal from the quarry, hardens somewhat, and is less 
easily worked than when first quarried out. 

Massachusetts is properly the granite state of the union. 
New Hampshire and Maine also afford a good materiaL 
The Quincy quarries in Massachusetts, south of Boston, 
have for many years been celebrated. Besides this locality, 
there are others in the eastern part of this state, between cape 
Ann and Salem, in Gloucester, at Fall River, in Troy, in 
Danvers ; also south between Quincy and Rhode Island, where 
it is wrought in many places, as well as in Rhode Island, 
even to Providence. The so-called Chelmsford granite come^ 
from Westford and Tyngsborough, beyond Lowell, and an ex- 
cellent variety is obtained at Pelham, a short distance north 
in New Hampshire. Masses 60 feet in length ar^ ob- 
tained at several of the quarries. They are worked into 
columns for buildings, many fine examples of which are 
common in Boston, New York, and other cities. 

Good granite is also quarried in Waterford, Greenwich, 
and elsewhere, in Connecticut. 

The granite is detached in blocks by drilling a series of 
holes, one every few inches, to a depth of three inches, and 
then driving in wedges of iron between steel cheeks. In this 
manner masses of any size are split out. There is a choice 
of direction, as the granite has certain directions of easiest 
fracture. Masses are oflen got out in long narrow strips, a 
foot wide, for fence posts. 

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GNEISS — MICA SLATS. 053 

Granite is also used for paving, in small rectan^^ar blpck^ 
neatly fitted together, as in London and in some parts of 
New York and other cities. The feldspathic granite is of 
great value in the manufacture of porcelain, as remarked 
upon under Feldspar, 

Granite was much used by the ancients, especially the 
Egyptians, where are obelisks that have stood the weather 
for 8000 years. 

GNEISS. 

Gneiss has the same constitution as granite, but the mica 
Ts more in layers, and the rock has therefore a stratified ap- 
pearance. It generally breaks out in slabs a few inches to 
a foot thick. It is hence much used both as a building ma- 
terial and for flagging walks. The quarries in the vicinity 
of Haddam, Conn., on the Connecticut river, are very exten- 
sively opened, and a large amount of stone is annually taken 
out and exported to the Atlantic cities, even as far as New 
Orleans* There are also quarries at Lebanon and other 
places, in Connecticut; at Wilbraham, Millbury, Monson, 
and many other places in Massachusetts. 

MICA SLATE. 

Mica slate has the constituents of gneiss, but is thin slaty, 
and breaks with a glistening or shining sur&ce, owing to the 
large proportion of mica, upcm which its foliated structure 
depends. It contains less feldspar and much more mica 
than gneiss. 

The thin even slabs of the more compact varieties of mica 
slate are much used for flagging, and for door and hearth 
stones ; also for lining furnaces. The finer arenaceous va. 
rieties make good scythe stones. 

It is quarried extensively of fine quality, in large even 
slabs, at Bolton in Connecticut ; also in the range passing 
through Goshen and Chesterfield, Mass. It is worked into 
v^hetstones in Enfield, Norwich, and Bellingham, Mass., and 
extensively at Woonsocket Hill, Smithfield, P«. I. The south 
part of Chester, Vt., affords a slate like that of Bolton. Mica 
slate is used at Salisbury, Conn., for the inner wall of the 
iron furnace. 

Hornblende slate resembles mica slate, but has not a? 
glistening a luster, and seldom breaks into as thin slabs. It 
is more tou^h than mica slate, and is an excellent material 
for flagging. 

29 



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354 ROCKS. 

TALCOSE BLATE. TALCOSE ROCK. 

Talcose slate resembles mica slate, but has a more gre&sy 
feel, owing to its containing talc instead of mica. It is usu- 
ally light gray or dark grayish-brown. It breaks into thin 
slabs, but is generally rather brittle, yet it often makes good 
fire-stones. 

A talcose slate in Stockbridge, Vt, is worked for scythe 
stones and hones, and is of excellent quality for this purpose. 

Talcose rock is a hard and tough compact rock, containing 
more or less talc, and often quite compact. It is usually 
very much intersected by veins of white quartz. Much of 
it contains chlorite (an olive-green mineral) in place of talc, 
here and there disseminated. 

Chlorite slate has a dark green color, and is similar in 
general characters to talcose slate. These slaty rocks are 
to a great extent the gold rocks of the world, especially the 
quartzose veins, as mentioned under Gold. Platinum, iri- 
dosmine, pyrites and many other minerals, occur in them, or 
in associated beds. 

STEATITE, OR BOAPSTONE. 

Steatite is a soft stone, easily cut by the knife and greasy 
in its feel. Its color is usually grayish-green ; but when 
smoothed and varnished it becomes dark olive-green. It 
occurs in beds, associated generally with talcose slate. 

Owing to the facility with which soapstone is worked, and 
its refractory nature, it is cut into slabs for fire stones and other 
purposes, as stated on page 144. The powder is employed 
for diminishing friction, and for mixing with blacklead in the 
manufacture of crucibles. It is also used, as observed by 
Dr. C. T. Jackson, for the sizing rollers in cotton factories, 
one of which is 4^ feet long and 5 to 6 inches in diameter. 
The most valuable quarries in Massachusetts are at Middle, 
field, Windsor, Blanford, Andover, and Chester ; in Vermont, 
at Windham and Grafton ; in New Hampshire, at Frances- 
town and Oxford ; in Orange county. North Carolina. The 
Francestown soapstone sells at Boston at from 36 to 42 dol- 
lars the ton, or from 3 to 3^ dollars the cubic foot* 

Steatite often contains disseminated crystals of magnesiao 
carbonate of lime, (dolomite,) and brown spar ; also crys* 
tals of p3rrites and actinolite. 

» Geol. N, H., by C. T. Jackson, 1844; p. 168. 



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SERPENTINE. — TRAP. 855 

Potstone is a compact steatite. Rensselaerite is another 
compact variety, (page 144,) found in Jefferson and St. Law- 
rence counties, N. Y., and used for inkstands. 

SERPENTINE. 

This dark green rock is usually associated with talcose 
rocks, and often also with granular limestones. It has been 
described on page 145, where its uses are alluded to. It 
often contains disseminated a foliated green variety of horn- 
blende called diallage. A compound rock consisting of dial- 
lage and feldspar^ has been called diallage rock or euphotide 

TRAP. BASALT. 

Trap is a dark greenish or brownish black rock, heavy 
and tough. Specific gravity 2*8 — 3'2. It has sometimes 
a granular crystalline structure, and at other times it is very 
compact without apparent grains. It is an intimate mixture 
of feldspar and augite. It is often called dolerite. The 
feldspar in this rock is usually the kind called labraliorite. 
(p. 178.) 

Amygdaloid^ (from the Latin amygdalurrij an almond,) is 
a trap containing small almond-shaped cavities, which are 
filled with some mineral : usually a zeolite, quartz or chlorite. 

Porphyritic trap is a trap containing, like porphyritic 
granite, disseminated crystals of feldspar. 

Basalt resembles trap, but consists of augite, olivine and 
feldspar. It varies in color from grayish to black. In the 
lighter colored, which are sometimes denominated graystone^ 
feldspar predominates : and in the darker, iron, or a ferru- 
ginous augite. The chrysolite (or olivine) it contains is 
in small grains of a bottle-glass appearance. Magnetic or 
titanic iron are also frequently present in the rock. When 
feldspar crystals aie coarsely disseminated, it is called por^ 
phyrttic hasaJtt ; and when containing minerals in small 
nodules, it is amygdahidcd basalt. Basalt is a common pro- 
duct of volcanic action. 

Wacke or toadstone is an earthy basalt, or a sedimentary 
rock of trap or basaltic material. 

Both trap and basalt occur in columnar forms, as at the 
Giant's Causeway and other similar places. 

Trap and basalt are excellent materials for macadamizing 
roads, on account of their toughness. Trap is also used for 
buildings. It breaks into irregular angular blocks, and is 



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356 ROCKS. 

employed in this condition. For a Gothic building it is wi -i 
fitted, on account of an appearance of age which it has. 

PORPHYRY.— CLINKSTONE. TRACHYTE. 

Porphyry consists mainly of compact feldspar, with dis- 
seminated crystals of feldspar. Red or brownish-red and 
green, are common colors ; but gray and black are met with. 
I'he feldspar crystals are from a very small size to half or 
three quarters of an inch in length, and have a much lightei 
shade of color than the base, or are quite white. It breaks 
with a smooth surface and conchoidal fracture. The specific 
gravity and other characters of the rock are the same nearly 
as for the mineral feldspar ; the hardness is usually a little 
higher than in that mineral. 

Porphyry receives a fine polish, and has been used for 
columns, vases, mortars, and other purposes. Green por- 
phyry Is the oriental verd antique of the^ ancients, and was 
held in high esteem. The red porphyry of Egypt is also a 
beautiful rock. It has a clear brownish red color, and is 
sprinkled with small spots of white feldspar. 

Clinkstone or FhonolUe is a grayish-blue rock, consisting, 
like porphyry, mainly of feldspar. It passes into gray basalt, 
and is distinguished by its less specific gravity. It rings 
like iron when struck with a hammer, and hence its name. 

Trachyte is another feldspathic rock, distinguished by 
breaking with a rough surface, and showing less compact- 
ness than clinkstone. It sometimes contains crystals of 
hornblende, mica, or some glassy feldspar mineral. It occurs 
in volcanic regions. 

LAVA. OBSIDIAN.*»FUMICE. 

The term hioa is applied to any rock material which has 
flowed in igneous fusion from a volcano. Basalt is one kind 
of lava ; and when containg cellules, it is caUed basaltic 
lava. Trach3rte is also a lava. There are thus both feld- 
spathic and basaltic lavas. The feldspathic are light colored, 
and of low specific gravity, (not exceeding 2*8) ; the basaltic 
vary from grayish-blue to black, and are above 2*8 in specific 
gravity. The general term basaltic sometimes includes 
doleritic lava, which is closely allied. Chrysolite is present 
in basaltic lavas ; and such lavas are not unfrequently por 
phyritic, or contain disseminated crystals of feldspar. 



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SHALE 857 

The light ceUular ejections of a volcano are called scoria 
or pumice. 

• Pumice is feldspathic in constitution ; it is very porous, 
and the fine pores lying in one direction make the rock ap- 
pear to be fibrous. It is so light as to float on water. It ii 
much used for polishing wood, ivory, marble, metal, glass, 
etc., and also parchment and skins. The principal localities 
are the islands of Lipari, Ponza, Ischia, and Vulcano, in the 
Mediterranean between Sicily and Naples. Both scoria 
and pumice are properly the scum of a volcano. 

Volcanic ashes are the light cinders, or minute particles 
of rock, ejected from a volcano in the course of an eruption. 

Obsidian is a volcanic glass. It resembles ordinary glass. 
Black find smoky tints are the common colors. In Mexico, 
it was formerly used both for mirrors, knives and razors. 
Pitchstone is less perfectly glassy in its character, and has a 
pitch-like luster. Otherwise it resembles obsidian. PearU 
stone has a grayish color and pearly luster. Sphendite is a 
kind of pearlstone, occurring in small globules in massive 
pearlstone. Marekanite is a pearl-gray translucent obsidian 
from Marekan in Kamschatka. 

ARGILLACEOUS SHALE, OR CLAY BLATE. — ^AROILLITE. 

Slais is an argillaceous rock, breaking into thin laminse ; 
shale a similar rock, with the same structure usually less 
perfect and often more brittle ; schist includes the same va- 
rieties of rock, but is extended also to those of a much coarser 
laminated structure. The ordinary clay slate has the same 
constitution as mica slate ; but the material is so fine that 
the ingredients cannot be distinguished. The two pass into 
one another insensibly. The colors are very various, and 
always dull or but slightly glistening. 

Roofing slate is a fine grained argillaceous variety, com- 
monly of a dark dull blue or bluish-black color, or some- 
what purplish. To be a good material for roofing, it should 
split easily into even slates, and admit of being pierced for 
nails without fracturing. Moreover, it should not be ab- 
sorbent of water, either by the surface or edges, which may 
be tested by weighing, afler immersion for a while in water. 
It should also be pure from pyrites and eveiy thing that can 
undergo decomposition on exposure. 

Roofing slates occur in England, in Cornwall and Devon, 
Ciunberland, Westmoreland. 
29* 



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856 ROCKS. 

In the United States, a good material is obtained in Maine 
at Barnard, Piscataquies, Kennebec, Bingham and elsewhere 
also in Massachusetts, in Worcester county, in Bojlston, 
Lancaster, Harvard, Shirley, and Peperell ; in Vermont, at 
Guilfoi-d, Brattleborough, Fairhaven, and Dummerston ; in 
Hoosic, New York ; on Bush creek and near Unionville». 
Maryland ; at the Cove of Wachitta, Arkansas. At Rutland 
Vt, is a manufactory of slate pencils, from a greenish slate. 

These slate rocks are also used for gravestones ; and we 
cannot go through New England cemetries without fi-equent 
regret that a material which is sure to &11 to pieces in a few 
years, should have been selected for such records. 

Dratving slate is a finer and more compact variety, of 
bluish and purplish shades of color. The best slateB come 
from Spain, Italy, and France. A good quality is quarried in 
Maine and Vermont. 

Novacvlite, hone-slatej or whet-stone, is a fine grained slate, 
containing considerable quartz, though the grains of this 
mineral are not perceptible. It occurs of light and dark 
shades of color, and compact texture. It is found in North 
Carolina, 7 miles west of Chapel Hill, and elsewhere ; in 
Lincoln and Oglethorpe counties, Georgia ; on Bush creek, 
and near Unionville, Maryland ; at the Cove of Wachitta, 
Arkansas. 

ArgillUe is a general term given to argillaceous or clay 
slate rocks. Many shales or argillites crumble easily, and 
are unfit for any purpose in the arts, except to furnish a 
clayey soil. 

Alum shale is any slaty rock which contains decomposing 
pyrites, and thus will afibrd alum or sulphate of alumina on 
lixiviation. (See under Alum, page 128.) 

Bituminous shale is a dark colored slaty rock containing 
some bitumen, and giving off a bituminous odor. 

Plumbaginous schist is a clay slate containing plumbago 
or graphite, and leaving traces like black lead. 

The Pipestone of the North American Indians was in part 
a red claystone or compacted clay from the Coteau de 
Prairies. It has been named catlinite, A similar material, 
now accumulating, occurs on the north shore of Lake Supe- 
rior, at Nepigon bay. Another variety of pipestone is a dark 
grayish compact argillite ; it is used by the Indians of the 
northwest coast of America. 

Agalmatolite is a soft mineral, impressible by the nail, 



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QUARTZ ROCK. 35^ 

and waxy in luster when polished, presenting grayish and 
greenish colors and other shades. Grs=2*8 — 2*9. It has a 
greasy feel. It consists of silica 55*0, alumina 30*0, potash 
7*0, water 3 to 5 per cent., with a trace of oxyd of iron. It 
is carved into images, and is hence called^^re-«tona. 

QUARTZ ROCK. 

Q^artz rock is a compact rock consisting of quartz, and 
often appearing granular. Its colors are light gray, reddish 
or dull bluish ; also sometimes brown. 

When the granular quartz contains a little mica, it often 
breaks in slabs like gneiss or mica slate. The itacolumile 
of Brazil, with which gold and topaz are associated, is a 
micaceous granular quartz rock of this kind. 

Flexible sandstone is an allied rock of finer texture. It owes 
its flexibility to the mica present, and its looseness of aggre- 
gation. Granular quartz graduates into the proper sandstones, 
which are treated of for convenience on a following page. 

Granular quartz is one of the most refractory of rocks. It 
is consequently used extensively for hearthstones, for the 
lining of furnaces, and for lime kilns. At Stafford, Conn., 
a loose grained micaceous quartz rock is highly valued for 
furnaces ; it seUs at the quarry for 16 dollars a ton.* 

Granular quartz is also used for flagging, and a fine 
quarry is opened in Washington, near Pittsfield, Mass. ; it 
also occurs of good quality at Tyringham and Lee, Mass. 
In the shape of cobble stones, it is a common paving material. 

A highly important use of this rock is in the manu&cture 
of glass and sandpaper, and for sawing marble. In many 
places it occurs crumbled to a fine sand, and is highly con- 
Yenient fi>r these purposes. In Cheshire, Berkshire county, 
Mass., and in Lanesboro^ Mass., it occurs of superior qual- 
ity, and in great abundance. It is also in demand for the 
manu&cture of glass and pottery. In Unity, N. H., a gran- 
ular quartz is ground for sandpaper and for polishing powder; 
the latter is a good material for many purposes. 

A fine variety of granular quartz is a material much 
valued for whet-stones. 

BUHRSTONE. 

Buhrstone is a quartz rock containing cellules. It is ai 
hard and firm as quartz crystal, and owes its peculiar value 

* Rep. on Connecticut, by C. U. Shepard — ^p. 78. 



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S60 ^t>CKB» 

to this quality and the cellules, which give it a very rough 
8ur&ce. In the best stones for wheat or corn the cavities 
about equal in space the solid part. The finest quality 
comes from France, in the basin of Paris and some adjoin- 
ing districts. 

The stones are cut into wedge-shaped parallelopipeds called 
panes, which are bound together by iron hoops into large 
millstones. The Paris buhrstone Is from the tertiary forma- 
tion, and IS therefore of much more recent origin than tho 
quartz rock above described. 

Buhrstone of good quality is abundant in Ohio, and others 
of the western states. It is associated there with proper 
sandstones, as more particularly mentioned on page 346. 

The quartz rock of Washington, near Pittsfield, Mass., it 
in some parts ceUular, and makes good millstones. 

A buhrstone occurs in Georgia, about 40 miles from the 
sea, near the Carolina line ; also in Arkansas, near the 
Cove of Wachilta. 

SANDSTONES. GRIT HOCKS. CONGLOMERATES. 

Sandstones consist of small grains, aggregated into a cont- 
pact rock. They have a harsh feel, and every dull shade of 
color from white through yellow, red and brown to black. 
Many sandstones are very compact and hard, while others 
break or rub to pieces in the fingers. They usually consist 
of siliceous sand ; but grains of feldspar are often present. 
In many compact sandstones there is much clay, and the 
rock is then an argillaceous sandstone. 

Sandstones are of all geological ages, from the lower Silu- 
rian to the most recent period. The older rocks are in 
general the most firm and compact The *' old red" sand- 
stone is a sandstone below the coal in age ; while the so 
called ** new red" is more recent than the coal. But these 
terms are of indefinite application out of Great Britain, and 
are not now used in this country. Red sandstone, when 
used as a building material, is oflen called freestone. 

Grit rock. When the sandstone is very hard and harsh, 
and contains occasional siliceous pebbles, it is called a grit 
rock, or millstone grit. 

Conglomerates. Conglomerates consist mostly of pebbles 
compacted together. They are called pudding stone when 
the pebbles are rounded, and breccia when they are angular. 
They may consist of pebbles of any kinds, as of granite. 



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«AIf1>STOKE8. 36) 

quaite, limestone, etc., and they are named accordingl} gran 
Uic^ quartzose, ccdcareous, conglomerates. 

The use of sandstone as a building material is well known. 
For this purpose it should be free, like granite, from pyrites 
or iron sand, as these rust and disfigure the structure. It 
should be firm in texture, and not liable to peel off on ex- 
posure. Some sandstones, especially certain argillaceous 
varieties, which appear well in the quarry, when exposed for 
a season ^here they will be left to dry, gradually &11 U 
pieces. The same rock answers well for structures beneath 
water, that is worth nothing for buildings* Other sandstones 
which are so soft as to be easily cut from their bed without 
blasting, harden on exposure, (owing to the hardening of 
silica in the contained moisture,) and are quite durable. 
These are qualities which must be tested before a stone 
is used. Moreover it should be considered that in frosty 
climates, a weak absorbent stone is liable to be destroyed in 
a comparatively short time, while in a climate like that of 
Peru, even sunburnt bricks will last for centuries. 

Mr. Ure observes, that " such was the care of the ancients 
to provide strong and durable materials for their public edi- 
fices, that but for the desolating hands of modern barbarians, 
in peace and in war, most of the temples and other public 
monuments of Greece and Rome would have remained 
perfect at the present day, uninjured by the elements during 
2000 years. The contrast in this respect of the works of 
modem architects, especially in Great Britain, [much more 
true of the United States,] is very humiliating to those who 
boast so loudly of social advancement ; for there is scarcely 
a public building of recent date which will be in existence 
a thousand years hence." Many splendid structures are 
monuments (not endless) of folly in this respect. He ob- 
berves also that the stone intended for a durable edifice ought 
to be tested as to its durability by inmiersion in a saturated 
solution of sulphate of soda, and exposure to the air for some 
days : the crystallization within the stone will cause the same 
disintegration that would result in time from frost. 

The dark red sandstone {freestone) of New Jersey and 
Connecticut, when of fine gritty texture and compact, is gen- 
erally an excellent building material. Tiinity Church in 
New York is built of the stone from BelviUe, New Jerse 
At Chatham, on the Connecticut, is a large quarry, which 
supplies great quantities of stone to the cities of the coast ; 



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362 ROCKS. 

and there are numerous others in the Connecticut ralley, 
both in Connecticut and Massachusetts. A variety in North 
Haven, at the east end of Mount Carmel, has been spoken 
of as excellent for ornamental architecture. That of Long- 
meadow and Wiibraham, in Massachusetts, is a very fine 
and beautiful variety and is much used. A freestone occurs 
also at the mouth of Seneca creek, Maryland, convenient for 
transportation by the Chesapeake and Ohio canal ; white 
and colored sandstones occur also at Sugarloaf mountain, 
Maryland. 

The sandstone of the Capitol at Washington, is firom the 
Potomac ; it is a poor material. 

Sandstones when splitting into thin layers, form excellent 
flagging stones, ai)^ are in common use. 

Hard, gritty sandstones and the grit rocks are used for the 
hearths of furruices, on account of their resistance to heat. 
They are also much used for millsUmes, and when of firm 
texture, make a good substitute for the buhrstone. 

The true buhrstone has been described as a ceUulai 
siliceous rock, without an apparent granular texture. The 
buhrstone of Ohio approaches this character ; it is in part 
a true sandstone containing fossils in some places, and over- 
lying the coal. Much of it contains lime ; and it is possible 
that the removal of the lime by solution, since its deposition, 
may have occasioned its cellular character. It has an open 
cellular structure where quarried for millstones. It occurs 
in Ohio, in the county of Muskingum, and the counties south 
and west of south, on the Raccoon river and elsewhere. 
The manufacture commenced in this region in 1807, and ip 
Richland, Elk, and Clinton, and in Hopewell, the manu&c- 
ture is now carried on extensively. Stones 4 feet in diame* 
ter bring JISO.* 

The " green sand" of the cretaceous formation contains 
grains of silicate of iron and potash, to which it owes its 
greenish tint It occurs abundantly in New Jersey as a soft 
rock, and is much used for improving lands : a value it owes 
mostly to the alkali it contains. 

Pudding stones and breccias are fitted, in general, only for 
the coarser uses of stone, as for foundations, butments of 
bridges. Occasionally when of limestone, they make hand- 
some marbles, as the ** Potomac breccia marble" on the 

• S. P. Hildreth, Gcol. Report, Ohio. 

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LIMESTONES. 363 

Monocacey, of which the columns in the Hall of Represent 
Natives at Washington. 

Porphyry couglomerates^ basaltic conglomerates, pumiceous 
conglomerates, consist respectively of pebbles or fragments of 
porphyry, basalt, pumice. 

Ttifa is a sandrock consisting of volcanic material, either 
cinders or the comminuted lavas. Pozzuolana is a kind of 
tufa found in the vicinity of Rome, Italy. It consists of 
silica 34-5, alumina 15, lime 8*8, magnesia 4*7, potash 1*4, 
6oda4'l, oxyds of iron and titanium 12, water 9*2^ Pepe* 
vino is a coarse sandrock, made up of volcanic cinders or 
fine fragments of scoria, partially agglutinated. 

LIMESTONES. 

Limestones consist essentially of carbonate of lime, and 
belong to the species calcite, (p. 115,) or of the carbonates of 
lime and magnesia. They are distinguished by being easily 
scmtched with a knife, and by effervescing with an acid. 
They are either compact or granular in texture : the com- 
pact break with a smooth surface, often conchoidal ; the 
granular have a crystalline granular surface, and the jfine 
varieties resemble loaf sugar. 

Granular limestone. The finest and purest white ciystal 
line limestones are used for statuary and the best carving, 
and are called statuary marble. A variety less fine in texture 
is employed as a building material. Its colors are white, and 
clouded of various shades. It often contains scales of mica 
disseminated, and occasionally other impurities, from which 
the cloudings arise. * 

The finest statuary marble comes from the Italian quarry 
at Cari-ara ; from the Island of Pares, whence the name 
Parian ; from Athens, Greece ; from Omofrio, Corsica, of 
a quality equal to that of Carrara. The IVfedicean Venus 
and most of the fine Grecian statues are made of the Parian 
marble. These quarries, and also those of the Islands of Scio, 
Samos and Lesbos, afforded marble for the ancient temples of 
Greece and Rome. The Parthenon at Athens was con- 
structed of marble from Pentelicus. 

Statuary marble has been obtained in the United Sates, 
but not of a quality equal to the foreign. Good building 
material is abundant along the Western part of Vermont, 
and south through Massachusetts to Western Connecticut 
and Eastern New York. In Berkshire county, Mass., mar. 



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361 ROCKS. 

ble is quarried annually to the value of 9200,000 ; the pi a 
cipal quarries are at Sheffield, West Stockbridge, Nev 
Ashfbrd, New Marlborough, Great Bamngton, and Lanes- 
borough.* The columns of the Girard College are from 
Sheffield, where blocks 50 feet long are sometimes blasted 
out; the material of the City Hall, New York, came from 
"West Stockbridge ; that of the Capitol at Albany, from Lanes- 
boro'. At Stoneham is a fine statuary marble ; but it is dif- 
ficult to obtain large blocks. The variety from Great Bar- 
rington is a handsome clouded marble. Some of the West 
Stockbridge marble is flexible in thin pieces when first taken 
out. There are Vermont localities at Dorset, Rutland, 
Brandon, and Pittsford. In New York extensive quarries 
are opened not far from New York, at Sing Sing ; also at Pat- 
terson, Putnam county ; at Dover in Dutchess county, N. Y. ; 
in Connecticut there are marble quarries at New Preston ; 
in Maine at Thomaston : in Rhode Island at Smithfield, a 
fine statuary ; in Maryland, a few miles east of Hagerstown ; 
in Pennsylvania, a fine clouded variety, 20 miles from 
Philadelphia. A fine dun colored marble is obtained at New 
Ashford and Sheffield, Mass., and at Pittsford, Vt. 

The granular limestone when coarse usually crumbles 
easily, and is not a good material for building. But the 
best varieties are not exceeded in durability by any other 
architectural rock, not even by granite. The impurities are 
sometimes so abundant as to render it useless. For statu- 
ary, it is essential that it should be uniform in tint and with- 
out seams or fissures ; the liability of finding cloudiiigs within 
the large blo<!ks makes them useless for statuary. The pres- 
ence of pyrites or manganese unfits the stone for buildings. 

The common minei-als in this rock are treraolite, asbestus, 
scapolite, chondrodite, pyroxene, apatite, besides sphene, 
spinel, graphite, idocrase, mica. 

Verd antique marble — verde antico — is a clouded gi*een 
marble, consisting of a mixture of serpentine and limestone, 
as mentioned under Serpentine, page 147. It occurs al 
Milford, near New Haven, Connecticut, of fine Quality ; and 
also in Essex county, N. Y., at Moria and near Port Henry 
n Lake Champlain. A marble of this kind occurs at 
Genoa and in Tuscany, and is much valued for its beauty 
A variety is called 'polzivera di Genoa and vert d*£gi/pte. 



• Hitchcock's Geol. Rep., p. 162. 



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LIMESTOiVES. 365 

The Cipolin marbles of Italy are whiie, or nearly so, with 
shadings or zones of green talc. The bardiglio is a gmy 
variety from Corsica. 

Compact limestone usually breaks out easily in*o thick 
slabs, and are a convenient and durable stone for building 
and all kinds of stone work. It is not possessed of much 
beauty in the rough state. When polished it constitutes a 
variety of marbles according to the color ; the shades are veiy 
numerous, from white, cream and yellow shades, through 
gi'ay, dovB-colored, slate blue or brown, to black. 

The Nero-antico marble of the Italians is an ancient deep 
black marble ; the paragone is a modern one, of a fine black 
color, from Bergamo ; and panno di morte is another black 
marble with a few white fossil shells. 

The rosso-anfico is deep blood-red, sprinkled with minute 
white dots. The giaJlo aniico, or yellow antique marble, is 
deep yellow with black or yellow rings. A beautiful mar- 
ble from Sienna, hrocateUo di Siena, has a yellow color, with 
large irregular spots and veins of bluish-red or purplish. 
The mandelato of the Italians is a light red marble, with 
yellowish-white spots ; it is found at Luggezzana. At 
Verona, there is a red marble, inclining to yellow, and ano- 
ther with large white spots in a reddish and greenish paste. 

The black marble used in the United States comes mostly 
from Shoreham, Vt., and other ])laces in that state near Lake 
Champhiin. The Bristol marble of England is a black mar- 
ble containing a few while shells, and the Kilkenny is another 
similar. There are several quarries at Isle La Motte. It 
is quarried also near Plattsburgh and Glenn's Falls, N. Y. 

The portor is a Genoese marble very highly esteemed. It 
IS deep black, with elegant veinings of yellow. The most 
beautiful comes from Porto- Venese, and under Louis XIV a 
great deal of it was worked up for the decoration of Versailles. 

Gray and dove-colored compact marbles are common 
through New York and the states West. 

The bird^s-eye marble of Western New York is a compact 
limestone, with crystalline points scattered through it. 

Ruin marble is a yellowish marble, with brownish sha- 
dings or lines arranged so as to represent castles, towers or 
cities in ruins. These markings proceed from infiltrated 
iron. It is an indurated calcareous marl. 

Oolitic marble has usually a grayish tint, and is speckled 
with rounded dots, looking much like the roe of a fish 

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366 HOCK8. 

Shell marble contains scattered fossils, and may be of dif- 
ferent colors. It is abundant through the United States. 
Crinoidcd or encrinitcd marble differs only in the fossils being 
mostly remains of encrinites, resembling thin disks. Large 
quarries are opened in Onondaga and Madison counties, N. 
Y., and the polished slabs are much used. Madreporic 
marble consists largely of corals, and the sur&ce consists of 
delicate stars : it is the pietra gteUaria of the Italians. It is 
common in some of the states on the Ohio. Fire marble, or 
Jumachellej is a dark brown shell marble, having brilliani 
fire or chatoyant reflections from within. 

Breccia marbles and pudding stone marbles are the pol 
ished calcareous breccia or pudding stone, alluded to on 
page 346. 

Stalagmites and stalactites (page 116) are frequently pol- 
ished, and the variety of banded shades is oflen highly beautifiiL 
The GtbraUar stone, so well known, is of this kind. It comes 
from a cavern in the Gibraltar rock, where it was deposited 
from dripping water. It is made into inkstands, letter-holders, 
and various small articles. 

Wood is oflen petrified by carbonate of lime, and occasion- 
ally whole trunks are changed to stone. The specimens 
show well the grain of the wood, and some are quite hand- 
some when polished. 

Marble is sawn by means of a thin iron plate and sand, 
either by hand or machinery. In polishing, the slabs are 
first worn down by the sharpest sand, either by rubbing two 
slabs together or by means of a plate of iron. Finer sand is 
afterwards used, and then a still finer. Next emery is ap- 
plied of increasing fineness by means of a plate of lead ; and 
finally the last polish is given with tin-put^, rubbed on with 
coarse linen cloths or baggings, wedge^d tight into an iron 
planing tool. More or less water is used throughout the 
process. 

Quicklime. Limestone when burnt produces quicklime, 
owing to the expulsion of ihe carbonic acid by the heat. 
The purest limestone affords the purest lime, (what is called 
fai lime.) But some impurities are no detriment to it 
for making mortar, unless they are in excess. Hydraulic 
lime, which is so called because it will set under water, is 
made from limestone containing some clay, silica, and oflen 
magnesia. The French varieties contain 2 or 3 per cent, 
of magnesia, and 10 to 20 of silica and alumina or clay. The 



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LIMESTONES. S67 

varieties in the United States contain 20 to 40 per cent, of 
magnesia, and 12 to 30 per cent, of silica and alumina. A 
variety worked extensively at Rondout, N. Y., afforded Prof. 
Beck, carbonic acid 34*20, lime 25*50, magnesia 12*35, silica 
15*37, alumina 9*13, peroxyd of iron 2*25.* Oxyd of iron 
is rather prejudicial than otherwise. 

In making mortar, the lime is mixed with water and 
siliceous sand. The final sti-ength of the mortar depends 
principally on the formation of a compound between water, 
the silica (or sand) and the lime ; of course therefore the 
finer the sand, the more thorough the combination. In 
hydraulic lime, there is silica and alumina present in a thor- 
oughly disseminated and finely divided state, which is favor- 
able for the combination alluded to ; and to this fact appears 
to be mainly owing its hydraulic character. Much less sand 
is added in making mortar from this lime than from that of 
ordinary limestone. 

Pozzuolana (page 347) forms a hydraulic cement when 
mixed with a little lime and water. Similar cements may be 
made with tufa, pumice stone, and slate clay, by varying the 
proportions of lime ; these materials consist essentially of 
silica and alumina or magnesia with alkalies, and often some 
lime, and therefore produce the same result as with hydrau- 
lic limestone. 

In the burning of lime^ the most common mode is to erect 
a square or circular furnace of stone, with a door for manag- 
ing the fire below. An arched cavity for the fire is first 
made of large pieces of limestone, and then the furnace 
is filled with the stone placed loosely so as to admit of the 
passage of the flame throughout : the carbonic acid is ex- 
pelled by the heat, and when the fires are out, the lime now 
in the state of quicklime, or in other words, pure lime, is 
taken out. Great economy of fuel is secured by means of 
what is called a perpetual kiln. The cavity within is best 
made nearly of the shape of an egg with the narrow end 
uppermost. The inner walls are of quartz rock, mica slate, 
or some refractory stone or fire brick, and between the inner 
and outer there is a layer of cinders or ashes, as in the iron 
furnace, page 233. Below are three or more openings for 
furnaces which lead into the main cavity, a few feet from the 
bottom ; and alternate with these are other openings at a 



• Mineralogy of New York, page 78. 



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86d R0CK8» 

lower level for withdrawing the lime. The Hme is taken 
out below and the stone thrown in above, and this may be 
kept up without intermission as long as the kiln lasts. Be- 
neath the furnaces there are also ash pits. Such a kiln is 
most convenient for being filled and emptied when situated 
on a side hill. 

The localities of limestone in the United States are too 
common to need enumeration. Hydraulic limestone is als« 
abundant. 

Quicklime is much used for improving lands; also for 
clarifying the juice of the sugar cane and beet root ; for puri 
fying coal gas ; for clearing hides of their hair in tanneries 
and for various other purposes. 

SAND. CLAY. 

The loose or soft material of the sur&ce of the earth con- 
sists of sand, clay, gravel or stones, and what we call in general 
terms, soil or earth. These materials are either in layers 
or iiTegular beds. Most clay beds, and many of gravel, 
when cut through vertically, show indications of horizontal 
layers, a result of deposition, or distribution, by water. 

The ordinary constituents of earth are (piartz, feldspar or 
clay, oxyd of iron and lime ; but these vary with the source 
from whence they are derived When the rock that has 
afforded the soil is granite, mica slate, or the allied rocks, 
mica is usually present, as well as feldspar and quartz ; so 
a quartzose rock will fiimish siliceous gravel ; a magnesian, 
will give magnesia to the soil ; calcareous, lime ; trap, the 
ingredients of decomposed feldspar or hornblende. The 
material will be coarse or gravelly, or fine earthy, according 
to the nature of the rock, or the condition under which it is 
worn down, or its subsequent distribution by flowing waters^ 
Besides the prominent constituents mentioned, there are 
small proportions of phosphates, nitrates, chlorids, etc., toge- 
ther with the results of vegetable decomposition ; and these 
comparatively rare ingredients are of great importance to 
growing vegetation. The pebbles of a soil are commonly 
siliceous, as this kind resists wear most effectually. 

Sand is usually pulverized quartz, oflen with some feldspar. 
Clay is a plastic earth, consisting mainly of pulverized or 
aUered aluminous minerals (largely feldspar) and quartz, the 
latter al»out two-thirds the whole. The alumina is oftea 



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BAND. 869 

partly in the state of a hydrous silicate like Rao) in or Hal- 
ioysite. It owes its plasticity to the alumina, and ceases to 
be called clay when the proportion of silica is too great for 
plasticity. It is afforded by the decomposition of feldspar 
and all argillaceous rocks. Oxyd of iron, carbonate of lime, 
and magnesia, are often present in clays. 

Sand for glass maniifacture should be pui'e silica, free 
from a taint of iron. This purity is apparent in the clear, 
ness of the grains, under a lens, or their white color. The 
sand of Cheshire and Lanesboro', in Massachusetts, is a 
beautiful material. 

In the maniifacture of glass, the object is to form a trans- 
parent fusible compound, and not an opaque infusible oi^ as 
in pottery. This result is secured by heating together to 
fiision, silica (quartz sand or flint powder) and the alkali pot- 
ash or soda. The ingredients combine and produce a sili- 
cate of potash or soda — in other words, glass. 

Besides these ingredients, lime or oxyd of lead are added 
for glass of different kinds. A small proportion of lime in- 
creases the density, hardness, and luster of glass, producing 
a specific gravity between 2*5 and 2*6 ; while with lead a 
still denser material is formed — called crystal or flint glass — 
whose specific gravity is from 3 to 3*6. 

From 7 to 20 parts of lime are added for 100 of silica, and 
25 to 50 of calcined sulphate or carbonate of soda ; common 
salt (chlorid of sodium) may also be employed. A good 
colorless glass has been found by analysis to consist o£ silica 
76*0, potash 13*6, and lime 10'4 parts, in a hundred. For 
coarse bottle-glass, wood-ashes and coarse sea-weed soda, 
called kdpy or else pearlashes, are used along with siliceous 
sand and broken glass. For a hard glass, the proportion of . 
alkali is small. 

The best English crystal glass analyzed by Berthier, af- 
forded 59 parts of silica, 9 of potash, 28 of oxyd of lead, and 
1 *4 of oxyd of manganese. Crown glass contains, in general, 
less alkali than crystal glass, and is superior in hardness. 
The alkali, moreover, in England, is soda instead of potash. 
Plate gU$ss also contains soda, and this soda (the carbonate) 
is prepared with great care. The proportions are 7 pails of 
sand, 1 of quicklime, 2 J of dry carbonate of soda, besidch 
cullet or broken plate. 

The materials are first well pounded and sifted, and mixed 
•nto a fine paste ; they are then heated together in pots made 
80* 



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370 ROCKS, 

of a pure refractory clay, until fusion has taken place and the 
material has settled. The glass is afterwards worked by 
blowing, or moulded, into the various forms it has in market ; 
and it is finally annealed^-or in other words, is very slowly 
cooled— to render it tough. A little oxyd of manganese is 
usually employed to correct the green color which glass is 
apt to derive from any oxyd of iron present. But if the man- 
ganese is in excess, it gives a violet tinge to it. 

The following chemical distribution of glasses has been 
proposed : 

Soluble glass. A simple silicate of potash or soda, or of 
both of these alkalies. 

Bohemian or croum glass. Silicate of potash and lime. 

Common' window and mirror glass. Silicate of soda and 
lime ; sometimes also of potash. 

Bottle glass. Silicate of soda, lime, alumina, and iron. 

Ordinary crystal glass. Silicate of potash and lead. 

Flint glass. Silicate of potash and lead ; more lead than 
in the preceding. 

Strass. Silicate of potash and lead — still more lead. 

Enamel, Silicate and stumate, or antimonate of potash 
or soda and lead. 

Glass was manufactured by the PhoBnicians, and the later 
Egyptians. According to Pliny and Strabo, the glass works 
of Sidon and Alexandria were famous in their times, and 
produced beautiful articles. The Romans employed glass 
to some extent in their windows, and remains of this glass 
are found in Herculaneum. Window glass manufacture was 
first commenced in England in 1557. 

Sand for casting is a fine siliceous sand, containing a little 
clay to make it adhere somewhat and retain the forms into 
which it may be moulded. It must be quite free from lime. 

Tripoli is a fine grained earthy deposit, having a dry, 
harsh feel and a white or grayish color. It contains 80 per 
cent, of silica, mostly derived from the casts of animalcules. 
It is valuable as a polishing material. 

Marl, Marl is a clay containing carbonate of lime. The 
material is valuable as manure. The term is also improper- 
y applied to any clayey earth used in fertilizing land. The 
green sand in New Jersey is sometimes called marl. 

FuLler*s earth is a white, grayish, or greenish- white earth, 
having a soapy feel, which was formerly used for removing 
oil or grease from woolen cloth. It falls to pieces in water, 



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CLAY. 371 

and forms a paste which is not plastic. A variety consists 
of silica 44*0, alumina 23*1, lime 4*1, magnesia 2*0, pro- 
toxyd of iron 2-0. Gr = 2*45. 

Lithomarge is a compact clay of a fine smooth texture, 
and very sectile. Its colors are white, grayish, bluish-white, 
reddish- white, or ocher-yellow, with a shining streak. Gr= 
2*4 — 2*5. The tuesite of Thomson, a white lithomarge from 
the banks of the Tweed, is said to make good slate pencils. 

Clay for bricks is the most oi-dinary kind ; it should have 
slight plasticity when moistened, and a fine even character 
without pebbles. It ordinarily contains some hydrated oxyd 
of iron, which when heated turns red by the escape of the 
water in its composition, which reduces it to the red oxyd of 
iron, and gives the usual red Color to the brick. It also fi'e- 
quently contains lime ; but much lime is injurious, as it 
renders the brick fusible. A clay is extensively employed 
at Milwaukie, in Michigan, which contains no iron, and 
produces a very handsome cream-colored brick. About 
9,000,000 of this kind of brick were made at that place in 
1847. 

In making bricks^ the clay is first well worked by the tread- 
ing of cattle or by machinery : after this, it is moulded in 
moulds of the requisite size, (9f inches, by 4| and 2|,) and 
then taken out and laid on the ground. A good workman 
will make by hand 5000 in a day, and the best 10,000. 
Afler drying till stiff enough to bear handling, the bricks are 
trimmed off with a knife when requiring it, and piled up in 
long walls for farther drying. They are then made into a 
kiln by piling them in an open manner, (so that the flame 
and heated drafl may have passage among them,) and leav- 
ing places beneath for the fires. The heat is continued 48 
hours or more. 

The best brick are pressed in moulds. They have a 
smooth, hard surface. Near Baltimore, Md., bricks are thus 
made by a machine, worked by a single horse, which will 
mould 30,000 bricks in 12 hours ; the bricks are dry enough 
when first taken from the mould for immediate burning. 

Burnt bricks were not used in England before the elev- 
enth century, when they were employed in the construction 
of the abbey of St. Albans. But they date historically as 
far back as the city of Babylon. Unbumt bricks have also 
been used in all ages. Those of Egyptian and Babylonish 
times were made of worked clav mixed with chopped straw. 



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57 2 8 ATM D— C LAY . 

to prevent it from falling to pieces. The adobies of Peru, 
are large sun-baked bricks or blocks of clay ; and in that 
dry climate they are very durable. 

Clay for Fire-bricks should contain no lime, magnesia, 
or iron, as its value depends on its being very refractoi-y. 
There is a large manufactory in the United States, at Balti- 
more, Q'om the tertiary clays of eastern Maryland. In Eng- 
land a slate clay from the coal series is employed. 

Patterns clay and pipe clay are pure plastic clays, free from 
iron, and consequently burning white. The clay of Mil 
waukie, from which the cream-colored bricks are made 
is much used also for pottery. 

In the manvfacture of coarse pottery^ the clay is worked 
with water and tempered ; and then the required fi)rm of a 
pot or pan is given on a wheel. The ware is dried under 
cover tor a while, and next receives the glaze in a cream- 
like state. The glaze for the most common ware consists 
of very finely pulverized galena, mixed with clay and water. 
The ware afler drying again is next placed in the kiln, 
which is very gradually, heated ; the heat causes the baking 
of the clay, and drives off the sulphur of the galena, thus 
producing an oxyd of lead, which forms a kind of glass (or 
glaze,) with the alumina. For a better stone ware, common 
^alt is used, and it is put on afler the baking has begun. 

For the finer earthenware, a mixture of red and white 
.ad, feldspar^ silica and flint-glass, is used for a glaze, the 
|)roportions differing according to the ware. The clay foi 
this ware is mixed with flint powder (ground flints or sand,) 
to render it less liable to contract or break, and it-is worked 
with great care, and through various processes to prepare it 
hx moulding. The ware is usually baked to a biscuit, be- 
fore the glazing is put on, as in the manufacture of porcelain. 

Kaolin or porcelain clay, is derived from the decomposi- 
lon of feldspar, as stated on page 117. The foreign kaolin 
occurs in Saxony ; in France at St Yrieux-la-Perche, near 
Limoges ; in Cornwall, England ; also in China and Japaa. 
The kaolin used at the Philadelphia porcelain works comes 
mostly from the neighborhood of Wilmington, Delaware. 

The name kaolin is a corruption of the Chinese Katu 
ling, meaning high-ridge, the name of a hill near Jauchaa 
Fu, where this material is obtained. 

In the manufacture of porcelain, the kaolin, and also the 
other ingredients, are first ground up separately to an ini 



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SAND CLAY. 873 

palpable powder The kaolin is mixed with a certain pro- 
portion of feldspar, flint and lime. The whole are worked 
up together in water, by mallets and spades, and well knead- 
ed by the hands and sometimes the feet of the workmen. 
The plastic material is then laid aside in masses of the size oi 
a man's head, and kept damp till required ; ihe dough, as it is 
called, is now ready for the potter's lathe, (or other nieans,^ 
by which it is moulded into the various forms of china ware, 
Ajfter moulding, they are slowly and thoroughly dried, and 
then taken to the kiln, for a preliminary baking. They come 
out in the state of biscuit, and are ready for painting and 
glazing. The colors are metallic oxyds, which are put on 
either from a wet copper-plate impression on bibulous paper, 
or by means of a brush. The former is used for flat sur- 
feces ; the paper is rubbed on carefully to transfer the im- 
pression to the porcelain, and is then wet and washed off. 
It is then carefully heated to evaporate any oil or grease em- 
ployed in the printing. The glaze is made of a quartzose 
feldspar ; it is ground to a very fine powder and worked into 
a paste with water, and a little vinegar. The articles are 
dipped for an instant into this milky fluid, and as they absorb 
the water they come out with a delicate layer of feldspar in 
a dry state. They are touched with a brush wherever not 
well covered. They are then ready to be finally baked in 
the kiln, for which purposed each vessel is placed in a sepa- 
rate baked clay case or receptacle, called a sagger. In this 
process the material undergoes a softening, amounting al- 
most to a partial fusion, and thus receives the translucency 
which distinguishes porcelain from earthen or stone ware. 

The blue color of common china is produced by means 
of oxyd of cobalt ; carmine, purple and violet, by means of 
chlorid of gold ; red of all shades by oxyd of iron ; yellow 
by oxyd of lead, or white oxyd of antimony and sand ; green 
by oxyd of copper or carbonate of lead ; brown by oxyd of 
iron, manganese, or copper. A steel luster is produced firom 
chlorid of platinum. 

The best Sevres ware is made from 63 to 70 parts of 
kaolin, 22 to 15 of feldspar, nearly 10 of flint, and 5 or 6 of 
chalk. In China the kaolin is mixed with a quartzose fold- 
spar rock, consisting mainly of quartz, called peh-tun-tsz. 

Soapstone is sometimes used in this manufacture ; and ai 
:i substitutes magnesia for a part of the potash, it makes r 
harder ware ; but it is also more brittle. 



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374 LOCALITIES OF MINERAL!. 



CHAPTER IX. 

CATALOGUE OF AMERICAN LOCALITIES OF MINER ALa 

The following catalogue may aid the mineralogical 
tourist in selecting his routes and arranging the plan of 
a journey. Only important localities, affording cabinet 
specimens, are in general included. The names of those 
minerals which are obtained in good specimens at the 
several localities, are distinguished by italics. When the 
specimens are remarkably good, an exclamation mark (!) 
has been added, or two of these marks (! !) when the 
specimens are quite unique. 

MAINE. 

Mt. Abraham. — AndaJiuite, staarotide. 

Albany. — Beryl I green and black tourmaline, feldspar, rose quartz, 

Albion. — Iron pyrites. 

Aroostook. — Red Hematite. 

Bingham. — Massive pyrites, galena, blende, andalusite. 

Blue Hill Bay. — Arsenical iron, molybdenite I galena, apatite I 
fluor spar! black tourmaline, (Long Cove,) black oxyd of man- 
ganese, (Osgood's Farm,) rhodonite, bog manganese, wolfram. 

BowDOfNHAM. — Beryl, molybdenite. 

BuuNswicK. — Green mica, garnet ! black tourmaline I molj^bdenite. 

BuoKFiELD. — Garnet, (estates of Waterman and Lowe,) iron ore. 

Camdage Farm. — (Near the tide mills,) molybdenite, (wolfram.) 

C AMDEN. — i/idc/^. 

Carmel, (Penobscot Co.) — Gray Antimony. 

CoRiNNA. — Iron pyrites, arsenical pyrites. 

Deer Isle. — Serpentine, verd antique, abestus, diallage. 

Dexter. — Galena, pyrites, blende, copper pyrites, green talo. 

DixFiELD. — Native copperas, graphite. 

Farmusgton.»— (Norton's ledge,) pyrites, graphite, bog ore. 

GEORQjjrrowN.-— (Parker's island,) beryl ! black tourmaline. 

Greenwood. — Graphite, black manganese. 

Hartwell. — Staurotide. 

Lenox. — Galena, pyromorphite. 

Lewiston. — Garnet 

Litchfield. — Sodalite, cancrinite, nepheline, zircon. 

LuBEC Lead Mines. — Galena, copper pyrites, blende, pyromorpbito^ 
*n ore of bismuth. 

Madrid. — Gold. 

Newfibld, (Bond's Mt.) — Mispickel, olive phosphate of iron in 
botr3^oidal masses. 

Park. — Ghreen ! red I black and blue tourmaline 1 mica I lepidolite} 
feldspar, albite, quartz crystals / rose quartz, blende. 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



AMERICAN LOCALITIES. 37^ 

Pabsonsfietj). — Idocrase I yellow garnet, pargasite, adularia, sect- 
polite, galena, blende, copper pyrites. 

Perry. — Prehnite and calc spar, (above Loring's cove,) quartz 
crystal, calc opar, analcime, apophyllite, agate, (Gin Gove.) 

Peru. — Crystallized pi^ rites, 

Phipsburq. — Yellow garnet ! manganesian garnet, idocrase, pat 
gasite, axinite, laumonite 1 chabazite. 

Poland. — Idocrase. 

Katmond. — Magnetic iron, scapolite, pyroxene, lepidolite, tremolite^ 
hornblende. 

RuMFORD. — Yellow garnet, idocrase, pyroxene, apatite, scapolite, 
graphite. 

Sanford, York Co. — Idocrase I albite, calcite, molybdenite, ep- 
idote. 

Searsmont. — Andalusite. 

Streaked Mountain. — Beryl I black tourmaline, mica, garnet. 

Thom ASTON. — Calcite, txemolite, hornblende, sphene, arsenical iron, 
^Owl's head,) black manganese, (Dodge's mountain.) 

Warren. — Galena, blende. 

Waterville. — Crystallized pyrites. 

Windham, (near the bridge.) — 8taturotide, spodumene, garnet, 

Woodstock, (New Brunswick.) — Graphite, specular iron. 

NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
/ 

^owoRTH. — Beryl 1 ! mica I tovrmaJine, feldspar, cUbite, rose quartz, 
colwmhite ! 

Alstbad. — Mica ! ! albite, black tourmaline. 

Amherst. — Idocrase I yellow garnet, pargasite, calc spar. 

Bartlett. — ^Magnetic iron, specular iron, brown iron ore in large 
veins near Jackson, (on "Bald face mountain,") quartz crystals/ 
smoky quartz, 

Bath. — Galena, copper pyrites. 

Bellows Falls. — Kyanite, wavellite, n,ear Saxton*s river 

Benton. — Quart crystals. • 

Campton. — Beryl I 

Canaan. — Gold in pyrites. 

Charlestown. — Staurotide maclcy andalusite macle, bog iron ore. 

Cornish. — Gray antimony, antimonial argentiferous gray copper, 
rutile in^quartz I (rare.) 

Eaton, (3 m. S. o£) — Galena, blende I copper pyrites, limonite, 
(Six Mile Pond.) 

Franoeston. — Soapstone, arsenical pyrites. 

Franoonia. — Hornblende, staurotide ! epidote ! zoisite, specular iron, 
magnetic iron, black and red manganesian garnets : mispiekel ! (Da- 
naite,) copper pyrites, molybdenite, prehnite; specimens now hardly 
«>btainable. 

Gilford. — (GunstockMt.) — ^Magnetic iron ore, native "lodestone." 

Goshen. — Graphite, black tourmaline. 

Grafton. — Mica I (extensively quarried at Glass Hill, 2 m. S. ©f 
Orange Summit,), albite I asparagus stone, blue, green and yellow 
beryls ' (1 hl B. of O. Summit,) tourmalins, garnets. 



Digitized by CjOOQIC 



376 LOCALITIES OF MINERALS. 

Granihaii. — Chray staurotide I 

Hanoveil — Garnet, a boulder of quartz containing rutile I black 
iourmalinej quartz, 

Haverhill. — Garnet I arsenical pyrites, native arsenic, galena, 
blende, iron and copper pyrites, magnetic and white iron pyrites. 

HiLLSBORo', (CampbeirB Mountain.) — Graphite. 

HiLLsnALS. — Rhodonite, black oxyd of manganese. 

Jackson. — Drusy quartz, tin ore, arsenical pyrites, native arsenio, 
fluor spar, apatite, magnetic iron ore, molybdenite, wolfram, copper 
pyrites, arsenate of iron. 

Jaffrey. — (Monadnock Mt) — Kyanite, 

Eeene. — Graphite, soapstone, milky quartz. 

Landaff. — Molybdenite, lead and iron ores. 

Lebanon. — Bog iron ore. 

Lisbon. — Staurotide, black and red garnets, granular magnetic 
iron ore, hornblende, epidote, zoisite, specular iron. 

Lyme. — Eyanite, (N. W. part,) black tourmaline, rutile, iron 
pyrites, copper pyrites, (E. of K village,) sulphuret of antimony. 

Merrimaoe. — Rutile ! (in gneiss nodules in granite vein.) 

Moultonborouqh, (Red Hill.) — Hornblende, bog ore, pyrites, tour- 
maline. 

Newport. — Moly bd enite. 

Orange. — Blue beryls! Orange Summit, chrysoberyl, mica, (w. 
side of mountain.) 

Orford. — Brovm tourmaline, (now obtained with difficulty,) «to- 
atite, rutile, kyanite, brown iron ore, native copper, green malachite, 
galena. 

Pelham. — Steatite. 

PiERMONT. — Micaceous iron, heavy spar, green, white and brown 
mica, apatite. 
• Plymouth. — Columbite, beryL 

Richmond. — lolite I rutile, steatite, iron pyrites. 

Saddleback Mt. — ^Black tourmaline, garnet, spinel. 

Shelburne. — Argentiferous galena, black blende, copper pyrites, iron 
*pyrit€S, manganese. 

Springfield. — Beryls, (very large, eight inches diameter,) mang4i» 
nesian garnets I in mica slate, albite mica. 

Sullivan. — Tourmalin-es, (black,) in quartz, beryl f 

Surrey. — ^Amethyst, caleite. 

SwANZBY, (near Eeene.)— J/a^n«^tc iron, (in masses in granite.) 

Tamworth, (near White Poni) — Galena. 

Unity, (estate of James Neal.) — Copper and iron pyrites, ehloro- 
f^hyllite, green mica, magnetic iron, radiated actinolite, garnet, titan- 
iferous iron ore, m<wnetie iron ore. 

Walpolb, (near Bellows FaXla.y—Maele, 

Warren. — Copper pyrites, blende, epidote, quartz, iron pyrites, ire 
molite, galena, rutile, talc, molybdenite. 

Westmoreland, (South part) — Molybdenite / apatite ! blue feldr 
spar, bog mxinganese, (north village,) quartz, Jluor spar, copper 
pyrites, oxyd of molybdenum and uranium. 

Whtib Mts., (notch behind " old Crawford's house.") — Green oc- 
tahedral fluor, quartz crystals, black tourmaline. chiastoUte. 



Digitized by VjOOQIC 



AMERICAN LOCALITIES 31 » 

WiLMOT. — Beryl, 

WiNGHisTEB. — Pyrolusite, diallogite, psilomelane, magaetio iron 
ore, granular quartz. 

VERMONT 

Addibon. — Iran sand. 

Albuboh. — Quartz crystals on calo spar, iron pyritea. 

Athens. — Steatite, rhomb apar, aetinc^te. 

Barnitt. — Graphite. 

Bklyidbkb. — Steatite, chlorite. 

Bknnington. — Pyroluwte, brown iron ore, pipe clay, yellow oehra 

Beihxl. — Aetinolite I tale, chlorite, octahedral iron, rutile, brtmn 
apar in steatite. 

Bbandon. — ^Braunite, pyrolusite, psUomelane, limonite, lignite, 
white clay, statuary marole ; fossil fruits in the lignite. 

Bkattlebobough. — ^Black tourmaline'in quartz. 

Bbidgbwateb. — Talc, dolomite, magnetic iron, steatite, chlorite^ 
gold, native copper, blende, galena, blue spinel, copper pyrites. 

Bristol. — R%Uile, brown hematite, manganese ores. 

Beookfield. — Mispiekel, iron pyrites. 

Cabot. — Garnets, staurotide, hornblende, albite, 

Gastleton. — Roofing slate. 

Gayendibh. — Garnet, serpentine, 

Ghbstbe. — A sbestus, 

GmTTBNDEN. — Psilomelaue, pyrolusite, brown iron ore, specuUut 
and magnetic iron, galena. 

CoLCHESTEB. — ^Brown iron ore, iron sand, jasper, alum. 

GoKQfTH. — Copper pyrites, (has been mined ;) magnetic iron pyritea. 

GovENTBir. — ^Manganese spar. 

Gbaftbbuby. — Mica in concentric balls. 

DUMMERSTON. Rutilc. 

Fletoher. — Pyrites, octahedral iron, acicular tourmaline. 

Grafton. — ^The steatite quarry referred to Grafton is properly in 
Athena. 

GuiLFOBD. — Scapolite. 

Hartford. — Calcite, pyrites I kyanite in mica slate. 

Irasburqh. — Rhodonite, psilomelane, 

Jat. — Chromic iron, serpentine, picrosmine, amianthus. 

Lowell. — ^Picrosmine, amianthus. 

Mablbobo'. — Rhomb spar, steatite, garnet, magnetic tron. 

Mendon. — Octahedral iron ore. 

Middlebury. — ^Zircon. 

Middlesex. — Rntile! (exhausted.) 

Monkton. — Pyrolusite, brown iron ore. 

MoRETOwN. — Smoky quartz 1 steatite, talc, wad^ rutil«. 

MoRiisTowN. — ^Argentiferous galena. 

Mount Holly. — Asbestus, chlorite. 

New Fane. — Olassy and abestiform aetinolite, steatite, green quart». 
(called chrysoprase at the locality,) chalcedony, drusy quaru, 
garnet, chromic iron, rhomb apar, 

Norwich. — Aetinolite, feldspar, brown spar in talc. 

13 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



378 LOCALITIES OF MINERALS* 

PiTTSFOBD. — Br(nm iron ore, manganese orea. 

Plymouth. — Spathic iron, magnetic and specular iron, both ia 
octahedral crystals. 

Pltmfton. — ^Massive hornblende. 

Putney. — ^Fluor, broton iron ore, rutile, and zouite in bouldenn 

Readino. — Qlasgy aetinolite in talc 

Readsbobo*. — Olany aetinolite, tieatite, 

RiFTON. — Brown iron ore, augite in boulders, octahedral iron 
pyritea. 

RooHESTEB. — ^Rutile, specular iron cryst, magnetic iron, in chlorite 
state. 

RozBUBY. — Dolomite, tale, serpentine, asbestusi 

Salisbuby. — Brown iron ore. 

Shabon. — QtMrtz cryttals, kyanite. 

Shobeham. — Iron pyritea, 

Shbewsbuby. — ^Magnetic iron and copper pyrites. 

SoMKBfiET. — Magnetic iron, native gold. 

Staffobd. — ^Magnetic iron and copper pyrites, (has been worked,) 
native copper, hornblende. 

Stabksbobo*. — Brown iron ore. 

Stibling. — Copper pyrites, talc, serpentine. 

Stogkbbidoe. — ^Mispickel, magnetic iron ore. 

Thetkobd. — Blende, galena, kyanite ; chrysolite in basalt 

Tboy. — Magnetic iron, talc, serpeniine, picrosmine, amianthus, 
steatite, one mile southeast of village of South Troy, on the turn 
of Mr. Pierce, east side of Missisco, chromic iron. 

Wabben. — ^Aetinolite, magnetic iron ore, wad. 

Watebbuby. — ^Mispickel, copper pyrites, rutUe, quarts, 

Watebville. — Steatite, aetinolite, talc 

Wells Rivkb. — Graphite. 

Wbstfield. — Steatite, chromic iron, serpentine. 

Westminster. — ^Zoisite in boulders. 

Wardsbobo'. — Zoisite. 

Windham. — Glassy aetinolite, steatite, 

Woodbuby. — ^Massive pyrites. 

Woodstock. — Qtuirtz crystals. 

MASSACHUSETTS 

Alfobd. — Galena, iron pyrites. 

Athol. — Allanite, fibrolite (f) epidote I babingtonitet 

Aububn. — Masonite. 

Barbe. — RiUile I mica^yrites, beryl, feldspar, gam€t, 

Gbeat Babbington. — Tremolite. 

Bedford. — Garnet. 

Belchektown. — Allanite. 

Bernabdston. — Magnetic oxyd of iron. 

Bkvebly. — Polymignite, columbite, green feldspar, tin ore, 

Blanford. — Marmolite, schiller spar, serpentine, anthopkyUite, 
aetinolite ! chromic iron, kyanite, rose quartz in boulders. 

Bolton. — Scapolite ! petalite, sphene, pyroxene, nuttalite, diopside, 
boltonite (chrysolite), petalite, apatite, magnesite, rhomb spar, al> 
lanite, yttrocerite, cerium ochre (oh the scapolite), spineL 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



AMERICAN LOCALITIES. 379 

BozBOftOTTOH. — Seapolite, spinel, garnet, angite, sotinolite, spatiieu 

Brighton. — Asbestus. 

Brimfield, (road leading to Warren.) — lolite, adularia, molyb- 
denite, mica, garnet. 

Carlisle. — Tourmaline^ garnet I seapoUte, actinolite. 

Charlestown. — Prehnite, lawnonite, Btilbite, chabazite, quartz 
eryetals. 

Chelmsford. — Seapolite, ehondrodite, hltte tpinel, amianthtu I rose 
quartz. 

Chester. — Hornblende, eeapolite, zoisite, epodumene, indieolite, ap- 
atite — ^magnetic iron and chromic iron, (west part,) — stilbite, heu- 
landite, analcime and chabazite. 

Chesterfield. — Blue, green, and red tourmaline, eleavelandite 
(albite), lithia mica, enioky quartz, microlite, epodumene, kyanite^ 
apatite, roee beryl, garnet, quartz crystals, staurotide, tin ore, colum' 
bite, erubescite, zoisite, uranite, brookite (eumanite). 

Conway. — Pyrolusite, fluor spar, zoisite, rutile 1 1 native alurn^ 
galena. 

CuMMiNOTON. — Rhodonite I cimimingtonite (hornblende), . white 
iron pyrites, garnet. 

Dedham. — Asbestus, galena. 

Deerfibld. — Chabazite, heulandite, stilbite, amethyst, camelian, 
chalcedony, agate. 

FiTiHBURG, (Pearl Hill.) — Beryl, staurotide ! garnets, molybdenite. 

Foxborouoh. — Iron pyrites, anthracite. 

Franklin. — ^Amethyst. 

Goshen. — Mica, albite, spodumene ! blue and areen tourmaline, 
beryl, zoisite, smoky quartz, columbite, tin ore, galena. 

Greenfield, (in sandstone quarry, half mile east of village.)^ 
Allophane, white and greenish. 

Hatfield. — Heavy Spar, yellow quartz crystals, galena, blende, 
copper pyrites. 

Hawley. — Micaceous iron, massive pyrites, magnetic iron, zoisite. 

Heath. — Pyrites, zoisite. 

Hinsdale. — Brown iron ore, apatite, zoisite. 

HuBBARDSTON. — Massive pyrites. 

Lancaster. — Kyanite, chiastolite / apatite, staurotide, pinite, an- 
dalusite. 

liEE. — Tremolite! sphene! (east part.) 

Lenox. — ^Brown hematite, gibbsite, (?) 

Leverett.-— Heavy spar, galena, blende, copper pyritei 

Letden. — Zoisite, rutile. 

LrrrLETON. — Spinel, scapolitc, apatite. 

Lynnjield. — Magnesite on serpentine. 

Martha's Vineyard. — ^Brown iron ore, amber, selenite, radiated 
pyrites. 

Mendon. — Mica I chlorite. 

MiDDLEFiELD. — Glassy actiiiolite, rhomh spar, steatite, serpen^ 
tine, feldspar, drusy quartz, apatite, zoisite, nacrite, chalcedony, 
ialet 

MiLBURY. — Vermiculite. 

MoNTAOUB. — Specular iron. 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



380 LOCALITIES OF MINERALS. 

Nbwbubt. — Serpentine, chryBolite, epidote, mauive gamut, oa» 
bonate of iron. 

Nkwbuktpobt. — Serpentine, nemalite, uranite. 

New Bkaintbse. — Mlack toumudine. 

NoBwioH. — Apatite ! black tourmaline, beryl, spodumene I triphy- 
fine (altered), blende, qaartz crystals. 

Palmeb, (Three Rivers.) — Feldspar, prehnite, calc spar. 

Pelham. — Aebettue, serpentine, qttartz eryetali, beryt moltfbdeniU, 
green hornstone. 

Pladtfisld. — Oummingtowite, pyrohuUe, rhodonite, 

Richmond. — Brown iron ore, gibbsUe 1 

RowE. — ^Epidote, talc 

South Rotai^ton. — Beryl / / (now obtained with great difficulty,) 
nUca 1 1 feldspar I ilmenite, allanite. Four miles beyond old loo., 
on farm of Solomon Hey wood, mica I beryl / feldspar 1 

RuBSEt. — Schiller spar, (diallagef) mica, serpentine, beryl, galena, 
copper pyrites. 

Saugus. — Porphyry. 

Sheffield. — Ashestus, pyrites, natiye alum, pyrolusite. 

Shelbu&ne. — ^Rutile. 

Shutesburt, (east of Locke's Pond.) — Molybdenite, 

Southampton. — Galena^ white lead ore, an^lesite, molybdate of 
lead, flaor, heav^^ span copper and iron pyntes, blende, corneoua 
lead, pyromorphite. 

Steruno. — Spodumene, chicutolite, spathic iron, mispickel, blende, 
galena, iron and copper pyrites. 

Stoneham. — N^hrite, 

Sturbbidoe. — Graphite, garnet, apatite, bog ore. 

Taunton, (one mile south.) — Paracolumbite. 

Tueneb'r Falus, (Conn. River.)^-Copper pyrites, prehnite, chlo- 
rite, chlorophceite, spathic iron, green malachite, magnetic iron sand, 
anthracite. 

Ttrinoham. — ^Pyroxene, scapolite. 

UzBBiDGE. — ^Argentiferous galena. 

Warwick. — Massive garnet, black tourmaline, magnetic iron, beryl, 
epidote. 

Washington. — Graphite, 

Westfield. — Schiller spar, (diallage,) serpentine, steatite, kyanite, 
scapolite, actinolite. 

Westpord. — Andalusite I 

West Hampton. — Galena, argentine, psettdomorphous quartz. 

West Springfield. — Prehnite, ankerite, satin spar, celestine, bitu- 
minous coaL 

West Stookbridgs. — Hematite, fibrous pyrolusite, spathic iron. 

Whately. — Native copper, galena. 

Williamsburg. — Zoisite, pseudomorphous quartz, apatite, rose and 
smoky quartz, galena, pyrolusite, copper pyrites. 

WiLLiAMSTowN. — Cryst quartz, 

Windsor. — Zoisite, actinolite, rutile I 

Worcester. — Mispickel, idocrase, pyroxene garnet, amisnthiii) 
bucholzite, spathic iron, galena. 

WoRTHiNOTON. — Kyanitc, 

Z»AR. — Bitter spar, tdU. 



Digitized by VjOOQIC 



AMERICAN LOCALITIB8. 381 

E90DE ISLAND. 

Bbistol. — Amethyst, 

Cranston. — ^Actinolite in talo. 

CuMBiERLAND. — Manganese, epidote, actinoUte, garnet^ titaniferona 
iron, magnetic iron, red hematite, copper pyritefi. 

FosTKB. — Kyanite, 

Johnson. — ^Talc, brown spar. 

Newport. — Serpentine, 

Portsmouth. — Anthracite, graphite, asbestus, iron pyrites. 

SurrHFisLD. — Dolomite, calc spar, bitter spar, nacrite, serpentine 
(bowenite), tremolite, asbestus, qnartz, magnetic iron in chlorite 
•late, talc 1 1 

Warwick, (Natic village.) — Masonite, garnets, graphite. 

Wbstkrly. — llmenite. 

CONNECTICUT. 

Berlin. — ^Heavy spar, datholite, blende, quartz crystals. 

Bolton. — Staurotide, copper pyrites. 

Bradletyille, (Litchfield.) — ^Laumonite. 

Bristol. — Copper glance, copper pyrites, heavy spar, erubescite^ 
talc, aliophane, pyromorphit^ 

Brookfield. — Galena, calamine, blende, spodumene, magnetio 
pyrites. 

Canaan. — Tremolite and augite I in dolomite. 

Chatham. — Mispickel, smaltine, chloanthite (chathamite), score- 
dite, copper nickel, beryl. 

Cheshire. — Heavy spar I copper glance eryst, erubescite, green 
malachite, kaolin, natrolite, prehnite, chabazite, datholite. 

Chester. — Sillimanite / zircon, epidote. 

Cornwall, near the Housatonic. — Graphite, pyroxene, 

Danbury. — Danburite, oligoclcue, moonstone, orown tourmaline^ 

Farmington. — Frehnite, chabazite / agate, native copper. 

Granbt. — Green malachite. 

Greenwich. — Black tourmaline. 

Haddam. — Chrysoberyl ! beryl I epidote! tourmaline! feldspar, 
anthophyllile, garnet ! iolite ! oligoclase, chlorophyllite ! automolite, 
magnetic iron, adularta, apatite, columMte! zircon (calyptolite), 
mica, white and yellow iron pyrites, molybdenite, allanite, bismuth, 
bismuth ochre. 

Hadltme. — Chabazite and stilbite in gneiss, with epidote and 
garnet. 

Hartiord. — Daiholite, (Rocky Hill quarry.) 

Kent.—- Proton iron ore, pyrolusite, ochrey iron ore. 

LiTCBFiELD. — Kyanite with corundum, apatite and andalusite^ 
ilmeniie, (washingtonite,) copper pyrites. 

Ltmk — Garnet, sunstone. 

Meriden. — Datholite. 

MiDDLEFDELD Fallb. — ^Datholitc, chlorite, Ac, in amygdaloid. 

HiDDLXTowN. — Mica, lepidolite with green and red tourmaline, 
sUbite, feldspar, eolumbits ! prehnite, garnet, beryl, topaz, uranite, 

13* 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



382 LOCALITIES OF MINERALS. 

apatite, pitchblende ; at lead mine, galena^ copper pyritea, blende* 
quartz, calcite, fluor, iron pyrites, sometimes capillary. 

MiLFORD.— Sahlite, pyroxene, cubestus, zoisite, verd-antique marbl«^ 
pyrites. 

New Haven. — Serpentine, asbestus, chromic ^ron, sahlite, stilbita, 
prehnite. 

Norwich. — Sillimanite, monaxite ! zircon, iolitey corundum, feld- 
spar. 

Oxford, near Humphreysville. — ^Kyanite, copper pyrites. 

Plymouth. — Galena, heulandite, fiuor. 

Roaring Brook, (Cheshire.) — Datholite ! calc spar, prehnit^ 
■aponite. 

Keading, (near the line of Danbuiy.) — ^Pyroxene, garnet, 

RoxBURT. — Massive spathic iron, blende. 

Salisbury. — Brown iron ore, ochery iron, pyrolusite, triplite. 

Saybrook. — Molybdenite, stilbite, plumbago. 

Simsbury. — Copper glance, green malachite. 

SouTHBURY. — Rose quartz, laumontite, prehnite, calc spar, heavy 
spar. 

SouTHiNOTON. — ^HcRvy spar, datholite, asteriated quartz cysta]& 

Stafford. — ^Massive pyrites. 

Stonington. — Stilbite and chabazite on gneiss. 

Thatohersville, (near Bridgeport) — Stilbite on gneiss, babing- 
tonite ? 

Tolland. — Staurotide, massive pyrites. 

Trumbull and Monroe. — Cklorophane, topaz, beryl, diaspore, mag- 
netic pyrites; iron pyrites, tungstate of lime, wolfram, (pseudomorpn 
of tungsten,) rutile, native bismuth, tungstic acid, spathic iron, 
mispickel, argentiferous galena, blende, scapolite, tounncUine, garnet, 
albite, augite, graphic tellurium, (f ) margarodite. 

Washington. — Triplite, ilmenite I (washj^gtonite of Shepard,) 
diallogite, natrolite, andaltisite, (New Preston,; k^anite. 

Watsrtown, near the Naugatuck. — White sahbte, monazite. 

West Farms. — Asbestus. 

Winchester and Wilton. — Asbestus, garnet 

NEW YORK. 

ALBANY CO. — Coeyman's Landing. — Epsom salt 
Guilderland. — Petroleum, 
Watervliet. — Quartz crystals, 

ALLEGANY CO. —^Os^a.— Petroleum, * 

CATTARAUGUS CO.— Freedom.— Pe^ro/ewwi. 

CAYUGA CO. — Auburn. — ^Fluor, epsom salt 
Cayuga Lake. — Sulphur. 
Ludlowville. — Epsom salt 
Springville. — Nitrogen springs. 

OHATAUQUE CO.— Fredonia.— P«<roZ«im, carburetied 
Laona. — ^Petroleum. 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



AMERICAN LOCALITIES. 383 

COLUMBIA CO. — AscBAM. Lsad MiNE.-^Galena, blende, coppet 
pyrites, heavy spar. 

AusTERLiTZ. — Earthy manganese, molybdate of lead, copper mica. 
Hudson. — Selenite I 
XtEBANON. — I^itrogen spring. 

DUCHESS CO.'-DoyiLR.^Garnet (Fobs ore bed.) 

YiBBKiLU^- Graphite, green actinolite I tale, hydrous anthophylliUu 

Rhinebeck. — Granular epidote. 

Union Vale. — Oihhsite, (at Clove mine.) 

Amknla. — ^Brown hematite. 

ESSEX CO. — ^Alexandria. — Kirby's graphite mine, graphite, py* 
rozene, seapolite, sphene. 

Crown Point. — Apatite, (enpyrchroite of Emmons,) brown tour^ 
meUine f in the apatite, chlorite, quartz crystals, pink and bln« 
ealcite, pyrites ; a short distance south of J. C. Hammond's house, 
garnet, seapolite, copper pyrites, aventurine feldspar, zircon ; mag- 
netic iron (Peru). 

Lewis. — Tabular spar, colophonite, garnet, labra^ite. 

Long Pond. — ^Apatite, garnet, pyroxene, idocrase, eoccolite 1 ! sceh 
polite, magnetic iron ore, blue calc spar. 

McIntyre. — Labradorite, garnet, magnetic iron ore. 

MoRiAH, at Sandford Ore Bed. — Magnetic iron, apatite, allanitej 
actinolite, and feldspar ; at Fisher Ore Bed, magn.etic iron, feldspar, 
quartz ; at Hall Ore Bed, or " New Ore Bed,*' magnetite, zircons, 

Newcomb. — LabradoriiCy feldspar. 

Port Henry. — Broion tourmaline, mica, rose quartz, serpentine, 
green and black pyroxene, hornblende, cryst. pyrites, magnetic pyrites, 
adtUaria. Phlogopite 1 at Cheever Ore Bed, with magnetite and 
terpentine. ^ 

Roger's Rock. — Graphite, tabular spar, garnet, colophonite, feldf 
spar, adularia, pyroxene, sphene, eoccolite. 

ScuRooN. — Calc spar, pyroxene, chondrodite. 

TicoNDEROGA. — Graphite, pyroxene, sahlite, sphene, black tour- 
maline. 

"Westport. — Labradorite, prehnite. 

WiLLSBORo'. — 2'abular spar, colophonite, garnet, green eoccolite, 
hornblende. 

FRANKLIN CO. — Chateaugay. — ^Nitrogen springs. 
Malone. — Massive pyrites, magnetic iron ore. 

GENESEE CO. — Acid springs containing sulphuric acid. 

GREENE CO.— CAT8KiLL.--CaZc spar. 
Diamond Hill. — Quartz crystals. 

HERKIMER CO.— Ltttle Falm.— OwaW* crystals, heayy apw, 
tale spar, anthracite. 

Middleville. — QiMrtz crystals ! ealc spar, brown and pearl spar 

Salisbury. — Quartz crystals I blende, galena, iron and ooppei 
pyrites. 

Stabk. — Fibrous oelestine, gypsum. 



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384 LOCALITIES OF MIN£KALS. 

JEFFERSON CO.— Alexandria.— Hornblende, orthoelaw, (cmr 
tnaliney eclestine. 

Adams, — ^Fluor, calc tufa, barytes. 

Antwerp. — Stirling iron mine, specular iron, ehcUcodite, gpatkU 
iron, millerite, nickeliferous iron pyrites, quartz erystalSy pyrites* 
at Oxbow, cidc spar / porous coralloidal heavy spar ; near Vroo- 
man's lake, calc spar 1 idocrase, pklogopite ! pyroxene, sphene, fluor, 
calcite, pyrites, copper pyrites; &\so feldspar, kog iron ore, scapolite, 
(farm of Da /id Eggleson,) serpentine, tourmaline (yellow, rare). 

High Island, (^in the St. Lawrence.) — Tourmaline. 

Pahelia. — Agaric mineral, calc tufa. 

Pillar Point. — Massive heavy ^ar (exhausted )w 

Theresa. — Fluor, calcite, specular iron ore, hornblende, guartM 
erystetls. serpentine, (associated with the specular iron,) celestine 
strontianite : the Muscolonge lake locality of fluor is exhausted. 

Watertown. — Tremolite, agaric mineral, calc tufa, celestine. 

[This county adjoins St Lawrence Co., and the localities of Bossie, 
Hammond and Gouvemeur, near Oxbow, are in the latter county.] 

LEWIS CO. — ^DiANA, (localities mostly near junction of crystalline 
and sedimentary rocks, and within two miles of Katural Bridge.) 
ScapoliteJ tabular spar, green coccolite, feldspar, tremolite, black 
pyroxene, sphene, mica, quartz crystals, drusy quartz, cryst pyrites, 
magnetic pyrites, blue calc spar, serpentine, rensselaerite, zircon, 
graphite, chlorite, specular iron, bog iron ore, iron sand. 

Greig. — Magnetic iron ore, pyrites. 

LowviLLE. — Calc spar, flu or spar, pyrites, galena, blende, calc tnfit 

Martinsburoh. — Wad, galena, etc., but mine not now opened. 

Watson, Bremen. — ^Bog iron ore. 

MONROE CO. — Rochester. — Pearl spar, calc spar, snowy gyp 
sum, fluor, celestine, galena, blende. 

MONTGOMERY CO.— Root.— Pearl spar, drusy quartz, blende. 
Palatine. — Qttartz crystals, drusy quartz. 

NEW YORK CO.— CoRLAER*8 Hook.— Apatite. 

EiNGSBRiDos. — Tremolite, pyroxene, mica, tourmaline, pyrites, rutilei 

Harlem.— Epidote, apophyllite, stUbite, tourmaline, vivianite, 
lamellar feldspar, mica. 

New YoRK,^8erpentine, amianthus, actinolite, talc, pyroxens^ 
hydrous anthophyllite, garnet, staurotide, molybdenite, graphite. 

NIAGARA CO.— Lewiston.— .^«om salt, 

LooKPORT. — Celestine, calc spar, selenite, anhydrite, Jlnor, peari 
spar, blende, 
Niagara Falls. — Calc spar, fluor, blende. 

ONEIDA CO. — ^BooNViLLB. — Cale spar, tabular spar, eoeeoliU, 
Clinton. — Blende, lenticular argillaceous iron ore ; in rocks of the 
Clinton Group, strontianite, celestine, the former eoTering the latter. 

ONONDAGA CO. — Camillus. — Selenite und Jibrous gypsum, 
Manlius. — Gypsum and fluor. 
Syracijsx. — Serpentine^ celestine. 



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AMBRICazt L0€ALITIEB. B^.*! 

ORANGE CO.— Cornwall.— Zircon, chondrodite, hofnolende, ipinel, 
moMive feldtpar, fihrouB epidote, hudsonite, ilm«iute, terpentine, bol- 
lonite. • 

Deer Park. — Cfryst pyrites, galena. 

Monroe.— ififca / whene / garnet, colophonite, epidote, tkondrodile, 
ullanite, bucholzite, brown spar, boltoj&ite, spinel, hornblende, talo^ 
ilmenite, magnetic pyrites, common pyrites, chromic iron, graphite. 

At WiLKB and O Neil Mine in Monroe. — ^Ai'agonite, magnetite, di- 
magnetite (pseud f^, jenkinsite. 

At Two Ponds m JAonroe.^Pyroxene I chondrodite, hornblende, 
9ceipolite ! sireon, sphene, apatite. 

At Greenwood Fubnaoe in Monroe. — CAondrodite, pyroxene I mica, 
hornblende, spinel, seapolite, biotite ! ilmenite. 

At Forest of Dean. — Pyroxene, spinel^ zircon, seapolite, horn- 
blende, boltonite. 

Town of Warwick. 

"Warwick Village. — Spinel, zircon, serpentine I brofvn spar, py 
roxene! hornblende! pseudomorphous steatite, feldspar J (Rock Hill,) 
ilmenite, cUntonite, tourmaline, (R. H.,) rutile, spheiie, molybdenite, 
mispickel, white iron pyrites, common pyrites, yellow iron sinter. 

Amitt. — Spinel, garnet, seapolite, hornblende, idocrase, epidotel 
tlintonite! tnagnetic iron J tourmaline, warwickit«, apatite, chon- 
drodite, ilmenite, tale I pyroxene J rutile, ^tVcon, corundum, feldspar, 
^hene, calc spar, serpentine, schiller epar.(?) 

Edenville — Apatite, chondrodite t hair brown hornblende I tre- 
molite, spinel, tourmialine, warwickite, pyroxene, sphene, mica, felc^ 
spar, mispickel, orpiment, rutile, ilmenite, scorodite, copper pyritea 

West Point. — Feldspar, mica, seapolite, sphene, hornblende, ml 
Unite. 

PUTNAM CO. — Carmel, (Brown's quarry.) — AnthophylUte 
ftchiller spar, (T) orpiment, mispickel. 

QpLD Spring.— ^Cnabazite, mica, sphene. 

Patierson. — White pyroxene 1 calc spar, asbestns, tremolite, do- 
lomite, massive pyrites. 

Phillipstown. — Tretnolite, amianthus, serpentine, sphene, diopside, 
preen crocolite, hornblende, seapolite, stilbite, mica, laumontite, gur- 
bofite, calc spar, magnetic iron, chromic iron. 

Phillips Ore Bed, — Hyalite, <i€tinolite, massive pyrites, 

RENSSELAER CO.— Hoosia — Nitrogen springs. 
Lansingburgh. — Epsom salt, quartz crystals, iron pyrites. 
Trot. — Quartz crystals, iron pyrites, selenite, 

RICHMOND CO. — Rossville. — Lignite, eri/st. pyrites, 
QuARANTuoL — Asbcstus, amianthus, aragonite, dolomite, gurhoJUe, 
brucite, serpentine, talc 

ROCKLAND CO.— Caldwell.— CWc spar I 
Grassy Point. — Serpentine, actinolite. 
Hayerstraw. — Hornblende, 

Ladentown. — ^Zircon, red copper ore, green malaohite. 
Piermont. — ^Datholite,fltiibite, apophyl^te, stellite, pr^bnite, thorn- 
BMiite, calo spar. , 



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336 LOCALITIES OF MINERALST. 

Stony Point. — ^Kerolite, lamelUr hornblende, asbestua. 

ST. LAWRENCE CO. — Canton. — Mcutive pyrites^ cede apar, browK 
tonrmaline, tpkene, serpentine, tale, rensMlaerite, pyroxene, sjiecolsr 
iron, copper pyritet. 

Dekalb. — hornblende, heavy spar, Jlitor, tremolite, tcwrmcdine, 
blende, graphite, pyroxene, qnartz (spongy), serpentinei 

Edwards. — Brown and mvery mica ! scapolite, apatite, q%iarU 
erystah, actinolite, tremolite, specnlar iron, serpentine, magnetite;. 

Fine. — Black mica, hornblende. 

Fowler, — Heavy vpar, quartz crystals / speciUar iron, blende, 
galena, tremolite, chalcedony, bog ore, satin spar, (assoc. with ser- 
pentine,) iron and copper pyrites, actinolite, rensselaerite, (near 
Somerville.) 

GouvERNEUR. — Calc spar I serpentine! hornblende I seapolitel or- 
thoclase, tourmaline I idocrase, (one mile south of G,,) pyroxene, 
apatite, rensselaerite, serpentine, sphene, fluor, heavy spar (farm of 
Judge Dodge,) black mica, phlogopite, tremolite I asbestus, specular 
iron, graphite, idocrase ; (near Someryillc in serpentine), spinel, 
hoiighite, scapolite, phlogopite, dolomite j three quarters of a mile 
west of Somerville, choridrodite, spinel ; two miles north of Somer- 
ville, apatite, pyrites. 

Hammond. — Apatite! zircon! (farm of Mr. Hardy); orthoelase, 
pargasite, heavy spar, pyrites, purple fluor, dolomite. 

Heumon. — Quartz crystals, specular iron, spathic iron, pargasite 
pyroxene, serpentine, tourmalme, bog iron ore. 

Macomb. — Blende, mica, galena (on land of James Averil), sphene 

Mineral Point, Morristown.^— Fluor, blende, galena, phlogopite 
(Pope's Mills,) heavy spar. 

Ugdensburg. — Labradorite. 

PiTCAiRN. — Satin spar, associated with serpentine. 

Potsdam, — Hornblende ! — eight miles from Potsdam on road to 
Pieri-epont,/tfW«par, tourmaline, black mica, hornblende. 

llossiE, (Iron Mines.) — Heavy spar, specular iron, corralloidal \ira- 
gouite in mines near Somerville, limonite, quartz, (sometimes stalae* 
♦.itic at Parish iron mine,) vyrites, j^arl spar. 

RobSiE Lead Mine. — Calc spar, galena, pyrites, celestine, coppei 
pyrites, spathic iron ! white lead ore, anglesite. 

Elsewhere in Rossik. — Calc spar, heavy spar, quartz crystals, chovi- 
drodite (near Yellow Laike), feldspar ! pargasite! apatite, pyroxene 
hornblende, sphene, zircon, mica, fluor, serpentine. automolite> pear} 
spur, graphite. 

RussEL. — Pargasite, specular iron, quartz (dodec), calcite, ser- 
pentine, rensselaerite, magnetite. 

SARATOGA CO.— Greenfield. — Chrysobervl! garnet, tourmaline 
mica, feldspar, apatite, graphite, aragonite, (m iron mines^) 

SCHOHARIE CO.— Ball's Cave, and others.— Calc spar, stalae> 
tites. 

Cari^isle. — Fibrous sulphate of baryta, eryst. and fih. carbonate oj 
Um£, 

Schoharie. — ^Fibrous celestine, strontiamte! eryst, pyrites I 



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AMERICAN LOCALITIES. 387 

8£NE0A CO.-^CAnoQJL—Mtrogen springs. 

SULLIVAN CO. — WuRTZBORO*. — Galma, blende, pi/rites, copper 
pyrites, 

ULSTER CO. — ^Ellbnville. — Galena, blende, copper pyrites i 
quartz, brookite, 
Marbletown .— Py r i tes. 

WARREN CO. — Caldwell. — Massive feldspar, 
Chester. — Pyrites, tourmaline, rntile, copper pyrites. 
Diamond Isle, (Lake George.) — Calc spar, quartz crystals, 
Glenn's Falls. — Rhomb spar. 
JoHNSBVRG. — Fluor I zircon 1 1 graphite, serpentine, pyrites, 

WASHINGTON CO.— Fort Asv,^Graphite. 
Granville.— Xam«//ar pyroxene, massiTc feldspar, epidote.- 
WAYNE Co.— WoLOOTT.— ITeavy spar, 

WESTCHESTER CO.— Anthony's Nos^— Apatite, pyrites, calcite I 
in very large tabular crystals, grouped and sometimes incrusted with 
drusy quartz. 

Davenport's Neck. — Serpentine, garnet, spbene. 

Eastchester. — Blende, copper and iron pyrites, dolomite. 

Hastinos. — Tremolite, white pyroxene. 

New Rochelle. — Serpentine, brucite, quartz, mica, tremolite, 
garnet. 

Peekskill. — Mica, feldspar, hornblende, stilbite. 

Rye. — Serpentine, chlorite, black tourmaline, tremolite. kerolite. 

SiNGSiNG. — Pyroxene, tremolite, iron pyrites, copper pyrites, beryl 
azurite, green malachite, white lead ore, pyromorphite, anglesite. 
vauquelinite, galeifa, native silver. 

West Farms. — ^Apatite, tremolite, garnet, stilbite, heulandite, 
chabazite, epidote, sphene. 

YoNKERS. — Tremolite, apatite, calc spar, analcime, pyrites, tour- 
maline. 

YgRKTOWN. — Sillimanite, monazite, magnetic iron. 

NEW JERSEY. 

Abbottsvillel — Serpentine, chrysotil. 

Andover Iron Mine, (Sussex Co.) — Willemite, brown garnet, mag* 
netite, caleite, blende, fluor, galena, copper pyrites, talc 

Allentown, (Monmouth Co.) — -Vivianite. 

Belville. — Copper mines. 

Bkroen. — Calc spar, datholite, thomsonite, pectolite (called stellite), 
analeime, apophyllite, prehnite, sphene, stilbite, natrolite, heulandite, 
laumontite, chabazite, pyrites, pseudomorphous steatite imitative 
of apophyllite. 

Brunswigk.— G->pper mines; native copper, malachite, mountain 
leather. 

Beyah. — Chondrodite. 

Cantwkll'b Bridge, Newcastle Co., three miles west — Vivianite 

Danvillk.— (Jemmy Jump Ridge.) — Graphite, chondrodite, augit« 



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338 LOCALITIES OF MINERALS. 

Fleminoton. — Capper Mines. 

Frankfort. — Serpentine, 

Franklin and Sterling. — Spinel! garnet! rhodoniUl wUlemitet 
franklinite ! red zinc ore ! dysluite / hornblende^ tremolite, chondrodite, 
white scapolite, black tourmaline, epidote^ pink calo epar, mica, actin* 
olite, augite, sahlite, coecolite, asoestus, jeffersonite (augite), cala- 
mine, graphite, fluor, beryl,.ga]6na, serpentine, honey* colored ephene, 
quartz, chalcedony, amethyst, zircon, molybdenite, vivianite. Also 
algerite in gran, limestone. The zinc ores and franklinite, especially 
at Sterling Hill in Sterling, the jeffersonite at Mine Hill, in Franklin. 

Franklin and Warwick Mts. — Pyritee, 

Greenbrook. — Copper mines. 

Griggstown. — Copper mines. 

Hamburgh. — One mile north, spinel ! towrmaline ! phlogoptt^, 
hornblende, dsc^ limonite, specular iron. 

Hoboken. — Serpentine, brudtel nemalite (or fibrous bradte), ara* 
gonite, dolomite. 

Hurdtown. — Apatite, magnetie pyrites, magnetite, chalcedony, 
feldspar, hornblende. 

Imleytown. — Vivianite. 

LocKwooD. — Graphite, ehondrodite, tale, augite, quartz, green spinel, 

Montville., Morris Co. — Serpentine, chrysotile. 

Mount Hopel — ^Three miles K. W. of Rockaway, iron mines, mag- 
netite, pyrites, hornblende, apatite; Mt Tabo mines, spathic iron, 
pyrites ; at Mt. Pleasant, apatite, hornblende, feldspar. 

Mulliga Hill, Gloucester Co. — Vivianite lining belemnites and 
others fossils. 

Newton. — Spinel, blue and white corundum, (exhausted,) mica, 
idocrase, hornolende, tourmaline, scapolite, rutile, pyrites, talc, calo 
spar, heavy spar, pseiidfimorphous steatite, 

Patterson. — Datholite. 

RosEviLLE, (Bryan Township, Sussex Co.)— Magnetite, calcite, 
epidote, garnet, mica. 

Schuyler's Mines. — ^Green malachite, red copper oi'e, native cop- 
per, chrysocolla. * 

Somervible. — Red copper ore, native copper, chrysocolla, green 
malachite, bitumen, (two miles to the northeast) 

Sparta. — Chondrodite ! spinel, sapphire, green talc, graphite, 
epidote, augite. 

Stanhope. — ^Few miles south, several iron mines. 

SuGKASUNNT, OH the Morris canaL — Brown apaiite in magnetie 
pyrites. 

Trenton. — ^Zircon, amber, lignite. 

Vernon. — Oreen spinel, chondrodite, red sapphire, hornblende, py^ 
rites, phlogopite, graphite, lim,onite, rutile, sphene, ihnenite, zircon, 
fluor, margarite. 

Woodbridge. — Copper mine. 

NoTE.--From Amity, N. Y., to Andover, N. J., a distance of about 
ihirty miles, the outcropping limestone, at different points, affords 
more or less of the minerals enumerated as occurring at Franklin. 
(See Geol. Rep. on N. J., by H. D. Rogers.) 



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AMERICAN LOCALITIES. 389 



PENNSYLVANIA. 

ADAMS GO.'^RsADiNO.'^Molybdeiiite in quartz^ zircon » nuignetie 
iron ore. 

BERKS CO.— At Jones's Minbs, near Moboantown, ffreen mal' 
aehitet ekrytoeollal oct and dodeo. magnetic iron, iron pyrites, 
copper pynteB ; — ^two miles to the northeast, graphite, sphene ; at 
Steel's mines, octahedral and micaceous iron ore, coccoUte ; Eckhardt's 
furnace, allanite. 

BUCK'S CO. — Opposite New Hope, tourmaline J near Attleboro', 
at Vanarsdale's limestone quarry, sahlite, scapolite, sphene, gre«n 
coccolite, graphite, green mica. 

CARBON CO. — At Mauch Chunk, cryst, iron pyrites, selenite. 

CHESTER CO. — ^BmiONOHAM. — KeroUte, amethyst, quartz cryst, 
serpentine. 

E. Bbadfoed. — On Minorcus Hill, green, blue and gray kyanite, 
apatite, allanite ; on A. Tayfor*s farm, sphene, cryst smoky quartz ; 
on the farms of B. Jones, B. Price, L. Sharpless, and S. Entrikin, 
amethyst ; near Strode's mill, asbestus, magnesite, marmolite, gar- 
net ; near T. Hoope*s saw mill, epidote, asbestus ; on Osborn's Hill, 
sphene, manganesian garnet, wad, tourmaline, actinolite, antho- 
pnyllite, feldspar, fetid calcite ; near the Black Horse Inn, rutile. 

W. Bradford. — ^Near A. Jackson's limestone quarry, green kyanite, 
rutile, scapolite, iron pyrites ; near Marshall's mill, chromic iron, 
serpentine; at Poor House (limestone) quarry, (called also Bald- 
win's,) four miles north of Unionville, and six west of Westchester, 
rutile I in brilliant acicular crystals ; cryst calc spar, cryst dolomite, 
zoisite in quartz, talc in implanted crystals on dolomite, oi*thoclase 1 
(in fine crystals implanted on dolomite,) quartz crystals. 

Chester Springs. — Gihbsite, in an iron mine ; near Coventryyille, 
in Chrisman's limestone quarry, augite, sphene, eraphite, zircon t 
in iron ore about half a mile from the village on French Creek. 

West Goshen. — Amianthus, asbestus, precious serpentine, cellular 
quartz, jasper, chalcedony, drusy quartz, chlorite, marmolite, do- 
lomite, cryst carb. magnesia! chromic iron! magnetic iron; near 
Westchester Water Works, zoisite, (rare, not found now.) 

Keim*8 Iron Mine near Knauertown. — Flos-ferri, pyroxene, m*« 
taxite, micaceous iron ore, avlome I actinolite, yellow octahedral 
nyrites, copper pyrites in tetrahedrons, red garnet I malachite, hom- 
olende (var. byssolite.) 

Kennet Township. — Actinolite I (rare on Gregg's farm,) brown 
tourmaline, brown mica, epidote, tremolite, scapolite, aragonite ; at 
Pearce's paper mill, zoisite, epidote, sunstone ; on R. Lambome's 
farm, chaoazite in small brownish yellow crystals, (rare,) zeolite ; 
at Gause's corner, ^idote. 

Knauertown. — ^ orth of Pughtown, ^phite, sphene, cryst mag- 
netic iron ; in Chrismard's Iron Mine, zircon. 

London Groyb. — ^In Jackson's limestone quarry, yellow tounnaline / 
(rare,) fib. tremolite ; at Pussy's quarry, rutile, tremolite, 

13 



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390 LOCALITIES OF MINERALS. 

New Garden Township. — ^At Nevin'a limestone quarry, brown 
tourmaline! scapolite, browo and green mica, rutile, aragonite, 
kaolin. 

Nbwlin. — See Unionville, below. 

East Marlboro. — Epidote^ and nearly white tourmaline^ (rare). 

Oxford. — Iron pyrites, garnets. 

NomNtiHAM. — ^At Scott's chrome mine, chromic iron^ foliated tale^ 
marmolite, serpentine, chalcedony ; at the Magnesian Quarry, mag^ 
nesite, marmobte, serpentine. 

Parksburg, (in township of Sadsbnry.) — In the soil for seyen 
miles along the valley, rutile ! ; northeast of the village, amethyst, 
tourmaline, epidote, (in a boulder.) 

Penn. — (jrarnets, figure stone. 

Pennsbtjry Township. — On Cephas Cloud's farm, brown garnets ! ; 
J. Dilsworth's farm, near Pennsville, mica! t (in six-sided prisma 
from one quarter to seven inches across) ; at Harvey's lime quarry, 
on the Brandy wine, chondrodite ; quarter of a mile above the last, 
at Wm. Burnett's lime quarry, sphene, diopside, augite, coccolite. 

Phenixvillk. — ^In Railroad Tunnel, pearl spar (exhausted), dol- 
oniite, yellow blende, iron pyrites ; at Wheatley's Mine, pyromorphite I 
cerusite ! cryst. quartz, galenoy anglesite ! copper pyrites^ heavy spar, 
jiuory wulfenite ! calamine, cerasine I vanadinite ? phosphate of 
copper, chromate of lead, calotte F 

roTTSTOwN, near French Cr. — (Elizabeth Mine.) — Iron pyrites! (in 
octahedrons), copper pyrites, magnetite, dark brown garnet, molyb- 
denite. 

Unionville. — One and a half miles northeast, on Serpentine Bar- 
rens, corundum ! massive and cryst^ (often in loose crystals and also 
in albite, the loose crystals mostly covered with a thin coating of 
steatite, sometimes with gibbsite), talc, green tourmaline (with flat 
or pyramidal terminations), ligniform asbestus, yellow beryl (rare), 
serpentine, brucite, chromic iron, quartz crystals, green quartz, actin- 
olite, clinochlore in cryst., diallage, granular albite (H— 7), adularia, 
oligoclase, halloj'site, margarite, euphyllite, allanite, hematite, chal- 
cedony ; half a mile southwest, on T. Webb's farm, serpentine, chro- 
mic iron, (mas.) ; two arid a half miles southwest, in R. Bailey's 
lime quarry, fib. tremolite, mussite ; kyanite, margarodite ; two miles 
southwest, at Pusey's saw mill, zircon (cryst. small, loose in the soil, 
rare), rutile; one mile south, on the farm of Baily and Brothers, 
bright yellow and nearly white tourmaline ! (rare), orthoclase (ches- 
terlite), albite! (inaccessible); two miles east, near Marlborough 
meeting house, epidote ! (rare), serpentine, acicular black tourma- 
line in white quartz; one mile west, near Logan's quarry, staurotide, 
kyanite, yellow tourmaline (rare) ; at Edward's lime quarry, near 
the last, purple fluor, rutile ; four miles west, in limestone quarries 
of West Marlborough, near Doe River Village, scapolite, rutile, 
tremolite. At Steamboat, Wavellite with limonite. 

Westchester. — One and a half mile north, hydr&magnesite, elino- 
chlore, brucite, in serpentine, zircon, two miles west ; one and a half 
mile northwest, pitch-black allanite; B.B. intumesces very readily 
'G. 2-6) ; three miles south, chlinoclore, phlogopite, 

WiLLBTOWN. — ^Magnetic iron, chromic iron, actinolite. 



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AMERICAN LOCALITIES. 39] 



COLUMBIA CO. — At "Webb's mine, yellow blende in calo spar 
near Bloomburg, cryst magnetic iron. 

DAUPHIN CO. — ^Near Hummerstown, green garnets, eryst rmokif 
qiMTtZy eryst feldspar. 

DELAWARE CO. — Aston. — Near Yillaee Green, amethyst, co- 
rundum, em^rylite, staurotide, siUimanite, black tourmaline, pearl 
mica, asbestus, anthophyllite ; near Tyson's Mill, garnet, staurotide ; 
at h«ad of Peter's Mill Dam, in a brook, garnet resembling pyrope. 

BmMiNGHAM.— At Bullock's quarry, zircon, bucholzite, fibrolite, 
nacrite. 

CnisTEn. — Amethyst, black tourmaline ; in Bttrk*s quarry, beryl f ! 
black tonrmaline I f felchpar I manganesian garnet, eryst. pyrites; 
on Chester Creek, at Carter's, molybdenite, molybdic ochre, copper 
pyrites, tourmaline, kaolin ; at Little's quarry, brown garnets, tour- 
maline; near Henri's quarries, amethyst in geodes ; six miles north- 
west of Chester, chromic iron, in sand, consisting of crystals. 

Chighesteb. — ^Near Trainer's Mill Dam, beryl, tourmaline, eryst. 
feldspar, kaolin ; on W. Eyre's farm, tourmaline 1 1 

CoNOOBD. — On Green's Creek, garnets resembling pyrope, buchol- 
ate, mica I in hexagonal prisms, beryl, actinolite, anthophyllite, 
fibrolite, rutile t in capillary crystals in the cavities of cellular rose 
quartz. 

Darby. — ^Eyanite, zoisite, (in a boulder) ; near Gibbon's, garnets, 
staurotide. 

Edgemont. — One mile east of Edgemont Hall, near the road, rutile 
in quartz, amethyst, oxyd of manganese, eryst. feldspar. 

Leipebyille. — Beryl I in granite ; in Judge Leiper's Quarries, 
beryl, tourmaline, apatite, garnet, eryst. feldspar, mica ; at Morris's 
Ferry, kyanite, siUimanite, apatite, red garnet, mica ; at Hill's 
Quarries, chabazite, stilbite, zeolite, epidote, sphene, albite, calcite, 
eryst. pyrites ; near Leiper's Church, on the edge of a wood, andal- 
usite, apatite, tourmaline, mica, gray kyanite. 

Marplb. — Tourmaline / ; on A. Worrall's farm, andalusite, tour 
maline ; near C. Palmer^s Mills, beryl, tourmaline, actinolite, ame- 
thyst. 

Minbbal Hill. — Corundum I aventurine feldspar (sunstone), cha- 
toyant feldspar (moonstone), actinolite, green coccolite, green feld- 
spar 1 chromic iron, eryst. green quartz, ferruginous quartz, asbes- 
tus, hydrous anthophyllite, brown garnet! magnesite, marmolite, 
bronzite, chalcedony, limonite, labradorite, float stone, red garnet, 
beryl, serpentine. 

Providence. — ^At Blue Hill, serpentine, eryst. green quartz in 
green talc, asbestus, talc, anthophyllite, actinolite, hydrou.-* antho- 
phyllite ; on M. Hunter's farm, amethyst I (one finely colored crys- 
tal found weighing over 7 lbs.), andalusite. 

Radner. — Garnets, marmolite, deweylite, serpentine, chromic 
iron, asbestus, magnesite. 

Springfield. — Andalusite; on Abby "Worral's farm, tourmaline, 
beryl, ilmenite ? garnets ; on Fell's Laurel Hill, beryl, garnet ; near 



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292 LOCALITIES OF HINBRAKS. 

Beattie's Mill, staurotide, apatite ; near Lewie's Paper Mill, took 
maline, mica. 

HUNTINGTON CO.— Near Frankstown, in the bed of a strean^ 
and on the side of a hiilf fibrous eelestine, abundant. 

LANCASTER CO.— Near Texas, in the south part of the counl^, 
at Wood's Chrome Mine, emerald nickel, pennite, hcemmererite, mil- 
lerite, bcUtimorite, chromic iron, marmolitCy pierolite, hydromcMtiesite, 
brueite, dolomite, cryst ma^nesite, calcite, serpentine ; at Lowe's 
Mine, hydr&magnesite, brucite, picrolite I mitgnente, ehromie iron, 
talc, emerald nickel, serpentine, baltimorite ; on M. Boice's farm, 
N. of the village in the soil, cryst, pyrites I anthophyllite, marmo- 
lite, magnesite ; near the Rock Sprm^, ehaleedony, eamelian, moss 
agate, green tourmaline in talc, titanic iron, cryst. magnetic iron in 
chlorite ; at Reynold's Mine, calcite, talc, picrolite ; at Gap Mine, 
magnetic pyrites (containing nickel), copper pyrites, actinolite ; at 
Safe Harbor, iron ores ; Pequea Valley, 8 m. S. of Lancaster, argen- 
tiferous galena (250 to 800 oz. of silver to the ton) ; 4 m. N. W. of 
Lancaster, on L. and H. Railroad, calamine, galena, blende, buratite. 

Little Britain.- — Anthophyllite, 

LEBANON CO. — Cornwall, adjoining Lancaster Co. — Pyrites t 
in cubo-octahedrons, brilliant steel tarnish, magnetite, native copper, 
red copper, azurite, chrysocolla. 

LEHIGH CO. — ^Near Friedensville in the Saucon Valley, calamine! 
(valuable mine), lanthanite, cryst quartz, malachite, jpyrolusite, 
wad ; near Allentown, magnetic iron, pipe iron ore \ near Bethlehem, 
in S. Mountain, allanite in syenite, zircon. 

MONROE CO. — ^In Cherry Valley, calc spar, chalcedony, cryst. 
quartz ; in Poconoe Valley, near Judge Mervine's, cryst quartz. 

MONTGOMERY CO.— At Perkiomen Copper Mine, azurite. 
blende, galena, pyromorphite, cerusite, molybdate of lead, anglesitcp 
heavy spar, calamine, copper pyrites, green malachite, chrj^soeolla ; 
at Henderson's Marble Quarry, ealc spar ; about one mile N. of 
Henderson's, in the bank of railroad, cryst <]|u«rtz in geodes ; al 
S{)ring Mills, cacoxene, lepidokrokite, spathic iron : near the Gulf 
Mills, limonite, garnets, chromic iron ; in Franconia Township, (I) 
gold. 

NORTHUMBERLAND CO.— Opposite Selim's grove, calamine; 

NORTHAMPTON CO. — Near Easton, zircon 1 1 (exhausted), 
nephrite, serpentine in pseudomorphs, coccolite, tremolite, calamite, 
pyroxene, sanlite, limonite, magnetic iron, purple calc spar; near 
Bethlehem, at the South Mountain, on Mr. Weaver's farm, allanite, 
magnetite, epidote, zircon, sphene, brown garnet, black spinel and 
tourmaline in syenitic gneiss. 

PHILADELPHIA CO.— On the Schuylkill, near foot of incUned 
plane, garnet, tourmaline, mica ; on the Schuylkill, a fourth of a 
mile from the Suspension Bridge, yellow uranite; one hundred 
yards above bridge, on east side, lawmontite in homHende slatSb 



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AMERICAN LOCALITIES. 393 

Ghibnttt Hill. — Miea, terpentine^ dohmiie, asbtehu, nephrite, tale^ 
tourmaline, sphene, apatite, tremolite. 

OsRHANTOwN. — ^Mlca, apatite, feldspar, beryl, garnet 

Banks of Wissahiooon. — Actinolite garnet, staurotide. 

Frankford. — Garnet, etaurotide, iron pyrites. 

GoNCHmoosN^-Staurotide, garnet, argillaceons iron ore ; neaf 
Manynnk Tunnell, stilbite, chabazite (rare in small brownish-yellow 
crystals). 

YORK CO. — Cale spar (transparent), cryst, smoky quartz, erysL 
pyrites ; in Slate Quarries near the Snsqnehannah, toavellite, 

DELAWARE. 

NEWCASTLE CO.— Brandywine Springs, bucholzite, fibrolite 
abundant, sahlite, pyroxene ; near Middletown, vivianite in green 
■and. 

Dixon's Feldspar Quarries, 6 miles N. W. of Wilmington, (these 
quarries have been worked for the manufacture of porcelain), adu- 
laria, albite, beryl, apatite, cinnamon stone I / (both granular, like 
that from Ceylon, and crystallized, rare), magnesite, serpentine, 
asbestus, black tourmaline ! (rare), indicolite t (rare), sphene in py- 
rozene, kyanite. 

Dupont's Powder Mills, " hypersthene." 

Eastburn's Limestone Quarries, near the Pennsylvania line, tre^ 
molite, bronzite. 

QuABRTViLLE. — Gamct, spodumene, fibrolite, sillimanite. 

Near Newark on the railroad, sphserosiderite on drusy quartz, 
jasper (ferruginous opal), cryst spathic iron in the cayities of cel- 
lular quartz. 

Wilmington. — In Christiana quarries, metalloidal didllage, . 

Kennett turnpike, near Centreville, kyanite and garnet 

KENT CO.— Near Middletown in Whl Polk's marl pits, vivianite I 
On Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, retinasphalt, iron pyrites, 
amber. 

SUSSEX CO.—Near Cape Henlopen, vivianite. 

MARYLAND. 

Baltimore, (Jones's Falls, If miles from B.) — Chabazite (hay- 
denite), heulandite (beaumontite of Levy), pyrites, lenticular Cfii- 
bonate of iron, mica, stilbite. 

Sixteen miles from Baltimore, on the Gunpowder. — Graphite, 

Twenty-three miles from B., on the Gunpowder. — Talc. 

Twenty-five miles from R, on the Gunpowder. — Magnetic iron, 
sphene, pycnite. 

Thirty miles from B., in Montgomery Co., on farm of S. Eliot — 
Gold in quartz. 

Eight to twenty miles north of B., in limestone. — Tremolite, attgite, 
pyrites, brown and yellow tourmaline. 

Fifteen miles north of B. — Shy-blite chalcedony in granular lim«- 
Btoni 



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394 LOCALITIES OF MINERALS. 

Eighteen miles north of B., at Scott's Mills. — Magnetic iron.. 
kyanite. 

Barb Hills.— 67Aromt<; iron, aibestus, tremolite, talc, hornblende, 
serpentine, chalcedony, meerschaum, baltimorite, copper pyrites, 
magnetite. 

Cafe Sablb, near Magothy R. — ^Amber, pyrites, attim slate. 

Carboll Co. — Near Sykesville, Liberty Mines, gold, magnetic 
iron, pyrites (octahedrons), copper pyrites, linnieite (carroUite), an ore 
of nickel (not analyzed) ; at ratapsco Mines, near Finksbnrg, eru- 
beseite, malachite, linnceite, remingUmite, magnetic iron, copper py- 
rites ; at Mineral Hill Mine, erubesciie, copper pyrites, ore of nickel 
(sieginite), gold, magnetic iron. 

Cecil Co., north part — Chromic iron in serpentine. 

CoopTowN, Harford Co. — Olive colored tourmaline, diallage, talc 
of green, bine and rose colors, ligniform, asbestus, chromic iron, ser- 
pentine. 

I>EE£ Creek. — Magnetic iron I in chlorite slate. 

Frederick Co. — Old Liberty Mine, near Liberty Town, black 
copper, malachite, copper glance, specular iron ; at Dollyhyde 
Mine, ervhescite, copper pyrites, iron pyrites, argentiferous galena 
in dolomite. ^ 

MoNTGOMEfiT Co. — Oxyd of manganese, 

Somerset and Worcester Cos., north part — Bog iron ore, vivianiU 

St. Mart's River. — Gypsum I in clay. 

VIRGINIA AND DISTRICT OF COLUMBLA 

Alremarlx Co., a little west of the Oreen 'iiiiR.-^Steatite, graphite ; 
galena. 

Amherst Co., along the west base of Buffalo ridge.— C7opper ores, etc 

Augusta Co. — ^At Weyer^s (or Weir's) cave, sixteen miles northeast 
of Staunton, and eighty-one miles northwest of Richmond, calo 
ipar and stalactites. 

Buckingham Co. — Gold at Gamett and Moseley Mines, largely 
worked, also pyrites, pyrrhotine, calcite, garnet; at the Eldndee 
Mine (now London and Virginia Mines) near by, and the Buck- 
ingham Mines near Maysville, gold, auriferous pyrites, copper py- 
rites, tennantite, heavy spar ; kyanite, tourmaline, uctinolite. 

Chesterfield Co. -^-N ear this and Richmond Co., bituminous coal, 
native coke. 

Culpepper Co., on Rapidan river. — Gold, pyntes. 

Frankun Co. — Grayish steatite. 

Fauquier Co., Barnet's Mills. — ^Asbestus ; ^old mines, barytes, 
calcite. 

Fluvanna Co. — Gold at Stockton's Mine also tetradymite at 
" Tellurium Mine." 

Phenix Copper Mines. — Copper pyrites, etc 

Georgetown, D. C. — ^Rutile. 

Goochland Co. — Gold Mines, (Moss and Busby's.) 

Harper's Ferrt, on both sides of the Potomac. — Thuringit« 
(owenite), with quartz. 

Jefferson Co., at Sheperdstown. — ^Fluor. 



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AMERICAN LOCALiriES. 395 

ExNAWHA Ck>. — ^At Eenawha, petroleum, brine Bprings, cannel coaL 

Loudon Co. — Tabular quartz, prase, pyrites, tale, chlorite, soap* 
ttone, aBbestns, chromic iron, aetinolite, quartz crystals; micaceous 
iron, erubescite, malachite, epidote, near Lcesburg, (Potomac Mine.) 

LouiBA Co. — Walton gold mine, gold, pyrites, copper pyrites, ar- 
gentiferous iralena, spathic iron, blende, anglesite; boulangerite, 
blende (at Tinder's Mine). 

NxuBOir Co. — Galena, copper pyrites, malachite. 

O&ANGis Co. — ^Western part. Bine Rid^e, specular iron ; gold at 
the Orange GroYef and Yancluse gold mines, worked by the "Free- 
hold " and " Liberty " Mining Companies. 

Rockbridge Co., three miles southwest of Lexington. — ^Heavy spar 

Shenandoah Co., near Woodstock. — ^Fluor spar. 

Mt. Alto, Blue Ridge. — Argillaceous iron ore. 

Spotsylvania Co., two miles northeast of Chancellorville. — Kya- 
nite ; Gold mines at the junction of the Rappahannock and Rapidan 
(" Gardiner^ Co.) ; on the Rappahannock (Marshall Mine) ; White- 
nail Mine, affording also tetradymite. 

Stafford Co., eight or ten miles from Falmouth. — Micaceous iron, 
gold, tetradymite, silver, galena, vivianite. 

Washington Co., eighteen miles from Abingdon. — Rock salt with 
gypsum, 

Wythe Co., (Austin's mines). — Cerusite, minium, plumbic ochre, 
blende, calamine, galena. 

On the Potomac, twenty-five miles north of Washington City.— • 
Native sulphur in gray compact limestone. 

NORTH CAROLINA. 

AsHB Co. — ^Malachite, copper pyrites. 

Buncombe Co. — Corundum (from a boulder), margarite, eorundo- 
philite, garnet, chromic iron, barytes, Jluor, rutile, iron ores, oxyd 
of manganese. 

Burke Co. — Gold, monazite, zircon, beryl, corundum, garnet, 
sphene, graphite, iron ores. 

Cabarras Co. — Phenix mine, gold, barytes, copper pyrites, aurif- 
erous pyrites, quartz pseudomorph after barytes, tetradymite ; Pio- 
neer Mines, gold, limonite, pyrolusite, bamhardite, wolfram, scheelite, 
tungstate of copper, toolframine, diamond, chrysocolla, copper 
glance, molybdenite, copper pyrites, iron pyrites ; White Mine, 
needle ore, copper pyrites, barytes ; Long and Muse's Mine, argen- 
tiferous galena, iron pyrites, copper pyrites, limonite ; Boger Mine, 
tetradymite ; Fink Mine, valuable copper ores ; Mt. Makins, tetra- 
hedrite ? magnetite, talc, blende, pyrites, galena ; Geo. Luderick'a 
farm, scorodite, limonite, gray copper, copper pyrites, iron pyrites. 

Caldwell Co. — Chromic iron. 

Chatham Co. — Mineral coal, pyrites. 

Cherokee Co — Iron ores, gold, galena, corundum, rutile. 

Davidson Co. — King^s, now Washington Mine, native silver, ce- 
rusite, anglesite, scheelite, pyromorphite, galena, blende, malachite, 
black copper, wavellite, garnet, stilbite. Five miles from Wash- 
ington Mine, on Faust's Farm, gold, tetradymite, oxyd of bismuth 



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896 LOCALITIES OF HINBltALt. 

and tellurium, copper pyrites, limonite, spsthie iron, epidote ; nmop 
Squire Wai*d'«, gold in crystalB, electrum. 

6a8ton Co.— Ii*on ores, eorundum, margarite. Near Crowder'i 
Mountain (in what was formerly Lincoln C^.), kuadite, kyanite, gar* 
net, graphite ; also twenty miles northeast, near south end of Clubb'a 
Mountam, lazulite, kyanite, talc. 

Guilford Co. — McCullock copper and gold mine, twelve miles 
from Greensboro', gold^ pyrites, copper pyrites (worked for copper), 
qttartz, spathic iron. The Xorth Carolina Copper Co. are working 
the copper ore at the old Fentress mine. 

Henderson Co. — Zircon. 

Jackson Co, — Smoky Mountain, alunogen. 

Lincoln Co. — Diamond ; at Bandleman's, amethyst I rose quartsL 

Macon Co.— Chromic iron. 

McDowell Co. — ^Brookite, monazite, corundum in small crystals 
red and white, zircons, garnet, beryl, sphene, zenotime, rutile, elastio 
sandstone, iron ores. 

Mecklenbubo Co. — Near Charlotte (Rhea and Cathay Mines) and 
elsewhere, copper pyrites, gold ; chalootrichite at McGinn's Mine ; 
barnhardite near Charlotte ; pyrophyllite in Cotton Stone Moun- 
tain, diamond. 

Rowan Co. — Gold Hill Mines, thirty eight miles northeast of 
Charlotte, and fourteen from Salisbury, gold, auriferous pyrites ; 
ten miles from Salisbury, feldspar in crystals. 

Ri^THEBFORD Co. — (?o/{^, oropAtfo, bismutMc gold, diamond, euclase, 
pseudomorphous quartz, cnalcedony, corundum in small crystals, 
epidote, pyrope, brookite, zircon, monazite, rutherfordite, samarskite, 
quartz crystals, itacolumite ; on the road to Cooper's gap, kyanite. 

Stokes and Surrey Cos.— Iron ores, graphite. 

Union Co.— Lemmond Gold Mine, eighteen miles from Concord, 
(at Stewart's and Moore's Mine), gold, quartz, blende, argentiferous 
ffalena (containing 29*4 oz. of gold, and 86*5 oz. silver to the ton, 
Genth), pyrites, some copper pyrites. 

Yaucey Co.— /ron ores, amianthus, chromic iron. 

SOUTH CAROLINA. 

Abbeville Dist. — Oakland Grove, Chid (Dom Mine), galena, pyro 
morphite, amethyst, garnet 

Andebson Dist.— A.t Pendleton, tuitinolite, galena, kaolin, touf- 
maline. 

Chaeleston. — Selenite. 

Cheowee Valley. — Galena, tourmaline, gold. 

Chesterfield Dist. — Gold (Brewer's mine), talc, chlorite, pyro- 
phyllite, pyrites, native bismuth, carbonate « f bismuth, red and 
yellow ochre, whetstone. 

Dablington. — ^Kaolin. 

Edgefield Dist. — Psilomelane. 

Gbeenvile Dist. — Galena, phosphate of lead, kaolin, chalcedony 
in bnrhstone, beryl, plumbago, epidote, tourmaline, 

Kebshaw J>JBT.^-Rutile. 

Lancaster Dist. — Gold (Hale's mine)^ talc, chlorite, kyanite, «Jasii« 



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AMERICAN LOCALITIES. 397 

Modstone, pyrites ; gold also at Blackman's mine, Massey's miii«| 
Ezell's mine. 

Newberry Dist. — Leadhillite (?). 

Picken's Dist. — Gold, manganese ores, kaolin. 

Richland Dist. — Chiastolite, novaculite. 

Spartanburg Dist. — Magnetic iron ore, chalcedony, keTnatite ; at 
the Cowpens, brown hematite, graphite, limestone copperas. 

Sumter Dist.— Agate. 

Union Di8T.-^Fairforest gold mines, pyrites, copper pyrites. 

ToBK Dibt. — ^Limestones, whetstones, witherite, neavy spar. 

GEORGIA. 

Burke and Scriven Cos. — Hyalite. 

Clare Co., near Clarksville. — Gold, zenotime, zircon, rutile, kya 
nite, specular iron, garnet, quartz. 

Habersham Co. — Gold, iron and copper pyrites, galena, horn- 
blende, garnet, quartz, kaolin, soapstone, chlorite, rutile, iron orea^ 
galena, tourmaline, staurotide, zircon. 

Hall Co.^-Gold, quartz, kaolin, diamond. 

Hancock Co. — Agate, chalcedony. 

Heard Co. — ^Molybdote of iron. 

Lumpkin Co. — Gold, quartz crystals. 

Rabun Co. — Gold, copper pyrites, 

Washington Co., near SaundersTiUe. — WaveUite, fire opal. 

Canton Mine. — Harrisite, copper pyrites, melaconite, galena, pyro- 
morphite, pyrites, marcasite, erubescite, blende, native copper, 
automolite, staurotide, kyanite, ilmenite, Hitchcockite, covelline. 

ALABAMA. 

Bibb Co., Centreville. — Iron ores, marble, h£avi/ spar, coal, cobalt 
Tuscaloosa Co. — Coal, galena, pyrites, vivianite, limonite, calcite, 
dolomite, kyanite, steatite, quartz crystals, manganese ores. 

FLORIDA. 

Near Tampa Bat. — Limestone, sulphur springs, chalcedony, eai^ 
nelian, agate, silicified shells and corals. 

KENTUCKY. 

Mammoth Caye. — Gypwm, in imitatiye forms, stalactites, nitre, 
opsom salt 

Near the line between Liyingston and Union Cos,, galena, coppei 
pyrites. 

TENNESSEE. 

Brown's Creek. — Galena, blende, heavy spar, celestine. 
Carter's Co., foot of Roan Mt — Sahlite, magnetic iron. 
Claiborne Co. — Calamine, galena, smithsonite, chlorite steatita, 
and magnetic iron. 

34 



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398 LOCALITIES OF MINERALS. 

GoGKX C5o., near Brush Creek. — Cacoxene, kraurite, iron sinter, 
stilpnosiderite, brown hematite. 

Davidson Co. — Selenite, with granular and snowy gyptum, or 
alabaster, crystallized and compact anhydrite, fluor in crystals! cole 
9par in crystals. Near Nashville, blue eelestine (crystallized, fibrous 
and radiated), with heavy 8par in limestone. Haysboro', galena, 
blende, with heavy spar as the gangue of the ore. 

Dickson Co. — Manganite. 

Jefferson Co. — Calamine^ galena, fetid heavy spar. 

Knox Co. — ^Magnesian limestone. 

Maury Co.— Wavellite in limestone. 

Morgan Co. — ^Epsom salt, nitrate of lime. 

Polk Co., Hiwassee mine, southeast corner of state, near Ocoee 
river. Black copper! copper pyrites, iron pyrites (mines valuable), 
allophane. 

Roan Co., eastern declivity of Cumberland Mts. — ^Wavellite in 
limestone. 

Severn Co., in caverns. — Epsom salt, soda alum, saltpetre, nitrate 
of lime. 

Smith Co. — Fluor. 

Short Mt., on declivity. — ^Hornblende, garnet, staurotide 

Unaka Mto., Eastern Tennessee, at Sevier, etc, in caverns. — ^Aluni. 

OHIO. 

Brainbridge, (Copperas Mt, a few miles east of B.) — Calo spar, 
heavy spar, iron pyrites, copperas, alum. 

Canfield. — Gypsum ! 

Duck Creek, Monroe Co. — Petroleum. 

Liverpool. — Petroleum. 

Marietta. — Argillaceous iron ore ; iron ore abundant also in Scioto 
and Lawrence Counties. 

Poland. — Gypsum ! 

MICHIGAN. 

Lake Superior Mining Region. — ^The four principal re^ons are 
Keweenaw Point, Isle Royale, the Ontonagon, and Portage Lake. 
The mines of Keweenaw Point are along two ranges of elevation, 
one known as the Greenstone Range and the other as the Southern 
or Bohemian Range, (Whitney.) The copper occurs in the trap or 
amygdaloid, and in the associated conglomerate. Native dapper I 
native silver f copper pyrites, horn silver, gray copper, manganese 
ores, epidote, prehnite, laumontite^ datkolite, heulandite, stilbitey 
analcim^y chabazite, mesotype, (Copper Falls mine), leonhardite, (ib,), 
analcime, (ib.), apophylltte, (at Cliff Mine), toollattonite, (ib.), eaU 
spar, quartz (in crystals, at Minesota mine), saponite, black oxi/d of 
copper, (near Copper Harbor, but exhausted), chrysocolla; on Cho- 
colate river, galena and sulphuret of copper ; copper pyrites and 
native copper at Presg* Isle. At Albion mine, domeykite; at Prince 
Vein, amethyst ; at Michipicoten Ids., copper nickel, stilbite, anal- 
cime. 



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AMERICAN LOCALITIES. 399 

IsLK Rot ALE, 48° N., 89° W. — Native copper^ epidotif liarmotome(?) 
datholite, wollastonite (exhausted), pectolite, chlorastrolite. 

ILLINOIS. 

Gallatin Co., on a branch of Grand Pierre Creek, sixteen to thirty 
miles from Shawneetown, down the Ohio, and from half to eight 
miles from this river. — Violet Httor spar ! in carboniferous lime- 
stone, heavy spar, galena^ blende, brown iron ore ; near Rosiclare, 
calotte, galena, blende; five miles back from Elizabeth town, bog 
iron ; one mile north of the river, between Elizabethtown and Ro- 
siclare, nitre. 

In Northern Illinois, townships 27, 28, 29, several iiviportant 
mines of galena. 

Pope Co. — ^Pyromorphite. 

INDL^A. 

Limestone Caverns ; Corydon Caves, Ac. — Epsom salt. 
In roost of the southwest counties, pyrites, sulphate of iron, and 
feather alum; on Sugar Creek, pyrites and ntlphate of iron; in 
sandstone of Lloyd Co., near the Ohio, gypsum; at the top of the 
blue limestone formation, broton spar, calc spar. 

MINESOTA. 

North Shore of Lake Superior, (range of hills running nearly 
northeast and southwest, extending from Fond du Lac Superieure to 
the Kamanistiqueia river in Upper Canada.) — Seoledte, apophyllite, 
prehnite, stilbite, laumontite, heulandite, harmotome, thomsonite, ^uor 
spar, sulphate of baryta, tourmaline, epidote, hornblende, calcareous 
spar, quartz crystals, iron pyrites, magnetic iron ore, steatite, blende, 
black oxyd of copper, malachite, native copper, copper pyrites, 
amethystme quartz, ferruginous quartz, chalcedony, carnelian, agate, 
drusy quartz, hyalite? fibrous quartz, jasper, prase (in the debris 
of the lake shore), dogtooth spar, augite, native silver, spodumene I 
arsenite f of cobalt, chlorite ; between Pigeon Point and Fond du 
Lac, near Baptism river, saponite (thalite), in amygdaloid. 

Kettle River Trap Range. — Epidote, nail-head calc spar, ame 
thystine quartz, calcareous spar, undetermined zeolites, saponite. 

Stillwater, — ^Blen de. 

Falls of the St. Croix. — Green carbonate of copper, native 
copper, epidote, nail-head spar. 

Raint Lake. — ^Actinolite, tremolite, fibrous hornblende garnet, 
iron pyrites, magnetic iron, steatite. 

WISCONSIN. 

At Mineral Point and elsewhere, coppei and lead ores, princi« 
pally silicate and carbonate of copper, copper pyrites and galena^ 
(only the last abundant) Also pyrites, cavillary pyrites, blende, 
white lend ore, leadhillite (?), smithsonite (car Donate cf zinc), angl«> 
site, heavy spar, and calc spar. 



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400 LOCALITIES OF MINERALS. 

Sank Co. — Specular iron 1 malachite, copper pyrites 

Montreal Rivbb Portage. — Galena in gneissoid granite. 

Lac du Flambeau R. — Garnet, kyanite. 

Big Bull Falls, (near.) — ^Bo^ iron. 

Left Hand R., (near small tributary.) — ^MalacHte, copper glance, 
native copper, red copper ore, earthy malachite epidote, chlorite f 
quartz crystals. 

IOWA. 

Du BuQUE Lead Mines, and elsewhere. — Galena I caXe spar, black 
oxyd of manganese ; at Ewing*8 and Sherard's diggings, calamine ! 
or smithsonite ; at Dee Moines, quartz crystals, selenite ; Mahoqueta 
R., brown iron ore. 

Cedar River, a branch of the Des Moines. — Selenite in crystals, 
in the bituminous shale of the coal measures ; also elsewhere on the 
Des Moines, gypsum abundant ; argillaceous iron ore, spathic iron , 
copperas in crystals on the Des Moines, above the mouth of Saap 
ana elsewhere, iron pyrites, blende. 

MISSOURL 

Birmingham. — ^Limonite. 

Jefferson Co., at Valle*s Diggings. — Galena, white lead ore, an- 
elesite, calamine, pyritous copper, blue and green malachite, car- 
bonate of baryta. 

Mine a Burton. — Galena, white lead ore, anglesite, heavy tpar, 
calc spar. 

Deep Diggings. — Carbonate of copper, white lead ore in crystals, 
and manganese ore. 

Mine la Motte. — Galena ! malachite, earthy cobalt and nickel, 
bog manganese, sulphuret of iron and nickel, white lead or0 in crys- 
tals, caledonite, plumboresinite, wolfram. 

Perry's Diggings, and elsewhere. — Galena, Ac. 

Forty miles west of the Mississippi and ninety south of St Louis, 
the iron mountains, specular iron, limonite. 

ARKANSAS. 

Batesville. — In bed of white R., some miles above Batesville, 
Gold. 

Ouachita Springs. — Qtiartzl whetstones. 

Magnet Cove. — Brookite ! schorlomite, elceolite, magnetic iron, 
quartz, green coccolite, garnet, apatite. 

CALXFORNLA 

Along the Sierra Nevada, gold, platinum (rare), iridosmine, molyb- 
denite, molybdine, zircon, magnetic iron ; near bay of San Fran- 
cisco,^ actinoHte, talc, serpentine, jasper, salt, gypsum (island in the 
Caquines Straits; ; ridges of Sierra Azul, south of San Josd, einno' 
bar. Gold also found in the Umpqua region, Oregon and tbs8bssty 
Mountains. Pt Orford, gold, platinum, iridosmina 



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AMERICAN LOCALITIES. 401 

CANADA 

CANADA EAST. 

A BXRCBOMBDE. — Labradoiite. 

AuBKBT, Gallion. — ^Gold, iridoemine, platinnm. 

Bat St. Paul. — Jlmenite ! apatite, allanite, rutile, (cr brookitef) 

Bolton. — Chromic iron, magnetite, serpentine, picrolite, steatite, 
hitter spar, wad. 

BoucHSBYiLLB MOUNTAIN. — Attfftte in trap. 

Bromx. — Magnetic iron, copper pyrites, sphene, ilmenite, pbyllit«i 
•odalite, oancrinite, galena. 

Chamblt. — ^Analoime, chabazite iand calcite in trachite. 

Chateau B.iCBESL'^lMbradorite, ilmenite, hypersthene. 

Daillebout. — Blue spinel, with clintonite. 

Gbenyillk. — TalnUar epar, tphene, idocrase, caloite, pyrozen«^ 
^met (einnamon stone), zircon, graphite, tcapolite. 

Ham. — Chromic iron in serpentine. 

Inverness. — Variegated copper. 

Lake St. Francis. — Andalvsite in mica slat*. 

Landsdowne. — Barytea. 

Mille Isles. — Labradorite I ilmenite, hypersthene, andesine, strc^nu 

Montreal. — Calcite, atigite, sphene in trap 

MoRiN. — Sphene, fipatite, labradorite. 

Polton. — Chromic iron, tsteatite, serpentine, amianthite. 

Rouoemont Mi's. — Angite in trap. • 

St. Armand. — Micaceous iron ore with quartz, epidote. 

St. Francois Beauce. — Gold, platinum, iridosmine, ilmenite, mag- 
netite, serpentine, chromic iron, soapstone, magnetite, heavy spar. 

St. Jerome. — Sphene, apatite, chondrodite, phlogopite, tourmaline, 
tircon, molybdenite, magnetic pyrites. 

St. Norbert. — Apatite in greenstone. 

St. Roch. — On the Achigan, two miles below St Rofsn, apatite in 
Irappean rocks. 

Stukely. — Serpentine, verde antique ! schiller spar. 

Sutton. — Magnetic iron in fine crystals, specular iron., rutile, dol- 
omite, magnesite, chromiferous talc, bitter spar, steatite^ 

Upton. — Copper pyrites, malachite, calcite. 

Vaudreuil. — Limonite, vivianite. 

Yamaska. — Sphene in trap. 

CANADA WEST. 

Balsam Lake. — Molybdenite, scapolite, quartz. 

Brantford.— Sulphurie acid sprmg, (4*2 parts of pure sulphurio 
#cid in 1000). 

Bathurst. — ^Heavy spar, blcusJe tourmaline, perthUe (orthooIaseX 
peristerite (albite), bytownite. 

Brome. — ^Magnetite. 

Burgess. — Pyroxene, albite, mt«a, sapphire, sphene, copper pyritM 
apatite, black spinel I spodumene (in a boulder). 

:{4* 



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402 LOCALITIES OF MINERALS. 

Bttown. — Colette, bytovmitey chondrodite, spineL 

Cape Ipperwash, Lake Huron. — Oxalite in shalei. 

Clarendon. — Idocraae. 

Dalhousie. — ^Hornblende, dolomite. 

Drummond. — Labradorite. 

Elmslet. — Pyro:sene, sphene, feldspar, tourmaline, 

FiTZROT. — ^Amber, brown tourmaline, in quartz. 

G(ffiiNKAU RiYER, Blasdeirs Mills.— -Calcite, apatite, tourmalinei 
hornblende, pyroxene. 

Grand Calumet Island. — Apatite, phlogopite I pyroxene ! sphene, 
idocrase ! J serpentine, tremolite, acapoliie, brown and black tour- 
maline J pyrites, loganite. 

High Falls of the Madawaska. — Pyroxene J hornblende. 

Hull. — Maffnetite, garnet, graphite. 

Huntebstown. — Scapolite, sphene, idocrase, garnet, brown tour^ 
maline I 

Inniskillen. — Petroleum. 

Lac des Chats, Island Portage. — Brown tourmcUine ! pyrites, cal- 
oite, quartz. 

Lanark. — Raphilite (hornblende), serpentine, asbestus. 

Landsdown. — Barytee ! rein 27 in. wide, and fine crystals. 

Madoo. — Magnetite. 

Marmora. — ^Magnetite, chalcolite, garnet, epsomite, specular iron. 

MoNab.— Specular iron. 

South Crosby. — Chondrodite in limestone, magnetite 

St. Adele. — Chondrodite in limestone. 

Sydenham. — Celestine. 

Terrace Cove, Lake Superior. — Molybdenite. 

Wallace Mine, Lake Huron.— /Sfpecu/ar iron, arsenical nickel, sul- 
phuret of nickel, nickel vitriol. 

Bruce Mines. — Copper pyrites, copper glance, erubescite. 

New Brunswick, St. John. — Oraphite. 

NoTK The rock of the ICissiatippi yalley containing the remarkable deposita 

of galena, (sometimes regarded as the equivalent of the "Cliff" or "Upper Mag* 
nesian " Limestone,) is considered by James Hall as between the Hudson RiTer 
and Trenton Groups of New York in age, and as having no representative in the 
eastern part of the United States. The sandstones and conglomerates of the Lake 
Superior copper region in Michigan are referred by Foster and Whitney, Hall, 
Owen and Logan, to the age of the Potsdam sandstone, or the Unoea SUttrUM ; 
while the copper bearing red sandstone of Connecticut and New Jersey, \a ihowa 
bT Redfield, Rogers and Hall, to be^ recent as the Liaaeic Period. 



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F0BEI6N MINIKO REGIONS. 403 



BRIEF NOTICE OF FOREIGN MINING REGIONS. 

The geographical positions of the different mining re- 
gions are learned with difficulty from the scattered notices 
in the course of a mineralogical treatise. A general review 
of the more important is therefore here given, to be used 
in connection with a good map. 

A course across Europe from southeast to northwest, passes 
over a large part of the mining regions, and it will be found 
most convenient to the memory to mention them in this or. 
der, commencing with the borders of Turkey. 

1. The mines of the Bannat in southern Hungary, near 
the borders of Turkey, (about latitude 45-) situated princi- 
pally at Orawitza, Saszka, Dognaszka, and M oldawa. Ores. 
Argentiferous copper ores, vitreous copper, malachite, copper 
pyrites, red copper ore, galena, ores of zinc, cobalt, native 
gold, yielding silver, gold, copper, and lead. Rock. Syenite 
and granular limestone. 

2. The mines of western Transylvania, about latitude 
46 \ situated between the rivers M aros and Aranyos, at Nagy- 
ag, Offenbanya, Salathna, and VOrOspatak. Ores. Na- 
tive gold, telluric gold, telluric silver, white tellurium, with 
galena, blende, orpiment, realgar, gray antimony, fahlerz, 
carbonate of manganese, manganblende ; especially valua- 
ble in gold and silver. 

3. In the mountain range, bounding Transylvania on 
the north, about latitude 47° 40 , at Nagy-banya, Felso-ban 
ya, and Kapnik. Ores. Native gold, red silver, argentife- 
rous gray copper, pyritous copper, blende, realgar, gray an- 
timony. Roek. Porphyry. 

4. In the KOnigsberg mountains, northern Hungary, about 
latitude 48^ 45', at Schemnitz and Kremnitz. Ores. Ar- 
gentiferous galena and copper pyrites, native gold, red silver 
ore, gi-ay antimony, some cobalt ores and bismuth, mispickel ; 
particularly valuable for gold, silver, and antimony. Rock, 
Diorite and porphyry. 

5. To the east of the KOnigsberg mountains, at Schmol- 
atz and Retzbanya. Ores, Pyritous copper, gray copper 
re, blende, gray antimony, particularly valuable foi' copper. 

Rock. Clay slate. 

6. Illyria, west of Hungaiy, at Bleiberg and Raibel, (in 
Jarinthia.) Ores. Argentiferous galena, calamine, with 



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404 FOBEIO«i MININO REGIONS. 

gome copper pyrites and other ores, afTording silver aiid 
zinc abundantly. Rock, Mountain limestone. — Also at Idria» 
native mercury and cinnabar, in argillaceous schist. 

7. In Western Styria, at Schladming. Ores. Arsenical 
nickel, copper nickel, native arsenic, arsenical iron, largely 
worked for nickel. Rock. Argillaceous slate. lUyria and 
Styria are noted also for their iron ores, especially spathic iron. 

8. In the Tyrol, at Zell. Ores. Argentiferous copper 
and iron ores, auriferous pyrites, native gold. Rock. Ar- 
gillaceous slate. 

9. In the Erzgebirge separating Bohemia from Saxony, 
and consisting principally of gneiss. 

A. Bohemian or southern slope, at Joachimstahl, Mies, 
Schlackenwald, Zinnwald, Bleistadt, Przibram, Katherinen- 
berg. Ores. Tin ores, argentiferous galena, (worked prin- 
cipally for silver,) arsenical cobalt ores, copper nickel, af. 
fording tin, silver, cobalt, nickel, and arsenic. 

B. Saxon or northern slope, at Altenberg, Geyer, Marien- 
berg, Annaberg, Schneeberg, Ehrenfriedersdorf, Johann* 
georgenstadt, Freiberg. Ores. Argentiferous galena, (worked 
only for silver,) tin ore, various cobalt and nickel ores, vi- 
treous and pyritous copper, affording silver, tin, cobalt, nickel, 
bismuth, and copper. 

10. In Silesia, in the Riesen-gebirge, an eastern extension 
of the Erz-gebirge, at Kupferberg, Jauer, Reichenstein. 
Ores of copper, cobalt, affbi'ding copper, cobalt, arsenic and 
sulphur. 

11. In Silesia, in the low country east of the Riesen-ge. 
birge, near the boundary of Poland, at Tarnowitz. Ores. 
Calamine, electric calamine, blende, argentiferous galena, 
affording zinc, silver and lead. Roch Mountain limestone. 

12. Northwest of Saxony, near latitude 51^ 30', at Eisle- 
ben, Gerlstadt, Sangerhausen, and Mansfeld. Ores. Gray 
copper, somewhat argentiferous, variegated copper ore, af> 
foniing copper. Rock. A marly bituminous schist (kupfer- 
schiefer) more recent than the coal strata. 

13. In the Harz-gebirge, (Hartz mountains,) north of west 
from Eisleben, about latitude 61° 50', at Clausthal, Zeller- 
feld, Lauthenthal, Wildemann, Giimd, Andreasberg, Goslar, 
Lauterberg. Ores. Vitreous copper, gray copper, pyritous 
copper, cobalt ores, copper nickel, ruby silver ore, argentif. 
erous galena, blende, antimony ores, affording silver lead, 
copper, and some gold. 



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POHEIGN MINING REGIONS. 4Q5 

14. In Hesse-Cassel to the southwest of the Hartz, al 
Riechelsdorf. Ores. Arsenical cobalt, arsenical nickel, 
nickel ocher, native bismuth, bismuth glance, galena, af- 
fording cobalt. Rock. Red sandstone. Also at Bieber, 
cobalt ores in mica slate. 

15. In the Bavarian or Upper Rhine, (Palatinate,) near 
latitude 49^ 45', at Landsberg near Moschel, Wolfstein, and 
Morsfeld. Ores, Cinnabar, native mercury, amalgam, horn 
quicksilver, pyrites, brown iron ore, some gray copper ore, 
and copper pyrites. Rocks. Coal fi)rmation. 

16. Province of the Lower Rhine, at Altenberg, near 
Aix la Chapelle (or Aachen.) Ores. Calamine, electric 
calamine, galena, affording zinc. Rock. Limestone. The 
same, just south in Netherlands, at Limburg, and also to the 
west at Vedrin, near Namur. 

17. There are also copper mines at Saalfeld, west of Sax- 
ony, in Saxon-Meiningen, in Southern Westphalia near 
Siegen, in Nassau at Dillenberg, and elsewhere. 

18. In Switzerland, Canton du Valais. Ores. Argentif. 
erous lead, and valuable nickel and cobalt ores. 

19. The range of the Vosges, in France, parallel with 
the Rhine, about St. Marie-aux-M ines. Ores. Argentifer- 
ous galena, (affording 1-1000 of silver,) with phosphate of 
lead, gray copper, antimonial sulphuret of silver, native sil- 
ver, arsenical cobalt, native arsenic, and pyrites, occasion- 
ally auriferous ; affording silver and lead. Rocks. Argil- 
laceous schist, syenite, and porphyry. 

20. In France there are also the mining districts of the 
Alps, Auvergne or the Plateau of Central France, Brit- 
tany, and the Pyrenees, but none are very productive, ex- 
cept in iron ores. Brittany resembles Cornwall, and for- 
merly yielded some tin and copper. The valley of Oisans 
in the Alps, at Allemont, contains argentiferous galena, 
arsenical cobalt and nickel, gray copper, native mercury, and 
other ores, in talcose, micaceous, and syenitic schists, but 
they are not now explored. The region of Central France 
is worked at this time only at Pont-Gibaud, in the department 
of Puy-de-Dome, and at Vialas and Villefort in the Gai-d. 
The former is a region of schistose and granite rocks, inter- 
fiected by porphyry, affording some copper, antimony, lead, and 
silver ; the latter of gneiss, affording lead and silver from 

rgentiferous galena. The French Pyrenees are worked al 
he present time only for iron. 



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406 FOHEIGN MINING REGIONS. 

21. In England there are two great metalliferous ais* 
tricts. 

A. On the southwest, in Cornwall, and the adjoining 
county of Devonshire. Ores. Pyritous copper and various 
other copper ores, tin ore, galena, with some bismuth, co- 
bait, nickel, and antimony ores, affording principally copper, 
tin, and lead. Rocks. Granite, gneiss, micaceous and ai 
gillaceous schist. 

B. On the North, in Cumberland, the adjoining parts oi 
Durham, with Yorkshire and Derbyshire, just south. Ores 
Galena, and other lead ores, blende, copper ores, calamine 
(the last especially at Alstonmoor in Cumberland, ana 
Castleton and Matlock, in Derbyshire,) affording largely of 
zinc, and three-fifths of the lead of Great Britain, and some 
copper. Rock, Carboniferous limestone. 

C. There is also a rich vein of calamine, blende, and ga- 
lena, in the same limestone at Holywell, in Flintshire, on 
the north of Wales ; another of calamine at Mendip Hills, 
in Southern England, south of the Bristol channeL in Som- 
ersetshire, occurring in magnesian limestone ; mines of 
copper on the isle of Anglesey, in North Wales, in Westmore- 
land and the adjacent parts of Cumberland and Lancashire, 
in the southwest of Scotland, the Isle of Man, and at Ecton 
in Staffordshire, &c. 

22. In Spain, there are mines — , 

A. On the south, in the mountains near the Mediterranean 
coast, in New Grenada, and east to Carthagena, in Murcia ; 
situated in New Grenada, in the Sierra Nevada, or the moun- 
tains of Alpujarras, the Sierra Almagrera, the Sierra de Ga- 
dor, just back of Almeria, and at Almazarron near Cartha- 
gena. Ore. Galena, which is argentiferous at the Sierra 
Almagrera, and at Almazarron, affording full 1 per cent, of 
silver. Rock. Limestone, associated with schist and crys* 
talline rocks. 

B. The vicinity of the range of mountains running west- 
ward from Alcaraz, (in the district of La Mancha,) to Por- 
tugal. 1. On the south, near the center of the district of 
Jaen, at Linares, latitude 38 "^ 5', longitude 3^ 40. Oresm 
Galena, carbonate of lead, red copper ore, malachite, in 
granite and schists ; affording lead and copper. 2. In La 
Mancha, at Alcaraz, northeast of Linares, latitude 38° 45' 
Ores. Calamine affording abundantly zinc. 3. In the 
west extremity of La Mancha, near latitude 38° 38 at 



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FOREIGN XINING RSGIONS. 4U'l 

Alnjaden. Ores, Cinnabar, native mercury, horn quicksil* 
ver, pyrites, in clay slate. 4. Southwest of Almeulen, in 
Southern Estremadura, and Northwestern Sevilla, at Guadal- 
canal, Cazalla, Rio Tinto. Ores, Gray copper, copper 
vitriol, malachite, with some red silver ore, and native silver, 
in ancient schists or limestones. 

There are also mines of lead and copper at Falsete in 
Catalonia; in Galicia, a little tin ore; in the Asturias at 
Cabrales, copper ores. 

23. In Sweden : — 1. At Fahlun, in Dalecarlia. Ores* 
Copper pyrites, variegated copper. Rock, Syenite and 
schists. — ^At Finbo and Broddbo. Ores, Columbium ores, 
tin ore.— At Sala. Ore, Argentiferous galena, affording 
lead and silver. Rock, Crystalline limestone. — ^At Vena, 
(or Wehna,) and at Tunaberg. Ores, Arsenical cobalt, 
arsenate of cobalt. Rock, Mica slate and gneiss.— At Dan- 
nemora and elsewhere. Ore, Magnetic iron. 

24. In Norway, at Kongsberg, vitreous silver, native sil- 
ver, horn silver, native gold, galena, native arsenic, blende. 
Rock, Mica slate. — At Modum and Skutterud. Ores, Co- 
balt ores, native silver. Rock, Mica slate.— At Arendal, 
magnetic iron. 

25. In Russia :— 1. In the Urals, (mostly on the Asiatic 
side,) at Ekatherinenberg, Beresof, Nischne Tagilsk, &;c. 
Ores, Native gold, platinum, fridium, native copper, red oxyd 
of coppe , malachite. 2. The Altai, (southern Siberia,) at 
Kolyvan and Zmeof. Ores, Native gold, native silver, ar- 
gentiferous galena, carbonate of lead, native copper, oxyds 
of copper, malachite, pyritous copper, calamine. Rocks, 
Metamorphic beds, and porphyry. 3. In the Daouria moun- 
tains, east of Lake Baikal, at Nertchinsk. Ores. Argen- 
tiferous galena, carbonate of lead, arsenate of lead, gray an- 
timony, arsenical iron, electric calamine, cinnabar. Rocks* 
Ancient compact limestone and schists. 

Other important foreign mines, are the copper mines of 
Cuba, South America, Southern Australia ; the silver mines 
of South America and Mexico ; the gold mines of South 
America, Africa, and the East Indies ; the quicksilver mines 
of Huanca Velica, Peru, and those of China ; the tin of 
Malacca, (principally on the island of Junck Ceylon,) of 
Banca ; of zinc, in China ; of platinum, in Brazil, Colum- 
bia, St. Domingo, and Borneo ; of palladium, in Brazil ; of 



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408 MINEBALOOICAL IUVTRITHEIITB. 

•rsenic in Rhoordistan, China. Copper mines are also ze* 
ported from New Zealand. 

MTNERALOGICAL IMPLEMENTS. 

For the examination and collection of minerals, the mm 
•ralogist should be provided with a few simple implements. 

1. A three-cornered or small flat file, for testing hardness. 

2. A knife with a pointed blade, of good steel, for trying 
hardness. Berzelius suggests that it may be magnetized, to 
be used as a magnet. 

3. The series of crystallized minerals, constituting the 
scale of hardness (see page 64.) The diamond and talc 
are least essential. 

4. Small glass-stoppered bottles (one-ounce) of each of the 
acids muriatic, sulphuric, and nitric, in a dilute state, (page 
66.) 

5. A blowpipe, (page 67.) 

6. The common fluxes, (page 69.) 

7. Pieces of charcoal for blowpipe purposes, (page 69.) 
Also strips of mica for holding the assay when platinum is 
not at hand. 

8. A candle or lamp for blowpipe trials, (page 68.) 

9. Platinum foil, wire, and forceps, (page 69.) 

10. Also a pair of small steel spring forceps, for holding 
fragments of minerals in the blowpipe flame, and for man« 
aging the assay. 

11. A piece of glass tube, } inch bore ; and two or three 
(est tubes (of hard glass,) or small mattresses, for trying the 
action of acids, and testing the presence of water by the 
blowpipe. 

12. A pair of cutting pliers, for removing chips of a min- 
eral for blowpipe or chemical assay. 

18. A common goniometer ; or a pair of arms pivoted to- 
gether to use with a scale, as explained on pages 47, 48. 
The reflecting goniometer (page 50) is also a desirable in- 
strument. 

14. Models of the common crystalline forms ; they may 
be made by the student, out of chalk, or wood ; and when 
finished, a coat of varnish or gum will give great hardness 

o the chalk. 

15. A pair of balances for specific gravity, (page 63.) 

16. A hammer weighing about two pounds, resembling a 



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XINBKALOOICAL IMPLBMSllTt. 40t 

Klone cutter's hammer, having a i — a 

slightly rounded fiice, and at/ m 

the opposite end/ an edge .haY-||[l|||.|i^MBi^^^^^ ^-b: -. ■^ 

ing the same direction as the|||l|B ^^^*^^ip 

handle* The handle should be SBIIH 

made of the best hickory* and the mortice to receiTe it 

should be as large as the handle. A similar hammer, having 

the upper part prolonged to a blunt point, to be used like a pick. 

17. Another hammer of half a pound weight, similar to 
the preceding, except that the face ahould be flat ; to be used 
in trimming q>ecimen8. 

18. A «naU jeweller's hammer, for trykig the nmlleabili- 
ty of globules obtained by the blowpipe, i^ for other pur- 

^'poses. 

19. A piece of steel, say \ inch thidc, 1 or 2 wide, and 2 
or 3 kngy to be used as an anvil. A fragment may be broken 
or pulverized upon it, by first folding it in a piece of thin pa> 
per, to prevent its flying off when struck. A half inch cir- 
cular cavity on one side, and a pestle to correspomd, will be . 
found very oonv>enient 

20« Two steel chiseld of the form of a wedge, as in the 
annexed figure ; one 6 inches long, and the other 3. When 
it is desired to pry open seams in rocks with the larger f^ 
chisel, two pieces of steel plate should be provided to I I 
place on opposite sides of the chisel, afier an opening | / 
IS obtained ; this protects the chisel and diminishes \ I 
friction while driving it. V 

21. Bone a^es, to be used upon mica, or in a small cav- 
ity in charcoal, in cupellmg for silver, with the blowpipe. 
A rounded cavity should < be made in the charcoal, as large 
as the end of the little finger, and the bone ashes (slighUy 
moistened, and mixed with a little soda,) should be pressed 
into it iSrmly vdth the head of a small pestle , aror tho 
roughly diying, it is in a condition to receive the assay. 

22. A pocket microscope. 

23* A smaU agate mortar and pestle* 

24. A magnetic needle. 

25. A pair of scissors. 

26. A box of matches. 

For blasting and other heavy work, the foUovdng tools 
and appliances are necessaiy : — 

1. Three hand^rills, 18, 24, and 36 indies long, an uich 
In diameter. The best form is a square bar of steel, with 
a diagonal edge at <me end. The three are designed to fol« 
•ow one another. 

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110 WSIOHT8, MEASrSEB, Aim conoL 

2. A sledge hammer of 6 or 8 pounds weight, to use fa 
driving the drill. 

3. A sledge hammer of 10 or 12 pounds weight, ic» break- 
ing up the blasted rock* 

4. A round iron spoon, at the end of a wire 15 or 18 
inches long, for removing the pulverized roek from the drill- 
hole. 

5. A crowbar, a pickaxe, and a hoe, for removing stone 
and earth before or after blasting. 

6. Cartridges of blasting powder, to use in wet holes* 
They should one-third fill the drill-hole. After the charge 
is put in, the hole should be filled with sand and gravel 
alone without ramming. If any ramming material is used, 
plaster of Paris is the best, which has been yet and after- 
wards scraped to a powder. 

7. Patent fuse for slow matoh, to be inserted in the car^ 
tridge, and to lead out of the drill-hole. 



WEIGHTS, MEASURES, AND COINS. 

For the convenience of the student, the following infor- 
mation is here inserted, of such weights, measures, and 
coins, of difterent countries, as are likely to be met with in 
the course of his ordinary reading on minerals and mining. 

24 grains, Troy, = 1 pennyweight (dwt) 

20 dwt " =1 ounce (oz.) 

12 oz. ** =1 pound (lb.) 

16 drams Avoirdupois^ s= 1 oz. 

16 oz. ^ =-1 pound. 

112 lbs. « =1 hundred (cwt) 

20 cwt. *« =1 ton. 

1 lb. troy = 6760 grs. troy = 13 oz. 2*65143 drams av. 
1 lb. av. as 7000 grs. troy = 1 lb. 2 oz. 1 dwt. 10 gr« troy. 

To reduce pounds troy, to pounds avoirdupois, multiply by 
the decimal .822857 ,* or, approximately, diminish bv 3-17. 

To reduce pounds avoirdupois j to pounds troy mmtiply by 
1-215. 

100 lbs. av. is now the usual 1 cwt, and 25 lbs. the quar* 
ter cwt 

112 pounds, formerly s= 1 quintal. 

100 pounds, now usually s= 1 quintal. 
1 French gramme as 15*483159 grs. firoy. 



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WfilOHTB, MB ABUSES, AND COINS. 411 

1 French kilogramme = 1000 grammes •'^ 2*21 lbs. av. 
nearly = 2-68 lbs. troy « 2*0429 French liTres. 

To reduce 'Approximately 

Fr. kOograms to Eng. ay. pounds, nmlt. by S'3055 or add 6-5. 

Pnuaian, (including Hanoverian ^ Brans- 
wick, and HcBBian,) pounds, to Eng. 

avoir, pounds, " «• 1*031114 *« " 1-32. 

rr.livre,(poid8demarc)toEng.av.lbs. " " 1079642 «« «' 2-25. 

Eng. av. lb. to French kilogram, ** " 0453414 " sb. 11-20 

Eng. av. lb. to French livre, '*. " 0*9262 «* " 1-13 

Eng. cwt. (112 lbs.) to a metric quintal; 

(« 100 kilog. French,) •« •• 0-5078 

Eng. cwt. to a Pru8. centner, (ssllOlbs.) " " 0*9875 '* " 1-80 

Eng. cwt. to a quintal, (old measure^ 

lOOUvres.) " " 10385 "add 2-53. 

^ A metric quintal to an English cwt. ** '* 1*971 

A quintal, old meas. to an Eng. cwt. <* <* 0*963 *' sub. 1-27. 

A Prussian centner to an Eng. cvn. " ** 1.0127 "add 1-80. 

The old French livre contained 2 marcs, or 16 ounces ; 
a marc == 3778 Eng. grs. A marc at Cologne, (Ham- 
burgh, etc.,) = 8 oz. s= 3608 Eng. grs. 

The Russian pood (or pud) s= 40 Russian pounds ss 36 
English pounds avoirdupois. 

12 inches English, 1 foot. 

8 feet, 1 yard. 

40 rods, 1 fiirlong. 

8 furlongs, 1 mile. 

3 miles, 1 league. 

6 feet, 1 &thom. 

60 geographical miles, 1 degree. 

60^ statute miles (nearly,) 1 degree. 

A French meter=3 feet, 3*371 inches English, or more 
correctly, 89*37079 inches English=8 feet, inches, 11*296 
lines French. A kilometer=d*^80*9 English feet, or ^ff^thn 
of a statute mile. 

A French toise=:6*3946 English feets=6 old French feet. 

Wa^lA, Freneh. Praadu^DaBiahandRlMnUh. 

Foot:— = -9382928 = *9711361. 

To radooe Approxlm«»aly 

French feet to English, multiply by 1*065765 or add 1-15 

English feet to French, •* " 0*9382928 or subt. 1-16 

French meters to English feet, " " 3*280899 or add 23-7 

French metera to English yards, " " 1*093633 or add 1-11 

Eo^ish feet to French meten, <« " 0*3047945 or subt. 7-10 

The French foot according to an ad in 1812, ii a i of a 
88 



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4! '3 WBIOHT8» KBABUBSS, AND COHTt. 

meter, but thiB measure has not been adopted, the old Fieuch 
foot, (=1*066 English feet) continuing to be used. 

k German geographical mile=4 English geographical 
miles, or about 4*633 Eng. statute miles ss 7407*40 metera 

French store, (cubic measure) = 35*34384 cubic ft. U. S. 

French litre (liquid and dry measure,) = 61-07416 cubic 
inches, or 1*05756 quarts wine measure. 

Value of d^erent weights^ in English avoirdupois pounds^ 

of measures in English feet and inches^ and of coins in 

American dollars. 

Amsterdam.— I centner (lOOlbs.) = 108*923 av. lbs. 

Batavia. — 1 picul = nearly 136 av. lbs. 

Bremen. — 1 centner s= 116 av. lbs. ; 1 lb. as 1*1 av. lbs.; 
lfoot = ll}i]i; Irii dollar, (silver) = $0*787 ; 72 grotes 
ssB 1 rix dollar. 

Calcutta. — 1 rupee, (gold) =$6.75 ; 1 rupee (silver,)=a 
$0.45,6 ; 1 candy = 20 maunds, = 500 lbs. av. 

Canton. — 1 picul = 133| av. lbs. ; 1 catty = 1 J av. lbs. ; 
1 tael = H oz. ; 1 tael = $1-48 ; 10 mace = 1 taeL 

Denmark.— 1 centner (100 lbs.) = llOJ av. lbs. ; 1 fool 
^12^ inches ; 1 rix dollar, (silver) $0*52 ; 6 marcs = 1 
rix dollar ; 16 shillings = 1 marc. 

Florence and Leghorn. — 1 cantaro, (100 lbs.) = 74*86 
av. lbs. ; 1 palmo = 9| inches. 

France. — 1 franc = $0*186 ; 10 decimes » 1 fi:anc ; 10 
centimes a=s 1 decime. 

Grenoa.— 1 peso grosso (100 lbs.) == 76f av. lbs ; 1 peso 
sottile ss 69*89 av. lbs ; 1 palmo a= 9| in. 

Great Britain.— £l = 20 shillings sterling s $4*84 ; 1 
guinea = 21 shillings sterling = $5*08|. 

Hamburg.^-l foot = 11*3 inches ; 1 mile = 4*68 miles ; 
1 marc banco = $0*35 ; current marc = $0*28 ; 3 marcs 
= 1 rix dollar. 

Malia.—l foot, lOj inches; 1 cantaro, (100 lbs.) =s 
174*5 av. lbs. ; 1 pezza = $1. 

MrniiUa. — 1 arroba = 26 av. lbs. ; 1 picul = 143 av. lbs. ; 
1 pahno as 10*38 in. ; 8 rials = $1 f 34 maravedis ss 1 
iaL 

Naples. — 1 cantaro grosso = 106*5 av. lbs. ; 1 cantaro 
iccolo = 106 av. lbs. ; 1 palmo = lOf in. ; 1 ducat, (sil- 
er) = $0*80 ; 10 carlini = 1 ducat ; .10 grani=! 1 carlino. 

Portugal — 100 lbs. = 101*19 av. lbs. ; 1 anroba» 22*26 



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WBieHT8» XBASVXBS, AtW COIHS. 413 

av. lbs. ; 1 quinta* »= 89*05 av. lbs. ; 1 pe or foot, = 12} 
in. ; 1 mile «» l^ mile ; 1 milree, or crown s= 91*12 =» 
1000 rees ; 400 rees = 1 cnizado. 

Pnima.— 100 lbs. = 103*11 ar. lbs.; 1 quintal, (110 
Um.) SB 118«43 ay. lbs. ; 1 fo6t» 1*03 feet ; 1 nule = 4*68 
milM ; 1 tlmler, 90*69 « 80 groschen ; 12 pfennigs = i 
groech. 

Amm.— 100 libras « 74-77 av. lbs. ; 1 feot :=» ii| u.. 
I canna »b 6^ feet ; 1 mile s=s 7} fiir. 

jetfMut.-«-100 lbs. B 90*^6 ay. lbs. ; 1 pood, (40 Ibs.}^ 
86 lbs. ; 1 Rsflsian pound as 32 loths ss 96 zolotniks ; 1 
yerst, (mile) = 3500 Eng. feet = 5*8 fur. ; 1 inch » 1 
English inch ; 1 feot (in general) ss 1 Eng. feot ; 1 ruble, 
(silver) = 90*78 "= 100 copecks. Bank ruble «: 90*223, 
or neaily 22} cents. 

Sicily. — 100 libtas i=« 70 ay. lbs ; 1 cantaro grosso ==& 
192*5 av. lbs. ; 1 cantaro sottile « 175 av. lbs. ; 1 paknoss 
9i in. ; 1 eannan. 6} feet $ 1 oncia, (gold) «x 92*40 = 30 
tari ; 20 grani =s 1 tare. 

Spain. — 1 quintal ^=^ 101*44 av. lbs. ; 1 arroba = 25*36 
av. lbs. ; 1 fenega = 1*6 bu. ; 1 feet » 11*128 in. ; 1 
league = 4*3 m. nearly ; 1 vara «» 2*78 feet ; 20 rials =» 
91 ; 16 qoinlos ^^ 1 rial ; 2 maravedis «« 1 quinto. 

Sweden. — 100 Ibs.^ (victuaUe) a 73*76 av. lbs. ; 1 feot 
«3 11*69 in. ; 1 mile ^ 6*64 m. ; 1 ell » 1*95 feet. 

Smyma.'^lOO lbs. (1 quintal) ss 129*48 av. lbs. 

7Vie^._100 lbs. = 123*6 ay. lbs. ; 1 feot Austrian » 
1*087 feet ; 1 mile Austrian se= 4*6 miles ; 1 florin, (silver) 
ma 90*485 ; 60 kieutzers » 1 florin. 

F€fitee.-»1 peso grosso, (100 lbs.) «= 105*18 av. lbs. ; 
1 peso sottile s=> 64*42 av. lbs. ; 1 feot » 1*14 feet ; 1 A. 
ra "BB 1 6mm French «« 90-186 ; 100 centesimi s= 1 lira. 

A troy poimd of fine silver ii worth at the mint, 915*51,515. 

A troy pound of standard silver, (American) 913*86,615. 

A troy pound of fine goki, 9248*27,586. 

A tioy pound of stan&rd gold, (American) 9223*25,581. 

1 dwt of fine gold, 91034. 

1 dwt of American native gold, usually, 90*95 to 1*01. 

^ troy pound of platinum in bars, 990 to 9100. 

A pound av. of copper, about 90*25 to 0*27 

A pound av. of tin, about 90*20. 
A carat, see page 82. 



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TABLES FOR THE DETERMINATION OF 
MINERALS. 

In the feUowing tables, tbe more common mineral species 
(comprising all tke American) are arranged in subdivisioDfl, 
to afford aid in ascertaining the names of species. These 
jibles will be found valuble as a means of instiuction ; the 
«se of them fixes the attentimi on distinctiye characters, and 
hereby impresses the peculiarittes of species on the mind. 

A geneial view of the arrangement in Table L is hero 
annexed. 

I. — Soluble Minebals. 

A. No efifenrescence with muriatic acid. 

a. No deflagration on burning coals, 

b. Deflagration on burning coals. 

B. Effenresee withmuriaticacid when heated, if not withooL 

II. — ^InSOLUBLS MlNBBALh 

Luster unmetallic* 

A. Streak unoolored. 

a. No odorous or colored fumes before the 

blowpipe, on charooaL 

1. Wholly soluble in one or more of the 

three acids. 

* Infusible.* 

f Fusible with more or less difficulty. 

2. Soluble, except the silica which separates 

as a jelly 

* Infusible. 

f Fusible with more or less difficulty. 
8. Not acted on by acids, or partially sol* 
uble without forming a jelly. 

* Infusible. 

f Fusible with more or less difliculhr. 

b. Colored or odorous fumes before the blow- 

pipe, alone or on charcoaL 

B. Streak colored. 

a. No fumes before the blowpipe. 

* By infusible is meant, not capable of bi^ng melted alone or on char- 
oal by the flame of the common blowpipe. 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



TABLB I. FOR DETBBMOTATIOIf OF lamBSAUU 415 

♦ Fusible, 
f Infusible* 
h. Fumes before the blowfMpe. 
n. Luster metallic. 

A* Streak umnetallic. 

* No fumes befi)re Uie blowpipe on charcoal, 
f FUmes before the blowpipe. 

B. Streak metallic. 

* Malleable. 

J Not malleable ; no fumes when heated. 
Not malleable ; fumes when heated. 
The abbreviations used in these tables are as follows : 



Ad. 


Adamantine. 


Limest. 


Limestone. 


Amyg. 


Amygdaloidai. 


Mag. 


Magnetic. 


Aatim. 


Antimony. 


Mam. 




Anen. 


Ajaenical. 


JVIas. 


Masave. 


B,bh. 


Blue, bluifih. 


Met. 


Metallic. 


BL 


Bk>wpipe. 


Mm. 


Muriatic add. 


Bn^bnh. 


Brown, brownish. 


NU. 


Nitric acid. 


Bk,bkh 


Black, biackiah. 


Op. 


Opaque. 


Bar, 


Borax.* 


Pb08. 


Salt of phofEfphomi.* 


Bot. 


BotryoidaL 


Fly. 


Pearly. 


Clcav. 


Cleavable. 


Pms. 


Prisms. 


Char. 


Charcoal. 


Prim. 


Primary rocks.f 


CoL 


Columnar. 


R,rdh. 


Red, reddish. 


Cryst. 


Crystals, crystalline. 


Rad. 


Radiated. 


Decrep. 


Decrepitate. 


Ren. 


Reniform. 


DeUq. 


Deliquescent. 


Res. 


Resinous. 


Dif. 


Difficult, difiiculdy. 


Soda, 


Carbonate of soda.* 


Div. 


Divergent. 


Sol. 


Soluble. 


Effenr. 


Effervescence. 


St. 


Streak. 


Exfol. 


Exfoliate. 


Stalact. 


Staiactitic 


Fib. 


Fibrous. 


Stel. 


Stellate. 


Flex. 


Flexible. 


Stri. 


Translucent on edges ooif 


Fol. 


FoUated. 


Strp. 


Semitransparent. 


Fob. 


Fusible. 


Sulph. 


Sulphureous 


Gelat. 


Gelatinize. 


Submet. 


Submetallic. 


Glob. 


Globule. 


Sul, 




6n,giih 


. Green, greenish. 


Trl. 


Translucent. 


"^ran. 


Granular. 


Tip. 


Transparent 


?yh. Gray, grayiah. 


Vit. 


Vitreous 


IniuB. 


Infusible. 


Vol. 


Volatile. 


Inaol. 


Insoluble. 


Vole. 


Volcanic rocks. 


Intam. 


Intumesce. 


W,wh. 


White, whitidu 


Lam. 


Lamins. 


Yw,ywh.yellow, yellowish. 



• • Blowpipe ftnx. 

t This term as here used means amply, granite and the allied crys- 
taliine locks, syenite, gneiss, mica slate, talcoae slate, hornblende rock, 
witboir; jeferenee to age. oo« 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



416 TABLS I. FOR DETSKXIirAnOlf OF WXJXWMAIM. 

The Roman numerals refer to the Sjrstems of ciystalliza* 
tion, (pace 32.) 

I. jMonometrie. IV. Monoclinie. 

II. Dimetric. V. Triclinic 

III. Trimetric. YL Hexagonal or RIiombohedraL 
The page on wkidi each species is described is mentioned^ 
that Uie student may conTenientlj turn to the ibUer descrip- 
tions for a farther examination of a mineral. 

The kinds of rock in which the species occur is often addec 
afler the description. 

L— SOLUBLE MINERALa 

A. No EvraRTBSOSllOB with XUBIATIO AtHDt SVXN ZF UXATWD. 

a. 19^ d^fUigrmtlm^ om hunting e&ak, 
M amnumftae, lOOi I; ernsto; G 1*5— 1'6; wh^ywh; taBteae«teuidpaBgeiit;]io« 

deHqaeaoeat ; 5i4t eflfonretce; mixed te powder ^tb 

qaicUime ammoniacal odor; Tobtile. 
Afaim, 1S7. I; wh; reiy tolvble, sweetiah MtriogeHl: JH^AMt IntunMeik 

CommoD Mil; 101 I; O 8*2—^3; w, rdh, gyfa; taUne; cryabla eubic: Ml, d» 

crepitates. 
Epaom salt; 124. m ; 1-7— 1*8; w; bitter saltaie: Bl, dellq. 
White Titriol. 971. HI ; O 9— d-1 ; wh; ostriBgent-met : Ml, w ooatiBgoacharcoaL 
Borax, 107. IV ; 1-7— 1-8 ; wh ; slow efBor ; sweetish alkalfaw : Bl^sweDa 

up and becomes w and opaque. 
CDanbertal^ lOB. IV; Gl-4— 1-5; wh, gjh; cooling and bitter: Bi; watery ftadoa. 
Oopperaa, 246. IV; G9; gn^ywh, wh; astringent-mek: A»red; A>rgB|(lasa. 

Blue Titriot, 897. V ; G 9-2—8*3 ; sky-blue ; nauseoos met: Bi; copper reaction. 
White arsenic, 22& Capillary cryst; bot» mas; Gr3-7; w; taste astringent sweeli 

iskr Bl, volatile, alliaceoas fames. 

b. D^fi^grmtt om ft wmfi y cnalfc 
Miter, 101. m ; G l-»— 8 ; w, not deUqoescent or eflloreMieal 

Nit of soda, 100. VI; Q 2-3; wh;deUq; burns with a deep yellow ]i|^ 
Nitrate of lime, 19X Ciyst eflHoresoences ; G 1-08; w, gy; Texy deKqneaoeati Jl 

watery fnsioB, scarcely detonates. 

B. EmnvxsciNo wtth wni/an mob, 
lOS. rV; G 1-4— i-5; w, gyh; efltonsoent. 



n.— INSOLUBLE MINERALS. 
I. LUSTER UNMETALUa 
A. SmMAK Unoolobibl 
m. No fames before tkm blowpipe on oltenoaL 
L ITAsI^ soliiMt ill ofMsrMersqftAe acids, (oofdsrAsOkiiMMdIr MM 
*Iniiuible. 
Hardness. 

gydromagnesite, 18& 1*0-80 Whitish crosts; O »8; adheres to flia 

Serpentine, 
Bmoili^ 185. 1*5-80 VI ; fol, landnn flexible ; G 8-3— 8-4 , w, gnh ; p*|y 

trl; noefleryescerce. Setipentbu, 



Digitized by VjOOQIC 



TABLB I. FOB DSTERMUVATION OF KIKEKALB. 417 



Websterite, 



CHde fpar, 

AngofBlte^ 
BiaUogile, 



OBgoBBpar, 
Tttrooerile, 

WttbflillB^ 
WUteleadon^ 



SputUoirom 
Wvreme, 



FhMttpv, 



Hardness. 
129. 1-5—2-0 Ren, mas; Q 1-6— 1-7 ; doll; w, op; adheres to Um 

tongue : «mA sol, no effenrescence. 
125. 3 Silky fib ; O 2-3— 2-5 ; gyh, bh-w ; fibres separabta. 

brittle on exposure. Serpentine. 
115. 3;0— SH) VI ; cleaT I fib, mas ; O 2*3—2-5 ; rit, p'ly, w, gy^ 

bnh, bk; trp— op. ; sometimes soft and earthy 

B2, intense Ught 
118. 3*5 m ; mas, fib ; O 2<8-^ ; vit ; w, gyh, bnh; trp-> 

op : effervesce ; BL intense light, crumbles. 
961. 3*5 VI; clear; mas; Q 3*5— S'O; Tit, p'ly; rdh; tri 

op; net, effervesces: B2, bar, violet glass. 
IfM. S-O^-^-O VI ; eleav f fib, mas ; G 2i»— 3 ; vit, silky ; w, ywh, 

bn ; trp, op ; little effervescence. 
968. S'S— 4*0 I ; dodec cleav ; mas ; O 4—4*1 ; n^-yw, rdh, 

w; trp,strl; tut sol, emitting suL hydrogen : ^ 

boriBfuM. 
U8.3*5-4*0n; clMTl aaa;G2-8-.,«4; vit, p'ly; w,gy,bBt 

no eiferveKence unless heated. 
949. 4-tf Vl4 cleaTl mas; G 3«-3'fi5; vit; ywlvhA on 

esposore ; wuar slow solution. 

948. « VI ; otoav ; mas ; G 3*7— 3-8 ; vit ; bn on exporan: 

BIL ^or ametfayitiae glob. 
908. 4-5-^0 ni; deav^ mas; violet b,gyh,rdh-ba; vit, p'ly; 
strl,opi hot anir. Ml; At. whitens. Arte. 

t Fusible wi& more or less difllculty. 

109. 3<0-9< XH; mas, fib; O 4'9--L4 w, ywh. gyh; tri^-op; 

«<rell«rv: Hlfhsl op.globu 
9aL 9'0-3-4S HI ; mas; G 6*1—6*5; w, gyh, bnh ; ad, res ; trp^ 

trl; bHttie; mureiF: !«, fhs I on ckor, lead, 
ill 3*5 III; cteaV; flb, mas; G 3-6— 3<7; res, vit; gnh, 

■ ywh, gyh; effervescence: £1, ius difl colon 

llame reddish. 
983. 3-5— 40 V1-, hexag inns; hot, fib; O 6*5—7*1 ; bright gn, 

fw, bn; res ; strl, strp ; brittle ; hot nUaaH: Bk 

fusi WitkleadoreB, 
947. 3-^0 VI, cl, mas ; G3*7— 3*9; ply; ywh, bnh, gyh; dark- 
ens on exposure ; trl, op ; pulverized, some eff ; 

Bl, fus dif t ; blackens ; iron reaction, 
laa <* lU; fib, glob: G 2*3-2*4 ; p'ly, vit; w, ywh, bnh, 

gyh; trl ; hot file, sol, vapors corrode g^iaas : Bl, 

fus, intum, colorless glass. 

949. " Div, rad, fib, silky : G 3 3— 3*4 ; ywh-bn, ywh; bn on 

eiqK>8ure: fii,lnfus. ' 
19L 4-0 I; ell mas ; G 3'^— 3-2 ; vit ; w, yw, b, violet; gn, r, 

often lively ; trp, trl ; eui, a£fords fumes that oor* 
rode fl^ass : K, fus, decrep ; phosphorescee ^niiea 



. 44-50 VI; hexag; mas; G a— 3*3; vit. res; gn, bh. w 
ch,bn; tri^f^; brittle ; nit sol slowly *n powder, 



Digitized by CjOOQIC 



418 TABLE I. FOR DETBRMINATION OP KINBKALfl. 



TripUte, 
TriphylfaM, 



BdlQjite. 



TabokriiMr, 



Djwdtmlta, 



MafcraUta^ 



Hardness. 

without effenr: ^4 fua dif I l«r fus 1 Prim, Oram 

lintttont, voiCm 
96a 5<) Lam,ina8:G34— 3-8;bUi-lm:res,ad;iwtsol,M 

ef : Bi, fua I bk scoria; bar violet glass. 
M9. 6^ IV ; mas; G 3-a0; gnh. yw. gy. rdh-br; vit rat 

trp, tri ; mur, sol ; Bi, fos her. green glass, todm 

manipuiese reaction. 
198.70 l;hemihedcubes;0 2'9— 3; w, gyh;yit,ad;strpb 

trl ; pyro^lectric ; mur, sol : Bl, fas. Qfpntm. 

• Infttflible. 
ISL 1-0— SO Mas, earthy or waacy ; G 1-6— 9-1 ; w, bh ; adheres 

to the tongue ; sm2, gelat I £2, fa&fus. 
108.30 Mas.ren; OlO— 10; yiCrea; bh, gtth,ywfa,tol; 

reiy brittle ; gelat 1 Bl, intum. 
t Fusible. 

107. M m; ibrad; 09*3-»4; p'ly; gyh-w.ywh; trl:Bl 

fust Jmjf^, 

108. • IV;inas;G»«-4Hi Tit;p^;w,gyh;trl;waBd 

firiaUe OB exposure; gelat I Hi, fiia w, frothy. 

188. 4O-40 in;rad,crystoflencnMsed;09— 80;w,rdh;Ttt| 
top, op ; etiir gelat: A, fiis. Jmgff. 

14L 40--50 V;cl, subAb; G 9^-dO; pPly« vit; w.gyh; tri: 
M«r gelat : ia,fusdif; pearl semiop. Prim.maigg, 

167. 4-5-50 Xn;cl,fib,rad;G9-a-4M;w,bnh;tip-lri;brittla; 

gelat: iU, fiis I tntnm, w, op. Amjf^. prim, 
149. 4-5-^0 fib, diT ; G 9-9-94; p'ly, Tit; w, bh; tri,strp;Teiy 

tough under the hammer; mmr gelat; Hi, fiii^ 

op. Jm^fgr. 
149. • Abb diT; G 909; Tit; i/lysw^gyh; after heatfaif 

gelat in aniri BI, ius trp glass. Jmiif^. 
979L * III;cl;mas,bot,fib;G3-»-30; w,b,gn,yw,bBi 

trp— trl ; hot mil gelat :!«, ftwdif a iMom ; phot* 

phoresces. Strat^fitd rock$, 

168. 40-«5 ID; adc, cryst; diT fib ; G 9-1—9^; Tit; w, ywh; 

trp,trl;gelatl A,fuslopg^ass. itaMf. eefe. 
188. SO-A'S I: trapesohed; mas ; G 9-9-3 ; Tit; w,rhd, gyh; 

trp-op; brittle; eNO' gelat: Bl fhsl intum, 

fl^assyglofai Amjiif,vole, 
107. * ni; diT, fib, rad ; G 90— 90; Tit, p^ly; w; trp, trl; 

nit and mar; gelat I iB fhs I op^ euxli up in ontef 

flame. Amg^.volc, 
148L • IV s glassy eiystala; flbb bo^ mas; 9-fiO; w, 

gnh, rdh; trp, trl; nit gelat I A, fhsl Amg^^prim 
107.84-00 I; dodeeciyst; mas; G 90-9-45; Tit; gyh,bii,b; 

trp— strl ; nU gelat: A, fhs, colorless g^ass. 
180. 90— 0O VI ; hexag ; coarse massiTe, subfib; 6 94— M; Til 

greasy; w, ywh. gnh, bnb, rdh ; trp— op j gelat. 

Apiiisdi^blebbyglass. VoU.prim. 



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TABLE I. FOR DETBRKINATION OF MINSBAL8. 419 

3. Ifataetedonbifaeida,9rpmrtmliy9oluhkwUkoutfoim^ 
tlnfunble.* 



Ttie, U3. l^O-l-S VI; foil mas; 6 8^— 84» • light gn, gnhw gyh, 

p'l7,wietiKnu;lamixi»lle3dble,iiielutlc Prim, 
F^rvofha^lile^ • Foil gran; appfe-gn, w, bnh-gn, ywh ; pTj ; abp^ 

airi : m, sweDfl up 1 iVte. 
IfiMk JAL •* Foil! lam. thin elastic, tough; O 8i»-^; coum 

Tariona, <rfken bright ; p'ly ; trp, strl: JB. foa dif I 

Pfim, etc 
Chi7aoooD«, 30a 81X-30 maa»bot; 6 3— 8*3; Uniah-gn; amoothTit^oreaiw 

thy; atrU op; wit sol except ailica. 
Gibbaile, ISL S-O-S^ Stalac^ crusts; Q 8>3-»4; gyfa-w, gnh-w; dnlL 

Emerald Bidu]^ 964. S^>-3^ mimito globular, emat; O 3-05; emerald-gn ; flt 

pakr; Tit; trp, trl ; m, loaes its color. 
Blaiidfl^ 860. a-^-^-O I ; dodec ckiaT, maa ; G 4-41; reain-yw, \m, hb,w^ 

rdh ; tip— op : m, ter infl 
PlmBbo-reinaa, 888^ 4-0u^-5 renifiorm; G6-3— 6^; 7wfa,biih,rdh; reainoni^or 

like gom arabic ; til ; ^4ecrep; enam cm char. 
CHatoBite, 148. 4-a-5-0 IV; fol I lam brittle; O 3—31 ; rdh-ba ; me^ply ; 

atrl:JBI.»«-trppearL 
129.50 m ; adc, stel mas ;0 8-6— 8-6; Tit, p'ly, earthy ;w, 

rh, gyh ; tvi, mostly sol : Bl» decrep ; smlafaifas. 
806. 50 rV; imbedded, cryst, cleaTi in one direction; Q 

4*8—5-1 ; bn, bnh-r ; Tit, res ; stzp, op ; brittle; 

iMir, decomposed. Frim. 
Lmulkd, ITSL 9-5—60 I ; trapezohedrons ; G8-4— 8-5; w, gyh; Tit; stipi 

trl:£{,for,fusdi£ role 
AmteM^ 8U* * n ; in cryst ; G 3-8— 30; ihiebn,b; met«d, rest 

strp,trl: lU, loses col; frorfns dif: Frim. 
Tteqaoia^ 13QL 60 Eeniform; 6 8-8—3; b, bh-^; waacy, dnU; tri 

op : Bl, flame green ; hor, foa. 
Opa^ 139. S^ft— 6-5 MassiTe, unclear; w, yw, r, bi^ gn, gy, pale; in 

some a play of colors; Til; p'ly ; trp, strl; Bl, 

decrep, op. 
Kyaalls, 173. 00—70 V ; In prisms or bladed cryst ; G 3-5—37 ; b^ w, 

bnh ; p'ly, Tit; trp, strl: Hi, ftorfusdi^ trp. Prim. 
Hephrit^ 147. 60-70 Maa, subgran; G 80-31 ;leek-gn,bh,wh; Tit; tri, 

stil:B2,Trhitens;ftor clear g^aas. Prim. 
BnchohH^ 178. " Ool, lib; G 3-»-3-6 ; w, gyh, bnh ; p*ly; tri, stri- 

britne. Primm 
Tlnon^ 814. •* n ; maa, lib ; G 6-5 ^7-1 ; bn, bk. w, gy, r, yw ; ad, 

res, cryst often brilliant; atrp, op : Dl. ter on 

char with soda affords tin. Prim. 
CbrytoHteb 156. d'ft— 70 in ; imbeded grains or masses of a glassy iq;>pear> 

ance ; G 3*3—3-6 ; gn« bottle glass gn : Bl, darkena 

(or gn glass ; [rarely fusible.] Basalt, etc 
17S. 6-5— 7*5 V ; ool, fib ; G 3-0-^-4 bn, gyh ; pHy, vit ; tri, strl 

brittle: Bl, bar infoB. Prim. 
174. ** m; stout prisms; mas ; G 80—3*8 ; Tit, p'ly; gyl^ 



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120 TAMIM U VOS DXTXUUNATIOlf OF MnOXAUk 



rdh ; tong^; stmctim i 

nLftariiMdii;trpgIaM. Frim. 
13^ 7*0 VI; mas; O 2-6--M; cefam TaiioM; vit; tip^ 

•p : Bl 9odm fm I tip gtoM» aflerr. 
174.7-9-7i(in;*Nit9rWm; G 3&-M; 1)ii,rdli4m,bk; ^ 

fM;s|Ep^4pi .fytai 
100.7^ IIS6rsr«t»MldoaiiiuM;04'4— 4-8;bB,r,7w,g7,gB 

w, «HM bright; rabid; te<^ tri: Bi; ftor, dM 

Vopu^ 1M.7'»-8-0in;priMMwttba«dclMTag8l]iiM,e6l; 03^ 

»6;]M]e7w,9B,b,w;Ylt;ti%itrl: Jdarilowl 



laOlM I»oetah^lRM%ete;a8.S-^«;r,tali»gBh,7li,bB 
bk; ^; trp^ t^ (mmm tmpan mytMM uO^ 
Mt^9rfa»4it Prim igrmmUmt$t, tile. 

39f. M m; «i7at| O 3&-8-6; Mgiit gn, ywb. g^; vtt, 
tip^lrl: Bl^torfiudifl iVte. 

lOLM Vl;BiM;tBgndiM;0»9^-4«;UiVfW,b%83M\ 

gf, w; Tit; topktri: i»,ftor ftudit JVIn; #r«» 



aaUH) I;0 3'4-8-7;w,b»r,7w,gii,bii»cr,bk;adaBUB. 
tine; tops ftoL 

t Fiutbte with more or len dlfBeal^. 

Ml^ U3. X<0-1^ m\ foil dim; G 37-fr9; lifi^t ga, gnh-w, gyh; 

pHj, unctomM; lamiiHi ileziblek notelMtie: J( 
iBfo«,orftw«fll PrtmignnUmm, 
14&1-9 Fol;mwgraB; G2-6-lH>; ottfagreea; ^lj;9ta 
decomp ; JUtm dif I lomqtiinm to a Mack gfiny 
bead.IVte. 
U& 1-5-M IV;ftII grapnel; G3-»-643ir,g7h,bBh,ili,blt; 
tep»toi; laii|flezible.inelastle: A;lil•dif;whl- 
tell•,ezf^andbecollle•fiiaU«; Arac prim.99lo. 
inU ftQ'-4i-5 Poill lam ttin elaatfo, tongli; G8-8-3; color* 
TarioQfl, ofkm bright; pl7; tri, atrl: A^fiiadifl 
. Prim,ete, 

GrjoUte^ 139. « Maa,fi>l; 8-»-3;w;Tit»pa7; ftuiUebiacaBdlo. 

IVte. 

Serpemtait 14& SH>-3« UI; maa; aometimea thiiilb], fid brittle; fib; O 

9-4— JH; dark or light gn, gp)i-w, bh-w; tri— qpi 
feel often greasy : S; flu dJftt 

ChloropfajlUt^ 103. ltO-4-0 VI; fol prlama; fid brittle ; G »7— ^8; dvU greeo^ 
g7h,bnh:p'l7,Tlt:ir];fiuidifll PrimwUkMiit. 

An^leal>Hi 981. 9*5—30 III; maa; lam; Gr 4-9—6^; w, ywh, gyh; gnh, 

ad, Tit» risa; trp, trl: in; fiii II decrep ; on «i«r, 
lead globule. 

AahydrilBk 114. »9^-3'5 III; rectang clear 1 maa; 09«-3;w,rfa,bh,gyii 

p*!/, Tit: si; fiia dif ; wbitaM; not ei£ 

* Thii tmelited rariety ia often quite aoft, owing to hnpnritiea. 



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9A1ILB I. FOR DBTERMINATION OP mHSRALS. 4^1 

Hardness. 
Ccleitiae, 110. 34I-3-5 DI ; mas, fib, km ; G S-e-^f w, bh, ill { t&» i««; 

trp, flitri : Bl, fas, decrep ; phosphoreaoea. 
Bevrj spar, 108. <« in ; maa, fib, Urn . O 4-S-4'8^ w, gyh, ywh, bn» 

Ti^p*!!, ret; trp^ atari : m, faa, deerap. Aral, 

Wwlaiiditat 1M. 3-5-4-0 IT) Ml MMtde;0 M; w, rdh, fir. bah ; ply, 

-yit; irp^'atait; oeitff aol, ezc«pt affiea: Bl,faa^ 

iatmn, idioapboreaceiit Amjfg^tpHm, 
BOUtki, ll8»S-i«in;fbtln4,«V;G3-l-e-3;w.7wh,rh,bn;p'l7 

trl, alip ; wit, ^Uca depoaHed: Bl, Am I faituiB 

oolofleaa glaaft. Jmifgt P>m Ac 
Schiller aptf, lie. • lUa, fot ; fiA taitfle ; O 9>5-«-7.; dark gn, or aab 

<net:«2,'ftadlfllgiTe*oirwater. . - 
DhrtwiiiK* MV* ^ !•& VI ; in rbdna* near^ cubea, and complex amal 

eryatala ; G 3— 84 ; w, rdh, ywh ; Tit ; stzp, trl 
' Mr, ailtea deposited r.9i, ^ I blebb7«mutt(d; 

llMMUiuiy^ M^ * IB; eryatala 4ilen«Tbaiedf'^S4:--»5; ir, rdh; 

•fit; atr]^ op; imir, aOica depoaited: Bl, toM, cleaf 

w glaaa ; phbephoreaoea. Amjfff, priutt etc. 
l>|BgBlKleoriiBaei81§. ** U; maa; G 6-41; vit, rea ; ywh, w; atrp— op; 

»lt, becomea jrw, but ia not diasolred: Bl, foa 

dif H decrepitatea. Prim. 
ApophyOilek IK, 4*5—61) II; ^assy cry«t; tranarerie dear; G 9-3—9^ ; w; 

gnh, ywh, rdh; p'ly, Tit; trp, op; nil; aolbut 

hardly gelat: m, foa, ezfcUatea. Amm^, 
Monaaitob M& »• IV; imbedded erysl; one dearage I G4-8-51;bii» 

bnh-r; Tit, lea; strp, op; britlie; mmtt decom* 

poaed:lN;ftiadif!l Prim. 
TjxotMun, M6. 50 IV; imbedded oct cryst; G 3*8—4*3; yw, ywh; 

rea. Tit; St slightly colored; trl : 10, iiia dSffl 
Spheneb tll« 50 IV ; usually in acute, thin eryatala ; G 3.3-3-5 ;b% 

yw, gy, bk; rea, ad; atrU op: A, foa dif I hm 

yw glass. Prm,grm» limeitatu, etc. 
Sd^oUle, IfiOl 50-60 D; mas; aubcol ; G 3*fr-8« ; w, gyh, ih; Tit, p'ly; 

trp— op : JU; fna. Prim,^an llmuume. 
mmMmdBJt VA • IV ;fi^rad; mas; (some Tar fib like flax ^09i»~ 

3^4 ; gn to bk and w; Tit; pHy ; trp, op : Bl,iaa, 

or dif ! ftia. Prim, trap, Cradbycs, etc. 
PftwusB^ 180. • IV; fib ; maa; deaT; G 3-1— 3*5; gn to bk and w, 

Tit, ply ; trp— op : J9A fua ; glaasy globule. Prim, 

ha$dU, vaUc, etc. 
Usnlito. 13Lfr5-80 IV;maa; G3— 31;pureb»giib-b;Tit; atrp— op: 

£1, flu, (or clear globi 

*The Tar. dBMlMb gelatinizea in aoida. 

t Some fihroua Tarleliea (aabeatna) of hornblende and pyroxene are quite soti; 
and reaemble thoAe of seipentlne * and others are Uke ilaz, or haTe nearly dw 
texture of felL 



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422 TABLB I. FOB DETERHINATION OP MCnESALB. 



Fildipw, 




m.M 



tn. M 



im<« 



Hardneflt. 
lM.5^5..«OI;dodec; mM; G8*5-J^9; rich b; Ttt; tri-op; 
K, fua, trl or op g^aw. 
IV; dear, mas; G 8-3— 9-9; wh, g^ rii, bh, gch« 
p'ly. Tit; trp» atrl ; •no', bo actkm: i», fiia dif, , 
ftor trpg^aaa. 
y;ele«r,maa;08-6^-7iW,gyli,gBh.rh,bli;prjy, 
Tlt;tr|^atri; mmr, no actkm: fil,fuadif; flame 
yellow; may generally be diaCinguiahed from 
feldipar by ita purar white eolor. 
V ; efeaT, maa ; G 8-6-42^ ; chatoyant, gy, gnfa, bn, 
rdh-bn: p'ly, yit; atrl; hot etiir decomp : Bk 
faaeaaUy, colorieaag^aaa. Frim. 
107. W ' €r 5 IV ; granmaa; O 3*1— 3-8 ; ywh, bnh-yw, rh, gnh : 
▼tt^rea; trp^atri; brittle: iU,fiiadifll Wr Inel 
ywh-gB> Gfran UaMMoiM. 
141. fr5-«« Maa, like glaaaj Oa-»-»e; bk, gy, gn; vit, j^ 

Bl^fOM, 

ipar, m.M— 7^ V;maa;G3'4— 3^;lleah*r, daifcbnoaexpoeiiie, 

rit:trp,atrl:A];fiiabkhgtaaa;ftorTidlet Prim. 

188. e-O— 6-5 CleaT maa, gran ; O 8-4—8^; w, bh, rh, gnh ; Tit, 

ply; trl;phoaphoreaoea. Bl,fa»; tmrUpgUtM. 

IM. M n;maa;G3-3— 3'4;bn,gB,w;Tit;re8,eryitoftn 

brilliant ;topkatrt:Ai;faattri glob. JMmfMtof 



Epldote, 



Oarne^ 

BoradtB, 

lolite, 

ToarmaHn^ 



leryl 



190. «>-4l$m;bot,maa:G8«-3; light gn,w; ▼lt,pny;trt, 

atrl; lough ;«Na^aol,ezctai]ica: Hi, liia. Amggt 

prim. 
188. 6-0— 7-0 IV; maa, gran, col; Q3-9— 3-5; ywh-gn, g^, bn, bh, 

rii ; vit, p'ly ; trp, op : HI, fha. Prim, etc 
1S6. 8-5—7-0 Clear maa, gran ; G 3*1—3-8 ; gyh-w, gnh ; ply : St, 

fiu, intum, ex^ colorleaa g^aaa. Prim. 
100. " V ; cryst acute-edged ; Gr 3-:i— 3-3 ; deep bn ; rit. 

brilliant ; trp» atri : Bi; fna I faitnm dark gn glaas ; 

iVte,ete. 
184. 6-5— 74S I ; cryst, mas, gran ; G 3*5—1-3 ; r, bn, w, gn, bl^ 

often bright ; Tit, res ; trp, tri : HI, fiis, no efferr 

bkglob. iV<M,ete. 
1817-0 I ;hemihed cubes ;G 80-3 ; w.gyh; Tit, ad; slip 

trl ; pyro-electric : Bl, fas, intom. GfipnMR. 
ISO. 70 in ; mas, glassy ; G 8-0— 8*8; b, gyh-b, bnh ; tip 

trl:H2,fu8difItertrp»g^ass. Prim. 
187. 7-0-80 VI ; col mas : G3— 3*1 ; bk, bn, gn, r, b, w, often 

bright ; Tit, res ; trp, op ; pyro-electric : Bi; ius. 

intnm. Prim, etc 
180. 7-5 rv ; in crystals, deaT ; G 80— 3-1 ; pale-gn, b, w 

Tit, brilliant ; trp, atrl : HZ, iiw dif I intum. Prim 
107. 7*5—80 VI; hexag pms, mas; G80— 8*8; gn, bright oi 

dull, bh, ywh ; trp, strl: HI, ius dif; tertrp glass 



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TABLE I. FOR DBTERMINATIOIf OF MINBRAL8. 423 

b. Colored or odorous fumes before the blowpipe on charooaL 
Hardness. 
Bora aUrer, 337. 1-0— 1-5 I ; mas, like wax ; G 5-5— S-6 ; gy, bh, gnh ; trl« strl 

sectile ; fds. in candle, yielding odorous fmnea 
€Uveror«$. 
mnutanot 984. 3-7— 3*5 VI ; mas ; 6 6-4— ti-5 ; pale yw, bnb, bnhr; strpb 

trl; hot nU sol: BL fusil on dUir alliaeeoiu 
fumeSd — Ltad orta. 
BeorodilB, 2I9l 3-5-^'0 IH; mas; Q31— 3-3; leek-gn, gnh w, bh, bnh ; ad, 

Tit; strp, strl: Bl Ins I alliaceous fumes. 
969. " I; dodec cleavl mas; O 4— 4't; reshi-yw, rdb, 
wh ; trp, Stri ; nU sol, emitting sulph hydrogen 
BL on ekmr at a high heat fumes of zinc. 
ibkade, 29L 3-5— 4*5 I; maa, col; O 5-9— 6-1; bn, gyh, ywh; res, ad 
iU, fus, w fumes. Prim. 
flnillHOBite, 973. M) VI ; maa, ren, bot ; 6 4-S-^'5 ; gyh-w, gnh, bnh 

Tit^piy; 8trp,tr!; nftefferr: ^iiifiu;oiicte 
wfumea. JJanMiSLj wUkUmi mt, 

B. SrUiJC OOLOBBB. 

a. Nofitmtt hrfon the U uup 1f §, 
* Fusible. 

mrim, 88a Mft Mas, pulr; O 4-8; bright red: Ji, Ina; OB cdUr 

glob lead. Lead one, 
Vhriaaila 348. I'ft-SO IV; foil lam. flex; mas; O S-e-^M^; bkh-ga 

darkb; St, bh-w, b; nK or snl sol: Bl, fhsl 

decrep, dark Im scoria, magnetic 
DniBiK 338. M-S-Sn; loll mas; O 3-3-6; bright gn,yw; 81; paler; 

p^y, ad; trp, strp; mit sol, no eflerr: Bl, foM, 

bk glob. Frim. 
Ci9.aBgledte, 881. 3'5-3-0 IV; dear I G 5-3-54; fine ararebhie; St, paler; 

ad. Tit; trl, strl: £1, reactkm of copper aad 

lead. Lead oree, 
Camnaata of lead, 384. 3-9—30 IV; mas, col; 6; brightr; St orange; ad; trt; 

sectile ; Mft sol, no eflerr : A, blackena, deerepb 

shining slag. Lead oree, 
green malachite, 898. 3-5— 40 IV; mam, hot, crust; O 4-4-1; gB; St, paler. 

Til; sOky, earthy ; trl, op; nftsoUefiarr: 10, futi 

bk;torgn. Copper oree, 
Eedeopperon^ 398. * I; maa, fib; G 90— 6; deep red; St, babv; ad 

sabmet ; strp^ stri ; nil sol, eflerr: iB fcal on 

dtar metallio copper. Capper oree, 
983. • VI; mas; O 60—7*1; gB, ho, gy; St yw; res; 

strp, strl ; hot nli sol. bo eflSsrT: Bi fiosl Lead 

^300. • IV; nuu, earthy; G 3*9-30: azure b, dark b; 
St paler; Tit ad; trp, strl; uU eflerr: Bl, fas! 
copper > -"action. Copper oree. 
84 



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424 TABLE I. FOB DETBRmNATION OF MUnSSALS. 

Hardness. 
PyrocUore, 906. 5-0 1; octahed cryst; O i-^i'Z; rdh-bn, yw, ywh, 

8t paler ; res, vit ; strU op : Bl ywh-bn, foM dif I 

bar yw glob in outer flame. Prim. 
TtlpUtB, too. S-O-S-S Mas, dear ; O 3-4~d-8 ; bkh-ba ; St ywh-gy ; res^ 

ad ; ttrp^ op ;»nU sol, no effenr : SZ fas I bk 8co> 

ila; fror, Tiolet 
MoMSlH M6b « IV ;crytt; 6 4-8-51; bn,rdh-bn,gyh; St rdhw« 

bnh-w} Tit^ rea; strpb op : HI fiia dif 1 1 yw, op. 

ChondradlH 187. <-a-«« IV; gnnmas; O 31— 33; light yw,bn,rdh; SI 
paler; rea, Tit; trp, strl; very brittle: JK fh 
difil kMeseolor. QramttmML Prim. 
tUi. « ▼; ade cryst; mas; O 3'S-4-l; bnM>k» gnh 
siibmet»rea; Stgnli^i op^atil: JKfiia, frolli% 
bki 



Wad, «0. 1-0 Mas, often earthy ; G 37; ba,bk,soOa: a; man. 

ganeae reaction. 
Baekoopper, 196. " Maa,oreaKtfaj;bk,bnh.bk; St bk; aoflatJi, cop- 
per reaction. Copper arm, 
Earflbyoobal^ S67. * Earthy, mas ; bk : A, ter, blue iW>m cobatt. 
Cacozene^ 949. 3-Ou^-O Fib, rad; G 3.3-3^ ;ywh-bn,yw; St ywh;ank7. 

Bl, hor dark red bead. Bron arm, 
nenda^ 909. • I; dodee cleaY; mas; fib; O 4-41; reAi yw. 

bn, bk, red ; St pale ; strp, op ; nit sol, emitting 

solph hydrogen: Bt,ter inftu; on cAar, atfai|^ 

heat, fhmea of zinc 
Warwtokta^ S'0—4-0 Prismatic cryst ; G 3--3-3 ; bnh, tarnished bb, or 

wh;8t bnh; met-ply; rec Gratsttasst 
Baditaeora, 97a 4-0 HI; foil mas; G 5-4— 5-0; bright r; St orange; 

snbad; strl, cp; nit sol, no eflerr: Jl^Wryw 

glaaa ; soda a rinc aiag. 
INflplBM^ aOl. SrO VI; cryst; G 3-9—3*3; emerald-gii; St gn; vi^ 

rea; trp, trt; laiir, sol, no efferr: Bl, deenp^ 

y wh^ flame ; copper one, 
UmoBlto. 9M. 0-0-5-9 Mas, mam, atalactbot; earthy ;G 3-9-4*1 ;dn]| 

bn, bk, ywh ; res, sabmet; stap^ op: A; bk, mag- 
netic faron reaction. 
Chramlelrai^ 94L 04( I; mas, oncteaT; 64*3-4-5 ; iron bk, St bB;iieai^ 

dn]l,snbmet;op: 2^2; ter fine gngiob. Sorpmthm, 
mehtfande, 998. Oi» Maa,bot; G0*47; fanh.bk,^Tetbk; Stbk; sub- 

metallic or doll; nil slow soli A; tor a graj 

scoria. Prim, 
PlrfhMMliM^ 999.9«-0OMaa,bot; G4-44; bk, dark ateelgy; 81 bUi; 

sabmet; op ; iMir sol, odorons fames : Bl, maa* 

ganese reaction. 
910l lrO-6-5 H; rarely mas; G 4-^-4-3; rdh-bn, ywh, gy; fli 

paler; ad, met^ ; trl, op : A, ftor ywh-r ^aaa 

crystals <»ften acicular. Prim, etc 



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TABU U FOn DBTERMIIVATION OF KimBRALfl. 425 

Hardnets. 
%4. 0^0—7-0 U ; mfts. fib ; 66&-71 ; bn, bk, yw, r; St paler; ad j 
Btrp, op: £2, on dkor, with Mila^ tin glob. Prim, 

Sad MrttaDoay, 994. l-O— 1-5 IV; caplltaAi and dlt; O 4-4— 4'6; eberry-r; 81 
bnh-r; ad, met; itrl; nit w coating: lU;fualt 
or char, Tolat PriaL 
907. liM^OIV; folt 9b, atel, eardiy; S'9— 3; crimaon and 
peach-Uoaaom r, gyh, gnh ; St paler ; dry pow 
der lavender b ; hun flex iBl, foal on char allia* 
ceouB, hor line blue glob. Prte, cobalt ore§. 
9ML «• ID; foil hun flex; maa; 03-4— ^*5; lemon yw; 
St paler; ply, res; strp^^trl; aectile: Bl, mA 
phiir and araenical fiunea. (fieafgar, p. 305, di£ 
fera in ita red color and orange atreak.) 

Coppernlea, 901. 9H) VI; folt maa; G 2^; emerald gn,graaa gn; St 

pater; ply, vit; trp, tri; aeclile: K, alliaceons 
fomea, rdh-bn scoria. 

Bnlphnr, 96. 1-5— 0*5 III ; maa ; Q 207 ; yw ; rdh, gnh ; x«a ; trp, strl ; 

bnma, b flame. 

Red aOTW, 397. 20-S-5 VI; mas ; G 5-4— S^, light r, to bk ; St r ; ad,met; 

strp, op : Sl,faali sulph and arsen fumes ; si2«er 

Ctamabw, 987. " VI ; cleav ; mas ; 6 &— 8-1 ; blight r, bnh-r, bn ; at 

r, bnh; ad, sub-met ; strp^ op; mft, sol, r fiunes : 
Bi, wholly ToL Strat, prim, 

ktmrnmltltb^ VXL 94— 30 III ; clear ; mas ; G 4*4-4-5; bright gn, oUto^ ; 

St gnh; ad, Tit; strl: J3;fnsl mnriatio loBMa; 
copper reaction; otfiparartai 

n. LUSTER METALUa 

A, SmMAK VtROTALUe, 

* No fanm befioro Ihe blowpipe on charootL 

Wad, 900.1-0 Maa, often earthy; G 3*7; ho, bh; ioik; nbael: 

Bl, manganese reaction. 
* Earthy oobal^ 967. « l^s. earthy, bot; 9-2— 2*3; bh-bk,bnh-bk; St bh 

ilk ; sectUe : Bl, arsen fumes ; bar blue glaaa. 
Fyrdhuileb 990. 90-9*5 m ; col, rad; mas; G4-8— 5; iron-bk, St bk; 

mmr, odor of chlorine: A, infiu; bor amethya^ 

glob. 
Otanabn; 987. * VI; dear; maa: 08-8*1 ;r, bnh-r, gyh, dark l»{ 

St r ; str^ op ; nit aol, r fomea : A, rolatflft 

Strat^prim* 
nendi^ 960. 3*5-4-0 I ; dodec cll mas ; G 4—41 ; bn, bk ; St yw, bnh 

op ; submet, bright : Bl, fus. Prim, titrat, etc. 
96L 4'0-4-5 in ; mas; 4*3—4*4; dark steel-gy, iron-bk; SI 

rdh-bn. bkh : Bl, inius ; bar, amethystine glob. 



Digitized by VjOOQIC 



1-2t$ TABLB I. FOB DETERMINATIOK OP HmBAUU 

Hardneag. 

Limonite, '239 5-0-^5 mam, bot^ atalact, mas; Q3-9-^; bB,bUi; Stywk 

bn ; Btrp, op ; no action on magnet: Bl, inloa, 
bk and magnetic 

Wolfram, M4. SO— 9« IH; maa; ool, lam, G71— 74; gyh^^ bnh-bk; 

8t dark rdh-bii; anbmet: M foal deenp^ ic^ 
gnbead. Frim. 

Chromie Iron, 9^h * I ; maa; O 4a— 4-5 ; iron bk, rattier dull, brittle , 
8tbn; often dightty magnettr; JU, infaa; >er 
fine gn, Am dit Serpentine. 

fUefablende, »& 5-9 Maa, bofe; G 6-47 ; t)nhbk, Telvet-bk; St, bk ; aub- 

met; lift Blow sol: fiZ. tor gray oooria. Prim,^ 

NIomeIan«, S90L 90-«0 Mas, bot; G 4—4-4; bh, gyh to dark ateelgy; St 

bnh-bk, ahining; brittte : B2, infoa, bar Tiolet 
Mon^sneeeoree. 

Oohimbit^ Ma. « m ; maa ; Q 5-9-61 ; bnk-bk, bk, often witti • 

•teel blue tarnish ; St dark rdh-bn, bnh>bk; sab- 
met: BL infus, borfoBdif. Prim. 

TenilBb 945. S>5-«0 IH ; mas, col; G 3-8-41 ; iron bk, bnh; St gnh, 

bnh; submet; brittie: Bi, foM; her bk mag 
glob. Prim. 

Secular iron, 818. 5*5—6*5 VI ; mas ; Q 45— 5*3 ; iron-bk and cryst brilliant; 
St r, rdh-bn : Bl infos, bar iron reaction, glob 
finally mag. Priai, strot, vole. 

Magnetic iron, 935. * I; maa ; G 5—51 ; iron-bk ; St bk ; strongly mag- 
netic: £{. infos, ftor iron reaction. Prim,etraL 

Franklinite, 940. " I; mas; G 4-8—5-1; iron-bk; St dark rdh bn; 

alightly magnetic : Bl, inina ; at high beat siao 
fiunea. Prim. 



t Fomea before the blowpipe. 

Dark red aQTer, 3S7. »5 VI ; mas ; G 57— 5-9 ; iron-bk, le«l-gy ; St r«d t 

met4Ml : BZ, fas II b flame, salph and antimony 

fiimea. Silver oree. 
Erabeacite, 294. ao I; maa ; G 5—51 ; pindibeek-bn, copper-r, bh tax^ 

nish : St pale gyh-bk; brittie: B2, fas ; on ckm^ 

solph odor, glob mag. Prim, strot, with eeppet 

ores. * 

Copper pyrites, 992. 3-S-4-0 H ; maa ; G 4— 4-2 ; brass yw; Stgnh-bk ; brittle. 

nit sol, gn: £2. ins ; on char, aolph odor. Prim, 

ttrat, with copper aree, 
Magnette pyrites, 933. 3*5-4*5 VI; maa; G 4*5-4*7; bronze-yw, oopper-r; St 

gyh-bk; magnetic; brittie; dikito nU wiAi Bl 

fas, solph odor. 
Lonoopyrite, 935. 51>— fJ^ m ; mas; G 7-2— 74 ; sflrer-w, steel-gy ; St gyb 

bk ; brittle : B2, fus ; oncAor, arson fames. 
Ooppernickev 963i •* VI ; mas ; G 7-3— 77 ; copper-r ; St pale bnh-bk 

brittle : BA fus I on dkor, arson fumes. Prim 

ueual with cobalt arte 



Digitized by VjOOQIC 



TABLB I. FOR DETERMINATIOK ^9 mnfMRAJM. 427 

Hardness. 
HlBhdgtaBoe, 903. »»-J» I; mas; Oe-^^; sDrerw steely; 8t gyli4>k 

BiffoMl deerep; sulph and arsen fames in glass 

tube. 
ODtaMMb 986. • I; mas; O 0-3-«4; sflrerw, rdh; 8t gyb-bk; 

brittle: Bl,faM; on dkor, anen fataos, bh, gloU 

mag; ftor blue. Prim. 
fcilritiiib 9W. • I; mas; G 6-4— 7*9; tinw, steel-gy; St gyh-bk; 

britOe: Bl,faBl arsen odor, gyh bk mag pearl; 

6orbhie. Prim. 
Alia iKBpjillesb 933. * HI; mas; crests; 6 4'6'-4'9; pale bronze yw; 

St gyh, bnh-bk; brittle : Bi; fiis ; on ekar, sulph 

lames. 
iBplehei 991 54--6-0 m ; mas ; G 61 ; sHTer-w ; St dark gyh-bk ; bri^ 

tie : Bl, on chart arsen fumes, and leares a mag> 

netic globole. 
liiMipyille^ 93L 6-0-«.5 I; mas; G4«-5-l; -light bronxe-yw; St bnh-bk: 

Bi, fas; on ekar, solph odor. Prim, §tnUt vote, 

etc 

B. Stbxak Mktaixio. 

'MaUeable. 
Native mereory, 987. fluid G la— 14 ; tin-ur : Bl, rolatDiies. Strmi, prm. 
HaHSm lead, 977. l-O-l-S I ; in membranes and glob ; G 11—12 ; lead gray ; 

soils: £{, fas 1 1 rolatllizes and colors charcoal 

yellow. 
Natireoopper, 9ML 9-5— SO I; mas, in strings; G 8-5— 8*6; aipper-r; nit soil 

r fbmes ; JU, fas, colors flame green. 
NattresOver, 9S3L • I; mas, capil; G 10-11; sQTer-w; tilt sol: ff, 

fas. 
Native gold, 913. * I; mas, capO; G 19— 90^ pale to deep yw, accord- 

ing to the proportion of aOver present; nit not 

sol: JRifos. 
Native pklimun, 306* 40^-4-5 In grains and lumps ; Gr 16— 19 ; pale sleel gy ; hoi 

fi<Miittrsol: B/, infus. 
Nattre iron, 930. 4'0— JH> I ; mas ; G 7-3—7-8 ; iron-gy, magnetic. 

Wtiv paBadinm, 311. 5-0—5^ In grains, stmctnre rad; O 10—19; sleel'gy, 

silTer-w: Bi, infos. 

t Not malleable : no fumes when heated* 

GnpUlBk 9L l-O-dO Mas, foil gran; G9-4M; in»4>k, dark sleel-gy I 

sectne; soils; uO, no action: £1. infos. Prim, 
ttraL 
94L SO-4K> YI ; mas ; O 4-4-4-8 ; dark iron-bk ; sligfafly maf 
netic; strong snr sol : £I,fagdns. Prim,9oie, 

X Not malleable : fumes when heated. 
917. 1-0— 1-5 VI : mas, fol I lam* flex ; G 4-5-4-8 ; pure leadgj; 
sectile ; nit, partly sol : B2, iniusv on ekar sulph 
odor. Prim. 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



428 TABIM I. FOB DBTSmKIKATION OF MXUBXAU. 

HardneM. 
roLTWuriom, 980i IH)— 1*5 n; foil gran; G7^7-i| fakh Ind-gy , lus Abx 
•ecta«;ii4l80ll Rl, <m ckar, vr famea^ Huae h 

Qnj antiiaony, 1^9. ftO HI : chtcw ; col, air : O 4*5— 4*7 1 lead-gy, itedrgy i 

tamaahes ; lam aubflex: Bl, foMll on ekar aolph 

odor and wboUy rolat Prim, 
Vltnou 8ihr«r, 3S& 30-a-d I ; maa, xetic ; G 71— 7*4; bkh lead-gj; si* aaft: 

^ Aul I tntiun, glob of aUrer. SUmt oru, 
■atlTe taUuiaim tlfl. ** VI; maa; G 57—6*1; tin-w, rattier brittle: Bk 

foal I on ekar gnh flame, w inodorvne Ihh% 

wboUj Tolat Pnm. 
Mitie aUvar, 9B& • m ; maa ; 6 6-2— C-3 ; iron-bk; aectile ; hot nU ad: 

m; foel I aalph and anttaa fnaea; on dhar, (lok 

ofaUTer. SOiatrarm, 
llathw Uanatfi, 980. • I; maa, cleaTi G 9-7— 9-8; aUTer-w, rdh; «<taol, 
. andaolotionwlfdiliited: JiLfoBllTolaliiaod; 

yw on ekar. Prim, 
Vltreona ooppor, 999. 9^S— 30 m ; maa ; G 5-&-M ; bkh, lead-gy ; »ft aol, and 

polished iron pat in the aohitioB ooTered with 

copper a; foal on efcor aolph fomea. Prim,UraL 
Qakna, 977. 9'5--30 I; clear I maa; G 7-5— 77; pure lead-gy ; rather 

aectfle: Bit fual decrep; on ekar aulph fomea 

and glob of lend. Priat,MraU 
Amalgam, 987. 9^^-3-9 I ; maa; G lO-^-U; aa«ev^w ; «ft aol: A; ftonea 

of mercury, and aUrer glob. 
Millfe antimony, .999 3-a-3'ft Vi; clear; lam, maa ; G 6-6— 6-8; tin-w: m, foal t 

Tolat; on c&er w fomea. Ptim. 
KatlTe axaenie, 99& 3*5 VI ; maa ; G 5-iU^*8 ; tIn-w, lead-gy, darker from 

tarolah; brittle: Bl, wholly volat, garlie odor. 

Prim, 
Omyooppar, 995. 3-Ou^-O I;tBtrahed; maa; G47— »1; ateel-gytohmi^ik: 

B{,fosll araen and antim fomea ; copper reao- 

tion. Priatt eafpper ohm. 
WUteniGke], 963. 50-.64 I; maa; G 7*1— 7-9; ttn-ws ^araaM fomea; ate 

Ireaction. Prim, 



In detenniniiig the name of a mineral by the pieceding 
table, trials should be made of the hardness and of the other 
characters upon which the arrangement is based, as shown 
in the general view on page 188. The particular subdi- 
vision containing the species is thus arrived at, and also, by 
means of the hardness, the place of the species in the sub- 
division. Afterwards^ by a comparison of the other charac* 
ters, (specific gravity, color, etc.,) with the brief descriptions 
given in the table, Uie name of the mineral will be ascer- 
tained. If any doubt still remains, the fuller descriptions in 
the body of the work may be referred to, for the convenience 
of which reference, the page is added for each species. 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



TABLB I. FOK DBTSBMINATION OF XnCBSAU. 429 

The foilavfing hints may be of service to the beginner in 
the science, by enabling him to overcome a difficulty in .the 
outset, arising from the various forms and appearance of the 
minerals quarts and limestone. Quartz occurs of nearly 
every color, aad of various degrees of glassy luster to a dull 
stone without the Slightest glistening. The common grayish 
cobble stones of the fields are usually quaitz, and others 
are dull red and brown ; from these there are gradual 
transitioBs to the pellucid quartz crystal that looks like glass 
it8el£ Sandstones and freestones are ofren wholly quartz, 
aad the seashore sands are mostly of the same material. It is 
theie&re probable that this minerad will be often encountered 
in mineralogical rambles. Let the jfirst trial of specimens 
obtained be made! with; a £1* or the po]bt c^ a knife, or some 
other means of trying the hardness ; if the file makes no im* 
pression, there is reason to suspect th^ mineral to be quartz ; 
and if on breaking it, no regular structure or cleavage plane 
is observed, but it breaks in all directions with a similar 
sur&ce and a more or less vitreous luster, the probability is 
much strengthened that this conclusion is correct. The 
blowpipe may next be used ; and if there is no fiisi<m pro- 
duced by it, when carefully used on a thin splinter, there can 
be little doubt that the specimen is in &ci quartz. 

Carbonate (^ lime (caJc spar, including limestone,) is 
another very common species. If the mineral collected is 
rather easily impressible with a file, it maybe of this species : 
if it efiervesces finely when placed in a test-tube containing 
dilute muriatic acid, and is finally dissolved, the probability 
of its being carbonate of lime is increased : if the blowpipe 
produces no trace of fusion, but a brilliant light from the 
fragment heSue it, but little doubt remains on this point 
Crystalline fragments break with three equal oblique 
cleavages. 

Familiarized with these two Protean minerals by the trials 
nere alluded to, the student has already surmounted the prin* 
cipal difficulties in the way of future progress. Frequently 
(he young beginner, who has devoted some time to collecting 
all the difilerent colored stones in his neighborhood, on pre- 
senting them for names to^some practised mineralogist, is a 
fittle (tisappointed to learn that, with two or three exceptions, 
his large variety includes nothing but limestone and quartz. 
He is perhaps gratified, however, at being told that he may 
call this specimen yellow jasper, diat i^ jasper, anothei 



Digitized by VjOOQIC 



430 TABUI n. FOB DBTBSHIKATION OP MIIISBALB. 

flint, and another homstone, others chert, granular quartz, 
ferruginous quartz, chalcedony, prase, smoky quartz, greasy 
quartz, milky quartz, agate, plasma, hyaline quartz, quartz 
crystal, basanite, radiiUed quartz, tabular quajrtz, etc. etc. ; 
aiui it is often the case, in this state of his knowledge, that 
he is best pleased with some treatise on the science in which 
all these various stones are treated of with as much promi- 
nence as if actually distinct species ; being loih to receive 
the unwelcome truth, that his whole extensive cabinet con- 
tains only one mineral. But the muieralogical student has 
already made good progress when this truth is freely admit- 
ted, and quartz and limestone, in all their varieties, have 
become known to him. 

To &cilitate still Either the study of minerals, the Ibllow 
ing tables are added. 



TABLE U. FOR THE DETERMINATION OF 
MINERALS. 

The general arrangement in this table is the same as in 
the preceding : but the order of the species, instead of being 
that of their hardness, is that of their speafic gracity. 



L— SOLUBLE MINERAL& 
A. Mo EnrBBvxscBNCB with XOBXASIO 4 
a. Not deflagrating m^hwrnimgcMit. 



Glauber salt 
Sal ammoniac, 
Epsom salt. 
Borax, 
Alifin^ 


Bp.gT. 

1-4— 1-5 
1-5— 1-6 
1-7— 1-8 

M 
it 


Copperas, 
White vitriol, 
Blue vitriol, 
Common salt. 
White arsenic, 


20— 2-1 
2-2— 2-8 

S-7 




KJHfUfgrmeonkmmiitgce^ 




Nit of lime, 
Niter. 


1-62 


Nit of soda, 


2-a-8<f 



Digitized by VjOOQIC 



TABLS n. FOB I>ETBKJI[IN.iTION OF XIHXBALi, 43] 

B. EFFsmysscDro with xuiatio AOBb 



Natron, 



14—1.5 



IL— INSOLUBLE MINERALS. 

L LUSTER UKMETALLia 

A. Btbkax Uncoloxxbu 

a. No (bines before the blowpipe on cfaareoal. 

1. WktOgMiiikkimomorwufnqftkeacids, (f:oldorkoe),iiMiaBgwitk^mr 









Websterite, 


Sp-gr. 

1-6— 1-7 


Magnesite, 


Bp.gr. 

2-9— 30 


Brucite, 


2-3— 2-4 


Mesitine spar. 


8-3— 3-7 


Nemalite, 


2-3— 2-6 


Diallogite, 


8-5— 3-6 


Calc spar. 


tf 


Oligon spar. 


8-7— 3-8 


Hydiomagnesite, 


2-8 


Yttrocerite, 




Aragonite, 


2-8— 3»0 


Blende, 


40— 41 


Dolomite, 


2-8— 2-9 






t Fusible with mora or leM diiBeiilly. 




WaveUite, 


2-3— 2-4 


Triphyline, 


3-4- 3-6 


Boracite, 


2-9— 3-0 


Strontianite, 


3-6- 3-7 


Apatite, 


3-0— 3-3 


Spathic iron. 


3-7— 3-9 


Fluor spar, 


3-1— 3-2 


Witherite, 


4-2— 4-4 


Cacoxene, 


3-3— 3-4 


White lead ore. 


6.1_6-5 


Triplite, 


3-4— 3-8 


Pyromorphite, 


6-5— 7-1 




-•>% 




^Uifiuible. 




AUopliane, 


1*8— 1-9 1 HaUojlite, 

t Foflible. 


1-8— 21 


Pbilippsite, 


20— 2-2 


Mesole, 


2-8—2-4 


Analcime, 


2-0— 2-3 


Thoinsonite, 


u 


Datholite, 


(4 


Sodalite, 


2-2—2-6 


Natrolite, 


2-1— 2-3 


Pectolite, 


"2-69 


8colecite, 


2.2—2-3 


Tabular spar. 


2-7^2-9 


Laumonite, 


2-2— 2-4 


Calamine, 


8*^— 8-5 


Dysclasite, 


M 







a. Wat ^tttd 9» bff aeU$t or parHaUif tohiiU wltkaftH Jinm iits' •Mh 
* Infoitble. 

Chrysocolla, 2-3— 2-4 1 Yenite, 2-4—6.2 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



483 TJOOM n. POR DBTBSimrATION OF mRBBAU 





«!p.gr. 




<)P-8r 


Opal, 


M 


Topaz, 


8-4— 3-6 


Quart!, 


2-«— 2-8 


Diamond, 


8-4— 3-7 


Alum-stone, 


u 


Kyanite, 


8 5—3-7 


Talc, 


a-7— 2-9 


Staurotide, 


8-5—3-8 


PVrophyllito, 


u 

2-8—3-0 


Chrysobeiyl, 
Anatase, 


8-f>— 3-8 
3-8— 3-9 


Turquois, 


M 


Sapphire, 


S'9—4'2 


Nephrite, 


2-9— 31 


Blende, 


4-0—4-1 


Andalusite, 


2-9— 3-2 


Spinel, 


8-5— 4-6 


Emerald nickel, 


8-06 


Zircon, 


4-4— 4-8 


Clintonite, 


8-0— 3-1 


Monazite, 


4-8— 51 


Sillimanite, 


3.0_3.4 


Plumbo-resinite, 


6-8— 6-4 


Bucholzite, 


8-2— 3-6 


Tin ore. 


6-5— 7-1 


Chrysolho, 


S-3_3.6 








t Fiiible Witt nore or le» difleel^. 




Chabazite, 


2-0— 2-2 


Prehnite, 


2-8— 8© 


Stilbito, 


2-1— 2-2 


Boracite, 


2.9.-8-0 


Heulandite, 


2-2 


Chrysolke, 


u 


Gjpsum, 


2-2— 2-4 


Euclase, 


2-9— 3-1 


Apophyllite, 


2-3-.2-4 


Hornblende, 


2-9— 3-4 


FeMspar, 


2-3— 2-8 


Lazulite, 


S'O— 31 


Serpentine, 


2-4— 2-6 


Tourmaline, 


u 


Obsidian, 


2-2— 2-8 


Spodumene, 


8-1— 3-2 


Harmotome, 


2-3— 2-6 


Chonditfedite, 


u 


Petalite, 


2-4— 2-5 


Axinite, 


8-2— 8-8 


Schiller spar. 


2-5— 2-7 


Pyroxene, , 


81—3-5 


Lapis LaiuK, 


2*5— 2*9 


Sphene, 


S-2— 3-5 


Albite, 


2-6— 2-7 


Epidote, 


«< 


Labradorite, 


2*6—2^8 


Idocraae, 


8-3—3-4 


ScapoUte, 


tf 


Manganese qmr. 


3-4— 3-7 


lolite. 


u 


Garnet, 


8-5— 4-8 


Beiyl, 


M 


Celestine, 


8«8--4-0 


Chlorite, 


2*6—29 


Pyrochlore, 
Heavy spar, 


8-8— 4-8 


Chlorophxllite, 


2-7- 2*8 


4-8— 4-8 


Talc, 


2-7— 2r9 


Monazite, 


4-8— 61 


Mica, 
Anhydrite, 


2-8— 3-0 


Tungstateoflime, 
Anglesite, 


6-0— 6-1 
6-2—6*8 


b. Gotored or odorous fumes before the blowpipe. 


Scorodite, 


81— 3-3 


Horn silver. 


5-5— 5-6 


Blende, 


4-0— 41 


Bismuth blende. 


5-9— 61 


Calamine, 


4-2— 4-5 


Mimetene, 


6-4—6-5 



Digitized byVjOOQlC 



n. rm DXTmaNATim ov maamkU. 431 





a. flniAK Cocom^ 






!• ^W JVMMt 9|^fV Mf MMy^pik 






^FviiUei 






. fl^ir. 




%r. 


^Tianite, 


2-6— 2-7 


Pyrochlore, 
Minium, 


4-2— 4-8 


Dmnite, 


8-0— 3-6 


4-6 


^ondrodite, 


81--3-3 


Monazite, 


4-8— 6-1 


AUanite, 


8-2— 41 


Cupreous anglesite 


, 5-3— 5-6 


friplite. 


8-4— 3-8 


Red copper ore, 


5-9-^-0 


Azuiite, 


8-6— 3-9 


Chromate of lead. 


60 


Green malachite. 


4-0— 41 


Pyromorphite, 


6-8— 71 




tbfUbte. 




Sulphur, 


* 2-07 


Blende, 


4-0— 41 


Copper mica, 


2-55 


Psilomelane, 


40— 4-4 


Earthy cobalt, 


2-^-^2-8 


Rutile, 


4-2— 4-3 


Cobalt bloom, 


2-©— 3-0 


Chromic iron. 


4*3— 4-6 


Warwickite, 


3.0—3.3 




4-4— 4-5 


Dioptase, 


3-2— 33 


Red antimony. 


4-4— 4-6 


Cacoxene, 


3-3— 3-4 


Red zinc ore, 


5.4—5.6 


Orpiment, 


3-4— 36 


Red silver ore. 


5.4—5-9 


Reakar, 


8-3-87 


Pitchblende, 


6-47 


Wad, 


8-7 


Tin ore. 


6'6— 7*1 


Black copper, 




Cinnabar, 


8-0-«-l 


Limonite, 


8-9— 4*1 








LUSTER HSTALLia 






A. Stbbax Umoolobsd. 








Bartfay cobalt, 


2-2— 2-3 


Specular iron. 


4-5— 6-8 


Wad, 


3-7 


Pyrolusite, 


4-8— 6-0 


Yenite, 


8-8— 41 


Franklinite, 


4-8— 61 


Arfcansite, 


3-86 


Magnetic iron ore. 


60--61 


Brown hematite. 


3-9— 40 


Columbite, 


6«9^— 61 


Blende, 


40— 4-1 


Pitchblende, 


6-47 


Pnlomelane, 


4.0_4-4 


Wolfram, 


7*1— 7-4 


Manganite, 


4*3— 4*4 


Cinnabar, 


8-0— 81 


Chromic Iron, 


4*3_4.6 







Digitized byCjOOQlC 



434 TABLV m. woR DmxsnrATioNOF wmmmMJUu 



t Fnnet before ttie blowpipe. 



Copper pyriteS) 4*0— 4*2 

Magnetic pyrites, 4*6— 4*7 
White iron pyrites, '* 

Iron pyrites, 4*8— 5*1 

Variegated copper, 5*0— 5*1 

Dtak red silrer, 5*7 — 5-9 



Nickel giancoy 
Mispickel, - 

Colmltine, 
Smaltine, 
Leocopyrite, 
Copper nickel. 



B. flnoujc Wrtjojjo. 



Sp. gr. 

Native iron, 7-3 — ^7*8 

Native copper, 8-5 — 8*6 
Native silver, 10 — 11 

Native palladium, 10 — 12 



Native lead. 
Native merdnryj 
Native platinmn, 
Native gold, 



t Not maDeable : 

2-21 



BO ftuBM wlienlieatoA. 



Graphite, 

I RoiBiaiMblB : ftaoM 

Gray antimony, 4*5 — 4'7 

Molybdenite, 4*5 — 4*8 

Gray copper, 4-7 — 5*1 

Vitreous copper, 5'5— 5*8 

Native arsenic, 5*6 — 5*8 

Native tellurium, 5*7 — 6*1 

Brittle silver, 6*2--8-8 



I Ilmenite, 



Native antimony, 
Fol. tellurium. 
White idckel. 
Vitreous silver, 
Gralena, 

Native bismuth, 
Amalgam, 



6-0— 6-2 
6-1 

6-2— 6-4 
6-4— 7-2 
7.2—7.4 

t-»— 7-7 



8p ST. 

11—12 
13—14 
16—19 
12—20 



4.4—4.8 



6-6— 6-8 
7-0— 71 
7-1— 7-2 
tl— 7-4 
t-5_7-7 
9.7—98 
10-5—11 



TABLE m.— MINERALS ARRANGED ACCORDING 
TO THEIR CRYSTALLIZATION. 

I.— CRYSTALS MONOMETRia 
A. Luster unrnetaUie* 



Blende, 

Chromie iron, 

Leuoite, 

Dyslmte, 

Spinel, 

Diamcnd, 



Ufkf^, 

2*0— 3-0 4*0—4-2 DodecafiMlraL 
241 6-5 4'a--4*5 Octahed. impeiC 

175 5*5— 6-0 2-4— 2-6 None. 
101 7-5— ^-0 4-5— 4-6 Oct. imp. 
100 8-0 a-V— 30 Oct imp. 

80 10*0 Oct, perfect. 



Digitized by VjOOQIC 



in. worn DSTBsinif AVION or JBomfJOJ^ 43^ 



Alum, 

Common salt, 
Red copper ore, 
Fluor spar, 
Pyrochlore, 
ABakiaie, 
Lapis Lazuli, 
Sodalite, 
Gramet, 
Boracite, 



•Ho 
Natire copper, 
Native silver, 
Natire gold. 
Blende, 

Natire platinum. 
Native iron, 
Chroime iron, 
Franklinile, 
Magnetite, 



Hardneas. 0p. gr. 

127 1-5— 2*0 1-7-.1-8 
104 2-0 2-2— 2-8 
296 8-6— 4-0 5-8— 6-1 
121 4-0 8^)— 8-3 
208 5-0— &t5 8-8— 4-5 
168 *• 2'0-r-3-3 
1©6 5'5— 60 2-5^^*9 
197 5*5— 6-0 2-2— 2-4 
184 6-5—7*5 8-5— 4-3 
126 7-0 2-9-r^-O 



Clesnige. 

Oct 

Cubic. 
Oct imperC 
Oct perf« 
None. 
Imperfect. 
Dodec. imperf. 
Dodec. imp. 
Dod. oft. distinct 
Oct indistinct 



^.—-Lwter metallic* 

Amef befive Ihe blowpipe o& ohareod. 

290 2-5— 3-0 8-4-- 8-8 None. 
323 " 10-8— 10-5 None. 
312 " 12'0^20*0 None. 
269 8-5— 4-0 4-0— r 4-2 Dodec. perf I 
S08 ^•0—4-5 16'0— 19-(r Cubic, indist 
230 4-5 51— 5-2 Oct 

241 5*0-»6'5 4!'3— 4*5 Oct imp. 
240 5-5— 6-5 4?8— 5*1 Oct imp. 
285 ** 5-0— 6-1 Oct imp. 



t Fumes befi»re ttie blowpipe on charooeL 



Vitreous silver. 

Native! bismuth. 

Native amaJgam, 

Erubescite, 

Galena, 

Gray edpper ore, 

Nickel glance, 

Cobaltiiie, 

SmaUne, 

White nkskel, 

l>rite% 



325 20— 2-5 
220 " 
287 20— 3-5 
294 2-6— 3-0 
277 ** 
296 80—40 
258 5-0— 5-5 
266 " 
266 «* 
208 5*5 
281 6-0-^'5 



, 7-1- 7-4 
9.7_9.8 
10-5—14 
50— 5-1 
7^5—7-7 
4.7-^-2 
60— 6-2 
6-1— 6-3 
6*3*.-^*4 
7^1—7-2 
4*8--5-l 



Dodec imperC 
Oct. perf I 
Dodec. imp, 
Oct imp. 
Cubic perf! 
Indistinct 
Cubic perf! 
Cubic pei£ 
Oct imp* 

Cubic faiVb 



IL— CRYSTALS DIMSTRIC 
1. Luster tmmetalUe. 

^Infiulfaie. 

211 5-5— 60 3-8— 8-9 Oct andbasaL 
35 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



436 TJOOM m. FOR DaraiiKtitATioif of xnnimjULf; 



Tin ore, 
Ziiooii, 



Bp. IT. 

214 6*0—7*0 6*5— 7*1 Indistinct. 
200 7*5 4*4 — 4*8 Imperfect 



Uranite, 

Apophjilile, 

Scapolite, 

Idocrase, 

Riitile, 



226 2*0—2*5 3*0—3*6 Basal, perf !! 
166 4*5—5*0 2*2—2*4 Basal, perf! 
180 5*0—6*0 2-5—^*8 Lat distinct. 
184 6*0—6-5 3*8—3*5 Lat indistindl 
210 *" 4*1—4*8 LaL imp. 

2. Lutier meiaUie. 

Foliated tenurinm, 280 10—1*5 7*0—7*2 Foliated! 
Copper pyrites, 202 3*5—4*0 4*1—4*2 IndistincU 
Hausmannite, 261 5*0—5*5 4*7 — 4*8 Basal, distinct 
Braunite, 261 6*0—6*5 4*8—4*9 Oct distinct 

m. CRYSTALS TRIMETRia 
1. Lugier unmeiailUe. 



Talc, 

Aragonite, 

Red Zinc ore, 

Chiysolite, 

Staurotide, 

Andalusite, 

Topaz, 

Chrysobeiyl, 

Mesole, 

Thomsonite, 

Fhillipsite, 

Calamine, 

Natrolite, 

Scoleeke, 

t 



143 1*0—1*5 
118 3*5— 4*0 
270 4*0—4*5 
156 6*5—7*0 
I'M 7*0—7*5 
174 7*5 
104 8*0 
199 8*5 



2*7—2*9 Basal, Mil 
2*9 — 8*0 Lat imp. 
5*4—5*6 Basal, &1 II 
3*3 — 3*5 Latin^ 
8.6—3*8 Indistinct 
8*1— 3*4 Indistinct 
8*4—3*6 Basal, perfeetl 
3*5--3*8 Imperfect 



167 3*5 2*8—2*4 One perfect 

167 4*5 2-2—2*4 Two rect peiC 

168 4*0 — 4*5 2*0—2*2 Imperfect 
272 4*5—5*0 3*3—3*5 Lat perfect 

166 4*5—5-5 2*1—2*3 Latper£ 

167 5*0—5*5 2*2—2*3 Imperfect 



; gifiBc noodoni 



oolondflB 



ibAnI 



Talc, (some var.,) 143 1*0—1*5 2*7—2*9 Foliated t! 
Niter, 101 2*0 1*9—2*0 Im^rfect. 

Epsom salt, 124 2*0—2*5 1*7—1*8 One perfect 

Cryolite, 132 "^ 2*9—3*0 Oneprf;two 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



m* voR DBTBBxnf ATioif OF mmoALa. 487 



Mica, 

A.ngle8ite, 

Heavy spar, 

CelesdiM^ 

Anhjdrito, 

White lead ore, 

Witherite, 

Serpentine, 

Strontianite, 

Wavallita, 

Stilbite, 

Harmotomey 

Wolfram, 



2-5— ^-0 
2-5-^-5 



Yenke, 

Plrehnite, 

lotite, 



193 

281 

108 

IM) 

114 3-0— 3*5 

281 

109 •* 

146 8*0—4*0 

111 8*5—4*0 

180 " 

165 " 

168 4*0—4*5 

244 5*0— 5-5 
131 5*0— 60 

245 5*5— 60 
170 6-0— 7*0 
190 70— 7*5 



8p.gr. 

2-8— 31 
6*2— 6*3 
4-3— 4-8 
8«a— 4*0 
2-8— 3-0 
6*1— 6-5 
4-2— 4*4 
2-5— 2-6 
8-6—3*8 
2*2—2*4 
2*1— 2*2 
2-4—2*5 
7-1—7*4 
8*0— 8-1 
3-8— 4*1 
2^8—41*0 
2-5— 2*7 



CleavifB. 

Foliated I! 
Imperfect. 
Imperfect. 
Lat distinct 
Three recU^sL 
Lat. perf. 
Imperfect 
Sometimes feL 
Lat. distinct 
Two distinct. 
One perfect! 
Imperfect 
One perfect 
Indistinct 
Indistinct 
Basal, distinct 
Indistinct 



fOMBf 



Orpiment, 
Sulphur, 
White vitriol, 
White antiniony, 
Ataoamite, 
Scorodite, 



befinra liia blowpipe <m ehnooaL 

1*5—2*0 3-4— 3-6 Foliated! 

98 1*5—2*5 2*0—2*1 Indistinct 

271 20— 2*5 2*0—2*1 One perfect 

224 2*5—3*0 5-5—5*6 Lat perfect !! 

802 3*0—3*5 4*0—4*4 Basd, perfect 

249 3-5—4*0 8*1—3*8 Imperfect 



2. IdMfer meidUie. 

• Mo ftunet befim Oe blowpipe m ehweoaL 

Pyrolusite, 259 2*0—2*5 4*8—5*0 Three imperfeoL 

Manganite, 261 4*0 — 4*5 4*3—4*4 One imperfect 

Wolfram, 244 50— 5*5 7*1-7*4 One perfect 

Yenite, 245 5*5— 60 3-8—4*1 Indistinct 

Columbite, 243 5*0 — 6*0 5*9 — 6*1 Indistinct 

Tantalite, 244 ** 7*2—8*0 Imperfect 

t Pmaee before die Mowp^ on chaKoeL 



Gray antimony, 222 2*0 4*5 — 4*7 One perfect I 

Brittle silver ore, 826 2*0—2*5 6*2—6*3 Imperfect 

Vitreous copper, 292 2*5—3*0 5*5—5*8 Lat indistinct 

Leucopyrite, 235 5*0 — 5*5 7*2 — ^7*4 One distinct 

Mispickel, 234 5*0—6*0 6*1—6*2 Lat imperfect 

White iron pyrites, 233 6*0—6*5 4*6—4*9 Lat imperfect 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



438 TABKi m; poR DatBBXiif ATnm 01P 



IV.— CRYSTALS MONOCLINia 
1. Liuler vnmelalMe. 





BtfdBeM. Sp. gA ClMV^k 


Natron, 


103 10— 1-5 1-4--1S5 


Glauber sail, 


102 1-5— 20 1-5— 20 


Copperas, 


246 20 l-8--l^ One perfect. 


Borai, 


107 2HJ^2-5 1-7 LaU perfect 




Viviaiiite, 


248 1*5— 2-0 2*6—2-7 Basal, peifeot < 


ssr 


112 20 2*3—2-4 Foliated ! 


101 20-^*6 2-8-:-3*0 Foliated W 


Heulandtte, 


164 3*5— 40 2*1—2*3 Foliated. 


Laumonite, 


166 3*6—4*0 2*8 One distiwst. 


Green malachite, 2W '' 4*0—4*1 Basal, pexftol 


Azurite, 


800 8-6— 4-5 3*5—3*9 Lateral. 


Clintonite, 


148 4*0—5*0 3-0—8*1 Foliated. 


Monazite, 


206 5*0 4*8— 51 Basalt, peilectt 


Datholite, 


142 5*5—6*0 2-9—3*0 Indistinct 


Sphene, 
Hornblende, 


211 "^ 3*^-^*5 Indistinct 


152 5*0— 60 2*»-*8*4 Lat perfect 


Pyroxene, 


150 '« 3*2-^3*5 Lat distinct 


Allanke, 


207 ^ 3*3—3*8 Indistinct 


Feldspar, 


176 6*0 2*8—2*6 Oneprf;on6iiBpb 


Chondrodite, 


157 6*0—6*5 3*1—8*2 Indistinct 


Epidote, 


182 6*0—7*0 3*2—3*5 Lat imper£ 


Spodumene, 


156 6*5—7*0 8-1— 8*3 Lat perfect 


Euclase, 


199 7*5 2*9—3*1 Basal, perfect 




t FoBM before Oie blowpipe. 


Cobalt bloom. 


267 1*5—2*0 2*9—3*0 Basal, perfect 1 


Realgar, 


226 •* 3*3—3*6 Imperfect 


Pharmacolite, 


226 2*0—2*5 2*6- 2*8 Basia, perfect!! 


Miargyrite, 


327 *• 5*2—5*4 Lat imperfect 






Miargynte, 
Wolfram, 


327 2*0—2*5 5*2—5*4 Lat imperfect 
244 60— 5*5 71— 7*4 One perfect 


Warwickite, 


5*5—6*0 3*0— 8-3 One perfect 


Allanite, 


207 « 3*8—3*8 Imperfect 




V.-CRYSTALS TRICLINIC. 




* Soluble. 




97 2-5 2*2— 2*3 Imperfect 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



VABUi tOi T9m, pvnaatmAXi&N op MisnAKt. 439 



tbiiolable: fwible. 
Hardneas. Sp. gr. CiMvan. 

^Ubhe, 177 6-0 2-6--2-7 One perf. ; two 

imperfect. 

Lalmdorifts 178 "^ 2-6~2^ One pei€ ; one 

imperfect. 

Manganese spar, 258 6'a~7-0 9*4 — 3*7 One perfecL 

Axinite; 14M) «-5— 7-0 «-2— 3'» Imperfect 

Kyanite, 178 S'O— .7*0 8*5— 3*7 Lat distinct 

Sillimamle, 172 7-(V-"7-6 3-2— 8-8 Diagonal perf. !f 



C CRYVTALS HEXAGONAL OR RHOMBOHBDRAL. 
1. Lusier tinmetaUic 



Nitrate of soda. 


108 l-{^— 2*0 2-0— 2-1 Rhomb, perfl 


Coquimliite, 


256 ^ Hexag. impeif. 




tIiMo]mhle:iiiiii8lble. 


Brocite, 


126 1-5 2*35 Foliated I 


Mica, (hexagonal) 193 2-0— 2-6 2-8— 3-1 Foliated!? 


Calc spar, 


115 2-5— 3-5 2-5— 2-8 Rhomb, perf! 


Diallogite, 


261 3-5 3-5— 3-6 RhombohedraL 


Magnesite, 


124 30— 4*0 2*8—3*0 Rhomb. per£ 


Ankerite, 


120 ** 2-9— 3*2 Rhomb. perC 


Dolomite, 


118 3-5— 40 3*5—4*0 Rhomb, perf. 


Spathic iron. 


247 a 3*7- 3*9 Rhomb. perC 


Alum stone, 


129 5-0 2-6—2*8 Basal, near perC 


Dioptase, ' 


301 *" 3*2— 3*3 RhombohedraL 


Quartz, 


132 7*0 2-6— 2*7 Imperfect 


Sapphire, 


158 9*0 3*9 Ba^al, perf. 




1 iBsolmbte : fiuible, wttfaovt fiunea. 


Chlorite, 


145 1*5—20 2*6— 2-9 FoUated! 


Chabazite, 


169 4-0— 4-5 20— 2-2 Rhombohed. inn. 


Apatite, 


120 5*0 30— 3*3 Indistinct 


Nepheline, 


179 5-5— 6-0 2*4— 2*7 Imperfect 


Tourmaline, 


187 7*0— 80 3-0— 3-1 Indistinct 


Beiyl, 


197 7*5— 8-0 2 6—2-8 Basal, indistinct 




3.5* 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



440 TABMM m. FOB DCTBSMHrATIOK OF 

$ iMflhihto; nuBfM beibn tte hkuwptpe on ehanoiL 

Red silver ore, S27 2*0— 30 5*4 — 5*9 ImpeifecL 
Cbnabar, 287 2*0—2*5 7*8—8*1 Hexag. perfect 

SrakliMiiite, 872 5-0 4*8—4*5 Rhoiirt>. pei£ 

2, Luster melaUie. 

• Hi taM0 1^* •« liM UowpiiM on otenod. 

Graphite^ 01 1*0— ftH) 2*0—2*1 FWated! i 

ilmenite, 241 5*0--6*0 4*4—5*0 Indistinct l 

Sjpecular iron, 2d7 5*5—6*5 5-0 — 5*8 IndistineU 

t PmaM befort the blowpipe tm ehanooL 

Molybd«ute» 217 10— 1*5 4*5—4*8 Foliated » 

Native tellurium, 219 2*0—2*5 5*7—6*1 Imperfect 

Dark red silver, 3*27 2*5 5*7 — 5*9 Imperfect 

Cinnabar, 287 ^ 7*8—8*1 Hexag. perfect 

Native antimony, 222 8*0—3*5 6*6--*6*8 Basal, peiiMl\ 

rhombobed.dist 

Native arsenic, 225 8*5 5*6 — 6*0 Imperfect 

Magnetic pyrites, 238 3*5—4*5 4*6—4*7 Basal hexim. prC 

Conner nickel, 263 5*0—6*5 7*8—7-7 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



INDEX. 



AOAOIOUTB, If 0. 

Aohmite, lU, (AmaaU) 
iLei4, AnenotUi, 2Mw 

Boracio, lOt. 

Carbonic, 98. 

Hydrochlorio, TT, 

Mariatie, 77. 

Sulphuric, 99. 

Snlpharooi, 99. 

TungBtic, 218. 
Acmite, 166. 
Actinolite, 168. 
Adamant, 80, (Diamond.) 
Adamantine spar, 168. 
Adularia, 17 A. 
iEschynite, 209. 
Agalmatolite, 868. 
Agaric mineral, 116, (Gale T11&.) 
i^te, 186. 
Ambandine, 261. 
Alabaster, 118. 
Alalite, 161. 
Albite, 176. 
Alexandrite, 199. 
Allagite, 268. 
Allanite, 207, 188. 
Allophane, 162. 
AUnaudite, 249. 
Almandine, 186. 
Alnm, 127. 

Mannfaotnre of, 128, 189. 
ALUMINA, 127, 16a 
Alumina, Flnate of, 182. 

Hydrate of, 181, 182. 

Mellate o( 182. 

Phosphate o^ 180. 

Sulphates o( 127, 128, 129. 
Alum stone, 129. 
Alum slate, 128. 
Aluminite, 129. 
Aluminium, Flnorid oi^ 182. 



Alunite, 129. 
Am al g a m , Natiri^ 28f • 
Amb^, 98. 
Amblygonite, 182. 
Amed^yst, 184. 

Oriental, 16a 
AmiantbuB, 164^ 146^ 
Ammonia, Salts o( loa* 

Carbonate of 101. 

Muriate of, loa 

Phosphate of, 101. 

Sulphate o( 101. 
Ammoniac, Sal, lOOi 
Amphlbole, 164 
Amygdaloid, 866L 
Analcime, 16a 
Anatase, 211. ' 
Ancramite, 27 a 
Andalusite, 174 
Andesin, 17a 
Anglarite, 249. 
Anglante, 281. 

Cupreous, 281. 
Anhydrite, 114. 

Anhydrous sulphate of tkam, 114 
Ankerite, 120. 
Anorthite, 17a 
Anthophyllite, 16a 
Anthoeiderite, 24a 
Anthracite, 86. 
Anthraconite, 117. 
Antigorite, 149. 
Antimonate of lime, 224w 
Antimonial copper, 29a - . 

nickel, 268. 

silyer, 826, 827. 
ANTIMONY, 222. 
Antimony, Native, 222. 

Arsenical, 228. 

Feather ore o^ 228. 

Gray, 222. 

Bed, 224. 

Sulphnret o( 222. 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



448 



INDEX. 



Antimony, White, 824. 
Antimony and lead, sulpliiiretB 

of, 228. 
Antimony ores, genmwL wmmairh$ 

on, 224. 
Antrimolite, ITL 
ApaUlite, 24*7. 
Apatite, 120. 
Aphaneeite, 801. 
Aphrodite, 148. 
Aplome, 188. 
Apophyllite, 165. 
Aquamarine, lft8* 
Anm^nite, 118. 
Arendalite, 182, (Bpidote.) 
Argent, Fren^ for iilTer. 
Argentineans. 
Argillaoeons shale, 8tt 
Ai^illite, 851 
Arkansite, 211. 
Arqnerite, 287. 
Arsenate of iron, 940. 

of nickel, 264» 

of cobalt^ 267. 

of copper, 801. 

of lime, 228. 
ABSENIC, 225. 
Arsenic, Native, 226. 

Snlphurets o^ 228. 

White, 228. 
Arsenic ores, general rmnwrk* en, 

227. 
Arsenical cobalt, 266. 

iron pyrites, 284. 

lead, 28a 

manganese, 261. 

nickel, 268. 

silver, 827. 
Arsenons acid, 226. 
Asbestus, 151, 154. 
Asparagus stone, 120. 
Aspasiolite, 168. 
Asphaltnm, 98. , 
Asteria, 158. 
Atacamite, 802. 
Atmospheric air, 76. 
Au^te, 150, 151. 
Anrichalcite, 278. 
Auriferous pyrites, 882, 818. 
Aurotellurite, 828. 
Automolite, 161. 
Aventurine quarti^ 184 



ATentarine feldqfMir, 171 
Azinite, 190. 
Axnre, 269. 
Axoriie, 800. 

R 

Babingtonite^ 156. 
Balas ruby, 160. 
Baltimorite, 146. 
BAEYTA, 108. 
Baryta, Carbonate o( 109. 

Sulphate of, 108. 

Sulplwto-eMbonftte ^f, ll€l 
Baryt-HarmoCome^ 168, (Hamc 

tome.) 
Barytocalcite, lia 
Basalt, 855. 
Basanite, 187. 
Bell metal, 807. 
Bell metal ore, 21iL 
Berflunite, 249. 
Berengelite, 97. 
Beryl, 197. 
Berthierite, 888. 
Biddery ware, 878. 
Biotite, 198. 
BISMUTH, 220. 
Bismuth, allayi of, 88L 

Kative, 280. 

Aeicvlar, 221. 

Carbonate o^ 881. 

Cupreous, 221. 

Silicate of, 221. 

Sulphuret of, 22a 

Telluric, 221. 
Bismuth blende, 221. 

nickel, 264. 

ocher, 221. 
Bismatite, 221. 

Bitter spar, 119, (Browa S^m} 
Bitumen, 95. 

laastic, 94 
Bituminous coal, 85. 
Black copper, 296. 

cobidt^ 267. 

lead, 91. 
Blackjack, 270. 
Blei, ihmuM for lead. 
Blende, 269. 
Bloodstone, 187. 
Blue asbestus, 246. 

copper orcb 800, 898. 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



uamr. 



443 



Bla« iron Mith, M9. 

malaohite^ 800k (asorite.) 

spar, 181, (lAMditci) 

Vitriol, 2«t. 
Bodenite, 20ft. 
Bog iron ore, 289. 

manganeit, 260. 
Bole, 162. 
Boltonite, 16*1, 
B#n«B, oonhMntioc ti, 120 
Boraoic aeio, 107. 
Boracite, 126. 
Borate uft lime, 128. 

of toda, 107. 

of magnesia, 126. 
Borax, 107. 

Borosilicate oMime, 142. 
Botryolite, 142. 
Boulangerite, 228. 
Bonmonite, 296. 
Branchite, 97. 
Brass, 275, 807. 
Braunite, 261. 
Breccia, 860. 
Breccia marble, 866. 
Breislakite, 167. 
. Brennnerite, 246. 
Brevicite, 167. 
Brewsterite, 164. 
Britannia metal, 226. 
Brittle silver ore, 826. 
Brocatello di Siena, 866. 
Brochantite, 298. 
Bromic silver, 828. 
Bromlite, lia 
Bronze, 807. 
Bronsite, 161 
Brookite, 211. 
Brown iron ore, 289. 

hematite, 289. 

ocher, 289. 

spar, 119, 248 
Brucite, 126. 

see Ghondrodite, 167. 
Bucholzite, 172. 
Bucklandite, 188. 
Bnhrstone, 869, 86a 
Building stone, 862, 868, 866, 

861. 
Bnratite, 278, 802, (Anrichalcite.) 
Bustamite, 268. 
Bytownite, 178. 



Cacholong, 189. 
Gacoxene, 249. 
Oadmia, 276. 
CADMIUM, 276. 
Oairogorum stone, 184b 
Galaite, 180, (TnrquoiSL) 
Calamine, 272. 

Electric, 272. 
Calcareous spar, 116. 

tufa, 116. 
Caloedony, 186. 
Calcite, 116. 
Caledonite, 288. 
Callais, 181. 

Canaanite, 180, (Seapolite.) 
Caoutchouc, mineral, 94. 
Capillary pyrites, 264. 
CARBON and compounds of ear- 

bon, 80. 
Carbonic acid, 98. 
Carbuncle, 187. 
Carburetted hydrogen, 77. 
Carburet of iron, 91. 
Carnelian, 186. 
Carpholite, 171. 
Carphosiderite, 248. 
Castor, 182. 
Catlinite, 86& ' ' 
Cat*s eye, 186. 
Celestine, lia 
Cerasite, 286. 
Cerine, 207. 
Cerite, 207. 
CERIUM, ores of, 206. 
Cerium, Carbonate o( 206b 

Phosphate of, 207. 

Silicate of 207. 
Cerium ocher, 206. 
Cerusite, 281. 
Chabazite, 169. 
Chalcedony, 186 
Chalcolite, 229. 
Chalk, 116. 

Red, 287. 
Chalybeate waters, 
Chalybite, 247. 
Chamoisite, 246. 
Chathamite, 268. 
Chessy copper, 800, (Axurite.) 
ChiastoUte. 174. 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



444 



iia»z. 



Childrenite, 182. 
Chiolite, 182. 
CUorite, 146. 
Chlorite slate, 854. 
Chlorite rook, 854. 
Chloritoid, 1*72. 
Chloropal, 245. 
Chlorophuie, 122. 
Chlorophyllite, 162. 
Chlorospinel, 160. 
Chondrodite, 157. 
Chromate of lead, 284. 

of lead and copper, 285. 
Chrome salts, manufactwre of, 242. 
Chrome jrellow, 242. 
Chromic iron, 241. 

oeber, 262l 
CHROMIUM, 262. 
Chrysoberyl, 19^. 
Chrysoeolla, 800. 
Chrysolite, 157, 245. 

Iron, 245. 
Chrysoprase, 185. 
CimoUte, 162. 
Cinnabar, 287. 
Cinnamon stone, ISA. 
Cipolin marbles, 865. 
Qansthalite, 280. 
Clay, 868. 

for bricks^ 8^1. 

for pottery, 872. 
Clay slate, 857. 

Clay Iron Stone, 287, 28», 247. 
Cleavelandite, 178. 
Clinkstone, 856. 
Clintonite, 148. 
Cloanthite, 268. 
Coal, mineral, 85. 

Anthracite, 85. 

Bituminous^ 85. 

Brown, 86. 

Cakinff, 85. 

Cannei, 86. 

Cherry, 85. 

Olance, 85. 

Splint, 86. 

Stone, 85. 

Wood, 86. 
Coal measures, 86. 
COBALT, 266. 
Cobalt^ Arsenate o( 269. 

Arsenical. 266. 



Cobalt^ Aneute oC SML 

Blaek ozyd o4 26f . 

Earthy, 267. 

Red, 268. 

Sulphate of, 268. 

Sulphuret << 267. 

Tin-whit^ 266. 

White, 266. 
Cobalt bloom, 267. 

warn, 267, (OobaU Uoom.) 

oeher, 26& 

pyrites, 267. 
Cobalt Ores, o«fi. r§mark9 on^ 264 
Cobaltic lead ore, 28a 
Cobaltine, 266. 
Coccolite, 151. 
Colcothar, 288, 246. 
Colophonite, 186. 
Columbite, 248. 
Comptonite, 167. 
Conaurrite, 802. 
Conglomerate, 860l 
Copal, Fossil, 97. 
COPPER, 290. 
Copper, Allo^ o^ 80& 

Antimonial, 295. 

Arsenates o( 801. 

Arsenical, 295. 

Carbonates of 298, 80a 

Chlorid o^ 802. 

MuriaU o^ 802, (Chlorid.) 

Nativa, 29a 

Oxyds ot 296. 

Phosphates of, 802. 

Pyritous, 292. 

Selenid of, 296. 

Silicate of, 800, SOI. 

Sulphate o( 297. 

Sulphato-ohlorid o( 802. 

Sulphurets o( 292. 
Copper froth, 801. 

glance, 292. 

mica, 801. 

nickel, 268. 

pyritei^ 292, 294 

uranite, 22a 
Copper ore. Black, 296. 

Blue, 292. 

Gray, 295. 

Octahedral, 296, (Rad aop 
per.) 

Red, 296. 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



INDBZ. 



Copper ore, VariegAfted, S94 

Velvet, 802. 

Yitreous, 298. 
Copper ores, gen. rmnmin on^ S02 

AMaaif of, 802. 

iMMtfJOA ^, sot. 
Copperas, 246w 

Manufaetyif 9f, 282b 
Coqnimbite, 246w 
Coraeite, 228. 
Cordierite, 190. 
Cork, Mountain, 164 
Corneous lead, 285. 
Comndom, 168. 
Cotnnnite^ 286. 
Conzeranite, 179. 
CoYeUine, 292. 
Crichtonite, 241. 
Croeidolite, 248. 
Crocoisite, 284 
Cronstedtite, 246. 
Cross stone, 174, (Stanretide.) 
CryoKte^ 182. 
Cryptolite, 207 
Cuban, 294. 
Cube ore, 249. 

Cube spar, 114, (Anhydrite.) 
Cuivre, FrmUh for Copper. 
Cummingtonite, 168. 
Cupreous anglesite, 281. 
Cyanite, (Kyanite,) 178. 
Cymophane, 206l 
Cyprine, 184. 

D. 

Damourite, 172. 

Danaite, 284. 

Danburite, 148. 

Datholite, 142. 

Davyne, 179, (Nepheline.) 

Derbyshire spar, 122. 

Dermatine, 149. 

Deweylite, 146, (Serpentine.) 

Diallage, 161. 

Diallage roek, 866. 

DiaUogite, 261. 

Diamond, 80. 

Diaspore, 182. 

Dichroite, 19a 

Diopside, 16a 

Dioptase, 801. 

Diorite, 866. 



Diozylite, 288. 
Diphanite, 171. 
Dipyre, 181. 
Disthene, 178. 
Dog tooth spar, US. 
Dolerite, 866. 
Dolomite, lia 
Domeykite, 294 
Dreehte, lia 
Dufrenoyaite, 2801 
Dysclasite, 142. 
Dysluite, 161. 
Dysodile, 97. 

R 

Earthy eobalt, 287. 

manganese, 260. 
Edelforsite, 148. 
Eding^nite, 171. 
Edwardsite, 206, (Monaate.) 
E^eran, 184 
Eisen, German for Iron. 
Elieolite, 18a 
Elastio bitumen, 94 
Eleetrio oalamine, 272. 
Eliasite, 22a 
Embolite, 828. 
Emerald, 197. 

Oriental, 168. 
Emerald Nickel, 264 
Emery, 168. 

Enceladite, (Warwickite,) 212. 
Epidote, 182. 
Epistilbite, 171. 
Epeom salt, 124 

Manufaetureof, 119,124,128 
Eremite, 206, (Monaate) 
Erinite, 801. 
Embescite, 294. 
Erythrine, 287. 
Erz, German for orei 
Esmarkite, 191. 
Essonite, 186. 
Etain, J^. for tin. 
Eucairite, 827. 
Euohroite, 80L 
Enclase, 199. 
Endialjrte, 202. 
Euphotide, 866. 
EuphyUite, 171. 
Eupyrehroite» 12a 
Euzenite, 208. 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



niDBX. 



Fahlen, 295» (gnkj ooppei;.) 

FAhloDiU» 162. 

Fawaite, 161. 

Fanjasite, 171. 

Feather alum, 128. 

Feather ore, 228. 

Feldspar, 176. 

Feldspar, Glassy, lit, m. 

Labrador, 17a 
Fer, French for iron. 
Fergosonite, 208. 
. Ferrotantalite, 244 
Fettbol, 162. 
Fibro-ferrite, 246. 
Fibrolite, 172, (BaehoUte.) 
Ffchtelite, 97. 
Figure stone, 869. 
Flagging stone, 868, 862. 
FMnt, 186. 
Float stone, 187. 
Flos Ferri, 118. 
Flucerine, 206w 
Fluellite, 182. 
Fluor spar, 121. 
Foliated tellarium, 280. 
Fontainebleau limestone, 116. 
Forsterite, 167. 
Fossil copal, 97. 

wood, 188, 866. 
Franklinite, 240. 
Freestone, 861. 
Fuchsite, 198. 
Fuller's earth, 860. 
Fusible metal, 221. 

G. 

Gadolinite, 208. 

Gahnite, 161, (Automolitei) 

Galena, 277. 

Galmey, 272, (Oalamine.) 

Garnet, 184. 

Tetrahedral, 187, (HelTin.) 
White, 176, (Leaeitei) 

Gay Lussite, 108. 

Gehlenite, 181. 

Genesee oil, 96. 

German silyer, 266. 

Gersdorffite, 268. 

Geocronite, 228. 

Gibbsite, 181. 



Gibraltor roek; 866. 

Gieseckite, 180. 

Gigantolite, 168. 

Girasol, 189. 

Gismondine, 168. 

Glanoe eobalt, 266» (Oobaltiie.) 

Glauberite, 10& 

Glauber aalt^ 102. 

Glaueolite, 181. 

Glinuner, O^rm, for mietk 

Glottalite, 171. 

GLUCINA, 197. 

Gneiss, 868. 

GOLD, 818. 

Gold, eupeUatwn of, 822. 

Gong, Chineee, 807. 

Gothite, 24a 

Gouttes d'eau, 196. 

Gnunmatite, 168. 

Granite, 861. 

Granulite, 861. 

Graphie granite, 86L 

tellurium, 828» (Amitte 
rite.) 
Graphite, 91. 
Gray antimony, 222. 

copper ore, 296. 
Graystone, 866. 
Green diallage, I6L 

earth, 246. 

iron stone, 249 

malachite, 298. 

sand, 246. 

yitriol, 246. 
Greenookite, 276. 
GreenoTite, 212. 
Greenstone, 866. 
Grengesite, 246. 
Grit roek, 860. 
Groppite, 162. 
Groesnlarite, 186. 
GrOnauite, 264. 
Gnanite, 101, (StraTitii) 
Gnrhofite, 119. 
Guyaquillite, 97. 
Gypsum, 112. 

Anhydrous, 114. 
Gyrasol, 189. 



Hnmatite, 287, 289. 
Haidingerite, 226^ 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



nmmx. 



4«9 



Hair salt, 1%L 
Halloyaite, 1(MX 
Harmotome, 168. 
Harringtonite, 167. 
Harriaite, 292. 
Hartite, 97. 
Hatchetine, 97. 
Hanerite, 261. 
Hausmannite, 261. 
Hauyne, 196. 
Haydenite, 170. 
Hayesine, 128. 
Heavy »|»r, loa 
Hedenb&rgite, 161, 246. 
Hedyphane, 284. 
Heliotrope, 187. 
Helvin, 200. 
Hematite, Brown, fiSi. 

Red, 237. 
Hereinite, 161. 
Herschelite, I7a 
Heteroclin, 260l 
Heterosite, 261. 
Heulandite, 164. 
Hisingerite, 246. 
HoDe slate^ 863, 864, 868. 
Honey stone, 182. 
Hopeite, 278. 
Horn qaicksilyer, 288. 

«ilver, 86^. 
Hornblende, 162. 
Hornblende slate, 868. 
Homstone, 136. 
Hooille, Fr, for ooaL 
Hudsonite, 161. 
Hnmboldtilite, 181. 
Hnmite, 168. 
Huranlite, 261. 
Hyaeinth, 201, 189. 
Hyalite, 140. 
Hydraulic limestone, 866 
Hydroboracite, 128. 
Hydrochloric acid, 77. 
Hydrogen, 

Carbnretted, 77. 

Phosphuretted, 77. 

Snlphnretted, 77. 
Hydromagnesite, 126. 
Hydrophane, 139. 
Hydrotalcite, 829. 
Hyperttbene, 161. 
Hyrtatit^ 241. 



Iberite, 168. 

Ice, 7a 

Ice spar, 176, 17a 

Iceland spar, 116. 

Ichthyophthabnite, 186, (Apo 

phyUite.) 
Ido<jrase, 184 ^ 
Idrialin, 97. 
Ilmenite, 241. 
Ilyaite, 246. 
Indicolite, 18a 
Iodic silyer, 82a 

mercury, 289. 
lolite, 19a 

Hydrous, 168. 
Iridium, 310. 
Iridoemine, 810. 
IBON, 229. 

HtMtory of, 260. 

Manu/aeture of, 861 
Iron, Arsenates of, 848. 

Arsenical, 284. 

Carbonate of, 847* 

Carburet of, 91. 

Chromate of, 241. 

Columbate of, 24a 

Hematitic, 287, 889. 

Hydrous oxyd of, 889. 

Meteoric, 280. 

Natiye, 230. 

Oligiste, 237. 

Oxalate of, 249. 

Oxyds of, 286, 287, 289. 

Phosphate of, 24a 

Sitieates of, 246. 

Sparry or spathic, 247. 

Specular, 237. 

Sulphate of, 246. 

Sulphurets of, 881. 

Titanic, 241. 

TungsUte, 244. 
Iron chrysolite, 246. 
Iron earth. Green, 249. 

Blue, 249. 
Iron furnace, 26a 
Iron mica, 248, (Viyianite.) 
Iron ores, general notice of, 860 

Astay of, 261. 

Reduction of, 861. 
Iron ore, Argiilaoeous, 287, 888 
247. 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



448 



INDSZr 



Iron ore, Azotomoiu^ 241, (II- 
menite.) 

Bog, 289. 

Brown, 289. 

Chromic, 241. 

Green, 249. 

Jaspery, 287. 

Lenticular, €87. 

Magnetic, 285. 

Kicaceona, 287. 

Ochreona, 287, 289. 

Oetahedral, 286. 

Pitchy, 260, (TripUte.) 

Red, 287. 

Rhombohedral, 287, (Bpecn- 
lar.) 

Spathic, 247. 

Specular, 287. 

IRtonic, 241. 
Iron pyrites, 281. 

Arsenioal, 284. 

Auriferoua, 282. 

Hepatic, 288. 

Magnetio, 288. 

White, 288. 
Iron sinter, 249. 
Iron stone. Clay, 287, 289, 247. 

Bine, 280. 
Iron zeolite, 24ft. 
Iserine, 241. 
Isopyre, 246. 
Itacolnmite, 869. 
Ixolyte, 97. 

J. 
Jade, 147. 
Jamesonite, 228. 
Jargon, 201. 
Jasper, 187. 
Jaspery iron ore, 287. 
Jenersonjte, 164 
Jet, 86. 

Johannite, 229. 
Jnnkerite, 248. 



Kakozene, 249. 
Kalk, OemL for Ume. 
Kammererite, 149. 
Kaolin, 177, 872. 
Karpholite, 171. 
Karphoelderite, 249> 
Keifiiamte, 212. 



KeroUte, 146. 
Kieeel, Germ, for liliec 
Kilbriekenite, 228. 
Kirwanite, 246. 
Enebelite, 246, 269. 
Kobalt, see Cobalt 
Kobellite, 228. 
Kollyrite, 162. 
Konigite, 298. 
Konlite, 97. 
Kranrite, 249. 
Krisnvigite, 298. 
Knpfer, Germ, for copper 
Kyanite, 178. 

I4. 
Labradorite, 178. 
Labrador feldspar, 178. 

hornblende, 161. 
Lanthanite, 206. 
Lapis Lazuli, 196w 
Latrobite, 179. 
Laumonite, 166. 
Lava, 866. 
Lazulite, 181. 
LEAD, 276. 
Lead, Arsenate o( 284. 

Arsenide of, 280. 

Carbonate of, 281. 

Chlorid of; 286. 

Chromate of, 284. 

Mol;fbdate of, 286. 

Muriate of, 286. 

Native, 277. 

Oxyd of, 280. 

Phosphate of, 288. 

Selenate of, 286. 

Selenids of, 280. 

Sulphate of, 281. 

Sulphato-carbonates ot, 281 

Sulphuret of, 277. 

TelJurids of, 280. 

Tungstate of, 286. 

Vanadate of, 286. 
Lead glance, 277, (Galena.) 
Leadhillite, 288. 
Lead ore, Argentiferous, 277. 

Cobaltio, 280. 

Red, 280. 

WhiU, 28L 

Yellow, 286, (Molybdatei) 
Lead ores, general remairk§ 4n^ 
286 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



IMBBX. 



44P 



Lederite, 212. 
Leonhardit^ 16ft. 
Lepidokrokiteb 240L 
Lepidolite» 192. 
LepidomeUne, 19S. 
LeptyniU, 851. 
Lencite, 17fi. 
Leocophane, 200. 
Leaoopyrite, 284. 
Levynt, IM. 
libetheniU, 802. 
lievrite, 245. 
Idgnite, 8(L 
UME, 112, 141. 
lime, Arsenate of, 80& 

Borate of, 128. 

Borodlieate of, 142. 

Carbonate o( 115, 11& 

Fhiaie oi, 121. 

Fluorid of, 121. 

Magaeeiaa earbonate o^ 1 18. 

Nitrate of, 128. 

Oxalate of, 12ft. 

Phosphate of, 12a 

SiUoates of, 141, 142. 

Sulphate of, 112, 114. 

Tangstate of, 219. 

Vanadate oi^ 219l 
limestone, 116, 868. 

Hydranlio, 117, 866. 

Magnesian, 11 8L 

Fontaineblean, 116. 
Limestone, Iwming of, 867. 
limekilns, 867. 
limonite, 289. 
lincolnite, 164. 
Linnteite, 267. 
lirooonite, 801. 
litikia raiea, 192. 
Lithographic stone, 10. 
Lithomarge, 871. 
LiTer ore of mercury, 288. 
Lodestone, 286. 
Lozoclase, 176. 
Lnmachelle, 866. 
Lydian stone, 187. 



Macle, 174. 

MaelnriU, 167, (CShondrodite.) 

MAGNESIA, 128, 148. 



Magnesia, Borate of, 126. 

Carbonate of, 124, 125. 

Flnophosphate 9t, 127. 

Flnosilicate o( 157, (Gboa- 
drodite.) 

Hydrate of, 126. 

Hydro-earbonate of, 126. 

Kative, 126, (Braeite.) 

Nitrate of, 126. ; 

Silicates ef, 148. ! 

Sulphate oi; 124. 
Magnesia alnm, 128. I 

Magnesian limestone, 118. 
Magnesite, 124. 
Magnet, Native, 286. 
Magnetic iron, (Magnetite,) 285. 

pyrites, 288. 
Malachite, Bine, 800, (Asuiteu) 

Green, 298. 
Malacolite, 150. 
Malacone, 202. 
Maltha, 95. 
Malthacite, 162. 
Manganblende, 261. 
MANGANESE, 258. 
Manganese, Arseniuret o( 261. 

Bog or Earthy, 26a 

Carbonate of, 261. 

Ozyds of, 259, 261. 

Phosphate oi; 260. 

Silicate of, 258. 

Snlphuret of, 261. 
Manganese ores, ffeturml rtmmrkt 

on, 261. 
Manganese spar, 258. 
Manganite, 261. 
Marble, 868, 864, 865, 866^ 
Marcasite, 281, (Pyrites.) 
Marceline, 260. 
Marekanite, 857. 
Margarite, 171. 
Maraarodite, 198. 
MaiT, 87a 

Marmatite, 269, (Blende^) 
Marmolite, 146. 
Martinsite, 107. 
Mascagnine, 101. 
Masonite, 172. 
Meerschaum, 14& 
Meionite, 181. 
Melanchlor, 249. 
Melanite, 185. 

as* 



Digitized by VjOOQIC 



459 



INDU; 



Melanoohrdite, %H» 
Mellate of ahumne^ 182. 
MelliUte, 181. 
M«mu, 188. 
Menaeeanite, 241. 
Meiulipite, 286; ' 
Meiultte» 14a 
MERCU&T, 887. 
Meronry, Chloiid o( 288. 
Mereory, Jodie, 288. 

Muriate of, 288, (GUorid.) 

Natiye, 28t. 

Selenid oi; 888. 

Sulphnret oi; 287. 
Meroory orea, fmimml wtmmrha oii» 

888. 
Meaiiine spar, 248. 
MeM>le, m. 
Mesotype, 167. 
WSnilA, 202. 
Meteorie iron, 280 
Miargyrite, 828. 
Mica, 191. 
Miea slate, 868. 
MioaceooB iron ore, 287. 
Micioltte, 208. 
Middletooite, 97. 
Miemite, 119* 
Millerite, 264 
Miibtone grit,. 860. 
MiloBchine, 262. 
Mimetene, 284. ^ 
Mineral eaoutehoue^ 94. 

oil, 96. 

pitch, 96. 

tallow, 97. 

tar, 96. 

waters, 80. 
Minium, 280. 
Mispickel, 284. 
Mocha stone, 186. 
Molybdate of lead, 286. 
Molybdenum, Sulphuret of, 217. 
Molybdenite^ 217. 
MOLYBDENUM. 217. 
Molybdio ocher, 218. 
Monazite, 206. 
Monradite, 149. 
Moonstone, 176. 
Moroxite, 120. 
Mosaic g^ld, 217. 
Mosandrite, 207. 



Mountain green, 298, (Qreea Mafr 
achite.) 

cork, 164. 

leather, 164. 
Mowenite, 167.. 
Mullera glass, 14a 
Mullioite, 249. 
Mundio, 288. 
Muriaoite, 114. 
Muriatio aeid, 77. 
Murehisonite, 176, (FeldqMr.) 
MoaeoTite, 191. 

* N. 

Naerite, 198. 

Naphtha, 96. 

Natrolite, 166. 

Natron, 108. 

Necronite^ 177. 

Needle ore, 221, (AeioiiUr Bi» 

muth. 
Needl6at«M, 187, (SoolMitei) 
NemaUte, 126. 
Nepheline, 179. 
Nephrite, 147. 
NICKEL, 262. 
Niekel, Antimonial, 268. 

Alloys of, 268. 

Arsenate ot 264. 

Arsenical, 268. 

Bismuth, 264. 

Copper, 268. 

Oxyd ot, 264. 

White, 268. 
Nickel glance, 268. 

green, 264. 

ocher, 264. 

pyrites, 264. 

stibine, 268. 
Nickel ores, gentral rt m m rkt 4% 

264. 
Nigrine, 210. 
Nitrate of Ume, 128. 

magnesia, 126. 

potash, 101. 

soda, 108. 
Niter, 101. 
Nitrogen, 76. 
Nontronite, 246. 
Nosean, 196. 
NoYaoulite, 868. 
NuttaUite, 18L 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



INDEX. 



451 



Obflidian, 867. 
Ooher^ Red, 287. 

Brown or yellow, 889. 

Cerium, 206. 

Plombio, 880. 

Uranio, 22& 

Chromic, 262. 
Oetahedrite, 811, (Anatase.) 
OSrstedite, 802. 
Oil, Geneeee or Seneca, 96. 

Mineral, 95. 
Okenite, 142. 
Oligisie iron ore, 887. 
OligoclaBC, 179. 
Oligon spar, 848. 
Oliyeniie, 801. 
Olivine, 166. 
Onyx, 186. 
Oolite, 116. 
Opal, 189. 

Ophite, 146, (Serpentine.) 
Ores, general remarki on, 808. 
Orpiment, 826. 
Orihite, 807. 
Orthoclase, 176. 
Ottrelite, 198. 
Ouvarovite, 186. 
Oxalate of iron, 849. 
Ozarkite, 167. 
Ozocerite, 97. 

P. 

Packfon^, 866. 
Paisbergite, 869. 
PALLia)IUM, 81L 
Parffatfite, 154 
Pansite, 806. 
Peastone, 116, (Pisolite.; 
Pearl spar, 119. 
Pearlstone, 867. 
Peotolite, 148. 
Pelooonite, 861. 
Pennine, 149. 
Periclase, 149. 
Peridot, 166, (GhryM>lite.) 
Perofskite, 818. 
Petalite, 188. 
Petrolenm, 96. 
Phaeolite, 17a 
^liarmacolite. 886. 



Phenacite, 800. 

Phillipeite, 168. 

Phlogopite, 198. 

Pholente, 168. 

Phonolite, 866. 

Phosphorite, 180. 

Phosphuretted hydrogen, 7t. 

Photizite, 268. 

Phyllite, 198. 

Physalite, 194. 

Piansite, 97. 

Piekeringite, 189. 

Picrolite, 146. 

Picrophyll, 881. 

Pioroemme, 149. 

Pimelite, 864. 

Pinchbeck, 807 

Pingnite, 846. 

Pinite, 168. 

Pipe clay, 878. 

Pipestone, 868. 

Pisolite, 116. 

Pistacite, 188. 

Pitchblende, 228. 

Pitchstone, 867. 

Pitchy iron ore, 860, (TripIitiL} 

Pittiate, 846. 

Plagionite, 808. 

Plasma, 186. 

Plaster of Paris, 114. 

Platin-iridium, 810. 

PLATINUM, 808. 

Pleonaste, 160 

Plumbago, 91. 

Plumbic t>oher, 880. 

Plumbo-caloite, 117. 

Plumbo-resinite, 886. 

Polybasite, 827. 

Polycrase, 209. 

Polyhalite, 127. 

PolyhydriU, 246. 

PolyUte, 161. 

Polymignite, 209. 

Poonahlite, 167. 

Porcelain, manufaeture of, 8791 

Porcelain clay, 372. 

Porcelain jasj'er, 137. 

Porphyry, 856. 

Porphyntic granite, 851. 

Potash, Nitrate ot, 101. 

Potash, Salts of, 101. 

Potassium, Chlorid of 108^ 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



40S 



INDEX. 



PotBtone, 148, 855. 

Potter^s eUy, 8*72. 

Pottery, manufat^twre of^ 372. 

Pozzuolana, 855, 861. 

Prase, 184. 

Prehnite, I7a 

Proosttte 827, (Bed ulTer.) 

Peeadomalachite, 802. 

PMudomorphs, Steatitie, 149. 

PulomeUne, 259. 

Padding stone, 860l 

Pamioe, 857. 

Purple or variegated copper, 294^ 

Pyenite, 194. 

Pyrenaite, 185. 

Pyrites, Arsenieal Iron, 284. 

Anriferons, 282. 

Oapillary, 264. 

Cockscomb, 288. 

Copper, 292. 

Hepatic, 288. 

Iron, 281. 

Magnetic, 288 

19iekel, 264 

Radiated, 288. 

Spear, 288. 

Tm, 213 

Variegated copper, 294. 

White iron, 288. 
Pyrochlore, 208. 

I^rodmalite, 246, (Pyrosmalite.) 
Pyrolusite, 259. 
Pyromorpkite, 288. 
Pyrope, 187. 
Pyrophyllite, 149. 
Pyrophysalite, 194. 
I^rorthite, 2(^7. 
Pyrosderite, 149. 
Pyrosmalite, 246. 
Pyroxene, 150. 
Pyrrhite, 212. 

Q. 

Qnartz, 182. 

Amethystine, 184. 
Aventurine, 184. 
Ferruginous, 185. 
Granular, 187, 859. 
Greasy, 184b 
Milky, 184. 
Rose, 134. 
Smoky, 184. 



Quartz, Tabular, I8t 
Quartz rock, 859. 
Quicklime, 117, 86«. 
QuicksilYer, 287. 

Chlorid of, 288. 

Horn, 288. 
Quinoite, 148. 

R. 

Realgar^ 226. 
Red antimony, 224. 

chalk, 287 

cobalt, 267. 

copper ore, 296w 

hematite^ 285. 

iron ore, 285. 

lead, 280. 

silver ora, 827. 

zinc ore, 270. 
Reddle, 287, (Red chalk.) 
Rensselaerite, 144, 149. 
Retinalite, 149. 
Retinasphalt, 95. 
Retinite, 95. 
RhoBtizite, 178. 
Rhodium gold, 811. 
Rhodizite, 127. 
Rhodonite, 258. 
Rhomb spar, 119, 248. 
Ripidolite, 145. 
Rook or mountain cork, 154. 

crystal, 183. 

milk, 116. 

salt, 104. ^ 

soap, 162. 
ROCKS, gmerai remarhi of», 841 

^jB/Nintion of, 850. 
Roofing slate, 857. 
Rose quartz, 134. 
Roselite, 268. 
Rosite, 162. 
Rubellite, 188. 
Rubicelle, 160. 
Ruby, Spinel, 160. 

Almandine, 1601 

Babis, 160. 

Oriental, 15a 
Ruby silver ore, 827. 
Rutherfordite, 209. 
Rutile, 210. 
Ryacolite, 176. 



Digitized by VjOOQIC 



INDBlt. 



4a 



8Mcluurit«, 170. 
Safflorite, 268. 
Sahlite, 160. 
Sal ammoniao, 100. 
Saline springs, 106. 
Salt, Common, 104. 

Epsom, 124. 

Olaaber, 102. 
Saltpeter, 101. 
Samarskite, 209, 229 
Sand, 868. 

for glass, 869. 

for easting, 870. 
Sandstone, 860. 

Flexible, 869. 
Saponite, 146. 
Sappar, 178. 
Sapphire, 168. 
SareoUfte, 181. 
Sard, 186. 
Sardonyx, 186. 
Sassolin, 107. 
Satinspar, 118, 116. 
Scapolite, 180. 
Scheelite, 219, (Tungsten.) 
Seheererite, 97. 
Schiller asbestos, 146. 

spar, 148. 
Sehist, 867. 
Schorl, 188. 
Schorlomite, 218. 
Schreibersite, 281. 
SchrOtterite, 162. 
Schwefel, Qwm, for sulphur. 
Scolecite, 167. 
Scoria, 867. 
Scorodite, 249. 
Scythe stones, 868, 864. 
Sea froth, 148. 
Sea water, 79. 

Dead, 79. 
SelenaU of lead, 286. 
Selenite, 118. 
Selenpalladite, 811. 
Selemd of copper, 896^ 

of lead, 280. 

of meroary, 289. 

of silrer, 827. 
SdanaflTer, 827. 
Bemiopal, 189 



Senarmontite^ 224 
Seneca oil, 96. 
Serbian, 262. 
Serpentine, 140, 856. 
Seybertite, 149. 
Shale, 867. 
Sicilian oil, 96. 
Sideroschisolite, 246. 
Sienite, 861. 
SILICA, 182. 
Siliceous sinter, 140. 
Silicified wood, 188. 
Sillimanite, 172. 
SILVER, 828. 
SilYcr, iuntimonial, 828 

Ajitimonial sulphuiet, 

BiBmuthic, 828. 

Bromic, 828. 

Chlorid of, 827. 

Horn, 827. 

Iodic, 82& 

Muriate of, 827, (Chlorid.) 

KatiYc, 828. 

Red or ruby, 827. 

Selenids of, 827. 

Sulphurets of, 826, 826. 

Telluric, 827. 
Silyer glance, 826. 
Silyer ore. Black, 826. 

Brittle, 826. 

Red or ruby, 827. 

Vitreous, 826. 
Silver ores, general remarke #•% 
82& 

Reduction of, 88a 
Sinter, Siliceous, 140i 

Iron, 249. 
SkapoUth, 180, (ScapoUta) 
Skolecite, 167. 
Skorodite, 249. 
Shkte, 868, 864, 867. 
Smalt, 269. 
Smaltine, 266. 
Smelite, 162. 
Smithsonite, 272. 
Soapstone, 148, 864. 
Soda, Salts of; 102. 

CarbonaU of; 108. 

Nitrate of, 108. 

Sulphate ot 102, 108. 
SodaUte, 197. 
Sodivm, Ohlorid ot, 104 



Digitized byCjOOQlC 



«4 



un>nx. 



Somerrillita, 181. 

Spadaite, 149. 

Bpar, Galeareous, 119. 

DerbysUi^ ISa. 

Heavy, 10& 

Tabular, 141. 
Sparry or spathic iron, S4t. 
Spear pyritea, 288. 
Specular iron, 287. 
Speculum metal, 807. 
Speias, 245. 
Sphene, 210. 
Spherosiderite, 247. 
Spherulite, 867. 
Spinel, laa 
Spinel ruby, 160. 
Spinel, zinciferous, 161. 
Spinellane, 196. 
Spodumene, 166. 
Stalactite, 116. 
SUlagmite, 116. 
SUurotide, 174. 
SUatite, 148, 864 
Steatitic pseodomorplia, 149. 
Steinmannite, 228. 
Stellite, 142. 

Stembergite, 8^6. ' 

Stiblite, 224. 
Stilbite, 166. 
Stilpnomelan«, 246. 
Stilpnosiderite, 240, (Ootbite.) 
Stinkstone, 117. 
S^omeyerite, 826. 
STRONTIA, 110. 
Strontia, Carbonate of. 111. 

Sulphate of, 110. 
Strontianite, 111. 
Struvite, 101, 
Sulphur, 97, 98. 
Sulphuric acid, 99. 
Sulphurous acid, 99. 
Sulphuretted hydrogen, 77. 
Sunstone, 176. 
Syepoorite, 267. 
Syenite, 8^1. 
Symplesite, 249. 

T. 

Tabasheer, 140. 
Tabular spar, 14U 

quarts, 187. 
Talc, 148, 



TaleoM slate, 864. 

rock, 854. 
Tallow, Mineral, 97. 
Tantalite, 244. 
Telluric SUver, 827. 

Bismuth, &21. 

Lead, 280. 
TELLURIUM, 219. 
Tellurium ores, 219, 2801 
Tennantite, 296. 
Tenorite, 296. 
Tephroite, 269. 
Tesselite, 166, (Apophyllitc) 
Tetradymite, 221. 
Tetrahedrite, 296. 
Thenardite, 108. 
Thomaite, 24a 
Thomsonite, 167. 
Thorite, 202. 
Thrombolite, 802. 
Thnlite, 188. 
Thumite, 190. 
Thuringite, 246. 
Tile ore, 296. 
TIN, 218. 
Tin, Alloys of, 215. 

Native, 213. 

Oxyd of, 214. 

Stream, 214. 

Sulphuret of, 218^ 

Wood, 214. 
Tin ore, 214 

Tin ores, general remark* on^. 21ft 
Tin pyrites, 218. 
Tincal, 107. 
Titanic acid, 210. 

iron, 241. 
TiUnite, 211. 
TITANIUM, 209. 
Titanium ores, 210. 
Toadstone, 866. 
Topaz, 194. 

False, 184 

Oriental, 168. 
Topazolite, 186. 
Touchstone, 187. 
Tourmaline, 187. 
Trachyte, 866. 
Trap, 856. 
Tremolite, 15Sw 
Triphane, 166. 
Triphyline, 249. 



Digitized by VjOOQIC 



uriMu. 



Triplit«, 249, Ma 
Tripoli, 87a 
IVona, 108. 
Troottit«, 278. 
Ttehefkinit«, 209. 
Taesite, 87 1 
Tnfa, 868. 

Galoareons, lia 
TangstaU of iron, 244. 

lead, 286. 

lime, 2l9. 
TUNGSTEN, 2ia 
Tonffsten, CalearMiu, 219. 

FermgiDoiu, 244, (Wolfrmia) 
Tongstio ocher, 218. 
Tiirqoois, 180. 
Type metal, 804. 

U. 

Ultramarine, 196. 
Uranite, 228. 

Urmn-miea, 228, (Uranite.) 
Uranium orea» 228. 
Uran oeher, 228. 
Uraniom, Phoephate of, 229. 

Ozyd of, 22& 

Sofphate of, 229. 
Uranium ore. Pitchy, 228. 
Urano-tantalite, 229. 
Uran-Titriol„229. 
Urao, 108, (Trona.) 

V. 

Vanadate of lead, 286. 

of lime, 219. 

of copper, 802. 
Tanadinite, 286. 
VANADIUM, 219. 
Variegated copper ore, 294. 
Vanquelinite, 286. 
Velvet copper ore, 802. 
Verd antique, 14a 

Oriental, 86a 
Vermicnlite, 149. 
Vermillion, 288. 
Vesnvian, 184. 
Villarnte, 149. 
VioUn, 182. 
Vitreons copper ore, 292. 

riWer ore, 826, 
Vitriol, Blue, 297. 

ColMat,26a 



Vitriol, Green, 84« 

White, 271. 
Vivianite, 248. 
Volcanis ashes,. 8ft7» .. 

glass, 867. 

scoria, 867. • 
Voltaite,247 
Voltdte, 271. 
Vnlpinite, 114. 

"W 
Wacke, 866. 
Wad, 260. 
Wagnerite, 127. 
Washingtonite, 24L 
Warwickite, 212. 
Water, 78. 

Mineral, 80. 

Sea, 79. 

I>ead Sea, 7ft 
WaTellite, 180. 
Websterite, 129. 
Weissite, 182. 
Wemerite, 181. 
Whetstone, 868, 869. 
White antimony, 224. 

arsenic, 22a 

iron pyrites, 28a 

lead ore, 281. 

tellarinm, 328, (Anroiella* 
rite.) 

▼itrioL 271 
Wichtine, 182. 
Willemite, 278. 

Wismnth, German for BismntD. 
Witbamite, 182, (Epidote.) 
Witherite, 109. 
WoBrthite, 17a 
Wohlerite, 202. 
Wolehonskoite, 262. 
Wolfram, 244. 

WoUastonite, 141, (Tabular spar.) 
Wood, Silicified, 18a 
Wood opal, 14a 
Wood tm, 214. 



Xanthite, 184. 
Zanthoeone, 827. 
Xanthophyllite, 149. 
Xenotime, 20a 
*>Ute, 24a 



Digitized by VjOOQIC 



INDEX. 



Tonite, US. 

Tttria, Fhotphate ot 108. 
Tttriiim ores, 206, SOS. 
Yttro-«6rit«, S0«. 
Yttro-tont4aite, S08. 
Yttro-ilmeniU, 229. 
Tttro-tituiiU, 212. 

2L 

Zail^,268. 
Zeagonite, 168b 
2M>Ut«8, 168. 

Iron, 246. 
Zenzite, 172. 
2IN0, 268. 



Carbonate of; 272. 

Bod oxyd of; 270. 

SiUeaU oi 272. 

SolphaU ot, 271. 

Snlphnrot of, 269. 
Sno blonde, 269. 
Zino bloom, 272. 
Zine OT^ gen9rairemairk$cn^tf9i 

ie«fiMlM»o/,274. 
Zinmte,270. 
Zinkenite, 228. 
ZIRCONIA,20a 
Zireon, 200. 
Ziroonite, 201. 
Zointe, 188. 
Zygadite, 182. 



pagt 156, 16th line tnm tke MIob, 



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