104 



Countries ^yherc 

 corindon is 

 found. 



The fpccimcns 

 of European 

 ilones called co- 

 rindon do not 

 belong to that 

 fpejies. 



CORIKDON FOUND IN ITALY. 



phous and opake, but remi-tranfparent on the thin edges* 

 Profefl'or Brochi and I purpofe making new refearches there, 

 which may lead lo fome more interefting difcovery. 



In the mean time it will no longer be doubted, that the 

 corindon is a product of Europe. M. de Bournon, with 

 whofe memoir on corindon, inferted in the Journal des Minesi 

 Vol. XIV. you are well acquainted, has noticed the different 

 countries which furnifli this fubftance ; they are the ifland of 

 Ceylon, the peninfula of India, and in particular Madras, 

 the Garnatic, and China. He concludes his interefting de- 

 tails by enquiring whether this fubftance exifts in other coun- 

 tries, except thofe acknowledged to be the chief, if not the 

 exclufive (ituations of this fpecies. This queftion arifes from 

 feveral ftones found in Europe having been given as corin- 

 dons. In fa^, thofe colled^ed in Germany were found to be 

 fometimes feldfpars, and fometimes the fckorlartiger-btri/ll of 

 Werner, your leucolite. That mentioned in the Mufeum 

 Brittanicuni as coming from Tyrie, on the eaflern coafl of 

 Scotland, was far from having the hardnefs belonging to this 

 fpecies; that from Chefnut-hill near Philadelphia, announced 

 by Mr. Smith, was difcovered by Mr. Richard Phillips to be 

 a fragment of badly cryftallized quarlz. It only remained to 

 decide on the feldfpar found by Bournon in France, in the 

 province of Forez, the defcription of which he fent to you in 

 a letter inferted in the Journal de Phyfique for June 1789, 

 and which he ftill confiders as a true corindon. 



This fubftance appears to be the fame as that you have 

 called andaloufite, and which fome dealers in natural hiftory 

 have circulated in commerce by the name of adamantine fpar, 

 from the kingdom of Caftile : it has been placed by Abbd 

 Hauy in the appendix, which contains thofe fubftances, the 

 nature of which did not appear to be fufliciently known to 

 permit him to affign them a place in his method. He calls it 

 apyrous feldfpar. Thus we may be fatisfied that hitherto 

 there is no certainty of corindon having been found in Europe. 

 I flatter myfelf that now there will be no doubt on the corin- 

 don of Italy which I have the honour to announce ; it is not 

 even deficient in the fpecific gravity belonging to this fub- 

 ftance; a defe6l which induced Profeflbr Hauy not to ac- 

 Jcnowledge the feldfpar of Forez to be a corindon, 

 ' ' ■ ■ ' ' If 



