94 



MENACHAN1TE IN MICACEOUS SCHIST. 



He could not procure a piece well gilt, to examine in what 

 way the gold was applied ; but he observes that the brit- 

 tleness of the metal seems to indicate, that quicksilver was 

 employed. 



III. 



Situation of 

 minerals to 

 be studied. 



That ofme- 

 nachanite un- 

 known. 



On the Hack Sand, or Menachanite, found on the Coasts of 

 Liguria: by D. Vivian I, Prof, of Botany and Natural 

 History in the Imperial Academy of Genoa*. 



T> 



Supposed to be 

 ■washed up by 

 the sea, 



but appears on 

 tiie shore only 

 after land 



f.oods, 



HE situation of minerals becomes daily more important 

 to be known, as it furnishes the geologist with knowledge 

 of importance to the theory of the Earth, and the mineralo- 

 gist with characters highly interesting with respect to that 

 kind of association, which takes place between different 

 minerals. 



The situation of the ferriferous oxide of titanium hasnot 

 yet beeu studied in a satisfactory manner. There is even a 

 variety of this species, known by the name of menacha- 

 nite, which has hitherto been found only in the form of 

 sand, and the situation of which is consequently unknown 

 to the naturalist. The black sand found on the seashore 

 between Pegli and Sestri, about four miles from Genoa, 

 having been analysed by my learned colleague, prof. J. 

 Mojon, was found to be true mechanite, of which it has all 

 the mineralogical characters. Hitherto it had been found 

 only on the seashore, where it never appeared but after great 

 storms, which had confirmed the opinion of its submarine 

 situation, and destroyed all hope of ascertaining it. 



I had visited the shore however several times between 

 Pegli and Sestri, after pretty violent storms at sea unatten- 

 ded with rain, without finding any appearance of menacha- 

 nite; on the contrary I found a stripe skirting the sea for a 

 hundred paces or more, if the storm at sea had been ac- 

 companied with abundant rain, and particularly if the 



* Jourual dc Physique, vol. LXIX, p. 314, 



brooks 



