3 2 Peculiarities lately found in Tron-Jlone. 



- >i hitherto on very flight foundations; and, as mod of 

 got mineral<»jifts have always fpoken merely of probability, 

 they have fullered the doubt to remain, whether the mafles 

 of iron whieh have been found were not artificial produc- 

 tions, or the effect of fubterranean fire, &c. I mtift confefs 

 that 1 have nivielf doubted, on good grounds, of the reality 

 of thofe fpectmens of fuppofed native iron which I have feen 

 in different collections of Germany. 



If fuch difficulty of belief is cxcufable in a fcience where 

 every thing ought to be determined by obfervation and ex- 

 perience ; a mineralogift, however, ought not to periift in a 

 previoufly adopted opinion, when he has been convinced 

 of the contrary by his own eyes. A conviction of this kind 

 occurred to myfelf the prefent year, and bv a fingular acci- 

 dent. A company, who are proprietors of two iron-works 

 in this county, being in want of good iron-ftone, and en 

 that account prevented from manufacturing the iron of the 

 beft quality, received a letter from the neighbouring county 

 of Hachenburg containing an offer of a thoufand waggon 

 loads of iron-ftone for five years, from a quarry of iron-ftone 

 whieh had been lately difcovered at a fmall diftance from the 

 borders of this county. The offer was accepted, and the 

 iron-ftone was delivered at the two works in pretty large 

 mafles, which were afterwards broken, according to the 

 cuftom ufual in this part of the country, with fmall ham- 

 mers. After its arrival, one of the workmen put a piece 

 under the hammer; but, as it refitted every effort made to 

 break it, he was naturally induced to examine it more nar- 

 rowly. He immediately carried it to a forge in the neigh- 

 bourhood ; and the fmith, having put it into the fire, forged 

 from it, in a few minutes, fome excellent horfe-fhoe nails. 

 It is, however, much to be regretted, that, through the ig- 

 norance and carelelTnefs of the workman, this remarkable 

 production of nature was, in a great meafure, deftroyed. It 

 weighed altogether four pounds; and only a few fragments, 

 which had almoft all been in the lire, and which exhibit on 

 the one fide the native iron, and on the other the forged 

 nails, were faved : but thefe fragments are preferved by the 

 pofleflbrs with as much care as if thev were (acred relics. 

 One piece, which came into my pofleflion, feems to have 

 been very little in the fire: it weighs nearly half a pound, 

 has a fhining fracture of a fteel gray colour, is of a brownifh 

 colour on the outfide running into black, and perfectly mal- 

 leable. 



. Being induced by this fingular phenomenon to make 

 fome refearches in the place where it occurred, I repaired 



thither, 



