E. MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY, 



81 



E. MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY. 



HOMERIC IRON. 



It has been suggested that wherever iron is mentioned as 

 occurring in the earlier Scriptures, as well as in the ancient 

 Greek authors, such as Homer and Hesiod, in all cases it is 

 to be considered as referring to meteoric iron, the period 

 when mankind was able to reduce the metal from its ores not 

 yet having arrived. This view is supported by Professor 

 Haidinger, of Vienna, in a very elaborate and learned disqui- 

 sition ; and he also suggests that the iron found on the sur- 

 face of the earth in Southern Africa for a time, and used by 

 the natives, as well as that employed by the Esquimaux in 

 making implements before their association with the whites, 

 is due to the same origin. Mitth. Anthrop. Soc. Uren, 63. 



IRON IN GUAYAQUIL. 



Accounts from Guayaquil report the discovery of iron in 

 great abundance on the banks of the River Doull, occurring 

 in the form of masses weighing hundreds of pounds of an hy- 

 drated peroxide of iron in crystals of micaceous iron, and a 

 red hematite. As the surrounding forests will produce wood 

 enough for making the necessary charcoal, it is proposed to 

 start an iron furnace on the spot. Pan. S. and H., Jan. 17. 



XANTHOPHYLLITE A MATRIX OF DIAMOND. 



Much inquiry has been prosecuted as to the matrix of the 

 diamond, and various suggestions have been pronounced in 

 regard to it, itacolumite, or the so-called flexible sandstone 

 occurring in Brazil, the United States, and elsewhere being 

 assigned this honor by many authors. From a communica- 

 tion by Professor Leonhard we are informed that the xantho- 

 phyllite of the Ural Mountains shares with the itacolumite 

 in this respect, since in certain localities where this substance 

 abounds a microscopic examination of its laminae reveals to a 

 magnifying power of thirty times the existence of large num- 

 bers of minute crystals of the diamond, while with a power 

 of two hundred their crystalline form and relative position 



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