E. MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY. 221 



GARNIERITE AND NOUMEITE. 



Garnierite and Noumeite are two new nickel minerals 

 found near the town of Noumea, in New Caledonia, and de- 

 scribed by Professor Liversidge, of Sydney. They are very 

 similar to each other in appearance, though they are consid- 

 ered to have some distinguishing characters. They are 

 amorphous, of a bright apple-green color, and so soft as to 

 be easily polished by rubbing with the thumb-nail. The 

 economic importance of these minerals lies in the fact that 

 they contain about twenty-five per cent, of nickel-oxide, 

 which, as they occur in large quantities, makes them valu- 

 able as nickel ores. They both occur filling veins and fissures 

 in serpentine. 



SIDEEAZOT, A NEW MINERAL. 



Professor Silvestri, of Turin, proposes the name siderazot 

 for a native iron nitride or compound of iron and nitrogen 

 which he has detected among the fumarole products of 

 Mount ^tna. The eruption of August, 1874, was especially 

 interesting in that, while commencing violently, the duration 

 was short, and the end came suddenly. It was at this time 

 that the new mineral was found, appearing as a thin incrus- 

 tation, of gray metallic lustre, coating the lava. It contained 

 chemically ninety-one per cent, of iron and nine per cent, of 

 nitrogen. The author makes some remarks upon the possible 

 method of formation of this rare compound, but the matter 

 seems to be yet involved in much uncertainty. 



FRIEDELITE. 



Friedellte is a hydrated silicate of manganese, discovered 

 by Bertrand at the mine of Adervielle, valley of Louron, in 

 the Pyrenees. It occurs in crystalline masses of a carmine 

 red color, with a specific gravity of 3.07. It crystallizes in 

 the rhombohedral system, and possesses in a high degree the 

 property of doubly refracting light. 6 B^May 15, 1876. 



KAOLIN IN NEBRASKA. 



It has lately been reported that a deposit of kaolin, of not 

 less than thirty feet in thickness, and underlying about 100 

 acres, has been discovered in the neighborhood of Omaha. 



