222 ANNUAL KECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



It appears that the deposit crops out along a bluff for over 

 half a mile, with but a few inches of earth covering it. The 

 character of the material is said to improve with the depth, 

 the upper portions being coarse and granular in texture, 

 while lower down it becomes progressively liner and whiter. 

 It is represented to be remarkably free from foreign impuri- 

 ties, and adapted for the manufacture of a great variety of 

 articles in large demand in the Western country. There is 

 a railroad, and an abundance of timber and water in the 

 neighborhood. 6 D, 32, 212. 



TWO NEW MINERALS, MELANOPHLOGITE AND ^RINITE. 



Two new minerals have been announced by Professor Von 

 Lasaulx, of Breslau. The complete descriptions have yet to 

 be given. One of these minerals is called tnelanophlogite, 

 the name bavins^ reference to what is resjarded as one of its 

 distinctive characters, that of turning black upon ignition. 

 It occurs in minute cubes upon sulphur from Girgenti, in 

 Sicily. Sometimes a thin incrustation of quartz covers the 

 crystals of sulphur, and upon this rests the new mineral. Its 

 chemical composition is still uncertain, but it is supposed to 

 be a hydrated silica. The material examined contained also 

 some iron and lime, but probably only as impurities. 



The second new mineral referred to has received the name 

 cerinite. It is an essentially iron silicate, and occurs in masses 

 with a scaly structure. Its only decided character is its blue 

 color, to which it owes its name. The locality is uncertain, 

 though the specimen examined purported to be "from Spain." 



MEXICAN ONYX. 



This beautiful stone, so much admired in the Mexican ex- 

 hibit at the Centennial Exposition, has been analyzed by 

 Damour. It is a mixture of the carbonates of lime, magnesia, 

 iron, and manganese, containing about 89.5 per cent, of the 

 one first named. Specific gravity, 2.77. 35 C^ IX., 848. 



NEW VANADIUM MINERALS. 



Roscoelite^ described recently by Dr. F. A. Genth, is a 

 brownish micaceous mineral from California. Its chief con- 

 stituents are vanadic acid (about 20 per cent.), silica, alumina, 

 and potash. 



