Notes on " Aragotite." By Henry G. Hanks. 675 



contact, there being no cinnabar in close proximity. I am informed 

 that it has never been found in any other part of the mine." 



From this locality I obtained a quantity sufficient to enable 

 me to verify all my experiments by several repetitions. 



It has the general appearance of refined pine resin (rosin) 

 used by musicians ; colour, honey yellow ; transparent ; specific 

 gravity 1 • 1 ; sinks gently in distilled water ; electrical by friction ; 

 very brittle and easily frangible ; may be crushed between the 

 fingers without difficulty ; fracture, sub-conchoidal and splintery ; 

 easily rubbed in water to a white, mealy, slightly adherent powder. 

 It is very fusible, hardens again on cooling ; begins to soften at 

 110° F., and to melt at 125°; at 140° it adheres to the cold point 

 of a knife-blade, and may be drawn out in attenuated threads ; at 

 150° it is a syrupy fluid ; at 212° it melts into drops, and at a 

 higher temperature, but below redness, it flows freely. It is not 

 decomposed at a high heat ; in a platinum dish it is driven from 

 the centre and returns down the sides of the vessel in little streams, 

 subliming in part at the same time in aromatic fumes. If ignited, 

 it burns with a smoky, yellow flame, leaving a very little white 

 ash. If the heat is slowly applied, it first blackens to carbon, 

 possibly in part by the decomposition of cinnabar, which it contains 

 mechanically in minute proportions. 



The mineral is soluble with difficulty, or only partly so, in 

 alcohol, but perfectly in spirit of turpentine, ether, and petroleum. 



This is the only important discrepancy in the two descriptions ; 

 Mr. Durand does not say that his specimen was insoluble, but that 

 "it appears to be." This uncertainty is perhaps owing to the 

 small quantity at his disposal. 



The mineral floats in drops on the surface of boiling nitric or 

 hydrochloric acid without decomposition. A portion placed on a 

 glass slide, heated sufficiently to liquefy it and allowed to cool 

 slowly on a thick iron plate, was examined microscopically and 

 found to show a few imbedded, obscure crystals, and some beau- 

 tiful, exceedingly minute, transparent, perfect crystals of scarlet 

 colour, which reflected light from brilliant planes. These remark- 

 able crystals, which seem to be present by accident, have the 

 appearance of, and are with but little doubt, cinnabar. The 

 diameter of the largest was 0*003 inch, and the smallest 0*0005. 



Heated in a closed glass tube the mineral sublimed, or dis- 

 tilled without decomposition ; examined microscopically, long 

 black, acicular crystals and stellate bodies were observed in the 

 distillate ; these were probably black sulphide of mercury (meta- 

 cinnabarite) and no doubt extraneous and accidental. In a glass 

 tube open at both ends, I obtained a yellow sublimate resembling 

 that described by Mr. Durand ; the tube was then cut into short 

 sections, wrapped separately in paper and cautiously broken by 

 gentle blows of a small hammer ; the concave fragments so obtained 



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