Dec, 1908. 



MlNERALOGICAL NOTES 



157 



PHENACITE 

 NORTH CHATHAM, NEW HAMPSHIRE 



The first published mention of phenacite from this locality seems 

 to have been by Kunz in 1890* This brief mention may be repeated 

 here: 



"In May, 1888, E. A. Andrews, of Stow, Me., discovered some 

 crystals of phenacite on Bald Mountainf, North Chatham, N. H., near 

 the State line be- 

 tween Maine and 

 New Hampshire 

 and in the neigh- 

 borhood of Stone- 

 ham, Me. They 

 were found in a 

 vein of coarse 

 albitic granite, as- 

 sociated with crys- 

 tals of smoky 

 quartz, topaz and 

 muscovite, some 

 implanted on 



smoky quartz, and a few attached so loosely to the matrix by one 

 of the rhombohedral faces that they could be removed without being 

 broken. They were about fifty in number, lenticular in shape, and 

 measured from ^ inch to % inch (3 mm. to 12 mm.) across, and 

 from 1-25 inch to % inch (1 mm. to 3 mm.) in thickness. They 

 were all white or colorless, with polished faces, and for the most part 

 very simple in form." 



No crystallographic investigation seems to have been undertaken 

 by Kunz and no further mention of the occurrence has been made so 

 far as the writers are aware. The Museum is in possession of three 

 specimens of phenacite from this locality. In two of the specimens 

 single phenacite crystals are implanted on crystals of smoky quartz. 

 The phenacite crystals of these specimens are about 10 mm. in diam- 

 eter and 5 mm. thick. They are whitish in color and semitransparent. 

 They exhibit the lenticular habit mentioned by Kunz, this habit be- 

 ing produced by the prominence of the rhombohedron r (ioli). 



Fig. 



Phenacite. 



•Gems and Precious Stones of North America, 1890, p. 100. 



tThe correct name of the mountain is Bald Face Mountain. — O. C. F. 



