408 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mount Mica in Paris is the most interesting locality of minerals 

 known in the State ; and we take pleasure in producing an inter- 

 esting account of it, with notices of the minerals found, by Mr. A. 

 E. Verrill of Cambridge, Mass. It was published originally in the 

 Oxford Democrat. It seems that the elements Caesium and Rubi- 

 dium have not yet been found anywhere in North America except 

 in Maine ; and it is but very recently that they have been known 

 in Europe. 



Mt. 3Iica. 



The well known locality, usually called Mt. Mica, and justly 

 celebrated for the variety and beauty of the rare minerals it has 

 offered, is situated on a low hill which forms one of that group of 

 which Streaked Mountain is the crowning summit ; or it may even 

 be considered as a part of the northern flank of that mountain. 



The excavation from which the minerals have been taken, is on 

 the estate of Mr. Bowker, about two miles from Paris Hill, on the 

 Buckfield road. It has been known for about forty years, and 

 formerly afforded some minerals not now found, as well as finer 

 specimens of the red and green tourmalines, than have been found 

 for several years past. This is, as I believe, not because the local- 

 ity has been exhausted, but the excavation has not been made in 

 the proper direction to follow the centre of the vein. Yet within 

 a few years past, there have been found here several interesting 

 minerals, not known before. This mineral bearing vein consists 

 chiefly of feldspar and albite, with mica and the various other 

 minerals scattered through it in masses and crystals, passing 

 through a coarse granite ; and is of considerable width and of 

 unknown extent, for it is concealed beneath the soil in either direc- 

 tion. It is worthy of remark that in Hebron, at a distance of about 

 seven miles, there is another vein of similar character, and contain- 

 ing precisely the same minerals as this one, so that the same de- 

 scription will answer for both. The principal minerals that have 

 been found here are the following. 



Tin Ore. This ore, also called Cassiterite, was first noticed as 

 a Paris mineral at a meeting of the Boston Society of Natural His- 

 tory, December 5, 1860, when I exhibited a fine specimen of the 

 mineral, and gave a brief account of its mode of occurrence. This 

 specimen I found in 1854, and it originally weighed at least five 

 pounds. It was nearly pure, partly crystaline and partly massive, 



