50 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [jAN. 5, 



THE DISCOVERY OF FIRE OPALS NEAR WHELAN, WASHINGTON 



STATE. 



[Both these papers will be printed by the Geological Society of 

 America, Vol, II., 1891.] 



He also read a paper on 



THE PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE DIAMOND AFTER EXPOSURE TO 

 SUNLIGHT, AND ALSO BY FRICTION. 



Only blue-white diamonds possess the property of emitting light 

 after exposure to snnlight, but all diamonds, when rubbed in the 

 dark on a rough board, tile, metal, leather, or cloth, phosphor- 

 esce in different degrees of intensity, resembling the light pro- 

 duced by the glow-worm or a phosphorus match. Tlie stones 

 that emit light after exposure to sunlight show this to a much 

 greater degree. Dr. Eobert Boyle virtually announced all these 

 facts about the diamond more than two hundred and thirty years 

 ago. 



A paper describing the two meteorites (one of one hundred 

 and eighty and one of ten pounds) from Washington County, 

 Kansas, and a thirty-pound meteoric iron from Floyd County, 

 Virginia, will be published later on. 



Mr. Gilman S. Stanton read a paper on 



THE OCCURRENCE OF BERYLS AND GARNETS ON NEW YORK 



ISLAND. 



(Abstract.) 



I have been requested to exhibit to the Academy some beryls 

 and garnets which I obtained from a vein at 65tii street and 

 Ninth, or Columbus, avenue of this city. A number of the 

 members of the Mineralogical Club know of this vein, but, as it 

 has recently yielded some large beryls, perhaps a short descrip- 

 tion of it would be of interest. 



Nearly three years ago I first discovered that this vein con- 

 tained a remarkable quantity of interesting, beautiful, and ex- 

 ceedingly perfect crystals of garnet. For about a month, while 

 the blasting continued, I succeeded in getting a large number of 

 specimens. The vein, which was of a coarse granite, cut a light- 

 colored variety of the gneiss of this city and averaged some 



