70 JOURNAL OF THE 



As Clarke remarks, ''The analysis shows a complete removal 

 of lime aud silica from the original sphene (titanite) and a tak- 

 ing up of alumina and water. The result is a clay containing 

 titanium in place of silicon/' 



I believe this mineral could be mined profitably as an ore of 

 titanic acid. 



Quartz. — Within the past twelve months masses of clear 

 rock crystal, of sizes unprecedented in the United States, have 

 been found near Jefferson, in Ashe county. Two of these 

 (which were seen by the writer) would have furnished perfectly 

 clear and flawless spheres of five inches in diameter, or pellucid 

 s^abs eight by six inches square. One large crystal weighed 

 nearly two hundred ])ounds and had highly polished natural 

 faces. Under the names of '' Pebble" and " Rock-crystal " this 

 kind of quartz finds ready sale, by the ton, for the purposes of 

 furnishing material for spectacle lenses and for ornament. 

 Mitchell and Alexander counties have also produced large masses. 



Important discoveries of new and rare crystal forms, in this 

 very common species, have been made on crystals from Alex- 

 ander and Burke counties."^ The late Professor Gerhard Vom 

 Rath, of Bonn, Germany, has made our quartz crystals famous 

 by his very patient labors in the identifi(*ation of their forms. 

 He has fio-ured and minutely described the more interestino; of 

 these crystals, and the student who is technically inclined is 

 respectfully referred to his memoirs here cited. f A full trans- 

 lation of his studies and the reproduction of his drawings should 

 be included in some future edition of this report. I have thought 

 it be^t to introduce in this paper a reproduction of at least ten 

 of the many drawings made by the lamented Vom Rath that 

 th.e student-reader may fully a[)preciate why so much interest 

 has been attached to these crystals. See Plate 3. 



♦Mr. J. A. I). Stepherifion and the late John T. Humphreys were the first to call atten- 

 tion to these moditicd quartzes, and th<'ir collcMtions have been rich with them. Their 

 pioneer work in collecting North Carolina minerals i.s deserving of a more lengthy- 

 notice. 



tSee Zeitschr. fur. Ki-ystalloi;rapliie, X, ir.C: Ih., X, 47-5; XFI, 453-45!». Sitznngsber. d. 

 niederrh. Ges. fur Natiir — und HfilUunde, (;,. July, 1885, 4.')-5r). Verhandlungon des Naturh. 

 Vereins d. preuss Rlieinl. u. Westf., 1884,291) — 324, American Jour. Science, Vol. XXXII, 

 Sep., 188(5, p. 208; lb., June, 1887, p. 507. 



