ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 6 1 



lina, prior to August, 1883. Coprolites more or less rich had indeed 

 been found and in more or less advantageous localities. But the 

 supply of these was wholly insufficient for the demands of a mod- 

 erate size factory even. Some hand specimens of very good phosphate 

 had been examined, and endeavors made to find the de^josit from which 

 these were said to have come. The hand specimens and the analyses 

 were good enough, but the deposit — well the deposit has not been 

 found yet. Some fairly good hand specimens from Duplin county 

 had been examined before tlie investigation into the subject began, 

 but they were regarded perhaps as from some pocket of coprolites, 

 and hence as of no great importance. 



It was not until August, 1883, that the matter assumed sufficient 

 importance to demand careful recognition. On the 10th of that 

 month in the Morning Star of Wilmington, N. C, appeared a letter 

 from Major W. L. Young, Chief Engineer of the Duplin Canal Com- 

 pany, in which he gave an account of what he took to be Phosphate 

 Rock in Duplin county. This was the first public intimation of the 

 discovery of the true Phosphate Rock in North Carolina. Major 

 Young considered it Phosphate, and my examination of about 75 

 pounds of it confirmed his judgment. The Roc v he brought to me 

 had been selected Avith care, for it fell readily into 3 (three) varieties, 

 which varieties I afterwards fully verified from several tons. 



1° A hard, heavy, block, fine grained sub-crystalline Rock, most 

 frequently watsr-worn, and generally perforated to the depth of ^ 

 inch to 1 inch with cylindrical holes of a diameter from i to 4^ inch. 

 These perforations are generally, though not always, filled, and the 

 filling material is sand and mud. It is the richest in Phosphoric 

 acid of all the varieties. On concussion it has a slight Phosphatic 

 odor. 



2°. A hard, heavy, fine grained sub-crystalline Rock, with whitish 

 and somewhat softer exterior, a black, hard core, and not so dis- 

 tinctly water worn as No. 1. This core generally comprises four- 

 fifths of the mass of the Rock, and probably nine-tenths of its 

 weight. Similar perforations occur in this variety filled with the 

 same material, but they do not extend into the black core. It is 

 likely that this variety is a modification of No. 1. It contains less 

 Phosphoric acid than No. 1, and has on concussion a decided but 

 not strong Phosphatic odor. 



3.° A light to dark grey Rock, neither as heavy, nor as hard, nor 

 as distinctly marked as the two former varieties, nor as good. The 

 time at my disposal did not allow me to make complete analyses of 

 these varieties. But No. 1 is composed of about equal parts of 



