4 ' TKANSACTION'S OF THE [OCT. 4, 



good reason we can feel proud of this new undertaking in min- 

 ing exchisively for gems. Of interest to mineralogists, besides 

 the beauLiful emeralds and spodumenes, there wore also found 

 this past season, in the near vicinity of this mine, some few very 

 remarkable crystals of highly modified quartz, with planes not 

 before credited to the region. In the species rutile and monazite, 

 new discoveries have been made of exceedingly beautiful 

 crystals. 



It seems to me that we have in the Piedmont region of the 

 Southern States the counterpart of the Ural mineral district in 

 Eussia and the Minas Geraes district of Brazil. All are foot- 

 hill areas of very similar features geologically. If the South 

 seems to be behind these other regions just mentioned, it is 

 probably due to the fact that the South presents a newer field to 

 the investigator than the others. Though this foot-hill region 

 of the South is only thirty-six hours journey from New York, it 

 receives less attention from mineralogists, geologists, and other 

 scientists than localities thousands of miles distant. My own 

 personal experiences in these southern regions during the past 

 eight years have convinced me that nowhere have we more 

 promising fields for the discoverer in any branch of science. 



Dr. T. Sterry Hunt spoke of the mineralogy of the local- 

 ity referred to by Mr. Hidden, and discussed with him Prof. 

 Kerr's theory of "frost-drift." 



Mr. Geo RGB F. Kunz read a paper 



ON THE NEW ARTIFICIAL RUBIES. 



(Illustrated with specimens and microscopical preparations.) 



The subject of artificial gems is at the present moment of con- 

 siderable interest, not only financially, but also as furnishing an 

 example of the manner in which the microscope is constantly 

 called into use by almost every profession. Early this summer,, 

 the Syndicate des Diamants et Pierres Precieiises were informed 

 that certain stones, which had been sold as rubies from a new 

 locality, were sus^pected to be of artificial origin. They were put 

 upon the market by a Geneva house ; and it was surmised that 

 they were obtained by the fusion of large numbers of small 

 rubies, worth at the most a few dollars a karat, into one fine 

 gem worth from $1,000 to $2,500 a karat. 



Some of these artificial stones were kindly procured for me by 

 Messrs. Tiffany & Co. I was not, however, permitted to break 

 them for analysis, to observe the cleavage, or to have them cut 

 so that I could observe the optical axes more correctly. I would 

 at any time have detected the artificial nature of this production. 



