35 
A good quality of asbestos has been found in Shefford, on the line of the 
Quebec Central Railway, which deposits Mr. Selwyn, the Directer of the Cana- 
dian Geological Survey, pronounces the most promising he has seen. 
On the Chaudiére River good specimens of asbestos were got out as long ago 
as 15 or 16 years, and a small quantity has been exported trom the Des Plantes 
River, a tributary of the Chaudiére; but it has been impossible to obtain any 
definite information regarding this locality. 
The whole quantity exported from all the district in the Quebec group of 
rocks cannot much exceed 300 tons, which realized an average price of $50 at 
the mines. There appears to be no question as to the profitable nature of 
asbestos mining operations in that belt of country. 
In the Laurentian rocks the first worked was in a vein of serpentine, in 
Papineau Seigneury, near the village of St. André Avelin, from which, ten years 
ago, an American took out about five tons of 1-to 2-inch fibre, which was alleged 
to have been used in the manufacture of lamp wicks in Rhode Island. As no 
work has since been attempted at this opening, the inference is that it is 
exhausted, This locality is also celebrated as having yielded some of the finest 
specimens of Eozoon Canadense. 
In Templeton I have heard of two workings—one upon the 8.4 of Lot 11, 
the other upon Lot 10, in the 8th Range, about 300 yards apart, and in the same 
band of serpentine. The seams of chrysotile—they are not sufficiently regulat 
be called veins—in some places run nearly parallel to one another, following the 
direction of the serpentine, in others they are curved, and even more or less 
reticulated. ‘I'he width of the seams, and consequently the length of the fibre, 
here varied from a fraction of an inch up to three inches. The form in which 
the asbestos occurs has been very well described by the owner of one of the 
workings. He says “‘lhe asbestos occurs in a narrow vein of serpentine rock, 
which lies in a hill of coarse white crystalline limestone. We found the serpen- 
tine dipping towards the east. In places there would occur a great many narrow 
seams of asbestos, separated from each other by narrow veins of serpentine. 
Again, in places, several of these seams would run together, and we would get 
the asbestos with a fibre from one to two inches long, to be again separated into 
narrow seams.” 
A single ton was shipped from one of these mines last autumn, and realized 
$100, delivered free on board in Ottawa. 
Among miners opinions differ as to the future value of the Ottawa Valley 
deposits. Some think the quantity in any one place so small, and the cost of 
separating the asbestos from the gangue of serpentine that encloses it so great in 
proportion, that, except for some unusually good croppings, the working would 
never be found profitable. Others are of opinion that large finds will be made, 
and that the mining of asbestos is destined to become an industry second in 
impcrtance only to the mining of iron and apatite. With these I am disposed 
to agree, though my judgment is based merely on the geological character 
of the rocks and the analogies that exist between them and those of other 
districts where workable deposits are found. 
* * * * * * * * * * 
FIFTH SOIREE. 
Fripay, 20th Frsruary, 1880: Dr. J. A. Grant, F.R.CS., 
EpIN., gave a practical demonstration of “The Brain” and many of 
