220 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



species. Those mineralogical writers who are desirous of in- 

 creasing the number of species may easily follow a different 

 course. 



The mineral distinction of the oxide of chrome may be com- 

 prised in the following terms : 



Oxide of Crome.— This mineral is of a bright grass green 

 colour, or else pale yellow; and is found either in a powdery or 

 a compact form. In the former case, the aspect is dull ; in the 

 latter, the lustre resembles that of compactly crystallized lime- 

 stone, or marble. It either invests surfaces, or tills cavities in 

 chromate of iron. 



Its specific gravity h^s not been examined. It is soluble by 

 boiling in the alkalies, and communicates to them a green 

 colour ; but the solution is decomposed by further boiling, and 

 the oxide is precipitated. By this character, and by its com- 

 municating a green tinge to glass, before/the blow-pipe, it may 

 be recognised and distinguished. It occurs in Unst, one of the 

 Shetland Isles. 



Lest your readers should conceive that I had fallen into an 

 error, in describing this mineral as new, I ought to add to this 

 communication, that the oxide of chrome, described in Mon- 

 sieur Lucas's arrangement of minerals, is a very different sub- 

 stance, and, I may add, improperly named. I need not quote 

 from a book which is in the hands of many mineralogists. It is 

 sufficient to remark, that his mineral is a compound substance, 

 into which the oxide in question enters only as an ingredient. 

 It would be proper that its name should be changed, to prevent 

 confusion ; the right of possession is clearly in the present 

 substance. — I am, yours, &c. 



Shetland, August, 1820. J. Mac Culloch. 



4. On Fullers' Earth in Chalk, by the Rev. C. P. N. Wilton, 

 Gloucester. — The situation of the chalk-pit, in which the fullers' 

 earth is found, is upon the side of a hill, forming part of the 

 range of the South Downs, in Sussex, immediately above the 

 village of Bepton, from whence that portion of the downs 

 derives the name of Bepton-hill. It is distant three miles and a 

 half, south, from the town of Midhurst. The elevation of that 

 part of the hill, where the chalk is situated, above the level of 

 the village, is about 400 feet. Upon my first entering the pit, in 

 the month of May, 1820, I was struck with the appearance of 

 an horizontal layer, consisting oi & greenish brown earth, passing 

 into yellowish white and brown ; which, upon examination, was 

 found to contain the characteristic qualities of fullers' earth. 

 The layer varied from three to four inches in thickness ; and 

 ■was about a foot below the surface of the hill, having the chalk, 

 which is of the upper formation, as well above as below it. 

 The pit abounds with beautiful chalk specimens of different 



