Satuml Hislorij, 2bl 



with steel. It is found in layers, blocks, and masses, dissemi- 

 nated among the clay slate that covers the greatest part of the 

 townships in that vicinity. When first taken from the earth, 

 and exposed to the air, it is covered with an incrustation of a 

 dark reddish-brown colour, that crumbles easily between the 

 fingers ; and is generally from one inch to a foot in thickness. 

 This incrustation hardens on long exposure to the air. This led 

 to a supposition, that the incrustation was owing to the decom- 

 position of the limestone by sulphuret of iron, intimately disse- 

 minated through the rock ; which would also account for the 

 singular circumstance of its striking fire. But, on dissolving 

 a portion in nitric acid, and adding a decoction of gall nut, no 

 discoloration was produced. — SiUi?naris Journal I., p. 241. 



10. Native Lead and Cinnabar, in America. — Dr. Conistock, 

 in a letter to Dr. Silliman, gives the following account from 

 M. Stickney of these minerals. 



M. Stickney states, that the situation of Fort Wayne, and the 

 surrounding country, is a high level, probably about 800 feet 

 above the level of the sea. From this place the water-courses 

 divide, and take different directions ; on the one hand falling 

 into the gulf of Mexico, and on the other into the bay of 

 St. Lawrence. The whole country is of secondary formation, 

 chiefly calcareous and aluminous. 



Bitumen and sulphur are every where to be found, and as 

 usual, accompanied by the metals. 



In speaking of the cinnabar, his words are, " I have found 

 a black and garnet-coloured sand, in great abundance, on the 

 shores of the lakes Erie and Michigan ; this is a sulphuret of 

 mercury, and yields about 60 per cent. It is so easy to be 

 obtained, and in so convenient a form for distillation, that it 

 must become an important article of commerce." 



The native lead was found on the Anglaise river, at a consi- 

 derable distance from the fort. 



Of this he says, " Metallic lead is so interspersed with galena, 

 as to prove incontestibly the existence of native lead." 



1 1 . Aurora Borealis. — ^A very remarkable meteor of this kind 



