1869.] Mining. 557 



Sweden.* It is a black, lustrous, magnetic mineral, crystallizing 

 in octotiedra, having a Si^ecific gravity of 4-7, and a composition 

 expressed by the formula : — 



(MuO, MgO) (Fe^ O3. Mu, O3). 



From Nischne Tagilsk, in the Urals, a sky-blue compact mineral 

 has been examined by M. Hermann, and described as a new species 

 under the name of Cyanochalcite.] It is composed of phosphate 

 and silicate of coj)per, thus represented : — 



4 Cu O. PO, + 9 (Cu O. Si O2) + 19 HO. 



A new ore of the rare metal tellurium has lately been found in 

 the Sierra de Tapalpa, in Mexico. | Professor del Castillo trans- 

 mitted a specimen to Kammelsberg, whose analysis leads to the 

 formula : Ag2 S Bia Tco. Such a substance might, of course, be 

 a mixture of minerals, but Eammelsberg himself believes it to be a 

 definite compound, and therefore a new species. 



The same active chemist has also been at work on the composi- 

 tion of several native silicates, including chabazite, stilbite, desmine, 

 mesotype, scolecite, and serpentine. 



Some crystals of smoky quartz of gigantic proportions have 

 recently been found in a difficultly accessible part of the Canton 

 Uri, in Switzerland, and the details of the discovery have been 

 published by Dr. Fellenberg.§ 



In optical mineralogy it will be sujfficient to call attention to 

 Dr. Kossmann's elaborate paper on the peculiar lustre and dichroism 

 of hypersthene. || 



10. MININO AND METALLUEGY. 



Mining. 



The Mines Inspection Bill, which may be regarded as an example 

 of that uncertainty which ever attends all attempts at legislation 

 when individual interests are forced into opposition to the ends 

 in view, has, at the last hour, been postponed for another year. 

 Twelve Inspectors are left, as before, to look after the safe condition 

 of upwards of 3000 collieries ; and the coal miners remain still at 

 the mercy of that superintendence wliich, sometimes good but often 

 imperfect, has prevailed during the past years which have witnessed 



* 'Comptes Rendus,' July 19, 1869, p. 168. 

 t ' Journal flir praktische Chemie,' 1869, p. 65. 

 % ' Zeitschr. d. deutscli. geolog. Gesell.,' xxi., p. 81. 

 § ' Berncr Mittheilungcn,' ] 869, p. 135. 

 II Leonhard's ' Jahrbuch,' 1869, p. 532. 



