F 



Domestic. 407 



22. Filiate of Lime and noble Agates in Deerfield^ Mass. 

 ^ i)r< Cooley has discovered in Deerfield, purple fluale of 



lime, crystallized I believe in dodecahedrons— though I could 

 p not determine this certainly as I had no glass when I exa- 



mined it. He also finds nolle agates in a new locality in 

 our Deerfield greenstone. 



Letter from Rev. E. Hitchcock, March, 5, 1822. 



23, Useful Minerals in Js^orth Carolina. — (Extract of a 

 recent letter from Professor Olrnstead,) I have recently 

 performed a tour westward, almost to the blue ridge through 

 the counties of Rockingham, Stokes, Surry and Guilford. 

 -The objects which among others were presented to us were 

 the following. — An independent coaf formation hitherto un- 

 observ'cd, embracing at least two beds of coal, fine varieties 

 of Sandstone, numerous distinct strata of calp, and along 

 with it a compact siliceous black carbonate of lime that re* 

 tfeives a good polish, forming a handsome black marble. 



It answers well to the description of the luculHte excep? 

 that (owing probably to its containing a great portion of si- 

 lex ?) it is very fusible. ^Ye might suppose it basalt, but it 

 effervesces freely. Westward of this secondary, 1 fell in 

 with the narrow strip of transition laid down in Mr. Ma- 

 clure's map* In this near Germantown, h a wonderful form- 

 ation of lignite resting in numerous varieties of Potter^s clay 

 eomprising the compact, heavy, chocolate coloured, used 

 for stone ware, the adhesive which cuts like putty, and a 

 bright yellow ochre. The extensive iron beds, the lime- 

 stones, the ochres of Stokes and Surry furnished objects of 

 niuch interest. There abounds also in this region whitish 

 shelly granite, full of decomposing feldspar and near it, as 

 hiight be expected, very fine white clays. Near the blue 

 Hdge \vc met with a lofty precipice of " Copperas Rocks," 

 some of them so far decomposed as to have fallen down in 

 huge masses. In Surrey we found a bed of the earthy ox- 

 ide of manganese ; and in Stokes, a bed of plumbago of 

 much the same quality as that in Wake, only not so slaty- 



24. Education. — A comminee of the Ohio Legislature 

 to whom was referred that part of the Governor's message 

 ^vhich relates to common schools, have (in their report) ex- 

 pressed it as their opinion, that the lands which have been 



