ee ——_e 
lle 
Intelligence and Miscellanies. 169 
Some of Mr. Nuttall’s “‘ Observations and Geological Re- 
marks on the minerals of Patterson and the Valley of Sparta, 
in New-Jersey,” excited my surprize ; and] regret, extreme- 
ly, that the necessity of the case forces me into a controver- 
sy; justice, however, demands that I should notice some 
of the remarks of that gentleman. 
When speaking of the Condrodite* Mr. Nuttall says, 
that it is according to an unpublished Analysis, which he 
made in 1820, “a Silicate of Magnesia, with an accidental 
portion of Fluoric acid and iron,’’} thus leading us to be- 
lieve, that he was the first, who detected Fluoric acid in that 
mineral: the following facts will satisfy the reader, in how 
far he has any claim to that discovery. On the 3d of April 
1821, a communication, concerning the Condrodite, from 
Mr. Nattall was read before the Academy of Natural Sci- 
ences, in Philadelphia; in that essay he made known the re 
sults, which he obtained from an analysis of that substance, 
without enumerating Fluoric acid as one of its constituents ; 
es the contrary, he satisfied himself that that acid did not 
exist in the mineral in question. These are facts which 
Mr. Nutall dares not venture to contradict, and they are 
known to the members of the very respectable institution, 
to which they were communicated. Why does Mr. Nut- 
tall now pretend, that he detected Fluoric acid in the Con- 
drodite in 1820, when ina paper read before the Academy 
of Natural Sciences in 1821, he denies its ar with- 
out any allusion to a previous discovery ? uttall’s 
Communication was referred to a committee; on account 
of its chemical imperfections, it was deemed unworthy of 
a place in the transactions of the Academ: 
In March, 1822, I detected the Fluoric ydi in the mine- 
ral found at "Sparta, New-Jersey ; this fact was a subject of 
conversation amongst our Chemists, immediately after it 
was substantiated ; it was announced to you, in a letter da- 
ted 18th of April, 1822, and you noticed it in the first 
number, volume 5, p. 203, of your Journal. On the 17th 
of May last, my paper, on this subject, was read before the 
* The same mineral which I age sé  Maclureit” for reasons assigned 
in the Journal of Science and Arts, V p. 343. 
Journal of Science and Arts, Vol. V. p. 245. 
Vol. VI aN. :. 22 
