358 On the Discovery of Fluoric Acid inthe Condrodite. 
would have decomposed the former,to combine with its flu- 
oric acid. Iii support of this peli we Nuttall tells us, that 
this mineral has been found a st-Point, in New-Yo 
and that it has been observed ss eae and mica from 
Vesuvius : he then says, ‘*in these no trace of fluoric acid 
has as yet been discovered.”” To obviate this seeming ob- 
jection, I will ask Mr. Nuttall if he knows, that the constit- 
uents of the specimens from the localities which he has ci- 
ted, have been ascertained. As faras my knowledge, ex- 
tends, no chemist has yet analyzed them, and I confidently 
anticipate, that when they shall be examined they will all 
prove to be fluo-silicates of magnesia. Analogy authorises 
such anticipations. Jf we even admit, that no fluoric acid 
has yet been discovered in the cases cited by Mr. Nuttall, 
we are not thence to infer, that this acid does not exist 
there, because we know that, that acid escaped the notice 
of Berzelius, when he analyzed the condrodite, found in 
Finland, and that | afterwards detected it in that mineral, 
though no fuate of lime accompanied the specimen which 
] examined.* 
ae the next place Mr. Nuttall tells us, that the Sparta 
ral was announced by Professor Cleaveland in bis 
ucite.”” 1am surprised at this assertion and will thank 
Mr. Nuttall, ie eet out the page in Cleaveland’s first edi- 
tion, where the word “ Brucite” is imprinted. I maintain 
that it cannot Se Band in any part of that valuable work. 
he term ‘‘ Brucite”” was announced, for the first time, 
in 1819 to be “a new species in mineralogy, discovered by 
the late Dr. Bruce.. We hope to publish in the next numbe 
a description and analysis of it.”’t Notwithstanding the anx- 
iety for an analysis of what somé now pretend tobe this 
mineral, none was published prior to mine, in 1822,{ al- 
though eight numbers of Professor Silliman’s Journal, ap- 
pes eared subsequently to its being mentioned in that. work. 
, dail that Dr. Bruce considered the Sparta mineral, a 
silica calcareous oxide of titanium. For my proofs, I refer 
* Journal of Science and Arts, Vol. V. p. 366. 
tHbid, Vol. I. p. 439. 
ftIbid, Vol, V. p. 336. . 
