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XXIII. Observations 2ipon the Cadmia found at the Ancram 

 Iron-Works in Columbia County.^ New-Yo)-k, errofieonsli/ 

 supposed to be a nexo Miiieral. Bij Wm. H. Keating*. 



TN the second number of the first vohnne of the New- York 

 -■- Medical and Physical Journal, Dr. Torrey has published 

 a description and analysis of a substance, which he considered 

 as a new mineral, and for which he proposed the name of 

 green oxide of zinc : a specimen of this substance having been 

 handed to me last spring, I immediately recognised it to be 

 similar in its nature and appearance to a product of the iron 

 fui-naces of Belgium, which has been described by Mr. Boues- 

 nel in the " Journal des Mines," (vol. xxix. p. 35) under the 

 name of Cadmia. Having had an opportunity of collecting on 

 the spotf the most satisfactory proofs in support of my opinion, 

 I beg leave to offer to the Academy the following account of 

 this substance. It was first noticed at Ancram in the year 1812, 

 when it was found in pulling down a stone wall connected with 

 the iron furnace, •which belongs to General Livingston, and is 

 now under the direction of Walter Patterson, Esq. It excited 

 some interest among the mineralogists of New- York, but no 

 public notice was taken of it until lately. Mr. Bouesnel's obser- 

 vations on this subject are very full ; these and a few short notes 

 by Messrs. Collet Descotils, Heron de Villefosse and Berthier 

 in the Journal and in the Annales des Mines, are the only 

 notices of it I have ever met with ; I sought in vain for a men- 

 tion of it in English works. The cadmia of Belgium is a new 

 and rare metallurgical product, which is formed in iron fur- 

 naces about five or six feet below their orifice, and immediately 

 under the charge; it there forms an annular disk or ring, 

 which increases continually in thickness, and which, if not re- 

 moved, would choke the furnace ; it forms in the Belgian fiar- 

 naces, according to Mr. Bouesnel, a ring of about sixteen 

 inches in height, offering in the profile or vertical section, a 

 curvilineal triangle, the base of which rests upon the sides of 

 the furnace; and the apex which corresponds with its greatest 

 breadth, is but little distant from the lower part of the ring, 

 so that the triangle appears in some cases almost rectangular." 

 I have seen a piece found at Ancram, which presented tole- 

 rably well the above described characters, and corresponded 

 exactly with Mr. Bouesnel's description ; like the European, 



• Silliman's American Journal of Science, &c. vol. vi. p. 180, from the 

 Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. n. Part II. 



f These observations were made during a short visit to Ancram, in com- 

 pany witii Mr. Vanuxem, who likewise, at the first inspection, recognised 

 this substance to be cadmia. 



P 2 It 



