72 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



Native iron, on Canaan mountain, a mile and a half from the 

 South Meeting-house. This is particularly interesting, as it is the 

 first instance in which native iron, not meteoric, has been found in 

 America. It was discovered by Major Barrall of Canaan, while 

 employed on surveying several years ago. It formed a thin stratum 

 or plate, in a mass of mica slate, which seemed to have been 

 broken from an adjoining ledge. It presents the usual characters of 

 native iron, and is easily malleable. For some distance around the 

 place where it was found the needle will not traverse, and a great 

 proportion of the tallest trees have been struck with lightning. 

 Whether these phaenomena are connected with the existence of a 

 large mass of native iron, I leave for others to determine ; the facts, 

 however, may be relied on. 



Physical and Chemical properties of the native iron of Canaan, 

 ascertained in the laboratory of Yale College, by Mr. C. U. Shep- 

 ard, at the request of the Editor. — In its first appearance to the eye, 

 the native iron of Canaan resembles highly crystalline plumbago ; 

 beingevery where invested with a thin coating of this mineral, which 

 completely defends it from oxidation. Its structure is visibly cry- 

 stalline ; separating with considerable readiness into pyramidal 

 masses, and more usually into oblique tetrahedra. This cleavage 

 however never takes place without the intervention of thin scales 

 of plumbago. It falls considerably short of meteoric iron in mal- 

 leability, toughness and flexibility ; as well as the silvery whiteness 

 of its colour, which in part is no doubt due to the plumbago dif- 

 fused through it. In hardness and magnetic properties it does not 

 differ perceptibly from pure iron, its specific gravity varies from 

 5-95 to 6-72. 



Intermingled with it, occasionally, is native steel. One angular 

 fragment, weighing about eight grains, was perfectly brittle, suffi- 

 ciently hard lo scratch glass, and possessed of the characteristic 

 c^ranular structure and silvery white colour of steel. With the 

 microscope no scales of plumbago were noticeable in it. Dissolved 

 in dilute nitric acid, it afforded an evident quantity of black car- 

 bonaceous matter, upon the surface of the solution. 



A fragment of the native iron, weighing lOt) grains, was dissolved 

 in dilute' nitro-muriatic acid. The plumbago attached to it being 

 left behind, was separated, and found to weigh six grains. To the 

 solution was added in excess, perfectly caustic liquid ammonia, 

 by means of which the iron was thrown down ; theammoniacal sola- 

 tion was then examined for lead, copper, or any other metal which 

 might be present, by adding to it hydro-sulphuret of ammonia. 

 No precipitate nor change of colour was produced, though suf- 

 fered to remain for several days, which leads to the conclusion that 

 our mineral is unalloyed by any metal. In this respect, therefore, 

 it differs from the native iron of Saxony, in which Klaproth found 

 lead 6*0, and copper 1-50. The iron being washed and heated, 

 weighed 127 grains ; which being in the state of a peroxide, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Children indicated 8890 metallic iron, or according to 

 Klaproth, 922 1 metallic iron. 



To secure greater accuracy, the process was repeated with .50 



grains 



