26 MINERALOGY AND LITHOLOGY. 



quality. Other localities are Barrington, Bedford, Troy, Walpole, Wash- 

 ington, Hillsborough, Campbell mountain, Keene, Wentworth, Swanzey, 

 Andover, and Orford. 



This mineral possesses no peculiarities of note in this state. It is 

 essentially pure carbon; it is opaque in the thinnest microscopic sections 

 of the rocks which contain it. Caution must be exercised not to con- 

 found the molybdenite, of which we have an abundance, with the graph- 

 ite. They both soil the fingers, and leave a mark on paper. They are 

 both infusible ; but molybdenite, when heated before the blow-pipe, im- 

 parts a characteristic green color to the flame, while graphite imparts 

 none. 



The presence of graphite in the oldest rocks is regarded by many 

 geologists as affording evidence of the existence of some form of life, 

 either vegetable or animal, in those remote ages when the rocks were 

 accumulated in which no fossils at present are to be found, since, by vital 

 forces, free carbon is readily separated from its oxidized condition, and it 

 is difficult to obtain it by other methods. The stages of transition of 

 vegetable matter to coal, and finally to graphite, are well understood ; 

 and the presence of animal remains, in considerable variety at some 

 points in the Connecticut valley, renders it not at all improbable that sea 

 weeds and other low forms of vegetable life may have had a great devel- 

 opment in those previous ages in which the old schists were accumulated 

 in which graphite is now so abundant. 



8. Stibnite [Sbj, S3]. 



This important ore of antimony has not been found in deposits of any 

 economic importance in this part of the country. It has been obtained 

 from Cornish and Lyme, though neither place should be recorded as a 

 locality for the species, since no one is able to find it at present. Dr. 

 Jackson assayed the specimens that he obtained from citizens in Cornish, 

 and found they were very rich in silver, which was suspected to be due to 

 an admixture of argentite. The specimens also contained copper pyrites. 

 Prof. O. P. Hubbard found crystallized specimens in loose blocks of 

 quartz in the town of Lyme, and though he supposed it to be in place 

 near by, he was unable to find it. Hence it may be stated that there is 

 evidence of the existence of this mineral, and a possibility of the discov- 



