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On a Fire Stone , by Richard Peters^ Esquire. 



Read May 10, 1814. 



May eth, 1814. 



Sir^ 



Mr. George Krebs, an intelligent and long expe- 

 rienced brick- maker, of Philadelphia, spoke to me, a 

 long time ago, on the subject of a most valuable Fire- 

 Stone, which lies, entirely neglected, though in great 

 plenty, in the quarries on my Belmont farm, near the 

 borders of the tide water of the Schuylkill. I have re- 

 peatedly endeavoured to obtain such an account of this 

 stone, from persons of mineralogical knowledge, as 

 would enable any one, standing in need of such stone, 

 to find it, at places convenient to them. I have no 

 doubt of its being dispersed in many parts of our coun- 

 try ; it being, to all appearance, a common stone. But 

 I have, on this, as on many other occasions, been dis- 

 appointed. I have, however, received the following- 

 short description. — '* The stone appears to be a fine 

 granular aggregation of quartz and black mica^ — a va- 

 riety oi gjiiess,^^ 



Any person desirous of experimenting, (if that be 

 necessary, )\or using it, for furnaces, fire places, and all 

 works requiring such material, may have, out of my 

 quarry, what they want, either for actual use, or for 

 comparison with stones in their neighbourhood. Some 

 experience is necessary, in the selection. There must 

 be no flinty veins. I have had the stones in the backs 

 of chimnies, and ovens, unhurt, for fifty yqars. The 



