328 DESCRIPTIVE MINERALOGY. 



ceeds from the disintegration of masses of iron ore, the grains being afterwards washed down 

 by rains. But a serious objection to the adoption of this as a general theory is, that these 

 sands often contain substances wliich are not usually found in these beds of iron ore ; as, for 

 example, garnet, and crystallized litaniferous iron ore. 



Mr. Mather has suggested that this garnet sand might be advantageously used as a substi- 

 tute for emery. It could be easily separated from the particles of iron ore by the magnet. 



Warren County. Garnet will probably be hereafter found abundantly in this county. At 

 present, however, only one locality is known lo me, which is on Lake George, about eight 

 miles from Ticonderoga, where it is associated with tourmaline. 



Westchester County. Garnet, in trapezoidal crystals, often much rounded and usually 

 of some tint of red, is found in the gneiss and granite at West-Farms and New-Rochelle, and 

 in hornblende bowlders at Davenport's neck. On the Croton aqueduct, near the village of 

 Yonkers, rounded crystals, apparently trapezoidal, are abundant in the black mica and gneiss. 

 They are of a rose red and dark red colour, and are usually from a quarter to half an inch in 

 diameter. 



In the same vicinity, there has been found in the gneiss a beautiful massive variety, which 

 is often transparent, and varies in colour from rose to blood-red with a tint of blue. It com- 

 pares favorably with any of the foreign specimens of almandine and pyrope, and when cut 

 and polished, forms a beautiful gem. The cross fractures, however, are so numerous that it 

 is difficult to obtain large pieces which answer the purposes of the lapidary. 



A single irregular crystalline mass of this mineral was found by Dr. Horton and myself, of 

 about eighteen inches in diameter, and weighing fifty or sixty pounds. Near the surface of 

 the mass, the mineral was less pure, and was arranged in plates or layers, with a little quartz 

 and mica interposed between them. 



In Massachusetts, geodes of garnet, of a cinnamon-brown colour, are found accompanied 

 by scapolite in white limeslone at Carlisle, and at Boxborourgh ; and crystals of a dull red 

 colour are found in the mica slate, in Chesterfield. 



In Connnecticut, trapezoidal crystals of a fine red colour are found at Haddam, where they 

 are associated with chrysoberyl, automalite and columbite ; while in Monroe, Washington and 

 several of the neighbouring towns, reddish brown crystals are found in the mica slate. 



In New-Jersey, at Franklin furnace, melanite in fine crystals is found in limestone. 



In New-Hampshire, the most perfect and beautiful crystals that have yet been found in the 

 United States, occur at Franconia. Fine specimens are also obtained at Hanover in the same 

 State. 



