THE NONMETALLIC MINERALS. 319 



ford. Troy, and Jay. Of these beds those of Grafton (Specimen No. 

 17569, U.S.N.M.) and Athens are stated to have been longest worked 

 and to have produced the most stone. The beds lie in gneiss, and were 

 profitably worked as early as 1820. Another important bed occurs in 

 the town of Weatherfield. This, like that of Grafton, is situated in 

 gneiss, but has no overlying rock, and the material can be had in inex- 

 haustible quantities. It was first worked about 1847. The Rochester 

 beds were also of great importance, the stone being peculiarly fine- 

 grained and compact. It was formerly much used in the manufacture 

 of refrigerators. The bed at New Fane occurs in connection with ser- 

 pentine, and is some half mile in length by not less than 12 rods in 

 width at its northern extremity. The soapstone and serpentine are 

 strangely mixed, the general courses of the bed being like that of an 

 irregular vein of granite in limestone. 



In Massachusetts quarries of soapstone have been worked from time 

 to time in Lynnfield and North Dana (Specimen No. 26439, U.S.N.M.). 

 The Lynnfield stone occurs associated with serpentine. It has not 

 been quarried of late, but was formerly used for stove backs, sills, 

 and steps. In New York State soapstone and talc occur in abundance 

 near Fowler and Edwards in St. Lawrence County. Some of this 

 is very pure, nearly snow-white talc, and is quarried and pulverized 

 for commercial purposes, as already noted. 



In Pennsylvania, in the southern edge of Montgomery County, 

 extending from the northern brow of Chestnut Hill between the two 

 turnpikes across the Wissahickon Creek and the Schuylkill to a point 

 about a mile west of Marion Square, there occurs a long, straight out- 

 crop of steatite and serpentine. The eastern and central part of this 

 belt on the southern side consists chiefly of steatite, while the northern 

 side contains much serpentine, interspersed through it in lumps. 

 Only in a few neighborhoods, as at Lafayette, does either the steatite 

 or serpentine occur in a state of sufficient purity to be profitably 

 quarried. On the east bank of the Schuylkill, about 2 miles below 

 Spring Mill, a good quality of material occurs that has long been 

 successfully worked (Specimen No. 63168, U.S.N.M.) The material 

 is now used principally for stoves, fireplaces, and furnaces, though 

 toward the end of the last century and during the early part of the 

 present one, before the introduction of the Montgomery County mar- 

 ble, it was in considerable demand for doorsteps and sills. It proved 

 poorly adapted for this purpose, owing to the unequal hardness of the 

 different constituents, the soapstone wearing away rapidly, while the 

 serpentine was left projecting like knots, or " hobnails in a plank." 



Several small deposits of soapstone occur in Maryland and some of 

 them have been worked on a small scale. The material is of good 

 quality, but apparently to be had only in small pieces (Specimens Nos. 

 25010 and 26628) from Montgomery and Baltimore Counties. 



In Virginia soapstone occurs in Fairfax (Specimens Nos. 25254, 28649, 



