Mineralogy and Geology. 285 



who proposes to develope my discovery." I say, when this was written 

 to you, already near a year had expired since I had made the discovery ; 

 it was publicly known by the announcement in the Journal of Constan- 

 tinople, the 16th May, J847, and the "brilliant prospect" was already 

 appreciated by the Turkish government, and eight hundred tons from 

 the summit of Gumuchdagh were in England. Wherefore I claim 

 the priority of the discovery of emery in Asia Minor, in situ, and to 

 have been the first to have made known publicly this discovery. 



The reason why I did not make this discovery known to the scientific 

 world, was, because I intended to make a complete memoir on this sub- 

 ject alter an examination of certain points, which is not yet finish- 

 ed ; I will mention only one or two to which mv investigations have 

 led me ; they are the discovery of the existence of the oxyd of zir- 

 conium in emery, and of a new mineral that I have found associated 

 with emery coming from all the localities of Asia Minor and of Naxos. 

 It is a micaceous mineral having for composition, silex 30, alumina 

 50, zirconia 4, lime 13, oxyd of iron, manganese and potash 3. I have 

 decided to call it Emerylite, and to give at some future time a full de- 

 scription of it. 



One word upon the aspect of emery, which M. Tchihatcheff has 

 compared to the hydrated oxyd of iron. In all my observation, I have 

 not yet seen a specimen that can be compared to this oxyd ; even at 

 first sight it resembles more nearly the protoxyds, the silicates and an- 

 hydrous oxyds of iron. The fracture is irregular, except in a species of 

 inferior quality from Gumuchdagh, which has a conchoidal fracture and 

 the aspect of black limestone. I have made other observations more 

 or less interesting but I reserve them for another time. 



3. Chrome and Meerschaum of Asia Minor ; by J. Lawrence 

 Smith, (communicated with the preceding.) — In my journey to the 

 south of Broosa, (Anatoly, Asia Minor,) I crossed a formation of ser- 

 pentine and other magnGsian rocks of considerable extent. Fifty miles 

 from this city I discovered chr ornate of iron disseminated in these 

 rocks ; and ten or fifteen miles farther south (near the city of Har- 

 roanjick) there is an abundant deposit of this mineral. A circum- 

 stance worthy of remark, is, that this chromate of iron (the first that 

 has been discovered in Asia Minor) is found in serpentine as elsewhere. 

 This important fact can explain to a certain extent the formation of this 

 chromate. It is well known that serpentine contains all the elements 

 °f chromate of iron, which, during the consolidation of this rock, might 

 separate themselves by the force of segregation, so well known to ope- 

 rate in many geological phenomena. Two facts which seem to con- 

 firm this supposition, are, first the existence of the chromate of iron in 

 masses and not in veins, and secondly, the pale color of the serpentine 

 associated with the chromate. One small specimen that I have, consists 

 of a white rock, composed principally of carbonate of magnesia in which 

 small specks of chromate of iron are visible. It is possible that this 

 carbonate is the result of the decomposition of the serpentine at the 

 surface, by the action of water containing carbonic acid. It is only 

 at this locality that I found crystals of the chromate, octahedral, but 

 very small. 



