120 GEOLOGY OF OLD HAMPSHIEE COUNTY, MASS. 



the Berkshire County irou furnaces without a suspicion, notwithstanding its refrac- 

 tory nature, that the ore was emery, with only a small admixture of iron ore. 



The mineralogical and geological data of the article are quoted under 

 "Emery" in the Mineralogical Lexicon covering the field of this mono- 

 graph^ and under the general description of the vein (p. 135). The conclu- 

 sion of the article is as follows: 



It may be proper to add that John B. Taft, esq., of Boston, in behalf of his 

 associates, owners of the emery mine, has the sole management of the business con- 

 nected with the mine. 



I would express my obligations to Mr. J. L. Smith for the valuable information 

 contained in his articles on the emery of Asia Minor and on the associated minerals 

 of the emery localities published in Vols. X and XI of this journal; also to Dr. H. S. 

 Lucas, of Chester, for kind assistance in the field.' 



It seems thus that the veins became known to Dr. Hitchcock between 

 1835 and 1841, and that Dr. Lucas, who, as an ardent student of the min- 

 eralogy of his native town, was doubtless acquainted with Dr. Hitchcock's 

 published work, examined the beds, became convinced of their economic 

 value and began work upon them in 1856. He renewed his work in 1863, 

 but as an iron industry it did not prove profitable, and the jJi'operty passed 

 into the hands of a Boston company represented by Mr. John B. Taft, and 

 in which Dr. Lucas was interested. 



Largely, perhaps, on account of the refractory nature of the ore. Dr. 

 Jackson was employed to examine the mine, and, relying upon the earlier 

 investigations of J. Lawrence Smith, predicted the occurrence of emery 

 from the associated minerals and urged Dr. Lucas to search for it. 



In the meantime the miners had practically discovered the emery, 

 much to their soitow, and I have been informed by two who worked in the 

 mine at the time that they were well persuaded that the brown mineral was 

 what dulled their tools and were accustomed to call it emery. Armed with 

 this practical and scientific information, Dr. Lucas investigated the ore anew, 

 determined the emery, and sent the specimens to Dr. Jackson, upon which 

 he made his mineralogical tests and, most important of all, his chemical 

 analyses.^ 



1 Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 126, under " Conindiun." 



-In a recent report of .an interview with Dr. Lucas (Springfield Republican, "Another vein of 

 corundum," December 12, 1895) the history of the discovery is repeated much more nearly in 

 accordance with the account of the matter I have given than with the biographical sketch quoted 



