IWLATINATE MINES. 37 



its eruption and the genesis of ore was not established. The cinnabar was 

 accompanied by p}'rite, copper ores, and lead and silver minerals, but these 

 were for the most part rare. The gangue was composed of calcite, quaitz, 

 chalcedony, and heavy spar, and bituminous matter was not infrequent. 

 They were richest at the top and gave out in depth. It is an interesting 

 feet that cinnabar occurred in these mines as a fossilizing mineral, having 

 replaced organic remains, for this seems to prove that organic matter may 

 precipitate cinnabar from solutions. 



Metacinnabarite seems to have occurred in these mines, for von 

 DechenHwice mentions among the ores Quecksilber-Mohr, though without 

 any remark. This name is the German equivalent of 2El]iio])s mlneraJis 

 and means amorphous, black, mercuric sulphide, produced by grinding 

 together metallic quicksilver and sulphur. It seems impossible that this 

 geologist should have applied this designation without ascertaining the 

 chemical character of the compound and very strange that he should 

 have made no comment on the novelty of the mineral. Analyses and 

 descriptions of this mineral, as it occurred at the Redington mine, were 

 first published by Dr. G. E. Moore in 1870. It is curious that the Neues 

 Jahrbuch, in reporting von Dechen's monograph, quoted his conclusions 

 almost word for word, but omitted Quecksilber-^Iohr from the list of ores. 



No other quicksilver mines, so far as I am aware, have been worked 

 in Germany, though cinnabar and quicksilver have been detected at nu- 

 merous points and a little of the metal has been secured in the course of 

 the treatment of ores of other metals. The occurrences have so often been 

 described that no detailed notice is necessary, but a few instances may be 

 cited. In Bavaria, near Neustadt, cinnabar was found in masses of quartz 

 inclosed in granite. In Saxony, near Lossnitz, it has been recognized in 

 quartz inclosed in crystalline schists. In the Harz Mountains cinnabar 

 occurs at numerous points. The Rammelsberg mine (iron and copper 

 pyrites and galena) contains a small quantity of mercur3^ At Tilkerode 

 and Clausthal tiemanite and mercurial clausthalite (lead selenide) are found. 

 Cinnabar has been found in veins crossijig early Paleozoic rocks, with 

 heavy spar and siderite, in the Iliilfe Gottes mine. At Kreuznach and 



' Archiv fiir Mineral., Karsten, pp. 430,463. 



