PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



17 



sphene. The mica was often aggregated in masses of small crystals, having a 

 columnar arrangement,'" imt)odtled in which, and disseminated throughout the 

 rock, were a great number of crystalline grains of a transparent mineral, varying 

 in color from a light rose-red to a deep sapphire blue. Dr. Hunt, in his report 

 to Sir William Logan, said: — 



" Their hardness, which is so great as to enable them to scratch readily the 

 face of a crystal of topaz, showed them to be nothing else than the very rare min- 

 eral corundum, which from its colors is referable to the varieties known as oriental 

 ruby and sapphire. The grains obtained were small, none indeed larger than a 

 pepper-corn; but at the time I was on the spot they were not noticed, and the 

 specimens were collected for the pyroxene, in only two or three of which I have 

 since detected the corundum. It is probable that further examinations may develop 

 larger and more available specimens of these rare and costly gems. It is in this 

 crystalline limestone that they generally occur, and the corundum found in the 

 State of New Jersey is in the same rock and with similar mica." 



Yet it does not appear that this discovery in Burgess received further atten- 

 tion from Hunt or other members of the Geological Survey, and the mineral was 

 practically re-discovered there a year ago by Professor Miller, of the Kingston 

 School of Mining. It will be noticed from Hunt's account that the specimens 

 were collected only for their pyroxene, and that the crystals of corundum were 

 not noticed or identified until a later time. 



The largest known deposit of corundum in the Province was discovered 

 twenty-two years ago on the farm of Henry Robillard, in the township of Rag- 

 lan, Renfrew county; but in this case twenty years elapsed before the mineral was 

 correctly identified. According to Robillard's story, he was returning with his 

 little daughter from a cranberry marsh on the wide flats of York river, and, in 

 climbing a hill which rises about 500 feet above the river, he sat down upon a large 

 boulder to rest. In telling me the story Robillard said: — 



" Annie was kneeling behind me, and picked up a queer-shaped stone, and, 

 showing it to me, said it looked like the stopper of a cruet-bottle. It was just like 

 that; and I wondered what fool of a man had gone to work and whittled it out. 

 Then I looked at the stone where I was sitting; and, bless you, sir, it was paved 

 with cruet-stoppers. And here is the very boulder now," he added, as we reached 

 the spot, about half-way down the hill. ^ 



Specimens gathered by Mr. Robillard were shown to several persons in Com- 

 bermere, and one who professed to be a miner oi phosphate of lime in Lanark 

 county pronounced them to be crystals of that mineral. In 1884 one John Fitz- 

 gerald joined with Robillard in an application to the Crown for the mineral rights 

 on the property, including several lots on the 18th and 19th concessions of Raglan: 

 and for a number of years they sought in vain for a customer to buy an apatite- 

 mine. The sturdy pioneers would brook no contradiction of their claim tliat the 

 mineral was veritable apatite; and when a doubt was raised by two young miner- 

 alogists who visited the region about ten years ago in the interest of a capitalist, 

 and a suggestion was meekly made that it might be emery, one of the pioneers 

 cut negotiations short by threatening to " punch their heads." Last year, how- 



(i) It is not improbable that these were decomposed or altered crystals of corundum. On the metamor- 

 phoses of the mineral Professor Judd says: "At the earth's surface, as is well-known, corundum or the crys- 

 talized oxide of aluminium is one of the most unalterable substances. Fragments found in river gravels and 

 sands, though perfectly water-worn, show no trace of chemical alteration in their surfaces. On the other hand, 

 there can be no doubt that conditions must exist in the earth's crust under which chemical change of this min- 

 eral does take place; this is abundantly proved by the frequency with which undoubted pseudomorplis of cor- 

 undum occur. Among the minerals found replacing corundum as pseudoniorphs are muscovite (daniouritei, 

 various forms of spinel, andalusite. fibrolite, cyanite, margarite, chloritoid, zoisite, ripidolite and other clilor- 

 ites, various vermiculites, kaolin, and other substances." 



