Intelligence and. Miscellanies. 377 



18. Group of crystals of common salt. — Mr. Henry Silli- 

 Hian, of New York, has forwarded to us, a mass of crystals 

 of common salt of uncommon size and beauty. It is from 

 the island of Curracoa, and was formed around a branch of 

 wood, suspended in the cistern from which the salt water 

 was evaporated ; the cavity left by the branch is very dis- 

 tinct, and is two inches deep and three fourths of an inch 

 wide. The mass of crystals is from six to seven inches in 

 diameter; it is of a snowy whiteness, with considerable lus- 

 tre, and presents about fifty distinct cubes, the largest of 

 which are three and a half inches long. They are grouped, 

 with salient and re-entering angles, and the assemblage of 

 crystals has an appearance not unlike that of the large 

 groups of the (so called) crystallized sandstone of Fontain- 

 bleau, or, more still, like the richest masses of crystals of 

 fluorspar. The increments and decrements of crystalliza- 

 tion are singularly distinct, and the whole forms a specimen 

 well worthy of a place in a cabinet of crystals. 



1 9. Fibrous gypsum of Onondago County, New Yorh. — 

 Some specimens of gypsum, recently transmitted to the edi- 

 tor, by an unknown hand, are thus labelled : "Found in dig- 

 ging a salt well, in Liverpool, Onondago County, N. Y. 

 twelve feet below the surface, in strata of black mud, inter- 

 mixed with slate stone ; both above and below the strata, 

 was found soft red rock or indurated clay, full of seams, 

 through which the salt water passes." 



These specimens are fibrous, foliated and crystallized, 

 blended more or less. The fibrous has evidently formed 

 thin strata or veins between layers of loose incoherent slate 

 or slaty clay. In one of the specimens these layers alter- 

 nate, in their natural connexion with the gypsum, which be- 

 ing white and brilliant forms a pleasuig contrast. 



One specimen, of a foliated structure, is blended, and still, 

 distinctly contrasted with, a bluish green clay. In this gyp- 

 sum, which is mainly white and beautiful, there are spots 

 and veins of ferruginous quartz — decidedly red, but not so 

 deeply stained with iron as to become opake, like that of 

 Composlella in Spain. The association is similar to that of 

 the Compostella quartz, so remarkable for the perfection of 

 the crystals; but in the present specimen the ciystallization 

 is indistinct, and there are only traces of a regular form. 



Vol. XVI.— No. 2. 91 



