Intelligence and Miscellanies. 181 



recognized it to be similar in its nature and appearance, to a 

 product of the iron furnaces of Belgium, which has been 

 described by Mr. Bouesnal in the "Journal des Mines," 

 (Vol. 29. p. 35,) under the name of Cadmia. Having had 

 an opportunity of collecting on the spot* the most satisfac- 

 tory proofs in support of my opinion, I beg leave to offer to 

 the Academy the following account of this substance : It 

 was first noticed at Ancram in the year 1812, when it was 

 found in pulling down a stone wall connected with the iron 

 furnace, which belongs to general Livingston, and is now 

 under the direction of Walter Patterson, Esq. It excited 

 some interest among the mineralogists of New-York, but 

 no public notice was taken of it until lately. Mr. Boues- 

 nel's observations on this subject are very full; these and a 

 few short notes by Messrs. Collet Descotils, Heron de 

 Villefosse and Berthier in the "Journal and Annales des 

 Mines," are the only notices of it I have ever met with ; I 

 sought in vain for a mention of it in English works. The 

 cadmia of Belgium is a new and rare metallurgicq? product, 

 which is formed in iron furnaces about five or six feet below 

 their orifice, and immediately under the charge; it there 

 forms an annular disk or ring, which increases continuaily in 

 thickness, and which, if not removed, would choke the 

 furnace ; it forms in the Belgian furnaces, according to Mr. 

 Boufcsnel, a ring of about sixteen inches in height, offering 

 in the profile or vertical section, a curvilineal triangle, the 

 base of which rests upon the sides of the furnace ; and the 

 apex which corresponds with its greatest breadth, is but lit- 

 tle distant from the lower part of the ring, so that the trian- 

 gle appears in some cases almost rectangular." I have seen 

 a piece found at Ancram, which presented tolerably well 

 the above described characters, and corresponded exactly 

 with Mr. BouesnePs description; like the European, it 

 was found in tabular masses, presenting in many cases a 

 distinct slaty structure. The substance has often a striped 

 aspect; its color is grayish, inclining to yellow, green or 

 black. The specific gravity of the European is 5.25, of 

 the American 4.92; this difference is not very great, and 

 may in part be accounted for, by the fact that the former 



* These observations were made during a short visit to Ancram, in com- 

 pany with Mr. Vanuxem, who likewise, at the first inspection, recognized 

 this substance to be cadmia. 



