Mineralogical Journey. 353 



Art. XIII. — Mineralogical Journey in the northern parts of JVew 

 England, by Charles Upham Shepard ; Assistant to tlie Pro- 

 fessor of Chemistry and Mineralogy, and Lecturer on Botany in 

 Yale College. 



In the months of September and October last, Dr. Heermann of 

 New Orleans, and myself, made an excursion Into Vermont, New 

 Hampshire, and Maine, in company with Prof. Hitchcock of Amherst 

 College, and Mr. Edward Emerson of Boston ; the two latter gen- 

 tlemen were with us only as far north as Acworth, N. H. At tlie re- 

 quest of Prof. H. and Dr. Heermann, I shall give in the succeed- 

 ing pages some account of those minerals which gave us particular 

 interest upon the route. 



1 . Marlborough and J^eio Fane Minerals. 



At Marlborough, Vt. under the guidance of Rev. Mr. Newton, 

 we visited the soapstone quarry, Avhich affords such remarkably dis- 

 tinct crystals of Sitter spar, and Octahedral Iron ore in Chlorite ; 

 and the localities of Chrysoprase and Actynolite in the border of 

 New Fane. The Chrysoprase of this spot, discovered by Gen. Field, 

 has been known for many years. It exists in narrow and frequently 

 interrupted seams traversing Serpentine, accompanied by delicate 

 druses of (Quartz, and small quantities of Pimelite and Asbestus. It is 

 considerably inferior to the Chrysoprase of Silesia, in the beauty of 

 its fracture and translucency, though sometimes vying with it in color. 

 We were more interested in the small crystals of Quartz, tinged 

 throughout of a deep apple green color, by the same coloring matter 

 that tinges the chalcedony in the Chrysoprase, and the clay in the 

 Pimelite. These, regularly terminated at both extremities, like the 

 Compostella Hyacinths, were often found variously attached to each 

 other, filling up small seams and cavities in the Asbestus and Serpen- 

 tine, which when broken open, presented surfaces of several square 

 inches of unusual beauty. This is the only known locality, furnish- 

 ing this variety of Quartz. The Actynolite, which is situated at a 

 distance of four or five miles from the Chrysoprase, is easily obtain- 

 ed, and closely resembles the same mineral from many other places. 

 It is the more beautiful from the nearly white color of the Talc in 

 which it is imbedded. 



We did not visit the deposit of Garnets in Chlorite slate a lit- 

 tle north of the village of New Fane. But we had an opportunity of 



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