76 Geological Survey of the State of New York. 



ally lies near the junction of the limestone with the talcose slate 

 formation." 



The ores of lead are found in almost all the series of New York 

 rocks. The galena, in the hornblendic gneiss of Rossie, is the 

 most remarkable deposit. A large group of crystals, in my own 

 cabinet, from this place, contains one which is three inches across, 

 — all are truncated on their solid angles, and some seem almost 

 octahedral. " Calcareous spar, in the most diversified and beau- 

 tiful forms, constitutes the principal matrix of the ore, and white 

 fluor spar, its frequent associate, is of rare occurrence." 



Dr. Beck remarks, that the soil, in the vicinity of the serpen- 

 tine rocks, seems not to be injuriously affected by the presence of 

 magnesia, according to a somewhat general impression that has 

 been entertained concerning the eifect produced by this earth, 

 when existing in soil. As additional evidence in favor of mag- 

 nesia as a stimulant to vegetation, the limestone of Rochester and 

 Lockport, and all the water limes that have been analyzed, con- 

 tain from twenty to thirty parts of it, in the form of a carbonate, 

 and " the soils in their immediate vicinity are among the most 

 fertile in the State." An instance is within my own observa- 

 tion, of the use of the mineral dolomite, obtained at Fairlee, Vt., 

 twelve miles above Hanover, derived from large veins in the 

 older slate rocks, which was ground as plaster, and used by far- 

 mers upon their land, side by side with gypsum, and the im- 

 provement of the crop, above the general average in the field, 

 was the same in both cases. 



The mineralogy of each county in the State is given, in which 

 department, for the beauty, size, number, and rarity of the min- 

 erals, Orange and St. Lawrence counties are pre-eminent. Most 

 of them have been previously noticed. One crystal of phos- 

 phate of lime, from the latter county, weighs eighteen pounds. 

 The varieties of calcareous spar, found with the galena of Rossie, 

 are very numerous, associated with cubes and dodecahedra of 

 iron pyrites and fluor spar, in crystals of the octahedron and cubo- 

 octahedron; and splendid specimens of sulphate of strontian are 

 also found. 



Dr. Beck describes Allanite, from Warwick, Orange county, 

 its first occurrence in the United States, "and Cacoxenite in an 

 iron mine in Antwerp, Jefferson county, heretofore found only in 

 the iron mines at Hrbeck, in Bohemia, and is chiefly composed 

 of phosphoric acid and peroxide of iron." 



