208 Miscellanies. 



bent and fractured, as they are at Norwich and Chester. The Mo- 

 nazite from this locality is in very perfect, transparent prisms, with a 

 simple pyramidal termination ; they are small, rarely exceeding one 

 eighth of an inch in length, and are scattered like small garnets through 

 the brown quartz adjoining the magnetic iron. I have seen none of 

 them in the latter gangue. As the Yorktown quarry is to be worked for 

 the iron, we may hope for a supply of these two rather rare species. 

 In 1841, Mr. Arthur Connell* published an analysis of Sillimanite, 

 from which he was led to associate this species with disthene (kyanite) ; 

 his analysis substantially confirms Mr. Bowen's,t and the two are cer- 

 tainly inconsistent with that of Dr. Thomson's,! in which zirconia was 

 found to be so large a constituent, (18 per cent.) Yet it is singular 

 that in the analysis of Dr. Thomson's pupil, (Mr. Muir,) the sum of the 

 silica, alumina, and zirconia, (=92-86,) should have so nearly equalled 

 the silica and alumina in Mr. Bowen's analysis, 96-777. As small zir- 

 cons are not uncommonly found associated with Sillimanite at Norwich, 

 (although I have never seen them at Chester, from whence Dr. Thom- 

 son's specimens, and Mr. Connell's, were derived,) it is certainly possi- 

 ble that a portion of this species was mixed with the subject of analysis ; 

 otherwise it is difficult to understand what the mineral analyzed by 

 Muir was. Among the specimens personally obtained at various times 

 at Norwich, I have found one crystal with terminating planes, which, 

 together with the characteristic diagonal cleavage of Sillimanite, is irre- 

 concilable with the view of Mr. Connell — drawn from his own and Mr. 

 Bowen's analysis — that this mineral is identical with disthene or kyanite. 



B. Silliman, Jr. 



4. The great Telescope of the Earl of Rosse. — We have been fre- 

 quently indebted to our esteemed friend and correspondent, John Taylor, 

 Esq. of Liverpool, for information respecting the progress of the largest 

 telescope in the world. The following statement of facts respecting this 

 telescope, is cited from the London News, illustrated, of Sept. 9, 1843, 

 kindly forwarded to us by Mr. Taylor.§ It is now in progress at Par- 

 sonstown, Ireland, the seat of the earl of Rosse in King County, eighty 

 seven miles from Dublin. 



This nobleman appears to love science for its own sake, and in him 

 talents of a high order are united with great perseverance and prac- 



* Jameson's New Edinburgh Phil. Jour., Vol. xxxi, p. 232; entire No. 62. 



t Am. Jour., Vol. vm, p. 113. 



i Edinburgh Transactions, Vol. xi, 245, and Outlines of Mineralogy, Vol. i, 424. 



§ The illustrations of various subjects in wood cuts are very beautiful, and 

 every way worthy of being preserved in a more permanent form. A large portion 

 of them are designed to immortalize the recent travels of the youthful British 

 Queen and Prince Albert. 



