J^otice of a Silicious Petrifaction, 249 



very free from quartz, but I found nearly the same propor- 

 tion o( silex as before, so that silex seems to enter into the 

 composition of the mineral. There is also about three per 

 cent of water liberated by a nearly red heat continued for 

 some time. The proportion of ingredients will be affected 

 only in a slight degree by this fact. It is only necessary to 

 observe that the proportion of lime is to be diminished by 

 the quantity of water, and this will leave the carbonic acid 

 very nearly in the proportion required from the composi- 

 tion of carbonate of lime This mineral has been found in 

 abundance in Williamsburgh. It occurs in considerable 

 masses of a beautiful pearly lustre, and laminated like the 

 other. 



Art. V. — M)ticc of a Silicious Petrifaction, from M 

 Carolina. 



[Extract of a letter from Mr. Thomas Strode.] 



FAYE;rTEviLLE, No. Caro. 3d July, 1823. 



1 SEND yoti some specimens of petrifactions; they are 

 common through the union, but this appears to be from a 

 pine tree, the first I ever saw, and what is remarkable, it is 

 on a high dry sand hill, elevated about ninety feet above 

 the level of the river, in a situation that would seem almost 

 to preclude much moisture. Mr Eccles, an intelligent and 

 respectable gentleman in the neighbourhood, recollects it 

 thirty years past, when it was nearly the entire tree ; the 

 change of wood into stone is certainly a chemical process, 

 and nature does not seem to use costly materials to effect it; 

 why then may it not come under human agency, and be 

 applied to useful purposes ? I send you also a specimen of 

 sand and turpentine, which appears in the incipient stage of 

 petrifaction.* I will remark that the stone in this vicinity 

 is sand united by the oxide of iron,of which I send you a 

 specimen. I am of opinion from some, though not decisive 

 experiments, that by pulverising this stone, and mixing it 



* We believe this to be a mistake ; it is partially mixed with sand, (a ve- 

 Fy common occurrence in pine forests,) and partially in a si&i - of f.xtnme 

 desiccation, from the exhalation ofthe volatile oil of the turpentine by the 

 heat of the sand. (J G. P.) 



Vol. VII.— No. 9, 32 



