Mineralogy and Geology of a part of Nova Scotia. 1 57 



On the estate of Alexander Grant, we observed, in the 

 bed of a brook proceeding from the forest, a section of red 

 sandstone and shale, including a bed of red and brown he- 

 matitic iron ore twenty feet wide, and of unknown thickness, 

 it not having as yet been explored for practical purposes. 

 This hematite exhibits all the varieties of imitative form 

 usually assumed by this ore, and resembles precisely those 

 beautiful specimens brought from the Salisbury mines in 

 Connecticut which so frequently adorn mineralogical cabi- 

 nets. It occurs botryoidal, and stalactitical, and sometimes 

 possesses a brilliant, tubercular surface, consisting of small 

 hemispherical elevations. 



Grey oxide of manganese is associated with this ore, and 

 forms a considerable proportion of the bed. It is sometimes 

 crystallized in the cavities of the hematite, but more fre- 

 quently is disseminated in radiating acicular fibres or distinct 

 concretions through the mass. Its color is between lead 

 and steel grey, and it possesses a high metallic briUiancy, 

 which is not tarnished by exposure to air and moisture. The 

 geodes in the hematite are frequently occupied by crystals of 

 arragonite, in six-sided prisms, and also sulphate of barytes 

 in compressed or tabular crystals, usually of a pure white col- 

 or, and but very loosely attached to the matrix, or they are 

 sometimes completely isolated. Several masses of a foliated 

 structure, composed entirely of this substance, were also 

 found in the soil near this brook. Whether the manganese, 

 intermixed with this ore, will prove injurious to the iron in 

 the operation of smelting it, or not, is, we think, a question 

 of importance to those interested in the establishment erect- 

 ing at New Glasgow for working it extensively, or as is con- 

 templated with the coke or carbonaceous base formed by 

 the destructive distillation of bituminous coal, which is now 

 exclusively employed in England, in the reduction of iron 

 ores. It is certain that this substance, whether reduced to 

 the metallic state or not, so as to combine chemically with 

 the iron, must nevertheless have an injurious effect in the 

 smelting furnace ; for in consequence of its existing in the 

 state of per oxide, a large portion of heat and carbon is ta- 

 ken up in the form of carbonic acid, or oxide, by uniting with 

 the oxigen ; and thus depriving the iron of more or less of its 

 carbon, renders it of inferior quality. 



A bed of buff colored limestone occurs in the sandstone 

 near the hematite locality, and will prove a valuable fluxing 



