in the Counties of New-Haven and Litchfield. 227 
There were several metallic sulphurets, quartz in abun- 
dance, and often crystalized, and, more than all, and what 
had principally drawn me to the place, spathic iron. This 
remarkable mineral, which, in small quantities and much 
mixed with other minerals, is a very common companion of 
metals in their veins, is however, rarely found in great quan- 
tities in oneplace. France, and especially Germany, is re- 
markable for mines of spathic iron, and although we have 
_ some few American localities of it mentioned in professor 
Cleveland’s mineralogy, there is, so far as I am_ informed, 
no evidence that in this country it exists any where, in 
quantity, except at this mine. 
Tons of it lie here upon the ground, and no one in this 
vicinity appears to know what it is, nor does it appear ever 
to have entered into the views of the proprietor to turn it to 
account. 
It is very well characterized. Its structure is distinctly 
foliated, with a triple cleavage, producing rhombic frag- 
ments, the surfaces a little bent : the colours are from yel- 
lowish white, deepening through various shades of yellow 
and brown, to almost black ; the surfaces which have been 
acted on by the air, are the most deeply coloured and their 
interior, when a piece is broken, is much whiter : the spe- 
cific gravity is four, water being one. 
It is entirely indifferent to the magnet till it has been heat- 
ed red hot on charcoal, when it becomes very sensible and 
flies to the magnet almost with the avidity of iron filings. Ik 
does not often appear crystalized, but when it is, the crystals 
are very flat, thatis to say, very obtuse rhombs. Quartz is its 
immediate gangue, and many specimens are found, in whick 
it is beautifully interlaced with this mineral, and occasional- 
ly a fragment presents a ground of dark coloured spathic 
iron, with white crystals of quartz, perforating it in many 
places, and directons and thus presenting a kind of mosaic. 
In the above description, it is presumed every mineralo- 
gist will recognize the spathic iron. ‘This kind of iron ore 
is entirely different from that of Salisbury and Kent. . It ts 
essentially composed of oxid of iron, united to carbonic acid, 
and usually to lime ; it contains also variable proportions of 
manganese and sometimes magnesia. It appears to be es- 
sentially a carbonate of iron, but it is rare that lyme is not 
also present. 
