228 Geology, Mineralogy, Scenery, &c. 
Hence probably it is, that, ordinarily, in reducing it, it is 
aot necessary to put limestone into the furnace, as in case of 
other iron ores; the lime, or in other words, the flux, is 
present in the ore itself, and little or none need be added. 
But this is not its greatest excellence— 
It affords steel directly from the bar without the process of 
cementation. Hence, in Europe this ore is much valued, as 
the iron bar drawn out by the trip-hammer in the common 
process of blooming, is iron or steel at pleasure, according 
as the process is managed; this is not true of any other 
ore, and hence probably this has been called the steel ore. 
The steel made from it is not of the finest kind, it is used 
principally for agricultural and other coarser instruments. 
The gneiss rock in which this spathic iron lies, is within 
the limits of the town of New-Milford, and on account of 
the important use which is there made of this rock, it is 
worthy of a moment’s attention. 
“It is, as already remarked, gnevss, but singularly perfect 
in its characters, and it is questionable whether for purposes 
of architecture the world can produce its superior. 
Both its stratification and its schistose structure are so 
perfectly regular and continuous on one right line,that slabs. 
of it of any length which can be lifted, can be raised from 
the quarry so regular in all their dimensions, and so even in 
all their surfaces, that they are hardly, excelled by hewn 
stone. .The colour also is of alight, agreeable grey ; 
the finest houses in New-Milford have this stone for their 
door-steps and basement; and its natural surfaces, or those, 
which, at the ends and edges are but slightily modified by 
the hammer and chisel, are so perfect that nothing finer 
aeed be wished for the construction of the handsomest hous- 
es in cities. Could it be easily transported to New-York, 
this stone would be a more valuable possession to the pro- 
prietor, than the mine of silver or iron. 
1 was informed that one stone was actually removed from 
the quarry, of the astonishing length of forty feet, with 
such a breadth and thickness, as corresponded to the pur- 
pose for which it was to be used. It is worth the trouble 
of a visit to New Milford, if it were for nothing else than to 
see this incomparable kind of building stone. In its native 
bed, it has the general stratification of the neighboring coun- 
ITY, both with respect to the direction and dip of the strata. 
