448 OCCURRENCE OF OPAL NEAR NEW ROSS, N. S. PIERS. 



white, (iitnqiic. to greyish translneciit patclies ami minute 

 niottliiigs and spot? ; and it has a specific gravity in the whole 

 of 2,24. The other one, which weighs 24.7 centigrammes, is 

 mostly (if a cinnamon colour, dull and opaque; with minute 

 circular spot-^ of milk-white, opaque mineral ; and has a specific 

 gravity of 2.34. The higher specific gravity of these two 

 specimens as compared with the Girasol, is doubtless owing to 

 the impure brownish yellow mineral in the former, whose 

 colour is owing to the presence of im])urity in the form of 

 iron oxide.* 



The occurrence of 0]ial near i^ew Ivoss is a very interesting 

 addition to the long list of rare or otherwise noteworthv 

 minerals found in that locality. f The Opals here described 

 are not brilliant enough to make them of oommercial value as 

 precions stones, but it is not unlikely that others of finer fire 

 ma^' yet be found there. 



Kegarding the finding of Opal in ISTova Scotia in the past, 

 it may be noted that Dr. Abraham Gesner ("Geology and 

 Mineralogy of ]SJ". S.," 1836, p. 248 ) speaks of the occurrence 

 of Opal and Semiopal in the triassic trap of Partridge Island, 

 Cumberland County, N. S., and says be had obtained two 

 small nodules of the former, both resembling pieces of wax. 

 Prof. Henry How ("Mineralogy of X. S.," 1869, p. 185) 

 refers to Gesner's statement just mentioned, and says that 

 Semiopal or Common Opal is found at a few localities in the 



♦Another specimen received on 18th April, 1913, from Mr. Keddy is about an 

 inch in diameter, and was thought by him to be Common Opal, but on examination 

 proves to be Chalcedony. It is cryptocrystalline, has a concoidal fracture, 

 Bcratches glass readily (hardness 7), is subtranslucent, has a dull waxy lustre, 

 and is white in color. U has a specific gravity of 256 (which is greater than that 

 of Opal), and is not soluble in hot potassium hydroxide. Small tongues of grey- 

 ish translucent mineral penetrate a short distance from the sides, and may possi- 

 bly be opal-silica, which would account for the specific gravity being slightly 

 below the normal for Chalcedony (2.60-2.64). The lack of sharp edges to this 

 specimen, at first suggested that it might have been found loose in the soil, but 

 Mr. Keddy assures me that he got it out of the Opal-bearing vein when he was 

 taking oft its surface. 



tSee Trans. N. S. Inst. Science, xii, Pk 3, p. 24C. Also Faribault (E. R.), Sum- 

 mary Report Geol. Survey Canada, 1907, p. 80; and Young (G. A.), ib. p. 77. 



