HOW ON ORES OF MANGANESE AND THEIR USES. 129 



which the first part was pubKshed in the last volume of the 

 Transactions of the Institute. 



The only deposits of manganese mentioned in Dawson's Acadian 

 Geology are an impure bed near Cornwallis bridge, that at Mus- 

 quodoboit, and those in the iron veins of Shubenacadie and in the 

 limestones of Walton and Cheverie, of which latter it is said (p. 239) 

 "small quantities have been exported. I have no doubt that if the 

 limestones can be profitably quarried on a large scale, the manganese 

 might be separated and form a considerable additional source of 

 revenue ; but it seems doubtful whether mining operations for the 

 manganese alone can be carried on without loss." 



The ores of manganese found here in quantity are Wad or bog 

 ore ; Manganite, which may be called hard grey ore, and Pyro- 

 lusite, which may be distinguished as soft black lustrous ore, and is 

 often mixed with psilomelane, a hard black ore not so lustrous as 

 the last named. 



Wad. — The first of these is a black earthy substance, which' is 

 found in rounded lumps and grains. It has been sent to me from 

 Parrsborough, and from another locality, I believe to the east of 

 Halifax, where it is found in lumps mixed with stones ; the sample 

 I examined contained a great deal of water, and, when dried, 

 56 per cent, of binoxide of manganese, with the traces of cobalt 

 which are usually found in this species. Neither of these would 

 be valuable as ores of manganese, but they Avould probably serve 

 as paints. Bog manganese is often mixed with bog iron ore, and 

 then forms deposits of a brown or chocolate colour, called ochres 

 or mineral paints. The paints of Bridgewater and Chester furnish 

 examples. In the first of these I found only 11 per cent., and in 

 the second about 20 per cent, of binoxide of manganese. It is said 

 to be useless to send to (the English) market ores contaming less 

 than 65 per cent, binoxide. 



Manganite. — This is a very hard ore which is found in compact 

 lumps of a steel grey colour and sub-metallic lustre, giving a red- 

 dish brown streak to a file. It is often found in the neighbourhood 

 of the next mentioned*-; it occurs abundantly at ^-^^alton and 

 (/heverie, and is met with at Douglas and Rawdon. At Walton I 

 have picked it out of the stoneheaps in fields near the river, and 

 was told that a bed of it crops out on the bank of the river near 

 15 



