On Serpentine. 3-1 



east. In. this region tlie serpentine is no longer a subordinate 

 mineral as in the limestone beds of the Laurentian system, but 

 forms great rock masses which, are iuterstratified with the slates 

 and quartz rocks of the country. It often rises into hills, and some- 

 times covers areas of many miles, generally covered with a growth 

 of pines and firs. The same range of serpentines has been fol- 

 lowed southward through New England, and along the Alleghany 

 mountains, of which the Green Mountains are but the north-east- 

 ern extremity. 



This serpentine rock is somewhat variable in its characters. - Its 

 weathered surface is either whitish or of a rusty red ; it is very 

 tough, and when broken, exhibits the usual colours of serpentine, 

 generally however the darlcer tints. Sometimes it is foliated, 

 and then is for the most part pale green ; it is often intersected 

 by veins of picrolite or by thin seams of chrysotile, the fibres be- 

 ing perpendicular to the sides of the seams. Sometimes the rock 

 exhibits the character of a conglomerate, consisting of rounded 

 masses of serpentine of various sizes, cemented by a paste which 

 is a dolomite or carbonate of lime and magnesia with a little car- 

 bonate of iron ; at other times, we meet with a fine grained and 

 intimate mixture of serpentine with dolomite, and the powdered 

 ma,ss then effervesces with nitric acid, which expels the carbonic 

 acid from the dolomite ; in other cases, pure carbonate of lime is 

 intermingled with the serpentine, and this mixture may be dis- 

 tinguished by eff'ervescing. with acetic acid. Carbonate of mag- 

 nesia, which also occurs in beds near the serpentine, is sometimes 

 intermingled with it ; but in the greater number of cases, the rock 

 is nearly pure serpentine. Chromic iron, which is the only source 

 of the oxyd of chrome and the chromates of potash, lead, and 

 zinc, so much used in dyeing and painting, is chiefly found in ser- 

 pentines, and is almost always present in those of Eastern Canada^ 

 generally in small grains, but occasionally in beds of considerable 

 size, as in Bolton and Ham. 



The economical uses of serpentine are important. From the 

 beauty and variety of its colour and the ease with which it is 

 wrought, it is much employed as an ornamental stone. Thus, at 

 Portsoy in Scotland, Baireuth in Franconia, and Zoblitz in Saxony, 

 it is extensively manufactured into vases, ornaments, and articles 

 of ftirniture. At Zoblitz, it is said, that some hundreds of persons 

 are employed in quarrying, cutting, turning, and polishing the 

 serpentines of that vicinity, which are sent all over the world. 



