On the Minerals of Canada. 63 



In the valley of the Saugeen when that fertile tract of country 

 l)ecomes better known. " Apart from domestic consumption, the 

 Townships of Oneida and Cayuga, furnished in 1854, 7,000 tons of 

 gypsum for exportation to the United States. These gypsums are 

 <)f recent origin ; they occur in the form of mounds, which pene- 

 trate the paloezoic strata, and the overlying clays of recent date. 

 The beds of lime-stone which surround them are upraised, broken, 

 and in great part absorbed. Mr. S. Hunt, of the Geological Com- 

 mission has shown that these phenomena are due to certain 

 springs containing free sulphuric acid, which acting upon the car- 

 bonate of lime, has changed it into gypsum." 



In the arts gypsum is employed by potters for procuring moulds 

 with its calcined powder, moistened with a proper quantity of water. 

 The finer kinds are selected for the manufacture of the alabaster 

 ornaments so much admired. When properly calcined and ground 

 to a fine powder, it is largely employed for stucco work, statues 

 and statuettes ; when mixed with glue or gelatine, coloured stuc- 

 coes of great hardness and beauty are made from it. It is ad- 

 mirably adapted for taking casts of objects, and is frequently em- 

 ployed for that purpose. Gypsum is commonly known under the 

 name of Plaster of Paris ; vast quantities of this substance being 

 found in the neighborhood of the French Capital, and a large 

 quantity of the material is prepared there for home consumption 

 and exportation. Gypsum is the basis of Keen's, Martin's Parian 

 cement; the material is thrown into a saturated solution of Alum, 

 Sulphate of Potash or Borax ; after soaking, it is air-dried, and re- 

 I)aked at a low red heat. When Borax is used, plaster is called 

 Parian ; when Sulphate of Potash is employed, it is styled Keene's 

 cement; and when made with Pearl-ash and Alum together, and 

 baked at a higher temperature it is designated Martin's cement. In 

 England, the Gypsum for these purposes is obtained from Notting- 

 hamshire, Derbyshire, and Cumberland. An immense number 

 and variety of articles manufactured from Gypsum, with small ad- 

 ditions of the substances before mentioned, were exhibited at the 

 London and Paris exhibitions. The subject is one of general in- 

 terest, and the vast deposits of Gypsum in Canada will, no doubt, 

 become considerable sources of national wealth, when the proper 

 times arrives. 



For Agricultural purposes, the value of Gypsum is too well 

 known to require much notice here ; a growing appreciation of its 

 worth is shewn in the yearly increasing demand, and it is now 



