REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I (J 1 4 47 



repeatedly described so that it has become familiar to students of 

 ore deposits and has been considered almost unique in this part 

 of the country. The writer has found, however, a group of de- 

 posits in Orange county, which embody the same features, inclusive 

 of the occurrence of chondrodite, spinel and other contact minerals. 

 This group includes the O'Neill, Forshee and Mount Basha (Mom- 

 basha) mines, south of Monroe. In thin sections of the ore from 

 the O'Neill mine both chondrodite and humite were identified. 

 The magnetite is distributed in grains and granular aggregates which 

 often surround the particles of silicates and evidently have crystal- 

 lized in close relation with them. It seems reasonable to suppose 

 that the iron has been deposited along with the silicates and as a 

 result of the same process, that is by the influence of the heated 

 solutions and vapors given off by the granite magma. 



Mineralogy. The principal sources from which the mineral col- 

 lections of the New York State Museum are derived are as follows : 



1 The Beck collection. This comprises a considerable portion of 

 the mineralogic material of the State Geological Survey prior to 

 1842. It was probably the material collected by Dr L. C. Beck 

 for the Report on the Mineralogy of New York. 



2 The Brazilian collection. This consisted of a small collection 

 of Brazilian minerals and ores, presented in 1865 by the National 

 Museum of Rio de Janeiro, through the Hon. Mr Lisboa, Envoy 

 Extraordinary of Brazil. The present labels on the displayed speci- 

 mens are inscribed : Presented by Univ. Rio de Janeiro. 



3 The Pickett collection. This collection consisted principally of 

 fossils but contained some minerals, principally from Lockport and 

 from the New England localities. It was purchased in 1867 from 

 the heirs of the late Professor Pickett of Rochester. The material 

 of this collection is below the grade of the present collections and 

 is poorly represented in the present installation. 



4 The Emmons collection. This collection was acquired in 1870 

 through the gift of the Hon. Erastus Corning, who purchased it 

 from the family of the late Dr Ebenezer Emmons. The collection 

 consists largely of crystallized specimens of New York minerals and 

 of foreign occurrences; among the former is a magnificent suite of 

 calcite from the Rossie, N. Y., locality and among the latter a 

 series of specimens from the Hartz, Saxony localities which bear the 

 label of the Freiburg Mining School with the date 1848. The 

 present labels on displayed specimens are inscribed : Presented by 

 Hon. Erastus Corning. 



