422 Scientific Intelligence. 
as its hardness is only 1°5, whereas if biotite it paegr we from 2°5 to 3:0, 
Besides it is flexible and wholly inelastic. Nor can e differences arise 
from decomposition, for the mineral is perfectly fr i “shiniog and trans- 
lucent. Its specific gravity is 2°76. Before the blow pipe it hardens, 
bottle-green glass. It appears to me, therefore, to approach very closely 
to the Buncombe mineral found with sapphire, and called by me, corun- 
do 
oO —This is rather frequent, in bright red, slender and much stri- 
ated prisms, closely associated with diaspore and clinochlore, sometimes 
in reticulated aggregations. 
Amherst College, Sept. 29, 1866. 
5. Laurite, a new mineral_—Wéuter has discovered among the fine- 
grained platinum ore from Borneo, a new mineral, a sulphid of ruthe- 
nium and osmium, to which he has given the name laurie. It occurs 
in small grains of” a dark iron-black color, and high luster. Most of the 
grains are true crystals, and Sartorius von Waltershausen has recognized 
the mineral to have the form of the regular octahedron, in some instances 
showing cubic, tetrahexahedral, and other planes. It has a distinct octa- 
hedral cleavage, is brittle and yields a dark gray powder on pulveriza- 
tion. Hardness, above that of quartz. Specific gravity, above 6 (6-99, 
Sartorius), When heated it decrepitates, and B.B. is infusible, giving 
first sulphurous and finally osmic aci ate Not acted upon by aqua 
regia or by fusion with bisulphate of potash. Fused with hydrate of 
potash in a silver crucible the mineral dissolves, yielding a green mass 
on cooling. Analysis gave, ruthenium 65°18, osmium 3:03, sulphur 
31°79. The osmium was determined by loss, and Wahler observes that 
the ruthenium was not entirely free from this substance, so that the per- 
centage of ruthenium is given somewhat too high, while that of the 
composition of the mineral may be represented by the formula 
Se 3) +038, =Ru 62°88, Os 5:00, S 32°12, 
or Ru,S, 9 8, OsS, 8:2. This is the first instance of the occurrence of 
a natural eulphid in the group of platinum metals.— Ann. Chem. Pharm., 
6. “Mi ood.—The newspapers from the Pacific states — accounts 
of two ascents of Mt. Hood during the past summer. e 
glean but little information however, further than that the sage is ac- 
cessible, € accounts are very conflicting in their details, and some of 
the statements evidently very loosely made, while others are apparently 
wrong, which we must "regret as the alleged facts may find their way into 
more enduring literature than the newspapers. 
In July, 1864, the Dalles (Oregon) Meunisinet gave an account of a 
‘successful ascent made on the 17th of July of that year. The attempt 
% The distinction inction between this mineral and the clinochlore of this locality is per- 
pipe then "Te ler saath scratches gypsum with facility, whereas the former makes 
