312 Mineralogy and Geology of a part of Nova Scotia. 



United States, and find that all, without a single exception, 

 possess this property, when placed on heated bodies. The 

 count de Bournon observed that from Brittany to be more 

 phosphorescent than any he had ever seen, but we are una- 

 ble to say whether that from Nova Scotia is equal to it, not 

 having a specimen of the former in our possession. 



We would mention in this place, for the benefit of those 

 who may hereafter visit this locality of laumonite, as well as 

 another which we shall describe, that in order to preserve 

 the transparency of these crystals, they should be prepared 

 with a strong protecting solution of gum Arabic, in which to 

 immerse them, otherwise from the rapid efflorescence which 

 this mineral undergoes, every crystal will be sacrificed, and 

 the mineralogist will have the mortification of seeing the 

 products of his labor crumble into dust. 



About one mile east of Sandy Cove, the specular iron ore 

 appears to the mineralogist in more important veins, afford- 

 ing specimens not inferior in beauty, to those from Elba. 

 When not massive, it occurs in flat tabular crystals, often 

 with curvilinear and striated faces, exactly resembling spe- 

 cimens from volcanic countries. This ore traverses both 

 greenstone and amygdaloid. Magnetic iron ore also occurs 

 near it, forming veins in the same rocks, which are not, how- 

 ever, of sufficient extent to justify the expense of mining. 

 The best specimens are found in the soil occupying the inte- 

 rior of the disintegrated veins, which appear to have been 

 left naked by the previous decomposition of the amygdaloid, 

 which formerly surrounded them. Indeed, the soil is abun- 

 dantly mixed with large and very perfect crystals in the form 

 of the primary octahedron, and also exhibits the passage of 

 it in various degrees of advancement into the rhombic dode- 

 cahedron, which it sometimes completes, and thus becomes 

 isomorphous with the Franklinite, which generally presents 

 this decrement. The crystals are sometimes imbedded in a 

 friable dark bluish black colored substance, which proved to 

 be black wad, or the earthy oxide of manganese. 



The widest veins of this ore which have yet been discover- 

 ed in situ, are only about eight inches in diameter, and they 

 appear almost uniformly to diminish in breadth, as they are 

 seen at greater depths from the surface. About thirty years 

 ago, it was the result of accident to discover in the soil over 

 the amygdaloid, a quantity of this ore, just sufficient to pro- 

 duce in the minds of speculators a desire for the establishment 



