32 Prof. How on the Mineralogy of Nova Scotia. 



then — relics of Egyptian and Chaldsean lore, of an age of fana- 

 ticism, of intellect perverted by a false enthusiasm. Phlogistic 

 chemistry had arisen on the ruins of the older structure of me- 

 diaeval chemistry; and from it arose modern chemistry. Let us 

 be fain to remember that the mother died in giving birth to the 

 child. The new science was as Dionysius born of the dying 

 Semele; and while we worship the son, like the ancients we 

 have not forgotten to raise a statue to the mother. 



14 Denbigh Place, S.W., 

 December 12, 1867. 



II. Contributions to the Mineralogy of Nova Scotia. By Professor 

 How, D. C.L.j University of King's College, Windsor, Nova 

 Scotia. 



[Continued from vol. xxxiii. p. 340.] 



III. Borates and other Minerals in Anhydrite and Gypsum. 



gILICOBOROCALCITE, a New Mineral— In former papers 

 I have pointed out the existence of two distinct borates in 

 the gypsum of this vicinity, viz. natroborocalcite* and crypto- 

 morphitef, both hydrated borates of calcium and sodium — the 

 latter exclusively, the former occasionally, associated with glauber 

 salt — and have adverted to the possibility of their being some- 

 times found together in intimate connexion with the latter J. 

 The very large quantity of quarried " plaster " (as both auhydrite 

 and gypsum are called here) to be seen at Windsor, not less than 

 104,000 tons having been cleared in twenty-one months from 

 this port, of which the greater part has been shipped from its 

 own wharves, affords abundant material for the study of its va- 

 rieties and the minerals they contain. A short time ago I ob- 

 served natroborocalcite in plaster from two quarries distant from 

 its original locality and from each other, but in the same district, 

 as will be described further on, — and also a mineral, evidently 

 different, which proved to be an addition to the short list of 

 natural borates, and to the still shorter list of silicated borates. 

 The mineral exhibits very different degrees of hardness; the 

 hardest specimens are found in anhydrite, the softest in gypsum, 

 both matrices occurring in the same deposit. The hard mineral 

 is in white, rounded, often egg-shaped nodules, brittle, and of 

 nearly even and smooth fracture, which is well shown in the 

 broken masses giving almost flat surfaces continuous with those 



* Silliman's Journal, September 1857 ; and Edinb. New Phil. Journ. 

 July 1857. 



f hoc. cit. 1861. + Chemical News, 1867. 



