1865.] Mining, Mineralogy, and Metallurgy. 311 



give that of Callais to this stone, which somewhat resembles it.* 

 M. Damour supposes this mineral must have been brought from the 

 East ; but, at a more recent seance, M. de Mortillet has called atten- 

 tion to the fact that strings of nephrite, which Callais much resembles, 

 are found in the mountains of Switzerland and Savoy. 



M. de Hochstetter communicates to the Academy of Sciences of 

 Vienna, an interesting paper " On the Nephrite or Jade of New 

 Zealand."! 



A new mineral of organic origin has been examined by Professor 

 Arthur H. Church, to which he has given the name of Tasmanite. It 

 was first noticed by him in the Tasmanian Court of the International 

 Exhibition of 1862, where it was exhibited by the Dysodile Company, 

 as a " Kesiniferous Shale." In the Museum of Practical Geology 

 is another specimen of the same mineral, labelled as " Combustible 

 Shale, River Mersey, north side of Tasmania." Qualitative analysis 

 of Tasmanite showed it to contain, not only a large quantity of carbon 

 and hydrogen, but also a very considerable proportion of sulphur, and 

 it was found that the most careful mechanical treatment of the speci- 

 mens failed to separate from them completely the mineral impurities. 

 When Tasmanite is heated in the air, it burns readily, with a very 

 smoky flame and offensive odour ; submitted to destructive distillation 

 it fuses partially, and yields oily and solid products having a disagree- 

 able smell, recalling that of some specimens of Canadian Petroleum. 

 " One is tempted," writes Mr. Church, " to suggest that the natural 

 rock-oils may in some instances originate in the action of heat upon 

 substances similar to Tasmanite Shale." 



The analysis of this mineral gives the following composition : — 



Carbon 

 Hydrogen . 

 Sulphur . 

 Oxygen 



100-00 100-00 



Mr. Church, regarding the Mineral Retinite as C 40 H 64 O 4 compares 

 Tasmanite C 40 H 62 O 2 S with it. By this it will seem that the latter 

 differs from the former only by containing H 2 O less, and by the 

 presence of 1 atom of S in lieu of 1 atom of 0.| 



Professor Maskelyne and Dr. Viktor von Lang have contributed 

 to the ' Philosophical Magazine ' their determinations of the crystalline 

 forms of Malachite, of Gismondine — a Zoolithic mineral in the form 

 of small square pyramids, which occur on a basaltic lava in the 

 neighbourhood of Rome — and of Herschelite. Of the latter mineral, 

 three specimens were examined, one from Aci Reale, one from Aci 

 Castello, and the third from Cyclops, Catania, in Sicily. Another 

 specimen of Herschelite, from Victoria, Australia, is also the subject 



* ' Annales de Chimie et de Physique,' January, 1865. 



t ' L'Institut,' No. 1645, p. 398. 



X 'Philosophical Magazine,' December, 1864, p. 465. 



Ixperiment. 



Theory 0» H02 02, S. 



79-34 



79-21 



10-41 



10-23 



5-32 



5-28 



4-93 



5 28 



