272 Chronicles of Science. [April, 



in examining the country and visiting its chief mineral localities. 

 Some idea of its riches may be gained from Forbes's catalogue of 

 the species which have hitherto been discovered, amounting to 

 upwards of two hundred, the greater number of which occur in the 

 intrusive rocks and their associated mineral veins. An examination 

 of this list shows that many species which are abundant in mineral 

 deposits in other parts of the world, are here found only in insig- 

 nificant quantity, while many others are altogether absent. The 

 minerals are classified according to their geological occurrence, the 

 richest repositories being what are designated as the " post-oolitic 

 diorite eruptions." From the author's observations, it appears that 

 the occurrence of the Chilian minerals, so far from being casual or 

 accidental, bears a definite relation to the rocks in which they are 

 found, " similar minerals, or classes of minerals, accompanying the 

 eruption of similar rocks ; " and even where the same species occurs 

 under different conditions, each occurrence is marked by distinctive 

 characters of its own, either chemical or crystallographical. 



The same able mineralogist has commenced in the ' Chemical 

 News ' a series of articles " On the Application of the Blowpipe to 

 the Quantitative Determination or Assay of Certain Metals." These 

 papers, which will serve as an introduction to the author's forth- 

 coming treatise on the subject, cannot fail to prove of essential 

 service to the mineralogical student. While noticing the recent 

 literature on the Blowpipe, attention should be directed to Professor 

 Theodor Kichter's essay on " The Blowpipe, and its Application in 

 Chemical, Mineralogical, and Assaying Investigations" (Das 

 Lothrohr und seine Anwendung bei Chemischen, Mineralogischen 

 und Docimastischen Untersuchungen). This essay, which will be 

 read with much interest, — Professor Kichter being himself a perfect 

 master of the Blowpipe, — appeared in the ' Festschrift,' published 

 a few months back in commemoration of the hundredth anniversary 

 of the foundation of the Freiberg Mining School ; and our English 

 readers are referred to an analysis of the paper in an article, " On 

 Mining Education in Grermany," which appeared in a recent 

 number of the ' Journal of the Society of Arts.'* 



Among the various substances which pass in commerce under 

 the general name of Jade or Nephrite, is a light-green mineral 

 from Easton, in Pennsylvania, which has recently been examined 

 by Dr. Emmerling, of Freiburg.t Except, perhaps, in point of 

 toughness, it possesses none of the properties of true jade, and 

 especially lacks the characteristic splintery fracture; whilst in 

 chemical composition it appears to be equally distinct, consisting of 

 certain silicates and carbonates, the relations of which may be 



* Op. cit, January 11, 1867, p. 113. 



t * Neues Jahrbuch fur Mineralogie, u.s.w.,' 1866. Heft 5, p. 558. 



