UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 285 



Mineralogy. ...Until within a few years past little attention had 

 been bestowed on this interesting subject, in the United States, which 

 gave rise to an opinion that the country was unproductive of the useful 

 metals and other minerals met with in Europe ; but recent discove- 

 ries, resulting from a spirit of enterprise and a taste for the science, 

 progressively excited in various parts of the country, prove that most 

 of the transatlantic minerals are to be found in the United States. 



Gold has been found in a small stream in Cabarras county, North 

 Carolina, in pieces of various sizes, one of which weighed 28 lbs. It 

 has also been found in Virginia in small quantities. Native copper 

 occurs in New-Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and copper pyrites, 

 malachite and other ores in different parts of Pennsylvania. Near the 

 confluence of the rivers Passaic and Hackinsack, in New-Jersey, 

 there is amine of this metal which was formerly worked to considera- 

 ble advantage. 



The United States abounds in excellent iron ore, mines of which 

 are opened in many of the states In the alluvial soil of New-Jersey 

 the swamp ore is very abundant, and a number of furnaces, forges, 

 8cc. are established for the manufacture of bar iron, hollow ware, 

 stoves, Sec. ; this ore is frequently mixed with the mountain ore, 

 quantities of which are transported by boats down the Delaware, from 

 Easton in Pennsylvania. 



There is now in the city of New-York, a mass of native malleable 

 iron, weighing about 3000 pounds, which was found a few years past 

 in Louisiana. 



Lead is found on the Perkiomen creek, near its junction with the 

 Schuylkill, and on the Conestoga creek, near Lancaster, in Pennsyl- 

 vania — on the great Kanhawa river in Virginia — in the Illinois terri- 

 tory, and very extensively in Upper Louisiana — at Northampton in 

 Massachusetts, and in the state of Vermont. 



Zinc occurs in several parts of Pennsylvania, and in New-Jersey; 

 in the latter place, the ore, which is a red oxyd, contains about 76 per 

 :ent. of pure metal. 



Bismuth is found in Connecticut. 



Titanium is met with in Massachusetts, New-York, New-Jersey, 

 Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. 



Chrome is found in very great quantities in the vicinity of Baltimore. 

 It is combined in the state of an acid with iron. A beautiful yellow 

 pigment, known by the name of chromic yellow, has been made from 

 the ore. 



Molybdena is found in several of the states. 



Plumbago, or black lead, of excellent quality, is found in Buck9 

 county, Pennsylvania, and in New-York. There are several manu- 

 factories of black lead pencils, established in Philadelphia. 



Amber is met with in several parts of west New-Jersey. In Bur- 

 lington county, it occurs in a black stratum, consisting of carbonated 

 wood and leaves, mixed with clay, and covered with sand and com- 

 mon mould — in the clay, nodules of shining pyrites are frequently 

 imbedded. 



The amber is found generally in very small pieces, of various co- 

 lours ; some few specimens have been obtained of considerable mag- 

 nitude. 



Coal. Immense quantities of this highly useful article are distrU. 

 buted through the earth in several parts of the United States. The 



Vol. II. O o 



