262 F. W. Choke — Minerals of Litchfield, Maine. 



Art. XXV. — The Minerals of Litchfield, Maine; by F. W. 



Clarke. 



In Kennebec County, Maine, along and near the boundary 

 between the towns of Litchfield and West Gardiner, are scat- 

 tered many bowlders of an elasolite rock. For many years 

 these have yielded to collectors of minerals superb specimens 

 of blue sodalite, yellow cancrinite and zircon ; but although 

 the parent ledge appears at several points, it seems nowhere to 

 have been opened. In addition to the minerals already men- 

 tioned, the bowlders contain albite, lepidomelane, a black min- 

 eral resembling columbite, a flesh-colored mineral which has 

 been called indiscriminately elasolite or cancrinite, and a mas- 

 sive alteration product known to local collectors under the pro- 

 visional name of " white sodalite." Although specimens from 

 the locality are widely distributed in cabinets, some of the 

 minerals seem to have been but partially described ; and I have 

 therefore thought it worth while to study them somewhat 

 closely. The supposed columbite I have not examined, for 

 want of material ; the zircon I have omitted, since it has been 

 sufficiently studied by Gibbs ;* but the sodalite and cancrinite, 

 although they had been well analyzed by Whitney, f I have 

 included in my investigation, for reasons which will appear 

 below. 



El^eolite. 



This species occurs abundantly in Litchfield and West 

 Gardiner in characteristic, dark gray, cleavable masses of 

 strong greasy luster. Since it is the typical mineral of its 

 group, and as I can find no published analysis of it from this 

 locality, the following results may have value as a matter of 

 record. 



H 2 -86 



SiO„ 43-74 



A1 2 8 34-48 



CaO . . trace 



MgO '. trace 



K 2 4-55 



Na„0 16-62 



100-25 



The specimen analyzed contained minute inclusions of black 

 mica, but not enough of them to notably affect its composition. 

 The analysis agrees fairly well with the published analyses of 

 elasolite from other places. 



* Poggend. Annalen, lxsi, 559. f Poggend. Annalen, lxx, 431. 



