F. W. Clarke — Minerals of Litchfield, Maine. 263 



Canceinite. 

 This mineral is one of the most abundant and characteristic 

 at the locality, and varies considerably in appearance. Two 

 analyses of it were made by Whitney, one of the yellow vari- 

 ety, the other of a greenish modification. I have myself seen 

 nothing to answer to the latter description, but have selected 

 three typical samples for investigation. They may be briefly 

 described and indicated as follows : 



A. Bright orange yellow, with strong luster and cleavage, trans- 



parent in thin fragments. 



B. Dirty pale yellow, less lustrous, highly cleavable, also trans- 



parent in thin fragments. 



C. Bright yellow, granular. The commonest variety. ^ 



For ease of comparison I have tabulated the analyses side by 

 side with Whitney's; indicating his yellow cancrinite by " D," 

 and. his greenish variety by " E." The carbonic acid determi- 

 nations were made for me by Mr. E. B. Riggs, who used the 

 Gooch tubulated crucible, and collected the gas evolved directly 

 in a potash bulb. 



A. B. 0. D. E. 



Si0 2 36-29 35-83 37"22 37"42 37'20 



•Al a O s ' 30-12 29-45 28-32 27-70 27"59 



Mn.O, trace trace trace ) ao ~ h 



FeO. " " " \ 7 



Cab.' 4-27 5'12 4-40 3'91 5"26 



Na 2 19-56 19-33 19-43 20-98 20*46 



K 2 -18 -09 -18 -67 -55 



MgO -07 



H]0 2-98 3-79 3-86 2*82 3'28 



CO„ 6-96 6*50 6-22 5*95 5"92 



100-36 100-11 99-70 100-31 100*53 



It will at once be observed that cancrinite " A," which, from 

 its appearance, was presumably the purest type of the mineral, 

 is the highest of all in carbonic acid and lowest in water. It 

 is also the highest in soda and alumina. Whitney's two analy- 

 ses show more potash than mine, but in other respects run 

 fairly near "0," which, as I have said, represents the common- 

 est, and probably the least pure variety. But in order to 

 understand the variations better, we must consider the flesh- 

 colored mineral referred to in my introductory paragraph, 

 which, as I have said, has been called indiscriminately elasolite 

 or cancrinite, according to the fancy of the collector. It some- 

 times occurs in specimens of considerable size, is lustrous and 

 cleavable, and to the eye appears perfectly homogeneous. An 

 analysis gave the following results; the carbonic acid, as in the 

 other cases, being determined by Mr. Riggs. 



