432 J. H. Pratt — Mineralogical Notes. 



Beryl (Emerald). — Although the beryl is a very common 

 accessory mineral in granite veins, especially those of a pegma- 

 titic character, it is not common to find the deep emerald-green 

 variety. The earliest report of the emerald in North Carolina 

 is by Hidden,* who describes the occurrence in Sharpes Town- 

 ship, Alexander County, where it is found associated with the 

 emerald-green hiddenite. 



On the divide between Brush and Crabtree Creeks, about 

 four miles south of Spruce Pine post office, Mitchell County, 

 emerald lias been found in a pegmatitic vein consisting chiefly 

 of quartz and an albite feldspar, with tourmaline and garnet as 

 accessory minerals. The county rock is gneiss and biotite 

 schist. 



The emerald has the characteristic green color of the gem, 

 and some of the crystals are transparent. No terminated 

 crystals were observed, but all have the prism zone well devel- 

 oped. The crystals vary in size from less than a millimeter up 

 to eight millimeters in diameter. 



The color of the crystals varies with their location in the 

 vein, those nearest the schist being of the emerald variety, 

 while those farther away are pale green or yellowish. The 

 yellowish or cream-coJored beryls are very abundant through 

 the vein and vary in size, from those hardly 2 mm in diameter to 

 one that measured 17 cra . 



North Carolina Geological Survey, March, 1898. 



* Journal Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society, 1880. 



