Mineralogy of Southern India. 203 



found my specimen, apiece of about 18 inches long, and ex- 

 actly like a piece of a branch of a tree, in a nullah in the 

 Salem magnesia formation. I think Mr. Fisher of Salem told 

 me he had seen it in sites in Mr. Heath's chromate of iron 

 mines. The outer surface of the specimen was water-worn 

 in the nullah, and the smooth surface thus produced and 

 the brownish tint it had acquired, made the resemblance to 

 a bit of old wood almost perfect, and in consequence I told 

 the lascar with me to split it. Its characters are, — Specific 

 gravity : light, not much heavier than water. Colour : a buff 

 yellow. Structure: continued fibrous-like wood, not thready 

 like amianthus, but rather box-wood, breaking short off. 

 Hardness : can be scraped smooth with the knife, like hard 

 chalk ; and the scraped surface smooth. Contains extrane- 

 ous matter (ferruginous?) between the fibres, in parts. Ad- 

 heres strongly to the tongue, like a bit of new tobacco pipe; 

 hygrometric power great. It is associated with statactitia 

 iron ore (vide), the reedy marks, in the sides of which seem 

 to be caused by the fibrous structure of this mineral, and 

 suggest the idea of its having been squeezed in a pasty state 

 through fissures. The best analysis, which I have had leisure 

 to make, is subject to the same objections as before ; but I give 

 it for want of a better. A portion of the mineral picked as 

 free from iron as possible, scraped down with a knife, tritura- 

 ted in an agate mortar, was tough and cohered like chalk. 

 It was fluxed in a silver crucible with caustic potash, as car- 

 bonate of soda had very little effect on it. In boiling the 

 muriatic solution, a precipitate of white flocks appeared, 

 which again disappeared when the solution became concen- 

 trated, but did not again re-appear after diluting and again 

 boiling. This gave rise to the idea, that the mineral con- 

 tained titanium, but in a fresh analysis the precipitate on 

 boiling did not appear. In two analyses the characteristic 

 blue colour of copper appeared in the ammoniacal solution, 

 from which the iron and alumina were precipitated ; but it 



