Mineralogy of Southern India, 213 



this meagre account of so interesting a locality, I have sup- 

 pressed all remarks, except what I am certain of; it is 

 several years since I have been able to visit the place.* 



Pot-stone Steatite, 

 is common among the beds of the schistose series, and 

 is commonly used for writing pencils on slates by the native 

 bazar men. It does not form, however, any extensive beds, 

 except near Shoragamally, north-west of Salem, where it is 

 quarried to make .cooking vessels for the brahmins, who 

 prize it much. I have, however, never been able to visit the 

 locality. 



* The magnesite of Southern India was first brought to notice by Dr. MacLeod, 

 now Inspector General of the Madras Medical Service. Dr. MacLeod exemplified 

 its importance as an element in cements in which the property of hardening under 

 water is required, and also recommended its use in medicine as a substitute for 

 the artificially prepared carbonate of magnesia, which it equals in purity. The 

 difficulty of reducing so hard a mineral to a sufficiently fine powder by any known 

 mechanical means, is the only obstacle to the use of this mineral for the purpose 

 adverted to. Dr. MacLeod himself, and many years afterwards Lieut. Ouchterlony 

 and others, transmitted large samples of this mineral to England with a view of 

 having it tried there in chemical manufactures, but other sources of magnesia 

 nearer home, particularly from sea-water, were found upon the whole to be cheaper. 

 (See vol. ii. p. 284.) Recently it has been used in the Laboratory of the Honorable 

 Company's Dispensary, Calcutta, for the manufacture of Epsom salts; (See vol. 

 v. p. 442,) but receiving no encouragement the object was abandoned. — Ed. 



Note.— As an appendix to the above excellent paper, we beg to annex the fol- 

 lowing list of Minerals in the Mysore territory, furnished to the Committee for 

 investigation of the Mineral Resources of India, by Mr. Gilchrist, Madras Medical 

 Service. The Minerals enumerated have been forwarded to the Committee, and 

 form a part of its collection.— Ed. 



