ORES OF COPPER. 



137 



Composition. Cu 2 = Oxygen 11*2, copper 88-8. B.B. 

 on charcoal, yields a globule of copper. Dissolves in nitric 

 acid. The earthy varieties have been called tile ore, from 

 the color. 



Biff, From cinnabar it differs in not being volatile before 

 the blowpipe ; and from red iron ore in yielding a bead of 

 copper on charcoal, and copper reactions. 



Obs. Occurs with other copper ores in the Banat, Thu- 

 ringia, Cornwall, at Chessy near Lyons, in Siberia, and Bra- 

 zil. The octahedrons are often green, from a coating of 

 malachite. 



In the United States, it has been observed crystallized and 

 massive at Schuyler's, Somerville, and the Flemington cop- 

 per mines, N. J.; also near New Brunswick, N. J.; at 

 Bristol, Conn.; near Ladenton, Eockland County, N. Y.; in 

 the Lake Superior region. 



Tenorite, Melaconite, or Black Copper. An oxide of cop- 

 per, CuO, occurring as a black powder, and in dull black 

 masses and botryoidal concretions, in veins or along with 

 other copper ores ; also in iron-gray flexible scales, in the 

 Vesuvian lavas. It is an abundant ore in some of the cop- 

 per mines of the Mississippi Valley, and yields 60 to 70 per 

 cent, of copper. It results from the decomposition of the 

 sulphides and other ores. AttheHiwassee Mine, Polk Co., 

 Tennessee, it has been abundant. It was formerly found of 

 excellent quality in the Lake Superior copper region. 



Chalcanthite. — Blue Vitriol. 



Sulphate of Copper. 



Also as an 



Triclinia In oblique rhomboidal prisms 

 efflorescence or incrustation, and stalactitic. 



Color deep sky-blue. Streak uncolored. Subtransparent 

 to translucent. Lustre vitreous. Soluble, taste nauseous 

 and metallic. H.=2-2'5. G.=2*21. 



