IRON. 181 



Limonite. — Brown Hematite. 



Usually massive, and often with a smooth botryoidal or 

 stalactitic surface, having a compact fibrous structure with- 

 in. Also earthy. 



Color dark brown and black to ochre-yellow ; streak yellow- 

 ish brown to dull yellow. Lustre sometimes submetallic ; 

 often dull and earthy ; on a surface of fracture frequently 

 silky. H. = 5-5 -5. G. = 3 -6-4. 



The following are the principal varieties : 



Brown hematite. The botryoidal, stalactitic and asso- 

 ciated compact ore. 



Brown ochre, Yelloiv ochre. Earthy ochreous varieties, of 

 a brown or yellow color. 



Brown and Yellow clay iron stone. Impure ore, bard and 

 compact, of a brown or yellow color. 



Bog iron ore. A loose earthy ore of a brownish-black 

 color, occurring in low grounds. 



Composition. ¥e 9 H 6 ( = 2 Fe 3 + 3 H 2 0) = Iron sesqui- 

 oxide 85-6, water 14-4 = 100; or it is a hydrous iron ses- 

 quioxide, containing, when pure, about two-thirds its weight 

 of pure iron. B.B. blackens and becomes magnetic; with 

 borax in the outer flame a yellow glass. 



Biff. This is a much softer ore than either of the two 

 preceding, and is peculiar in its frequent stalactitic forms, 

 and in its affording water when heated in a glass tube. 



Obs. Occurs connected with rocks of all ages, but ap- 

 pears, as shown by the stalactitic and other forms, to have 

 resulted in all cases from the decomposition of other iron 

 ores. 



An abundant ore in the United States. Extensive beds 

 exist in Salisbury and Kent, Conn., also in the neighboring 

 towns of Beekman, Fishkill, Dover, Amenia, N. Y.; also in 

 a similar situation north, in Richmond and West Stock- 

 bridge, Mass. ; also in Bennington, Monkton, Pittsford, 

 Putney, and Ripton, Vermont. Large beds are found in 

 Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, near the Missouri Iron Moun- 

 tains, and also in Tennessee, Iowa and Wisconsin. 



This is one of the most valuable ores of iron. The limo- 

 nite of Western New England, and that along the same 

 range geologically in Dutchess County, New York, Eastern 

 Pennsylvania, and beyond, is remarkably free from phos- 

 phorus, and hence is highly valued for its iron. Bog ores 



