DETERMINATION OP MINERALS. 383 



A crowbar, a pickaxe, and a hoe, for removing stones and 

 earth before or after blasting. 



Cartridges of blasting powder, to use in wet holes. They 

 should one-third fill the drill-hole. After the charge is put 

 in, the hole should be filled with sand and gravel alone with- 

 out ramming. If any ramming material is used, plaster of 

 Paris is the best, which has been wet and afterwards scraped 

 to a powder. 



Patent fuse for slow match, to be inserted in the car- 

 tridge, and to lead out of the drill-hole. 



The table beyond is prepared especially to aid in instruc- 

 tion, and comprises, with few exceptions, only the species 

 that are described in large type through the work, exclusive 

 of the hydrocarbon compounds. The following abbrevia- 

 tions are used in it, in addition to those explained on page 

 90. With reference to colors : bnh, brownish ; bhh, black- 

 ish ; gnh, greenish ; gyli, grayish ; rdh, reddish. The acids : 

 nit., nitric acid ; sulpJi. acid, sulphuric acid ; HCl, hydro- 

 cloric acid ; sulph., sulphurous or sulphurous acid. 



Eeactions : gelatinizing with acid, see page 81 ; reaction 

 for sulphur with soda, see page 89 ; blue or red color with 

 cobalt solution, see page 88 ; hydrous, yielding water in a 

 closed tube ; anhydrous, not yielding water in a closed tube, 

 or only traces, see page 86 ; B.B. lithium-red color, see 

 page 87 ; B.B. green flame due to boron, see page 87 ; coal is 

 used for charcoal ; fus. for fusible ; infus. for infusible ; 

 sol. for soluble ; st. for streak. 



In using the blowpipe it is important to remember that 

 a trial of fusibility with the forceps, if not at once pro- 

 ducing fusion, should be made on a piece of the mineral not 

 larger than the fourth of an ordinary pin-head, and it should 

 be either oblong and slender, or thin, and be made to pro- 

 ject considerably beyond the points of the forceps, lest 

 the forceps carry off the heat, and cause a failure where 

 there ought to be success. Further, it should be in mind, 

 that in using charcoal, a white coating is always a conse- 

 quence of burning it, since the ash from its own combustion 

 is white. Again, before testing for sulphur by means of 

 soda and a polished surface of silver, it is necessary to try 

 the flame and the soda for sulphur. Gas-flame always con- 

 tains traces of sulphur, and sometimes too much for safe 

 conclusions in this trial. 



