9 
DETERMINATION OF 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 specics 
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: 67h, brownish; dkh, black- 
ish ; gnh, greenish ; gyh, grayishy rdh, reddish. The acids: 
nit., nitric acid ; sulph. acid, sulphuric acid ; HCl, hydro- 
cloric acid ; sulph., sulphurous or sulphurous acid. 
Reactions : 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. lithiwm-red color, see 
page 87; B.B. green jiame due to boron, see page 87; coal is 
used for charcoal; fws. for fusible ; afus. for infusible ; 
sol. for soluble ; s¢. 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 jro- 
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. , 
