vn 



with a bright lustre not unlike black lead. Those partg 

 which have lost the red appearance, and approach the me- 

 tallic or iron lustre, do not so readily stain the fingers. On 

 being ground these give a deep red colour ; whence this ore 

 has been called Blood Stone. Sometimes the harder black 

 sort with this property is cut into burnishers for gilders. 



These ores are said to contain from 40 to 80 per cent, of 

 iron. The harder kind is sometimes a little magnetic, if 

 reduced to powder, particularly if heated on charcoal; which 

 deprives it of a certain quantity of oxygen. i( Fracture 

 coarse or fine fibrous, parallel or diverging, earthy." Hard- 

 ness, from such as may be easily scraped with a knife to 

 such as will strike fire with steel. Spec. Grav. from 4 to 

 5, Kirwan. 



" This ore contains, besides some manganese, a large 

 proportion of argill, which renders the iron it affords red- 

 short, that is, brittle when red hot." Kirwan. 



