1879.] IST [ Wadsworth. 
The first six specimens are from the Liebener collection, now be- 
longing to the College cabinet, and were determined, I think, by 
Professor Adolf Kenngott, and the last specimen from Dr. Krantz, of 
Bonn. 
All were found to be fusible, and all that were tried (some four or 
five) gave no reaction for ammonia. 
The question might perhaps be fairly asked, if nearly all, if not all, 
of the so-called specimens of picrosmine are not varieties of serpen- 
tine, the optical properties of both being the same. 
No analysis has been made since that of Magnus, while the locali- 
ities have been multiplied. If Magnus rightly determined the py- 
rognostic characters, it seems from the foregoing that the localities 
have been, in some cases at least, erroneously multiplied. A similar 
examination of the specimens of asbestus made while cataloguing the 
College mineral cabinet showed that a large number of these belong 
to the fibrous varieties of serpentine. Should this call the attention 
of some chemical mineralogist to this field, which it would seem 
needs some investigation, the object of this little paper will be accom- 
plished. Mr. Melville’s analysis is appended. 
ANALYSIS OF PICROLITE FROM FuLoripA, Mass. By W. H. 
Me.tvitzte, A.M. 
The water was determined by ignition. The silica was separated 
by digesting the finely pulverized mineral in concentrated hydro- 
chloric acid. In order to prove that the mineral was thus completely 
decomposed, the silica was weighed and then subjected to the solvent 
action of fine aqueous hydrofluoric acid. By fusion with sodic car- 
bonate, the same percentage of silica was obtained. It may be well 
to state that the solution in hydrochloric acid does not gelatinize, 
but, after evaporation, deposits the silicic acid in the form of a pow- 
der. The sesquihydrate of iron was separated from that of aluminum 
by means of pure potassic hydrate, and aluminic hydrate subse- 
quently precipitated from the filtrate by ammonia. Manganese was 
detected in the mineral, but in quantities too small to be appreciable. 
The magnesia was weighed as pyrophosphate. 
1It is but justice to Mr. Melville, who is now Assistant in Mineralogy in Har- 
vard College, to state that this work was done while he was a post-graduate 
student, and that the object was simply to determine the mineral, not to make an 
elaborate analysis. 
