139 



STELLITE. 

 (Mineralogy of New-York, page 342.) 



The mineral from the trap region of Bergen, in New-Jersey, and 

 Piermont, in Rockland county, New- York ; which I supposed to be the 

 stellite of Dr. Thomson, has been the subject of some discussion. 



It is stated by Dana, (Mineralogy, 2d ed.,) that Mr. A. A. Hayes has 

 analyzed the same mineral with quite a different result, as follows : 

 Silica, 55'98 ; lime, 35-12; soda, 6*75; potash, 0*60 ; alumina and 

 magnesia, 0-08; protoxide of manganese, 0.64; water, (hygrometric) 

 016;=99'3l. Dana adds that the large per centage of soda, and the 

 proportion of silica and lime, would seem to ally the species to pectolite ; 

 from which, however, it appears to be removed, by containing no water. 

 He has compared specimens of the stellite from Bergen with the foreign 

 pectolite, and finds them closely similar in external characters ; more- 

 over, Frankenheim makes pectolite an anhydrous mineral, stating that 

 the water varies, and is not an essential ingredient. 



Mr. Alger, in the supplement to his edition of Phillips' Mineralogy, 

 (p. 624) quotes the same analysis of Hayes, and adverts to the very close 

 resemblance in composition and general physical characters, between this 

 mineral and three others : the wollastonite and stellite of Thomson, and 

 the pectolite of Von Kobell, excepting in its entire freedom from water, 

 and its more perfect crystallization. " They undoubtedly all constitute 

 but one species, and while they may be most appropriately designated 

 under the name of stellite, the chemical title of anhydrous lime (meso- 

 lite) is naturally suggested by their crystallographical identity with meso- 

 lite, as established by Mr. Teschemacher." 



In the number of Silliman's Journal for July, 1849, is a short notice 

 of pectolite and stellite, by Mr. J. D. Whitney. " Pectolite occurs in 

 Isle Royale, Lake Superior, in spheroidal masses, consisting of delicate 

 silky fibres radiating from a centre resembling foreign specimens from 

 Monte Balco. The stellite of Bergen Hill, New-Jersey, analyzed by 

 Beck, has the external characters of pectolite ; and also, as Whitney 

 shows, its composition. The following are the results of four analyses :'' 



