1873.] 



Major W. A. Ross on Jeypoorite. 



293 



This is about all we know of this mineral in Europe. The natives of 

 the neighbourhood of Khetree call it, if I remember rightly, " Sheta," or 

 " Sheeta," and state that it is used by their jewellers, not only for the 

 usual blue enamels made with cobalt oxide, but to impart to gold a rose- 

 colour — an art, perhaps, worth knowing. 



The state and quantity in which it was sent to me almost preclude the 

 possibility of a regular chemical analysis, so that in the mean time I beg 

 to submit the following : — 



Pyroloyical Analysis of Jeypoorite. 



(1) Appearance. — A dark grey sand with shining metallic-lookiug 

 points, yellow and white, interspersed. Through the lens, these are 

 found to be semimetallic fragments, the white crystalline, the yellow 

 amorphous ; there are also numerous quartzose fragments, white and 

 pink. 



(2) About one tenth of this sand is magnetic. Among the portion 

 adhering to the magnet are no metallic crystals, but a considerable quan- 

 tity of yellowish pyrrliotine. 



(3) In a glass of phosphoric acid, this magnetized sand gives chiefly 

 reactions of iron. 



(4) After the magnetized portion was removed, the remainder (among 

 which were all the metallic-lookiug crystals) was put into a sieve with 

 holes of the diameter of a small pin, and the larger metallic crystals and 

 fragments, with the greater part of the pieces of quartz, thus separated. 



(5) A fragment of the more yellow metallic portion, treated in phos- 

 phoric acid, showed that it was copper pyrites. 



(6) The metallic crystals could now be plainly observed through a lens 

 to be of the cubic system — indeed, for the most part, apparently cubes 

 with bevelled or truncated edges, and some octahedrons. As these modi- 

 fications give the crystals, compared with the other fragments, a roundish 

 figure, the following expedient was resorted to for the further separation 

 of the former from the latter. 



" (7) The now coarse sand was placed in the middle of a long stiff paper 

 tray inclined at an angle of about 30°, and the whole of it blown upwards 

 with the jet of a mouth-pyrogene, when the lighter non-metallic frag- 

 ments were blown away from the rest, the whole moved from its place, 

 and the greater part of the roundish crystalline ones thus made to roll 

 down to the bottom of the tray ; as mauy of the rest as possible were 

 picked out with forceps, and added to those which had rolled down. 



(8) These crystals are the pure Jeypoorite, and, when thus collected 

 separateky, look (without a lens) like a number of glittering steel beads, 

 each about half the size of a small pin's head. Through a lens they are 

 seen to be of a silver-white, not a steel-grey colour. Their crystalline 

 form is not perceptible without a lens, although the metallic glancing of the 

 smooth upturned side distinguishes them among the other metallic frag- 



2b 2 



