356 



Scientific Geology. 



since it is so narrow that it might in many places easily be hidden by 

 diluvium. 



I can have but little doubt that this stratum of talcose slate, like the 

 mica slate with which it is associated, passes laterally into hornblende 

 slate and gneiss : but I have nothing further to add to the remarks 

 already made on this subject. 



Several beds of steatite are connected with this range of talcose 

 slate: viz. one in Marlborough, Vt. ; one in Rowe ; oneinZoar; 

 one in Windsor ; one in Middlefield ; and farther south, nearly on 

 the line of the strata prolonged, we find a bed in Blanford, and at 

 least two in Granville. The bed of this rock in Hinsdale, that in 

 Cheshire, and that in Savoy, I have not visited ; but as the gneiss and 

 mica slate of that region frequently passes into talcose slate, not im- 

 probably they are connected with this rock. The bed in the north- 

 west part of Windsor, however, I know from examination to be in 

 gneiss ; and perhaps those just mentioned are in the same rock. In 

 Zoar we find mica slate, talcose slate, steatite, and serpentine, inter- 

 stratified. The most easterly bed in Windsor appears to be embraced 

 in the chlorite slate. That in Middlefield has talcose slate on the 

 east side and hornblende slate on the west. That in Blanford, one 

 and a half mile southwest of the meeting house, is in mica slate ; but 

 on one side a huge vein of granite lies in contact with the steatite. 

 The bed in Smithfield, R. I., is in talcose slate. 



With respect to the narrow stratum of talcose slate marked on the 

 map in the southeast part of Hampden county, and passing through 

 Stafford, Ct. Monson, &c. I feel quite ignorant. I have satisfied my- 

 self only that it lies between the mica slate and the gneiss. The spe- 

 cimens will show that it produces a good lining for furnaces. To this 

 formation I refer the steatite in Somers, Ct., although I have not vis- 

 ited the quarry. 



The steatite beds marked in Shutesbury, Wendell, and New Salem, 

 are surrounded by gneiss of the most decided character. That in 

 New Salem contains serpentine, also, of a black color. The bed of 

 serpentine exhibited in Pelham, is a mixture of serpentine and talc ; 

 and is marked as serpentine, only because that mineral predominates. 

 It forms a bed in gneiss. 



The bed of steatite in Groton occurs in the Worcester range of 

 mica slate. But its situation and extent have been described in the 

 first part of my Report. 



In Cumberland and Smithfield, Rhode Island, two strips of talcose 



