Chromate of Iron. 



369 



dlefield deposit. This would make the whole bed only 10 or 12 

 miles long. 



The Blanford bed is for the most part as distinctly stratified per- 

 haps as that in Middlefield ; and its tendency to a slaty structure I 

 think more distinct. The dip and direction of the strata seem to cor- 

 respond to those of the hornblende slate in immediate contact viz. 

 the direction north and south, and the dip east, 60° to 70°. 



The chromate of iron, mentioned in a postscript on page 52, is the 

 most interesting, and indeed the only mineral that I noticed in this 

 serpentine. It is disseminated through the rock in grains.and also forms 

 veins or tuberculous masses resembling magnetic oxide of iron ; being 

 black and granular, or compact. But I judge it to be chromate of iron 

 for the following reasons. 1. It has communicated a peach blossom col- 

 or to small portions of steatite or talc that adhere to its surface. 2. The 

 colour of its powder is a dark brown. 3. It is not magnetic. 4. 

 Fused with borax, it produces a beautiful green glass. 



Should this mineral be found in considerable quantity at this place, 

 it would be quite important in an economical point of view, since it 

 sells in market from $40 to 60 per ton. I am inclined to believe it 

 disseminated in small grains through nearly all the serpentine of the 

 Hoosac mountain range, and not improbably large masses of it may 

 be found in various places. 



Four or five miles south of this bed of serpentine, is another in 

 Blanford, not more than 40 to 50 rods east of the soapstone quarry, 

 1 1-2 miles southwest of the center of the town, which has been describ- 

 ed. This serpentine is in mica slate, which dips easterly; and it 

 is distinctly stratified. There is nothing striking in its appearance. 

 The width of the bed is several rods. 



I have reason to suppose that another bed of serpentine exists in 

 the eastern part of Blanford, though I have found only bowlders. 

 But the specimens are of so peculiar a character, that I cannot refer 

 them to any known bed. They consist of green serpentine, talc, and 

 sometimes schiller spar ? (No. 892.) 



The serpentine bed in Westfield is in mica slate, whose layers lean 

 only a few degrees to the west. I speak here of the most southerly 

 point of its appearance. Here it is about four rods wide. It occurs 

 near the junction of the new red sandstone and the mica slate, This 

 mica slate contains numerous veins and protruding masses of granite ; 

 and one mass of this rock lies within 3 or 4 feet of the serpentine, if it 

 does not actually touch it. The serpentine is distinctly stratified; the 

 47 



