244 Geology of the Neilg her rics. [No. 12, new series. 



ore under the form of alluvial pebbles, which I apprehend were 

 thrown up from the bed of the stream at the time the road was 

 made. 



Doctor Burrell also discovered here a variety of the iron ore 

 which I shall immediately describe. 



This excited us to prosecute our researches, and in the sequel 

 we found on the same side of Dodabett, occurring in heaps where 

 clearings had been made in the jungle, and protruding through 

 the surface in blocks, the following remarkably beautiful ore of 

 iron. 



Splendent Scaly Iron Glance. — Variety of red haematite. Color 

 in the darker varieties deep purple, and violet, with scales of a bril- 

 liant yellow ; iridescences of blue, red, brown, and gold occur in 

 the lighter kind. These colours slightly fade after the ore has 

 been broken several days. 



Structure. — Massive and scaly, the scales possessing the form of 

 octahedral, pentagonal, and irregularly shaped plates, the rhom- 

 boid however is the primary crystal afforded by these scales when 

 fractured. 



The scales readily separate from the matrix and are very brittle. 

 Dust. — In the lighter varieties yellowish red which stains the 

 fingers. 



Cherry red in the darker. 



Chemical analysis. — I found this ore to be an hydrate of the 

 peroxide of iron. 



Under the blow pipe the spangles of the lighter variety of the 

 ore, yielded after scintillation and ebullition a scale of pure iron. 

 The darker variety, almost as soon as the reducing flame has been 

 applied, yields a similar result. 



With borax a bottle green glass is obtained Which retains its 

 color while hot, but fades entirely on cooling. 



Berzelius, speaking of this phenomenon, states that it arises in 

 the reduction of the peroxide of iron to the state of the protoxide. 

 With soda the ore gives a red bead. 



