No. 101.] 
29 
&c. and upon the proportion of these must depend tho value of 
any particular kind of ore. In a table exhibiting the composition 
of various foreign specimens of speaular iron, according to the 
analyses of Berthier and others, I find the peroxide of iron to vary 
from 28 to 99 per cent; the latter proportion being only found in 
a specimen from the department of Moselle in France.* It may 
be stated, as a sufficient evidence of the value of this ore, that in 
the Island of Elba it has been worked since the time of the Ro- 
mans, and that the iron obtained from it has always been held in 
the highest estimation. 
Extensive beds of red hematite occur at Ticonderoga and at 
Crown Point on Lake Champlain, where it is employed in the 
manufacture of iron, and is considered a very valuable ore. Being 
in the vicinity of important deposites of the magnetic iron, with 
which this ore may be advantageously mixed, these localities must 
become of great value. The specimens which I have seen from 
Ticonderoga, are nearly pure peroxide of iron, and the mineral is 
here as in many other places, sometimes employed as a paint, as 
it may be made to assume various tints of red by heat. 
According to Col. Gibbs, common specular iron is found in the 
primitive rocks near Lake Champlain,! but it seems to be by no 
means common. As we proceed westwardly however, it becomes 
more abundant. I received from Mr. Pierrepont of Brooklyn, a 
specimen of the granular variety from a bed in the town of Pierre- 
pont, St. Lawrence county, which on analysis proves to be perox- 
ide of iron with three and a half per cent of silica. The propor- 
tion of metallic iron which it contains is 67.25 per cent. 
There are many localities of common specular iron in the coun- 
ties of Jefferson and St. Lawrence. One of these specimens from 
Alexandria in the former county, sent to me by Mr. John S. Ed- 
wards, occurs in masses which have a somewhat lamellar structure. 
Its color is steel grey, and when recently broken has a high me- 
tallic lustre, but where it has been exposed it is often covered with 
a yellowish coating. When the mineral is reduced to powder its 
color is blackish red, and it is not at all acted on by the magnet. 
It is often largely mixed with quartz, masses of which are some- 
times seen disseminated through the ore. The specific gravity of 
* Traite des Essais par la Voie Scche: par M. P. Berthier, ii. 223. 
t C I cav eland's Mineralogy. 
