206 
[Assembly 
The quality of the rock is excellent, free from natural flaws and fis- 
sures. So sound is it that a mass rings like a peice of clinkstone. 
This variety of marble has always been esteemed in works of art, and 
if I mistake not, bears in market a higher price than any other. Though 
this locality is distant from navigation, still it might be introduced into 
the parlors of the rich for ornamental tables, to the exclusion of fo- 
reign articles. To effect this, it is only requisite that it should be 
known, that the public may have an opportunity of judging of its 
qualities. Polished specimens may be seen in the collection. 
Soapstone. 
Allied to serpentine in mineral character, is soapstone, which is also 
one of the valuable natural productions of St. Lawrence. This sub- 
stance is well known in the vicinity where it occurs* but its value is 
not fully appreciated. It may be cut, sawn, or turned, easily, and con- 
verted into a great variety of useful articles, at a very moderate ex- 
pense; good beds of it are invaluable. It possesses a remarkable de- 
gree of toughness, and is also very refractory in the fire. When sawn 
into slabs and varnished, a great variety of soft beautiful colours are 
brought out, without any farther preparation. On exposure to heat it 
hardens, and then it is susceptible of receiving a high polish. It occurs 
abundantly in Fowler and Edwards. The white variety is the most 
valuable, on account of its forming with white sand, a white enamel, 
or an inferior variety of porcelain. Much of the so called soapstone 
is Rensselaerite, the grayish green coloured stone used for inkstands, is 
this mineral; its qualities are much the same as the common soapstone. 
Specular Oxide of Iron. 
The full account given of the ores of iron in the report of last year 
renders it unnecessary to dwell at much length upon them at the pre- 
sent time. A few remarks only are therefore offered. The specular 
oxide occurs in two states, differing as much from each other apparently 
as two distinct species of minerals. The one is a red earthy looking 
stone, the other occurs in brilliant polished crystals, or crystaline masses. 
In composition they are the same, except when the former is mixed 
with earthy impurities; in evidence they are so, it is sufficient to state 
that when they are reduced to powder, they have a blood red colour, 
and possess the same characters in general; and the crystallized variety 
passes by exposure into an earthy state entirely destitute of lustre. It 
is associated with gneiss in beds of great extent. It appears to be con- 
