384 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
It lias long been ascertained that the drift of the south side of the 
St. La^yreDce, from Lake Champion to the Etchemin and probably to the 
extremity of Gaspe. is auriferous ; the area being about 15,0()0 square 
miles. Gold has been washed from this ajravel on the St. Francis in 
Melbourne, at Sherbrooke in AYestbury, Weedon, and Dudsw ell, and on 
Lake St. Francis, Eiviere des Plantes (Vaudreuil), and along the Eiriere 
du Loup, near its junction with the Chaudiere. From the numerous small 
masses of gold obtained from the Chaudiere valley, there cannot be much 
doubt that the drift-gold of the region has been derived from quartz veins 
situated probably not very far distant. Gold grains have been seen in 
a quartz vein, between 2 and 3 feet thick, cutting the bluish-black slate 
of the Quebec group about a mile below the St. Francis Eapids. 
Among the gold-drift of tlie Chaudiere there are met in small quantities 
grains of platinum and of iridosmine, — an alloy of the rare metals iridium 
and osmium, which, being very hard, is used for pointing gold pens. 
Some of the gold met with also has been found thinly coated with a mer- 
curial amalgam ; but no trace of cinnabar, the common form of ore of mer- 
cury, has been observed in the drift. Amongst the substances met with 
by the Canada Gold Mining Company, in separating the gold from the 
drift, are lead shot of various sizes, from partridge to swan shot, and which 
are nearly as abundant as the gold. 
Of the minerals applicable to chemical m.anufactures we have chromic 
iron, from the Quebec group ; molybdenite, from Laurentian gneiss ; co- 
baltiferous pyrites, from Laurentian gneiss. In the Eastern Townships a 
vast quantity of dolomite occurs. Stratigraphically it is at the base of the 
Quebec group, where magnesian rocks are associated with the sulphurets 
of copper and other metals. One of the rocks associated with or replacing 
the dolomite is magnesite. Specimens are shown from Sutton and Bolton. 
The finest kind contains 80 per cent, of magnesia, with a portion of carbo- 
nate of iron. In Bolton it forms an enormous bed, resembling crystalline 
limestone. Though the use of this mineral as an economic source of mag- 
nesia is on a large scale, its most important apx^lication is for the manufac- 
ture of a cement to resist the action of sea-water. 
Petroleum, or rock-oil, in all its states, such as green or mineral tar from 
the surface, crude oil from the well, refined or burning oil, and lubricating 
oil for machinery, is exhibited by the Canadian Oil Company. The bitu- 
minous shale of the L^tica formation yields, when distilled, from 3 to 4 per 
cent, of tarry oil, which by the usual process of rectification yields oil for 
illumination and lubrication. 
Magnificent specimens of phosphate of lime (apatite) are sent from 
North Elmsley and South Burgess. At the former place the deposit has 
been traced for a distance of a mile, apparently forming an irregular bed 
on the Laurentian limestone. On lot 25, where it has been quarried, the 
breadth of the bed is about ten feet, of which three feet are nearly pure 
crystalline apatite, with only a small admixture of black mica ; the re- 
mainder is mingled with limestone, the phosphate predominating. This 
deposit seems to be continued south-westerly through Burgess. 
We now pass to the Eefractory Minerals. Among the magnesian rocks 
at the base of the Quebec group, in that part of its distribution where it is 
in a metamorphic state, soapstone, or steatite occurs in great abundance. 
Beds of it, varying from 1 to 16 feet thick, can be traced for long distances, 
usually not far removed from serpentine- dolomite or magnesite, or appa- 
rently replacing one of these rocks. In general the soapstone is remark- 
ably pure, but occasionally there are disseminated in it crystals of bitter 
spar or of actinolite. The specimens exhibited are from Sutton and Bolton. 
