[AsSElVIBLy 
in this country for a long time, if it should be thought expedient to 
work it. 
A loose mass of arsenical sulphuret of iron, weighing 200 or 300 
pounds, said to have been dug out of the road, was seen about three 
miles west of the mine above mentioned, and perhaps a mile from 
Boyd's Corners, in Kent. 
Iron Ore. 
Pyrites. 
Magnetic and common pyrites are found in almost every part of Put- 
nam, Westchester and New- York counties. 
They are frequently found by persons who do not know what they 
are, but think them gold, silver, tin or lead ores. It is superfluous to 
enumerate in this report (which is devoted to economical results) the 
various localities where these minerals have been found, or the excava- 
tions that have been made in search of the precious metals. A few lo- 
calities only were observed where there is a prospect that the sulphuret 
of iron may be economized. In one part of Philips' ore bed, near the 
summit of the mountain, the magnetic oxide of iron is so much inter- 
mixed wath pyrites, that it cannot be used as an iron ore in the furnace. 
In some places, the sulphuret of iron seems to have been a paste, in 
which the grains of iron ore are disseminated, but in general, it is not 
so abundant; one-half to one-sixth of the ore may be said to be pyrites. 
By exposure to the w^eather, sulphate of iron or copperas is formed, and 
it might be made artificially from the ore in large quantities, if other 
parts of the bed of ore yield it as abundantly as that which I saw. 
This ore, by long exposure, loses all of its sulphuret of iron by de- 
composition, and the rains wash away the sulphate as it is formed. The 
ore is thus purified, and fitted for the furnace. By slightly roasting the 
ore, the operation would be much more rapidly performed, and copperas 
easily made. Sixty pounds of pure bisulphuret of iron, mixed with 
thirty pounds of iron borings or scraps, will yield about 278 pounds of 
copperas. 
In the valley of Patterson, Putnam county, two localities were seen 
where pyrites occur in some abundance disseminated in gneiss. The 
rock may, perhaps, be employed at some time in the manufacture of 
copperas. They are about 100 to 200 yards west of the junction of the 
gneiss with the limestone. 
