Mr. Wedgwood's Analyfn , & c . w 
Analytical experiments on a Mineral from Sydney-Cove in 
New South Wales. 
THIS mineral is a mixture of fine white fand, a foft white 
earth, fome colouriefs micaceous particles, and a few black 
ones refembling black mica or black-lead; partly loofe or de- 
tached from one another, and partly cohering together in little 
rriable lumps. 
. None of thefe fubftances feem to beat all a£);ed upon by the 
nitrous acid, concentrated or diluted ; nor by oil of vitriol di- 
luted with about equal its meafure of water ; in the cold, or 
m a boiling heat ; the mineral remained Unaltered in its ap- 
pearance, and the acids had extra&ed nothing from it that 
could be precipitated by alkali. 
Oil of vitriol boiled upon the mineral to drynefs, as in the 
procefs of making alum from day, produced no apparent 
c ange in it ; but a lixivium made from this dry naafs with 
water, on being faturated with alkali, became fomewhat tur- 
bid, and depofited, exceeding flowly, a white earth in a gela- 
tinous ftate, too fmall m quantity for any particular examina- 
tion ; but which, from its afpedt, from the manner in which 
it was obtained, and from the tafte of the lixivium before the 
addition of the alkali, was judged to be the aluminous earth. 
The marine acid, during digeftion, feemed to have as little 
action as the other two ; but on pouring in fome water, with a 
view only to dilute and wafh out the remaining part of the acid 
a remarkable difference prefented itfelf; the liquor became in- 
ftantly white as milk, with a fine white curdly fubflance in- 
termixed; the ftrong acid having extracted fomething which 
the fimple dilution with water precipitated® 
S f 2 
The 
