38 
DYSLUITE A NEW MINERAL OF A CURIOUS NATURE. 
sure, as I have not Dr. Torrey’s letter at 
liaml,) who gave it the name of dysluite from 
its difficult fusibility with carbouateof soda, 
and who were engaged in analyzing it. 
Tliis information prevented me from doing any 
thing more than giving it a cursory examina- 
tion, which satisfied me that dysluite was a 
new mineral of rather a curious nature, and 
highly deserving the attention of mineralo- 
gists. Being unwilling to deprive the Ameri- 
can mineralogists of the credit which might 
accrue to them fiom the analysis, T cautious- 
ly abstained from alluding to it, in a paper on 
the analysis of American IVIinerals, published 
in the Annals of the Lyceum of Natural 
History of New York in the year 1828. But 
six years having elapsed since that period, 
and no analysis nor notice of dysluite having 
appeared in the interval, I take it for granted, 
that the American gentlemen have relinquish- 
ed their intention of prosecuting the analysis, 
and that, therefore, 1 ought no longer to 
withhold the knowledge of tins cuiious miner- 
al from mineralogists. 
Dysluite occurs at Stirling, New Jersey, 
interspersed through a dark coloured lime- 
stone, and immediately mixed with crystals of 
octahedral iron ore and several other minerals, 
which it is unnecessary to describe here. I 
obtained it by dissolving the limestone in 
muriatic acid, and picking out the crystals of 
dysluite from the other crystals and grains 
with which it was mixed. 
Colour yellowish brown, sometimes lighter, 
sometimes darker. In grains varying from the. 
size of a mustard seed , r.o that of a pea ; most 
of them crystallized in regular octahedrons. 
Texture foliated. Lustre of the faces of 
cleavage splendent, resinous, the faces of the 
crystals are frequently rough and have little 
lustre ; easily frangible ; hardness 4.5 j spe- 
cific gravity 4’551. 
Before the blowpipe assumes a red colour 
but does not fuse, on cooling it resumes its 
natural colour and appearance. When heat- 
ed on charcoal it becomes darker but does not 
melt. With carbonate of soda it does not 
fuse; but the soda while in fusion appears 
red, on cooling it resumes its white colour. 
With biphosphate of soda it does pot fuse. 
The flux while in fusion assumes a fine red 
colour ; when it becomes solid, the colour 
changes to yellow ; and when quite cold, it 
resumes its usual colours and transparency, 
the assay remaining unaltered in the centre. 
With borax it dissolves very slowdy. The 
bead is transparent and has a very deep gar- 
net red colour. 
I. To determine the component parts of 
this mineral, 100 grains of it were reduced to a 
very fine powder, and heated for an hour in 
a platinum crucible with thrice the weight of 
anhydrous carbonate of soda. 'I he mixture 
had been fused, and when cold had a fine 
green colour, indicating the presence of man- 
ganese in the mineral. On digesting the 
fused mass in muriatic acid, 67 grains of the 
mineral remained undecomposed. 
This residue was again fused with thrice its 
weight of carbonate of soda, and kept for an 
hour in a strong red heat; the fused mass 
was similar to the former. Being digested in 
mnriatic acid, 33 grains of the mineral still 
remained undecomposed. 
These 33 grains being terated with thrice 
their weight of carbonate of soda as before, 
the whole dissolved in muriatic acid, except a 
few flocks ; which being heated a fourth time 
with carbonate of soda, and the mixture di- 
gested in muriatic acid, a complete solution 
was obtained. 
2, 'File solution in muriatic acid had a 
strong yellowish red colour, shewing that 
the mineral contained much peroxide of iron. 
They were all mixed together and evaporated 
to dryness in a porcelain dish. 
3, The dry mass, which had a yellow 
colour, was digested for an hour in water, 
acidulated with muriatic acid, and then pas- 
sed through a filter. There remained on the 
filter a white powder, which, being washed, 
dried .and ignited, weighed 2 grains ; dried by 
the blow- pipe, it melted with effervescence 
into a transparent colourless glass with car- 
bonate of soda, and was not soluble in acids. 
It was, therefore, silica. 
4, The liquid which had passed through the 
filter, together with the washings, was eva- 
porated down to a manageable quantity. It 
was then neutralized and precipitated by 
caustic ammonia, added in excess. The 
whole was thrown on a filter, and the yel- 
lowish red residue on the filter well, washed. 
The colourless liquid which passed through 
the filter was concentrated on the sand-bath, 
partly to drive off the exces.s of ammonia, and 
partly to reduce it to a manageable quantity ; 
during the concentration wiiite flocks fell. 
The quantity of this precipitate was much in- 
creased on adding carbonate of soda to the 
liquid. 
I’his precipitate was collected on a filter, 
washed and dried. It possessed the following 
properties : 
(1.) When heated to redness, it became 
yellow, but resumed its white colour on 
cooling. 
(2.) Soluble in sulphuric, nitric and muri- 
atic acids. The solutions colourless; and 
when neuiral, possessed the peculiar taste 
which characterizes the salts of zinc. 
(3.) The nitric acid solution precipitated in 
white flocks by caustic ammonia, re-dissolved 
by an excess of the precipitant. 
■ (4.) Precipitated in white flocksby cau'^tic 
potash, and re-dissolved by an excess of the 
precipitant. 
(5.) Precipitated in white flocks by the 
alkaline carbonates, and not re-dissolved by 
an exce.'s of the precipitant. 
(6.) J’he sulphuric acid solution being 
cautiously evaporated, yielded transparent 
white crystals in four-sided prisms, almost 
rectanglar, and easily recognizeable as sul- 
phate of zinc. 
It is obvious that the powder thu.s obtained 
was oxide of zinc, 
To the liquid from which this precipitate 
had been obtained, oxalate of ammonia was 
added, and the liquid concentrated. In this 
way an additional precipitate was slowly ob- 
tained, which was oxalate of zinc. 
All these precipitates being collected and 
exposed to a strong red heat, left 16.8 grains 
of oxide of zinc. 
