
          The history of the discovery of Columbium is recorded in almost every work on Chem=
 =istry & Mineralogy. It is familiar to all who have made these sciences their study. The
 identity of this metal & [added: the [crossed out: of the] Tantalum..^ [added: [crossed out: which of] [Skelberg?]] has hardly been questioned. Since the accurate com=
 =parative experiments of Wollastan were published in 1809. Though it is now [crossed out: more]
 22 years since Mr. Hatchett made his interesting discovery, the only North American specimen
 of Columbite known until lately Was the original specimen in the British Museum.
 [symbol in left margin] Even the precise locality of that is not known. It is said to have been sent many
 years since by Gov. Winthrop of Connecticut to Sir Hans Sloan. ^ [added: who was the P. of RS.] [crossed out who was the Presi=
 =dent of the Royal Society, but [illegible] after whose death it became along with the
 whole [illegible] Collection of that celebrated patron of Nat. History, the property of [illegible]] Ac=
 -cording to a notice in the     vol. of the New York Medical Repository, the locality is said to
 be near a spring not far from the house of Gov. Winthrop at New London. It has how.
 ever been many times Searched for without success: & some intelligent mineralogists have
 doubted whether the specimen in the British Museum was found in Connecticut, or even
 [crossed out: whether it [illegible]] in any part of [crossed out: North America] [added: this country], but that it was a Swedish specimen
 of [Tautalite?] which had by mistake been labeled as North American.


 In a collection of minerals which I sent several years since to Count Trolle
 [?] of [?]. this [crossed out; illegible] distinguished [crossed out: gentleman] seavant informed me, that in
 a specimen of the Haddam rock which contains the Chrysobryl [Chrysoberyl][?] - the celebrated Berzelius
 had detected the Tautalite , & that it exactly resembled that of [Fimbs?] in Swedeen. A no=
 =tice of this discovery I published in the . . volume of Sillimans Journal.   [crossed out: illegible]
 =[crossed out: stance] ^ [added: but it] has been overlooked by Cleveland, in the 2nd edition of his mineralogy & also by Phillip's
 in his recent [?] [crossed out; illegible] most excellent work. [Indded as?] soon [as?] I received this interesting inform
 [-mation?]. I examined attentively the one or two [crossed out; illegible] specimens of the Haddam rock remaining in
 my possession, but without finding the substance which I supposed Berzelius alluded to
 | since that time until [crossed out: about a month since] ^ [added: lately] I had made [not?] other search for it: A
 few [weeks?] since, however, on examining some splendid specimens [crossed out: ^ presented [?] by Col. [Gibbs?]] of the above mentioned ^ [added: remarkable] rock.
 [crossed out: which is an aggregate of F]. presented me by Col. Gibbs. I observed [disseminated?] through
 one of them several small masses of a blackish substance having the appearance
 of an ore of manganese. On a more attentive examination it appeared to possess some
 unusual characters. & at last I observed a considerable number of minute crystals which
 appeared to belong to Same Substance. It occured to me that this was the Tautalite
 of Berzelius, [crossed out: [?]] and [crossed out: some experiments] a chemical examination [crossed out: made of several of the [?]] [added: of a small [crossed out] small por=
 =tion of the mineral which I could procure left little doubt on the subject.
 The following is a more particular description of the mineral .-

        