GRAPHITE OR PLUMBAGO. 
97 
Texture sometimes foliated and sometimes granular, often also a little slaty. It has been 
met with crystallized in six-sided prisms ; but nothing is known respecting the angles of these 
crystals. 
Chemical nature. Graphite was for a long time regarded as a carburet of iron; but it is 
now thought that the iron, which is very variable in quantity, and which indeed seldom exceeds 
ten or eleven per cent., is entirely accidental. The graphite of Barreros in Brazil, leaves 
scarcely a trace of residuum when it is burned; and the graphite which forms in high fur¬ 
naces is sometimes entirely free from iron. Native graphite, however, most generally contains 
a proportion of this metal, together with variable quantities of earthy matters. This mineral 
may be regarded as carbon, differing only from the diamond, charcoal, &c. in the mode of 
aggregation of its ultimate particles. 
The localities of graphite in this State are very numerous, but the mineral is seldom found 
in quantities sufficient for any useful purpose. The limestones of the counties of New-York, 
Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Ulster, Clinton, Essex, Franklin, St. Lawrence 
and Jefferson, abound with it, sometimes in the form of irregular folise, and sometimes in 
that of regular six-sided plates. 
Dutchess County. There are in this county some important localities of graphite. One 
of these is on the farm of Mr. Peter Dewint, two and a half miles south of Fishkill Landing. 
Several tons have been obtained here, and sent to market. It occurs in the granite, in a vein 
several inches wide at the surface, and increasing gradually as it descends, to two or three 
feet. About forty or fifty feet of this vein are exposed, and there appears to be every indica¬ 
tion that there is an abundant supply of the mineral. The specimens which are obtained at 
this place are both foliated and granular, and are of sufficient purity for nearly all the pur¬ 
poses to which graphite is applied. There is another vein of a similar kind, but less impor¬ 
tant, at Fishkill Hooks. 
Essex County contains several good deposits of this mineral, especially in the vicinity of 
Ticonderoga. One of these is about two and a half miles from the village at the Upper falls. 
It is a vein of the purest foliated graphite, several inches in width. The foliae often have a 
radiated arrangement, and are of considerable size. The gangue is calcareous spar, which 
sometimes exhibits large and perfect cleavages. Granular graphite is also found associated 
with the above. 
This mine has not been much worked, but a considerable quantity of pure graphite is 
annually obtained from it, which is sold for a shilling a pound. It is thought that this is an 
extensive deposit. 
There are other veins of this mineral in the immediate vicinity, from which large and very 
pure specimens have been obtained. At the Kirby mine, five miles northwest of the village 
at the Upper falls, there is a vein of graphite of some width. The mineral is here either 
granular or in small folise, associated with white quartz. 
Part I. 13 
