SILICA. 
285 
it is closely allied. Sometimes it is found in primitive limestone, and in mica slate. The 
compact chlorite is found in amygdaloid and greenstone. 
LOCALITIES. 
Dutchess County. In the town of Fishkill, near Peckville, a little north of the line of 
Putnam county, there is a large bed of talc in the primitive rock, which has been opened as 
a quarry of soapstone. It is both grey and white, very soft and compact, or somewhat slaty. 
It contains a few fibres like asbestus, and sometimes has running through it long and slender 
crystals of hornblende. The imbedded minerals, and its unevenness of structure, render it 
unfit for the uses to which soapstone is applied. 
New-York County. Common chlorite often occurs in the greenstone boulders in various 
parts of the island. 
Orange County. There are several localities of common and foliated talc in the vicinity 
of the village of Amity. It is sometimes associated with clintonite. 
In the town of Monroe, there is a variety which approaches very nearly to Venetian talc. 
It is heavy, compact, very soft and sectile ; writes on paper and cloth, and is translucent to 
opaque. 
Putnam County. In Phillipstown, about eight or nine miles north-northeast of Peekskill, 
Mr. Mather informs us that the rock graduates, through every variety of aspect, from talc 
through steatite to serpentine.* 
Rensselaer County. On the borders of Massachusetts, chlorite slate is found in strata 
of considerable extent, and which sometimes rise into hills of two or three hundred feet in 
height. 
Richmond County. The finest specimens of talc heretofore obtained in this State, occur 
on Staten island. Both the common and the indurated or slaty varieties are found abundantly 
in veins traversing the soft serpentine near the Quarantine, and on the road to the village of 
Richmond. About four miles from the Quarantine, the talc is in detached masses made up of 
folia, of a snow-white colour, and resembles the specimens from Smithfield in Rhode-Island. 
The indurated variety, common near the Quarantine and elsewhere, is usually of a greenish 
colour, and has a distinctly slaty structure. Sometimes it has a flesh-red colour, and is both 
foliated and slaty. Besides these there are many other varieties, both as it regards colour 
and structure. 
Westchester County. At Rye, chlorite is said to occur in considerable quantities, con¬ 
taining long slender crystals of schorl.t 
* Mather. New-York Geological Reports , 1839. 
f Pierce and Torrey. Cleaveland’s Mineralogy . 
