IRON. 
405 
HUDSONITE. 
Description. Colour black, often with a brownish tarnish. Streak green. It occurs mas¬ 
sive, exhibiting one very perfect cleavage like some varieties of pyroxene. Lustre vitreous 
to resinous. Opaque. Hardness from 4.5 to 5.0. Specific gravity 3.50. Alone before 
the blowpipe, it fuses with effervescence into a black bead, which is attracted by the magnet. 
This mineral, which is proposed as a new species, was found by Dr. Horton in a vein of 
quartz in the town of Cornwall, Orange county. Its composition, according to my analysis, 
is as follows, viz : 
Silica,. 37.90 
Oxide of iron,. 36.80 
Alumina,. 12.70 
Lime,. 11.40 
Magnesia,.„. 1.92 
It agrees more nearly with the Polylite of Dr. Thomson, than any other mineral with which 
I am acquainted. He describes that species as being found in a bed, in magnetic iron ore, 
at Hoboken in New-Jersey. Colour black; composed of plates ; but one cleavage discerni¬ 
ble. It resembles hornblende, or still more arfwedsonite in its appearance. Hardness 6.25. 
Alone it does not fuse.* 
The composition of Dr. Thomson’s mineral is as follows, viz : 
Silica,. 40.04 
Protoxide of iron,. 34.08 
Protoxide of manganese,. 6.60 
Alumina,. 9.42 
Lime,. 11.54 
Water,. 0.40 
As it regards composition, the hudsonite differs in its not containing oxide of manganese, 
for which it was carefully tested, and in its smaller proportion of lime. It strikingly differs 
also in its hardness, and in the ease with which it is fused by the blowpipe. The powder, 
which is green, has its colour heightened by the application of heat. 
Opposed as I am to the introduction of new species on slight grounds, it is with some hesi¬ 
tation that the above name, in allusion to the river in the vicinity of which it occurs, has been 
proposed for the mineral in question. But the characters which it exhibits seem to me to be 
sufficiently important to warrant its separation. 
* Outlines of Mineralogy, Geology, There is undoubtedly a mistake in regard to the locality of this mineral as above 
given. I am not aware of the existence of a bed of magnetic iron ore at Hoboken. Our mineral is in a gangue of white quartz, 
and has apparently not been exposed to admixture of any kind, except perhaps of silica. But the black hudsonite and white 
quartz are entirely distinct in all the specimens which I have seen, and seem never to pass into each other. 
