
          You have probably already heard by this time of the fate of my new ore of zinc!
Dr. Keating has recently given a full account of it & proved it to be a
product of theiron furnaces of Ancram x Salisbury. This is really unfortunate
for me., but did you know all the circumstances [connected?] with
the thing, you would not think me so stupid. I knew the substance sevral[several]
years. It came to me along with other minerals in a box from Ancram.
It appeared to be native. I analyzed it & discovered its nature. All the
meralogists here thought it decidedlynative, yet for a considerable time
in consequence of suspicions of its real nature. I kept it from the public
A gentleman at Ancram informed me that Mr. Patterson, proprietor of the iron
works, thought it an ore & [crossed out: looked] explored the neighboring county for it.
He also informed me that a specimenwas sent to Cleveland, who decided
it to be a new ore of zinc! This authority & I published my paper.

Major Delafield will send you a notice of a new [Cacalety?] of [crossed out: ?]
Andalusite. It is the substance in large quadrangularprisms from Litchfield
which he showed you lately in New Haven. I had some difficulty in determining 
it on account of its apparent want of hardness & not having seen
[crossed out: the] a specimen pf that mineral before. However I received just in time to
confirm my opinion a specimen of Andalusite [crossed out: f] labelled by Prof. Schrieber
of Vienna. Both the German & Litchfield specs.[specimens] may easily be scratched by a 
knife, yet they [crossed out: scratch] abrade quartz rapidly when rubbed on it! On examining
a [late?] German work on Mineralogy "Hanbuch der Cryptognorie von Karl C.
Leonard" ed. 1821. p. 475. I find the following remarks - "The statements with
regard to this mineral are different by different authors, which may be explained
by the circumstances that the specimens examined have been more or less decomposed or 
have contained some mixture of mica.
        