Mammoth's Tooth, from the River St. Francis, west of Mississippi. Return J. Meigs, Esq. has transmitted, through the Rev. E. Cornelius, a mammoth's tooth, apparently not mineralized. It appears to have belonged to a very old animal, as the processes, (which, it is well known, are commonly very prominent) are worn down smooth, and some of them almost obliterated.
Blue Ridge, Tennessee, and Mississippi Territory.—Through the kindness of the Rev. E. Cornelius, and of Mr. John H. Kain, we have received a considerable collection of specimens, illustrative of the mineralogy and geology, and Indian antiquities of these regions; they may be, on a future occasion, the subject of more particular remarks.
Coal, in Suffield, Connecticut, on the river of the same name. From Mr. Nathan Stedman, we have received specimens of coal, found in thin veins, in rocks of slate, and argillaceous sandstone, on the banks of the river. The veins are thin, but considerably numerous; the coal is very glossy and black; breaks with a smooth and almost conchoidal fracture, and very much resembles jet. It is very much intersected by thin veins—(not thicker than a knife-blade)—of white crystallized calcareous spar. This coal is bituminous, and burns pretty freely. It has not been explored, except superficially.
Coal, in Southington, Connecticut. Beds of slate are found more or less bituminous; and, at the bottom of some of the wells, the slate begins to exhibit thin veins of coal, distributed in great numbers through the substance of the slate, which is the shale of the miners. The coal is from the thickness of a knife-blade to that of a finger; it is highly bituminous, and burns with great freedom. Even the entire masses of the stone burn brilliantly, when ignited on a common fire; and, after exhaustion of the coally matter, leave the slate of a grayish colour.
The locality from which the specimens were taken, is on the land of Roswell Moore, Esq. about midway between Hartford and New Haven. The spot was lately examined by Col. Gibbs, Eli Whitney, Esq. Professor Olmstead, and others; and arrangements are making to bore the strata, to the depth of several hundred feet, if necessary. These localities are in what may, with propriety, be called the coal formation of Connecticut. Coal has been found in several other places in that state; and the peculiar geological features of the region in which it is contained, are very interesting, and may hereafter be described in form.
Sulphat of Barytes, with Coal, &c.—Sulphat of barytes exists abundantly in Southington, on what is called the Clark Farm. With quartz, carbonate of lime, &c. it forms the gangue of a metallic vein, containing galena, or sulphuret of lead, copper pyrites, &c. The sulphat of barytes is more or less crystallized, and principally in the form that is called the coxcomb spar. The same vein, although it is in the side of a mountain, several hundred feet above the flat country adjacent, and two or three miles from the coal strata above mentioned, contains numerous spots and patches of coal, very much resembling that at Suffield. It is of a most brilliant black, and contrasted with the white, stony matrix, (principally quartz and sulphat of barytes) in which it is enveloped, it forms elegant specimens.
Scintillating Limestone.—In Vermont, a singular scintillating limestone is found, of which an account is given in the following extract of a letter from Mr. George Chase, dated Randolph, February 19, 1818.
"The object of the present letter is to acquaint you with a circumstance relating to the limestone that abounds in this primitive country, which to me is inexplicable. This carbonate of lime is of a pale sky-blue colour; effervesces strongly with nitric acid; and, by burning, produces lime, so that there is no question as to the identity of the mineral. But it likewise gives forth sparks with steel:—this I concluded, at first, to be an accidental circumstance; but every specimen that I have tried, from various quarters of the country, uniformly gives fire with steel. The limestone is found in layers, in blocks, and masses, disseminated among the clay-slate that covers the greatest part of the townships in this vicinity. When first taken from the earth, and exposed to the air, it is covered with an incrustation of a dark reddish-brown colour, that crumbles easily between the fingers, and is generally from one inch to a foot in thickness. This incrustation, however, hardens on a long exposure to the air. This led me to think that the incrustation was owing to the decomposition of the limestone, which was produced by the sulphuret of iron, intimately disseminated through the rock, which would also explain the singular circumstance of its striking fire. But on dissolving a small quantity of the mineral in nitric acid, and adding a drop or two of the decoction of gallnut, no discolouring of the liquor was produced."
Limpid Quartz.—West Canada Creek, a northern branch of the Mohawk, affords, in its sands, small crystals of quartz, limpid, and terminated at both ends by pyramids of six sides; we are indebted for specimens to Professor Fisher.
Fetid Primitive Limestone, &c.—From the vicinity of Williamstown College, through the kindness of Professor Dewey, we have received specimens illustrative of the geology of that region. Among them is limestone from Stockbridge, crystallized in large plates and rhomboids, almost white, and still fetid on being rubbed, which is very different from most fetid limestones, which are dark coloured, and even black, and do not belong to primitive formation.