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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. t 2 3 32X t 2 3 # • 6 pr.'W^iW'':j^ m-'W''^''*''" "•""^^'-^ i!||ppppww«fipi '^^mmmmmimigllf aNADA NATIONAL LIBRARy BIBLIOTHEQ.UE NATIONALE . i « THE IJIIEraLS AND GEOLOGY OF CiLIiTRAL CAIIADA, conpriGing the FROVIIIGES OF OITARIO AND QUEBEC. ■JITH . explanatory and teclmical observations on minerals, rocks and fossils, generally. •■'■ A HAND-BOON FOIl PRACTICAL USE. 3y E. J. aiiAPi:AN, Ph. D., LL. D, i^ Second Edition '.evised and enlarged. TORONTO: TIIE COPP,' CL.l]-7v COIPANY, (LIRITED) r 1871 103002 '/, 102 • 'i ?4XV ..- ( i A POPULAR EXPOSITION OF TDK MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. The aim of the present work is to impart, in a simple and condensed form, a practical knowledge of Canadian minerals and rock formations, including, with the latter, the various fossilized bodies which so many of these rocks contain, and by which their respective ages and positions are principally established. As the work is intended strictly for the student and general reader, it seeks to convey this knowledge without exacting the mastery of minute scientific details; although, if taken up by persons unacquainted with geology, a work of this kind, however elementary its troatmont, will necessarily require to be studied before it can bo read. Goology, in the proper acceptation of the term, com- prises the History of the Earth, as dii>tinct from records of human action and progress : a history revealed to us by the study of the rock masses which lie around and bene-ith us ; and by a comparison of the results of ancient phcnomonji, as exhibited in these rocks, with the forces and agencies still at work in modifying the surface of the globe. As Geology is thus essentially based on the study of rocks and their con- tents, and as rocks are not only made up of a certain number of simple minerals, but contain also many of these latter in veins and other more or less accidental forms of occurrence, it is advisable at the outset to obtain a certain knowledge of the distinctive characters of minerals, and of the application of these characters to the determination of mineral bodies generally. This achieved, we may proceed to the study of the more extended mineral masses, or rocks proper : viewing these as regards their classification, structural characters, composition, modes of formation, and other related points of inquiry. The study of Orgauio 2 t KtAxucaJL' G iMIXEIlALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. Remains comes nest in order — these bodies, the representatives of de- parted forms of life, occurring in great numbers in many strata. They serve not only for tbc practical identilication of the rock groups in which they arc inclosed — utid thus enable us to determine, for instance, vhether a given bed lie above or Itclow the great coal formation or other geological horizon — but they make known also many interesting facts with regard to the climatic relations of the i'ast, and explain in many ways the general plan and great progressive march of Creation. Finally, with the information obtained from these prolimiuary sections, the reader may turn witl' profit to the study of our local geology. In accordance with those viow.s, the subject-matter of the present treatise is discussed under the following subdivisions : I. The Distinctive Characters of Minerals. II. The Minerals of Central Canada, or Provinces of Ontario and Quebec. III. Kocks and Ftock-produoing Agencies. IV. Organic llemains. V. The Geology of Canada proper — comprising the Subdivisions, Characteristic Fossils, r^cououiic Materials, and Topographical Distri- bution, of the various Geological Fi.vmations occurring within the Provinces of 0:itario and (^utbeo. Jl- d $ PART I. THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS OF MINERALS. ^1 s 'i PreUiiiiinirij Rcnmrhs : — The various bodios wliicli occur \n Nature arc of two general kinds — Orjianic and Inorti^anic, respectively. The foiaun' Constitute Vegetables and Animals, and all bodies of vegetable or animal origin. In the living state, they possess certain structural parts or organs by which they assimilate or take into their substance external matter, and thus increase in bulk or maintain vitality. Inor- ganic bodies, on the other hand, are entirely destitute of i'unetional organs of this nature. They compri-se all metals, stones and rocks; air, water, and other products of chemical, electrical, and mechanical forces, acting independently of life. Mineral or inorganic bodies are in themselves, also, of two general kinds. Some possess a definite composition and definite physical cha- racters. Others are mixed bodies or compounds of more or le?s variable character. The former constitute simple minerals or minerals proper; the latter form rocks or rock-matters. In Parts t and IE of this Treatise, minerals proper are alone considered, lloeks and rock-produeing agencies, come under review in Part III and iu succeeding portions of the work. Minerals are distinguished from one another by certain characters or properties which they possess : such as form, degree of hardness, rela- tive fusibility, &c. Mineral characters are of two principal kinds : phi/sical or external, and chemical, respectively. Physical characters comprise the various properties cxhibi^er^ tender ort^inarv conditions by mineral bodies : colour, form, &c., are examples. Chemical characters, on the other hand, comprise the properties developed in minerals by the api)licatiop of heat, or the action of aci^s or other re-a^eqts. bv wl^ |g[x. iu general, a certain amount of ^ hemical decomip8 §\ |.ioi^ is c^'igPf^ jl. ftu<>ii.«i CiutuWftf 4f » 8 MINURALH AND OEOrX)UY UP CANADA. A. PHYSICAL CHARACTERS OR PROPERTIES. The physical properties of luinerals arc somewhat numerous; but many, although of tlie highest interest in indicating the existence of natural laws, and in their relations to physical science generally, are not readily available as a means of mineral discrimination. These, consequently, will be omitted from consideration in the following pages; and the other characters will be discussed only in so far as they admit of direct application to the end in view — namely, thq practical discri- mination of minerals one from another.* The following are the characters in question : *1. Aspect or Lustre. * /'2. Colour. / *3. Streak. I "4. Form. j -^5. Structure. •G. Iliinlnoss. '7. Specific gravity. 8. Kohitivo Malleability. Mk^ . 9. Magnetism. ^10. Taate. Aspect or Lustre. — In rcforcncc to this character we have to consider i-mHHHi —I iMrt, as follows : Fii'.sT Uiuni- :- ,1^l)•;)/^o^.l(/l(•(l/ CiMmctcrs:—^, Form. 2, Surfaco-eondition. 3, Strurture. 4, C'leaviipe. b, Fracture. Second (jRow.—Optical Chnrndcis:—l, Aspect, or Kind of Lustre. 2, Decree of Lustre. J, Culour. 4, SLreak. 5, Degree of Transiiarriicy. 0, Refraction. 7, Polarization. Tuini) Oiioi: v. -Cohesion CImrnvterf ; —l , Ilardne.ss. 2, Tenacity. .3, Malleability. 4, Ex- pansibility. FouuTH Group:— ScHScitionar,!/ Cluiractem.—'l, Weight (Specific Gravity). 2, Feel, 3, Taste. 4, Odour. 5. Sound. Fifth Qrovp:— Physical Chararters, proper :—l,Miigaet\sm. 2, Electricity. 3, Phosphorcs cence. Sixth Group:— /Cpijff nil- CTiorar/crs. —1, Tarnish. 2, Ordinary Disintegration and Decom- position. 3, Efflorescence. 4, Deliquescence. ^ • I t ( fit PUYSICAL CnAHACTEim OF MINKUALH. ft diamond, carbonate of lead, &o. j tlio vitreouf or glassy lustre — example : rock crystal; the rpainou^ lustre — ex.: native sulphur; the jieqrlji lustre — ox. : tale ; the silki/ lustre (usually acconipanyinp a tibrous structure) — ex. ; fibrous pyp.sura ; the sjoiij/ix^pcct ] the earthtj aspect, &c. Thcitc terms sufficitMitly explain themselves. Occasionally, two kinds of non-metallic lustre are simultaneously present — either blended, as seen in obsidian, which exhibits a " resino-vitrcous" aspect; or dis- tinct as lei^ards different cry.slal faces or cxtertiid and internal surfaces. Many of the ao-eallod Zeoliles, fur oxami)le, present a pearly lustre , f»alena, the common ore of lend, copper viyritos, ttc, always present a metallic lustre j whilst, on the other haiid, quart:^, feldspar, calc-spar, Ljypsum, kc, are never f)und otherwise tiuui with a non-meiallio a.spect. Hence, by means ol' this casily-reeounized character, wo may divide all minerals into two broad groups; and thus, if we pick up a .'specimen, and wish to ascertain its name, we need only look for it amongst the minerals of that group with which it agrees in lu.stre. Tlie lirst step towards the determination of the sub.staiiec will in this way bo eflected. The de gree of lustre may bo either splenden t, shining, glistening, gliminerjnig, or duUj but the character is one of comparatively little importance. Colour. — ^Yhen combined with a raetallic aspect, colour becomes a definite character, and is thus of much value in the determination of minerals. As regards a substance of mptallic aspect, for example, specimens brought from different localities, or occurring under different conditions, rarely vary in colour beyond a slight difference of depth or shade. Thus, galena, the common ore of lead, is always lead-gray ; copper pyrites, always brass-yellow ; native gold, always gold-yellow ; and so forth. When accompanied, however, by a vitreous or other non- ( 1 ,' ' ' { 1- 10 MINEHALH AND OEOl.OfiV OF CANADA metiillic lustro, colour becomes a charnctor of no practical value, as a mineral of non-tnotalliu afipcct may prcflcit, in its different varieties, every variety of colour. Thus, we have colourless quartz, ametliyfititjc or violet quartz, red quartz, yellow quartz, &c. Also, feltlsf :u?, fluor- spars, and other minerals of variable colour : just as in the Vetrctablo Kinf^dou), wo have red, white and yellow roses, and dahlias, kc, of almost every hue. The more common shades of metallic colour arc as follows : \V1 it ' ^ Silver-wliito ex. Nativn silver. *" ■ ■ < Tiii-whilc ex. I'lire tin ; cubnit ore. Cr .V 3 I''«''i"1-i?'"'\V ox. rifilciia. J" ' ' ^ Stcfl-ijrey ex. Speeulnr iron ore. Llack Iron-ljlnck (uHiiolly with sult-nietnliic lustre) ex. Miic;neticiron ore. i (Jo'ii yellow ex. Native fjokl. Yellow. . \ Dnis-s-yellow ex. Copper pyrites. ( Bronze yellow (ii browtiiHli yellow) ex. Mngnotic p3'ritcH. Rod Copper-red ex. Native copper. Those metallic colours arc often moro or less obscured by a black, brownish, purple, or iridescent anrfaa-larnish. In notint; the colour of a mineral, this must be constantly borne in mind, and if possUji^ a newly-fractured surface should be observed. The non-metallic errors comprise, white, ijrey, black, blue, izrecn, red, yellow, and brown, with their various shades and intermixtures : as oranj^e-ycllow, straw-yellow, reddish-brown, irreonish-black, &c. In minerals of a non-metallic aspect, the colour is SDmotimcs uniform; and at other times, two or moro colours are present toc;othcr, in spots, bunds, &c., as in the varie- ties of quartz, called a;^':itt', blood-stone, jasper, and so forth. In most varieties of Labradorite, or Labrador Feldspar, a beautiful play or chan;.!;e of colour is observable in certain directions. The liner varieties of Opal also exhibit, a beautiful and well-known iridescence. Slt'cah. — Under this technical term is comprised the appearance or colour ot the scratch, produced by drawing or "streaking" a mineral across a tile or piece of unglazed porcelain, i he character is a valuable one on account of its uniformity : as, no matter how varied the colour of a mineral may be in dififerent specimens, the streak will remain of one and the same colour throughout. Thus, blue, green, yellow, red, violet, and other specimens of fluor spar, quartz, &c., exhibit equally a white or " uncoloured" streak. The streak is sometimes " unchanged,' or of the same tint as the external colour of the mineral ; but far more frequently it presents a different colour. Thus, Cinnabar, the ore of PHYSICAL CnAUACTERH OF MINKUALS. 11 mercury, has a rod colour and rod streak ; Rcnl^^ar, rod sulphido of arsenic, lias n rod colour and orange-yellow Htrcuk ; Copper Pyrites, u brass-yellow colour, and grccnishbluck stronk ; and so forth. In eiTtain malleable and sectilo minerals, the scrat(dicd surface presents an in- crease of lustre. The streak is tlion said to bo '' sliiniiig." Finally, it should be remarked, that in trying the streak of very hard iuiin;r;ils, we must crush a small fragment to powder, in plaeo of using the file; be- cause otherwise, a greyish-black stroak, ari.xing fronj the a!)ras'ion of the file, might very possibly be obtained, and so conduce to error. Form. — The forma assumed by natural l)odi(>s are of two 'general kinds: (T; Arcklental or Trr vyuUir, depending rather on exlcrnal con ditions than on the actual nature of tiio body ; and (2), / original signilication, and came to be applied to all iho gconietrie:d or regular forms of minerals .ind other inorganic bodies, whether trans- parent, translucent, or opaque. As already remarked, minerals of :i metallic lustre are alway.^ opaque; and many of these, galena, iron- pyrites, arsenical-pyrites, &c., occur frequently in very regular and symmetrical crystals. As regards the regular or essential forms of Nature, two di^stinct and in a measure antagonistic form-producing powers — Vitality/ and Crysud- lizatxon — thus appear to exist. Form.^ wiiich arise from a development of the vital force, exhibit rounded and confluent outlines; whilst those produced by crystallization arc made up of plain surfaces, meeting, in sharp edges, under definite and constant nngles.* ^'rystals originate iuj *This law is afFurtcd within sliglit limits liy imiiiKirphotis roplacciiiiTit-i, and also bj' ciian;,'p.s of tcmperatnre. The law itself appears to have been discovered by Niculaus Stcno (a naturalized Florentine) as early as 1669, but its true importance was not appreciated until the re-announcc- ment, or rather re-discovery of the law in 177'-', by the French crystallographor, Uonic do I'Isle. Many of the contemporaries of the latter — amongst others the celebrated BufiTon— attempted ti • deny its existence ; but being susceptible of practical proof, its truth was soon established. 12 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. almost all cases in which matter passes from a gaseous or liquid into a solid state; but if the process take place too quickly, or the matter solidify without free space for expansion, crystalline masses, in place of regular crystals, will result. If a small fragment of arsenical pyrites, »)r native arsenic, be heated at one end of an open and nar;ow glass tubo, the arsenic, in volatilizing, will combine with oxygen from the atmosphei .-, and form arsenious acid, whit-h will bo deposited at the other end of the tube, in the form of minute octahedrons (Fig. 3, below). In like iininncr, if a few particles of common salt ,be dissolved in a small quantity of water, and a drop of the solution be evaporated gently (or be loft to evaporate spontaneously) on a piece of glasii, nuineruu!^ little cubes and hopper-.'ihaped cubical aggregations will result. Iloiling water, again, saturated witli common alum, will deposit octahedral crystals on C(jt>ling; t!ie cooled water not being able to retain in sulution the full amount of alum dii?solved by the hot water. Finally, it may be observed that sulphur, bismuth, antimony, and many dtlicr bodies, crystallize by j^low cooling from the molten state. Allliuu;j;h, as explained above, crystals ui^ually originate when matter passes slowly from the ga.«cruis or lifjuid condition into the ^ulid|H|te, cry.-t-tlliiiation and .enlidification are not actually identical. VaTWus iuibstances, such as silica in ccrtnin conditions, its hydrate (constituting the diiibrent opals), gums, many resins, &c., appear to resiist altugether the action of cry;4allization. The crystal forms and combinations met with in Nature, exclusive of those produced by the chemist in his laboratory, are exceedingly numerous, many thousands being known to exist. By the help of certain laws, however, and, more especially, by the aid of one, termed "the Law of Symmetry," we arc enabled to resolve these multitudinous combinations into six groups or systems. The forms of the same group combine together, and may be deduced mathematically from each other; whilst those of distinct groups are unrelated. Thus, although the cube, the rhombic dodocahedron, and the regular octahedron (Figs. 1, 2 & .3) appear at first sight to be unconnected forms, yet by the Law of Sym- metry their co-relations may be readily shown. This law, for inptance, exacts one of three things, of which the most important is to this eflfect, viz., that if an edge or angle of a crystal be modified in any way, all the similar edges or angles in the crystal must be modified in a similar manner. Now the cube has twelve similar edges and eight Bimilar angles. Consequently, if one edge or one angle bo truncated, PHYSICAL CHARACTERS OP MINERALS. 18 or, to use a term more in conrormity with the actual operations of Nature, if one of these be suppressed during the formation of the crjBta], the other edges (or angles) must be suppressed also ; and if the new planes, which thus arise, be extended until they meet, the rhombic dodecahedron on the one hand, and the regular octahodron on the other, will result.* These forms, moreuvcv, as well as their interme- diate oscillations, frequently occur in the siiiue ^;ubstance : red oxide of copper may be cited as an example. But bc::woeii the cube, a ?(|uare prism, a regular hexagonal prism, and a r!)oinbio pri.sm, no rolatioiis of this kind exist. Neither arc these solids rchitcd physically : their optical, thermal, and other phj'sical relatiuiin arc equally distinct. By considerations of this sort, tlioreforc, we are ablo to t.-tublisli six (or really seven) distinct Crystal Systems, "'hese ('named cliicfly in ncoor- daucc with the relations of their axes, or coilai;i riizht lii:cs assumed to pass through the centre of each crystal, and tonninutc in opposite planes, edges, or angles) are enumerated iu tho aimexod tabular view : ^ , , e 1 ii ) The M^ouomctric Susfnn (iiicliulin."' tlir cube. i'h(;i'it*-•/.•, • ^. m i Mi i m. -r ■**'^:i axis Cry.stal-axcs of tiirof^ lenp;f lis iii'fraction, ilnuble, witli I id^liii '"'<1 t/,V>iUIU'iiS i-lu)[ul.oa(;'lroiis . <\!i''. , w i 1 h J Ineir coiiibiiialions.; ^ 'J'/ie '^r'onetrk S'/stem (iiu'liuliiiiy Axes at riglit- '•'-•■''^ mi w iil}\^UL^^'}^^.J^ singles. ■ l^y^lill^' diUalU!;J^ja^ni2..aiHl I tii^'tC two neutral lines or oi)ti- t ,-. • 1 J J /ir Mo)iocli)nc i^i.slcin inclialiii!' ,„i „ ' One axis ob- f , f* -r •', , , , .^ cal axes ,. > oljiKiue n'u'atiL,-ular and rhoaiuic * ) rornhiiiations. All the axo.-: ^ 'J'nr 'i'rlcHuic Smttm (inchulinrr oblique. \ cIoubTv-oljliuue coinbinations.) The study of these Oystal groups, and that of crystal forms and combinations generally, constitutes tlie science of Crystallography. To ' Tlio Law ol' Syiniiii'try, iu its exact accetitition, may be tlitis expressed : (I.) If an cilf^o or aiiK Ju of a crygtil b>; mmUlied, all ihiijimiljjj- cilges or angles must C35Jlii)jitJ ji sii^^il.-ir iniMlilii-i^ii;ni, Or ("J.) One-half or onc-nith of the ((iriospoinliiif; aiiKlcs or tMlgos, in alternate ii'isitjons, must 1 be equally moilillcd. E.mmple. — Cube and TotraluMlron (Boracite; Arseiiiati; of Iron.) v Or (J), All the similar edgoH or an^li's muat be modillcd l)y one-half or on'.-int'- the normal or J regular number of jilunes. Exumplc. —Cnhe aud rentiigonal Dodecahedroa (Iron Tyrites, Cobaltine). Conditions J and 3 produce j^»i/(«(iry (IS or part-/or>/is. -.,,-4 14 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. >! ! I' enter into the details of this science would extend our present discus- sion much beyond its proposed limits and object, the simple determina- tion of commonly occurring minerals ; but it will be advisable for the student to impress upon liis moniory the names of the groups in question, with tlie general aspect of their more common furms and combinations, as iiivcn in the fullowinir enumeration.* Tlie MtJiwmctri'c or Rejuhir JSj/ntcm. — This group includes the c^ibe (Fig. I), the rliombie doJecahedroii (Fig. -), the re;;ular octihodron (Fig. .']), trapezoheJrofis ^y Innrtitnida (Fig. 4), pentagonal dodc eahe- druns (I'ig. 5), &o. Fig. (J is a combination of the cube and octahedron ; .^ .^^ I- 10. 1. l-JG. 2. Fio. .S. I'k;. 1. I'lO. 5. Fid. (i. Fin. 6*. Vic. 7. No. 7, a combination of the cube and pentagonal dodccahodron. Na- tive ^nli], silver, copper, iron pyrites, galena, zinc blende, grey copper ore, red copper ore, inagnoUc i ron ore, spinel, garnet, fluor spar,, rock salt, and numerous other mineral-^, cry.^t allizo in this system. ■ Thf ifutkT, will) may wiah to take up tlio sludy of Crj-st.illi)grapliy in n more cxtemlcd miinuer, may attend the author's special foursfS of lei tiircs which iiiclutle that subject. In these, the use of ('rystallii,u'r;i]i!;ic instruments is shewn, ami the h'eturcs are illustrated by numiruMS woml ami poirilaiu inoihl.s, (lra\vin;,'.^, and natural crystiils. The following is ex- tracted frciii the ryllaluis of tiie mlvTHced course on Mineralo^/y : (.^uvsTAi i.ixiRAPiiY.— Paiit I. GiU' nil I'rinriplr't of Criii^ti'lliiij)-''iphy ;— Crystalu, how defined. Formation of Crystals. lOlenieiits of Crystals: planes, eilijes, anodes, diajjonals, axes. Forms aud Combinations. Heplaciuj,' planes. General Nomeuc.lature of Forms aiid Simple Crystals. Law of Constant Angles. Measuremenl of Angles. Laws of Symmetry: Holohedral and Iluniihedial Forms. Classitication of Crystals. Dimoriihisui. Isomorphism. Compound Crystals. Distortions. I'seudoniorpli!*. 1'art IL 77k' Sii;-ti'vis of CryytnllUatioii :-i:ht: Monometrii' System. Dimotric System. UexaKonal System. Triiiietrii! System. .Monoclinic System. Triciinic System. Detcnniiuitive Ci-yitallogriiphy : Method of a.seertaiuinn theSysteni of a given Crystal. Fakt IlL Optii'al and other physical relaUons of Crj'stallography. Sen also the Author's Pamphlet on the Application of Trigonometry tPCrystallographic «alculationH„ PHYSICAL CIIARACTEU8 OF MINERALS. 15 The Dimetric or Tetrofjonal S//stcm. — This includes, principally, square-based prisms and pyramids Cor octahedrons), and their combina- tions. Figures 8 to 9 are examples of Dimetric crystals. Amongst \ ("• // / 7^ ^ci/^ l^iv^ Fic. S. Fia. 8 a. I'm; 'JV Kic. t>. minerals, Copper Pyrites, Tin-stono, Kntile, Anata«c, Zircon, Idocrase, &.C., may be cited as belonging to the group. The Ifexn(jonnl S>/sfeyn. — Ilegular six-sided prisms (Fig. 10), and pyramids (Fig. 11), combinations of these (Fig. 12), three sided prisms, rhumbohcdrons (Figs. 13 and 14), and scalcnohcdrons (Fig. 1')) ; ::re included under this system. Graphite, lied Silver Ores, Cinnabar, Specular Iron Ore, Corun;}te of Lime, Phosphate and Arseniate of Lead, Calcareous Spnr, A // \\ y //>> ^^ %/ '.^ Fig. 10. Fiu. U. Fig. 12, Via. 12.* F/.;. 13. Fio. 11. Flo. 14. Fio. 15. Dolomite, and Carbonate of Iron, are some of the principle minerals nvhich belong to it. The Tnmetric or Rhombic System. — This system 'Includes right - rhombic prisms, rectangular prisms, rhombic octahedrons, &,c., and their , I ill f! 16 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OP CANADA. coinbinatioas. Fig. IG i3 a rhombic prism j figs- 17 to 21 represent 'Av . Pi°')'> over tlieir obtuse edges. Galena, the; common ore of lead, yields rectangular or cubical cleavage forms; whilst the cubes of fluor-spar b'"^;dc off most readily at the corners or angles, and yield regular octahedrons (fig. 3). Jlanlacss. — The hardness of a mineral Js its relative power of re£[st- ing abrasion^ not that of rc.si.> ting blows; many of the hardest minerals being exceedingly brittle. I'raetically, the character is of great impor- tance. By its aid, gypsunj may be distinguished in u moment from calc- spar or ordinary limestone, calc-spar frou) feldspar, and copper pyrites from iron pyrites, not to mention other exaniples.'-' The degree of hardness in minerals i.s conventionally assumed to vary from 1 to 10 (1 being the lowest), as in the following scale, devised by a (ieruian mineralogist, ^]/ ^/jg. and now generally adopted : 1. Foliated Talc. 2. Jlociv Salt, a transparent cleavablo variety. , ;>. ('alcaiu:ous Spar, a tran.-parent variety. (! fiiit^'ov-iiail ; Calc-spar and copper pyriU'3 an- ."scratched easily by a kiiifo ; whilst fi'l(ls))ar ainl iron jiyritos aro lianl enough to scratch wiiifliiw-;.'laB3. Home years a^'o, as nicniioncd by Hir William Logan, a farmer in the Ottawa district was juiffo much expense and annoyance by mistaking feldspar for crystallino limestone, and attcini)ting to burn it into lime. On a late visit to the town-sliip of Marmora, we found, near a deserted kiln, u lurgu heap of quartz fragments, on wluch a similar attempt had evidently been made. PHYSICAL CIIAKACTERS OF MINERALS. 19 In order to ascertain the hardness of a mineral by means of this scale/ we attempt to scratch the substance, under examination, by the diiTorent' specimens belonging to the scale; beginning with the hardest, in order not to expose the specimens to unnecessary wear. Or, proceeding in another manner, we take a fine file, and compare the hardness of the mineral with that of tho individual members of the srale, by drawing the file quickly across them. The comparative hardness is t.stiniated by the resistance offered to the file ; by the noise occiisionod by tlie file in passing across the specimens; and by the amount of powder so ; produced. The degree of hardness of the mineral is then said to be ; equal to that of the moiiiber of the sc;:!^^ with v.'hich it agrees the i nearest. Thus, if the niinoral agree in hardness v.'ith fluur-spnr, we ! say, iii its description, II (or hardncss)»= 4. if, on the other hand, it;' be somewhat softer than lluor-spiir, but liardor than calcareous spar, we • ^ay, II = 3.5. Filially, if. as frequ'';ntly happens, tlie hardness of a! mineral vary sliuhtly in different speeiiuens, the limits if tlie hanlncsa are always stated. Tims, if in some specimens, a mineral agree in i hardness with ealc-spar, and in others with niior-spar, we say, II :::= 3 to 4; or, more commonly, II -^^r. o — 4. If the hardness be very rigorously tested, it will frequently be found to differ slightly on different faces of a erysttdizcd specimen, or on the broad faces and the edges of the luniujc of foliated specimens; but this, so far as regards the simple determiiir.tiou of urinerals, is practically of litilo moment. As the minerals of whieh the scale of iMuhs consists, are not in all i places obtainable, or always at hand when requin^d, the author of this ' work devised some years ago a scale of hardness, so contrived as to j agree closely enough for pr:u;tieal purposes with that oi' iiloli,'-. whilst i exacting for its application only such objects as are always to be met with. The following is the scale in question : its use explains itself.* ^\li91l'^\'^>^''^ Conccalent Scale of Ilardiies^^, (o corrcApond xcUlt that of JIuhs. 1. Yields easily to the nail. 2. Does not yield to the nail. Docs not scratch a copper coin. 3. Scratches a copper coin, but, is also scratched by one, being of about the same degree of hardness. . * This scale was lirst published in 1843. The compiler of the article " MiiuTalogy" ia the IftHt edition uf the Ehirydojuvdia Britannica has copied it (to avoid a;'knowlediieinfUt) under .1 Boniewhat ehimsy disguise. 20 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OP CANADA. f? / 4. Not scratched bj a copper coin. Does not scratch glass (ordinary window-glass). 5. Scratches glass very feebly. Yields easily to the knife. 6. Scratches glass easily. Yields with difficulty to the knife. 7. Does not yield to the knife. Yields with difficulty to the edge of a file. 8. 9, 10. Harder than flint or rock-crystal. Convenient terras of comparison for degrees of hardness above No. 7 cannot bo easily obtained ; but that is of little consequence, an there are but few minerals which exhibit a higher degree; and these are readily distinguished by other characters. ^peci ^lc G r a vity. — This is also a character of great value in the determination of minerals. The SCgpific .grAVity of a bodj^ is |ts \y;eijjht comDar&d .wIth the weight of an equal bulk of pure water. In order to ascertain the specific gravity of a mineral, we weigh the specimen first in nir, and then in water. The lo^s of weight in the latter case exactly equals the weight of the displaced water, or, in other words, of a volume of Avater equal to the volume of the mineral : and the specific gravity of pure water, at a temperature of about G2°, being assumed to equid 1, or unity, it follows that the specific gravity of a mineral is obtained by dividing the weight of the Inttor in air by its loss of weight in water. Thus, if a ^^ the weight in air, and jw =^ the weight in v.'ater, G, or sp. (jr. = — "— • E.cnmple. — A piece of calcareous spar weighs GG grs. in air, and 41 grs. when immersed in rain or di.stilicd water. Hence its sp. gr. —,^^'2 —-''5: _- o.(M 06 — 41 'J5 " ^ The weight of the mineral may be ascertained most conveniently, and with sufficient exactness for general purposes, by a pair of small scales such as are commonly cnlled " apothecaries' scales." These may be purchased for a couple of dollars or even less. A small hole must be made in the coatro uf one of the pans for the passage of a horse-hair or silken thx-ead (about four inches in length) furni.shed at its free end with a "slip-knot" or running noose to hold the speci:iien whilst this is being weighed in water. The strings of the perforated pan may also be somewhat shortened, but the balance must in this case be brought into equilibrium by a few strokes of a file on the under side of the other pan, or by attaching thinner strings to it. If grain weights be used §i PHYSICAL CHARACTERS OF MINERALS. 21 ordinary edge of ibove No. ,, as there these are ue in the its weijiht [n order to icimen first asc exactly )f a volume lific gravity to equal 1 , Lbtaincd hy it in water. ,'ater, G, or in air, and io its sp. tir. onvcnicntly, air of small The.^c may 11 ht)lo must a horse-hair itij free end w whilst this pan may also le be brought 5 of the other ights be used with this balance, the following will be required : 50 grs., 30, 20, 10, f), .3, 2, 1, 0.5, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1. As an application of specific gravity, apart from the employment of ths chnractcr in the determination of mineral:^, it may be observed that the weight of masses of rock, heaps of ore, etc., may bo readily ascer- tained by reference to this property. The length, breadth, and depth of tlio body being taken in feet and decimal parts of a foot, and these dimoiisions being multiplied together, we get the contents of the body in cubic feet. This value is then multiplied by (52. o2, the weight in lbs. of a cubic foot of water. This gives the weight of an equal bulk of water, which nuist finally be multiplied by the average sp. gr. of the body. The Weight of the latter is thus obtained in liis. Dividing this weight by 2,000 gives the weight in American or Canadian ton.';; and I by dividing it by 2,240, we get the weight in Uritish tons. j * Rciitiva Madeahlliti/. — Some few minerals, as native gold, native ] silver, .•sulphide of silver, native copper, &c., are malleable or durtt'lc, ' Ilatteiiing out when struck, instc^itd of breaking. A i'ew other minerals, a.'^ talc, .serpentine, i\:c., are Hcct!l'\ or adiuit of being cut by a knife ; v.hil.'^^t llie majority of minerals are brittle, or incapable of being cut or beaten out without breaking. In testing the relative malleability of a mineral, a small fragment should be placed ona little anvil, or block of! steel polished on one of its faces, and struck once or twice by a light; hammer. To prevent the fragment from flying off when struck, it may; be covered by a strip of thin paper, held down by the forefinger and . thumb of the left hand. Thus treated, malleable bodies flatten into * discs or spangles, whilst brittle substances break into powder. jllaf/nctism. — Few minerals attract the magnet in their natural con- dition, although many do so after exposure to the blowpipe. fSee below.) In trying if a mineral be magnetic, we chip off a small frag- ment, and apply to it a little horse-shoe magnet, such as may be pur- chased anywhere for a quarter of a dollar ; or otherwise we apply the specimen to a properly suspended magnetic needle. In this manner! many of the black granular masses which occur so frequently in our ! Gneissoid or Laurentian rocks, and in the boulders derived from these, may easily be recognised as magnetic iron ore.* Most specimens of this mineral (and also of magnetic pyrites) exhibit '' polarity," or attract, | from a given point, one end of the needle, and repel the other. * Till' other dark-coloured cleavable masses, in these rocks, consist of mica, or more rarely of hornblende or tourmaline. i t, .1 J': If I i '• I 1 1 82 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. y^ts/ g. — This is a very characteristic although limited property, beinj;, of course, exhibited only by soluble minerals. In these, the taste may be saline, as in Rock Salt : or bitter, as in Epsom Salt; or metallic, as in Sulphate of Ir on, and no forth. B. niKMICAL OIIAUACTERS. The chemical characters of principal use in the determination of minerals coinpriso the phonoiMona dox'clopcd by the action of acids, and thosn produced by the application of thn blowpipe. Ijcforo rcferrinp to those eharactori^, the reader should be familiar with certain chemical terms of common employment in Miucialojry. A substance of any kind, whether of natural or artificial formation, must bo either a simple or a mmpoiind substance. Tf the former, it cannot be decomposed or subdivided into more simple bodies by any process of art. If compound, on the other hand, a decomposition of this kind maybe more or lo-s readily effected. Tlius, vvhiist from a' piece of sulphur, copper, or iron, if pure, nothiiiu; but sulphur, copper or iron respectively, can be extracted, a piece of copper pyrites will yield all three of these substance:- — each, as before, rosistiii;^ further subdivision. Ilenco sulphur, copper, and iron are vc^L,'ari.led as simple Bubsiancos, whilst copper pyrites i:> a compound bojlv. These so-called ''simple" substaricc-t, it must be understood, mtiy not be, and ]i;'obably are not. absolutely siiuplo ; but they are sitnple, id est, undccomposable, in the present state of science. They are often known as Elements. TTp to the present time between sixty and seventy have beo:i recognized, but muiiy occur only in a few rare minerals. Some — oxygen, nitrofren, chlorine, fluorine, hydrogen, — ertist in the free state as gasr.'i; two at ordinary temperatures are liquid ; the rest are solid. Some few occur naturally, at times, in the free or simple state. Thcso form the tio-eallfid " native substances" (as Native Sulphur, Native Platinum, Native Gold, &c.,) of Mineralogists. Others occur only in cuinbination. Some have a remarkable teiulency to attack and combine with other bodies. Oxygen, chlorine, fluorine, sulphur and arsenic, in reference to natural compounds, may be especially cited in this respect. The binary compounds formed by those elements may be more or less pas-dve bodies or hasn^, or active bodies or t. Tbe pnr-nve cases a ). The o.syllable noduces an oxide: chlorine, a chloride; fluorine, a fluoride ; sulphur, a sulphide ; and arsenic, an arsenide. Sulphur and arsenic compounds of this sort were formerly known as ''sulphurots" and "ar.seniuretM," but these terms aro now passinj.; out of use. When more than one compound of the above kind occurs, a distinctive prefix is added to tb(! term. Thus rod oxide of copper is often known as tho ''sub-oxide," whilst the black oxide of copper is known as '< oxide " simply. The red oxide contains two parts (combining' woi^(;il thoy .sepa- rate itito an oxidized base on the one hand, and into an oxidized acid on the other. In other words, the .silicate eyanitj yields alumina or oxiiUi of aluminium and anhydrous silicic aciil ; whilst from car- bonate of iron, oxide oi' iron and carbonic acid are obtaiiuul. Cnlcitc or calcareous spar, in like manner, may l»e nnnied from, and decomposed into, lime or oxide of calcium, and carbonic acid. If the mineral be exposed to a rod heat, carbon iu acid is expelled in the form of an invisible gas, and lime remains behind ; and if this lime be exposed to the atmosphere it will (gradually absorb carbonic acid from the latter, and the original compound will again result. Certain theorcitical con- siderations, however, rather lead to the inference that this is r ot the actual constitution of these substances, but that the base is really in the simple metallic state, whilst all the oxygen is combined with the other clement, silicon, carbon, kc. Thus in the above examples it is supposed that metallic aluminium, iron, and calcium, respectively, are combined with a compound of silicon and oxygen, or carbon and oxygen, containing more oxygen than ordinary silicic or carbonic acids. Various arguments might be adduced both in support of and against this opinion ; but as the former view of the composition of these bodies is the more simple of the two, and is still very generally followed, it has been thought advisable to adhere to it in a work of the present elementary character. Action of Acids. — As a general rule, the use of acids may be dis- pensed with in the ordinary determination of uiinerals, or resorted to only as a confirmatory test, when the name of the substance has been ascertained by other means. A drop of acid serves, however, very conveniently, to distinguish carbonates from most other bodies, by the eflfervescence which is produced by the liberation of carbonic acid from these salts. The test acids chiefly used, are nitric acid, and chlorbydric CIIKMICAL CHARACTKR8 OF MINERALS. 25 be dis- rted to s been very by the from iydric acid. These must be kept in well-stoppered glass bottles provided with glass caps, as their fumes soon destroy cork, and are otherwise hiphly corrosive and deleterious. For j^eological purposes (testing calcareous rocks, kc.) strong chlorhydric acid diluted with about an equal volume of pure water, is principally used. The amall bottle in which this is kept, may have n long stopper extending into the acid ; and a little nest or wicker-work pocket may bo provided fur its recep- tion near the upper edge of the specimen basket. In examining a mineral with tin acid, the substance should bo reduced, in ordinary cases, to a fine powder, and covered in a test-tube or small porcelain capsule with a few drops of the acid, the latter being subsequently warmed or brought to the boiling point over the flame of a small spirit lamp. The following are some of the princip»il effects produced by this treatu)ent : (a). Simple sohition : — Example, gypanm, &c. {f)). Solution with rfTfrvesrucco uiid siniultaneoiis evolution of a colorless inodorous };ns: — Ex. carbonutes <^unerftlly. Some of tliesc, as calc spar, tiiala- chite, «ic., dissolve with elForvescencc in cold and more or less dilute acid; but others, ns dolomite or bitter spar, and carbonate of iron, only effervesce in heated acid. Either acid may be used, except in the case of carbonate of baryta or strontia ; as witli these niinerals, ptroni^ chlorliydric acid forms an insoluble coatini^ of chloride of barium or strontium, by which tlie fiirtiier action of the acid is entirely prevented. If tlie acid bo used in a diluted 8tate, however, this effect is prr'vented, chlorides of barium and strontium beiiiii; readily soluble in water. (c). Partial solution, witli separation of a jj^clatinous residu'ini : — ^Ex. various silicates: these are said to "f^elatinlzc in acids." Boilinj* chlorhydric acid ifi i^enernlly required to produce the effect, Tiie gelatinous nuatter consists of silicic acid or silica. Some silicntos (Ves\ivian, Ei)idnte, i i 26 MINERAI.H AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. colour. A piece of polished steel or iron immersed in a diluted solution of this kind, becomes coated with metallic co}>per. ((/.) Solution, or partial solution, and production, with chlorhydric acid, o' oiilofiiie fumes. I'.x. pvrolupite or black nian:jaiie.«o ore, itc. The chlorine is, of course, derived from tin; decomposition of the acid. Care must be taken not to inhnle its fumes. (A.) Solution, or partial solution, with production of iluohydrio acid in corro- sive fumes. P]xample — Fluor spar, in i)o\vder. with hot sulphnric acid. The evolved fumes corrode giaeis. The experiment .'-hould be ])erfiiniieil in a platinum or lead vessel If n piece of glass ctjalcd on its under hide with a tliiii layi'r of wax throu;j;]i wincii a pattern has been lra"end unattacked. Example— Quartz, orthoclase, zircon, itc. Ajyplicatioa of the B/oirpipc. : — The blowpipe in its simplest form is uiei'cly :i narrow tu'uj of bru.s;s or other laotal, bent round id otio ex- tremity, aiul tenuiuritiii.u-, :s.t that end, in a point with a very lino oritico (lig. liO). if we place tiie pointed end of this instrument just within the ilame (and u little above the wick) of a lamp or common candlo and then blow .izcntly down tlie tube, the flame will be deflected to one .^ide in the form of a !(ing,.narr(AV er-ne, and it.s beating ]iowcrs will be won- derfully increll^ed. .Many minerals, when held in the form of a thin j /// ilij; ''I splinter at (he point of thune tluus acted upon, !,:elt with the j.rrcatcst Fio. 26. ease; and some are ciih.er \\ holly or partially volatilized. Otiier n)lnerals, on the contrary, romain unaltered. Two or liiore aubstance;<, thorefire, of similar appearance, r.iay often be Bcpavateu and uistii)s;ui.sluHl in a uionient, by the aid of the blowpipe. TIio blowpij_)e V i;i its ^'cionrilic use) lias. f?triciiy, a three-fold appli- cation, it may iio employed, as ju.st pointed out, to di.stinguish minerals fr(/m nno another: some of these l>einther.-< are infui-ible; s(,inc attracting the magnet after exposure to the blow- pipe, whilst other.s do not c.Khibit tliat reaction; s^me imparting a coh)ur to the flame, others volitilizinj:, and so forth. Secondly, the CHEMICAL CIIARACTEKS OP MINERALS. 27 blowpipe may be omplojcd to ascertain the general composition of a mineral; or the presence or absence of some particular substance, as copper, lead, iron, cobalt, manganese, sulphur, arsenic, and the like. Thirdly, it may be used to determine in certain special cases, the actilal amount uf a metallic or other ingredient previously ascertained to be present in the substance under examination. In u-iing the blowpipe, thenjouth is filled with air, and this is forced gontl}' but continuously down tho tube by the compression of the mus- cles of the checks and lips, breathin!:; b'ing carried on simultancouslj by the nostrils. By a little practice this operation becomes exceedingly easy, especially in urdinary expcriincnts, in which the blast iij raroly required to be kept up for more than fiftctMi or twenty seconds ut a time. The begin ner will lind it advisable to rjstrict himself at first to the attempted production of ast':'ady C)ntiiiuous flame, without seeking to direct this on any objeot. Holding tiic blowpipe in his right hand, (with thumb and two outside lingers below, and the index and middle finger above tho tube,) near the lower extremity, he should let the inner part of his arm, between the wrist and the elbow, rest against the edge of the table at which he operates. The jet or point of tho blow-pipe is turned to tho left, and inserted either into or against tho edge of tho flame, according to the nature of the operation, as explained below. After a few trials, when luiflicient skill to keep up a steady flame has been acquired, the point of the flame may bo dircicted upon a snjall !-|ilin(er of some easily fusible material, ; uch as natrolite or lepidolitc, held in a pair of forceps with platinum tips.* Some little difiiculty will probably be experienced at ih'st in keeping the test- fragment exactly at the flame'.s point ; but this, arising partly from irregular blowing and partly from the beginner feeling constrained to look nt the jet of the blow-pipe and tho object fiimultaneously, i< carily overcome by half-an-hour's practice. A small cutting of mctidlio load or ti.i supported on a piece of well-burnt soft-wood charcoal can be examined in a similar manner. In these exporiiuents tl.'.e beginner must bo careful not to opcrat'i on fragments of too large a bulk. The smaller and more pointed tho object submitted to the flame, the easier and more certain will be the experinn nt. If f'U'reps (if thin kiml cannot In! [H'ociin'il, a |>:ui of stool f ori'i'ps wit'a line imiuts, siiili an watchiimkiTs usi-, may .si^rvc as a Hulistitutc. It will lie (nlvisalile ti) twist soiuo silk tliroad or II'' twine louinl the lowcf part of hc^i- in iiidcr to protect the liutjcrs. The points must be, kept dean by a tile. J^^ i P. i 28 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. In out-of-the-way places the common form of blowpipe described above is frequently the only kind that can be obtained. It answers well enough for ordinary experiments, but the moisture which collects in it by condensation from the vapour of the breath is apt to be blown into the flame. This inconvenience is remedied by the form of con- struction shewn in the annexed figures, in which the instrument consists of two principal portions, a main stem closed at one end, and a short tube fitting into this at right angles near the closed extremity. The short tube is also commonly pro- vided with a separate jet or nozzle of platinum. In this case, the jet can be cleaned by simple igni- tion before the blow-pipe flame, or over the flame of the spirit lan)p. In the variety of blow- pipe known as " Black's Blow- pipe," Fio. 27, the main tube is usually constructed of japanned tin-plate, and the instrument is thus sold at a cheap rate. Mitscherlich's Blowpipe, Fig. 20. consists of three separate pieces which lit together, when not in use, as shewn in Fiu. 28. This renders it as portable as an ordinary pencil-ca.sc. FiCr. 30 represents Gahn's or Berzolius's Blowpipe, with a trumpet shaped mouth-piece of horn or ivory as devised by IMattncr. This mouth-piece is placed, of course, on the outside of the lips. It is preferable to the ordinary raouth-pieco, but is not readily used by the beginner. In length, the blowpipe varies from about seven-and-a-half to nine inches, according to the eye-sight of the operator. In addition to the blowpipe itself, and the forceps described above, a few other instruments and appliances are required in blowpipe opera, tions.* The principal of these comprise : a few pieces of platinum wire, three or four inches in length, of about the thickiiess of thin twine, to serve as a support in fusions with borax, &c. (see below) ; two or three small glass flasks, or, in default, a narrow test-tube or two, used chiefly for the detection of water in minerals (see below); a small * Jt will (if odursc Ix' uuilerstoiHl, that iiUToly a, slight skt'tcli <>f the aiiiilication of the blow j>ilip is givtjii ill thcsu pages. Huiice uiily tliu iiiou' lU'ce.ssary (ipcrations, iustruinunts, &l'., iiM' alluded to. CHEMICAL CHARACTERS OF MINERALS. 29 icu-casc. hammer and anvil, or piece of hard steel, half-an-inch thick, polished on one of its faces; a bar or horse-shoe magnet ; a pen-knife or small steel spatula ; a small agate pestle and mortar ; spirit-lamp, &c. ; and half-a-dozen turned wooden boxes or small stoppered bottles to hold the blowpipe reagents. These latter are employed for the greater part in the solid state, a condition which adds much to their portability, and renders a small quantity suflBcient for a great number of experiments. The principal comprise : Carbonate of sodu (abbreviated into carb. soda, in the following pages), used largely for the reduction of metallic oxides, and in testing for sulphur and sulphuric acid, manganese, cS:c., as explained below ; Biborate of soda, or Borax, used principally for fusions on the platinum wire, many substances communicating pecu- liar colours to the glass thus formed ; and Phosphate of soda and ammonia, commonly known as microcosmic salt or phosphor salt, used for the same purposes as borax, and also for the detection of silicates and chlorides, as explained further on. lleagents of less common use comprise: nitrate of cobalt (in solution); bisulphate of potash; black oxide of copper ; chloride of barium ; metallic tin ; and a few other substances of special employment. The effects produced by the blowpipe cannot be properly understood without a preliminary knowledge of the general composition and struc- tural parts of Flame. If the flame of a lamp or candle, standing in a place free from draughts, be carefully examined, it will be seen to consist of four more or less distinct parts, as shown in the annexed diagram, Fig. ol. A dark cone, a, will be seen in the centre of the flame. This consists of gases, compounds of carbon and hydrogen, which issue from the wick, but which can- not burn as they are cut off from contact with the atmos- phere. A bright luminous cone surrounds this dark central portion, except at its extreme base. In this bright cone the carbon, or a portion of it, separates from the hydrogen of the gaseous compounds pumped up by the wick. The carbon becomes ignited in the form of minute particles, and these, with the liberated hydrogen and undecomposed gas, are driven partly outwards, and partly downwards, or into the blue cup-shaped portion which lies at the base of the flame. At this latter spot, the carbon, meeting with a certain supply of oxygen, is converted into carbonic oxide, a compound of equal combining weights 1 \ ,1 I ' % i . .■ iiii' i I i t 30 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. of carbon and oxygen. Finally, in the flame-border or outer envelope, of a pale pinkish colour, only discernible on close inspection-, complete combustion, i. c, union with oxygen, of both gases, carbon and hydro- gen, takes place. The carbon burns into carbonic acid, a compound of two combining weights of oxygen with one of curbon ; and the hy- drogen, uniting with oxygen, forms iiqueous vapour. If a cold and polished body, for example, be brought in contact witii the edge of a ilame of any kind, its surface will exhibit a streak or line of moisture. Now tliose different parts of flame, possess, to some extent, different propertic's. The dark inner cone is entirely neutral or inert. Bodies placed ill it, become covered with soot or uiiburut carbon. Ilie lauii- uous or yellow cone possesses reducing powers. Its component gases, requiring oxygen for their combustion, are ready to take this from oxidized bodies placed in contact with them. Tiiis luminous cone, however, in its normal state, lias not a sufficient temperature to decom- pose oxidized bodies, except in a few .speuial cases ; but its temperature, and consequently its decomposing or deoxidizing power, becoiiies indi- rectly much increased by the action of the blowpipe, as shown below. The blue portion of flame possesses also reducing powers, but of com- paratively feeble intensity, as die carbon is there able to obtain from the atmosphere a partial supply of oxygen. l''iii..ily, in the outer or feebly luminous envelope, in which complete combustion takes place, the flame attains its highest temperature; and, having all the oxygen it requires from the surrounding ataiosphore, it exerts an o.xidi/ing influ- ence on bodies placed in contact v/ith it, .since most bodius absorb oxygen when ignitcl in the free air. In subjecting a body to the action of the blow-pipe, we seek, (1) either to raise its temperature to as high a degree as possible, so as to test the relative fusibility of the substance ; or (2) to oxidize it, or cause it, if an oxide, to combine with a larger amount of oxygon ; or (o) to reduce it, either to tl'.e metaliie .'-tate, or to a luwor degree of oxidation. The flrst and second of these elfucts umy be produced by the same kind of flame, known as an oxidtiting flame (or 0. F), the position of the substance being slight)}' different; whilst the third effect is obtained by a so-called reducing flame (or il. F.), in which the yellow portion is developed as much as possible, and the substance kept within it, so as to be cut :;eii, i\\\d its reducing or yellow portion becomes obliterated. It forms a lou;^ narrow blue cone, surrounded by its feebly luminous mantle. Tlie body to be (»xidized should be held a short distance beyoud tl:o point of tho cone, as in I'lO. ?)'! ; but to test its fusion, it nuist be held in contact with this, or even a little within the flame. In this position many substances, as those which e.iiitain lithia, stnmtia, baryta. eii(;per, i\:c., impart a crimson, green, or other colour to the outer or fijcbly lumi'.ious cone. For the production of a reducing iianic the oriiice of the bhjwpipe inust not be too lar^e. Tho point is lieid just on the outside of the flame, a little above the level of the wick, as shown in FiO. do. The flame in its deflected state, then retains the whole or a large por- tion of its yellow cune. Tiie substance under treatment must be held within this (although towards its pointed ex- tremity) so us to be entirely cricluded from the atmosphere ; vvhilst, at the iiaaie time, tiie temperature is r;ii.s(..'d sufficiently high to promote reduction. As a -oneral niUi, bodiof. subjected ti a rcducinii; treatment should bj supported on charcoal. For ordinary experiments, such as testing the rela;.ive fasibVlity, &c., of mitierals, the blowpi})e may be used witli the flame of a common candle. The v/iek of the caudle .should 'oo kept rather short (but not so as t) v/eakon the flame), and it should be turned .slightly to the left, or away" from the point of the blowpipe, the streain of air being blown along its surf.ice. A lamp ilaui'.', or that of co.d gas, gives a higher temperature, and is in many respects preferable. The wick-holder (or jet, if gas be used) should bo of a rectangular form, with it., upper surface sloping towards the left at a slight angle. Either good oil, or, better, a mixture of about 1 part of spirit of turpentine, or benzine, with G parts of strong alcohol, may be used with the lamp. If the Fig. :33. ■ ■I, • i'ri jljin 82 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OP' CANADA. htier mixture be used, equal volumes of the two ingredients must be first well shaken up together, and then the rest of the alcohol added. If the wick crust rapidly, the turpentine will be in excess, in which case another volume of alcohol may be added to the mixture. The following are some of the more general operations required in the examination of minerals by the blow-pipe. A few others of special employment are referred to under the Reactions of the more common Elementary Bodies, given on a subsequent page. (1) The Fusion Trial : — In order to ascertain the relative fusibility of r substimce, we chip off a small particle, by the hammer or cutting pliers, and expose it. either in the platinum-tipped forceps or on char- coal, to the point of the blue flame (Fig. 26, above). If the substance be easily reduced to metal, or if it contain arsenic, it must be sup- ported on charcoal (in a small cavity made by the knife-point for its reception), as substances of this kind attack platinum.''' lu other cases, a thin and sharply pointed splinter may bo taken up by the forceps, and exposed for about half-a-minute to the action of tho flame. It ought not to exceed, in any case, the size of a small carraway seed — and if smaller than this, so much the better. If fusible, its point or edge (or on charcoal, the entire mass) will become rounded into ahead or globule in the coarse of ten or twenty seconds. Difficultly fusible substances become vitrified only on the surface, or rounded on the extreme edges ; whilst infusible bodies, though often changing colour, or exhibiting other re-actions, preserve the sharpness of their point and edges intact. The nioro charaftcristic phenomena exhibited by mineral bodies when exposed to this treatment, are enumerated iu the following table : — (a) The tcst-frnc!; ment may " decrepitate" or fly to pieces. Example, most specimens of jralenua. Iu this case, a largei- fragment must be heated iu a test- tube over a small spirit lump, and after decrepitation has taken place, one of the resulting fragments can be exposed to the blow-pipe flame as directed above. Decrepitation may sometimes be prevented if tho operator expose the test-frag, ment cautiously and gradually to the full action of the flame. {!>) The test-frngment may change c olour (with or without fusing) and become attractable by a magnet. Example, (j Q^-bouatc of ^ron . This becomes first red, * III onlor ti) prevent any risk of injury to the platinum forceps, it is advisable to use char- coal as a support for all bodies of a metallic aspect, as well as for those which exhibit distinctly coloured .streak or high specific gravity. CHEMICAL CHARACTERS OF MINERALS. 33 then black, and attracts the magnet, but docs not fuse. Iron pyrites on the other hand becomes bhick and magnetic, but fuses also. (c) Tiie test-fragment may colour the tlame . Tlius, most copper con^pou nJH impart a rich green colour to tiie flame ; compounds containing baryta, and many pliospliates and borates, with the mineral molybdenite, colour the tlame l>alt' green; sulphur, selenium, lead and chloride of cupper colour the llunu' blue of dillercnt (U'groes of intcnsit}- ; compounds containing slrontia and liihia impart ix crimson colour to the tlame ; some lime compounds impart to it a pale rod colour ; soda comi)ounds, a deep j-ellow colour; and potash (.'onipouuds, a violet tint. ((/) The test-fragment may become caustic . E.xample. carhoualti_uLJiuie- Tlio carbonic acid is burned i,ifT, and caustic lime rt>:iiaiiis. Tliis restores the blue colour of reddened litnnifl paper. It also imjtarts if moisleni'd, n luii'iiiini- sensation to tlie l)ack of the hand or other sensitive part. (?) The test-fragment may take fire and burn . E.\ample, native sulphur: common bituminous coal, *fec. (/) The test-fragment may be volatili/ed or di^^ipateil in fumes, either wiiolly or partially, and witli or without an accompanying odor. Thus, ^n-ry anlimoiiv ore volatilizes with dense white fumes; arsenical pyrites vol;Uiii/es in \in\l, v.itli a strong odor of garlic; common iron pyrites yields an odour of l;rimstone; and 80 forth. In many cases the volatilized matter becomes in great part depo- sited in an oxidized condition 'on the charcoal. Antimonial miner.d-^ form a white deposit or incrustation of this kind. Zinc compoinuls, a deposit which is lemon-yellow whilst Injt, and white when cold. Lead and liismuth are indicated by sulphur — or orange-yellow deposits. Caduiiuni by a reddisli brown ineru^tation. ((/) The test-fragment may fuse, ei ther whcdly, or onlj at.jt.l,y;,point_and eilgcsi ; and the fusion m.ay take place quietl}-, or with bubljling, and with or witiimit a ju'evious "intumescence" or expansion of thu fray-ment. Most of the so-c;illed Zeolites, for example, (nunerals abundant in Traii rocks), swell or curl ut) on e.\[)osure to the blow-pijje, and then fuse quietly ; but some, as Prehnile, nu'lt with more or less bubbling. (A) The test-fragment may .re inain unchange d. Example, Quartz, and various other infusible minerals, (2) Treatment in the Flunk or Bulb-tube {The Water Test) :— Minerals are • frequently subjected to a kind of distillatury process by ifinition in snuiU glass tubes closed at one end. Tbe.«c tubes are of two general kinds. One kind has the form of a small ilask, and is commonly known as a " bulb-tube." Where it cannot be procured, a small-sized test-tube may supply its place. It is used principally in testing minerals for water. The other kinds consist simply of narrow pieces of glass tubing, closed and sometimes drawn out to a point at one extremity. They are chiefly employed in testing for mercury and arsenic (see below). Our present description refers solely to the use 1 — -==■- m ; I 34 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. lli!^ of tlio bulb-tube. Many minerals contain a considerable amount of water, or the elements of water, in some unknown physical condition. Gypsum, for example, yield.s nearly 21 per cent, of water. As the presence of this sub-stance is very easily ascertained, tlic w.ntor test is frequently resorted to, in practice, for the formation of determinative groups, or separation of hydrous from anhydrous minerals. The operation is thus performed, j'ho ;^las.s is first warmed gently over the ilame of a small spirit-lainp to ensure the absence of moisture, and is tlicu act aside Inr a few momenta to cool. This effected, a piece of the sub>tar)C'; un.lor examination, of about the size of a small pea, is placed in it. and ignited over the spirit-laiup. as shewn in the annexed figure. If water be present in the mineral, a thin lilm. con- (hnsini; rapidly into little drops, will be deposited on the iicclv or upper part of the tube. As soon a.-! the moisture begins to sl'.cw itself, the tube must bo held in a ;nnre horizontal positi(!n, otherwise a fractufo may 1)0 occasioned by the water flovvlug down and coming in contact with the hot part ol' the glass. A small spirit-lamp may bs made by fitting a piece of glass tubing of about an inch in Unigtli to servo a-^ a wick-holder, through an orifice in the cork of a jliort, ilai bottle. When the lamp is not in use, the wick sluiuld b-! ciovijv.' 1 by a glass or other c:,p to prevent the evaporation of the ^-nirit. A mineral may also bo e:;amii:o(l for water, though loss conveniently, by ignition bcforo the blowpipe flame in a piece of open tubing, as shown in Fi*J. 'if). To prevent the tube softening or melting, a strip of platinuo) foil may be folded around it where the test -fragment rests, Fio. :i.v The latter is pushed into its pl:u!n l.)y a thin iron-wire. The moisture couJonscs on each side of the test-matter. (o) Trrifrmnt with N'ltrutc of CohaJi :—'V\\'v:i operation is but rarely required. It serves, in certain cases, for the detection of alumina, c CHEMICAL CHARACTERS OF MINERALS. 85 aluiinnn, mac;ncsia, oxide of zinc, and some few other substances ; but it is riot applicablo to deeply coloured or easily fusible bodies, nor to such as posHcss II metallic lustre or coloured streak. A fraj^incnt of the sub- stance, under treatment, is reduced by the hammer and anvil, and aftorwards by the use of the agate mortar, to a fine powder. This i.s moistened with a drop of the cobalt solution (nitrate of cobalt dissolved in water), and the rcsultinfj paste is strongly ignited on charcoal by being held about an inch before the point of the ilamo, fusion being carefully avoided. Thus treated, alumina assumes on cooling a fine blue col )ur; magnesia (and the cumparativcly rare tantalic acid), a fle.«h-rcd tint; baryta, a dull brownish-red colour; oxide of zinc, bin- oxide of tin, antimony oxidc>. a green colour. With dther substances a groy, bluci.-h-grey, browni.sh-black, or other ir.deiinite dduration is prodiiCi'd. nijle^^> 1'a.siun take place, in which case a glass may be obt;iined, coloured blue by the dissolved oxide of cob'ilt. ve tlie ignited paste to tlio laortar. and to break it. up again with a fine steel spatula (the end uf a llattencd wire, or l;nife-puint), and renew the operation. When the roasting is tenninnteu, the powder will pr;.-rnt a dull earthy aspect, and cease to onii!: fu';;\s or odour- It is th'ri ready for operations 5 and G, described bidow. r>y reducing the substance to powder before roasting, the risk of^lccrenitatiun and fusion is prevented, and the process itself is more cniciontly fierformed. Roasting is somcti'.ucs effected in a piece of open glass tubing as in Fig. o^ — only the te^t object is placed near one end of the tube, and the tube itself is held ia a more inclined position. Sulphur eliminated 7f^ ■nrrrr r ^ ! :■ 36 MINERALS AND GEOLOGV OF CANADA. from bodies by this trcatmont, is converted into sulphurous acid (a compound of sulphur and oxygen, the latter taken up from the atmos- phere) ; and arsenic forms arsenious acid, which depositH itself in the shape of numerous microscopic octahedrons on the cool sides of the f^lass near the upper part of the tuoe. Sulphurous acid in escaping from the open end of the tube is easily recognized by its oduur (identi- cal with that emitted by an if^nited n)atch), as well as by its property of chanj^ing the blue culour of a slip of moistened litinus pajier to red. Atitimunial compounds form a dense white uncrystalline snbliinato. (5.) Formation of i/lassm on platinum unr^ or chairodi : — This operation is one of constant utility in the determination of the con- stituents of minerals. 'J'ho c^lasscs, in question, are formed Ity the fusion of small portions of borax, phosphor salt, or carbonate nt" soda: the latter reaii;ent, however, being only occasionally used. Mo-t sub- stances, dissolve in one or the other of these glasses before tiie blow- pipe, and many counnunicate to them peculiar colours by which the nature of the test-matter is made known. If the matter to be tested contain sulphur or arsenic, it should be roasted before being subjected to the action of tliese lluxes. 3Ietals and metallic ;dlovs, as well as metallic oxides, chlorides, etc., of very easy reduction, must be (.'::;iniined on charcoal, but in other cases it is more convenient to cmpluy a piece of platinum wire as a support. One end of the wire may be inserted into a cork or special handle, or, if the wire be from 2 J to o iijches in length, it may be held in the naked fingers, as platinum conducts heat very slowly. The other end is bent into a small loop or car. This, when borax or phosphor-salt is used, is ignited by the blow-pipe flame, and plunged -into the flux, the adhering portion of the latter being then fused into a glass. If a sufficient portion to fill the loop be not taken up at first, the process must be repeated. With beginners, the fused glass is often brownish or discoloured by smoke, but it may be rendered clear and transparent by being kept in ignition for a few moments before the. extreme point of the flame, the carbonaceous matter becoming oxid- ized and expelled by this treatment. When carbonate of soda is used, a small portion of the flux must be moistened and kneaded in the palm of the left hand, by a knife-point or a small spatula, into a slightly co- hering paste, which is placed on the loop of the wire, and fused into a bead. Whilst hot, the bead is transparent, but it becomes opaque on cooling. The portion of test-matter added to a glass or bead, formed CHEMICAL CHARACTERS OP MINERALS. 37 by thcso reagents, must bo exceedingly small, otherwise the glass may become so deeply coloured as to appear quite black. In this case, the colour may bo observed by pinching the bead flat between a pair of forceps, before it has time to cool. It is always advisable, however, in the lirst instance, to take up merely a minute particle or two of the test-suhstaiice, and then to add more if no cliaractcristic action bo obtained. The glass, in all cases, must be exannncd first before an oxidating fhiino, and its colour observed both whilst the flux i^ hot, and when it has become cold ; and, secondly, it must bo kept for a some- what longer interval in a good reducing flame (fig. 80), and its appear- ance noted as before.* With certiiin su]»stances riime. magnesia, kc.) the bora.K and phosphor-salt glasses become milky niul dpafpie when saturate], lowly in and out of the flame — a process technically kimwu by the name of flaming. The colours, iS:c., conmiunicated to those glasses by the more com- monly o'-'curring constituent bodies, arc shown in the aiinoxod tabular view. liOliAX. Coldur 111" ncnh-reon (whe,, cold. . \ ^'"'O'"'"'" Lmcrald.-reen. Yellon' (whilst hot) Greenish-yellow (cold) . . . Yellowisli or reddish Iron ) ^,T ^^ ( Browinslj (whilst hot). y Vanadium k ,. , , , , 1 u ) ( hniera!d-;4reeii (when colu). Botllu-green. Yellowish or reddish ) -t • r> /i 1 1 u a • v Enamelled by flaming \ Uranium Green (black by flannng) Thr. ciilniir of the glass ought not, of course, to be examined by the transmittal light of the lamp or (■■nulle (lame. Strittly, it tihoukl be observfMl by dayliglit. ' i; ; ; N 1 ': 88 MINKUALS AiNI) GKOLOGV (jT CANADA. (". F) I'nlc yi'Ilowisli (colli) [- Cerlmii Ktmiiu.'lldd I)}- lliimiii^'. , . . \ Vl'IIow (hot) \ C'oIorli'SH (cold) I Tilnniuiu I'tiiiiiifllcd liy lliiiiiiiii; ) VcUow (llof.^. ("oliirli'ss (cold) ]. Tunyfitouiun >IliUIH'Ul'(| )>• llaiiiiiiL Yellow (liot). Colorli'-s or ycllowisli (cold). '- .Molybdciniiii (JrL'yi?>Ii audopiUjiu; by lluiiiiiig ) Vdlow or y<'ll'i\visli-ro(l (hot) Yellowish or colorless, and often oiJaline, when euld .... Lend ., nisniuU Silver Aiiti noiiv Yellowish (hot) i Colorless (cold) \- Cadiuiiim OiKKjiio-wliite when sutunitei Colorless (])oniimion11y clear). ) ^.. Sluwly dissolved i Aluminium icon Tin. Colorless. When saturated, opaque-white on coulinj^or^ Tantalum ... Zirconium .. (Hucinuin . . Yttrium, ttc. T! lorium. . airnesium by 11 uminii- Calcium . . Strontium Barium . . Litl num. Natrium, Kalium . (U. I) j Colorless or yellowish. ( ()|iai|Ui; -while, if saturated, Vreiiii-(i|)a<|Ue, often with seiparalinii of black sjiecks. V. under iiho-phor-salt , below. (Jrey and opntiue on coolinjj; but after conlinui'd -iilijection to the llatiie,lhey,hi- "-becomes clear: tht! reduced metallic, jiarticles cilliei )llecti U"' Uf- ••ether or volatili/.in:;. Colorless — the reduced metal being volatilized. Colorless: iiermnnently clear. (Tin comiiounds dissolve in small ijuaiitity only. On char- coal, they become I'cduced to metal, especially if a little earb. soda bo adiled to the ylass). Colorless. When saturated, opaque-white on (Doling or by llaming. »SVe Heaetions, below. PIIOSPIIOU - SALT. The glasses produced by the fusion of constituent bodies with this reagent arc for the greater part identical with those obtained by the use of borax, although somewhat less deeply coloured as a general rule. The principal exceptions are the glasses formed in a reducing flame with compounds of Molybdenum, Tungg. tcuum, and Titanium, respectively. The molybdenum glass pi-esents, when cold, a line green colour, and the tungstenum glass becomes greenish-blue. If the latter contain iron, the colour of the glass is changed to blood-red or brownish, rod. Titanium in the presence of iron gives a similar reaction ; but when free c IIKMICAI- lHAUACTnilS OK MINKIiAr.S. 30 fmm iron, the i^Ia-s is yt-llnw wJiilut hot. and vlolctcoloiircd wiiuu roid. IMioh- j)lii)r-salt is «n iiiiiinrliint rcii;,'cnt, (ov the; dotection «)f hilicii in silicates, ns tho silioii ruiniiiiis for llin }^r(Miler pnVt iuidi>>olved in tin- ijlass, in tho lunu of n traii'^liii'ciit docfuli'tit iini"-!, fcchiilcully l^m'wn as a ", silica skeleton," tiic asso- ciated (;(Mistitnents liein:; j,'radiially talicn up l)y the lliix. A sniail ani-mnt of nilicii is also i,'eiierally dissolved, hut this is iircci|>itateil a-< tlie l)cad eooN, rc'ndc■rin^• it Hoiui-traiisiinrent or oimline. l'ho>phor->alt is likewise employeil (:>y th.' deleetioii uf chloridcH, Ac. (See below.) fAlilttiNATlC III' SnH\, aa'cnt arc TI as rei ;XMi IS iirnieii)a >iy ii-i'(i \n I Ml|i||( liie rcili le(i' )xiili/.'il ail i other bodies to the inetallic ,~lale, as e.\;ilained luidur the description of that process. (Oiieration 0, below.) It is aNo of freijiient eniployintint as a lest for sulphur in sul[)hides and o.\idi/ed bodies. (Sec uiulry lieaeti'His.) It is rarely used, on the other Iiand, for the formation of ^■la->^s on plaliiiuni wire, exceitt as II test for the pruscnco of numganese ; altliounii, when employed, in tliis manner, it sei'Ves to distinguish salts of the alkalies, and those of strontia and Ijaryta, I'roni all olhi'r salts: tlie alkalies, with liaryla and strontia, di-sohinjir completely and rapidly in tho bead, whereas lime, nnignesia, ahuuiiia, and other bases, remain unattackcd. Manganese compounds form Iiy o.vidi/iiig fusion with this reagent a green glass, which becomes blue or bluisli green and opaijHo on cooling. A very minute amount of numgancse may be thus deleclud. Tho delicacy of the tost Is increa.sod by the adilition of a snndl i|uantity of nitre, as this promotes oxidation ; and if tho substance contain much lime, mai;iie>ia, iron oxides, or other bodies more or less insoluble in carb-soda, it is advisable to add a littlo borax to tho test-ini.xturc. Tho blue or blnish-grc^en bead thus jiroduced, is technically known ns ii "turquoise enamel." Chromium compouiuls produce a somewhat ainiilnr reaction ; but if the bead bo saturated with silica or boracic acid, it will remain green in the latter case ; while if the green colour result from tho presence of manganese, a violet or ameth^'stino glass will bo obtained. Some other applications of carbonate of boda as a blow-pi[ie reagent will be found under tho head of JIkactioxs. G. Reduction : — Thi.s term denotes the proces-s by which an oxidized or other compound is converted into the metallic state. Some com- pounds become reduced by simple ignition ; others require for their reduction the addition of certain reagents ; and some, again, resist reduction altogether. The reduced metal is in some cases so highly volatile that it cannot be obtained except by a kind of distillatory process. In other cases, one or more fusible globules, or a number of minute infusible grains, are obtained in blowpipe operations. Reducible metals may be thus distributed into three groups, as shown (with omission of a few metals of rare occurrence) in the annexed Table : — i MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. illil 'I': jliiii! mil ii!i' A. Ylcldhir/ metallic globules: — Gold, Silver, Copper, Tin, Lead, Bismuth, Anti- mony. B. Ylddiufj hifnsihlc metalUr rjralns: — Platinum, Iron, Nicltcl, Cobalt, Molyb- denum, Tungstenum. C. Y'lchl'iiiff lactnll'ir vnpov.rx only, whoi, treated on charcoal: — Mercury, Arsenic, Cadiiiiuiu, Zinc. A luctal of the first group may bo obtained, unless present in very small quantity, by a simple fusion of the previously roasted test-sub- stance, with sorac carbonate of soda, on charcoal, in a good reducing flaiiie (Fid. o3, above). Tn ordinary cases, metallic globules are rapidly produced by this treatment. IJy a little management the globules may be brought together so as lo form a single large globule. This must be tested on the anvil as regards its relative malleability, ka. Gold, silver, copper, tin and lead arc malleable; bismuth and antimony, more or loss brittle, (iold and silver (if pure) retain a bright surface after subjection to an oxidating flame. Copper becomes covered with a black fihn, and tin with a white crust. Lead and bismuth volatilize more or less readily, and deposit on the charcoal a yellow coating of oxide. Antimony is rapidly volatilized with deposition of a dense white incrustation on the charcoal. It is not, of course always necessary to subject the test-substance to a previous roasting (Operation 4. above) but it i.s always safer to do so. Sulphur in most, and arsenic in all cases, must be driven olT by this preliminary treatment before the actual process of reduction is attempted. AVhen the metal to be reduced belongs to the second group, or if the amount of fusible metal in the test-substance do not exceed 4 or 5 iicv cod., the operation is performed as follows. A small portion of the substance in powder — subjecte or 4 volumes of carbonate uf soda (or neutral oxalate of potash, or a mixture of about equal parts of carb-soda and cyanide of potassium — the latter, it must be remembered, a highly poisonous substance), and the mixture is exposed on charcoal to a good reducing liame, until all the alkaline salt has become absorbed. 8ome more of this is then added, and the operation repeated until the whole or the greater part of the test-matter is also absorbed. The charcoal at this spot is iinally separated by a sharp knife-point and carefully ground to powder in a small agate mortar or porcelain capsule, whilst a line stream of water is projected upon it from time to time, uutil all the carbonaceous and other non-metallic CHEMICAL CHARACTERS OF MINERALS. 41 particles are gradually washed away. For this purpose, the mortar or capsule may be placed in the centre of an ordinary plate ; and if the operator be not provided with a chemical washing-bottle, he may use a small syringe, or, still more economically, a simple piece of glass tubing, * five or six inches in length and about the fourth of an inch in diameter, drawn out at one end to a point. This is filled by suction, and the water expelled, with the necessary force, by blowing down the tube. The metallic grains or spangles obtained by this process must be examined by the magnet. Those of iron, nickel and cobalt arc mag- netic. Sometiuies, however, when but a trace or very small percentage of reducible metal is contained in the test-substance, its presence is only indicated by a few metallic streaks on the sides and bottom of the mortar, 3Ictallic markings of this kind^can be removed by a piece of pumice Metallic compounds referable to the third group, yield no metal on charcoal, or by other treatment in open contact with the atmosphere. The presence of arsenic, however, is easily made known by the garlic- like odour evolved during fusion with reducing agents (or alone) on charcoal. Cadmium and zinc may also be recognized by the oxidized suljlimr ^s which they deposit on the charcoal. The cadniiuui sublimate is roddis.i-brown j the zinc sublimate, lemon-yellow and pliospliorcsccnt whilst hot, and white when cold. Mercury forms no incrustation on charcoal ; but its presence in any compound may be determined liy re- duction with carbonate of soda or iron-filings in a glass tube of narrow diameter. A small test-tube or piece of glass tubing closed at one end before the blowpipe, may be used for the experiment. The test-sub- stance, in powder, mixed with ?> or 4 vols, of perfeocly dry carb. soda, is inserted into the tube by means of u narrow strip of glazed writing- paper bent into the form of a trough, so as to prevent the sides of the glass from being soiled, and the mixture is strongly ignitcil by the .spirit- lamp or by the blowpipe flame. If mercury be present, a grey metallic sublimate will be formed near the upper part of tiio tube. 15y frit^tion with an iron wire, or the narrow end of a quill-pen, tfcc, the sublimate m:iy be brought into the form of fluid globules, which can be poured out of the tube, and which arc easily recognized as metallic mercury. 7. CupeUation : — Gold and silver arc separated by this process from other metals. The test-metal is fused with several times its weight of pure lead. The button, thus obtained, is exposed to an oxidating fu- I'' HPmii»MRiH ilSl!; 42 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. ' I') il! 'I I !!ii 'I sion on a porous support of bone-ash, known as a cupel. The lead and other so-called base metals become oxidized by this treatment, and are partly volatilized, and partly absorbed by tlic bone-ash, a tjlobule of gold or silver (or the two combined) beinp; finally left on the surface of the cupel. For blowpipe operations, cupels are generally made by* pressing a small quantity of dry boneash into a circular iron mould, the atter being fixed, when presented to the flume, in a special support, consisting essentially of a wooden foot and pillar with three or four short cross-wires (between which the cupel-mould rests) at the top of the Ittttcr. Instruments of this kind cannot bo obtained in remote places, but the process may be performed equally well by the use of a small iron spoon, of about half-an-inch in diameter. Enough bone-ash to fill this, is taken up in it, and warmed over the spiritdamp or by the blow- pipe flame. The spoon is then placed on the blowpipe anvil, and, whilst the smooth or unused end of the agate pestle (or other similar object, a glass button cemented to a cork, for example) is pressed firmly on the surface of the bone-ash, the handle of the spoon is n:oved throe or four times from side to side. The surface of the cupel thus formed is then exposed for a few moments to the point of the flume, so as to render the bone-ash thoroughly dry; and if its smooth condition be in aiiy way aliected by this treatment, the pressure with the pestle is repeated. Two or three little spoons of this kind should be kept at hand I'or cupelling experiments; but in their default, a cupel may be made by pressing some dry bone-a.sh into a suitable cavity {'ai^hioncd at the extremity of a cylindrical piece of pumice or well-baked clay, or even charcoal. Tiie substance to be cupelled must be in tlie metallic state ; if not in this condition, therefore, it must first be subjee ted to the reducing process dosviribed above. In actual assaying or quantitative operations, this process is modified in various ^Nays, but in the present work, in which merely a brief outline of the use of the blowpipe is attempted, it would be out of place to enter into these details. The piece of test-metal, which may weigh about a couple of grains (or from lot) to 200 milligrammes) is wrapped in a piece of pure lead-foil of three or four times its weight, and the whole is exposed on the surface of the cupel to the extreme point of a clear oxidating flame. If the substance consist of argentiferous lead, as obtained from galena, tS:c., the addition of the lead-foil is of course unnecessary. Six or seven grains (or from 400 to 500 milligrammes) may be taken for the experi- CHEMICAL CHARACTERS OF MINERALS. 43 ment : a Ijoginnor, at least, will not not find it advisable to operate on a larger quantity at one time. As soon as fusion takes place, the cupel must be moved somewhat farther froai the flame, so as to allow merely the outer envelope of the latter, or the warm air which surrounds this, to play over the surfjico of the globule. By this treatment, the lead will become gradually converted into a fusible and crystislline slag. When this collects in lirge quantity, the position of the cupel must be slightly altered, so as to cause the globule to flow towards its edge, the surface of the lead being thus kept free for contanued oxidation. When the globule becomes reduced to about a fourth or fifth of its original bulk, the process is discontinued, and the cupel set on the anvil to cool. This is the first or concentration stage of the process. Another cupel is then prepared and dried ; and the concentr;itod globule being carefully separated from the slag in which it is imbedded — by breaking up the old cupel under paper on the anvil, ur gently crushing it between a pair of pliers — is placed on this, and again subjected to the oxidizing influence of the flame. During this second part of the process, the flame is made rather to play on the i-urfuce of the cupel around the lead button, than on the button itself, by which a complete absorption of the osidized lead is cfToctcd. Tlie flame should be sharp and finely pointed, and urged down on the cupel at an angle of f)rty or forty-five degrees. Finally, if the test-metal contain gold or silver, a minute globule of one (or both) of tlu;se metals will be left on the surface of the bone-ash. ]5y concentrating several portions of a test-substance, molting the concentrated globules together, again concentrating, and finally completing the cupellation, as small an amount as half-an-ounce of gold or silver in a tun of ore — or i:i r.mnd numbers, about one part in sixty-thousand — may be readily detected by the blowpipe. During cupellation, the process sometimes becomes suddenly arrested. This may arise from the temperature being too low, in whiedi ease the point of the blue flame must be brought for an instant on the surface of the globule, until complete fusion again ensue. Or the hindrance may arise from the boneash becoming saturated, when a fresh cupel must be taken. Or it may be occasioned, especially if much copper or nickel be present, by an insulficic'it (juantity of lead. In this latter case, a piece of pure lead must by placed in contact with the globule, and the two fused together; the cupel being then moved backwards from the flame, and the oxidating process again established. Ml " *'• ■■ ■ I h :i la 1 : mr. IPillii 44 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. Reactions : — Certain reactions of the more commonly occurring constituents of mineral bodies have already been mentioned in illus- tration of the various operations given above. In the present place a few additional reactions are described, and the whole are arranged in systematic form. A. DETERMINATION OF TUE CHEMICAL GROUP TO WHICH A MINERAL MAY BELONG. In the examination of a mineral by the blowpipe, it is advisable to look first to its general chemical nature — or, in other words, to deter- mine the chemical group to which it belongs — and afterwards, to seek for the base or bases which it may contain. The more important chemical groups of natural occurrence, comprise : Sulphides, Arsenidesj Chlorides, Fluorides, Oxides, Sulphates, Silicates, Carbonates, Borates, Nitrates, Phosphates, and ^Vrseniates. The group of simple Oxides can only be determined by negative characters, but the other groups are easily recognized by a few simple experiments. Experiment 1. Fuse the siihstancc, in ponder, with 2 or 3 vols, of curb, aoda and a little horax, in a good reducing flame, on charcoal. This experiment serves directly for the detection of Sulphides, Sul- phates, Arsenides, and Arseniates. a. A strong odour of garlic is emitted : — Arsenides and Arseniates. The former possess a metallic aspect, and emit the garlic odour when ignited 2^''^' se. The latter never exhibit a metallic aspect. As occur- ing in nature, arseniates are mostly of a green, blue, or red colour, depending on the nature of the base. fi. A reddish or dark mass is produced. This, when moistened and placed on a })right silver coin or on a glazed visiting eard, forms a dark stain. The moistened mass smells also of sulphuretted hydrogen: SulphidiH and Sulphates. The for.ncr possess a metallic aspect, or, if the lustre be non-metallic, the streak is always distinctly coloured.* With few exceptions, they emit an odour of burning brimstone (sul- phurous acid) when ignited per se ; and in the open tube, the evolved acid reddens moistened litmus-paper. (See Operation 4, above.) The natural sulphates do not possess a metallic aspect, and the streak is either colourless or pale green or blue. They do not omit the smell of brimstone when heated. * Ci'itaiu .spcfimcns of Ziiie Blcndi' aiv tlie only oxi'iittions to this, so far at luast as regiU'ds naturally occurring miueruls, to which alone the statements of the text apiily. CHEMICAL CHARACTERS OP MINERALS. 45 icurring in illus- place a ngcd in ERAL isable to to deter- , to seek nportant rscnideS) Borates, ; Oxides r g roups 3 vols, of arcoal. '(h'S, Sul- rsfmiaies. uur when tVs occur- ;d colour, }ncd and forms a lydrogen : :-t, or, if oloured.* one (sul- e evolved re.) The streak is e smell of bi as I'l'gavds Other results, if exhibited, may be noted down for after reference. Remarks : — Reactions a and h are sometimes produced by the same mineral, from the simultaneous presence of sulphur and arsenic (Arse- nical 'pyrites. Realgar, Orpimcnt, &c.) Reaction h is also produced by Sclenides and Seleniates, but these are of exceedingly rare occurrence, and they evolve at the same time a strong odour of cabbage-water or decomposing vegetable matter. Experiment 2. Fuse a solid particle of the test-mineral with phos- phor-salt on platinum wire. This experiment serves directly for the detection of Carbonates and Silicates. a. The substance dissolves rapidly and with marked efForvesceuce : — Carbonates. Note : — Sulphates, Phosphates, and various other compounds, also dissolve readily by fusion with phosphor-salt, but produce no effer- vescence. b. The substance dissolves in part only, the undissolved portion retaining the original form of the test-fragment but beeoining more or less translucent. (On cooling, the glass often becomes opalescent) : — ^^ilicaies (see under " Phosphor-salt," page 30, above). Free silica, or quartz, melts into a clear glass with carb. soda, in expelling, with effervescence, the carbonic acid from the latter. Some silicates pro- duce the same reaction. The test-substance should bo added little by little, as, if the soda bo in excess, the glass remains opaque ; and with too much silica it becomes infusible. Note : — Other reactions that may en-uc from this experiment, such as the coloration of the glass, &c., may serve to detect the ba.se or bases in combination with the carbonic or silicic acid. These reactions, therefore, should be noted down for after reference. Experiment 0. Dissolve a few particles of black oxide of copper in phosphor-salt on platinum wire, so as to form a slronijli/-colourcd rjlass- {Or simp>Jij melt some of the salt in a luup of thin coj^^r-icirc.) To this, add the test -substance, in potcder, and expose the whole to the point of the blue cone. This experiment serves directly for the detection of chlorides. a. The fused bead is surrounded by a bright azure-blue flame. |'4 m 46 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. ! .ii t!i I: Noif : — The coloration is produced by the volatilization of chloride of copper. It ceases therefore, after a time, but may be renewed by more of the ter-it-substancc being fused into the bead. The rare Bromides and ludidcs can also be distinguished by this experiment. The former produce a blue flame with green streaks and edges, the latter a bright emerald-green coloration. Exiycrimcnt 4. Moisten the suhatancc, in poicder, icitk a drop of sulphvric add, and expose on platinum xuirc to the point of the Hue flame. This experiment serves for the detection of Phoqtliatca and Borates, as these bodies impart, when thus treated, a clearly marked green colour to the ilame-border. The borates communicate also a green colour — after previous treatment with a few drops of sulphuric acid — to the flame of alcohol. The phosphates and borates of natural occur- rence are without metallic aspect. All dissolve readily in borax and phosphor-salt before the blow-pipe. Many communicate a green colour to the point of the flame when strongly ignited, ^)cr se. It must not be forgotten, however, that certain other bodies, oxide of copper, baryta, &c., also colour the flame green. Phosphates may also be detected as follows : — Melt some of the substance in flue powder with about o vols, of cavb. soda, on platinum wire, or in a small platinum spoon. Treat the fused mass with a few drops of boiling water (in a test-tube, or, ])etter, in a small porcelain or platinum capsule, over the spirit lanr\), decant the clear solution from the insoluble residuum, and plaoo in it a fragment of nitrate of silver. This forms a canary- yellow precipitate with solutions of phosphates as thus produced. The excess of carbonate of soda may bo decomposed by the previous addi- tion of a drop of nitric acid, but the formation of a little carbonate of silver merely renders the yellow phosphatic precipitate somewhat paler. The presence of silica might give rise to error; but if the substance be a silicate, its true nature will have been detected by Experiment 2. Experiment 5. Beat a small itortion of the substance, in powder, fit the Lottom of a test-tube, with a few drops of strong sidp)huric acid. This experiment serves for the detection of Fluorides and Nitrates. a. The inside of the tube is more or less corroded, and also covered, where damp, with a deposit of silica : — Fluorides. The results are best seen by washing out the tube, and then drying thoroughly in the CHEMICAL CHARACTERS OF MINERALS. 47 flame of the spirit lamp. The corrosion arises from the formation of a compound of Huorine and hydrogen which readily attacks silica, pro- ducinu' a volatile compound of fluorine and silicon. Tiiis is decom- posed by water, with deposition of silica. The latter re-action may bo seen on the damp sides of the glass, and still more distinctly if a piece of narrow tubing with a drop of water at the end (kept there by the pressure of the finger at the other extremity) be brought within the mouth of the test-tube. The deposit of silica adheres to the glass with great tenacity. /'; Brownish or orange-coloured fumes (best seen by looking down the tube) are evolved : — Nitrates. The fumes possess the peculiar bweetisli smell of nitrous acid. All nitrates of natural occurrence arc readily soluble in water. They deflagrate when ignited on charcoal or in contact with other "organic bodies. ij. ];i:actioxs of tiih more common mini;!!ai. isasks. In many minerals, the so-called base — •■lead, for example, in sulphide of lead ('2'alena), copper in red or black oxide of copper, baryta in car- bonate nl baryta, and so forth — may be easily rccogni>;ed by the use of the blowpipe. This is especially the case, when the base consists of a single and easily reducible metal or metallic oxide, such as silver, lead, copper, tin, kc, or where it imparts a colour to borax or other re- agents, as in the case of copper, iron, cobalt, nickel, manganese, itals. Names iii ordinary type, refer to minerals of rare occurrence or obscure -•'■■fl <&i I mfim 54 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OP CANADA. character: so far, at Inast, as regards the presence of tliese minerals in Canada. Tlic initials BB, signify "before tho Wowpipe." Tiie number placed within brackets after the name of a mineral, refers to the position of the substance in tho classification proper, in which its description is given, at the end of the key. , j Aspect metallic ov sub-metallic 2 ^ ( Aspect non-metftllic (;. e. vitreous, stony, Ac.) 35 ^ j Occurring in detached grains or scales 3 " \ Occurring under other conditions 6 „ ( Soiling, or marking on paper GRAPHITE (No. 1.) \ Not marking or soiling 4 . ( Yielding by triturnfion a white or light-grey powder. . MICA (Nos. 77-78.) \ Not yielding a white powder by trituration 5 i Colour, yellow. Fusible GotD (No. 3.) Colour, tin or greyish white. Infusible Platinuni (No 4.) Col'uir, black ; magnetic MAGNETIC IRON SAND (No. 31.) [also IsERi.NE (No. 32.) „ j Hardness sufficient to scratch glass 7 \ Hardness insufficient c scratch glass , , 15 H 5 BB, emitting fumes, or odour of garlic or brimstone 8 ( BB, no fumes or odour 10 Q j Colour, light brass-yellow 9 \ Colour, tin-white or greyish Ausexical Pyuites (Iso. 22.) In cubes or other Mon(>metric Crystals (p. 14), or massive ^ . IRON PYRITES (No. 20.) In pointed, Prismatic Crystals of the Trimetric System (p 16), mostly arranged in curved rows Marcasite or Prismatic Pyrites* (No. 21.) j BB, easily fusible Wolfram (No. 39.) ( BB, infusible, or nearly so 11 < Streak-powder, dull-red SPECULAR IRON ORE (No. 29.) ^ \ Streak powder, black or brown 12 j2 j Strongly magnetic MAGNETIC IRON ORE (No. 31.) \ Not (or very feebly) magnetic 13 Streak, black, brown, reddish-brown, o** greenish 14 Streak, browuish-yellow. Yielding \.atur in the bulb-tube BROWN IRON ORE (No. 34.) ( Black, sub-metallic. BB, with phosphor-salt i i R. F., a fine green glass 14-1 CiiRo.Mic Iron Ork (No. 33.) ( Black, sub-metallic. BB, with phosphor-salt in R. F., a red -brown glass TiTANiFERous Iron Ore (No. 30.) * Iron Pyrites and Marcasite have exactly tho same composition (Sulphur 53.3, Iron 46.7), but their crystal forms aie nuite distinct. Iron Pyrites is very abundant ; Marcasite, in Canada, comparatively rare. Marcasite is especially prone to decomposition ; specimens are thus often coated with a greenish-white oUlorescence, or minute hair-like crystals, of sulphate of iron. 10 13 { ANALYTICAL KEY. 56 VM m - _ 5 More or less distinctly malleable .... 16 "( Not malleable 20 ^ » ( BB, no fumes, or deposit on charcoal 1*7 I BB, copious fumes, or incrustation on charcoal 18 f Colour, yellow (soft) Gold (No. .•?.) ,^J C. silver-white (soft) Silvkr (No. 5.) I C. coiiper-red (soft) CorrER (No. 6.) [C. steel-grey ; magnetic (hard) Meteoric Iron (No. 10.) I „ S BB, on charcoal, a copious yellow incrustation 19 ( BB, on cliarcoal no incrustation. Colour, black . . Silver Glance (No. 11.) ^„ ( Colour, lead-grey. Perfectly malleable Lead (No. 7.) ^ \ Colour, tin-white. Slightly malleable ' Bismuth (No. 8.) Structure distinctly scaly or micaceous, the substance admitting of sepa- ration into thin leaves, plates, or scales 21 20^ Structure not micaceous or sen ^^^In M.irking or soiling 21 ot marking or soiling 23 black 22 or greyish (J/Zra) 21 bis. „. j ^larking on paper. Streak, 1 ( Not marking. Streak, white „, , . j Not attacked by acids. . . . MUSCOVITE or POTASII-MTCA (No. 77.) ^^ ^'•''"- ( Decomposed (in powder) by sulphuric acid PlILOliOl'lTE or MAGNESIA MICA (No. 78.) I Colour, black. BB. not dissolved by fluxes GRAPIIITR (No. 1.) 22 -v Colour, lead-grey. BB, giving sulphur-reaction (see p. 41) witli carb- ( soda and borax MOLYBDENITE (No. 23.) ! Attracting the magnetic needn. Colour, brownish-3'cllow. . . .Magxetio Pyritks (No. 19.) Not affecting the magnetic needle 24 n. 5 BB, easily fusible (with or without previous decrepitation) 26 ( BB, infusible, or nearly so 34 „ - j BB, a magnetic globule 26 \ BB, fusion-globule not magnetic ; 28 'ifi ^ Gccurring in the form of minutr polcular crystals or fibres. Millerite (No. 18.) \ Massive, or not in acicular forms , 27 / Colour, brass-yellow (sometimes with iridescent tarnish). Streak, 2^ \ greenish-black COPPER PYRITES (Xo. 10.) J C, reddish, but always obscured by purple or variegated tarnish. Streak ( greyish-black 1»URPLE COPPER PYRITES (Xo. 15.) ( C, tin-white, pale-red, or yellowish 29 \ C, lead-grey or steel-grey ao EB, strong odour of garlic Arsenical Nickel Ore (No. 17 ) „g J BB, vjlatilizablo with deposition of white coating on the charcoal ^ Native Antimony (No. 9.) BB, volatilizablo with deposition of dark-yellow coating on the charcoal Native Bismuth (No. 8.) 88 Vj ■■■ m\ ' ■m w » 1 - m m :|i!7fWi 56 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. „. j BB, on cliarcoal, yellow or dense-white incrustation 31 ( BB, no incrustation (copper reactions with borax, p. 3V) CoiTKR Glanck (No. 14.) „, j Fusible, per se, in candle-flame. Structure fibrous or fine j^ranular .... 32 "I Breaking into rectangular or cubical fragments. Very bcnvv .... " GALENA (No. 12.) BB, on charcoal (with carb-soda), a dense white incrustation „„ , Antinioiiy (ilance (No. 25.) BB, on charcoal (with carb-soda), a yellow (or yellow and white) incrus- tation - 33 «„ j Soluble in hot nitric acid Bismuth Glanoo (No. 24.) ( Converted by nitric acid into a white powder. . riuuibileruus Antimony Ore (No. ;i5, note.) (Lustre distinctly metallic; streak greyish-black; mostly fibrous or „. y ai'icular Maiiganiic (No. ;55.) J Lustre sub-metallic; streak, mostly pale-browu : BB, sulpliur -reaction, ( p. -IJ ZINC ];LEXDK (No. 13.) ("Soluble or iiartially soluble in 'vator. Taste bitter or metallic. Occur- I rin;.;' chirily as an ctiloresceiice or incrustation 36 35-^ ( Occurrinn' in earthy masses or crusts (which soil or mark I Insoluble •< more or less) , :'>0 |_ ( Occurring under other condition.s 48 „„ \ BB, with borax, a coloured glass or bead ;]7 ( BU, with borf.x, a while or (odourless bead liS I Solution giving a dee]) blue preci[iita1e with rod or yellow "]U'iissiai of 37 •] i)otasli."*. Green Vitriol (Sulphate of Iron) (N. ino.) ( Solution giving a greeni.sh-white precipitate with " yellow ])russiate." Sulphate of Nickel (No. 101.) C BB, with nitrate of cobalt, a blae mass after ignition (see o. JU.), . . . 38 -j ' Alum (No. 102.) ( BB, with nitrate of cobalt, a palo-red mass Epsomite (No. 09.) <3Q j Colour yellow or yellowish-brown 40 \ Colour red, black, brownish-blaek, blue, or green 43 .^ ( Bl), taking fire and burning with blue llame Sulphur (No. 2.) ( Bii, not inllamniable .' 41 ... j BB, becoming black and magnetic 42 ( BB, not renilered magnetic Uran Ochre (No. 37.) -nj Oecurring in thin crusts on bituminous shale Ilumboldtine (No. 108.) ( Occurring nnder other conditions Ykllow Ocmkk (No. 34.) {Colour, red. BB, becoming magnetic. .RED OCIIRE and Scaly Rkd (Iron Ouk (No. 29.) C. black, dark-brown, blue, or green 44 44. i ^- '^^'^^^ •*^' dark-brown 46 ( C. blue or green 46 * As the iron ia always jiartly peroxiJized, a blun preciiiitatu is produced by either of these rcageuts. -m ANAT-YTICAL KEY. 57 ( BB, inflammable Asphnlt (No. 110.) 45 ■< BB, not inlluramable. Forming with carb-soda a " turquoise enamel," ( p. 39.) EAurnY MANGANEaE Ore (No. 36.) .f, ( Colour, blue 47 ( Colour, green. Effervescing in acids Malachite (Green Carbonate of Copper (No. 94.) ( Effervescinsj in acids; BB, reactions of Copper (p. 37.). .Blue Carbonate 47 -j ^ of Copper (Xo. 95.) ( BB, rendered magnetic Vivianite (Pho.'^phate of Iron (No. 104.) Hardness sufficient to scratch window-glass distinctly 49 Hardness insufficient to Bcratch glass distinctly 69 48 1 .Q ( Fusible or partiallj- fusible, per se ( Infusible, per ne rrti '^P- ?'"• '^ '"^-^ "f '''•'*•''• (Colour, mostly pale.), " ( Sp. gr. over 3.0 ". , 80 61 51 56 J,, j Yielding water by ignition in bulb-tube (see p. 34) 52 ( Not yielding water, or yielding traces only, on ignition 53 ! Fusible on thin edges, only. C dark-green Cbloritoid (Xo. 81.) Easily fusible. C.light green, greenish-white PREl i X ITE ( Xo. 67.) Easily fusible. C. peach-blossom red .Wilsonite: var. of Scapolite (No. 63.) f,„ j Easily fusible . . Scatolite or Weunerite (No. 63.) ( Fusible on edges only, unless in thin splinters 54 masses with smooth rectangular clcjavagc .... OllTIKiCLASE (No. 57.) ar. Cleavage planes faintly striated 55 (White, reddirih, (tc. BB, imparting a yellow colour to the flaine. . . . ALlilTK (Xo. 58.) Grey, often with coloured reflections LABRADUlllTE (Xo. 00.) ( In rhombic dodecahedrons or trajtezohedrons (p. M), or in imbedded 56 < gramdar masses mostly of a red eolimr GARNET (No. 47.) " ■ 57 54 ( White, red, Ac. In ma ( Cleavage not roctangula ( In fibrous masses or prismatic cr3'3tal 58 59 In dimetric (scjuare prismatic) crystals (p. l'>). Sp. gr. 3.5 or more. . Idoerase (No. 48.) In other forms 59 iln black, brown, or green triangular jirisms (often broknn anc or in lil)res with triangular cross fracture .... TOIJRMAI In other forms I i i I disjointed), Lixi; (Xo. 4(;.) 58 60 61 Fusible into a globule or rounded mass AMI'IIIBOLE (No. 52.) I'VROXEXE (Xo. 53.) Fusible on the surface, only, into a dull slag or scoria 60 In flat wedge-like crystals, mostly dark-brown or yellowish hl'IlKNK (No. 51.) In green fibrous masses and long prismatic crj'stals Ei-idotk (Xo. 49.) ( Streak-powder, white, or greyi.sh in dark specimens 62 ( Streak-powder, black, brown, greeuish or red 66 '■•U '.''ii 'iM m i) . .,.> ■■ If'ii ■iiim^ 58 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OP CANADA. ■li! } ! iSp. gr. under 2.8 ; H = 7.0; vitreous ; fusible with carb-soda into a clear glass QUARTZ (No. 43.) Sp. gr. over 3.0 63 go j Harder than quartz \ Less hard than quartz 'Crystallization, Hexagonal; H = 9.0; sp. gr. 3.8 64 66 64 4.1, Corundum (No. 41.) Crystallization, Octahedral (Monometric System); H=8.0; sp. gr. 3.5—45 Spinel (No. 42.) Crystallization, Square-pyramidal (Dimetric System) ; H = 7 . B ; sp. gr. 4.0 — 4.7 Zircon (No. 44.) Crystallization, Rectangular-prismatic; H = 7.0 — 7.5 ; sp. gr. 3.1 — 3.2 Andalusite (No. 45.) Red or Orange ; Lustre inclined to semi-metallic ; sp. gr, 4 . 1 — 4.3.... Ilutile (No. 40.) Yellow ; in small granular masses (mostly with graphite in crystalline limestone) ; sp. gr. .S . ] — 3.2 Condrodite (No. 56.) Green, brownish-yellow; in crystalline grains in eruptive rocks ; sp.gr. 3.3 — 3.5 Olivine (No. 55.) gg j Strongly magnetic MAGNETIC IRON ORE (No. 31.) ( Feebly (or non-) magnetic 67 65 „H 5 streak-powder, black or brown \ Streak-powder, dull-red gg j BB, with borax, an emerald-green glass. ( BB, with borax, a dingy -green glass . . . . 1 69 70 68 RED IRON ORE (No. 29.) Chromic Iron Ore (No. 83.) .TiTANIKEROUS IrON OrE (No. 30.) BB, fusible 70 BB, infusible (or fusible only at the external point) 77 BB, easily dissolved by borax or pliosphor-salt, the saturated glass becoming opaque on cooling or when flamed (p. 37) 71 BB, slowly and incompletely dissolved by borax or pliosphor-salt, a " silica skeleton " (p. 39) separating in tlie latter reagent 74 ^j j BB, yielding sulphur-reaction with carb-soda and silver foil (p. 44) .... 72 \ BB, DO sulphur-reaction with carb-soda, &c. Mostly in cubical crystals. . FLUOR SPAR (No. 106.) ( Yielding a large amount of water by ignition in bulb-tube. . . 72 -j GYPSUM (No. 98.) ( No water on ignition 73 (BB, imparting an apple-green tint to the tlame-border. BARYTINE (No. 96.) BB, imparting a carmine-red colour to the flame-border Celestine (No. 97.) ^. j BB, imparting a green tint to point of flame Datolite (No. 68.) ( BB, imparting a yellowish or indistinct colour to the flame 76 j BB, fusible quietly Analcime (No. 75.) I BB, intumcscing 7tf tjf, S Crystallization, Dimetric (p. 15) Apophyllite (No. 76.) '" "I Crystallization, Trimetric (p. 16) Thomsonite (No. 70.) 76 '.. tj ANALYTICAL KEY. 50 ["BB, very easily dissolved by borax or pho«phor-salt, the saturated glass Hta J becoming opaque on cooling 78 I BB, slowly and incompletely dissolved by borax or phosphor-salt, a \ " silica skeleton" (p. 39) separating in the latter flux 81 iBB, with carb-soda and silver foil (p. 44) yielding strong sulphur-reaction Light coloured varieties of ZINC BLENDE (No. 13.) BB, no sulphur-reaction '. 79 Soluble (in powder) without eflfervescence in heated nitric drochloric acid APATITE (No. 108.) 3.75. Soluble with strong effervescence in heated acids . . bO 79 iH = 5.0. I or hydrocl 11 = 3.0 — o„ j Soluble with strong effervescence in cold acids CALCITE (No. 88.) ^^ \ Effervescing only in heated acids DOLOMITE (No. 90 ) MAGNESITE (No. 91.) g, ( Yielding merely traces of water on ignition (page 34) 82 \ Yielding a considerable amount of water 83 Foliated or scaly. Thin leaves, elastic. Lustre, mofltly pseudo-metallic I MICAS (Nos. 77 and 78.) I Foliated or compact. Not elastic. Soapy to the touch. No pseudo- metallic lustre TALC and STEATITE (No. 82.) g„ j Fibrous, in soft silky masses Fibrous SERrKNiiNE (No. 88.) ( Foliated or compact 84 5 Foliated or scaly .... 85 \ Granular or compact 86 82 84 85 (in soft nacreous scales of light colour. Becoming blue by ignition with nitrate of cobalt (page 34) rilOLElUTE (No. 84.) dark-green foliated or fine scaly masses. Mostly fusible on the edges CHLORITE (No. 80.) ( Assuming a pale-red colour by ignition with nitrate of cobalt (pago 34) TIM'i (No. obalt (page ' Finite (No. 85.) 86] " ' SERPENTINK (No. 83.) ( Assuming a bright-blue colour by ignition with nitrate of cobalt (page 34) APPLICATION OF THE ANALYTICAL KEY. The method of employing the above Key is shewn in the following example. Let the reader be supposed to have a massive piece of magnetic pyrites, of the name and nature of which he is ignorant. Turning to the first bracket of the Key, he finds : . j Aspect metallic or sub-metallic 2 ^ \ Aspect non-metallic (i. e. vitreous, stony, »fcc.) 35 As the substance possesses a metallic aspect or lustre, he turns to bracket 2. There he finds : „ ( Occurring in detached grains or scales 3 Occurring under other conditions 6 '■'■'■*1 '■■■-(Mi .'■mi ■■-.•. '^- •! m ■■m%. -I f ''4l 60 minp:rals and geology of Canada. f '':!'i!l I As the specimen is not in the form of loose grains or scale?, but in that of a solid mass, he turns to bracket C, which reads : g j irardncss siifficierit to scratch glass 7 ( Hardness insuHicicnt to scratch ghiss 15 As the mineral is not hard enough to scratch glass, bracket 15 must be referred to, which reads : ' > 15 j More or less distinctly malleable 16 I Notre "" " malleable 20 As the substance is not malleable — a small piece breakinj^ readily into powder under the hammer — the inquirer turns to bracket 20. He there finds : 'Structure distinctly scaly or micaceous, the substance admit- ting of sei)aration into thin leaves, plates, or scales 21 cj. i. , . • 1 ( Markin<; or soiliiiir ,,,.21 Structure not micaceous or scaly., i ^r . ". • '^.,- „.i •^ ( iSot marking or soiling. 23 As the mineral under investijjation does not present a scaly or mica- ceous structure, and docs not soil the hands or leave a mark on paper, reference is made to bracket 23. This reads : AfToctinii- the magnetic needle 20^ (N colour, browish-yellow AIagnktic PvuiTHs (Xo. 19.) ot magnetic 24 A small particle or two bciiip; chipped oft' the specimen, and tried by a common magnet — or the entire specimen being held near a magnetic needle — attraction is found to ensue ; hence the substance is shewn to be Magnetic Pyfitca, No. 19 of the classified series described in the following pages. By reference to the description there given, the various physical and chemical characters of the substance, its percent- age, composition, localities, &c., may at once be ascertained. In using the Key, care must be taken to pass regularly from one indicated bracket to the other, without attempting, on account of foregone con- clusions respecting the nature of the substance, to jump over any of them, or to refer to others than those actually, indicated. If this be not attended to, errors and confusion may easily arise. As the above Key contains a good many minerals of rare or com- naratively exceptional occurrence, the beginner may frequently avoid unnecessary trouble, in making out the name of an unknown substance) by consulting in the first instance the annexed simplified Key, in which Canadian minerals of common occurrence are alone included. Refer- ence should then be made, for confirmatory proofs, to the complete description of the species indicated by the Key. SIMPLIFIED KKY. 61 '-♦J *** A TABULAR GROLTING OF CANADIAN MINERALS OF COMPARA- TIVHLY FREQUENT OCCURRENCE. * Aspect MetiilUc or Suli-MctaUic. **■ Hard enough to scratch glass distincthj. Not scratched, or very sligTitly scratched, bji the point of a knife. («) Pale brnss-yellow (Often in cubes) : — Iron Pi/ritcs (No. 20). (i) Tin-white, or between silver-white and pahs-u^rev (Emitting a garlic- like odour on ij^nition): — Arsuiical J'l/ritcs (Xo. 'Jii). (<•) Stccl-grey; powder, dull-red: — Specular Iron Ore (No. 29). {d) Iron-black ; powder, black ; strongly magnetic : — M'Vjnctic Iron Ore (iS'o. yi). (<") Iron-black ; j)owdcr, black or brown ; feebly or non-magnotic : — Tilatiifcrous Iron Ore (No. SO) ; also Chromic Iron Ore (No. 33). Too soft to scratch glass. Easily scratched Inj a knife-point. ({a) Colour, yellow: — Nnlire Gold {No S). J (/i) Colour, &ilver-white (but (jftcn witii dark tarnish): — Naiivc j JSilrer (No. o). [ (c) Colour, hlack:— Silver Glance (No. 11). ' {d) Brownisli-j-ollow; sliglitly magnetic: — ^^llgnetic Pyrites (No.lO). ((') Brass yellow (often with variegated tarnish); streak, greenish black: — Cojtper I'yritcs [No. IG). (/) Reddish, with purple tarnish ; streak, greyish-black: — Purple Coppn- Pyrites (No 1.5). {g) Dark-grey (often with blue or green tarnisli); cleavage indis- tinct: — (Jopper Glance (No. 1-1). (/t) Lead-grey; breaking readily, with rectangular cleavage, into cubical fragments; very lieavy : — Galeim (No. 1-2). (/) Light lead-grey ; in soft, scaly masses ; marking: — Moh/bdenilc (No. 2;i). (k) Black ; soft, mostly in scaly or leafy masses ; marking and soiling: — Graphite (No. 1). (/) Lustre, metallic-pearly; brown, black, silvcry-wliite, ttc. In foliated or scaly masses with while or light streak; easily separated into tliin leaves: — Mica, including chielly Miwico- vite (No. 77) and Phlogopiic (No. 78). f Aspect : vitreous, stony, or earthy. If JIard enough to scratch glass distinctly. Kot scratched by a knife-point. (a) Vitreous : colourless, amethystine, brownish, itc. Mostly in hex- agonal prism-i)yrami(ls, or in groups of sharply-jjointed crystals; otherwise massive. No lamellar structure. (Infusible): — CV//.S- talline Quartz, including Pock Crystal, Amethyst, Stnoky Quartz, &.C. (No. 43). {li) Vitreous or stony. In nodular masses of grey, rod, bluish, and , other colours, two or more tints being often present together ia spots or bands. (Infusible) : — Calcedo7iic Quartz, including the various Agates, ttc. (No. 43). .5^ «^ '\ ^ •'1 i • m ' '.t» A' I ffr #•1 62 JUNERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. W id) (e) if) is) ftf Too ill a> ra ■<-> d •iH a o •i-t 'i-* •^ r o to . •" j P^ »4 ■*f > ll u o d oT o -«-» -4J ■)-( ■^^ o -u A ^ .S"S (« .f-T .; h> o --V ^ . « J3 s- t- -t; Ol 3 5 •^t^-^ L ^-s^ fccc -^ •S-.2 ng O"^ f— 1 a> en •p4 03 >'^ u Stony or penrly-vitrcous. White, grey, red, green, Ac, Mostly in lamcllnr masses, which cleave easily in several directions, E resenting smooth anrf somewhat pearly cleavage-planes. Fusible, ut as a general rule not very easily: the point of a thin splinter is soon rounded or vitrified, however, in a properly sustained flame) : — The various Feldspar$, including more especially Ortho- clase or Potash- Feldspar (No. 67); Albiie or Soda-Feldspar (No. 58); and Labradorite or Lime- Feldspar (No. 60). Vitreous. Greenish-white or pale-green. Mostly in botryoidal masses with crystalline surface. Easily fusible. Yielding a little water in the bulb-tube: — Prchnite (No. 67). Dark or bright-red, brown, ut a great deal depends on the composition of the ash, at least as regards certain uses. If the ash contain more than a very slight amount of lime or magnesia, the graphite is scarcely suit- able for the manufacture of cruciblc-i. A selected sample, from Buck- ingham, on the Ottawa, shewed the following composition : Carbon 80.12 r Silica . . . Alumina Ash 18.58 12.80 4.,'!.S Iron Uxidc \ Au > Lime O.IG Ma^'UL'riia tr.ucMi Losri O.IS Moisture 1 . 80 Another sample yielded : moisture 1.14, ash 22.06, carbon YG.SO. In the form of small scales and flaky masses, graphite is widely disseminated throughout the area occupied by th e Laurcntian s erie s of ^^dj^£~fo.*- rocks (Part V.) It occurs most commonly in the beds of crystalline j'.jr.TTTr m "A? 5 ■■rm 66 MIKERALH AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. limestone of this scries ; but sometimes also in the gneissoid strata, where it appears occasionally to replace the mica of these rocks. It occurs also in ]ar'];e flakes in some of the beds of iron ore associated with the Laurcntian limestones, as at ITull, on the Ottawa. In other places, graphite forms large lenticular nia.sses, or actual beds a foot or more in thickness, in these limestones. Occasionally also, it occurs in the form of distinct veins, traversing different strata of the Laurcntian scries. The more important localities comprise, the townships of Buckingham, Lochabar, Petite Nation, and Grenville, on the left bank of the (Jttuwa, where this useful mineral occurs in comparative abun- dance, and is more or less largely worked. Other localities comprise, more especially, the township of Burgess in Lanark county, and Loughborough and Bedford in Frontenac ; but small quantities are met with in almost every locality in which crystalline limestone occurs. Graphite is found also in thin coatings and finely disseminated scales amongst many of the altered slates of the metamorphic region south of the St. Lawrence (Sec Part V.), as in Melbourne, Shipton, and else- where, but nowhere in workable quantities. The chief employment of graphite or plumbago is in the manufacture of drawing pencils, and refractory crucibles, the common kinds and refuse being used as a polishing material for stoves, grates, &c. It is also occasionally em- ployed to remove friction in machinery. The present price of ordinary graphite in the New York and Boston markets varies from 7 to 10 cents (metallic currency) per lb. 2. Sntphur : — Norm ally, in Trimetric crystals (chiefly acute rhombic octahedro ns ), and in granular _masses of a yellow or yellowish-grey colour. H ==2^5 or less; sp. gr. 2.0. Inflammabl e, burning w?**' bl ue fl ame and sulphurous, odour, and melting into brown i h-' drops which become pale-yellow on cooling, / In Canada, sulphur occurs very sparingly in the simple .'^ o; chie! j as an efilorescent crust on specimens of decomposing pyrites from Lake i Superior, and elsewhere. It is also occasionally deposited as an inti us- \ tation from springs containing sulphuretted hydrygen. In this con- dition, mixed with carbonate of lime, it occurs in the Township of Charlotteville, (Lot 3, Con. 12,) Norfolk County, Ontario. It is found also, here and there, as first pointed out by Dr. Bigsby, in the form of minute crystals, and in earthy coatings, on some of the lower thin- bedded limestones around Niagara Falls. .S5MPLR MKTAI.LIC HUnsTANCEH. 67 n. NATIVK METALS. 3. Native Gold : — Golden-y ellow ; ninllonblo; monom ctrio in crys- tallizaUpnj^ but occurrinj^ chicflv in small gr a nular or le af^y particles imbcddeJ in cLuartz^or other rock-matters, or in tho form of small nug- gets or tine grains mixed with sand and gravel. II =2.0 — S.P; sp. gr. 15.5 — 10.5 according to purity : usually about IG to 17.5. BB. e asily fusi ble, but not oxydizablc o Lutli^rwisQ aQi^(;tcd. Insoluble m nitric acid, but soluble in aqua rcgiai Native gold is almost always alloyed with a certain amount of silver, by which its colour is rendered paler, and its specific gravity lowered. The average amount of silver in specimens from the Eastern Townships is about 12 p. c, or from 10 to 15 p. c. In llio gold from the Hast- ings district, it appears to vary from about .'> to 10 p. c. ; whilst in much of the gold from Nova Scotia, it does not exceed 2 or 3 per cent. Gold occurs, in Canada, in rock formations of three distinct ages. First, ill quartz veins or bands in tho Laurentian Series;* more especially in the Townships of Madoc, Marmora and Elzevir, in the County of Hastings, in Ontario. Secondly in veins — mostly of quartz intermixed with ferruginous calcspar or dolomite — in tho more modern Metamorphic Series of the Eastern Townships of the Province of Quebec, south of the St. Lawrence (as well as in altered strata of the same gen- eral age in Nova Scotia) ; and thirdly, in gravel and other detrital accumulations of Post-Cainozoic age, or in part apparently of .somewhat older date. These latter deposits occur chiefly at the base of the Drift- Formation (see Part V.) throughout the Eastern Townships generally. They usually yield, by washing, a considerable residuum of black ferru- ginous sand, with which the gold is intermixed — sometimes in nuggets weighing several ounces, but more commonly in very minute grains. The sands of most of the streams and rivers which traverse this district are, thus, more or less auriferous. The St. Francis. Chaudiere, Famine, Metgermet, I)u-Loup, Guillaume or Dcs-Plantes. and Gilbert or TouflFe- des-Pins, may be mentioned more especially in this connexion. A good deal of alluvial gold has been taken out of cracks and hollows in the slaty rocks forming the bed of these rivers, as at the Devil's Rapids •1,- .^ & ♦•7v V ,r^; ■w,' ■-.v: i; i , '"■/■■;:■ ■ m ' Till! cliaracturs ami relations of tho various roclc ;;roups refcrrnl to in tlii.-i Division, an- fully di'scribi'd in Parts III an'riter amounts of gold cor- responding to nearly an ounce troy in tiic ton of 2,000 lbs. ; and some samples of crystalline mispiekcl from Marmora held nearly three ounces per ton. 4. Kative Pl'.ituium : — XJi l-^'^hitg nr nrrpvisli-white. in small loose grains or sgiiks> S^. gi"._J.G,.-:- 20. Iiifusible. Inso luble in riLtrlc ^icitj, . Occurs very sparingly with natu-c gulu in the sands of the Kiviere du lioup, and perhaps in some of the other iron-sands of the Eastern Townships, Province of Quebec, accompanied in places by steel-grey grains of Irid-Osmium. 5. ^alivc,.,,^jlj:jSjr : — Metallic- white, but usually with dark surface- tarnish. ]\Iaiiometric in crYstallizatio.n, but found cjii^flj^io^smalL granular, leafy, or filiform masses^ usually imbedded in c|uurtz^qr cala 1 NATIVE METALS. 69 spar. Malleable. H = 2 . 5 — 3.0; sp. gr. 10 — 11. B B^ easily fusibl e, but no t otherjna£..aUgia^. Keadilj dissolved by nitric acid- A white curdy precipitate of chloride of silver, is thrown down from the solution by chlorhydric acid, or solution of any chloride, as common salt. The precipitate blackens on exposure to light, and is readily soluble in ammonia : characters which distinguish it from chloride of lead. Native silver occurs in a broad vein of calc spar at Prince's Mine, Spar Island, and on the adjacent main land, on the north-west shore of Lalvc Superior. It is associated at this spot with blonde, galena, amethyst, quartz, &c., and contains, according to Dr. Storry Hunt, a small amount of gold ; but the mine has been prematurely abandoned. About 20 miles to the east of this location, on the nortii shore of Thunder IJay, several broad veins occur, in which native silver has been found in still larger quantities. The veinstone consists in part of amethystine and colourless quartz, and partly of crystalline calc spar, accompanied by heavy spar, fluor spar, blonde, galena, and pyrites. The silver is also associ;iLed here and tlicre with silver-glance or black sulphide of silver. It does not appear to contain gold. Native silver, associated with argentiferous galena, has been still more recently dis- covered by Mr. Macfarlane, under very similar conditions, on an island near Thunder (!ape.* This metal occurs also in the native state, but in sparing quantities, associated with copper-glance in a calcspar and quartz vein on the Island of Saint Ignace; and with native copper on the Island of Michipicoten, further oast. Native silver has likewise been seen occasionally, in small filaments, among the copper ores of the i\cton Mine, in the Province of Quebec. The occurrence of silver in galena, blende, pyrites, and other min- erals, will be noticed under the descriptions of these substances. 6. Native Co]_)per : — Co pper-red : malleable ; ^lonometric in crys- tallization, but occurring generally in arborescent groups of minute indistinct cryst als, or in mas ses of irregular form. II = 2.5 — o.O; sp. gr. 8.8 — 8.95. BB. easily fusible into a shining globule which ] '■■■hi ■i . o-J V,, ■, ii I .C • ■\m ^^1 ■t "■■'W * Assays uf fcmr large samiiles of vcinstoiii! frnni thia s]iot, iiuido for the Montreal Mining Company, j,'avu tlie writer an avcraj,'e result of 7.455 iier cent., corresiiondin^j to J174 oz. 7 dwtH. 11 grs. in .the ton of L'OOO Ihs.— (CVoKKiia/i Juurnal, .3ril Scries, Vol. 1, \). 2-2-1.) The iirojicrty has now jiasseil into the liands of an Ainerieau Coniiany, and is being energetically worked under the nianageincut of Captain W. ii. Frue. 70 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. ( t>ecorac3 ,.5.9.Y£roji^ OHQ_ jjooHngj VT^ith^ a coati ng of , bjack jasidfi. Readily soluble in nitric acid! Native copper, although so abundant on the south shore of Iiake Superior, has not been found, as yet, very abundantly in Canada. It occurs, however, in many of the aniygdaloidal traps and greenstones, of the Upper Copper-bearing series of the north and east shores of the lake, associated with prchnite, epidote, chlorite, &c. Here and there it has been obtained in irregular niasBcs of the weight of several pounds j but it occurs most commonly scattered through the trap in small grains which frequently present a rounded or semi-fused appearance. The principal localities comprise Battle Island and the Islands of St. Ignace and 3Iichipicoten; also Maimanse and Capo Gargantua. According to the Report for 1808 of the Geological Survey, Native Copper occurs likewise in thin plates in red shales of the Quebec series, on the Etche- min River, below St. Henri, and at Point Levis, opposite Quebec; as well as in a kind of aniygdaloidal greenstone underl^-ing these shales at St. Flavien, in the same district. It is stated to have been found, moreover, in small dendritic and other masses, accompanying copper pyrites, apatite, and a silvery-white mica, in a quartz vein in the Town- ship of Barford. 1. KgJJve^^Lcgd: — ^ ^p^d-grcy : soft an d malleable. BB, fuses easily^ and becomes graduall y yj^la t ilizcdj co a ting the charfioaTwItha jcllow ring_orjcad oxicje, '™-™-— — ™. Native lead is of very rare occurrence. The only specimen discovered in Canada, is in the form of a thin string in colourless quartz. It was obtained by Mr. McTntyre af Fort William, Lake Superior, from the vicinity of the Kamini*^*' juia, Thunder Bay. As the quartz contains a few scales of specular iron ore in a perfectly normal condition, it is evident that the lead cannot have arisen from the reduction of galena by the action of heat. 8. NaUj^e^^jsmulh : — , $ilver-white w ith reddish tin^p, but usually tarnished. Sec tjie , but not malleable. Jlcrai-hexagonal in jcryaialliz- |ationj but common ly_iji^ small masses of lamellar structufQ. H == 2.0 — 2.5 ; s£^r. about U.7. BR, j yields a white precipitate of bismuthic oxide on the addition of water ( in excess. . melts easily and volatilizes, conjiac Soluble in nitric acTIF; the solution ^ AK8ENIDES AND SULPIIIDKS. 71 The only examples of Native Bismuth hitherto met with in Canada, were rccnpjnized by the writer in some rolled pieces of quartz, obtained by Mr, llerrick, from near Echo Lake, on the north-west shore of Lake Huron. 9- r^ ^afwc -^"^ ntimoyj .-—Tin or greyish-white. Brittle Ull«l!ll iS ] siuajl masses of lamellar or fine. ijranulatjstxuciurfi. II = '^.O — 3.5 ; ( g y - jr^f- !jQ^ .rr.iiL-.i.P- BB, melts and volatiHzcs. tinging the flame jQalq- \ UrCGiij .and dcpos]tuig.a co^^jus^wjute qi-u::t on the charpyal. Tlie only / known occurrence of Native Antimony in Ciuuida, is in the Eastern Township of South IJam (lot 27 of first range"^, where, mixed with antimony glance, &c., it forms several narrow veins in a clay slate of the Quebec (Iroup. AITEXDIX TO (iUOUl' [. 10. Miteorlc Iron: — Dark stecl-p;r cy ; myli.Qftblc.; stronf^ly mapjiictic ; H rr:^ 4.5; sp. gr. abou^J.l; fracturej_ hackly. Jil3, iufusij^lc. An irregular mass of malleable iron weighing about 750 lbs. was discovered in 1854, on the surface of the ground, in the Township of jMadoc. Its examination by Dr. Stcrry Hunt showed the presence of G.o5 per cent, of Nickel, with other characters belonging to ordinary examples of meteoric iron. It exhibits a dark coating of oxide, and contains a small amount of intermixed phosphide of iron (Schreiber- site) and magnetic pyrites. Nitric acid brings out on the polished surface the so-called Widmannstudt's figures, or intersecting lines and zigzag markings indicative of an irregular crystalline structure. '} ir. ARSENIDES AND SULPHIDES. [This sub- division contains the various cou^.pounds of arsenic and sulphur with metallic bases, hitherto found in Canada. These may be conveniently described under five groups, as follows : — Sulphides of Silver, Lead, and Zinc; Sulphides of Cupper; Ar.^cnidcs and Sulphides of Nickel and Iron ; Sulphide of Molybdenum ; and Sulphides of Bismuth and Antimony.] A. .SULPHIDES OF SILVKH, I.KAI), AND /IXC. 11. Silver. Glance or ArfjcniiU^: — 131ack, or dark lead-gr ey ; jnallej^ able ; ^lonometric in crystallization , but occurring commonly in small irregular masses, or in leafy or delicate arborescent ftrms li = 2.0 — 2.5 ; sp. gr. 7.2 — 7.4. BB. melts with bubbUn<% uud. Aields a globule of metallic silver. 100 parts contain normally : Sulphur V ' ■.t •f 72 MINERALS AND GEOLOGV OP CANADA. } i \ 12.90, Silver 87.10. Hitherto, only found with native silver, &c., at Prince's Location, Lake Superior, and in the silver veins of Thunder Bay. At the " "Withers 3Iine," at a depth of nearly sixty feet from the surface, several crystals, combinations of cube and octahedron, measuring the fourth of an inch across, were obtained by the writer; and some others of still larger size were found in the same shaft by Mr. Mclntyre of Fort William. One of these (sp, gr. 7.31) yielded : sul- phur 13.37 ; silver 86.44 ; copper, slight trace. The adjacent mine of the Thunder Bay Cou.pany has also furnished some good specimens. 1^- QjlkML' — lifiiidgrcy; more or less sectile. but not malleable ; Monomctric in crystallization, and often met with in cubes (fig. 3G) and in cQiii binations of the cube and pcjahc^jjit (fig. 37), and other related forms : also in irregular masses, mostly with well-marked lameliar struc- tui'c. Clcimii;; c cu bical and easily cfFcct- fig. H =. 2.5 ; sp. gr. 7.2 — 7.1. BB, fln(;ivpit:itos Tas a general rule) ftnd be- comes r educe d to met allic IcaJ. The Fi.^ :!!.. I'M glmvcoaUii jjiia^uj^tc d janly jyltTTa yellow ring of lead oxide, aud_boygQil^ this, w ith. a wbitc. deposit of mixed sulphate and carbonata of h'l^- ( IO(T'parts of galena contain : sulphur 13.4, lead 86. ; but a minute *♦ portion of the sulphide of lead is almost invariably replaced by sulphide V of silver. In most Canadian samples however, the amount of silver does not exceed ten or twelve dwts. in the ton, and is consequently insunicient to defray the cost of extraction. The known or reported exceptions to this statement arc mentioned below. Galena, as a mineral, is very widely distributed throughout Canada : both in veins, and in small crystalline masses, &c., scattered through rocks of various kinds, more especially in nietamorphic and other lime- stones or dolomites. It is thus p ent in almost every mineral vein on the north shore of Lake Superior, in association with zinc blende, cop- per and iron pyrites, &c. Also, here and there, throughout the wide Laurentian area between the northern lakes, and the Ottawa; in the limestones and dolomites of the Niagara and other formations in Ontario ; in the dark calcareous shales around Quebec ; in the mcta- morphic region of the Eastern Townships; and in the limestones of Gaspe. More special localities comprise : — Prince's Location, Lake Superior; the silver veins of Thunder Bay and Thunder Cape ; many SULPHIDE OF LEAD. 78 veins holc'ing copper pyrites, &c., north of Thunder Bay; the region around Black Bay, where it is associated with auriferous copper-pyrites in broad veins;* in well-defined veins of much promise, with ganguo of highly crystalline calc-spar and heavy spar, in gneiss, in the Town- ship of Galway, Peterborough County, and in the adjoining Township of Sommerville ; in Lake, Tudor, Limerick, and Marmora, where numerous veins occur in gneissoid strata ;* in the Township of Lough- borough in Frontcnac (the Frontenac Mine, &c.) in broad and promising veins, traversing gneiss and crystalline limestone; under similar conditions in Bedford in the same county : in Lansdowne, Leeds County ; and Ramsay, in Lanark County. Galena occurs also in narrow, deceptive, gash veins (see Appendix to Part III.) in the Niagara dolomites of Mulmur (Simcoe County), Eramosa (Wellington County), and Clinton (Lincoln County). In the Province of Quebec, this mineral occurs especially in the copper-ore veins of the Eastern Townships, as in Acton, Upton, and Ascot, and in many of the quartz veins of the Chaudierc valley. Galena, apparently in workable quantities, has also been noticed by the Geological Survey at Gaspt' Cove and Indian Cove, near Capo Gaspo (Bcport, 18GIJ, p. 400). Argentiferous galena (properly so-called) occurs, according to Dr. Sterry Hunt, at the St. l-'rancis llapids on the Chauaiere, associated with Arsenical Pyrites and Blende, and at 3Ioul- ton Hill, near Lennosville. The actual amount of silver appears to vary greatly, probably from interuiixcd particles of native silver. Three dresacd samjifcs from the Chaudiere yielded respeclively — o2 oz., 25G oz., and o7 07 , per ton of 2.1iU lbs. A dressed sample from Moulton Hill yielded Go oz. per ton. Other argentiferous varieties are reported to occur on Lake Superior (Meredith's Location. Maimanse, and else- where), but the silver, found in some of these, may be due to inter- mixed scales and filaments of native silver and silver-glance. * A ,sui'l',icr-.saiii]ilc iilit:iiin'il iiorsoiially IVmm a iiuartzusi- vriii in tlir rpinT ('niijirr luariiig rock.s (altcriMi Siluiiaii Ktrata) of tlii.s distiiit, ^;avc im' : IT.:!!; |"i- rent, iintallii- load, S.IO jicr ^*' .'■';,< ..:^r ' V 74 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. 13. Zmc Blmdeor^^^S^^^ : — Lustre, su b-metallic or resinous. Colour, bro wn^ ^lack, ycllQw, kc : streak , mostly pale-browp . Mono- metric in crystallization, but occurring commonly in small irre gular masses, or indistinct crystals, with well-marked lamellar struiiture. H ="375 — 4!b': sp, ^. 3.9 — 4.2. BH, infusible: but wh(?n strongly ignited with carb. soda on charcoal, it yields a while incrusta- tion of zinc oxide, which assumes a green colour when moistened with nitrate of cobalt and then subjected to ignition (see Part I, p. 35). Some of the yellow blendes emit a phosphonjscent light when scratched or broken. 100 parts contain (normally) sulphur 33, zine 07 ; but in the dark varieties a certain amount of iron is always present, and many specimen.? contain a s'nall percentage of cadmium, manganese, &c. k Blende can scarcely be regarded as an ore of zinc; attempts to employ I it for the extraction of the metal have hitherto met with very partial j fiuccess. It may be used, however, when ground to powder, as the \ basis of a wash or paint for wood-work or plaster. This mineral occurs with galena in almost all the localities given in the description of thar. substance, but nowhere, apparently, in large quantities (sec under Vo. Ill, above). Brown and yellow varieties are scaUered through all the silver-bcnring veins of Thunder Buy, and some of the latter have yielded traces of gold, not exeecdiirr, how- ever, 2 dwts. in the ton. Small crystalline masses and grains occur also in most of the lead veins of Peterborough, Frontonac, Hastings, &c., and some of a wax-yellow colour are occasionally seen in fossil shells, or associated with gypsum in small cracks and cavities in the limestone beds around Niagara Falls, as well as in the older limestones of Kingston, Montreal, k{\ Zinc Blende is seen likewise in many of the veins of the Eastern Townships, as in the valley of the Chaudiere, and elsewhere. An auriferous variety is stated by Dr. Sterry Hunt to accompany argentiferous galena, kc, in a quartz vein at the St. Francis Rapids on the (Jhaudiere. li. SULrillDES OF COl'PEIi. 14. Copper (•'lance: — Dark lead-grey, often with blue or green tar- nish; streak, black and slightly shining. Crystallization Trimetric, but the crystals have mostly a pseudo-hexagonal aspect. Found commonly, however, in small granular or other masses. II 2.5 — 3.0; sp gr- 5.5 — 5.8. BB, melts with strong bubbling or spitting, colour;, the edge and point of the flame green, and yields a globule of metallic cop- il COPPER SULPHIDES. 76 per covered by a dark scoria or crust. One hundred parts contain : Sulphur 20.2, Copper 79.8. This ore, often termed "vitreous copper ore" (althoup;h its lustre is perfectly metallic), occurs in small quantities in many of the mineral veins of lake Superior and Lake Huron : as on Spar Island, Plf^eon River, St. Ignace, Point Porphyry, Michipicoten, Point-aux-Mines, Batchewahning Bay, Echo Lake, Bruce Mines, &c. It occurs also in many of the copper-ore veins of the Eastern iownships, as in Leeds (at the ilarvey Hill and other mines), Halifax, Sutton, Bronoe, Shef- ford, Stukely, Brompton, Acton, Melbourne, Cleveland, &c. Also reported from CGteau St. Genevieve, near Quebec. 15. Purple or Yarierjaled Pi/ri(es (Bornite, Erubescite) : — Pale brownish-red, but always presenting a rich purple or variegated tarnish ; streak, greyish-black. Monometric, but rarely crystallized ; mostly in irregular masses. Brittle. H =: 3.0 ; sp. gr. 4.5 — 5.5. BB, fusible into a dark magnetic globule. Composition somewhat variable, but averaging : Sulphur 25, Copper CO, Iron 15. A sample from Lake Huron gave the author: Sulphur 24.03, Copper 03.19, Iron 11.86. This valuable mineral (the "horse-flesh ore" of the miners) occurs in large and small masses, imbedded in, or scattered through, many of the altered strata of the Eastern Townships; and also, though less abundantly, in quartz veins traversing those strata. Some of the more Important localities comprise the celebrated Acton mine in Acton Town- ship, the Halifax mine in the township of the same name, Sweet's mine in Sutton, (Jold Spring mine and Balrath mine in 3Iolbourne, the St. Francis mine in Cleveland, and the Ilarvey Hill mine in Leeds ; but it occurs also in other parts of these townships, as well as, more or less, throughout the entire district, associated most commonly with the ordi- nary or yellow pyrites, and frequently with earthy malachite, copper glance, native copper, galena, etc. The country rock is usually a dolo- mitic limestone, or a chloritic or micaceous slate. See further, nnder Copper Pyrites, below. In other parts of Canada, this ore occurs but sparingly. It has been found at the "Wellington and Bruce mines on Lake Huron ; and in veins cutting strata of the same ureneral ago as those of the Eastern Townships, at Point-aux-Mines, Maimanse, and elsewhere, on Lake Superior. Lake Huron specimens sometimes exhibit pseudomorphs (Dimetric tetrahedrons) after Copper Pyrites. "^ » irr 76 MINEUALa AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. .1 I I 16. Cower Fyrites (Ch&lkopyrite) .• — Bmas-yfillowj often with varie- gated tarnish; streak, dark green , or greenish-black, piinctric ia ciystallization, but couiuionly fqunj_in_inregular masses. ]kittle. fliiriiif^ -^ — 4.0 ; sj^^. 4. 1 — 4.3. ^, melts into a dark naa^ncti c globale; after roasting, yields, with carb. soda, metallic copper. One hundred parts contain : .Sulphu r 34.9^-CDPDer 34.G, Iron 30.5. This is the common ore of copper. It is familiarly known as "yel- low copper ore." It occurs in small quantities, both in veins and ia scattered masses, among the Luurentian strata of various localities : more especially in the townships of Luke, Madoc, Elzevir, llungerford, &c., in the County of Hastings; North Burgess in Lanark; Escott and liastard in Leeds, and throughout the gneissoid region generally between tlie Ottawa and Lake Huron. The accompanying veinstone is mostly calcspar, but in some places it consists of quartz, or is of a granitic nature. Speoks of galena, blende, and iron pyrites, usually accompany the copper ore. This mineral has been found also in calc- spar veins traversing gneiss in Kildure, Joliette County, in the Province of Quebec. Attempts to work the ore in these Luurentian rocks have not hithcirto proved successful. In the Huroniau strata, this ore is far more abundant. Numerous veins, with quartz gangue, occur on the north shore of Lake Huron. Many of those veins carry workable quantities of copper pyrites, accom. pauied in most cases by small puriions of variegated pyrites, and also by copper glance, iron pyrites, Sic. The best known are those of the Bruce and Wellington Mines; but others occur at Copper Bay, White Fish Kivcr (the \\ allace jMinc), the Mississaqui, Spanish llivcr, Gar- den Kivor, Hoot lliver, Echo Lake, and elsewhere in that district. (See I'urthcr, under the Huronian Formation, in Part V.) Copper I'yrites occurs also in many localities on the east and north shores of Lake Superior, in veins traversing strata apparently of Cal- ciferous and Chazy age (see Part A'^). These are known as tiie Copper. Bearing series of Lake Superior. Among other localities may be enumerated : Baehewahnung Bay, Maimanse, Point-aux-Mines, Mica Bay, Black Biver, Black Bay, Thunder Bay, and locations between Thunder Bay and Dog Lake on the Kaministiquia. Some of these veins carry but small quantities of ore, but others are exeedingly rich : those especially which occur in the vicinity of Black Bay, and in the country north of Thunder Bay. Samples from these latter districts, ^f-'l NICKEL ORES. 77 collected personally, and others obtained by Mr. S. J. Dawson, have yielded amounts of gold varying from a few dwts. to about an oz. troy in the ton of 2000 lbs. of ore. The gangue of these veins is cither quartz, or a mixture of calcspar, heavy spar, amethystine quartz, and fluor spar ; and the copper ore is generally accompanied by gulena, zinc blende, and iron pyrites. Finally, Copper Pyrites is widely distributed throughout many of the Eastern Townships in the Province of Quebec, in strata of the same general age as those of the Copper-bearing scries of Lake Superior, The copper ores of this district are shcwji by Sir William Logan to occur principally in two bands of more or less magnesian rock, one at the base and the other at the .'^uiiiniit of the middle portion, or Lauzun Formation, of these str.ata (see Part V). In sonic places, the copper is entirely in the form of yellow pyrites; in others, chiefly in the state of purple or variegated ore (No. L5, above). The more important locali- ties of the yellow ore, on the lower band, lie in the townships of Stukely (Grand Trunk Mine, &c.), Ely (Ely ^line, A:e.), IJolton (Hunting- ton Mine, Ives Mine, &c.), Leeds (Harvey Hill Mine, kc), llalil'ax (Black Luke .Mine), Inverness, Tringwick, Chester, Ham, and others. On the upper band, the townships of Ascot (Ascot .Mine, IJclvidere Mine, Lower Canada Mine, Albert Mine, Capel or Eldorado Mine, Vic- toria iMine, Marrington Mine, Griffith's Mine, Clark Mine, kc.'), Sut- ton, Brome, Melbourne (Coldstream M., IJalratli ]M.), and Cleveland, may be more especially enumerated.* Copper Pyrites occurs also in true veins in this district, as at the Harvey Hill and Xutbrown mines in Leeds, as well as in Inverness, and elsewhere. 0. AIJSEXIUE8 AM) SUUMII DKS OF MCKEL AND IKON. 17. Arsenical Nickel Ore : — Pale copper-red, with dull greyish tarnish. Hexagonal in crystallization, but, mostly in irregular masses. Brittle. 11 = 5.0 — 5.5; sp. gr. (J.T — 7.->. ]>Ij, emits a strong odour of garlic, and melts into a dark globule. One hundred parts contain : Arsenic 50, Nickel 44. The above characters are those of the ore in its normal state. In Canada, this ore, however, has only been found in admixture with other metallic compounds. A mixture of this kind, in small nodular masses iV' * A (U'tiiih'd list of all the cupper ore louiilities of the Eastern Townships will be fuuml h\ tho valuable Appendix of the Geolugieul Survey Report for ISOO". 78 MINKUALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. I associated with calcspar, occurs in amygdaloiJal trap on Michipicotcn Island, Lake Superior. The amount of nickel according to analyses by Dr. Sterry Hunt and Prof. Whitney, varies from about 17 to 37 per cent. The colour of this variety is between tin-white and bronze- yellow; sp. gr. 7.3 — 7.4. The compofsition indicates a mixture of arsenide of nickel with arsenide of copper (Donicykite)." Another nickcliferous compound of a steel-grey colour, apparently a mixture of arsenide and sulphide of nickel with arsenical pyrites, occurs sparingly at the Wallace Mine, Lako Huron. It was first made known by Dr. Sterry Hunt. The surface is commonly covered, more or less, with minute hair-like crystals of nickel and iron sulphates, arising from the partial decomposition of the ore. 18, MlUerile or Su^j^hide of Nichd : — Bra.ss or bronze yellow. Ilcmi-hexagonal, the crystals mostly acicular and very minute; also found in imbedded grains and small globular masses. II = 3.0 — 3.5 (but not easily ascertained) ; sp. gr. 4.6 — 5.G. BB, melts into a dark globule. One hundred parts contain : Sulphur 35, Nickel 05. Occurs very sparingly, in small specks, with calc.«par and minute green crystals of chrome gurnet, in the Township of Orfurd (Lot 6, Range 12), where it was first recognized by Dr. Sterry Hunt. 19. Magnetic Pijrltes (lyrrhotinc) : — Bronzo-ycllow, with black streak. Crystal-system, Hexagonal, but crystals very rare; found commonly in granular and irregular masses. H = 3.5 1.5; sp. gr. 4.4 — 4.7. Slightly magnetic, many specimens exhibiting polarity. The magnetism is best shown by bringing a specimen of some size near a suspended needle. As a general rule, a bar or horseshoe magnet will only take up very small particles. BB, emits sulphurous fumes, and melts into a dark slag-like mass. By roasting, becomes very easily converted into red oxide. Soluble in hot clilorhydric acid. One hun- dred parts yield, on an average. Sulphur 39.5, Iron GO. 5; but many varieties contain 3 or more per cent, of nickel, replacing part of the iron. A variety from Madoc, mentioned below, yielded the writer: Sulphur 39. 8S, Iron 59.50, and contained no trace of cobalt, nickel, or gold. Occurs in veins and irregular beds among the Laurentian strata north of Thunder Bay, and in other localities a short distance inland from the north shore of Lake Superior. Also, under similar conditions, near Balsam Lake, &c. ; and in the Township of Madoc (Lot 18, Con. IRON' rVHITES. 79 2). Likewise in a calcspar vein in Portncuf, Province of Quebec; and still more abundantly in St. Jerome, Torrobonuo. Magnetic Pyrites occurs also in the higher metaniorphic district south of the St. Lawrence, generally accompanying copper ores : as in the Townships of IJarford, St. Francis, and Sutton, and at the Ives and Huntington mines in Uolton. 20. IroaJ^jiijJi^{C\ihica\ Pyrites, Mundic, kc.} ■• — Pale brass-yellow — often brown on the surface from partial conversion into brown iron oxide ; gtreak, "rcvish-black . Munome trio in crystallizaiiyiij and fre- quently found in cubes (usually with striated faces, the stria) on one face running at right angles to those on the adjacent face) ; also m combinations of cube and octiihedron, in simple oc- tahedrons, pentagonal do- decahedrons, ko. (Figs. 37—41.) Found still more frequently in gran- ular, nodular, and other irrp^mlnr nu^^f^i;;.^. II = 6-.!?..— .i>>U; sp. fry. 4.8 — 5.2. lUi, py;jt.^ jmlj)hii- rQusiiUU5.S}JUiil.iiielts in- .^- =s:-'=ns^ - Mk ■';i ' 1 'I' Irl il 1 Y Fii,s to 11. tflLjL-jdwJi- maonctic globule. One hundred parts contain : Sulphur. 53. o, Iron 4<).7t but a small portion of the iron is occasionally replaced by cobalt or nickel. 3Iany varieties, also, contain traces of both gold and silver. (In this connection, it may be ob.-ervcd that a percentage of 0.0 1 is equivalent to 2 oz. IS dwts. S gr.s. (troy) in the ton of 2000 lbs., or to 3 oz. 5 dwts. 8 grs. (troy) in the IJriti.-h ton of 2240 lbs.) Iron Pyrites is of exceedingly comnn)n occurrence. It is present, more or less, in almost every mineral vein; and occurs also, in crystals, grains, and irregular uinsses, in rocks of all ages and of variuus kinds. It sometimes forms the substance of organic remain.s, as in examples of Trilobites, &c., from the Utica Slate of Whitby and other localities. In this condition it arises most probably from the alteration of carbo- nate of iron. In the Laurentian rocks of Madoc and surrounding townships, in the copper-bearing series of Lake Superior, and in altered strata of the same general age as the latter in the Eastern Townships south of the ^^^Pl ..,, .^ ,'<, ^..>' W- I"** 80 MINERALS AM) GKOLOOY OF CANADA. ■vj i I' I I St. Lawrence, auriferous varieties have been noticed j but the amount of gold in the.se is scarcely sufficient to defray the cost of its extraction. In Elizabethtown (Lot 19, Range 2), near IJrockville, and elsewhere in this vicinity, some large beds or veins of a eobaltic variety occur. Large veins occur also in Clarendon, on the Ottawa; in Terrebonne and Lanoraic; in IMadoc, and throughout that district; as well as on the north shores of Lakes Huron and Superior. Extensive deposits are likewise seen in some of the Eastern Townships (Gavthby, Ascot, &c.) — all of which are likely to become available at no distant day, in the manufacture of sulphuric acid. Cubical crystals of large size occur in a copper-ore vein, on Lot 8, Kangel, in Melbourne Township. Small but very synunetrical octahedrons are obtained occasionally from the thick-bedded Trenton Limestowe on the IJay of (^uiiitr, near J>cllc- ville. Cubes, pentagonal dodecahedrons, and other crystals, occur in many of the veins and gneissoid rocks of Madoc, Elzevir, Tudor, kc. Occasionally also, well crystallized examples are seen in the veins, and also in the trap dykes, of J^ake Huron and Lake Superior ; and small brilliant crystals occur in the white compact trachyte of .Montreal. Finally, it may bo mentioned, without attempting however to name all the localities of this mineral in Canada, that peculiar nodular or con- cretionary masses occur in the whales of the Esland of Orleans, and elsewhere near (Quebec ; and in the more modern bituminous .shales of the Portage (iroup, at Capo Ibbcrwash or Kettle J'oint, Lake Huron. -]. Prismatic P//ri(cs ar JA<>v'a«//c (Radiated Pyrites, Cockscomb Pyrites, kc.) : — IJght brass-yellow; Tri- metric, the p^^^lllatric crystals mostly in radiated aggregations, or united in rows, as in Fig. 42. Composition and other charac- acters as in the common or cubical pyrites, the two minerals thus presenting an example of Dimorphism — /. c, the assumption of two distinct sets of forms by the same substance. The prismatic species is especially subject to decomposition, yielding iron vitriol. The occurrence of prismatic pyrites in Canada was first made known by the author, who met with it in 18G5 in a quartz vein (carrying copper pyrites, galena, heavy spar, &c., together with examples of cubical pyrites), in the remote Township of Neebiog, a few miles east of the Kaministiquia River, on the north west shore of Lake Supe- Fic. l-.'. AiiHKNicAL rvuiTi:a. 81 rior.* Other examples have como under his notice, on subsequent visits to this district, from some of tho silver-l>earing veins of Thunder Bay ; and he has olttained recently a larp;e and fine specimen from a vein in Laurentian rock in tho Township of llincliinbrook, in I'rontenac County. Many of the spherical masses of pyrites with radiated struc- ture and crystallized surface, it should be observed, though commonly referred to .Marcasite, belonj^ really to tho cubical species. 22. Arsniicul Pijritrn or Misjjukif: — Colour bctweeu sil y^r-^Y^'^" and pale st eel-grey, often obscured {jy yollnwish nr pnlcbliie tarnish ; streak . ^ reyish-b lacJv. (Jrystallizatipjj,J|^JUlAtUC : the fry>;f:il>< ]nnst.ly small and short rhombic prisms , terminate d by t\Xj2 ^-'■" ne arly ilat and striated planp.'j (Fig. 4.']). Occurs also in graimln r aiitljrrcjjijhirjjy^agaaa- H = ^)-^^ — f^-0; SJHUil' ^.^•Q,\^—...9.d' iilii , J^ut-Ug ^a ■jtronjx oditiiiioil' garlic, a nd iiielt sinto a (laxkiu a;;ucti c ^IuLjiIl'. A garlic-like odour is also more or less perceptible when tho mineral is broken by a smart blow. One hundred parts contain : Suljihur 10. G,, Arsenic 4(>.(l, Iron .']4.4 ; but a small portion of the iron is occasionally replaced by cobalt. f This mineral is useless as an ore of iron, but it serves for the producA tion of arseniousacid, tho "arsenic" or " white arsenic" of commerce, j and it frequently contains minute portions of gold. In Central (.'anaua, 3 it occurs in the Laurentian strata of IMarmora and Tudor. Specimens from 3Iarmora, have yielded tho author amounts of gold ranging from 1 oz. r> dwts. 8 grs. to over 3 ounces in the ton of 2000 lbs.."]; In Tudor, small crystals of mispickel § accompany Bismuth C lance. Tho * Lot )>'), Con. 5. Ciinadiau Jouriiiil, Sml SitU's, Vol. X, 408. + III tliis casn, the roastt'il nrc wlien fiisiMl with limax will iiiipait a iniiroor less (Iccidcd Miif coIdui- to till' j,'lass. Fnr di'tails rcsjx'ctin.i^ this and ntliir liliiwpiii',' iinici'sscs and reactions sue Part I. t An aniiiiint of this kiinl, it will of cdursi' lie nnderst 1. altlii)M:,'h vendi'vini; tin- ore of limcli conMiiei'cial valno, docs nipt jira'-ticaily alfcct the iioniial (■oniiiositinii of the iiiincral. One ounce jier Um of -JOOO il>s., for cxaniide, is e(|iii\ali nt only to a jicrei iitaj,'e of 0.00343. § Altiiou^li a I'ufcreliec to niiiiiitc crystalln^'rii'liie details is oinioscd to the jplan of tho jireseut work, it luay be stated, Levi', tiiat these Tudor crystals pre.seiit the coinbinatioii shewn in tiie annexed Fi!,'ure, in which the connuon brarhy- doine Jx is replaced by ii ami -x. The forii: Ax, the suni- niit-aii;,'le of whieli equals 11,S° .30', is a comparatively rare form, but it ajjpears to be always jireseiit in the cobalt- iferous varieties of Mispickel, and in the allied species Glaucodot. The Tudor crystals, as shewn l)y a blowpipe cxaniiuution, coutaia a .small iterceiitage uf cobalt. Flu. 44. 82 MINKRALS AND GROLOGY OF CANADA. «^")pper-oro veins of the Iluronian rocks, also .shew here and there small crystals and granular niasscb of this niineral, a,-^ at the l>ruce and Wel- lington ^Mines; and it occurs in small quantities in some of the argen- tiferous veins of the Upper Copper-bearing Series around Thunder IJay, Lake Superior. The altered rocks of the Eastern Townships, south of the St. Lawrence, likewise contain if in places, as near the Chaudicjre Rapids in the County of Bcauce, where it occurs with argentiferous galena in quartz veins; and also, according to Dr. Sterry Hunt, under similar conditions at Moulton Hill in Lennoxville. In !Xova Scotia, mispicLel is of exceedingly common occurrence in the gold-hearing quaitz bandc, and it appears invariably to bo more or less ruriferous. ]). .SULIMJIDH iJl-' ]\!()l,Vl!I)i:\LM. 23. MoJ}/hdcn!tc: — Light lead-grey, with greyish-black metallic streak. Hexagonal in crystallization, but ocouriing commonly in the form of small "scales, cr in leafy or line granular niasees. Very sectile; slightly greasy or soapy to the touch, leaving a black trace on paper, and a dull greyish-green trace on .( rlui, and (illuT citirs, liavi^ dciudii- ,st rated the lacl that a very IVw tons would eoni]ili.'trly owrstorl; tin' niarki.d. ipf BISMUTH AXD ANTIMONY ORES. 83 ^r-'^' 409). Terrace Cove is another locality in which molj?bdenitc has been found m Lake .Superior. This mineral occurs also in (juartz veins at Harvey Hill, in the Townsliip of Leeds, in small rounded masses of fine granular structure, associated with copper pyrites and crystallized dolomite. E. SULnilDBSOF I5ISMUTII AXD ANTIMONY. 24. Bhniutii Glunrc: — Light L^ad-grey, often with yellow or blueish tarnish; streak, black. Trimetric in crystalli/.ation, but occurring commonly- in lamellar and fibrous masses. 11 = 2.0; sp. gr. about G.5. BB, melts very readily into a black globule, which gradually volatilizes, with deposition of a jellow ring of oxide (and, beyond this, a grc}ish- whitc coating of sulphate) on the charcoal. A small residuum is some- times left : this generally shews with borax or phusphor-salt the reactions of copper and iron (see Part I.) Dissolves, with separatioa of sulphur, in nitric acid. The solution dropped into excess of water forms a milky or opaline liquid. Not affected by caustic potash. One hundred parts of the pure mi icral contain : sulphur 18.75, bismuth 81.25. Bismuth glance is a comparativrly rare mineral. It has not hitherto been discovered, at any locality, in sufficient 'quantity to form a com- mercial ore. In Canada, it occurs in small lamellar and sub-fibrous masses in a quartz vein, with numerous interpenetrating crystals of black tourmaline, at Hill's Mine, in the rear of Tudor, one of the northern townships of the County of Hastings. 2a. Antimony Glance ov Grcij Antimony Ore: — Light lead-grey, often with dark, or iridescent, tarni.sli. Trimetric in crystallization, but occurring mostly in fibrous masses. II =2.0, sp.gr. 4.52 — 4.02. IMelts per se in the flame of a candle. BI>, melts rapidly, and becomes volatilized in dense white fumes, a white oxidized coating being depo- sited on the charcoal. The point of the flame, if directed on this, is tinged pale blucish-green. A strung sulution of caustic potash converts the powilered ore into an orange-coloured compound. One hundred parts contain : sulphur 2S.2, antinidoy 71.^. Of rare occurrence in Canada. Hitherto, found only in small (jiian- tities, with iron pyrites and mica, in a baud of crystalline d(jlomite, in the Township of Sheffield (Lot 28, Con. 1), in Addington Ciunty; and in small masses mixed with treniolite, under similar conditions, ia Marmora. Also, in radiating fibrous masses with >iative Antimony in 84 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. ■4 narrow veins transversing slates of the Quebec Series, in the Eastern Township of South Ham. Note: — A plumbiferous variety of Antimony Glance, apparently a loixturc of that ore with Zinkcnite or Jamesonite, has been sent to me lately from Belleville, with the intimation that it was obtained in Elzevir. It forms small fibrous or sub-fibrous masses, intimately mixed with calc-spar, and with numerous acicular crystals of Trcraolite, and some massive Hornblende, in quartz. ]^artially soluble in caustic potash, chloihydric acid precipitatin;^ orange-coloured flakes from the solution. 20. Red Anthnnn'j Ore (Kormesite) : — Dark cherry -red, somewhat lighter in the streak ; lustre adamantine, or approaching scnii-metullic. Monoclinie in crystallization, but occurring almost always in small radi- ating fibrous tufts, associated with Antimony (jlanco. 11 = 1.0 — 1.5, sp. gr. 4.5 — 4.0. l)iJ. melts on the first application of the flame, and becomes rapidly volatilized. T'le composition is somewhat remarkable, presenting the union of a sulphur and oxygen compound. One hun- dred parts contain : sulphur 111.8. oxygen 4.9. antimony 75.']. Occurs in small fcjathery masses, with Native Antimony and Anti- mony Glance, in the Eastern Township of South 11am. III. OXYGEN COMrOUXDS. [This sub-division comprises the various Oxides of natural occur- rence. ('. V. com))inations of oxygon with various metals ; and also the ternary oxygen compounds, or so-called oxygen salts, commonly regarded as combinations of an oxygen acid (silicic acid, carbonic acid, &c.) with an oxidized metallic base (lime, magnesia, alumina, iron oxides, &c.) These latter compounds form the groups of Silicates, (^irbonates. Sulphates, and so forth. See the remarks on Chemical Nomenclature in Part I., and also the observations prefixed lo the various groups below.] A. COPI'KU OXIDES. 27. R(d Copper Ore (Ruby Copper, lluberite. Cuprite) : — Red. with red streak. Normally, in Monomctric crystals (chiefly the octahedron and rhombic dodecahedron) which are commonly converted on the gurfaee into green carbonate of copper; also massive and earthy. H z=z: 4.0 or less; sp. gr. 5.8 — G.l. BB, imparts a green colour to IRON OXIDES. m tlie flame, and becomes reduced to metallic copper. One hundred parts contain : oxygen 11.20, copper 88.80. In Canada, this mineral occurs in traces merely, in some of the copper ore deposits of the Eastern Townships (Halifax, Acton, &c.) Spots and stains of a more or less bright red colour, are frequently the only indications of its presence. Stains of a similar appearance, are also, and more commonly, produced, it must be remembered, by the weathering of iron ores. 28. Black Copper Ore (Molaconite) : — IJlack, with black streak. Mostly in dull earthy masses. IJB, colours the flame green, and yields metallic copper. One hundred parts of the pure mineral contain : oxygen 20.15, copper 70.85. Occurs in traces only in some of the copper ore deposits of the Eastern Townships. 13. IROX OXIDES. [This group comprises the mineral species which consist simply of oxygen and iron j and those, of a closely related character, in which part of the iron is replaced by titanium or chromium. These species fall into three natural groups : (1) The ITematife group, consisting of anhydrouf> sesqui-oxides (or analogous compounds), Hexagonal, or rather Ilcmi-IIexagonal, in crystallization; (2) the Ma f/nelite gronpf compounds (apparently) of oxides and sesqui-oxides, Monomctric in crystallization ; and (3), the Limonite group, consisting of hydrated sesqui-oxides. (1) Hematite Group of Iron Oxides. 29. Hematite [Specular Iron Ore, Red Iron Ore, Red Ochre') : — This mineral occurs under several more or less distinct conditions, and especially : (1) lu Ilemi-hexagonal crystals, chiefly groups of modified rhombohedrons, and in lamellar and micaceous masses, with steel-grey colour, often iridescent on ihe surface, and with strongly marked metallic lustre (= Specular and Micaceous Iron Ore); (2) In botry- oidal masses of fibrous structure, and in irregular lamellar masses, with blucish or brownish-red colour, and lustre between metallic and semi- metallic (= Hematite of old authors. Red Iron Ore) ; and (3), In bi'ick-rcd, more or less earthy and granular masses (= Rvldle or Red Ochre). In these varieties, the streak or powder is equally of a red colour. H =^ 5.5 — 6.5 in the crystals and crystalline or somi-cryi- talline masses, but only 1.0 — 2.0 in the earthy and ochreous variotioa. 5p. gr. 4.3 — 5.3. BB, becomes magnetic, but on charcoal remains rsT" 86 MINERALS AND GEOLOGV OP CANADA. ■;il ,r<\ uiifiiscd, although) a very tliin splinter in the forceps may be rounded at the point. One hundred parts contain, normally: oxyccn oQ, iron 70 j but many specimens, it shoi.ld be observed, are intimately njixed with quartz, chlorite slate, or other rock matter, by whioh the per centage of iron is much reduced. This valuable ore occurs in Canada in strata of various periods of formation. One of its more important localities is in the Townhfhip of McNabb, in Renfrew, where it forms a bed of about BO feet in thick- ness, associated with crystalline limestone of the Laurentian Series and overlaid by a maguesiau limestone of Lower Silurian age. Tt occurs also in smaller quantities in the township of Bristol, and in Teniplctoa and Hull, on the opposite side of the Ottawa. Other ]jaurentian loca- litKs comprise, M t wi^fab i n R oB iV o w ; Madoc, Elzevir, Marmora, and Belmont, in Hastings and Peterborough; and Iron Island, on Lake Nipissing, where it also occurs in connection with crystalline limestone. In Iluronian strata, it has been found near the Wallace inline on Lake Huron, and still more abundantly on Lake Superior, as in the Baclie- wahnung District on the cast shore of the lake; on the north side of Michipicoten Harbour; and in widely-extended beds in the vicinity of Pic River; mostly in green, chlorit'.c, pyroxenie, or hornblendic slates (See Pait V). In Silurian strata, hematitic or specular iron ore has been noticed in small quantities in the Potsdam Sandstone of Bustard and llam^uy; and micaceous and other varieti'^-. occur in the metamor- phic strata of a somewhat higher horizon, in the Eastern Townships : as in St. Armand, Brome, and Sutton, mostly in chloritic schists, as well as in the auriferous copper-ore veins of Leeds and Halifax. Lastly, it may be mentioned, tlat an earthy impure variety is found in bands and small masses interstratified with the red ferruginous shales of the Clinton or Middle Silurian Berics, near Dundas, in Flamborough West. A^ote .-—Small octahedrons, and other Monometric crystals, having the composition of Red Iron Ore, are occasionally found. These form the species Martite of some authors, but they are probably due to the alteration of Magnetic Iron Ore. See under that mineral, No. 31. 30. Titaniferous Iron Ore (llmenite, Menaccanite in part) : — Iron-black ; streak-powder, brownish-black to chocolate-brown. Ilemi- Ilexagonal, but commonly in lamellar and granular masses. When pure, not mognetic, but sometimes feebly-magnetic, probably from lUON OXIDES. 87 iiiti'))iii>:cMl iini^netic iron ore. II z= 5 — G; sp. gr. 4.3 — 5.0. BB, like lloiiiatite; but tho gla.'is formed with phosphor-salt, after expoj^uro to a rc'iueiiiL,' flame, has a distinctly red colour. Composition, essen- tially iruM, titanium, and oxyj^cn, in variable proportions. Ihe Tita- nifcrous ore from IJaic St. Paul, on the Lower St. Lawrence, as deduced from Dr. Storry Hunt's analysis, contains Titanium 29.0-3, Iron oG.ll, Oxyiiien 20.10, in addition to 3. GO per cent, of magnesia. This ore occurs in Canada, in vast beds or masses interstratificd with foMspathic rocks of the Labrador or Upper Laurentian Series, at l>aie St. Paul, below Quebec. At this locality, it exhibits a peculiar struc- ture : an aggregation of coarse granular concretions composed of irregu- lar lamellro. Small grains of rutilc are scattered in places through the mass. Tiie principal bed is ninety feet in thickness and of great extent, but the ore at present is comparatively useless. This substance occurs also in grains and thin bands in a similar anorthosite or feld- spathic rook (see i'art III) in the neighbouring parish of Chateau Piic'hcr, and likewise under the same conditions in the Township of luiwdon, in T'lontcalm County. It has been detected also by the officers of the Geological Survey, amongst the iron ores of the less ancient Tuetamorphic strata of the Eastern Townships : as in St. Francis, in Beauce County, and in Brouie and Sutton. (J) Maonetite Group ok Ii-.on Oxides. iil. M^iKjiictlc Iron Ore or Maiiii ir,. olhrr masses, sometimes forming large beds. Also in the form of black sand. II = 5.5 — G.5j sp. gr. 4 9 — 5.2. BB, on charcoal, infu- eible, but a fine splinter in the forceps may be rounded at the point. One hundred parts of the mineral contain : Oxygen 27. G, Iron 72.4 (or, oxide of iron 31.03, sesqui-oxido 68.97). HA' 88 MINKRALS AND GKOf.OGY OF CANADA. !' ■ Ah !■:• ■ M, '•iv -;5f This ore, the most valuable of all the ores of iron, occurs in almost inexhaustible quantities, and of good quality, in many localities of the Laurentian area of Canada. It is usually found in the Ibrm of large bods in contact, as pointed out by Sir William Logan, with crystalline limestones of the Laurentian Series; but it occurs also interstralified with gneissoid and schistose strata of the same group, and in grains and small masses scattered through these rocks. Sometimes, likewise, it forms true veins, traversing Laurentian strata. It occurs also in beds amongst the altered Silurian rocks of the Eastern Town.ships; and, in the form of sand (usually mixed with Iserine), it belongs to compara- tively recent deposits. Tiie principal or more interesting Laurentian localities lie in the fol- lowing Townships : — Hull, in Ottawa County (several beds, one nearly 90 feet iu thickness; the ore, here and there, mixed with layers of hematite, and also with scales of graphite); Buckingham, in the same county (in crystalline masses in broad feldspathic veins); Weiitworth, Grenville, and Orandison, in Argcnteuil County; Ross, in Renfrew County (in reticulating veins in cryst. limestone) ; South Crosby (bed of 200 feet in thickness), and Escott, in Leeds County; South Sher- brooke, in Lanark County; Bedford, in Frontcnac County; jMuJoc, Elzevir, Marmora, in Hastings County (many large and valuable deposits, although much intermixed here and there with pyrites) ; Belmont, in Peterborough County (several beds of great extent), and Seymour, in Northumberland. Magnetic Iron Ore in cleavable masses, associated with Hematite, occurs also in Silurian or Iluronian) strata near the uiouth of the Little Pic River, on the north shore of liake Superior, and minute octahedrons are sometimes observable atnongst the layers of hematite from this region. The Eastern Townships of Sutton, Leeds, Bolton, Orforil, ike, like- wise possess deposits of magnetite, chiefly in masses and disseminated crystals, as well as in continuous band"^ in dolomite, chlorite slate, ser- pentine, and other metamorphosed Silur.au strata. ^luch of the ore from these localities, however, contains titanium or chromium. Lnstly, in the form of black sand, alone, or mixed with Iserine, the ore occurs very commonly on the shores and islands of Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Erie, and Ontario, and on those of many of our smaller lakes. Also, here and there, on the north shore and gulf of the St. Ijawrence ; and mixed with the auriferous gravels of the Chuudii^re, St. Francis, Gilbert, and other rivers of the Eastern Townships. IRON OXIDES. 89 Kofi' : — ^Magnetite occasionally becomes altered by bigher oxitlatioa into Jf^mdiite, without change of form. The streak is then more or les.s rttl, ati'l the magnetism scarcely perceptible. Some small octa- hedrons ^with truncated edges) of this character, the MartlU of some authors, wore observed by the writer in a gneissoid boulder from Ijass Lake, a few miles iKM'th of Orillia. 32. Lrrine, or Titan i/eroiis Aforfnetic Ore: — lilack, with black streak, and sub-metallic lustre. More or less strongly magnetic. In miiiato octahedrons, sand grains, and pebbles. Other characters like those of Magnetic Iron Ore, but the glass obtained by fusion in a reducing flame with phospiior-salt has always a distinct red or red- brow u t'oluur. Composition, essentially, magnetic oxide of iron, with part of the irou replaced by titanium. A small amount of magnesia is also generally present. Forms a certain portion of most of the black magnetic sands of our lake, island, and river shores, referred to under No. :m. oo. Ckroini'r Iron Ore : — Black or brownish-black, with, normally, a dark brown streak, and sub-metallic aspect; but the streak is often greenish or greenish-grey, from the presence of intermixed serpentine or otlier silicious matter. In g(>neral, slightly magnetic: if strongly magnetic, the substance is mixed with magnetic iron ore, and the streak ih' more or less black. Monometric in crystallization, but occur- ring commonly in irregular masses, mostly of granular structure. H = 5.5 ; sp. gr. 4.3 — 4.(1. BB, like magnetite, infusible or but slightly rounded on the tliiii edges. "With borax and phosphor-salt, a more or less pure green glass, the green colour becoming clearer and inore distinct as the glass cools. Composition, theoretically, oxide of iron anil sesqui-oxide of chromium, but the latter is always replaced to sriiiic extent by alumina, 6ic., imd the iron by a certain amount of mag- nesia. The ses(jui-oxidc of chromium thus varies from about 4(1 to about 00 per cent., in different samples. A variety from Bolton yielded Dr. Sferry Hunt 45.00 per cent., and another from Lake 3Iemphrama- gog i^ave 49.75 per cent. Occurs abundantly in beds and scattered grains amongst the mcta- morphic strata (altered Silurian deposits) of the Eastern Townships and Ciaspe, mostly in connection with serpentine or other magnesian rocks, the green colour of these being partly due to the presence of oxide of chromium. The principal localities comprise : Mount Albert 90 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. in the Sliickshock Range of Gaspi', and the Townships of Bolton, ITam, and Melbourne. Chromic Iron Oro, if holdintr about 50 per cent, of oxide of chromium, is worth in the KnL'lish market about $iJi) per ton of 2240 Ib.s. It is largely used in the preparation of chromate and bi-chromatc of pota.sh. (:i) LiMoNiTK Giidui' OF Ino\ Oxinr.H. 34. Brown Iron Ore or Limonl/c. (including I'og Iron Oie anil Yellow Ochre) : — Brown, brownish-black, or dull-yellow ; streak, yel- lowish-brown or ochre-yell(jw. A.-^pc^ct, sub-nictallic in some of the dark varieties, silky and earthy in otiiers. Occurs commonly in nias.-cs with botryoidal surface and iibrous structure, or in gratiultir or earthy masses. II = 1.0 — 5.5 ; sp. gr. 15.5 — 4.0. Heated in the bulb-tube, it gives off water, and becomes converted into red oxide. ]]]>, turns red, and then blackens and becomes magnetic. A Utwt scale, in the forceps, may be rounded on the thin edges : otherwise infusible. Com- position, essentially, hydratcd scsqui-oxide of iron; but the amount of water varies considerably, and the more earthy varieties always contain a certain percentage of phosphoric acid, with frequently silica, alumina, oxides of manganese, and humic or other organic acids. In the svb- metallic and silky varieties, the average amount of metallic iron is equal to about 58 or GO per cent.; in the average bog ores it equals about 45 or sometimes 50 per cent. •- and in the ochres, it varies from about 10 to 40 per cent. The average amount of water is about 15? or from 10 to 20 per cent. Brown and Bog Iron Ores arc often smelted, and the Iron Ochres are valuable as a paint material. The varieties of this mineral hitherto found in Canada, comprise the more earthy varieties, Bog Iron Ore and Yellow Ochre. These belong to coiuparatively modern deposits, and, in places, indeed, they are now under process of formation. The iron is taken up by water percokiting through ferruginous strat;i, and is held in solution for a time as bicar- bonate, or in combination with organic acids; and afterwards, by absorption of oxygen, it becomes converted into insoluble sesquioxide, and is thus deposited in a hydratcd condition, mixed more or less witli earthy and other impurities. In the Province of Ontario, the more important dop(.sits of Bog Iron Ore occur in the townships of Charlotteville, Middletown and Wind- ham, in Norfolk County, on Ltike Erie; but in smaller quantities the ore occurs also in Camden Township in Kent, West Gwillimbury in MANGANESE OXIDKS. 01 -y 1- i> le n Simcoe, Bastard in Leeds, March and Fitzroy, and also Vaudrcuil, oa the Ottawa, and elsewhere. Ochres occur also at the latter locality, associated with the bog ore; and extensive beds have been discovered in various places in the County of Middlesex, as well as near Owen Sound in the township of Sydenham in Grey County, and in Notta- wasajja Township in Sinicoc. ]>og Iron Ore, in still more valuable deposits, occurs abundantly in the Province of Quebec. The most important localities lie perhaps in the Three Rivers District, or between the rivers St. Maurice, IJatiscan, and St. Anne. The old St. Maurice forges, so celebrated for their castings, were fed by the ore of this neighbourhood ; and the more recently established lladnor forges, at Batiscan, draw their supply from the same district. Other deposits of bog ore occur in Lachenaie in I'A.ssomption County, Kildare in Joliette County, and elsewhere in that section; also in Templeton, Hull, and Eardley, on the left b;ink of the Ottawa. South of the St. Lawrence, the ore occurs more or less abundantly in the Eastern Townships of Stanbridge, Farnham, Simp- son, Ascot, Stanstead, Ireland, &c., and in St. Lambert, St. Vallier, Villeray, Cacouna, and elsewhere. Valuable deposits of ochre occur especially nenr the mouth of the St. Anne, in Montmorenci, below Quebec ; and at Cap de la Madeleine and Point du Lac, near the St. Maurice, in the Three Hivers District. Also in the township of Mansfield, on the Upper Ottawa. A bed of ochre occurs likewise in Durham, and elsewhere, in the I'^astern Townships. These ochres are frequently cf a dark brown or greenish-black colour, in places, from iiitcnuixtuve with earthy manganese ore. C. MANGANESE OXJDE.S. o5. Manfjouile : — Steel-grey, with brownish st'cak, and metallic or eub-metallio lustre. Trimetric in crystallization, but occuring chiefly in fih"^„s masses. H=r:3.5 — 4.0; sp. gr. 4 o — 4.4. BIB, infusible. .-..s water by ignition in the bulb-tube, and forms a " turquoise enamel'' with carb-soda (see Part I, p. oO). Compo.sition, if pure : eesquioxide of manganese 89.8, water 10.2. Said to occur in a br^ad vein, with quartz, calc spar, and fluor spar, traversing trap rocks, on the south shore of Bachewahnuug Bay, Luke Superior. oG. Earthy Mangdnei^e Ore (Wad, Bog Manganese, Manganese Ochre) : — Bkek or blackish-brown, in dull, earthy, and often nodular, *! If'!^!- 92 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. masses. Very soft. lUi, infusible. Yields water in the bulb-tube ; and forms with carb-soda a " turquoise enamel," green whilst hot, greenish-blue and opaque when cold. Composition, essentially, hytlrated oxide of manp;anose, but always mixed with earthy matters, and often with iron ochre. Some varieties contain baryta, others oxide of cobalt, copper, &c. The manganese is usually present both as protoxide and sesqui-oxido. This substance occurs principally in recent deposit.'? throughout the district south of the St. Lawrence, as, more especially, in Cleveland, Bolton, Stanstead, Tring, Aubert-Gallion, Ste. jMario (Beauce), St. Sylvester, Lauzun, &c. Deposits of this ochre have also been found on the north shore, as in Seigniories of Ste. Anne and Cacouna, and iu the immediate vicinity of Quebec. In Ontario, it has only been observed, as yet, in the Township of Madoc ; and, in admixture with iron ochre, on the north east shore of Thunder Bay, Lake Superior. A sample from the latter locality, yielded the writer : Sosquioxide of iron 33.68 tSesquioxiilo manganese.... 10.. 54 Trotoxido jnan<> T- * rv oi f I Carbonate ninntjanese . . 8.23 Linic 0.81 y =: -^ ,, , , ,. ,." , ., Carbonicncid 3.78) Ha'-l^'^»"l« "t lime 1.44 Sulphuric aoid trace only riiosplioric acid, .very slight trace Water 3.82 iSilicious rock matter 3(5.12 99.83 The small amount of water in this ochre is somewhat remarkable. D. URANIUM OXIDES. 37. Uran Ochre : — Yellow, in earthy crusts. BB, blackens, but does not fuse. Composition, probably, sesqui-oxido of uranium and water. In Canada, observed only as a coating on magnetic iron ore? with intermixed actynolite, from Madoc. 88. Black Uranium Ore or Pitcli-hlemle (Coracitc, &c.) : — Black, greyish-black, greenish-black, with greyish or brownish streak. Aspect between sub-metallic and vitreo-rcsinous. Mostly in nodular or other uncleavable masses. H = 5.5 when pure, but frequently less from intermixed earthy matters; sp. gr. Q.Q — 7.0 when pure, but some- times as high as 8.0, and often only 4.0 or 4.5, from impurities. BB^ infusible, or rounded only on the thinnest edges. Composition, nov- mally, protoxide of uranium 32.10, sesquioxide 07.00 ; but, in macj' TfTAXIUM OXIDKH. 03 instances mixed with carbonate or silicate of lime, lead, lismutli, cop- per, and other compounds. The only known locality in which this substance occurs in Canada, is at iMainiunsc, on the oast shore oC Lake Superior. The variety found at this spot was first described by Dr. Le Contc under the name of Coraeite. It is mixed with carbonate of lime and other impurities, by which its sp. gr. is reduced to between 4.3 and 4.1 (4.o78 Le Coiite), and its hardness to about 3.5 or 4.0. It yields also, accordin<; to the rnaly.scs of Whitney and Genth, about 5 or G per cent, of water (Dana'.s Mineralojry : 5th cd. p. 155). E. TUNGSTKNUM COMPOUNDS. 89. Wo/fram : — Brownish-black, with strong, sub-metallic lustre, and blackish-brown or red-brown streak. Trinietric in crystallization; but occurring frequently in irregular masses of lamellar or columnar structure. H = 5.0 — 5.5; sp. gr. 7.1 — 7.C. B!», melts into a dull iron-grey globule with striated or crystalline surface. Consists of Tungstic acid combined with oxides of iron and manganese. The only known examples of Canadian wolfram, were found by the writer, some years ago, in a large boulder of gnei.ss on the north shore of Cliicf's Island, Lake Couchiching. (See description in Conodian Jounud, 2nd Series, Vol. 1, p. 308. Also, for analysis by Dr. Storry Hunt, Vol. v., p. 303.) p. TITANIUM OXIDES. [See also Ilmcnite and Iscrinc, under the Iron Ove.s.] 40. Rutilc : — Dark-red, with peculiar adamantine lustre; streak, pale-brown or greyish. Dimetric in crystallization, the crystals often in geniculated twin-coiiibinations. Commonly, also, in columnar and fibrous masses, and sometimes in small grains or scales (imperfect or flattened crystals). H = G.O — G.5; sp. gr. 4.15 — 4.3. UP,, infu- sible. With borax in a reducing flame, it forms a dark amethystine glass, which is transformed into a light-blue opaque enamel by exposure to an intermittent flame (see Part I). Composition : oxygen 39, tita- nium Gl. Small grains or indistinct crystals of Rutilo occur in the beds of llmenito at Baie St. Paul, below Quebec; and at other localities, in Lauren tian strata, associated with this ore. Tolerably distinct cry.stals, half-un-inch in length, have been found in crystalline limestone on Green Island, Hog Lake, in Madoc* Acicular crystals occur sparingly * Thi.s locality was first pointed out by T. C. Wallbridge, of Belleville. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) I 1.0 I.I ^ illM 25 IM III 2.2 ^ m 2.0 1.8 1.25 1.4 16 « 6" ► V] <^ /}. % e". (f). 'm m. 9. ^^ -K ^\ o 7 /A W 7 Photographic Sciences Corporation iV «- "% V a nd in small grains . Cleavage, scarcely observable : fracture conchoidal and uneven. 11 = 7.0; sp. £r. 2.5 — 2.8. mostly about 2.65. BB. per .sc. quite ipfusihlc : with carb. soda, melts with effervescence (due to the expulsion of the car- bonic acid of the flux) into a transparent glass. In soluble in th^ ordi - nary mineral acids . Consists, normally, of pure silica, the tints of the m ■' -- 1 h . W- ni .vlF 'if: ' l! 98 MINRHAT.S AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. coloured varieties beins; due to acci doiital amounts of iron and nianp; a- nc3c osiJc3. bituminous tnatter . and other iucssoiitial ingredients. The principal varieties of Quartz, hitherto mcL with in Canada, .ire as follows : («) ^iiM>Lj2««//?a_^0£/r£r^^^^^ or stony j Miostly colourless, but sometimes pale reddish, yellowish, greenish, or grey. Forms an e.^-sential component of granite, syenite, gneiss, quartz-rock, and various other crystalline roeks, and is thu.s present throughout the wide area occupied by our Laurentian strata, as well as in many loca- lities where lluronian rocks prevail, and amongst the altered strata of the i^ustern Townships (See Part V). Very common also in mineral veins; as in tho.se of Thunder Bay, Lake Superior; the Hruoe Mines, Lake Huron; Harvey's Hill Mine, in Leeds; and clM'whero. Occa- sionally present likewise, in fissures and cavities in liuiestone rocks, as in the vicinity of Quebec, where the crystals are known as (incbecj diamonds. (/>) '^'"''"sy Q"2— ' * — ^" browni.sh crystals: Thunder ]*ay. Lake Superior; also near Quebec; and elsewhere. (') ^iCilUi'^J. ' — ^" violet-coloured crystals, sometimes ol' large size. Fine specimens, as.soeiated with fluor spar, calespar, pyrites, native silver, /^c, occur in veins on Thunder I5ay and ihrouglioui. ihac dis- trict ; ixbo on Spar Island, farther west, on Lake Superior. 3Iany of these crystals present a deep reddish-brown colour on the outer surface, arising from a deposition of numerous minute spots of jasper or scs(jui- oxide of iron. The colouring matter appears to consist in certain cases of a minute trace of some silver compound. ('0 Chnlredtmy : — In nodular Bcmi-translucpnt masses of a ycllov/ish, grey, or reddish colour. Occasionally presnnt in the amygdaloidal trips of Lake Superior. AL^o in thin bunds or veins, with Jasper, on the River Ouelle in Kamourat:ka. (e) Aaat^: — In nodular masses of various clouded or banded colours, either feebly translucent or opaque. Very abundant in the amygdaluidal traps of St. Ignace, Agate Island, Michipicoten, &c., on the north shore of Lake Superior, and in the shingle beaches of these islands. Also in the conglomerates of Gaspe, and ia the pebbly beaches along the (shores of Oaspd Bay, arising from the destruction of these con- glomeratcs. : I . I QUAHTZ GROUP. 99 > size. lative clia- ny of •face, casea wish, the lours, |\(/idal lorth mills. |along con- (/) Jiij^per : — In opaqno roundud luasscM, ond in body, of . br.>wr), red, '^rccn, and other colour : sonietimcs striped or banded ; and iilv.ays more or less dull or earlhy-lookinj^ on the fractured surfaco. .Sonic remarkable quartz-rooks, evidently altered congluaierates, containing pebbles of red Jasper, occur on the north-wesi .shore of Lake Huron. Many of the dark-}j;rccu and striped slates of .Lake Huron, also, may be regarded as closely akin to Jasper. At liachewahnung on the oast shore of Lake Superior, bands of red Ja.iper are associated with lioiiia- titic iron ore ; and layers and imbedded nodules occur in the copper- bearing scries of the north shore, as back of Thunder Bay, etc. .Many of the so-called agates of this region are properly jaspers. Ucds find layers of red jasper, in places very ferruginou.s, are found iu tho "leta- morphic strata of the Eastern Town.ships, as in Sherbrooke, 8hipton, Broughton, &c., and oo the River Ouellc. Jasper pebbles are asso- ciated also with agates in the conglomerates and shingle beaches of Gai^pe. (y) Clicrt or Ilornstoue : — Yellowish, brownish, reddish-white, grey, black, &.-i. Mostly iu nodular and irrogularly-shapcd masses, and occa- sionaliy in beds and veins which (tfteu present a collnlar ov lirocciatcd structure. Translucent to nearly opaijue. Closely allied to (?halocd(triy and Flint. Occurs in the form of veins traversing syenite in ihe town- .ship of Grenville, as first pointed ouL by Sir William Logan. Also in layers, cvrc, in the upper copper-bearing series of Thunder Bay, Jiakc Superior, and abundantly in imbedded nodular masses and in thin layers in the Coruiferous Formation of the Devonian series of Western Canada, on tho shore of Lake Eric, &c ; as well as occassionally under similar conditions in limestones of the Niagara and Trenton groups. ITornstoue, or related silicious matter, forms the fossilizing substance of most of the corals and brachiopods of our Western Devonian beds, as well as that of many of the organic; remains found in Silurian strata, as at Pauquettc's Rapids on the Ottawa, and elsewhere. (/t) i ^nch tones _j\ Siimfs / Gravd: — Sandstones consist essentially of quartz grains, cemented together, or consolidated by pressure (see Part III) ; whilst sands and gravels consist of the same substance in loose grains and pebbles. These rock matters, although occasionally colourless, usually exhibit various shades of yellow, brown, or red, from the presence of sesquioxide of iron. Sandstones are also occa- sionally of a green or greyish-green colour, in which case part of the 'Sf' 5>v-. i::A t 100 MINERALS AND OKOLOGV OP CANADA. iron is in the condition of protoxide. Some of our purest sandstones and quartz sands are found at the following localities : Pittsburg town- ship (near Kingston) : Charleston Lake, in Escott; Vaudreuil, on the Lower Ottawa ; Bcauharnois ; the Gr6s Rapids, on the St. Maurice j Township of Batiscan ; and also near Brockvillc, Perth, Owen Sound, Dundas, «fec. (see Part V.) (2) Gnoi'P or Basic Silicates. [This group includes a small number of silicates in which the per- centage of silica varies from 30 to 40. The specific gravity is com- paratively high (= 8.0 to 4.75); and the hardness sufficient in all cases to scratch glass strongly (= 5.5 to 7.5, but mostly over 0.0)]. 44. Zircon: — Brown, red, reddish-yellow, with resino-vitreous aspect. In Diraetric crystals, mostly square prisms, terminated at each extremity by a four-planed pyramid (Figs. 54, 55) J occasionally also in smal] granular masses. 11 = 7.5; sp. gr. 4.0 — 4.75. BB, quite infusible. Not attacked by acids. Consists of: silica 33.2, zirconia GG.8. Occurs with plumbago, wollastonite, pyroxene, i-.o 54. ^la. 55. &c., in the crystalline limestone of the Township of Grenville, in Argenteuil County. Also in granitic veins, with tourmaline, on the North River, in St. Jerome, Terrebonne County; and, according to the Reports of the Geological Survey, in a syenitic rock, composed of red feldspar and black hornblende, on Pic Island, Lake Superior. Transparent varieties of this mineral are employed ijt jewellery, under the name of Jargon or Hyacinth. 45. Andahisite (including Chiaslolilc) : — Grey or pale-red. Occurs in rectangular and rhombic prisms, mostly of narrow diameter, and frequently in compound groupings which present the appearance of a simple prism with dark cross on the transverse section (Fig. 56), the cross consisting of slate or other rock matter in which the prisms are imbedded. Found also in granular masses. H = 5.5 — 7.7; sp. gr. 3.1 — 3.2. BB, Fm. 50. quite infusible. The powder by ignition with nitrate of cobalt (p. 34) assumes a fine blue colour. General composition : silica 37, alumina 63. Occurs in somewhat indistinct crystals imbedded in argillo-mica' i.i^ SILICATES. 101 vn the kcurs and of a 34) kmina Imica' Fio. 57. Fio. 58. ceou.s slates, in the immediate Ticioitj of intru:$ivo masses of granite, on Lake St. Francis, in Megantic County. 46. Tourmaline: — Of various colours — green, blue, black, brown, yellow, red. and sometimes colourless : but Canadian varieties are cither black, brown, or brownish-yellow. The bUck variety is com> monly known as Schorl, and is quite opaque. Hexagonal (or rather Hemi-Hexagonal) in crystallization, the crystals being almost invariably three-sided prisms (or these, with bevelled edges, producing a prism of nine sides). The cross fracture is thus always more or less distinctly triangular. The prisms are often longitudinally striated, and are fre- quently much broken, especially when imbedded in quartz (Fig. 58j. Tourmaline occurs also very generally in columnar, acicular, and fibrous masses. H = 6.5 — 7.0 ; sp. gr. 3.0 — 3.3. 13B, the black and most of the brown varieties melt very easily, the other varieties being for the greater part quite infusible. Nearly all exhibit electrical pro- perties when heated. Composition somewhat variable, but the essen- tial components consist of: silica (averaging about 38 per cent.), boracic acid (4-9 per cent.), alumina (30-44 per cent), with more or less sesqui-oxide of iron, magnesia, protoxide of iron, protoxide of manganese, lime (under 2 per cent.), soda, potash, and sometimes lithia. A small amount of fluorine is also generally present. Tourmaline is of comparatively common occurrence in the Lauren- tian strata of Canada. It is met with both in the crystalline lime- stones and in many of the gneissoid or quartz beds of that formation, as well as in some of the granitic veins by which these beds are traversed. In the Ottawa district, it occurs especially in crystalline limestone, as at Calumet Falls (yellowish brown, and black, with Idocrase, ,' m I't' W 1*' '^^V i.^' •■'S |S;: m K'V ■ *■, i ' , I H \ : ■a.'- '-' .■>;? !!: '^i \.- i r ■ 1, i :• ■ 1- : ;•■■ _* ■ '1 *.* !:^^ . 'a Mi 104 MINKRALS AND OEOLOQY OF CANADA boiling chlorhydrio acid. (See under " Action of Acids," in Part I.) Oonoral composition : silica 34 — 40, alumina 18 — 28, scsquioxide of iron 7 — 17, lime 20 — 25. This mineral is comparatively rare in the Laurentian rooks of Canada, but it occurs, although with more or loss indistinct characters, in the gncissoid strata associated with the iron-ore beds of Belmont, Seymour, and Marmora; and in irregular layers in a reddish gneiss at Carleton Place, in the township of Beck- with, Lanark County, the rock, when polished, forming a handsome ornamental stone. Epidote is far more abundant in the motamorphic strata of the Eastern Townships, where it occurs mostly in rounded or irregular masses, intimately associated with quartz, and in places with mica and chlorite. It occurs thus in St. Armand, Potton, Shipton, Melbourne, and elsewhere throughout that region. Some of the best defined examples are found in spheroidal masses of a peculiar slate- rock in the seignory of St Joseph, the epidote in these masses being associated with calcite, serpentine, chlorite, and quartz. Epidote occurs also in some of the amygdaloidal traps and greenstones of Lake Superior, as at Maimanse (with mesolite, chlorite, brown garnet, &c.), and on the Island of Miohipiooten. 50. Allanite (Orthite) : — Black, brown, yellowinh-brown. Mono- clinic, and like Epidote in crystallization, but occurring generally in granular and amorphous masses, with strong rcsino-vitreous lustre. Fracture, oonchoidal. H = 5.5 — 6.0; sp. gr. 3.1 — 4.2. BB, intumesces strongly, and melts into a black and usually magnetic globule. The powder is readily decomposed by hot chlorhydrio acid, silica separating in a gelatinous state. General composition : silica (30 to 38 per cent.), alumina (8 to 17 per cent.), iron oxides (8 to 20 per cent), oxide of cerium (usually about 15 or 16 par cent., but in some examples nearly 30 per cent. ; generally replaced, however, in part, by oxides of lanthanum, yttrium, S'o.), lime (6 to 12 per cent.)) with a small amount of magnesia, and a little water, the latter indi- cating incipient decomposition. Allanite is of comparatively rare occurrence in Canada. Hitherto, only recognized in pitch-black masses or grains in Laurentian strata, as in the upper Laurentian feldspathic rocks around Bay St. Paul, and Lake St. John (as first made known by Dr. Sterry Hunt) ; and in the form of a narrow vein in gneissoid strata at Hollow Lake, the head waters of the South Muskoka. (See a notice, by the writer, in Canadian Journal^ Vol. IX., p. 103). JO m kre lid BILICATES. 105 51. Sphene or Titanite: — Brown, yellow, prcenish. Muuoclinio in crystallization (the crystals most coroutonly as in Fig. 02), but occurring also in small granular masses, and in veins or strings of more or less compact structure. II = 5.5 ; sp. gr. 3.4 — 3 C. BU, melts with bubbling into a dark glass or enamel, but sometimes on the edges only. In powder, decomposed by hot sulphuric ncid. Consists of Fui. t'lj. silica, about about 32 per cent., titanic acid 40, limo 28, but part of the hitter usually replaced by a little osido of iron and manganese. Occurs in email dark-brown opaque crystals in the Laurcntian gnoinsoid rocks of Tudor, Madoc, Lutterworth, Muskoka, &c. Also in cry.stiillinc liiiio- fltone in Grenville, Burgess, North Elm.sley, and at Lachine and Calu- met Falls, in the Ottawa country. Sphene is also found in small amber-coloured grains and crystals in the granitic trachytes of the Eastern Townships (Brome, Sheffbrd, Yamaska), and in thin veins or strings with micaceous or slaty iron ore in the altered rocks of Sutton. (3.) Group of Pyroxexic Silicates. [This group consists essentially of non-aluminous silicates of lime and magnesia, these bases being partly replaced, however, in dark varieties, by protoxide of iron. Alumina is only exceptionally present, and rarely exceeds 4 or 5 per cent. Crystallisation, monoclinic, or obscurely trimetric. Sp. gr. 2.9 — 3.3. Scarcely if at all attacked by acids.] 52. ^m^)Ai6o?c (including Tremolite, Admolitc, IJornbIende,&c.) : — Green of various shades, greenish-white or almost colourless, brown, black. Monoclinic in crystallization, the crystals mostly rhombic or six-sided prisms, with the obtuse prism-angle (V on V in the accompa- nying 6gures) = 124° 30' j but occurring commonly in acicular forms, and in fibrous, lamellar, and granular masses. H = 5.5 — 6.0; sp. gr. 2.9 — 3.4 (mostly 3.0 — 3.2) BB, melts more or less easily, the dark varie- ties yielding a magnetic bead. Scarcely or not fkT at all attacked by acids. The greenish-white and colourless or pale- grey varieties of this mineral are usually known as Tnmolite; the bright-green, or dark-green, acicular and fibrous varieties, as Actinollte; and the green massive varieties, as well as those in green, brown, or black thick crystals, are commonly termed Hornblende, a name applied r 63. 106 MINERALS A\'D GEOLOGY OF CANADA. by many authors to the species generally. A soft, silky variety, in fibrous masses, belonging, however, partly to Pyroxene (No. 53), is also known as Asbestus or Amianthus, but this variety does not appear to occur in Canada, our so-called asbestus being a fibrous serpentine, containing aoout 12 or 14 per cent, of water. (Sec under No. 83, below.) Average composition : silica (40 — GO per cent.), magnesia (15 — 25 per cent.), lime (12 — 15 per cent.), with, in most varieties, a small amount of protoxide of iron, &c. Alumina, when present, varies in amount from less than one, to above 15 or IG per cent., but the latter amount is only found in a few dark-coloured hornblendes of exceptional occurrence. Ainphibole is an essential constituent of many eruptive and mcta- morphic rocks, such as syenite, diorite or greenstone proper, syenitie gneiss, hornblende slate, cS:c. ; and it is present accidentally in nmny crystalline limestones and other rocks. It occurs, thus, in various localities throughout the large area occupied by the Laurentian scries of Canadian strata (see Part V), and also in the more modern meta- morphic district of the Eastern Townships. Examples of Tremolitc occur more especially in the crystalline (Laurentian) limestones of the Ott'iwa region, as at Calumet Falls, and in the townships of Algona, lilythfield, and Dalhousie. Dark-green Amphibolc, in good crystals, occurs with diopsidc at the High Falls of the Madawaska, and else- where on that river. A fibrous and acicular pale-grey or greenish variety (Raphilite) is found near Perth, in Lanark County. Actinolite occurs here and there amongst the magnetic iron ores of Madoc and Belmont. Beds of hornblende rock range through Frontenac, North Hastings, &c., in the Laurentian area lying between the Ottawa and Georgian Bay; and syenitic or hornblendic gneiss occurs abundantly throughout the Laurentian area, generally. (See Parts III and V.) Black and dark green hornblende is seen in distinct crystalline masses and grains in many syenites and diorites : notably in the large deve- lopment of syenite in the townships of Grenville, Chatham, and Went- worth, on the east side of the Ottawa, (See Parts III and V.) lu the altered Silurian deposits, south of the St. Lawrence, green horn- blende occurs in well-defined examples in the township of Potton ; and actinolite is found, with talc, chlorite, fibrous or asbestiform serpen- tine, «&;c., in the townships of Brome and Sutton, as well as in beds of fibrous structure in St. Francis, Beauce County. Black hornblende,. . SILICATES. 107 with garnets, is associated with the serpentines of Blount Albeit, in Gaspe ; and small grains and crystalline masses occur in the dioritca and granitic trachytes (Part III) of Mount Johnson, Yaniaska, Hrome and Shofford. 53. ^^oxene (including Diopsih, Sahllte, Aurfife, dtc.) : — Orcen of various shades, grcenish-wliite or almost colorless, brown, black. Monoclinic in crystallization, the crystals mostly eight-sided / pristns with sloping terminal planes, as in the annexed figures. The prism-faces v, v meet (over v) at an angle of "*"• \y 87^5'; V inclines to v at an I'm. oj. i'i.;. ci;. iiu. ii;. angle of 133° 33' ; v and v' form a right angle. Fig. 05 is the com- bination usually presented by the light coloured or dinpaide varieties of our Laurentiau crystalline limestones. Fig. 06 represents the ordi- nary nni/ite crystals of basaltic rocks: good examples occur in the trap of the 3lontreaI ^lountain. Fig. (17 represents a twin or compound cry.'^ilicate of magnesia and lime, with part of tlieso bases replaced by protoxide of iron, d'c. A small amount of alumina is likewise occa- sionally present, as in Amphibolc, the composition of these two mine- rals being practically identical. Pyroxene and Amphibolc are also closely allied by crystallizatinn and physical characters, but their crystals have a more or less distinct aspect, and the cleavage angles are not alike. Pyroxene exhibits also, as a general rule, a somewhat higher density, its sp. gr. varying usually from 3.25 to 3.35, whilst thtit of Amphibolc lies most commonly between 2.0 and 3.2. Light- coloured varieties of pyroxene arc usually known as Diopaldc (also as Sahlitc, Malacolite, Traveri-cllite, Alalitc, (ic), whilst the term Aiijite »■!■ t l;i:;; :i . -_* 108 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. is generally applied to the dark varieties. (Jeffersonite, Hudsonite, Hedenbcrgite, Coccolite, &c., are oth ^r synonyms of this species.) Pyroxene is of common occurrence in eruptive and metamorphic rocks (see Part III). It is especially characteristic of modern volcanic products, but occurs also in many of the more ancient trappean forma- tions. In Canada, it is found in white and pale-green crystals in many of the Laurentian crystalline limestones, as at Calumet Falls and elsewhere in the Ottawa district. Also in largo crystals, with amphi- bole, at the High Falls of the Madawaska; with mica, apatite, «S:c., in IJathurst; in well-defined crystals with pyrites in a quartz rein near Belmont Lake; in the anorthosites or Upper Laurentian strata of Chateau Richer; and elsewhere in these older metamorphic strata. In the more modern series south of the St. Lawrence, it occurs with garnets, ifec, in Orford Township. Finally, well-defined black crystals are imbedded in the trap of the Montreal Mountain, and also in the erupted traps or dolerites of Rougemont and Montarville. 54. Ilijpersthene : — Hrown, brownish-black, brownish-green ; with pale-grey streak, and a more or less pearly-metallic lustre. Mostly in laminar or foliated masses. II =z 5.0 — 6.0; sp. gr. 3.3 — 3.42. BR, gives a black magnetic bead. Essentially a silicate of magnesia and iron oxide. A specimen from Chateau Richer yielded Dr. Sterry Hunt: silica 51.35, alumina 3.70, protoxide of iron 20.56, lime 1.68, magnesia 22.59, volatile matter 0.10. Occurs in association with the anorthosites or feld.spar rocks of the Labrador series (see Parts III and V), more especially in Chateau Richer, and St. Urbain, near Bale St. Paul, below Quebec. (4) Group of Ciirysolitio Silicates. [The minerals of this group are essentially silicates of magnesia, the latter base being more or less replaced, however, by protoxide of iron. Sp. gr. 3.1 — 3.5. Infusible. Gelatinizing in heated chlorhydric acid.] 55. Chrysolite or Olivine: — Yellow, green, brownish-green. Tri- metric in crystallization, but rarely occurring otherwise than in small grains and granular masses imbedded mostly in eruptive rocks. H = 6 — 7 ; sp. gr. 3.3 — 3.5. RB, loses its colour but remains unfused, except in the case of certain highly ferruginous varieties not yet found in Canada. The powder becomes decomposed, with separation of gelatinous or flocculent silica, in both chlorhydric and sulphuri<2 acid. SILICATES. 100 id 5t. he Id. lie U Id This species occurs in the trap mountains of Montreal, Rougeniont, and Montarville, usually in the form of small green and yellow grains, but occasionally in indistinct crystal-masses. An analysis by Dr. Sterry Hunt yielded : silica 37.17, magnesia 39.68, protoxide of iron 22.54. 5G. Chondrodite : — Yellow, brownish-yellow. In small granular masses mostly imbedded in crystalline limestone. H = (5.0 — G.5; sp. gr. 3.1 — 3.25. BB, infusible. Gelatinizes in acids. Consists essentially of silica, magnesia, and fluoride of magnesium ; or is an oxygen compound with part of the oxygen replaced by fluorine. The latter element appears to vary in amount from about 2V to nearly 10 per cent. Chondrodite occurs in many of our crystalline Laurentian limestones, frequently accompanied by scales of graphite. Newboro' in the township of North Crosby, in Leeds County ; Greuville in Argen- teuil County ; and St. Jerome in Terrebonne County, have yielded good examples. (5) Group of FELDsrATJiic Silicates. [This group is composed of essentially alkaline and non-magnesian silicates, containing a high per-centage of silica (G2 to (Ji)), and about 20 per cent, of alumina. II = 6 to nearly 7; sp. gr. 2.4 — 2.7. Crystallization, Monoclinic or Triclinic. Fusible in thin splinters only. Insoluble in acids.] 57. Orthoclose or Potash Frhhpar : — White, red, flesh-red, apple- green, grey, &c. Lustre more or less pearly on cleavage planes, other- wise vitreous or stony. Crystallization Monoclinic, but with two well- marked cleavage directions (parallel with base and side vertical) meeting at right angles. Crystals often compound, as in the more common twin combination shewn in Fig. 70. Found usually, how- ever, in lamellar and granular masses. II =: G.O; sp. gr. 2.5 — 2.G. BB, fu.sible with difliculty, unless in the form of a thin pointed splin- ter, in which case the edge and point become quickly rounded. Practically, unattacked by acids. Average composition : silica G-1.8, alumina 18.4, potash 16.8 j but many varieties contain a small per- centage of soda, replacing a portion of the potash. Orthoclase is one of the component minerals of many crystalline rocks, granite, / / syenite, gneiss, &c. ; it occurs also in many trappean rocks, and forms the essential compo- nent of trachytes and ordinary \^^ Fio. 08. VM '1 1 1 -4>. )J -'^ Fio. 09. l"nj. 70. II 'LA • 110 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. lavas. Ill the Laurentian strata so widely developed throughout the luore northern portions of Canada (see Part V), this mineral is conse- quently largely present ; and well defined cleavable masses, mostly of a flesh-red or greyish-white colour, may be obtained in almost every dis- trict in which gneissoid rocks occur. Some of the more remarkable Laurentian localities comprise : the townships of North Burgess, I'^lms- ley, Grenvillo, Chatham, &c. ; also the township of Ross, and other places in the neighbourhood of Calumet Falls; and several spots on the north shore of Lake Huron. In Burgess (Lot 3. Con. (5), among other varieties, a striped red and brownish orthoclaso occurs. This presents iridescent reflections, and is the variety known as Pcrthlte- It contains soda as well as potash. In Ptoss (Renfrew County; hirge white crystals occur with apatite and spinel in calcite veins. Green and other varieties arc found in the Upper Ottawa region. Orthoclase occurs also in the more modern metamorphic strata south of the St. Lawrence, as in veins cutting altered slates in the townships of Inver- ness, Leeds, and Sutton ; and it is likewise present in many of the eruptive rocks of this district, notably in the porphyritic trachyte of Chambly, and in the trachytes of Montreal and Brome. These varie- ties, according to Dr. Stcrry Hunt's analyses (Report : 18(33, p. 47G) contain nearly equal amounts of potash and soda. Orthoclaso, in com- mon with other foldspathic silicates, yields by atmospheric decomposi- tion, a white earthy clay, largely used, under the term of 'vaolln, in the manufacture of porcelain. Workable beds of- this substance have not been found, however, as yet, in Canada. 58. Alhife or Soda Feldspar : — White, red, greyish-white, &c , sometimes with pale blueish or pearly opalescence. Triclinic in ciys- tallisation, but occurring commonly in lamellar masses, readily cloavablo in two directions under angles of 93° 3G' and 8G° 24'. One of the cleavage planes usually exhibits a delicate striation. In other respocts, Albite closely resembles Orthoclaso. II = 6.0; sp. gr. 2.55 — 2.05. Average composition : silica 08, alumina 20, soda (with trace of liilie, &e.") 12. Albite is a constituent of many trappean rocks, and it occurs a' certain granites and syenites, and in various metamorphic strata. A v^paleseent variety, known as Pcriderite, occurs in the township of Bathurst (Lot 19, Con. 9), and also on the north shore of Stony Lake, in Burleigh. A white variety in cleavable masses of considerable size forms the foldspathic portion of certain granitic and gneissoid rocks of SILICATES. Ill ciys- :uljlo the 'CtS, G5. iiiie, the more northern districts of the county of Ottawa. Fine crj-stals are also said to occur in a vein on Lake Massawippi (Stanstcad), in the metamorphic region of the Eastern Townships. 59. Oliijochiae : — White, grecni.sh, pale-grey. TricHnic in crystal- lization, and clo.«ely allied in all its characters to Albite, but containing a somewhat smaller percentage of silica. The cleavage planes meet at angles of 95° 50' and 8G° 10'. Occurs in Canada, according to Dr. Storry Hunt, associated with black amphibolo in the eruptive mass of Mount Johnson, in the di.strict of Iberville, near the ea.st shore of tbe River Richelieu. (I'l) Group of CALCAHKo-FKLDsrATiric SiucATrH. [The minerals of this group are very closely related to those of the preceding division, but they are essentially lime-holding, and contain a lower pcr-centage of silica. They are more readily fu.sible, n)oreovcr; and are decomposed, or at least strongly attacked, by chlorhydric acid.] GO. Lahnulonte or Lime Fihhpar : — Grey, greyish-white, greenish- white, greyish-blue, with frequently a beautiful reflection of blue, green, oratige, or other colour. Triclinic in crystallization, but rarely occur- ring otherwi.se than in cleavable lamellar masses, the cleavage planes, which usually present a delicate striation, meeting at angles of 9;>° 40' and 8G° 20'. H = G.O; sp. gr. 2.GG — 2.7G. BB, in thin splinters, readily fusible. Decomposed, or strongly attacked, in powder, by chlorhydric acid. Average composition : silica 53, alumina 30, lime 12.5, soda 4.5. This species enters into the composition of various trappean rocks, and it also forms, both alone and in admi.xturc with other triclinic feldspars, large bods of crystalline structure a.ssoeiated with gneiss and other" metamorphic strata. In this latter condition, it predominates amongst the Upper Laurcntian or Labrador scries of Canada (see Parts III and Y). Fine examples occur in St. Jerome, Morin, xVbercrombic, and Mille Isles, in the County of Terrebonne, north-west of Montreal; and in boulders (probably from the above sources) scattered over Grenville township, on the lower Ottawa. The Labradorite of these localities is frequently opaque-white on the sur- face from semi-decomposition or weathering. A pale blue and greyish variety, without opalescence, occurs in Chateau llicher (Montgomery County), below Quebec. Pale greenish-blue and other opalescent examples have been obtained from boulders in the townships of Drura- mond and Lanark, west of tbe Ottawa; and a range of feldspathic r ■:S 1, 1^ 112 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OP CANADA. ;!:■! I't '1; . ' M^^P I' ; roclis, presenting fine examples of colour-reflecting Labradorite, occurs on the north shore of Lake Huron, east and south-east of French River. The occurrence of Labradorite at the latter locality was first made known by Dr. Bigsby. CI. Ainh'site: — This is a somewhat doubtful species apparently intcrniediate in character between Albite or Oligoclase, and Labradorite. A reddish feldspathic mineral in cleavablc and striated masses, from the Labrador rocks of Chateau Richer, below Quebec, is referred to it by Dr. Stcrry Hunt. Report for 18G3, p. 478. Average composition : silica 59J, alumina 25i, lime 72, soda 5, potash 1. Sp. gr. 2. 60 — 2.67. 62. Anoruiite : — This species is also very closely related to both Labradorite and Albite. It occurs in Triclinic crystals and cleavable masses of a greenish-white, reddish, pale grey, and other colour, with H = 6 — 6.5, and sp. gr. 2.66 — 2.79. Fusible, and more or less readily decomposed by chlorhydric acid. Average composition : silica 44 — 47, alumina 30 — 35, lime 14 — 18 ; with small percentage of soda, potash, &g. A variety found in boulders in the vicinity of Ottawa city was originally described under the name of Bytownite. Some of the feldspar of Chateau Richer, according to Dr. Sterry Hunt, belongs probably to this species. The feldspar which enters into the composi- tion of the diorite of the Yamaska Mountain is also referred to it by the same observer; and fine crystals of anorthite, according to Mr. Thomas Macfarlane, occur in a large dyke of dioritic porphyry, of which several rocky islets in the vicinity of Thunder Cape, Lake Superior, are mainly composed. ^*in The two following species are placed for convenience in this group, as they are e.ssentiully lime-containing silicates, fusible, and decomposable in chlor- hydric acid. 63. Wcrncrite or Scapolite : — White, grey, red, greenish, &c. Occurring in crystals of the Dimetric System (mostly combinations of a square-based prism and pyramid), and in lamellar, columnar, and sub-fibrous masses. H = 5.5 — 6.0 (under normal conditions, but often somewhat lower from incipient decomposition of the specimen) ; sp. gr. 2.6 — 2 8. BB, easiblo fusible, mostly with strong bubbling. Partially decomposed by chlorhydric acid. Average composition : silica 48, alumina 28, lime 18, soda 5, the latter sometimes largely replaced by potash. Carbonate of lime and a small percentage of water are >very SILICATES. 113 'f 1 as lilor- 0; ing. Ilea bed bry constantly present in altered or weathered ppecinicns. ScapoHte occurs in the Laurentian limestone of Calumet Island, and in Grenville Town- ship, on the Ottawa. Also in large crystals and cleavabic masses, with sphene and augite, in the Laurentian strata of Ilunterstown, Maski- nonge County, Quebec; and at Golden Lake, in Algona Township, County of Renfrew. An altered or semi-decompuscd variety in violet- red or greyish-red cleavable masses, from the vicinity of Perth, in Lanark County, has been described under the name of WHsovi'tc G4. WoUastonite : — White, pale-greenish, brown, grey, &c. ]\Iono- ciinic in crystallization, and of the pyroxene type, but occurring com- monly in thin tabular masses of fibrous structure. II = 4.5 — 5.0 ; sp. gr. 2.7 — 2.9. BD, more or less readily fusible. Decomposed, with separation of gelatinous silica, by chlorhydric acid. Essential composition : silica 51.7, lime 48.3. In Canada, fibrous WoUastonite occurs in many of the crystalline limestones of the Laurentian series, mixed more or less intimately with pyroxene, mica, quartz, and other minerals. Grenville Township in Argenteuil County, St. Jerome and Morin in Terrebonne, North Burgess in Lanark, and Bastard in Leed.- County, are the best known localities. (7) Group of NEPunLiTK; Simcateu. [This group includes a small number of es.sentially auhydrou.s sili- cates of alumina and soda, in some of which chloride of sodium i.s also present, whilst others contain traces of chlorhydric or sulphuric acid. They fuse more or less readily, and gelatinize in acids. Canadian examples are comparatively unimportant] 65. NephiUne, including Fdxolite : — White, brownish, greenish, blueish-grey, yellowish, dull-red. Hexagonal in crystallization, but occurring commonly in cleavabic masses of a more or less greasy or vitreo-resinous lustre, forming the variety known as EUeolite. H = 5.5 — CO; sp. gr. 2.5 — 2.65. IllJ, easily fusible. Decomposed readily by acids, with separation of [irlatinous or slimy silica. Average composition : silica 44, alumina 31, soda 17, potash 5. This species is said to occur in small orange-red granular masses in boulders with orthoclase and Mack amphibole, on l*ic Island, Lake Superior. Also, according to Dr. Sterry Hunt, in white crystals in the granitic trachyte of Broiue. 66. S'malile : — Blue, greyish, colourless, &c. Monometric in crys- tallization, but occurring mostly in small granular masses. II ::=^ 5.5 wi ■■t , ■ . ■ 1:1 MlVi^ 114 MINERALS AND GP:OI.OOY OF CANADA. — 0.0 ; sp. gr. 2.15 — 2.35. Bli, tnclt.s with bubbling. Gelatinizes in acids. Recognized in the form of small grains of a fine blue colour, by Dr. Sterry Hunt, in the granitic trachyte of Bromc. In composi- tion, essentially a silicate of alumina and soda, combined with G or 7 per cent, of chloride of sodium. (8) Gkoup of Zec litic Silicates. [The silicates of this group are essentially hydrous species, especially characteristic of trappean or basaltic rocks. All fuse more or less readily, the fusion in many cases being preceded by intumescence, or accompanied by bubbling, whence the old name of the group irom ^ioj and X\0(>':. Most of these minerals also gelatinize in acids, ur become reiulily decomposed with separation of gratiular or slimy .^ilica. Those which occur in Central Canada may be arranged in tno «-ul)groups, couipri.sing (a) Cnlcareons Zeolites; and (b) Al/culine Ziir}:oss, hirj^'o fiix-sidod |ihites and prisms, nssocia'cd with npafite and cnleito, occur in great profu- Kion. Tran.sluciMit grecnish-yeUow prisms with calcito and diopi-ido occur also at Cahmict Falls. Nolv : — Lc.iihhtlitc or Lithui Jfirn has not yet been recognized in Canada, although abundant in Maine and in Connecticut. It is mostly in granular scaly masses of a pink, red, or greyish colour, melting easily and with much intumescence before the blowpipe, and colouring the flame carmine-red. Jtwtite is another magneslan mica, closely related to IMilogopitc, dc.'^cribed above, but Hexagonal in crystalliza- tion, and mostly black or dark-green in colour. It is of doubtful occurrence in Canada, but a dark-green mica from Moor's Slide on the Ottawa has been referred to this species. • 71). Sii/berllte (Clintonite) : — IJrown, brownish-red. Mostly in small scaly or foliated masses with pearly-metallic aspect. II = 4.0 or less; sp. gr. 8.0 — 3.1. BIJ, whitens but docs not fuse, or melts only on the thinnest edges. Gives off water in the bulb-tube. Decom- posed, in powder, by sulphuric acid. Contains a comparatively small amount of silica. Average composition : silica 20, alumina -10, iron oxide 4, magnesia 20, lime 13, water 3, Occurs sparingly in crystal- line limestone with blue spinel in the seignory of Daillebout, Joliette County, Vrovincc of Quebec. 80. Cliloritc (i'cnninite) : — Dark-green, greenish-grey. Hexago- nal or llemi-IIexagonal in crystallization, but occurring principally in scaly or foliated masses, and at times in a more or less earthy condition, or in compact slaty masses. II == 2.5 or less; sp. gr. 2.G — 2.8. Scctile. Flexible in thin pieces, but not elastic. BB, gone- rally melts upon the edges. In the bulb-tube yields water. Decom- posed, in powder, by hot sulphuric acid. Average composition : silica 33, alumina 13, iron and chromium oxides 6, magnesia 35, water 13. Occurs chiefly in the altered Silurian strata south of the St. Lawrence, forming beds of chloritic slates which often carry copper ores, as in Cleveland, Bolton, Shefford, Melbourne, Ascot, and other J Eastern Townships. In Sutton, St. Armand, Bromo, and elsewhere in the same district, it occurs in admixture with specular iron ore, forming schistose beds or chloritic iron slates. Also in sub-foliated or more or SU-K'ATKS, 110 lin or less coiupuct uud soctilo bciln, of oconoinio value as potdtoiics, in IJolton and lJruu<;hton. Chlorite oecur.s likewise umon<:;st some of the ••roen- stones of L:\ke Huron uikI Lake Superior, and also forms chloritic schit^ts at Gouluis Uuy on Lake Superior, Point Thcssalon on Ijako Huron, and elsewhere in the western lake-region. These schists arc mixed in places with specular iron ore, as at the mouth of the l*ic Itivcr, and at Cros Cup in .Michipicotcn Harbour. Both chlorite and chlorite .«latc occur also in association with some of the iron ores of Madoo and Marmora, in Laurcntian strata. 81. Chhritoid: — Grc3iish-grecn, grecni.sh-black, dark grey. In thin lamellar masses, and also occasionally in imbedded nodulon of foliaccous texture. H = 5.5 — CO; sp. gr. 3.5 — ;>.0. BH, in the outer flame, becomes red; in the inner flame, dark and magnetic; but resists fusion, or vitriGes only on the thinnest edges. Yields water iu tlio bulb-tube. Decomposed by sulphuric acid. A dark greenish- grey variety from Leeds, analysed by Dr. Sterry Hunt, yielded : silica 2G.o(), alumina 37.10, protoxide of iron 25.92, protoxide of manganese O.ii;), magnesia 3.GG, water G.IO. Occurs in many of the altered schistose strata of the Eastern Townships, more especially in Brome and Leeds. Lorinnite (Altered Hornblende): — This Bubstnnce is derived apparently from tlio ulleratiou or partial deeomposition of hornblende (No. 52, above). It oceurs in stnuU c'ull brown crystals, resembling those of hornblende, in tho crystallino liniestoac of Calumet Falls on the Ottawa, associated with serpentine, phlogopito, and apatite. IlaboutS.O; sii.gr., according to Hunt, 2.60 — 2.01. Infusible, rarliully attacked by acids. Dr. Hunt's analysis shewed: silica 33.2!^, alumina 13. 3U, magnesia 35.50, iron peroxide 1 .92, volatile matter (water, ttc.) Itj.OO. Ili/ilrous Dlallagc: — This is also a product of alteration, derived apparently fi'oui augite (No. 53, above). It occurs in cleavable masses of a greenish-grey or ])al'3 green and somewhat waxy lu-^tre, associated wifli apatite, cali'ito, and spliL'iie, in crystalline limestone in North Elmsley, and also in assocliUion with phlogopite in North Burgess. II -^ 1.5 — 3.0; sp. gr. = 2.3 — 3.55. Infu- sible, or nearly so. Composition somewhat variable, but essentially, after Hunt's analyses: silica 36.50 — 39.70, alumina 10.80 — 14.80, magnesia 25.02 — 28.26, iron protoxide 4.32 — 9.54, water 14.0—17.06. Another variety, in greenish and somewhat pearly masses with II =:.■ 5 and sp. gr. about 3.0, from tho Eastern Township of Orford, yielded Dr. Sterry Hunt: silica 47.10, alumina 3.50, magnesia 24.58, lime 11.34, iron protoxide 8.55, water 5.5. It is related apparently to the hydrous bronzite described below. ■Jit,- i' p s: : 120 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. Jft/drous Bronzitc : — Also an alteration-product, derived apparently from augitc. Occurs in bronze-coloured cleavablo and seal}' masses in altered Silu- rian strata in the township of Ham, Dr. Hunt's analysis gives: silica 50.00, ui'ignesia 27. n, iron protoxide 13.90, lime 3.80, water 6.30. (10) Group of Tai.cosb Simcatcs. [The minerals of this group are essentially non-aluminous magnesian silicates, foliated or compact in texture, very sectile, and more or less greasy or soapy to the touch.] 82. Talc, including Steatite or Soapstonc : — Silvery or greenish- white, pale-green, greyish : often mottled iu grey and greenish tints. Hexagonal in crystallization, but occurring mostly in foliated or scaly masses, the folia flexible but not elastic ( Talc), or in beds of a sub- granular, slaty, or compact texture (Steatite or Soajistone). Very sec- tile, and more or less soapy to the touch. H = 1.0 — 2.0 ; sp. gr. 2.56 — 2.8. 13B, sometimes exfoliates, but melts only on the thinnest edges. In the bulb-tube, yields a little water. Scarcely attacked by acids. Average composition : silica 63, magnesia 33, water 4 ; but some speci- mens contain merely a trace of water, whilst others yield 6 or 7 per cent. Talc appears to be of rare occurrence in the more ancient meta- morphic rocks of Canada, but a bed of grey and dark gre}'ish-greon steatite, mixed with magnesian carbonate of lime, occurs near the vil- lage of Bridgewater in Elzevir, County of Hastings. It is also said to have been found in Galway or Somerville. In the higher metamorphic strata (altered Silurian deposits) south of the St. Lawrence, talcose slates, on the other hand, are not uncommon, and beds of steatite are comparatively abundant. These lie principally in the townships of Bolton, Sutton, Potton, Stanstead, Leeds, and Vaudreuil. As shewn by Dr- Sterry Hunt, they frequently contain traces of oxide of nickel. A bed of mottled and pale-green steatite of excellent quality, has been found recently by Mr. Peter McKellar near Thunder Bay, on Lake Superior. A specimen analysed by the writer, yielded : silica 62.67, magnesiB 33.40, oxide of iron 0.86, water 1.88. The more compact kiud^of steatite are capable of economic employment in the manufac- ture of fire-bricks, stoves, baths, gas-burners, culinery vessels, table ornaments, B, infusible, or fusible with difficulty on the edges only. The light- coloured varieties assume a blue tint after ignition with nitrate of cobalt. In the bulb-tube, yields water. More or less attacked by acid.s. Average composition : silica 45 to 55, alumina 25 to 85, iron oxides 1 to 4, potnsh to 10, with small amounts of magnesia, soda, &c., and from 5 to 8 per cent, of water. The terra Pinite (from the Pini mine near Schnceberg in Sa.\ony) wtis originally restricted to certain brown pscudomorphous crystals apparently derived from the decomposition of lolite, but it is now applied by Dana so as to include a number of related substances of various colours and modes of occurrence. These substances are e.-scn- tially hydratcd silicates of alumina and potash, much resembling the magnesian steatites and serpentines in their physical characters. One of the best known is the Chinese Airalmatolite or Fi:;ur(!-stone, but many of the so-called agalmatolites are magnosinn in composition, and idcniical with steatite. Dr. Hunt refers the Wilsonite (see No. 03, above) to this group, on account oi its composition ; but its physical characters are quite distinct from those of the typical pinites and agal- matolites. It wants the sectility and soapy feel, for example, so char- acteristic of these latter, whilst it possesses, on the other hand, a distinctly spathoid structure. The agalmatolite variety occurs in beds and layers amongst the n)orc or less altered Silurian stnifa of the Eastern Townships of Canada, especially in St. Nicholas (Levis), where it forms green and greenish- white layers in an indurated clay-sluto of the Quebec group (see Part V); St. Francis (IJeauce), also in clay slate, in ye'low, wa.xy-looking, seini,-transluccnt layers; and on Lake Meniphramagog in Stanstead, where it occurs in yeliowlih beds, one of which j)rcsentd a sub-librous ■i- ^ • 11. •''. ■ Vi' . ^■Vi- ^ ■ i !■• i. :iS::;' »: ^fv... J::» 124 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. silky aspect, in chloritic slate. Analyses of these varieties by Dr. Sterry Hunt, will be found in the elaborate Report of the Geological Survey for 1863. Glanconite (Greon Sand): — Tins substance occurs only in tlie form of small grains and specks of a j:«reeii colour, distributt'd throui^h sandstone and other rocks. These grains nj>[)ear to consist essentially of a liydrated silicate of alumina, potasli, and iron oxide. Tliey occur in a sandstone of the Quebec group near Point Levis, and on tiie Island of Orleans. Certain brit,^ht-i]jreen markings in the siliceous IJhick Uiver liiuustoues of Lake St. John, in Kama, have also been referi'od to Glauconite. (l_') GlluUP Ol' (Jol'PKU .\M) Nl(Ki:i. Sll.lCATDS. [The minerals of this group, as regards (\iiiudian examples, are com- paratively unimportant. They are essentially hydratoJ silicates of amorphous or earthy structure: products of decomposition of copper and nickel ores.] 80. ClirijaocoHa : — Green, greenish-blue, occasionally passing into brown and black. In amorphous masses, and in earthy crusts on copper ores, frcrjuently mixed with malachite. 11 = 1.5 — 4.9; sp. gr. 2.1 — 2.3. IJB, blackens, and imparts a green colour to the flame-border, but does not fuse. In the bulb-tubo yields a largo amount of water. Attacked and decomposed by heated acids. Average eompo.'-ition : silica 34, o.\ide of copper 45, water 21. The brown and black varie- ties are intermixed with iron and manganc'^e oxides, or with black oxide of copper. In Canadaj found sparingly amongst some of the copper ores of Lake Superior. 87. Gcnfhite (Niekel-Gymnite) : — Pale-green, greenish-yellow. Oc- curs in earthy crusts, and in amorphous masses sometimes with botry- oidal surface. 11 = 1.5 — 4.0; sp.gr. 2.2 — 2.5. IJIJ, blackens, but remains infusible. In the bulb-tuhe gives off a large amount of water. A soft earthy variety from ]Michiiiicoten yielded Dr. Sterry Hunt : silica 35.80, oxide of nickel 32.40, water 12.20; but in another specimen (less thoroughly dried before analysis) the amount of water was found equal to 17.10 per cent, llithorto only recognized in Canada in a vein on the Island of Michipicoten, Lake Superior. The vein traverses amygdaloidal trap, and carries small grains and rounded masses of native copper and native silver. I. CAltUONATI^S. [This sub-division comprises the natural compounds of Carbonie Acid with various bases, such as lime, magnesia, and the like. In acids CARnONATF.S. 125 these compounds become decomposed with strong cffbrvescence, the Jatter effect being due to the liberation of their carbonic acid, but in many ca?c.s the application of heat is required to devclope the pheno- menon. The substance, in the form of a small particle or two, or ia powder, may be conveniently examined, with some diluted chlorhydric acid, in a test-tube or deep watch-glass supported over a common spirit- lamp. (Sec under " Action of Acids," in Part T.) Tlio carbonates, also, when fused with borax before the blowpipe, dissolve with marked effervescence, their carbonic acid being driven off. Up to the present time, only eight carbonates have been recognized amongst Canadian minerals, and five of these are altogether unimportant. We arrange OK AxiivDnou-i CAnnoSATFA [The anhydrous carbonates belong properly to several distinct groups : more especially to a Rhomhohrdrul Group, typified by calcite or ordi- nary cale spar, and includuig dolomite, magnesite, siderite, i^c. ; and a PrMHutic Group of Trimetric and Monoelinic species, typified by Arragonite, and including carbonates of lead, baryta, strontia, kc. IJut in Canada, the latter group is only represented, and that obscurely, by arragonite or prismatic carbonate of lime.] 88. Culcite or C >■ . ■ 1 . ft a 4 i „! :«, rhonib(jhc(lrons which measure 105° 5' over a polar edge, and 74° 55' over other cdfi;cs. In some of its conditions, this species presents a more or less pearly or silky lustre; and all transparent spciiniens exhibit in certain directions a strongly-marked double refraction, as in the so-called " Iceland Spar." This is best shown by placinj^ a rhom, bohedron, as obtiiincd by cleavage, with its broader faces over a ruled line or other thin object, and turning the crystal so as to make it revolve around this. In the direction of a line joining the obtuse plane angles of the rhombic face, the two images coalesce; but in the opposite direction they are more or less widely separated, according to the thickness of the crystal. 11 = 8.0 in cry.-stals and clcavable masses, but less in earthy varieties. Sp. gr. =^ 2.5 — 2 .75. mostly, about 2.7. 331 >. infusibl e, but glows strongly and becomes caustic, the carbonic acid being expelled, lleadily soluble with stroivg enervcscenoo in diluted acids, without the aid of heat. Normal composition : car- bonic acid 4 1, lime 50, but a small portion of the lime is very generally replaced by magnesia, protoxide of iron, protoxide of manganese, kc. The varieties presented by this mineral arc comparatively numerous. Those which occur in Canada may be arranged under three divisions, comprising: (a) Crystals, and crystalline cleavable varieties; (/y) Concretionary and stalactitic varieties ; (r) Hock varieties. (it) Cryslallir.ed and cleavable varietifs of Calcite : — Rhombo- hcdrons and scalenohodrons of calcitc occur in many of the mineral veins on the north shore of Lake Superior; at the Bruce and Welling- ton 3Iinos, Lake Huron; in the galena-bearing lodes of Galway, Iiam- sey, Loughborough, «fcc. ; and in some of the copper lodes of th(» Eastern Townships. In a "pocket" or "vug" in the Shuniah vein north of Thunder Bay, the writer observed a large bunch of scaleno- hedral crystals, many of which measured upwards of 18 ineh.es in length. Some large scalcnohcdrons have also been observed at the AVeliington jMines on Lake Huron. Fine cleavable and transparent masses of calcite occur at Harrison's Location on the Island of St. Ignace, Lake Superior; and others, perfectly fit for optical purposes, were found in abundance in the upper part of the main shaft at tlie (xalway lead mine in North Peterborouirh. ryi ipi '! •*;, occur likewise in hollows and in fissures of many of our Silurian and Devonian strata, as more especially, in the Trenton limestone ne: r Laehine, and in the same formation in the township of Huntingdon in CARBONATES. 12t (i) ibo- KH'iii rlU)- Is in the Irciit St. )SCS, the Iplcs land lictir li iu Ilastiugs County; in dolomitic beds of the Quebec group near Point Levis, opposite Quebec; and, in the Niagara formation, in the vicinity of tlic Great Falls, Hamilton, Dundas, and elsewhoro. Many of the aniygilaluidal trap rocks of Lake Superior and Lake IIuri>n, also, enclose nodular cloavable masses of calcite, and occasionally the more open amygdaloidal cavities are lined with crystals. These are almost always scalenohcdrons, or combinations in which one or more scalono- hedrons predominate. (i) Conrrrtionari/ and Stulactific varietits of Calrite : — Those varieties are being constantly formed by deposition of carbonate oi' lime from springs and streams in limestone districts, and from water percolating through limestone rocks. Carbonate of lime, consisting of equal at'.ims or combining weiglits of carbonic acid, is comparatively insoluble in wattr, but the bicarbonate, containing two parts of caibonio acid to one of lime, dissolves to a certain extent. Water contains very generally a small amount of free carbonic acid, derived from the atiuos- pherc, decaying organic matters, &c., and thus it is enabled to take up a certain quantity of carbonate of lime, this becoming converted into bicarbonate. The latter compound, however, is extremely unstable. It parts with carbonic acid very readily, even by simple exposure to the air. The insoluble carbonate thus again results, and is necessarily precipitated from the water, the precipitation often takin* place upon moss, roots, and other organic bodies, converting these into so-called "petrifactions," "Water issuing from ^N>^^ (. V limestone strata often deposits con- .-.-• - '7-'}>^i:=^2zij\_^^su^/S- cretionary masses of carbonate of lime, in this manner, as at Hamil- ton, liockwood, the Falls of Noisy Itiver, the banks of Beaver River in Euphrasia and Artemisia, and V"-. 7i'>. other places along the escarpment of the Niagara I'orniation (see Part V). Deposits of this kind are commonly known as Culcarcaus Tufa. Specimens from Hamilton, more especially, are hard and solid, and admit of a good polish. They are mostly of a browuLsh-yollow colour. Caverns and hollows of greater or less extent often occur in limestone rocks. Water percolating into these through minute fissures in the roof, very generally deposits on the latter a thin coating of carbonate of lime, and then dropping on the floor, deposits there a further portion 128 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANAD.V. ; r-J", ■ u. f : ■ , ^ li ( t ; 1 ' M' ' I - r orc;i1('!iroou:i matter. In this manner, the process constantly going on, Kfalac'titos and .stalagmites originate, the two occasionally meeting in the fortn of a pillar. These stalactitic deposits usually exhibit a radiated filbrou.s structure, with frequently a botryoidal surface. Some large stalactites have been obtained from a cavern at the lower falls of the Nottawa lliver in iMono (Geological Report, 1803, p. o;]4) ; and others, uf smaller size and less symmetrical form, have been found in adjoining townships. ('■) Jinvk Yarietu'S : — These come properly under review in Parts III and V of this work. They comprise the various kinds of lime- stone, including Crystalline Limestone, the finer varieties of which are commonly known as Jlarblo ; Ordinary Limestone ; Lithographic Linicstono; Oolitic Limestone, composed of minute spherical concre- tions ; Earthy Limestone or Chalk, and so forth. In Canada, valuable beds of marble occur in the Laurcntian strata of McNabb, Grenville, Wentworlh, Bastard, Marmora, Elzevir, &c. ; and in the more recent mctamorphic series south of the St. Lawrence, in St. Armand, St. Joseph, Melbourne, Orford, Dudswell, and elsewhere, many of the marbles from these localities being mixed with green and other coloured serpentine. In some of the unaltered Lower Silurian strata, also, red, grey, black, and brown marbles occur: as at St. Lin, Caughnawaga, St. Domiiiifjue, Motitrcal, Cornwall, Point Claire, and Pakenham. See further, under Part V. 80. Arragoniti; (Prismatic Carbonate of Lime) : — Colourless and of various colours, yellow, blueish, brownish-red, tte. Trimetric in crys- tallization, and often in compound crystals which sometimes present a pscudo-hcxagonal aspect. Also in fibrous and stalactitic masses. II = 3.0 — 4.0; sp. gr. 2.0 — 2.05. IJB, infusible, but becomes opaque and falls into powder. Soluble in acids with strong efierveKccnce. Composition identical with that of calcite, carbonate of lime being thus a dimorphous body — i e., a substance capable of assuming two distinct sets of physical characters. Fibrous arragonite appears to occur spar- ingly amongst the Lake Superior traps ; and occasionally in stalactitic coatings on the sides of cracks in some of our limestone rocks, as in the township of Tring and elsewhere, but no very distinct or crystal- lized examples have as yet been found. Oo. Dolomite (Pearl Spar, Bitter Spar) : — White, grey, brownishj &c. Crystallization Hemi-IIexagonal, the crystals being, mostly, obtuse CARDOXATF.S- 12i> nd of crys- ont a 11 = ■)a(iue 3once. thus stinct spar- ctitic as in }stal- hiish> Ibtuse rl^oiiibolicdroTiP, tlie faces of which are often more or less cnrvdl Occurs also in himollar cleavable masses, with cloavaue anulcs ot 10(P 1")' and 7o° 43', and in j];ranul;ir and rock masses. II =: n.f) — 4.0; sp. gr. 2,8 — 2.95. 15B, infusible, but becomes caustic. Shiwly soluble in cold acids, but rapidly dissolved with strong cfTorvescence if the acid be gently heated. Essential composition : carbonic acid, lime, and mngnesia, forming carbonate of lime 54.35, carbonate of magnesia 45.G5, but small portions of the lime and magnesia aio very generally replaced by protoxide of iron and protoxide of manganese, by which the cleavage angle is slightly altered. The various rhombo- hedral carbonates, Calcite, Dolomite, Magnesite, Siderite, llhodochro. site, &c., merge, in fact, into each other by intermediate transitional types, to some of which distinct names have been given. Tho Ibnu- ginous and manganesian dolomites become brown by weathering. Crystals and crystalline varieties of dolomite occur in many of the Ujctalliforous veins of Lake Superior and Lake Huron, and occasionally in those of the Eastern Townships and other p:irts of Canada. C»roup>< of small rhombohcdrons of more or less pearly aspect, have bi'tm obtained, more especially, from the Wellington Mines on Lake Huron Small rhombohcdral crystals occur also in cavities and on the .^-idcs of cracks, (fcc, in many limestone strata : as in the dolomitic limestone.>^ of the Cak'iferous Formation near Prescott on the St. Lawrence, and Rigaud on the Otftwa ; and also in the dolomitic bods of the Niagara Furniation in the vicinity of the Falls, and elsewhere. In the form of rock-masses, dolomite is of very common occurrence in many parts of Canada A white fine-granulur crystalline variety, or dolomite marble, occurs iu Laurentian strata at Lake Mazinaw in the township of Barrie, Frontenac County ; and many of the marbles from . the altered strata of the Eastern Townships are more or less magne.sian or dolomitic. In the unaltered Silurian series, beds of dolomite, of a more or less sub-crystalline texture, make up the strata of the Guelph Formation, as seen in the townships of Elora, Guelph, Dumfrie.s- "Waterloo, IJentinck, &c. ; and dolomitic limestones, or mixtures of limestone and dolomite, belong to various other formations of thi^ series, more especially to the Calciferous, Chazy, Niagara, and Onon- daga groups, as described fully under these divisions in Part V. 91. Miijnesite : — White, brownish, &c. Hemi-Hexagoual in cry.s- tallization, the crystals mostly obtuse rhombohcdrons; but occurring M'^ , t m m'' ■ ii-M, . 4 ' ^ ; i , 1: i £:: > . • 180 MINF.RALS AND GEOI/XlY OF CASADA. commonly in clcavable niasfscs (with clciivagc atiples = 107'^ 20' and 72° ol'), and in ^'ranular and rock varieties. II (in pure varieties) = 3.5 — 4.5; sp. gr, 2.8 — 3.0, or sli<:(htly higher in the brown ferru- ginous varieties. BB, infusible. Soluble in heated aeids with cflfer- vcscence. Normal composition : carbonic acid 52.4, magnesia 47.6, but part of the magnesia usually replaced by protoxides of iron and manganese. In Canada, this mineral occurs only in rock masses, form- ing beds in the altered Silurian strata of the l-iustcrn Townships of Sutlon and Bolton, south of the St. Lawrence, where it is associated cliiefly with serpentine and steatite. 92. Rhodochrositc, or Carbonate of Maiujancse : — This species has not yet been found in Canada in distinct oxanip' is, but it occurs in adn)i.\turc with many of the manganese ochres (No. 00), and is also prosc!it, in traces, in some of the altered strata of the Ivistern Town- ships. Colour, ruse-red or pale-red, weathering brown. O.'J Sidi-rtte. or Spatldc. Iron Ore (^S/iherosnlcritc, t'luy Iron Or"^ kc. : — Yellowish, greyish, light and dark brown, green, t\:c. Occurs under several conditions, and more especially: (1), in rhombohodions, scalcnohedrons, and lamellar masses, with cleavage-angles of 107° and 7o° (Spathic Iron, proper); (2), in spherical or concretionary masses with radiating fibrous structure in trappcan rocks (Sphcrosidcritc) ; and (3), in nodular masses and occasionally in layers, ^mostly of a brown colour and earthy or dull stone-like aspect (Clay Iron Ore). Crystal- line varieties of this mineral have not yet been recognized with cer- tainty in Canada; but nodules and thin layers of clay ironstone or clay iron ore occur in the Devonian strata of Gaspc, associated with a small seam of impure coal, and with fossilized plant-remains (see Part V). This variety is a mixture of carbonate of iron (more or less converted into brown iron ore) with argillaceous matter. Although rarely yield- ing more than 25 or 30 per cent, of iron, clay ironstone, as occurring in the Carboniferous strata of luirope and the United States, supplies a large number of furnaces, and yields metal of good quality. The nodules have usually a strongly-marked slaty structure; and, when broken, they almo.st invariably exhibit the impression of a fern frond, ii.sh skeleton, or other org.mic body. Small fragments after ignition before the blowpipe, or in a glass tube held over a common spirit lamp, assume at first a red colour, and then become black and magnetic. ■i' CAHnoXATF.S SUI.ril VTIS. l.*)l ktcurs Jrons, 1° and and own ystal- cer- clay i^iiiaU tV). or ted icld- nin;j; The when rond, Uion amp, y (•J) Giiuui' ()K llYDnoi'8 Cahhonati rt. [This fjroup is only represented in Canada by the two cupreous car- bonates Mahichitc and Azurite, and these species do not occur in well characterized examples, but merely as incrustations on Copper Ores, or in the form of stains and small earthy masses in copper-holding rocks.] 94. Mahtcldte or Green Carbonate (>f Copper: — Green of various shades, with palc-grccn streak. IMonoclinic in crystallization, but crystiils exceedingly rare. Mostly in botryoidal masses of concentric lauiellar, and fibrous structure; in earthy coatings on copper ores; and in the form of streaks and markings in copper-holding rocks. II = 8.5 — 4.0 (in the solid state); sp. gr. 3. '7 — AM. 1J15. tmges the flame green, and becomes rapidly reduced to metallic copper. Soluble in acids with effervescence. Essential composition : carbonic acid 20, oxide of copper 72, water 8. Occurs in small quantities with copper glance, native silver, ka., in a calc-spar vein on Spar Island, Lake Superior, and in small earthy incrustations and markings amongst many of the copper ores and associated veinstones of Lake Superior and Ltike Huron generally. Also under similar conditions in Madoc, Marmora, and various other localities in which copper pyrites occurs in larger or smaller quantities; and especially in the chloritic and other altered rocks of the metamorphic country south of the St. Lawrence, as in the townships of Leeds, Halifax, Inverness, Ham, Shipton, Cleveland, Stukely, Bolton, Brome, Sutton, &c. 95. A::urite or Blue Carbonate of Copper : — 1 his species has hitherto been recognized only in small incrustations and stains of a blue colour, associated with malachite, at most of the localities named under No. 94, above. The blue carbonate contains : carbonic acid 25.0, oxide of cop- per (;0.2, water 5.2. K. SULPUATKS. [The mineral substances placed under this division may be regarded, according to the commonly received view, as compounds of sulphuric acid with one or more oxydized bases, such as baryta, lime, oxide of ead, alumina, and the like. As regards physical characters, these bodies exhibit a non-metallic aspect, and either a colourless or a very faintly-eoloured streak, the colour in the latter case being green or blue, or occa.-'ionally yellow. They afford representatives of all tlie systems ot crystallization ;^ Trimetric and Monoclinic types being especially abundant H =1.0 — 4 0. The sulphates may be easily distin- ■' \ •r A- I: 1"' MINKRAL8 AND GKOI.OGY OF CANADA. •luislicd from carbonates, pho.s[ihates, silicates, &c., I»y fusion in a reduciii;^ llaiiie on charcoal with carb-soda; or bettor witli a niixturo of C'lrbsoda and a little borax, as the latter reajront facilitates the decom- position of earthy sulphates, and prevents the absorpfioJi of the fused mass. An alkaline sulphide is formed by this troatniont. When moistened, and placed on a piece of silver or on lead test-paper (a brii^ht coin or ^dazcd visitin;^ card may bo used as a substitute^, the fused mass produces a black or brown sfain (of sulphide of silver or suljthide of leadj. The slain may bo easily removed from the silver, by friction with moist bone-ash. Amourist the sulphates frenerally, several natural groups stand out with great prominence. The Triuictric group of anhydnjus species, for example, containing the Sulphates of JJaryta, Stroiitia, Lime, Lead, A:c. ; the (jiypsuni group; the iMonometric group of Alums; the Trisnuitie groups of A'itriols; and others of subordimitc impor- tance. The sulidiates hitherto found in Canada, are too few, however, to admit of distribution into special groups of this kind. In the descriptions which follow, the anhydrous species Barytino and Celes- tinc are placed first. To these, succeeds the hydrous sulphate, Gypsum ; and a few sapid types of obscure or comparatively rare occurrence, close the list.] 9C), ])arijlinc or Hcavi/ Spar: — White, yellow, reddish, pale-blue, grey, ttc. Crystallization Trimctric (Figs, 77-78, and other combina- tions). Occurs very commonly in lamellar masses and aggregations of large flat crystals with cleavage angles of 101° 40', 78° 20', and 90°, yielding a right rhombic prism. Also in masses of a granular or more or less compact structure. II = 3.0 — 3.5; sp. gr. 4.3 — 4.7, mostly about 4.4 — 4.5. BB, generally decrepitates strongly, tinges the liameborder pale-green, and melts into a white enamel. Dissolves entirely in carb.-soda before the blowpipe. Not attacked by acids. Normal composition: sulphuric acid .' ' ^\ 34.33, baryta 05. G7. This mineral ,^- y-/f occurs abundantly in many parts of M | p/ Canada. In the Laurentian strata, FuTTt. fic. rs. it occurs in veins 2)(;)' se, and as a gangue or veinstone with galena, more especially in the townships of Lansdowne in Leeds County; 13athurst and North Burgess in Lanark County; McNab, Renfrew County; Dummer and Galway, in Peterborough County; and Som- HULrilATKS. 133 nicrvillo in Victoria County. Red crystals wcro iliseovcrod by Mr. Murray on Iron Island, Lalvc Nipissinj;; and other examples havo boon met with in the copper-ore veins of Lake Huron. Lsulatod palo reddish-yellow crystals (Fij;. 78) were found by the writer (^Otndtfian Journal, November, 1805) in veins in Neobinj^ Township near Fort AVilliam, Thunder Bay, Lake Superior, and subsequently in other mineral veins in that rcj^ion. Massive and sub-crystalline varieties form also largo veins near IMgcon lliver west of Fort William ; and other veins of a similar character are said to occur cast of Thunder Cape, as at Fdward Island in Black Bay, and elsewhere. Heavy Spar has also been noticed in some of the serpentines and other altered strata of tho Eastern metamorphic region south of the St. Lawreifto, as on the ]>ras River, where a white variety occurs in small veins. Nodu- lar masses of a red or reddish-yellow colour occur with iibrous and granular gypsum in the Hudson River strata of Capo Rich on Georgian Buy J and small crystals and crystalline masses are occasionally fuuud in cavities of tho dolomitic limestones of the Caleiforous and Niagara groups, as near Brockville, and in the vicinity of Niagara Falls. Heavy Spar is employed in the manufacture of paints, and is too frequently used in this connection as a fraudulent substitute for white lead. It is also the chief source of the baryta salts of the laboratory. 97. Cch-stine: — White, blue, grey, &c. Trimetric in crystallization, the crystals frequently bearing a close resemblance to those of heavy spur. Occurring also in lamellar and crystalline masses, with cleavage angles of about 104°, 7G°, and 00°, yielding a right rhombic prism ; and in masses of fibrous or granular structure. H = o.O — 3.;j; sp. gr. 0.95 — 3.97. BB, imparts a crimson colour to the point and border of the flame, and melts into a white alkaline enamel. Dissolves entirely, by fusion, in carb. soda. Not attacked by acids. Nuiinal composition: sulphuric acid 43.0, strontia 50 4. This mineral occurs chiefly in sedimentary rock-formations : very rarely in mineral veins or in crystalline rocks. In Central Canada, it is found somewhat abun- dantly in the interior of small cavities in the Black River or Trenton limestone of Kingston ; and also, with crystals of dolomite, gypsum, fluor spar, blende, and other minerals, in cavities in tho Niagara lime- stone, as in the vicinity of the Falls, around Owen Sound, on Drum- niond Island, and on the Grand 3Ianitoulin, Lake Huron. Celcstine 9 c, 134 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. ! 'i ■H i ^f : (■ ! Iff'.. yt\ b is tlio principal source of strontia salts, used in pyrotcclmy to impart a red colour to rockets and signal lights, and for laboratory purposes. 08. Gj/psum (Hydrous Sulphate of Lime, Solcnite. &;c.) :— White, grey, yello wish, pale-red, &c. Monoclinic in crystallization, the crys- tals very commonly as in Fig. 79 a, or in arrow- headed twins as in Fig. b, also in lamellar an d foliated cr ystalline masses with strongly pro- nounced cleavage in one direction, and in fibrous and granular masses, the latter often forming rock deposits. The cleavage planes present a more or less pearly aspect, the other crystal-faces exhibit- " fig. 7i». ing a ifitreous or pearly-vitreous lustre. Granular and rock varieties have mostly a dull earthy aspect. H = 1.0 — 2.0 ; sp. jrr. 2.25 — 2^35. Scctile^ and, in thin lamellaj, somewhat flexible. Becomes opaque when held at the edge of a lamp or candle-flame. IBB, exfoliates, nn^ ipclta Lnto a white_caust ic enam el. In the bulb-tube yields a large amount of water. Solub le .in. hydro chloric acid. Dissolves also, if in fine powder, in a large amount of water, and more readily in a solution of rock salt. Normal jsomposition ; sulphuric acid 4G.51^Jime 32.56, water 20. , 9 3. The transparent crystals and cleavable varieties are commonly termed sdcnlte ; and the fibrous and fine granular varieties form the alahnstcr and 8ailn snai' of lapidaries, but these names are also bestowed on similar varieties of carbonate of lime. When deprived of its water by exposure to a low red heat, gypsum is converted into plaster, or Plaster of Paris. Crystalline and fibrous masses, and occasionally distinct crystals of gypsum, associated with crystals of quartz, dolomite, &c., occur in cavities of many of the Silurian strata in Canada, and thin bands are interstratified in places with the shales and limestones of some of these formations. Gypsum occurs under these conditions in the Calcifcrous formation of Beauharnois, the Hudson River formation of Point Rich on Georgian Bay, the Medina formation of St. Vincent, and in the Clinton and Niagara strata in the vicinity of the Falls, Hamilton, Dundas, and elsewhere. Rock masses of granular and compact gypsum, more or less mixed with carbonate of lime, characterize the Onondaga Formation of Western Canada, and occur largely in the valley of the Grand River : more especially in the townships of Dumfries, Brantford, Oneida, SULPIFATES. 135 Senoon, and Cayuga; as well a3 througliout the tract of country, gene- rally, between the eastern extremity of Lake Erie and the mouth of the Saugecn. (See under the Onondaga Formation, in Part V.) The greater part of the gypsum from these localities is ground for agricul- tural The present annual produce amounts to about 15,000 tons. 09. Epi^omlt': (Epsom Salt) : — AVhite or greyish. Soluble : taste, strongly bitter. Trimetric in crystallization, but occurring, in nature, chieOy in fibrous tufts and earthy or botryoidal incrusting masses. II :^= 2.0, or less. BR, runs at first into liquid fusion, and then forms an alkaline infusible crust which assumes a flesh-red colour if mois- tened with a drop of nitrate of cobalt and again ignited. Yields a large amount of water in the bulb-tube. Normal composition : sulph- uric acid 32 52, magnesia 1G.2G, water 51.22. Occurs in Canada, as an cfilorcscence or incrustation, on exposed surfaces, and on the edges of the planes of bedding, of shales and other strata, where it is forincd apparently by the action of percolating water containing soluble matters derived from the decomposition of pyrites. It occurs thus in some of the f]aty talcose layers associated with the iron ores of Marmora, and also on tlu 'cathcred shales of thcUtica series, near Montreal, Quel)ee, and Collingwoodj and still more abundantly on some of the dolomitic bods of the Clinton and Niagara Formation, as near Dundas and else- where. Sulphate of magnesia occurs also in solution in the Tuscarora water, and in some other mineral springs, lUO. Iron Vitriol (Green Vitriol, Copperas, I^Ielanterite, c'cc.) : — Pale-green, greenish-white; brownish-yellow by partial dccompo.'^ition. Monoclinic in crystallization, but occurring mostly in cfdorescent crusts and minute hair-like indistinct crystals. Soluble : taste, inky and metallic. 11= 2.0 or less. UB, blackens and becomes magnetic. In the bulb-tube yields a large amount of water, and gives off sulphurous acid. The aqueous solution gives a deep blue precipitate with " red pru^siate of potash ;" and in general also with the yellow prussiate, from the presence of more or less sesquioxido of iron. Normal com- position : sulphuric acid 28.8, protoxide of iron 2,').0, water \')?>. Occurs on decomposing pyrites and marcasito, and on the exposed sur- faces of rooks in which these minerals are present. It is thus fiuiid, in small quantities, on many of the ores from the mineral veins of L.ikc Superior, Lake Huron, the Hastings region, and other parts of Canada. A specimen of iron pyrites from the Galway Lead 3Iine in the northern w i;^;--! £ RffT! : U ■ l:( WW"- ; 1' i.\ "U ■ < 130 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. part of the county of Peterborough, became covered in the course of a few weeks with delicate tufts of minute acicular crystals of this mineral. 101, Nickel Vitriol (Morenosite) :— Pale-green, greenish-white. In efflorescent tufts of minute crystals on nickel ores. Soluble : taste, strongly metallic. BB, evolves sulphurous acid, swells up, and forms a dark grey mass. With borax, gives reactions of nickel oxide (see Part I). In the bulb-tubo yields a large amount of water. If free from iron, the aqueous solution does not yield a blue precipitate with red or yellow " prussiate of potash." Normal composition : sulphuric acid 28.5, oxide of nickel 26.7, water 44.8. Detected by Dr. Sterry Hunt, as an efflorescence on an arsenical nickel ore from the Wallace Mine, Lake Huron. (See No. 17, above.) 102. Alum : — Normally, white, but sometimes stained of a yellowish or brownish colour by sesquioxide of iron and other impurities. Mono, met lie in crystallization, but occurring commonly in earthy efflorescent crusts. Soluble : taste, sharp and more or less bitter. BB, froths up and forms a white earthy mass which assumes a fine blue colour if moistened with a drop of nitrate of cobalt, and again ignited. Normal composition : sulphuric acid 33.75, alumina 10.82, potash 9.95, water 45.18. Occurs in considerable abundance on the exposed face of some high bluffs of argillaceous shale (belonging to the lower portion of the Upper Copper-bearing series) on Slate River, a tributary of the Kaminis- tiquia, about twelve miles west of Fort William, Lake Superior. L. PHOSPHATES AND ARSKNL'iTES. [These compounds are composed of phosphoric acid or arsenic acid, or of the two combined, with various bases. They present a vitreous or other non-metallic aspect. Phosphates when moistened with a drop of sulphuric acid (and many without this addition), impart a green coluur to the point of the blowpipe flame. When fused, in powder, with carb. soda in a platinum spoon, an alkaline phosphate is formed, soluble in water. The clear solution decanted from the insoluble residuum, yields a canary yellow precipitate with a drop or two (or small fragment) of nitrate of silver. The excels of carbonate of soda in the solution may be previously decomposed by the addition of a drop or two of nitric acid, but this is not actually necessary in ordinary cases, and it is essential to have the solution neutral or slightly alkaline- Arseuiatcs, when mixed in powder with some carb. soda, and ignited mOSPIIATES. 137 on charcoal in a reducing flame, emit a very distinct odour of ijjulie. Canadian examples, of this group, amount to only three in number, as given below; but, one of these, the lime fluor-phosphatc, Apatite, occurs in comparative abundance, and is a substance of much commer- cial value. 103. Apatite (Fhosphate of Lime) : — Green, blueish-green, violet- red, rose-red, brownish, greenish-white , &c. — shades of green and dull- red being often present in the same specimen. Lustre, \itrcous and vitrco-resinous, with frequently a slight opalescence on one of the cleavnge planes. Crystallization, Hexagonal : the crystals consisting mo«t commonly of g,i; ;^-sided p risms, often of large size, and frequently with rounded edges. Occurs also in lamellar cleavable masses, which sometimes form rock beds of considerable extent ; also occasionally in globular and other shapes with librous structure. II = 4.5 — 5.5, norm ally 5.0. I'Hi. Sn. gr. 2.9 — 3.o, most commonly about 3.18 to 3.2. 33I>. in most cases quite infusible, but some varieties vFtrify sliglitly at the point o?"the assay-fragment after exposure to a long-sustained blast. The powder moistened with sulphuric acid, tinges the flame-point distinctly green. Dissolves readily in burax and phosphor-salt, forming a glass which becomes opaque on c »uling or when flamed. (See, under the description of blowpipe-reactions in Part I). Easily soluble in nitric or chlorhydric acid. The diluted solution, saturated with ammonia, yields a copious white precipitate of phosphate of lime. This precipitate assumes a canary-yellow tint if treated with a solution of nitrate of silver, or if a crystal of that sub- stance be laid in it whilst still moist. The presence of phosphoric acid may also be rendered evident in the diluted nitric acid solution by the furraation of a clear-yellow precipitate with mol^bdate of ammimia.'" Apatite consists essentially of phosphate of lime (or calcium, phos- phorus, and oxygen) combined with iu general about 8 or 10 per cent, of fluoride of calcium or chloride of calcium, or with a mixture of both, the fluoride usually preponderating. Canadian examjiKs appear to be n \^r^.j. ■-!:':■;: ■"•'3 &^ <■ :.' !! ■- • ^^^^Kl ^ m * Till' tt'.st-.soluti()ii is iin'iiaricl liy dissolving' soiiio of tlio cn-stallizt'il ii:(ilyl)il:itu in ,i very small ([UMntity of water, nilrie acid lieiTi^' addi'd to tin; solution until the i l.iidine-*^ i r tliiek lireeipitate, wlii(di forms at first, Ipeeonios redissolved. When this is added to the solution of the mineral, the whole must be gently wanned. A yellow coloration, succeeded liy a yellow j'r.cii itate, then (juiekly ensue :1 1' -1 m it ''il 138 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. essentially fluor apatites. The normal conipo.sition of an apatite of this; kind is equivalent to : plios];ihoriyacid 42. 2G, lime r)5.60, fluorine 'j.o7; or, phosphate of lime 02. 20, fluoride of calcium 7.74. • Extensive deposits of this mineral, chiefly in the form of veins, occur in the Luurentian strata of North Burgess and North Klm^-lcy in the County of Lanark. These veins cut the enclosing strata trans- versely, and vary in width from an inch or two, to several feet (.see Part V). The apatite, in crystals, and in cleavahle and granular m-.isscs, is associated with mica, pyroxene, and other minerals. Whore tlic veins occur in contact with crystalline limestones, these latter contain in many places detached crystals and grains of apatite, with occasional beds or lenticular masses of that substance.* Apatite occurs also in connexion with crystalline limestone, associated with fluor spar and octahedrons of black spinel, in the township of Ross in Renfrew (vounty on the Ottawa; and with quartz and calcite, at Calumet Falls. Trans- parent pink and purple crystals are also reported by Dr. Sterry Hunt to occur in association with crystals of augite in a mass of erupted dolerite (see Part III) at St. Roch on the River Achigan." Apatite has likewise been found, in a quartz vein carrying copper pyrites and native copper, with largo plates of white mica, in tlic tov/nship of Rurford, in the mctamorphic district- south of the St. Lav.-rcuieo (Part V). Finally, it may be observed, small nodular masses consisting in great part of phosphate of lime, mixed with carbonate of lime and magnesia, sand, and other matters, are scattered through a conglomerate of the (Lower Silurian) Chazy formation at the Allumetto Rapids; and simi- lar nodules occur in limestone strata of the same formation in the townships of Ilawkesbury and Lochicl, west of the Ottawa ; as well as in strata of the Quebec group at Point Levis, and on the River Oiitlle. These phosphatic nodules present a chocolate or blackish-brown colour, "* Most of the large apatite crystals from tlii^ locality arc siiuiilc licxa;;onal inisins, mrrcly teriiiinatcil liy lioriziiiit.il clcava.L'c-i'laiics ; but tlio more ]iorfcct pxaiiiiilcs cxliiliit a cuiiroiiia- tioii of great rarity in the iry.staliizatioii of lliis luiiieral. Some large ery.stal.s rieeiitly oUt.iiued by tlie author from veins on the north shore of Rideaii Lalic, consist of hexagonal inNms tir- minateil at the free extremity liy a siiiijilc hexagonal i>yraiiiiil, without any aiii>earanre of the Usuul ba.sal jilaiie. Tliis hinii^le eombinalion lias hilheito been seen oiiiy In the so-called fpar- gehtiin from the monntaius near Jumilla in the south-east of S])ain, and in the scan'cly eleav- able variety known as )»onu(7c from Arcudal in Norway. In tlio Hideau crystals, tlic jilnncs of tiic pyramid meet the adjacent prisui-iilaues at au angle of lJO'''as mu.i.sured ainiroximativeiy by the haiiil guincnu'tcr. FLUORIDES AND CHLORIDES. 139 and contain in some cases fragments of the shells of lingula (sec Part IV) and other organic bodies. They are supposed to be coprolitcs or fossilized excrcmentous matters. When heated, they emit an odour of burnt animal matter, and evolve ammonia. Phosphate of lime, whether derived from inorganic or organic sources, constitutes an agricultural fertilizer of the highest value. 104. Vivianite (Hydrated Phosphate of Iron) : — IJlue, blueish-grccn (normally, colourless, but becomes blue on exposure) j streak pale- blue or blueish-white. Monoclinic in crystallization, with very perfect cleavage in one direction, but found more commonly in bladed and fibrous varieties, and in earthy masses, often forming, when in the latter condition, beds or layers of a certain extent. II = 1.0 — 2.0 ; sp. gr. 2 55 — 2.7. BB, tinges the flame-point pale-green (from pre- sence of phosphoric acid), and yields a dark magnetic globule. In the bulb-tubo gives off a large amount of water. Normal composition : phosphoric acid 2S.30, iron protoxide 43.00, water 28.70, but the iron in the coloured varieties is always partly in the state of sesquioxide, and the earthy varieties moreover are usually mixed with a certain amount of clay, sand, iron ochres, manganese ochre, or other forcigu matters. In Canada, this mineral has only been found in an earthy condition, underlying a bed of bog iron ore, in Vaudreuil, on the Lower Ottawa. 105. Cohult Bloom (Erythrine, Arseniate of Cobalt) : — Occurs only (as regards Canada) in the form of a slight efflorescence or incrusta- tion, of a peach-blossom red colour, on tho silver-holding calc spar of Prince's Location, on the north-west shore of Lake Superior; and al-io, but in traces only, in the more' recently discovered silver-bearing vein near Thunder Cape. Normal composition : arsenic acid 38.25, oxide of cobalt 37.85, water 23.90; but sometimes mixed with arsenious acid. !'l<: |ft! IV. FLUORIDES AND CHLORIDES. [This subdivision comprises the compounds of Fluorine and Chlo- rine, respectively, with metallic bases, such as sodium, calcium, alumi- nium, lead, silver, and the like. These compounds present a non- metallic aspect; and they exhibit a general resemblance, also, in other characters, to many so-called oxygen salts, more especially to certain 140 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. ! I phosphates, borates, carbonates, and sulphates. Amongst Canadian minerals, however, as at present discovered, we have but a single representative of each group.] A. FLUORIDES. [The only Fluoride as yet discovered in Canada, is the fluoride of calcium, long known under its popular name of Fluor Spar. In a strictly natural classification, this mineral should occupy a place in the immediate vicinity of the Apatite and Calc-Spar groups. The fluo- rides generally, when treated, in powder, with hot sulphuric acid, evolve fumes of fluo-hydric acid which exert a strongly corrosive action on glass. The powdered substance may be warmed with some strong sulphuric acid in a platinum or lead crucible covered with a glass plate, when the under surface of the latter will be quickly corroded. In making the experiment, great care must be taken not to inhale the evolved fumes, as these are highly injurious. (See also under " Blow- pipe Reactions," in Part I.) 106. Fluor Spar : — Occasionally colourless, but more commonly violet or amethyst-blue, dark blueish-green, pale-green, pale blueish- grey, yellow, brownish, or rose-red, the edges and angles of many crystals being more deeply tinted than the other parts, or sometimes presenting a distinctly difi"crent tint or shade of colour. Streak, white. Crystallization, Monometric; the crystals mostly cubes, or cubes with bevelled edges (Figs. 80, 81). The corners of these cubes break off" very readily, in consequence of the strongly-pronounced octahedral cleavage possessed by the mineral. H = 4.0; sp. gr. 3.1 — 3.2. Emits a blueish or other coloured phosphorescent light, when mode- rately heated in the form of powder. BB, generally decrepitate^ violently (see Part I), and fuses into an opaque white bead whic^ becomes caustic after strong ignition. Decomposed, with evolution of corrosive fumes, by hot sulphuric acid. The evolved fumes consist of fiuohydric acid which strongly corrodes the surface of glass. Avernge composition : fluorine 48.72, calcium (the metallic base of lime) 51.28. Fluor Spar occurs very generally in association with metallic ores in veins. It also forms per se, or in con- nection with calcite, the sub- stance of many narrow veins; Yio.SO. Fig. SI. Fig. S2. r CIILORIDFS. 141 lany nies lite, ith off ral 2. de- te8 c^i of of Ij^e IS. and it occurs likewise in cavities and small fissures in limestone and other rocks, and is occasionally disseminated through beds of crystal- line limestone. The finest examples hitherto discovered in Canada, have been obtained from a large vug or cavity in a vein of amethyst- quartz on the north-east shore of Thunder Bay, Lake Superior. The fluor spar from this spot forms large cubes of two or three inches in diameter, which rest on equally large pyramids of amethyst-qnartz, and are coated with iron pyrites in minute cubes, the whole being sur- mounted, here and there, by scalenohcdrons of calcite. The fluor spar is partly of a pale greenish tint, but mostly of a violet or amethystine colour. Pale green and purple cubes occur also in most of the metal- liferous veins of Thunder Bay and the surrounding region, mostly with quartz, calcite, blende, galena, and copper and iron pyrites, as at Prince's Mine, the Shuniah Mine, in several veins in the township of Necbing, and in others near Black Bay and Terrace Bay, on Fluor Island in Neepigon Bay, and elsewhere. Also in amygdaloidal green- stone, near Cape Gargantua. Fluor spar occurs likewise, according to Mr. Murray, in association with specular iron ore, in crystalline lime- stone on Lake Nipissing. It occurs also, with apatite, in crystalline limestone in the township of Boss, in Renfrew county on the Ottawa, and elsewhere in that district. Also in veins, with galena and calcite, in Trenton limestone in contact with gneiss at Bale St. Paul ; and in narrow veins in the Trenton limestone of the vicinity of Montreal, and the Utica slates of Quebec. Small crystals have likewise been obtained, from fissures and cavities of the Niagara strata, in the neighbourhood of the Falls. B. CHLORIDES. [This group is represented in Canada by a single type, the highly important Chloride of Sodium, or Hock Salt. The presence of chlo- rine in mineral bodies is easily ascertained by the blowpipe. Some phosphor-salt, with a few particles of black oxide of copper, is fused in a loop of platinum wire, so as to produce a deeply-coloured glass. To this, a small portion of the test-substance, in powder, is added, and the glass during fusion is held just within the point or edge of the flame. The latter, if chlorine be present, will assume a rich azure-blue colour from the volatilization of chloride of copper. Many chlorides are soluble in water. None possess a metallic lustre, nor is the degree of hardness in any species suflScient to scratch ordinary glass.] 1 li' 142 :,iiMi:nAi.s and geolooy of Canada. ^i*i Fni. S:!. I IIo|i]lll--s"llM)icd' cube oi' suit. 11)7. RocJc Salt : — Colourless, and also variously coloured by acci- deiitul impurities, as sesfin[_' chiclly of scmi-arjuatic mosses — in a peculiar state of decomposition. It present.s in its more typical form, a brown or l)laclush-brown col'Hir, with an earthy, or, in places, a sub-slaty or sub-hbrous, texture. Sp. gr. 0..');] — 1.05. Influnnuable, burning with a pleasant odour ami yellow flame. Composition, essentially carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and n large amount of water (in dried peat, nominally from 1.') to !*■') per cent.) with from 2 or o to 10 or 111 per cent, of mineral matter or nsh. This valuable substance, occurs in large beds of more or less nindern origin, in variou.s parts of Ontario and (Quebec, nio.stly overlying depo- sits of shell-marl. The principal localities lie within tho townships of Ilumbcrstonc and Wainflect on Lake p]rie ; Shefllcld in Addington County; Deckwith, Iluntly, (' 'ilbournt. ^Vcstmcath, Nepean, (Moii- cester, Cumberland, Clarence, I'laiitagouet, Koxboruugh, Osnaln'uck, and riiich, between the west bunk of the Ottawa and tho St. La\vr;i-,cc; Grenville, Harrington, 31illc-Isles, and adjacent localities on the cast side rou;;-ht to the surface from great depths b}- narrow bore-holes I coiunionly known as Artesian avcI Is, always exhibits a higher temperature lliau I the m ean tcmjierature^ofthe locajjt^^; and if a boring be increased in depth, the I temperature of the water becomes also increased. I ^J Active volcanoes, which may be regarded as channels of coniniunieation between the surface and the internal parts of the earth, are more or less con- stantly pouring forth, from unknown depths, vast streams of molten roek or lava, accompanied by other products of igneous action. About two hundred and seventy volcanoes are now known to be from time to time in eruption, and mail}' others are aj.parently in a permanently quiescent state. Eruptions also i frecpiently take place on the bed of the sea. CJ Certain rock-massug, in tlistricts now remote from centres of volcanic action, have evidently been forced iijnvards, from deeply-seated sources. i n_; i molten or more or less incandescent sta t Cj amongst previously consolidated rocks. The latter exhibit at the points of contact, and for some distance beyond, changes of colour, and other effects, that can only have resulted from the direct CLASSIFICATION OF ROCKS. 151 or indirect action of heat. These ctTects are not seen in all ca.ses of rock-intru- sion, but in tiie great majority of instances they have undoubtedly occurred. In different localities, as a general rule, the rocks which form the surface of the ground, or which become visible to us on the sides of cliffa and river-bunks, in quarries, railway cutting.s, and the like, are mure or less distinct in composition and other characters. This must be familiar to the most casual observer. Thus, around the Falls of xSiagara, and extending far and wide across that section of the Pro. vince, wo find vast beds of doloniitic or magnesian limestone presenting several varieties of texture. About Hamilton and Dundas, with other rooks, ferruginous shales and beds of red and grey sandstones are seen At Toronto, our rock-masses consist of layers of gravel and clay, overlying grey and greenish sandstone-shales. Near Collingwood, and again at Whitby, we observe dark-brown, highly-bituminous shales, containing the impressions of trilobites and linguko (see Part TV), often in great numbers. At Kingston, wo meet with limestone rocks differing from those of the Niagara district, and giving place, as we pro- ceed north and east of the city, to beds of crystalline rock of gmuitic as^ectj^^eologically known , as Gueiaa, Some of the '' Thousand Islands" consist of very ancient sandstone resting on gnei.ss. At Montreal, with beds of limestone, &c., we see, in the picturesque Mountain, a dark, massive or unstratified rock, a variety of the Trap- pcan series, more or less closely allied to the lavas of volcanic regions; and rocks of a similar kind occur largely on the north shore of Lake Huron, and around Lake Superior, as well as in the Eastern Townships and other parts of Canada. These examples are suiTicient to shew the diversity which prevails with regard to the rock-mattors of comparatively neighbouring locali- ties. But if we look, not to the mineral characters of rock.s, but to tlicir general conditions of occurrence, by which their respective origins or modes of formation are indicated, we may refer them to two leading groups or sub-divisions, connected by an intermediate group, as in the following scheme : SedimentaryRocks — or Ordinary Stratilicd-Formations. A 3 jMetamori'iiic Rocks— or Stratified Crystalline-Formations. K rui'tive or Unstratified Rock s. Sedimentary strata, comprising ordinary sandstones, limestones, &c., '\''i ' .«! '. t; 152 MINERALS AND GKOLOGY OF CANADA. consist of detrital or other materials, collected, and arranged in more or less regular layers, by the action of water, as described below. Metamorphic strata are regarded as consisting wholly or in great part of sedimentary deposits that have been altered or rendered crystalline by heat or chemical agencies. Eruptive rocks are known in many instances to have cooled down from a state of fusion, and are thought in others to have been consolidated from a plastic condition due to aqueo-igneous agencies. They have been formed, or have been brought into this condition, beneath, or deeply within, the Earth's crust, and have been forced upwards from time to time through fissures in the overlying rocks. In each of these divisions — Sedimentary, 3Ietanior- phic, and Eruptive — the included rocks belong to various periods of formation. II. SEDIMENTARY R0CK3. The rocks of this division make up by far the greater portion of the Earth's surface. Having been formed by the agency of water, they nre often called Aqueous liocks. They consist for the greater part of muddy, sandy, and other detrital sediments, collected by the mecha- nical action of water, and subsequently consolidated by natural pro- cesses, as described a few pages further on. Various limestones, how- ever, and certain other rock matters of this division, have been deposited from waters in which their materials were chemic:illy dissolved. i'U«.AAvVc.(t.\jA '-'" A *^ . These sedimentary or aqueous rocks are characterized essentially by occurring in beds or strata; secondly, by exhibiting in many instances, a more or less clearly-m arked detrital or sedimentary structure; and thirdly, by often containing or ganic remains. The latter, comprising shells, bones, leaf-impressions, &c. (see Part IV), are the fossilized parts of animals and plants which lived upon the Earth, or in its waters, during the periods in which these rocks were under process of formation, as described below. The sedimentary rocks may be conveniently discussed under the following heads : (1) Comjwsition or mineral characters ; (2) Mo'le s offormation ; (3) SuhscQuent cJianQesjind ejects jlKQduQeti.li^^ uance of this inijuiry, consequently, we have to consider, first, tho origin or derivation of the sediments of which these rocks are made up; and, secondly, the processes by which the consolidation , of the sediments into rock, properly so-called, was efTectcd. I The sediments of which these rocks originally consisted, were derived | '5"i'l mi 150 MINEIJAI,.S AXD GEOLOGY OF CANADA. f ii i .',i; ^,-ii.s;;; I from prcviously-csistiiij; rocks, by decomposing atmospheric ngcncios — rain, frost, and so forth; by the action of streams and rivers on their beds; and by the destructive action of the waves and breakers of the sea. A dim (jf. JJis,^ALm o^ilicrc . — All rocks, even the moi^t solid, are con- stantly undergoing dccompo.'-itiun and decay. The exposed face of a rock of any kind, for example, soon chanj^cs colour, and becomes in general niorc porous than the other portions of the ruck. This tllect is technically termed "weathering." Its action gives rise to the pro- duction of soils, and frequently causes the fossils contained in the rock to stand out in reliefj these bodies being in many ca.-«es less easily destructible than the mass of the rock itself. Every shower of raiu that falls, takes part in this docompo.'«ing or disintegrating action, and carries ofl* ."something, in solution or suspension, to lower levels — id est, into streams, lakes, and seas. lj(), st , and, in certain localities, carbonic acid and other g^asos issuing through crevices in the rocks, assist this destructive process. Bain, acting on loosely coherent matter.s, is known in many districts to have excavated channels of considerable extent. These may become in course of lime more or loss permanent water courses, and the vv'ork of excavation be thus continuously carried on. -dSiilULlif Streams andRlcers. — The action of streams and rivers, in wearing their channels, is both chemical and mechanical. Calcareous river-beds arc wasted bit by bit by the ^issolvin^ power of the water, especially during the autumnal season, when dead leaves and other decaying vegetable mattersyicld the water a large supply of carbonic acid; On the other hand, u mechanical waste is also very generally taking place to a greater or less extent : and thus numerous rivers are continually cutting back their beds, and forming ravines. The Fulls of the Niagara lliver have in this manner gradually receded from the face of the escarpment near Queenston to their present site; and there is scarcely a river, or small stream indeed, in any part of Canada, that docs not exhibit indications of having occupied at one period a wider bed and higher level than at present. This erosive power of rivers has j probably been assisted in many iiistanccs by a gradual elevation of tUe surrounding land. Some of the grandest examples of river erosion are exhibited by the canons of the Colorado and other streams west of the llocky Mountains. In some of these remarkable ravines, the stream SEDIMENTARY HOCKS. 157 has cxcavntod i^s channel, within ahnost perpendicular walls of liuie- stotic and other rock, to a depth of a thousand feet or moro. The uuiount of d etrital. maste rs .MtUC.tiflWn, b^ sogie nivyra to tho sea, is cxcccdincly abundant. This is well shown by the formation of deltas. Tho delta of tho Mississippi on this continent, for example, like all other deltas, h derived essentially iVom the sandy and other matters brought down by the fttream. On entering the sea, the velocity of the river is necessarily cheeked, and the sediments are thus thrown down. Much of tho coarser matter is indeed deposited on tho bed of the river itself, raising this, and compelling the Ibrmation of artilicial bunks, or levees, to prevent inundations. Finally, as" a well-known illui-tration of the immense amount of sedimentary matters borne sea- wards by certain rivers, the case of the Ganges, as described so fully by Sir Charles Lyell, in his "Principles of Geology," may bo hero cited. That river, it lias been demonstrated by actual observation and experiment, conveys annually to the sea an amount of matter that would outweigh sixty solid pyramids of granite, supposing each, like the largest of the Egyptian pyramids, lo*cover eleven acres at its base, arid to .>-tand 500 feet in height. The delta of the Ganges, composed of nmd, i^'ce., thus brought down by the river, extends for 200 miles along the coast, and commences far inland. A considerable quantity of sediment is also produced by the slow in Alpine and other districts in which these mnveuu-nts ol ", rcmaikable ice-rivers prevail. The glacier of the Aar, which covers v\t\\ its tiibutaries an area of only six or seven square miles, thus furnishes daily, according to some recent researches of M. Collomb, at least IGO cubic yards of sand. This is carried oflF by its terminal p.tre;iin or torrent. Artlon of the Sea [and of large Lodies of Water generally). — Vast iu a:iiuuiit as are the sediments collected by rivers, they are far sur- passed by the accumulation of detrital matters obtained by the waves and breakers of the sea. All who have resided for any length of lime on a;i exposed and rocky coast, must be well aware of the destructive action of the waves. The clifls subjected to this action, gradually | become undermined and hollowed out ; and thus large masses of rock j are brought down by their own weight. These, sooner or later, arc ; broken up, and spread in the form of sediment along the shore, or over j the sea-bottom. On some coasts, the amount of laud destroyed iu this .1 . \^}^^\ \m'. m. t )■■', 1 XI ' ! ■• 15S MINEUALS AND GKOLOOY OF CAXADA. ■■■•i ■.;^ manner almost exceeds Ijclicf.''' On some parts of the cnstcrn shores of Kiiuland, and the opposite or western shores of France, for cxainplo, the sea has thus carried ofT, within the present century, from lil'ty to over two hundred yards of coast — measured backwards from the hhurc- linc — ahjnj^ a distance of many miles. Grave-yards, shewn by maps of no ancient date to have been located at considerable distances iVom the sea, have become exposed upon the cliir-face; and furts erected by the First Napoleon on the Frencli coast, at two hundred metres and upwards from the ed^c of the clifT, now lie in ruins on the beach, or have altogether disappeared. These localities are montioned as beiiii^ more (^specially known to the writer ; but in all parts of the world exanifilos may be found of the same destructive process. In the clay and sandy blull's of our own lakes, as at Searboro' lleiuhts on Lake Ontario, and elsewhere, effects of this kind may be equally studied. Confining our view at present to these results only, it must bo evident to all that an enormous amount of sedimentary matter is annually, or even daily, under process of accumulati(»n. The (juostion then arises as to what becomes of this. The reply is obvious. 'J"ho detrital matter thus obtained, is deposited in lakes or at river-mouths, or along the sea-shore, or over the sea-bed — contributing day by day to the formation of new rocks. In other words, existing rock-masses, worn down by atmospheric agencies, by streams and rivers, and by the action of the sea, supply the materials for other and, of course, newer rock deposits. And thus, when we look upon a piece of stone derived from one of these, we may picture to ourselves the scene of its furma- tion, and, with the poet, hear — " Tlic inoaiiiny; of the hoiiiplcss soa, • The soiiml of streams tliat swift or slow Draw down ^Eoniaa hills, and sow Tiie dust of continents to be — " for truly, is it the dust of new continents that is thus being deposited, atom by atom, by these slow but continued processes. ]2c2}^sitioii of Scilimcnts. — AH sediments diffused through deep or quiet water, arrange themselves, under general conditions, in horizontal * It Wdulil obviously be out of iilace in an Es.say like the present, to enlarge on tliis ])oiut. The icailcr unfamiliar with geological details of this eharacter, should consult, more csjie ciiilly, Lyeli's I'tinciplcs of Ccohir/ij, and also the CuufS EU'ncHtuirc of the late Alridu d'Orbigiiy. S i: I) I M F.NTA n Y r.oc ICS, ir)t) or nearly horizontal beds: the latter, if dopositcJ on _t:ontly-sl(ipitir;| shores, rrofossor II. D. Kogers, in his Kcport on the C oology of Pennsylvania, contests to some extent this usually-rccciveil view, and maintains that certain inclined strata of mechanical formation were originally of inclined deposition. This may be true undiT local or exceptional, but certainly not under general, conditions. (See proofs, further on.) AVhere, however, sands and gravels arc thrown down by currents and running streams, an oblique arrangement commoidy t ikes place; but this is more or less confined to the subordinate layers of which the larmier beds consist, as shewn in the annexed fiu'ure. The inclined layers have sometimes dillorent degrees of inclination, and even dip (in dil- Ar^ <^,? ^^f^ ferent beds of the same strata) in opiiosite n=S!J':^::iIIZ^^-i^^^'-^~^— directions, indicating chaii'res in the tidal iY'^'^'^'-"^->?''-<>'^^^-'-^>^'-'^ or other currents by which they were thrown ^^•>^^■ ^v"- >: -^»^:'>'sy>^o ' >-- \ n down. Inis inclined arrangement is term- — ^ ed '• false bedding," or ''oblique stratidca- - ''"-'^'• tion." It may be scon in some of the ancient, and also in some of the more modern deposits of this continent, as in the ('hazy Sandstone of the south shore of Lake Superior, and in the Drift gravels of many parts of Canada. C(m soli(ht(ion of Si:-', in their normal positions of growth, below low-water mark; wliil.-t in neighbouring localities no change of level appears to have taken place. Besides which, without extending these iii'juiries further, we know that many fossiliferous strata are hundreds, and even thousands, of feet above the present sea-level. On tho top of the Colliugwood escarp- 1 ment, for example, we find strata containing marine fossils at an eleva- tion of over 1.500 feet above the sea; and on the Montreal mountain, shells of existing species occur at an elevation of about 500 feet. Ilenco, if these strata had been left dry land by the sinking of the oceanic waters io which they were deposited, an immense body of water, extending over the whole globe, must in some unaccountable luaauer have been caused wholly to disappear. It is therefore now uaivcrsally admitted, that the seditnentary rocks, as a rule, have come r "mil l:-;.'i: I- I • ;, . 162 MINERALS AXD GEOLOGY OF CANADA. '1*^ 'mi '& 4 f into their present positions, not by the sinking and retiring of the sea, but by the actual elevation of the land. Many strata afford proofs of having been elevated and dcpres.sed above and beneath the sea, successively, at different intervals. Many sandstones, for example, exhibit ripple-muiked surfaces, and occasion- ally impressions of reptilian and other tracks, throughout their entire thickness. This indicates plainly that they were formed slowly in [shallow water, and that they were left dry, or nearly so, between the tides. And it indicates, further, that the shore on which they were deposited layer by layer, was undergoing a slow and continual move- ment of depression : otherwise the process of formation would neces?a- frily have ceased, and the strata wculd present a thickness of a fcvr I inches only, or of a few feet at most. Al'terwards a period of upheavui I must have commenced, bringing up the rocks to their present level. In certain strata, also, the upright stems of fossil trees occur at various levels; and in some localities, beds containing marine fossils are over- laid by others hulding lacustrine or fre-h-wuter species; and these again b}' others with marine remains. I'inally, to bring this section to a close, we have a striking example of alternations of land-upheaval and depression in the geology of Canada generally. Around Toronto, for /example, we have certain strata of old date, belonging to the Lower I Silurian Series, overlaid by deposits of clay, gravel, and sand of the j Drift Epoch, a comparatively modern period. IJctween the two, a vast i break in the geological scale occurs. Many intervening formations, j indicating the lapse of long periods of time, are present in other parts ! of this continent; and hence, it is concluded that the Silurian deposits of this locality, affcr their elcv ion abov^i the sea, remained dry land fur many ages, whilst the intervening groups were under process of deposition in other .'^puts; and tliat, finally, at the commencement of the Drift Period, tlio country was again depressed beneath the ocean, and covered v,-iili th.e clays, sands, and boulders of this latter time. Anollier peiiiu'l of ilevatiuu must tlien have succeeded, bringing up both the Silurian and the Drift furmatiuns to their present levels above the sea. (JO PiJIri'-'h'-ihjLJ — This tonii. in its geological employment, signifies the removal or partial reiuoval v f jockjn asse^ Jb:J]lc,^U;fta£X4jL}llfe The abrading action of the sea, of rivers, A;o., acting under ordinary conditions, has already been alluded to; but the erosive effects of water may be seeu in nunieruus localities in which this action is no longer in force. Sections of the kind shewn in the accompanying m SEDIMENTARY ROCKS. 1G3 '1m nts ind of of 111, 10. th ?n. ios ;r. of 10 l'"l(:. 85. figure, for instance, arc met with almost everywhere, producing undu- ^ _g lating or rolling countries. Here it is evident that the strata wore - once continuous ' in the space be- tween .1 and 7>. Valleys which thus result from the removal of strata, are termed '' vallevs of denudation." Iconic of these valleys arc many miles in breadth. Their excavation, consequently, could not, in the maiuritv of instances, have been effected by atmospheric agencies, or by the streams which may now occupy their lower levels; bat must have been caused essentially by the denuding action of the sea during the uraduul uprise of the land, or during alternate movements of eleva- tion aiid depression, in former geological epochs. If the bed of the ^ Atlantic, for example, were now being raised from beneath, at the rate of a few inches in a year or series of years, an enormous valley would prcilubly be scooped out along the course of the Gulf Stream; and in other places where currents prevail, more or less continuous valleys would also be formed. .Isolated patches of strata have been frequently left by denudation at wide distances from the rocks of which they originally formed part. These are termed " outHej;s." Thus in 'Wes-t tern Canada, small isolated areas, occupied by bituminous shales of the Devonian series, occur in the townships of Bosanquet and AVarwich, and constitute outliers or outlying portions of the Chemung and Vovt. age group (sec Part V), largely developed in the adjoining peninsula of Michigan. The matter carried off in some districts by denudation, must have been of enormous iimount; and when it is considered that mo^^t of the inequalities on the Ivirth's surface — those at lea.-t not immediately connected with jnountain chains — have been thu.^ prit- ducc'l, the part played by the denuding agencies of former periods in pro\i linz the materials of newer strata, may be readily appreciated. (r) Ti/fhii/ vp and Fracfiirinj (■/' StraUi. — \Vliilst some .'■trata retai;! their original horizontalitv. others ;ire '.lu-rc or less inclined, ami some few occupy a vertical and even a recurved position. That strata were net originally inclined, at least to any extent, is proved by the known arrangement of sediments when diifused through water, — these (with I he exceptional cases already pointed out) always depositing thi':'.i:-'clves in horizontal, or nearly horizontal, layers. The same factj 'lil'ii-^'lj V t: 164 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. FitJ. SO. Fid. 87. is shewn also by the frequent presence of rows of pebbles, fossil sliells, &c., parjiUel with the planes of stratification, as in Fij». 80; by the occasional presence of the fossilized stems of trees (evidently in their positions of growth) standing at right angles to these planes (Fig. 87); and sometimes by the presence of stalactites suspended in a similar position. It is evident that these bodies could not have been originally inclined in this manner to the horizon. The inclination of strata is technically tcrrrcd the iVp : and the direction of the up-turned edges, the strike. The d'p and strike are always at right angles. In observing the dip, we have to notice both its angle or amount, and its direction, or bearing — as north, north-c.ist, N 10° E, and so forth. The direction of the dip is of course ascer- tained by the compass; the rate of inclination, by the eye, or by an instrument called a clinometer. The most convenient instrument for both purposes, is a pocket compass, set in a square bed, or attached to a square plate of metal, and furnished, in addition to the needle and graduated limb, with a moveable index. The latter hangs freely from the centre of the compass, and plays round a graduated arc. as in the annexed figure. When the up- per edge of the compass is held horizontally, the index cuts the zero point of the graduated arc. From each side of this point, the graduation is carried up to 90°. If, consequently, the upper edge of the instrument be placed pa' • ■ lei with the inclined beds of any strata, the angle of the dip will be at once shewn by the index. A contrivance of this kind, ex- clusive of the compass, may be easily made out of a semicircle Fu;. So. SEDIMEXTAUY HOCKS 105 of hard wood. Tiie index may consis^t of a piece of twine extending below tlie graduated liaib, and kept taut by a lead plumb or by a stone. In a compass used for taking bearings, it is convenient to mark the ivcift side EAST, and the caU side west, as in the figure. If the ivrrth side of the instrvmnit be then kept always in advance, and the angle bo alway.s taken from the north end of the needle — no matter what the actual direction of the line — the true magnetic bearing is obtained at onco, and without ri.sk of error. The compass is most readily held by passing the thumb through a short strap or loop, or through a hinged ring, attached to the under side of the box. Where very accurate bear- ings are required, sights may bo used, the instrument being fixed on a support; or a prismatic compass may be more conveniently empktycd. AV'hcn .strata dip in two directions, as at A^ in Fig. 89, the line along the culminating point of the strata is termed an Anticlinal or Anti- dinal Axis ; and the line from which the strata rise in opposite direc- tions, as at S in the figure, is called a S> f»^fiif.iil or Synclinal Axis. Synclinals when of a certain magnitude, constitute " Vfillc ys of uudu - latioc," Anticlinals are also often hollowed out by denudation, forming ! valleys or troughs called " yalle ys of _gJfiia.tiQOi'' as shewn at E in Fig. l 89. The term "elevation" applies here, it should be ob.served, to the 1 raised strata, and not to the actual position of the valley, as many of ^ these so-called valleys of elevation lie in the beds of rivers, or occupy i compavatively low ground. The River Ilumber near Toronto, for ex-| ample, flows at the lower part of its course over a denuded anticlinal of; this character.* Finally, it may be observed, that when strata lie in paral-^ lei beds (as in Figs. 85 and 89), the stratification is said to be conjf'onn\ S Fio. 8'.». * rnifi'ssor Uo'lX.'rt Di'll in his llciiort on the Manitouliii IsiiuiUn, has pointod out the •11 I,, § S li IP L' ii m ii '■^'Ii4it occurrence : — 170 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CAXAF/A. -r- I '^1 Gneiss :— This rock is made up normally of three minerals— c^uattZr feldspar, and mica : the two latter being generally the common potash species, orthoclaso and muscovite (See Part I). In coarsely crystalline varieties of the rock, these minerals are easily recognized. The feld- spar is usually light grey, or red, and present in distinctly cleavable grains or masses; the mica in leafy masses or small scales of a silvery white, brown, or black colour; and the quarta in colourless vitreous grains. The stri ped or banded aspect of .tbe JPgk generally sci-ves to distinguish it, in hand specimens, from granite ; and when seen in Nature, its stratified structure is in most cases very apparent. Vast beds of gneiss, and strata of gneissoid rock in which the cnniponent minerals are more or less indistinct, occur throughout the wide area occupied by the Laurentian rocks of the more northern regions of Canada (See Part V), and also here and there, in the less ancient metamorphic district south of the St. Lawrence. Most of the boulders, scattered so abundantly over the surface of Canada, consist of micaceous gneiss, or of the hornblendic variety described below. In some localities the mica of ordinary gneiss is partially replaced by scales of graphite. S^/enitJc OT__IIornblendic Gneiss j — This rock only differs from ordinary gneiss by containing hornblende in place of mica ; but the two rocks frequently merge into one another, both hornblende and mica being present in certain varieties. Normally, the hornblendic variety of gneiss is composed of red or grey feldspar, with quartz, and black or green hornblende. The three minerals are sometimes very distinct; but in other cases they are intimately blended, so as to form a dark green rock, which passes, by the gradual diminution of the quartz, into hornblende-slate or amphibolite. Syenitic gneiss occurs abundantly, with ordinary or micaceous gneiss, in the Laurentian districts of Canada (See Part V). Mica__Slate : — This is a foliated or schistose rock, composed essen- tially of quartz and mica. It is generally of a grey, greyish-green, or silvery-white colour ; but is sometimes black and highly lustrous from the presence of intermixed graphite, as in many parts of the " Eastern Townships" of Quebec. It passes into clay-slate, and also into line- grained gneiss and other rocks of the metamorphic series. Mica-slate occurs here and there throughout the Laurentian area of Canada, and in the altered districts south of the St. Lawrence (See Part V) ; but characteristic examples are rare — the rocks in question being rather micaceous slates than mica-slate as commonlv defined. MF.T.VMORnilC ROCKS. 171 Anorthosite or I'\lhpar-Rock : — This rock, to wliicli the term " anorthositc" was first applied by Dr. Stcrry Hunt, is composed essen- tially of lime or soda feldspar, or of a mixture of various Triclinic feldspars, species distinguished fronj the common potash typo Ortho- clase, by the obrKjuc meeting of all their cleavage planes, and very generally also by the presence of a delicate striation on some of these planes. The colour of fcldspathic rocks of this kind is mostly some shade of grey, greenish-white, or lavender-blue ; but some arc pale red or yellowish-white ; and the planes of cleavage occasionally exhibit the green or greenish-blue reflected tints characteristic of Labradorite. All become opaque-white by weathering. The stratified structure is often more or less obscure. Fcldspathic rocks of this character occur largely in the upper part of the Laurentian series (forming the division lately separated under the name of the Labrador Formation) in the counties of Argeutcuil, Terrebonne, and Montmorency, in the Province of Quebec. Dr. Stcrry Hunt has indicated the occurrence of beds of similar composition in the township of Potton, among the less ancient metaniorphic strata south of the St. Lawrence. Ili/ljcr!te or Jh/persthene-Iiock : — This is simply a variety of feld- spar rock containing laminar or foliated masses of bronze-coloured or dark-green hypersthene. Examples occur at Chateau Richer in jMont- luorcncy County, and elsewhere, among the anorthosites described above, Purqxcn'dc or Avcjite-RocJc : — This rock, of subordinate occurrence, consists at times of almost pure augite or pyroxene, but in general it forms a granular compound of augite and some kind of feldspar, more or loss intermixed with carbonate of lime. Frequently also it contains chlorite, with grains of magnetic iron ore and other minerals. The normal colour is dark green. Examples occur here and there in con- nection with the beds of crystalline limestone and iron ores of the Laurentian Formation, as at Calumet Falls on the Ottawa, and parts of 3Iadoc and ]Marmora. In many cases pyroxenite cannot be distin- guished from liornblende rock ; and it closely resembles in general character and composition many eruptive masses and dykes belonging to the trappean series. Amphlholite or Jlornhlende Rock: — This metamorphic product is Bometimes described as diorite, but the latter terra is properly restricted to eruptive greenstones of similar composition. Hornblende Kock is !!^!g! W m m 1 I m 172 MINERALS AND GEoI.OGV ol" CANADA. composed normally of a mixture of hovriblende nnj .soJii-foMspar, but at times it consists of almost pure liornblenJe. Many varieties are also more or less calcareous, and in some, both mica and qunrtz arc occa- sionally present. These pass into sycnitic L'neiss. Tlie to.xtuio of the rock is compact, granular, fibrous, or slaty. The slaty varieties arc commonly known as Hornblende Scbist, and the fibrous as Actynolite llock or Schist. Examples occur in some abundance among the Lau- rent iun strata of Marmora, Madoc, l']lzcvir, lilytbfield, and throujrhout the Laurentian country troncrally between the Ottawa and J^akc Huron, also at various places on Lake Suf i:'ior, as at l*oint-aux-]Mincs, Cumlals River, and elsewhere. Ilcjrnblendic rocks and slates form jiart also of the altered Silurian deposits of J>eauce and other districts of the Eastern Townships. W'olliiHtonitc-Ruck : — The mineral Wollastonitc (No. (M, l*art 11), mixed with feldspar, pyroxene, quartz, calcite, and other minerals, occasionally forms beds in the Laurentian series, mostly in association with crystalline limestone. Where the Wollastonitc [)rcdominatcs, the rock presents a granular-fibrous structure, and is white or pale-grccnish in colour. Examples occur in the counties of Argenteuil,Terrebot\nc, Leeds, &c., but arc comparatively unimportant. J'Jpvlote-llock : — This i? also of subordinate occurrence. It consists of a mixture of quartz and cpidote, and presents both granular and compact varieties, mostly of a pule-green colour. ]v\amples have been rceo rtiized amongst the altered strata of the Shickshock ^fountains of Gaspc, and others occur in Melbourne and other parts of the Eastern Townships. Garnet-Roch : — Subordinate beds of this rock, composed essentially of granular red garnets and crystalline quariz, occur among the Lau- rentian strata of St. Jerome on the Ottawa, and Ivawdon in .Montcalm county; and also, according to Mr. llichardson, in association wiih micaceous schists at IJaic St. Paul. Dr. Sterry Hunt has likewise made known the occurrence of beds of more or less compact and light- coloured garnet amongst the metamorphic series of the Eastern Town- ships. See under "Garnet," in Part IL Quartr.ife or Quartz Rock : — This rock consists normally of pure crystalline quartz, either colourless, or of pale shades of red, yellow, green, or smoky-brown. Coarse and more or less opaque varieties, passing into quartzose sandstone and chert, exhibit various colours, m MirrAMOHniic hocks. 173 Ml n liowovor; and t1»o rock is often green and grocnl-li-f^roy from admix- ture wiUi chlorite. Some cherts arc bhick from the presence of anthta- citic niattor. Enormous bod.s of (juartzito, frequently very pnri>, occur in tin; Luirentian series of strata, as on the Kivcr Tloucre in the county of Arii;ciitouil, and elsewhere; and these rocks are still more charac- teristic of the Iluronian strata. Laurcntian fjuartzose conLilomorates occur iu the towni^hips of Bastard and Kawdon ; and a very rcmurkablo conuflomorato of the Iluronian scries, consistini:; of pebbles of culor- less ([yartz and red jasper in a colorless, trrccnish-white, or palc-ycl- lowi.sh quart/ose base, is met with in the IJruco Klines district. Tlusc crystalliiio conjrlomeratcs show unmistakably the mctamorphic orii;iii of tlie rne-k. l>ods of chert and jaspery quartz occur also in the higher mctamorphic series of Lake Superior, and in the altered region south of the St. I/iwronce (see Part V). SI/iccoiiK S/ing by insensible transitions into onlinary unaltered shales on the one hand, and into siliceous and micaceous slates on the ntlier. Many argillites contain small straw-like crystals of chiastolitc or anda- lusite, as described under that mineral in l*art II. Dark and more or less lustrous varieties arc common in Iluronian strata, and are still more abundant in the higher mctamorphic series of Thunder ]]ay, Lake Sui>crior (see Part V), and in various parts of the altered region south of the St. Lawrence. In the latter district, as in IJeaucc and eLsewhore, many of the green, purplish, and red argillites present a nacreous talci;se aspect, but, as shewn by Dr. Hunt's analyses, they contain little or no magnesia. '# ,,.,!■ 'III 'M 174 MIN'i:i{.\r.S AND GEOLDOY OF CANADA. tv'M Cldorltc Slate : — Thin uictamorphic rock in its normal aspect is a compound of chlorite and quartz, pofscssinf? a distinct green colour and a foliated or schistose structure. In Canada, chlorite slates, pass- ing into chluritit! strata in which the typical character of the rock is more or less obscnred, occur sparingly in the Laurcntinn series, in connection with the iron ores of Madoc and Marmora. A bed of a dark green colour, filled with numerous small octahedrons of mtigiietio iron ore, occurs likewise in the township of CJahvay. Other examples, but of snniewluit obscure character, form part of the lluroniau rock Borios, as at Tiic,>. aloii pctint, and elsewhere. In the altered Silurian region south of the St. Lawrence, chloritic slates on the other hand arc especially abundant, and most of the copper ores of the Eastern Townships are associated with these strata. Other beds ef)ntaiii inter- calated scales and layers of specular or micaceous iron ore; and in the Townships of I'olton and IJroughton, more or less con)pact or sub- foliated beds of greenish-grey chlorite form workable beds of good quality. (See I'art It, No. SO.) StcKt'ifc or Sifo)if-Ror.k: — This rock consists of granular or slaty talc, frequently intermingled with carbonate of lime or dolomite. It usually presents a greyish or greenish-white colour, and when pure is very sectile. A bed of somewhat inferior quality, from intermixture with calcareous matter, occurs in the Laurentian strata of Elzevir. The closely related substance known as Pyrallolite (see under No. 82, in Part II), also forms beds among the Laurentian series of strata, as in Grenville, Ilamsay, and elsewhere. IMany deposits of more or less compact soapstonc occur likewise in the higher metamorphic scries of the Eastern Townships, as in various parts of IJolton more especially, and also in Potton, Sutton, Stanslead, Leeds, and Vaudreuil. OpliioUtc or Serpentine Hock : — This rock consists essentially of the hydrated magnesian silicate, Serpentine, described fully in Part II. It usually presents a green, brown, grcenish-groy, or pale yellowish colour, often veined or mottled with lines and patches of darker or lighter green, red, or reddish brown ; and it forms more or less com- pact beds, frequently of great extent and thickness. Subordinate examples occur in the Laurentian strata of many localities, mostly associated with bands of crystalline limestone, as in the township of Grenville, and at Calumet Island on the Ottawa ; also in Burgess, and elsewhere; but the altered Silurian districts south of the St. Lawrence Mf.TAMOUnnC nOCKH. 175 contain tlic most abundant and important deposits of scrpentino rock, as at 3Iount Albert in Gaspo, and in the Eastern Town^hip.s of Mel- bourne, Oxford, Hruuj^hton, Holton, Hum, and Clarthby, more cspooiiilly. The serpentine of these districts is very commonly associated with beds of chrumie iron ore; and many examples arc intermixed with crystal- lino ealcite or dolomite, forming ornamental '• serpentine-niurblos " of green, chocolate-brown and other colours. Crv4ullii\r LiDH'^-ifniifi - — This rock consists of car))onato of lime in a crystalline or semi-crystallino condition. Tt is usually white, li^ht grey, or pale reddish, in colour, and is sometimes veined or spotted with yellow, green, blueish-groy and other tints. It presents must commonly a line or coarse granular structure, much ii'scmbling that of loaf sugar, whence the name " saccharoidal limestone" by which this rock is often known; but some varieties are more or less compact; and others present in places a fibrous aspect, from intermingled tremulitc or white hornblende. The finer kinds form the ordinary marbles of commerce. In Canada, large beds of crystalline limestone, often con- taining scales of graphite, and crystals of apatite, pyroxene, aniphibole, mica and other minerals, occur among the Laurentian and Huronian series of strata in numerous localities (See Part V) ; and also among tlic altered Silurian strata south of the St. Lawrence. In the latter district, as already mentioned, some of these limestone beds are inter- mixed with green and other coloured serpentines, but many of the so-called serpentine marbles from the Eastern Townships are mixtures of serpentine with dolomite or magnesite. Crj/shiUinc Dolomite : — This rock resembles crystalline limestone in t colour and other external characters, but consists of carbonate of lime and carbonate of magnesia, and only effervesces when tested with heated acid (See Part I). It occurs, here and there, au\ongst the Laurentian strata, as at Lake Mazinaw in the County of Froiitenae, and elsewhere. Also among the altered Silurian strata of the lOastern Townships, in which district beds of crystalline ma'jnesitc (Sec Part II), mixed with mica, serpentine, c*^'c., are likewise present. These magnesian beds, as pointed out by Dr. Sterry Hunt, assume a yellowish or dull-red colour by weathering. Crystalline Iron Ores: — Vast beds of Magnetic, Specular and Titan- iferous Iron Ore, occur locally amongst the rocks of the Laurentian series, and should thus be referred to in connexion with the metamor- 3' I'i "I ' '-'i i.-v; f > ■'J' ''i- ■■■: ''/' * I- . -.;:V;:.:i. . ^ - f 170 MIN'KRALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. phic lorinationi5 of ("Jatmda. The altered strata of tlic nictamoviiliic rcu;iiin south of the St. Lawrence arc also especially characterised in certain locaHtics by the presence of chromic iron ore in rock masses; r.'Ki many of the chloritic and other schistose strata of this re^'ion pass !f .ally into "iron slates" or ''specular schists," by the addition of micaceous hematite or specular ore. The distinctive characters of these Iron Ores, and their principal localities, are uivcu in Part II. Their izcoloq-ical relations come under review in I'art \ . IV. EJIUI'TIVE Oil UNSTRATIFIED llOCKS. The rocks of this division are commonly known as lyneons Jioclcs. ^\^ith rcsa'-Ji to the igneous formation of certain members of the Erup- tive Sc'ics, there can be no possible doubt; but the actual mode of formal ion of other rocks of this group is involved in grert obscurity. I All agree hovv'cver in being essentially devoid of true planes of strati- jfication. They occur either in irregular unstratified masses; or in s sheets or apparent beds, intercalated amongst, or overflowing, stratified deposits^ or in the form of more or less tortuous veins ; or in brotider ,jmid_ simpler veins, technically known as J' ut in many instances no alterations of this kind have followed the intrusion of a vein or mass of unstrutillod rock aniungst sedimentary deposits. Ileuce it is clear that although the intrusive rock must have been in a soft or plastic condition, it could not in these cases have been in a molten or intensely heated state. Occa- sionally also, solid granitic masses appear to have been thrust up amongst overlying strata, the intrusion being fullowcd necessarily by signs of great mechanical disturbance. The condition of the (quartz in granite and syenite, is opposed to the view of igneous fusion ; and yet quartz of the same character docs occur sparingly in many trachytes, and uiid(!r conditions not favourable to the ide^^i that it may have been subsequeDtly introduced by a(iueous agencies. Tiirough these tra- chytes, moreover, there is a gradual passage into actual lavas or known fusion-products; whilst, on the other iiand, many syenites (containing free quartz) merge gradually into greenstone and basalt, products inti- mately related to augitic lavas. It is, of cour5e, impossible to say in what form a rock belonging now to the eruptive class may actually have originated. It may have been produced from an earlier formed igneous or crystalline mass, or from a sedimentary deposit buried deeply under overlying beds. The endngcnous or subterranean agen- cies, whatever they n)ay have been, that rendered granite and syenite plastic and crystalline, also produced the crystalline texture and other related characters of gneiss, mica schist, hornblende rock, and other members of the metamorphic scries. It is now very generally as-umed' that whilst ordinary lavas and most trachytes and trappoan or basaltic) rocks have solidified from a molten condition, other r.ieks of this eluss the granites and syenites more especially, have been rendered plastic ' >' ' 178 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. j and crystalline by " hydro-igneous" agency. Those rocks, in othei' words, arc thought to have undergone a kind of aqueous fusion and subsequent crystallization, the water, originally present in them, having been retained for a time by the pressure exerted on the plastic mass at great depths. But this view, it must be understood, is entirely hypo- thetical, and in many respects is far from satisfactory. All that is really known may be thus expressed : — Two sets of forces are con- cerned, cither alone or conjointly, in the production of rock masses generally. One, entirely external, or due essentially to the action of the atmosphere and waters on the surface of the earth-mass, produces the sedimentary or stratified rocks proper. The other forces, of internal or subterranean origin, produce the unstratitied rocks, as we now see these latter, and lead to the crystallization and metamorphism of sedi- mentary strata brought within their influence. But whether granites, syenites, traps, and trachytes, be igneous or non-igneous rocks, they are evidently related products, and members of a common class. These rocks are arranged by Sir Charl gg Lyej l in two broad divisions : Volcanic and Plutonic rocks; but it is impossible to draw a distinct line of demarcation between the two. Granite and syenite, for example, are placed in the Plutonic scries, and tr^gjjij;^ ^. yreenst9nc , bas alt. Arc, in the Volcanic division; but certain granitic trachytes connect the granites with the volcanic rocks; and in like manner, certain green^" stones merge on the one hand into syenite, and on the other (the dis- tinction between augite and hornblende, except in a purely miaeralo- gical or crystallographic point of view, being now essentially broken down) they pass into augitic lavas. This equally- effects the sub-divi- sion into Volcanic, Trappean, and Granitic rocks, adopted by o'.her observers. I would therefore propose, as an arrangement of cor.veni- ence, the distribution of the Eruptive rocks into the following groups : , — 1. Granites; 2. Serpentines; 3. Traps and Greenstones; 4. Tra I chytcs ; 5. Obsidians ; G. Lavas. ■ I. [i i['>t''{ ' 't'< i ■' — The rocks of this group possess, normally, a eryst: 1- iiiie :i«pect and strongly-marked granular structure, the term granite being derived from the latter character. They are also especially I characterized by the presence of free silica or ([uartz in a cry.stallinc condition. Thoy occur occasionally in broad straight veins or dykes, but are most commonly seen in the form of complicated, ramifying veins, or in large irregular masses which have often broken through and EilUrilVE OR ExnoGEXors noc'Ks, 179 in i- ir i- tilted up the surrounding rocks. AVhcre a granite muss lie-; in contact •with another rock, the latter will necessarily be the older formation if it be tilted up or utherwise mechanically affected by the granite, or if it be chemically altered near the points of contact, or if portions of its substance (in a more or less altered state) be enclosed within the granitn mass, or if the granite run into it in the form of veins (Fig. 98)- On the other hand, if the adjacent rock rest in undisturbed position on the surface of the granite, and exhibit no chemical altera- tion, it may gene- rally bo inferred to i-i.;. vs. ii,,. !>i. ? be the more recent of the two (Fig. 94). Granitic veins frequently cross or intersect each other : intersected veins being neces.sarily older than those by which they are intersected. The diagram (Fig. 95) exhibits three veins of different ages. No. 1 is the oldest vein, as it is cut and also displaced or '• faulted" by the other two. No. 3, again, is the most recent of the scries, as it traverses and displaces both No. 1 and No. 2. Granite rocks, by the decomposition of one of their essential components, fold, spar, have become converted in some districts into white or light- coloured clays, largely used, under the name of kaolin, in the manu- facture of porcelain. Granitc.g - ^""'- ^''- F clsites, and Syenites, with cer- tain subordinate varieties, are the only rocks of the group hitherto recogni.scd in Canada. Oranile^) properly so-called, k com posed of thrgq J^^ncrals : quartz, feldspar, and mica. The feldspar is usually the potash species Ortho- clasc fscc No. 57, Part II), but is occasionally represented by the soda species Albitc (Part II, No. 58), or by Oligoclaso (No. 59;. The mica is Lrenerally the common potash species Muscovite (Part II, No. 77), but is sometimes mixed with, or occasionally leplacod by, one of tlio magncsian micas. As a general rule, the quartz, in granite, occurs ill vitreous colourless grains; the feldspar, in red, white, pink, or uccasionally green or grey, lamellar ma.sses, which exhibit .smooth 180 MIN'ERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. i'j/;y///y/'^, or, bettor, ',\^ j^^orpk^ritic fj/ranit6 ox feJ^ite (Fig. 07). The "" "" "" _ imbedded crystals often show the tv.In or \ .^^^i^^^iv /,^^^^'Va!^ compound structure so common in feld- k W IS^y-'^M^Ss^''-- f^ti^ spathic silicates. The term " norphvrv'' %''m^M-^^^^V:wW^W\ (from -orxfopu?), as the name would indi- 1 Vr'; ■ ■ ■ - />^^"M - >r ■ IwVf i '^ii^^ cate, was originally applied to rocks of this ^'"'' '''■ kind in which cither the base or the imbedded crystals presented a deep-red colour, but it is now bestowed conventionally on all rocks containing distinct crystals of feldsp;;r or other minerals. "We have thus porphyritic granites, porphyritic syen- ites, porphyiitic trachytes, porphyruic greenstones (the original por- phyry having been probably one of these latter), porphyritic lavas, &c. Finally, as regards other granite varieties (to many of which special names of uncertain or merely local application liave been uselessly given), it may be observed that the mica of ordinary granite is occa- sionally replaced by talc, giving rise to tnhohc (jranltc (the Pridoglnc of sc;mc authors), or is accompanied at times by hornblende, the rock m ■ ERUPTIVE OR ENDOGEN'OUS ROCKS. 181 in the latter case being known as si/enitic or hornhlendic granite^ When hornblende is wholly or essentiallij substituted for mica, a sijenite results. This latter term is restricted however by most German litho- logists to a mixture of orthoclase-feldspar and hornblende, in which free quartz is absent or only accidentally present. ]?y the gradual diminution of quartz, the granites proper pass into granitic trachytes, described below ; and they are represented in the metamorphic series by gneiss and gneissoid rocks generally, into which also they appear locally to merge. ^ Examples of intrusive granite occur in many parts of the largo area occupied by the Laurentian rocks of Canada (sec Part V). Porphy- ritic felsite, in which the base is mostly dull-red or grccnish-black, and the imbedded feldspar crystals red or pink, is seen in connection with a large mass of syenite in the Township of Grenvillo on the Ottawa. This variety, sometimes termed Orthophyre. is scarcely perhaps a true granite, but as it contains free quartz it must be referred convention- ally to the granitic series. A broad dyke or vein of utraphic granite (consisting of quartz and orthoclase-feldspar) is described in the Reports of the Geological Survey as occurring on Allumctte Lake, north of l^ciubroke, and other examples of a similar cliaracfer have been recognized in the neighbouring township of lloss. Veins of both ordinary and quartzo-feldspathic granite, in soiii:^ cases holding crystals of tourmaline or schorl, occur also more or loss abundantly, in St. Jerome, Eseott, Lansdowne, Burgess, Madoc, ^larmora, Galway, and indeed throughout the Laurentian region generally, lying botwoen the Ottawa and Georgian Bay. In Laurentian strata, likewise, on the Ilivcr llonge. east of the (Ottawa, and at Stony Lake in the Township of Dummer or Burleigh, as well as in Bathurst and Burgess, granitic veins containing albitc or soda-feldspar replacing or acconipanying orthoclase, have long been known. TIio opalescent variety of Albite known as Po-isferife (see Part TI, No. 58) comes from a vein of this kind in Bathurst. Other veins and some considerable masses of granite occur on the north and north-east shores of Lake Superior, as in tho vicinity of Michipicoten, at Point-aux-Mincs, and hero and there about Bachewahnung Bay, and elsewhere. A mass of red granite, inferred by Sir William Logan to be of Iluronian ago, is described as having broken through and tilted up Laurentian gneissoid strata south of Lake Pakowagaming on the north shore of Lake Huron ; and gra- 12 182 MINi:UALS AND GEOLOGY OP CANADA. ^iii :>'* nitic dykes and veins occur in the Bruce .Mines District. A (Icsli-red grvinito underlies beds of Trenton limestone in ilie township of Stor- rinj^tun, nurth of King.iton. Finally, intrusive masses und dykes of white nr li,i;ht-coloure'd <:rauite, apparently oi' Uevunian a^e, occur on Luke Menipln'euiagu>4 in the township of 8tanstead, and others in the townships ui' Ilerciurd, Barnston, and JJurlurd, of that district. Similar juaascs have been noticed un Luke St. Francis, Lake Mcguntic, and in the intervening townships. Some of these granitic niasses, as described in the Fievised lleport uf the CJeulugical Survey (1803), cover areas of from six to twelve s(|uare miles. A granite which contains huvnblende in place of mica, is deiined by most gculcigists as S>/c)i.i!i^ but this term, as stated above, is restricted by manj'' German i!tiiulo;j;ibts to a granitic greenstone, or mixture of orth(;chiso and liorublendc (see beluw). Keeping, however, to the general definition, we have in syenite a more or less distinctly granular aggregate of quartz, potash- or soda-feldspar, and hornblende : the feld- spar being usually red or while, and the hornblende green or black. The (juarlz grains are generally less abundant than the other compo- nents; and when tliey Ijccome indistinct, the rock gradually merges into a granitic greenstone or diorito. As in ordinary granite both coarse and fine-grained varieties ot syenite occur. In the latter, the component mineral,-; are blended into a more or less uniform d.irk-green ina.ss, and the rock resembles, and can rarely be distinguished from, an ordinary compact greenstone. From this trappean rock into well- deunt;dline limestone and <;rieiss. Two other series of dykes or eruptive masses occur in connection witli the syenite of this locality. Suuic of these masses consi>ting of u cor.ipact base of petro-silex, or intimate uiixture of quartz and f'clu:-par, with imbedded ciystals of red orthoclase and fragments of irnciss and othcir rocks, traverse the syenite, and henco arc of newer origin ; whilst others, insisting o^ trap or greenstone, are cut off, or interrupted in their course, by the syenite, and nn thrvororc of anterior date. Dykes of syenite also occur, Iierc aiid there, throughout the Laureutian country between the Ottawa and l.;ike Snperior. 2. ScrjJf'ntints : — These rocks are .simply varieties of the hydratcd raagnesian ;/ilicate, Serpentine (Part 11, No. 8o). Most serpentine- rocks occur in bed>, and bjLing eonscipiently to the Melamorphic 8erii.sj h'xt undoubted example.s of eruptive serpentines have been recognized in Tu.'^cany, ('ornwall, and other lncalitics. Tiiese may consist, however, of dykes of altered trap or greenstone. Serpentine- rock iu veins, dykes, or irregular masses, is either gnmular or compact in texture; more or less soft and sectile; and usually of a green, grcenish-yellow, brown, reddish, or yellowish-grey tint, several shades or v;;rieties of colour often occurring together in streaks or patches; but the serpcntinc-rockH of Canadian occurrence l.iolong entirely to the Mctamorphic Scries, and are described cousequently under that division. ''^- ^V»/'^' t^/<(/ C/n en ntoROL : — The rocks of this series present ;i somewhat variable composition, but cdn.^ist ('.■ fdrni of flat tabular masses, restini^ upon hill-tops. 'J'hesc are iiMirely portions of ancient dykes, exposed and isohited by denudation, i^'inally, nioun- tnin-nmsses composed of trappean and p:reensfone rocks arc of Irorjucnt octnrri'iu'c, but these also may bo regarded in most oases as the more ;iit these attempted distinctions arc in maTi}- i/istanees of purely local application ; and in very few cases can tiny be regarded as indicating definite admixtures of ready recognition. Names applied to particular varieties by one author, are applied (|uitc dilferontly by others. The terms melaphyre, porphyrite, diabase, ifec, might be cited as examples. In many cases also, the same rock, if presenting slight difTerences of texture, or if assumed, without any possibility of proving the assumption, to contain augite in one case and hornblende in another, is described under ditferent species. In this manner, fanciful distinctions which have no true fcan- EHUPTivi; f)n rvnor.Eyous iiocKS, 1«7 dfitiori in Niitnro, and wliich c;innot bo ricrorously or (lofitiitoly applied, are attcMiiiitod vainly to bo enniod out in many po-oallcd systojns of litb(>lo'_'y. If minutf cbcniip:i! or niincraloL'ical dllTi-ronccs were ro- gardoil as ossontial. our Canadian varictioa of this j^muji of roclcs miirbt add many names to tho already uscl'^ssly oxtondod list. Tt is not possiblu liDWcvor in tbo present state of the question, nor is it desirable in an elementary wurlc of tliis eharacter, to depart alt'ijrethcr from the beaten trade, l^etaininir therefore .'■'inie of the more '.:enc- rally rceoj^'rnaed names and distini'tions. whilst duly admittin!:» tbe more or le-s arbitrary and uneertain eharacter of \hoT<\ wc u^ny rvfov our Canadian rocl:-< of the Trappean .series to tbc f.dlowin;: varieties : (1) Trap or ['a salt ; (2) l>olerjto or Ciranitoid Trap : (S) Greenstone j orAph;inite; (4) DioritP f'!' Mranih'id rrroenstotic ; (5) pinb.-i:' ' ^ v Chloritit^ Trap. 'JMie-^e varieties, it must be understood, mcrt'e more j or Van into cacli other, so that in many instances n roek mi-rbt be | referred with equal justice to two or more of their ineludcd types. Trap or Biti-iilf may be defined eonventionally as a black, ij;rconish- blaek or dark-!j;rey rock of compact texture, compo.scd of an intimately blended mixture of lime-feldspar (or lime and sodti feldspars), aujzito, maiinetie and titaniferous iron ores, zenlitic silicates, and carbonates of lime and iron. Tn some kinds, the feldsjvir is replaced by ncnh"line ; and olivine, in visible grains of a ;;reen or grec/nish-brown colour, i.s very cenerally present in basaltic ro"ks. These component mincr.als arc deduced by enleulation, it will of course be u!)derstood, from the separate in^rcdie^ts, silica, raaixnesia, lime, &e.. obtained in the analysis of the rock. Altered or weathered varictir.^ of trap are frequently of a dull briek-red or brown colour, the chaniro being caused by th(; hij^her oxidation of the iron. Unaltered basalts are alway.s more or less strongly ni.ajrnetic, easily fusible, and partinlly attacked by acids. Sp. gr. 2.9 to o.l, but occasionally somewhat les.-; from partial altera- tion of the roek. The more common varieties or sub-varieties comprise: — (r/) .Vas^sivc or amorphous trap ; (Jj) Shtly trap ; (r) Columnar and sulj-rolinnnar tra]-) (Fig. 90), the variety to which the term basalt is more generally applied; (r?) Amygdahidal trap (Fig. 98), containing oval ur other shaped cavities uiostly filled with agates, zeolites, calc-spar, green earth, &c., as explained on a preceding page; (r;) Porphyrttic fraj), contain- ing imbedded crystals of albite, augite, or other minerals. Examples I Ml Mil a %^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // 1.0 I.I - iliU iim 12.0 1136 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 ^ 6" ► % <^ //, o> ■■'•'> /y '/ /A Photographic Sciences Corporation ?3 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y I4SB0 (716) 872-4S03 ^ ^^ N> ^, in l'\^. 104, il- lustrate these positions respectively. ^'''•■- ^oi. IMineral veins occur chiefly in mountainous or geologically-disturbed districts; and although present in certain localities among uniiltcrod strat.i, they prevail mostly in mctainorphic regions, especially where these are broken through by eruptive masses and d}kes of granitic or trappean rock. In the J'rovinces of Ontario and Quebec, they occur chiefly in iour districts: — First, in the LaureiUian country lying between the Ottawa and Lake lluron, as, more especially, in the coun- ties of Caileton, Jiiuiaik, Leeds, Fionteiiac, Hastings, Peterborough, and Victoria j secondly, in the allied Iluronian strata on the north shore of Lake Huron ; thirdly, in more recent mctumorphic rocks on the shores and islands of Lake Superior; and fourthly, in metauiorphic strata of apparently tho same general age as those of Lake Superior, in tho Eastern Townbhips and adjoining region south of the St. Law- rence. These districts, as regards their geological relations, are described in I'art V. In reloicnce to form and geological position, four ditforcut kinds of veins have been rccogni/.ed. Those comprise : — (I) Jndeiiendcut or. ordinurjj ct iiis, consisting of well-defined fissures which pass through rocks of various kinds, and goacrally hold a more or less straight course, whilst extending at the same time to great depths. In mining localities, several veins of this kind are commonly found to run in the same direction at greater or less distances apart. If crossed by another series of veins, tho latter arc usually found to carry ores of a dilferent nature. The course of these veins may often be traced by treuch-likc depressions in the ground, arising from the atmospheric decomposition to which the surface of the vein has been subjected ; but in some cases, especially when the gangue consists essentially of quartz, the vein has weathered to a less extcut than tho surrounding rocks, and thus stands ^".NKiur, VKf.VS ^^P in rid^-cJitn r. ... i ^^5 -- «.■ u.,„„„, .;., Tci': ,^,:"r" ■•"•--.- "-a i L~^ ^ uvo. (4) ^,,.y^ . i"c cuiitact country" K"'--, a„ci .iiffor u»a.l,j. ir ," j,,, ''^ "" ^"""""■■b' «1I.J with work d>..oopt,vo vciua „f t^i^ „,,_,., ,^ j"l"itl.s Iiav,. fcoen „„„Io to mineral vein.s iutv ..I^^ u ' ■in these h'lo r, • ^ n'^i*i>s», ajs iul]ov\',s • ^I^ /> only parlially oeoupioj i. ^ j,, ' '';^ ""^ ''■•'™'-'-. " -l,«o v„i„,, "■ruughou. the vein , „„„Z "' " ™' "","-. opon .■,«<. oc-c^ni"^ ""'; „„■„, »ro c.p„ei„„y n„,uor„„s. (3 1 " / / ' ' ""'"^''^■^•^- "'' fr"' mZ "■* Jistinet ba„J» o^ zo„ foi^V^f^!' 'T''''^" "■- SH^J or H od 7 wall. oorro.,p„„,Ji„„ i„ " , r t "l T"'"'' "'= -"J^ «'' ' - '^ outer b„.U., er these .,„■ "'!!!■ ■-'"'" """e^^-^.- %..,.. The 'J^ '^I1.S may eoisist, fer ezampi,. wo ::;' f "-'"«"' «--"■ 'i. "y •""« blonJo, quartz, calc.nar S;lo"a,„r„thers„b«tanc;,i : ; " banded aJtornatious. Vci„s „ « 45S:^,^:.;tr-o..pCa-are.-„^ ""^.ples of Caaadiaa oeo„C,t d ZZT'^ t"' ^^'"•''"M oo-ot appear to have boeareeorded,' liii III! ij 196 MINERALS AND OKOLOOY OP CANADA. / ^ ! (5) Breeciated Vein s. These form the great majority of mineral veins ' hitherto observed in Catiada. The gangue contains angular and other 'fragments of vrall-rook, with the metalliferous portions of the vein arranged between and around these, occasionally in more or less dis- tinct layers. The rock-fragments are often traversed by thin strings I of ore. When of largo size, they form the so-called " horses " of the 1 miners. These horses sometimes causo a good deal of trouble by com- ing in a direct line with the shaft, as happened at the Shui inh vein on Thunder Bny, Lake Superior, and in one of the shafts at the Ives Mine in the Eastern Township of Bolton. Great obscurity prevails with regard to the processes by which vein-fis- sures have been filled with their contents; but, in the majority of c:i.scs, several distinct agencies, acting both simultaneously and consecutively, have evidently been concerned in the repletion of these fissures. Some observers have sought to maintain that all the various matters found in veins were originally diffused through the mass of the surrounding rocks, and were drawp into the fissures by oloctric.il fiurrot^t^^s p naainrr through ^these : alth(nigh they fail to explain how currents of this kind could possibly circc't tho operation in question. Others assume the mineral matters, in veins, to have been extracted from the surrounding rocks by the solvent p nwor of wiitor^ and thus to have been gradually carried into the fissure. Many of the sparry, and some of the metallic mat- ters, occurring in veins, maVy have been derived in this manner from the surrounding rocks ; but the supposed presence of diffused metallic matters in these rocks, considered generally, is, it must be remembered, I entirely hypothetical, and open to many objections. On the other I hand, we have undeniable proofs in volcanic and other districts, that metallic matters, in many respects similar to those found in veins, I or capable of being converted into such by known chemical changes and decompositions, are actually brought from deeply-seated sources, both as sublimed products, and in solution iu thermal springs. The {Weight of evidence, therefore, leads to the inference that the contents of veins generally, are due to eq ^lpp^'^'ipiig pptinn rather than to surface forces ; or that veins, in other words, have been filled essentially from below. In this connection, it must be remembered that many veins penetrate to unknown depths, and have yielded sulphurized or other ores, without being yet exhausted, to the amount of thousands of tons. Whilst many products found in veins are probably due in part or wholly to sublimation, the great majority of these products would certainly MINERAL VEIN'S. 197 nppcar to havo bcca deposited from solution : not necessarily in the condition in which they now appear, but in some other form from which their present condition has been derived. According to certain theorists, the whole of these bodies have been deposited from aqueous solution, but it is not easy to reconcile facts in all cases with this assumption. Such changes and decompositions as now take place in veins, load to the conversion of many sulphurized ores into sulphates, carbonates, and other oxidized compounds ; but do not bring about, as the ubove hypothesis would require, the conversion of these latter on the large scale into vast bodies of galena, copper pyrites, arsenical pyrites, and other non-osydized ores. But if these ores, now found in such vast quantities in mineral veins, really originated from soluble sulphates, chlorides, &o., the latter must undoubtedly have come from some deeply-seated source; and their conversion into non-oxidized bodies could not have taken place on this enormous scale without the further collaboration of endogenous agencies. Mineral veins are generally opened by shafts and adits, or by both of these methods combined. In the case of veins with considerable underlie, the shafts, or openings from the surface of the ground, are often carried down along th© slope of the vein ; but, in gene- ral, shafts are sunk vertically^ and cross-cuts are carried from the sides of the shaft at regular intervals to the intersection of the vein. Galleries are then driven along the course of the latter at these points, and the sheet of ore lying between each pair of galleries or " drifts" is extracted by a system of step- like excavations, technically Fm. loo. known as "stoping." When a vein is nearly vertical in its position, a shaft may of course be carried down to a great depth upon the sub- stance of the vein itself, and the material thus taken out of the shaft will often pay for the sinking of the latter. Shafts arc usually rect- angular in form, and are not only strongly framed at the sides, at least for a certain depth, but are commonly sub-divided vertically into two o f I li ;1 I 198 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. I \ or more compartments by brattice-work or planking : one of these com- partments being reserved for the pump-rods and also for the buckets or kibbles used for sending up the ore, or bringing it, in technical phraseology, to grass ; and another being fitted with ladders, or with a special lifting apparatus, for the miners. An adit is a horizontal or nearly horizontal gallery driven from the side of sloping or escarped ground, so as to strike the vein at a certain depth from the surface outcrop of the latter. It serves in many cases, especially where it opens on a river bank, or on ground suitable for a tramway, kc, an a convenient roadway for bringing out the ore ; and if at a sufficiently low level it may greatly facilitate the drainage of the mine, and assist in the ventilation of the works. Where two shafts are sunk upon the vein, they should be located, if possible, on high and low ground, respectively, in order to promote ventilation. The ore, when brought to the surface, is usually " cobbed" or hand-dressed by children, and the assorted portions, thus broken up by hammers, are brought into the state of powder by subjection to stamps or crushers. The powder is then agitated with water in long narrow troughs or flat circular tubs called "buddies," the latter kind being furnished with revolving arms or sweeps to which brushes are attached, or it is shaken up with water in "jiggers" or tubs provided with moveable sieves, until the metallic particles by reason of their greater weight collect together, and so become separated more or less thorougLly from the lighter earthy particles or refuse, commonly known as waste slimes or tailings. The dressed or concentrated ore is then ready for the furnace or reducing works. • Veins often cut or cross each other or are cut by eruptive dykes. In this case the intersected vein is very generally faulted or dis- placed. In mining language, a break of this kind in the continu- ity of a vein is commonly termed a "trouble," "heave," or "thrust," or an "upthrov?" or "downthrow" as the case may be. The dis- placement may be very slight, or it may exceed maiiy fathoms ; and fig. lor. great expense is often incurred in seeking for the displaced portion of Ui:r-AT1VE AGES OF ROCK OROITS. 100 a vela thus affected. As a general rule, if tho intersecting vein or d}'ke be entered at its hanging-wall. 03 in working from A to A\ Fig. 107, the continuation of tho broken vein may be looked for *' up- hill ;" whereas, if tho intersecting vein or dyke be entered at its foot- wall, or at B'f tho search for the displaced vein should be made '■' down-hill." This rule is not without its exceptions, but tho excep- tions aro comparatively rare. In order to ascertain the depth at which an inclined vein or bod of any kind may bo reached by vertical sinking at a given depth from its outcrop, as at S, for example, in Fig. 108, we havo tho for. mula : 5 = tan I X f^ J or. Log s = log tan i + log cZ; in which s = the depth of the shaft ; t = the dip or inclina- F'". los. tion of the vein in degrees or minutes ; and (/ = the distance between the outcrop and the mouth of the shaft. If the ground at the proposed site of the shaft be higher or lower than at the outcrop of the vein or bed, the difference of level must of course be added to or deducted from 8, as the case may require. VI. CLASSIFICATION OF ROCK MASSES IN ACCORD ANCK WITH THEIR RELATIVE PERIODS OF FORMATION. Viewed in reference to their modes of derivation or general form- ative processes, rocks admit, as we have seen, of a distribution into three leading groups : comprising Sedimentary, Metamorphic, and Eruptive rocks : but they admit also of another and far more interest- ing classification, based on their relative ages or periods of formation. It is now universally conceded, on proofs tho most unanswerable, that the various sedimentary and other rocks which make up the solid portion of our globe, were not formed during one brief or transitory period, but were gradually elaborated or built up during a long succes- sion of ages. In areas of very limited extent, for example, even in the same cliff-face, or in excavations of moderate depth, we often find alternations of sandstones, limestones, clays, &o,, lying one above another, and thus revealing the fact that the physical conditions pre- vailing around the spot in question must have been subjected to repeated changes. The same thing is also proved by alternations of marine and fresh-water strata in particular localities; and of deep- ! 1 1 1 i\ : » \ I 200 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CANADA. Fig. 100. sea and shallov7-sea deposits, in others. Again, the sedimentary rock.g are frequently found in unconformable stratification, as explained above : horizontal beds resting upon the sloping surface or upturned edges of inclined strata. Here it is evident that the inclined beds must have been consolidated and thrown into their inclined positions before the deposition of the horizontal beds which rest upon them. In the absence of particular sets of strata in special localities, proving extensive denudation or long-continued periods of upheaval and de- pression — in the vast metamorphic changes eifected throughout many districts — in the upward limitation of faults (Fig. 109), as sometimes seen — and, bricfiy, in the worn and denuded surface which a lower formation often presents in connexion with strata rest- ing conformably upon it, — we have additional evidence of the lapse of long intervals of time during the elaboration of these rocks generally. But a still more conclusive proof of this fact is to be found in the limited vertical distribution of fossil species of plants and animaLs, the remains of which are entombed in so many of the sedimentary rocks. The sediments now under process of deposition in our lakes, river- estuaries, and seas, frequently enclose, it will be remembered, the more durable parts, if not the entire forms, of various plants and animals, amongst which aquatic types necessarily preponderate. The sedimen- tary deposits of former geological periods have enclosed in like manner various organic forms peculiar to those periods. In the very lowest or earliest formed deposits, it is true, no traces of organic types have yet been met with, but above these beds, each group of strata holds its own characteristic fossils- Regarded broadly, the higher groups contain the higher organisms; and many structural conditions which are now embryonic or transitory, were manifested as adult or perma- nent forms of development in the periods represented by lower groups. Type after type lived through its allotted time, and then died out to bo replaced by other and in general by higher forms of life. These facts are discussed more fully in Part IV of this Essay, in which the leading questions connected with the subject of Organic Remains come under review. For present purposes, it will bo sufficient to observe IJELATIVi: AGF.S OF WOCK GlJOUrS. 201 m. that by the careful .study and comparison of these remains, cjeologista have sub-divided the scries of rock-masses of which the Earth's crust or outer portion is composed, into a certain number of so-called Forma- tions, — each Formatiun representintlnctions, consecutive Form- ations appear to merge into each other, — as an ordinary historic period blends insensibly wiih that which precedes and with that which fol- lows it. This is the case in natural groupings or classifications of all kinds : hard or sharply-delitied lines being strictly unrecognized by Nature. The divisions however adopted by geulogists, although over- lapping as it were at their common boundaries, are distinct enough in the main ; and as some of these divisions are linked together more or less closely by the presence of certain related types of life, as well as by the general absence of other types, a grouping of Formations into larger divisions, representing longer geological periods or " ages," is conventionally adopted, as in the annexed tabular view. Il - -■ i ' I'"l>I!M ATlilNS .)F Tin: j ANDUii/dir (ir< .\Iiiiii;uN A'.i:. MoilerH deposits. Post-Gliicial Formation. Drift or (Jlu(ual Foniiatioii. FoUM.MlON.S 01' THE C.\iNoi;ou; Ai.i:. Pliocene Foiiiiiilinii, MioiM'nu Formation. Eocene Formation. i Formations of thi: MKsiizoir AoK. ('.'rctacfoiis Fnrniiition. .Jurassic Formation. Tria>fsii' Form.ition. Fdrmatkins oi- ti.k V\l..lM/.l< .\li|.. I'lrmian Fonu.iiinu. ('arlMiiiifiiiiiis I'oniiatii'n. Devonian Formatiun. .Silurian Formation. .'; FollMVTIONS OFTllr EoZoTC !, AXi> Azoic Al.K.S. lliii'onian l''oriiiatioii. ! l.alir.iclor I'oriiiatioa. Laiinntfiiii Formation. Lower Scries of Fre-Laureutian date. 13-in. 202 MINERALS AND GEOLOGY OF CAAADA. Notes on the above Table. (1) The formations enumerated in this table are never found to exhibit a complete series at any one locality. But they are known to occur in this order, by a comparison of their relative positions at different places. Thus, in one district, we find (in ascending order) the Silurian and Devonian series j in another, the Devonian and Carboni- ferous, and so on. (2) One or more of several consecutive formations are often wanting or absent at a given spot. The Carboniferous rocks may thus, in certain districts, be found resting on the Silurian, without the inter- vention of the Devonian series. But the relative positions of these groups are never reversed. The Devonian beds are never found under the Silurian, for example, nor the Cretaceous under the Jurassic. The i absence of particular strata, at a given locality, is accounted for by the elevation of the spot above the sea-level during the period to I which the strata in question belong ; or otherwise it is explained by I denudation ; or by the district having been situated beyond the area 1 of deposition to which the sediments extended. (See some of the preceding observations under "Formation of Sedimentary Rocks," " Denudation," ordora. with the excoption of that in which Man is alone included, bcinu; met with in tlie.^e deposits. In (yanada, however, the (Jainozoic forinations du not occur. Filially, a still higher series of depo.sits, partly mer<;in<.,' into the (.'ainozoic, where these occur, and in part consistinj; of more or less recent products, nuiy be classed tt)