MINERALOGY, METALLURGY, AND MINING.

MINERALOGY.

Petroleum.-Letters from Upper Canada state that an oil-well which some time since ceased to flow has again commenced spouting, and now yields from 300 to 400 barrels a-day. A large quantity of oil is also being taken from the different wells by pumping, and the inhabitants of the district are about to sink a "test-well" of 1,000 feet in depth, to ascertain what quantity may be expected to flow from a greater depth than that yet reached. Dr. Sterry Hunt says it would appear that the Devonian sandstones of Pennsylvania and North-Eastern Ohio are filled with oil, which has risen from the limestone beneath; while over a great portion of Western Canada this limestone was ages ago denuded, and has lost the greater part of its petroleum. Mr. Schorlemmer has analyzed the oil, and finds that the chemical constitution of that portion of it which boils below 120° C. is quite analogous to that of the oil obtained from cannel-tar. The rock-oils of other countries appear to possess a somewhat similar constitution.

The Alais Meteorite.- Professor Roscoe has examined a fragment of this stone, which fell near Alais, in France, in March, 1806. Berzelius, who examined it in 1834, stated that it contained an organic carbon compound, which turned brown on heating, deposited a black carbonaceous mass, and burnt without residue. In 1860 Wöhler discovered traces of a hydro-carbon in two other meteorites from Hungary and South Africa respectively. These facts are remarkable, since in terrestrial matter carbon compounds are solely the results of vital action. Professor Roscoe found that the Alais stone contains at least a half per cent. of a hydro-carbon, which is deposited in crystals when the mass is treated with ether, together with more than one per cent. of free sulphur.

Castor, a mineral discovered by Breithaupt, in Elba, is a silicate of lithia and alumina. It has been lately re-examined by M. Des Cloizeaux, who finds that it must be considered as a variety of petalite, as conjectured by G. Rose, and that it crystallizes in the oblique system. He also finds that castor closely resembles triphane in crystalline form, whilst it differs from that mineral in cleavage, specific gravity, optical properties, and chemical composition.

Astrophyllite. A mineral hitherto scarcely known has been recently described by Pisani. It is a variety of mica, found in the laminated felspar of a Norwegian syenite at Brevig. It occurs in six-sided tabular crystals, often grouped into stars. Cleavage, basal. It is transparent in thin sheets. Colour, bronze-yellow; streak, golden yellow. Hardness, about 3; specific gravity, 3324. Before the blowpipe it melts easily with intumescence to a black magnetic enamel. Heated with carbonate of soda and nitre it gives a strong reaction of manganese. The spectroscope distinguishes lime, soda, potash, and lithia. Hydrochloric acid attacks it, with deposition of silica. It differs from most micas in containing very little alumina and much manganese and iron.

Jade.-M. A. Damour has analyzed the mineral known as white or Oriental jade, which is brought from Eastern Asia, fashioned into ornaments. He considers it as an Amphibole of the species Tremolite. Still more recently he has examined specimens of what is called green jade, a mineral made known by the French expedition to China. It is of an apple-green colour, clouded with darker shades often very like emerald. He finds that it differs materially from white jade, being heavier and harder. It also differs in chemical composition, according to which Damour would place it near to the species of Wernerite called Dipyre. He did not succeed in isolating the colouring matter, which he presumed arose from oxide of nickel. He remarks that this mineral must not be confounded with certain jades of a sombre green, pear-green, or olive, which also come from Asia in a worked condition, and which are merely coloured varieties of white jade. For the Werneritic jade he proposes the name jadeite, to distinguish it from the amphibolic jades.

Samarskite is a remarkable mineral found in the Ilmen Mountains, near Miask in the Ural, and also in North Carolina. It contains a large amount of niobic acid and of peroxide of uranium. The analysis of it is attended with considerable difficulty; but Professor H. Rose now shows that to the two former bodies we must add zirconia and thorina as important constituents of the mineral.

Chilian Minerals.-Mr. D. Forbes has communicated some researches on the composition of several minerals of Chili. 1. A hydrous arseniate of nickel and cobalt, apparently a new species, occurs in veins in a greenstone rock of the Desert of Atacama. It appears to have been derived from chloanthite, which occurs beneath it. It is found in fibrous masses. Analysis shows its composition to be a bibasic arseniate of nickel and cobalt, with eight atoms of water. It is remarkable from its being colourless, although containing so much of these two metals. 2. Bismuthic Silver, a mineral consisting entirely of silver and bismuth, and therefore differing from Dana's so-called bismuthic silver, which is a mixture of various sulphides. 3. Sulphide of Lead and Zinc, a mineral occurring in large lumps or nodules. It mostly resembles galena, but is lighter and has less lustre than the latter. It may be considered as a compound of two atoms of sulphide of lead to three of sulphide of zinc. 4 Taltalite, a new mineral, has since 1858 been found in immense quantities in the mines near Taltal, in the Desert of Atacama, constituting an important ore of copper. It is of a black or brownish-black colour, and occurs in fibrous masses. It is a silicate of copper, united with a silicate of alumina and iron. 5. Hayesine -Borate of Lime.-Mr. Forbes believes that his discovery of this mineral and of its mode of formation places beyond a doubt the fact that the compounds of boracic acid occurring so abundantly in Chili and Peru are due to exhalations from volcanoes. It is found in suspension in the waters of hot springs, which derive their boracic acid from volcanic vapoursthe acid acts upon the carbonate of lime contained in the water, forming hayesine, the carbonate acid escaping.

Cavities in Topaz, Beryl, and Diamond.-In an interesting paper contained in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Sir David Brewster describes some remarkable phenomena which he has observed

in specimens of each of these minerals. Many years ago he discovered cavities in various minerals, some of which contained two fluids, supposed to be hydro-carbons, whilst in others there were crystals of various forms. In examining minerals by polarized light he has more recently discovered "pressure cavities," the optical properties of which show that the containing mineral while in a soft state has been compressed by an elastic force proceeding from the cavity. He considers that the existence and arrangement of these cavities completes the evidence for the igneous origin of the minerals, and of the rocks which contain them.

Lepidolite.-Several varieties of European lepidolite have furnished the new metals rubidium and cæsium. Mr. O. D. Allen, of Yale College, U.S., examined specimens of the same mineral from Hebron in Maine, and found the new element in comparative abundance. Lepidolite there occurs in large quantity in a coarsely crystalline granite, associated with tourmaline and albite. Like the lepidolite of Penig, in Saxony, it is also associated with the rare species, amblygonite. The Hebron lepidolite contains more than three-tenths per cent. of cæsium.

Conversion of Arragonite into Marble.-By heating arragonite in an iron crucible made as air-tight as possible, and by heating lithographic stone or chalk in a porcelain vessel with a ground stopper, G. Rose and Dr. Siemens have succeeded in producing marble. That prepared from arragonite was especially distinct, and closely resembled Carrara marble. Arragonite, chalk, lithographic stone, and marble, are all varieties of carbonate of lime; when heated in open vessels they lose carbonic acid, and furnish quicklime.

Sulphur in Corfu.-A communication from the Board of Trade states that sulphur has been discovered on the Island of Corfu, and that Professor Ansted has expressed his opinion that the vein is of considerable extent and value. The Newcastle Chamber of Commerce is seeking for further information regarding it.

Minerals of California.-The total value of the gold obtained from all the California mines in 1862 was 42,539,799 dollars. The production of mercury in the State has attained an enormous extent. Last year the amount was 3,025,875 lb. ; most of which was exported.

Minerals of Australia.—The “ South Australian Register" informs us that Mr. Hargraves has carefully examined Western Australia from King George's Sound to Perth, and has found copper, tin, and silver, but no gold.

Calamine in Tipperary.-Mr. George Darlington has described a remarkable deposit of calamine (carbonate of zinc) at silver mines in Tipperary, which has been found within the last four years. The result of exploration has shown an extensive deposit of this ore, varying from ten to sixty feet thick, and covering a known area of several acres. The deposit seems to occur between two stratified rocks; and it yields an ore which averages about thirty per cent. of metallic zinc when freed from its accompanying ochre. Probably 100,000 tons of marketable ore have been laid open. It is the only deposit of the kind yet discovered in the United Kingdom.

METALLURGY.

Plumbago Crucibles are made of graphite, mixed with a certain amount of clay to render it plastic. Some that are now manufactured are capable of melting on an average forty pourings of the most difficult metals, and a still greater number of those of an ordinary character. They are unaffected by change of temperature, seldom crack, and are very durable. Crucibles of this kind are now adapted for malleable iron melting, and for zinc melting.

Examination of Cast Iron.-When melted pig-iron is tapped into a ladle in moderate quantities, and allowed to stand a few minutes until it becomes perfectly quiet, and then carefully skimmed clean, a beautiful iridescence covers its entire surface, due to the constant breaking up of the extremely thin film of oxide formed on the iron. On close inspection, the coating is found to consist of a multitude of many-rayed stars in constant motion, breaking up and re-forming with great rapidity. It has lately been suggested that, as the size of the different figures is believed to depend on the size of the grain of iron when in the pig, the nature of the former will give an indication of the quality of the iron; and if instantaneous photographs were taken, they might possibly throw light on the phenomena of the crystallization of iron on cooling and the laws regulating it, about which we require much more information than we possess.

Iron reduced by Peat.-Mr. T. Vincent Lee, C.E., gives some particulars regarding this new application of peat. He took specimens of iron so reduced to the Dublin Exhibition, and it was declared by many of the best judges to be equal to Swedish. The quantity of properly prepared peat per ton of iron is about 1 ton, 15 cwt., the cost being slightly in favour of coal or coke; but the price of the iron made by peat is from £2 to £3 per ton above that from coke or coal. Prepared peat will also, he says, generate and maintain steam quicker and better than either coal or coke; and machinery is now being made in London to produce it.

Action of Wolfram on Cast Iron.-M. le Guen has made experiments on this subject at the military post of Brest, and finds that cast iron composed of old and new iron, combined in the proportions for giving greatest strength, is made much stronger by the addition of less than 2 per cent. of wolfram. In one case, after two fusions, the resistance to fracture was increased by more than a third. The superiority was maintained after several fusions; and the cast iron so treated was also rendered tougher and more elastic. The wolfram is easily added, merely requiring to be pulverized without previous reduction.

The Action of Manganese in Iron Smelting.-Captain Caron, in continuing his researches on steel, has applied himself to the effects of manganese in iron ore. He remarks that nearly all good samples of steel come from ores containing much manganese, and it has long been observed that its presence is almost indispensable for the production of superior steel. The results of his experiments he sums up thus:-By the addition of a suitable quantity of metallic manganese sulphur is removed even without refining; silicon is in great part removed on refining; whilst phosphorus resists its action altogether. These observations are confirmed by experi

ence.

Ores giving the best steel never contain phosphorus, whilst they often have sulphur; and although the ores may contain copper pyrites, the derived cast iron is found free from sulphur. Manganese has also the property of making steel better in quality and more durable. A small quantity of manganese is sufficient to retain the carbon in combination, and thus to give steel of good quality. Yet steel should not contain more than a half per cent. of manganese; above this amount it is rendered hard and brittle, losing much of its tenacity. Many forge-masters use, in refining, a mixture of ordinary and manganiferous cast iron. In this case it is of great importance so to reduce the manganiferous ores, that the iron shall contain the largest possible amount of manganese, in order that the maximum effect may be produced in purifying the ordinary iron.

The Desulphuration of Iron.-Professor Richter, of Leoben, Austria, has studied various means of depriving iron of sulphur. One of the best methods hitherto in use is the addition of binoxide of manganese; but it is objected that being infusible it cannot be thoroughly incorporated with the iron; in addition to which commercial oxide of manganese often contains impurities which may be communicated to the iron. Taking into consideration the powerful oxidizing action of litharge (protoxide of lead), he has endeavoured to apply it for the purpose. He finds that it will not only remove sulphur in the puddling process, but it also oxidizes the phosphorus contained in the iron. The experiments were made near Wolfsberg, in Carinthia, with 7 cwt. of pig-iron containing so much sulphur that it was impossible to convert it into bar. To this was added 3 lb. of sulphide of iron and lb. of phosphide of iron. After complete fusion 3 lb. of litharge was introduced, and the fusion continued. The success was complete; the puddled bar proved neither hot nor cold short, and could be forged into iron for scythes; whilst a similar quantity of cast iron puddled without litharge crumbled to pieces under the hammer. Richter adds that in some instances metallic lead may perhaps be preferable to litharge.

The Spectroscope in Steel Casting.-Professor Roscoe, in a paper on the spectrum produced by the flame evolved in the manufacture of cast steel by the Bessemer process, states that during a certain phase of its existence the flame exhibits a complicated but most characteristic spectrum, including the sodium, lithium, and potassium lines. He expresses his belief that this first practical application of the spectrum analysis will prove of the highest importance in the manufacture of cast steel by the Bessemer process.

Two

Applications of Steel.-Experiments have been made in Prussia to ascertain the capabilities and advantages of cast-steel steam-boilers. cylindrical egg-end boilers, one of steel, the other of wrought iron, were compared, and after working six months were examined. They were 30 feet long and 4 feet in diameter; the steel boiler-plate was inch thick. It was tried by the hydraulic test to a pressure of 195 lb. per square inch without altering in shape or showing leakage. After working six months the cast-steel plates were found quite unaffected, and had a remarkably small amount of incrustation as compared with the other boiler. The former generated 25 per cent. more steam than the latter. Another exami