thophyllite
locality, saying: ' The rock varies considerably in character in
different places where it has been uncovered, and occupies a series of
conical hills, some five or six in number, distributed in a northerly
and southerly direction. In some places, as at 6oth Street, it is
talcose in structure, and may be split into thin slabs; in others it is
dark gray, almost black, composed of straight fibres, arranged in a
columnar form, meeting and crossing each other frequently at right
angles.' He further says: ' It is remarkable that the granite lying on
the west and the gneiss on the east of the rock in question come in
complete contact with it without intermixing. So remarkable is the
line of separation on the side next to the gneiss, where there is the
best opportunity to examine the two, that within the space of three
inches each rock possesses all of its own peculiarities, with none of
those of its neighbor.' In speaking of the serpentine, he says: ' In
the same vicinity are found masses of serpentine and limestone,
intermixed, exhibiting a porphyritic appearance, the serpentine
appearing green and the limestone white.' This refers to the
eozoonal-like portions, which would seem, so far as their microscopic
(in hand fragments) appearance goes, to easily warrant their reference
to a close relationship with the Canadian rock containing that
debatable organism.
"
Cozzens, in his Geological History of Manhattan or New York Island
(1843), P-12 refers to this locality, saying: ' Between 54th and 62d
Streets the shore and 10th Avenue there are four or more small knolls
of black serpentine, with scales of silvery or golden talc, accompanied
by a vein of an-thophyllite about twelve feet wide. This vein is in a
vertical position. At the north end of the serpentine proper this
an-thophyllite shows itself in two places, in place; one on the
rising ground and near the syenite, the other at high-water-mark on
the shore. Actinolite is found imbedded in the anthophyl-lite. The
serpentine locality commences where the granite ends. At the south end
there is a vein of carbonate of lime.
