ries
of Mest Nottingham Township, Chester County, Pa. Only a few pieces have
been found, but they were of good quality. It also occurs in grayish
and yellowish-white masses in the serpentine in Concord, Delaware
County, Pa. Masses of pure white material, weighing a pound each, have
been found in Middle-town, in the same county, and of equally good
quality at the Cheever Iron Mine, Richmond, Mass., in pieces over an
inch across ; also in the serpentine at New Rochelle, Westchester
County, Ν. Υ.
Apatite
is found in such remarkably perfect and fine-colored crystals in the
tourmaline locality of Auburn, Me., that the hill on which it occurs
has been named Mount Apatite. The crystals are transparent green, pink,
and violet, and so closely resemble tourmaline as to have been mistaken
for it. Some of the local collectors attempted to cut them, but without
success, for the hardness is too low for a transparent gem.
Beryllonite
was first found near Stoneham, Me., in 1886, and this is still the only
locality known. Owing to the great transparency and brilliancy of the
mineral, as well as its form of crystallization, it at first suggested
topaz, and was for a time overlooked, but Prof. E. S. Dana on
examination found it to be a new species, to which he gave the name
beryllonite.1 It was analyzed by Horace L. Wells, of the Sheffield Scientific School, who found that it had the following composition :
From which the formula
or
was
deduced.
Its
hardness was found to be 5.6 to 6 and its specific gravity 2.84. From
the great number of its cavities filled with water or carbon dioxide,
its lustre and the iridescence of the crystals when viewed from the
pyramid face, it strikingly resembles the white topaz of Stoneham, Me.
The transparency and brilliancy of this mineral fit it for a
mineralogical gem.
1
See Description of the New Mineral, Beryllonite, by Edward S. Dana and
Horace L. . Wells. Am. J. Sci. III., Vol. 37, p. 23, Jan. 1889.
