Zonochlorite,
said by Hawes to be a chemically impure variety of prehnite, is yet
distinctive enough as a gem-stone to entitle it to its name. It occurs
in small rolled masses, and in the rock, at Nipigon Bay, Ont., and was
described by Prof. A. E. Foote. It is a dark, opaque, green stone,
beautifully marked and veined, and admitting of a high polish.
Thomsonite
of a red color, compact and fibrous, often banded with green in a
number of concentric rings, is found on the northern shore of Lake
Superior, Ont., and at Cape Split, N. S. The pebbles vary in size from
1/8 inch up to an inch across, and are quite extensively sold on all
sides of the lake as an ornamental stone. The green which Peckham and
Hall (see p. 181) described as lintonite, an uncrystalline green
variety of thomsonite, often forms the center or band, making an
effective gem-stone, and is sold for that purpose.
The
ilmenite in the parish of St. Urbain, at Baie St. Paul, sometimes
contains grains of a greenish triclinic feldspar, and would furnish an
ornamental stone similar to the porphyritic menaccanite found at
Cumberland, R. I. It also contains rutile crystals, too small to have
value as gems, though adding to the beauty of the material when
polished.
Natrolite
is found in stout crystals with other zeolites at Peter's Point and
other localities on the Bay of Fundy, and at Swan's Creek, Cape
Blomidon, and Partridge Island, N. S. When transparent and of
sufficient size, it is occasionally used as a gem to represent the
initial N in sentimental jewelry.
Apophyllite
is often found along the coast of Nova Scotia, on the Bay of Fundy,
principally at Cape d'Or, Haute Island, Partridge Island, and Swan's
Creek just above Cape Blomidon, in magnificent crystals sometimes an
inch or more across. It occasionally occurs on agate and amethyst in
the trap rock, and would afford a mineralogical gem, as its pearly
lustre produces a curious effect, like that of a fish's eye; hence the
name ichthy-ophthalmite, or fish-eye stone. The color is generally
white, but occasionally the crystals have a rich green tinge.
Hoffmann
has described a part of a crystal of monazite, weighing 14 pounds, from
Villeneuve, Ottawa County, making this one of the most remarkable
occurrences known. If trans-
