Allanite.—The
allanite found in large masses and crystals in Amherst county,
Virginia, is very compact and bright black in color, and would form a
black metallic gem stone.
Sodalite, cancrinite.—At
Litchfield and South Litchfield, Maine, soda-lite, elseolite, and
cancrinite are found in bowlders in size from that of the fist to those
weighing many tons. They lie scattered over the surface for a distance
of about 4 miles. One mile and a half west of this line, across a pond
in West Gardiner, these minerals are found associated with zircon, as
in South Litchfield. On some of the West Gardiner farms there are
ledges of rocks that are evidently the source of these bowlders. The
bowlders occur principally on the farms of Moses True, Capt. Joseph
Wharff, and Eufus Smith.
The
deep-blue and azure-blue sodalite and cancrinite, a rich yellow, and
occasionally in hexagonal crystals, occur sparingly in seams in this
tough elaeolite and lepidomelane rock. The seams are from 1 millimeter
to very nearly 1 inch in thickness; some of the white seams found are
evidently altered sodalite; the cancrinite has been found 2 inches
thick.
Violet
and azure-blue sodalite have been found associated with elaeo-lite,
biotite, and zircon in a syenite vein at Salem, Massachusetts. Enough
has been found within the last two years at South Litchfield to give it
some gem importance. A number of distinct hexagonal crystals of fine
waxy yellow cancrinite, as a rule embedded in the deep-blue sodalite,
have also been found; also pink and greenish masses, and masses of rich
yellow, 2 inches in thickness, which could be used the same as sodalite.
Scapolite.—The pink and purplish scapolite found at Boston, Massachusetts, will polish nicely and form a neat ornamental gem stone.
Lazulite.—Lazulite in dark-blue crystals ami crystalline masses is found at Crowderrs
and Chubb's mountains in Gaston county, North Carolina, and at Coffee
Gap, Sauratown mountains, Stokes county. At Graves mountain, Lincoln
county, are found the finest sky and dark-blue crystals known. This
mineral would make an opaque gem or ornamental stone, as the color,
although lighter, is often as rich as lapis-lazuli.
Cobaltite is
occasionally cut abroad and resembles a flesh-colored pyrite when cut.
It is not found of fair quality at any American lo cality.
Zincite, franklinite, and willemite(a), as
found intermixed in the zinc mines at Franklin, New Jersey, are at
times ground into charms and paperweights and ornaments of different
kinds, principally by the miners. They do not admit of a very fine
polish, however, though they present a good appearance. A curious brown
serpentine containing zinc, described by Prof. C. U. Shepard, was also
cut and polished by the miners here.
Enstatite and bronzite.—Enstatite and bronzite are found half a mile
a See also "Mineral Resources of the United States, 1882," page 496.
