west of Texas, Pennsylvania, and in beautiful massive foliated varieties. Bronzite was observed by Dr. Genth (a) near
Crump's serpentine quarry, near Media, in Middletown township, and also
near Henry Hippie's, in Marple township, forming the mass of Castle
rock; also in Newton township near the lime kiln, and near Radnor's,
Delaware county. Bronzite and enstatite occur in large quantities at
Bare Hills, Maryland.
Titanite.—At
Bridgewater station, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, some remarkably
fine crystals of titanite have been found. Some of them, over 1 inch
long and very transparent in parts, are a rich greenish yellow and a
vitreous golden, equaling in color the finest from the Tyrol, and some
would afford gems weighing from 10 to 20 carats each, that would show a
play of colors rather adamantine than opalescent. Some of the fine
crystals from this locality are now in the cabinet of Mr. C. S. Bement,
the W. S. Vaux cabinet, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and
in the Peabody museum, New Haven.
Many
yellow crystals(b) over 1 inch long have been found in the horn-blendic
gneiss on the Schuylkill near Philadelphia, and yellow crystals with
sunstone at W. Cloud's farm and Pearce's paper mill, in Kennett
township, Chester county, Pennsylvania.
Chlorastrolite.—One
of the largest known perfect chlorastrolites is in the cabinet of Mr.
M. T. Lynde, of Brooklyn, Long Island, a gem measuring 1-1/2 by 1-1/8
inches. A fine pair of chlorastrolites over half an inch across are in
the possession of Mr. P. A. Canfield.
Datolite.—The
compact, opaque, white, creamy, and flesh-colored varieties of datolite
found at the Minnesota, Quincy, Marquette, Ash-bed, and other mines in
the copper region of Lake Superior, admit of a very high polish, and
tnake an excellent opaque gem or ornamental stone. Notably one
especially fine nodule over 4 inches across, with a flesh-colored
center shading off into gray and creamy tints, was found at the
Delaware mine, and is in the cabinet of Mr. C. S. Bement.
Thompsonite.—Large
quantities of thompsonite have been cut into gem stones during the last
year, the cutting consisting almost entirely of a rounding off of the
pebble so as to show the concentric and other markings to the best
perfection. Some of them, over an inch in diameter, have been polished.
As a rule the small ones are the finest material. The lintonite is
really a variety of the thompsonite and polishes very nicely, either
alone of when occurring with the flesh-colored forms of thompsonite.
Natrolite.— Many
veins of natrolite, and more particularly one large surface,
representing over 300 square feet of the mineral, were met with at
shaft No. 2 of the West Shore railroad, at Weehawken, New Jersey.
Although this quantity afforded millions of crystals, scarcely any were
stout enough to afford gems of this beautiful limpid and white mineral,
a "Preliminary report on the Mineralogy of Pennsylvania," page 63. b Ibid., page 27.
