Hydro-oxyde of Iron

This variety of Hydro-oxyde of Iron, in which the crystals are much more distinct than is common in that substance, was first brought me from Cornwall, about two years since, by Lady Wilson, but the specimen figured possesses more variety; it is in Mr. Brooke’s collection. The crystals, as shown at the bottom of the plate, bear a great resemblance to those of Oxyde of Manganese; they differ in the brownncss of the black colour and powder: before the blowpipe they become grey and brittle, are difficultly fusible into a black bead attractible by the magnet and being treated with nitre, exhibit indications of Manganese. The matrix is crystallized Quartz, of a brown colour and internally zoned with opaque white. In Lady Wilson’s specimen there is massive silical hydro-oxyde of Iron between the crystals and the Quartz, and both of them have minute crystals of Carbonate of Iron scattered about them.