Gems and precious stones of North America ... Second edition, with appendix

Appendix

BY GEORGE FREDERICK KUNZ GEM EXPERT WITH MESSRS. TIFFANY ft CO., SPECIAL AGENT OF THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, OFFICIER D'ACADiiMIE, HON. MEMBRE CHAMBRE SYNDI CATE DIAMANTS ET PIERRES PRECIEUSES AU PARIS, SOCIETE OURALIENNE d'EKATERINBOURG, CORRESPOND ING MEMBER ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, PHILA DELPHIA, PA., MEMBER OF THE MINERALOGICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, THE IMPERIAL MINERALOGICAL SOCIETY OF ST. PETERSBURG, THE SOCifiTÆ FRAN^AISE DE MINlSRALOGIE, ETC. . NEW YORK THE SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING COMPANY MDCCCXCII COPYRIGHT, 1890 BY THE SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING COMPANY Q1LUBS BROTHERS A TURNUUE ART AGE PRE68 400 d 401 WEST 14TH 8THEET, N. Y. CONTENTS PAGE Introduction, . . 7 Chapter I. Diamond, . . . . . . . . 13 Chapter II. Corundum, Sapphire, Ruby, Oriental Topaz, Oriental Emerald, Diaspore, and Spinel, ... 39 Chapter III.

Turquoise, ........ 54 Chapter IV. Topaz and Tourmaline (Rubellite, Indicolite, and Achroite), ........ 66 Chapter V. Garnet Group : — Essonite, Spessartite, Almandite, Pyrope, Ouvarovite, Schorlomite, ... 78 Chapter VI. Beryl (Emerald, Aquamarine), Chrysoberyl, Phenacite, Euclase, Peridot, Zircon, .... CONTENTS 4 PAGE 1 06 H7 162 175 185 Chapter VII. The Quartz Group : — Rock-Crystal, Transparent Quartz, Amethyst, Smoky Quartz, Cairngorm Stone, Gold Quartz, Rose Quartz, Novaculite, Silicified Coral, Quartzite, Quartz Inclusions, Thetis Hairstone, Agate, Jasper, Silicified Wood, Opal, Hydrophane, .... Chapter VIII. Spodumene (Hiddenite), Smaragdite, Diopside, Rhodonite, Enstatite, Bronzite, Wollastonite, Crocidolite, Willemite, Vesuvianite, Allanite, Gadolinite, Epidote, Zoisite, Axinite, Danburite, Iolite, Lepidolite, Scapolite, Cancrinite, Sodalite, Elæolite, Lapis Lazuli, . . . . .

Chapter IX. The Feldspar Group : — Lennilite, Cassinite, Elæolite, Moonstone, Albite, Oligoclase, Sun stone, Labradorite, Amazonstone, Perthite, Peris terite, Leopardite, Obsidian, Pitchstone. Also Chondrodite, Andalusite (Chiastolite), Chapter X. Cyanite, Datolite, Staurolite, Isopyre, Pectolite, Dioptase, Prehnite, Zonochlorite, Chlorastrolite, Thomsonite, Lintonite, Natrolite, Fluorite, . Chapter XI. Serpentine, Bowenite, Williamsite, Microlite, Meerschaum, Apatite, Beryllonite, Lazulite, Cassiterite, Hematite, Lodestone, Rutile, Octahedrite, Brook ite, Arkansite, Titanic Iron, Titanite, Malachite, Chrysocolla, Azurite, Aragonite, Fossil Coral, Pyrite, Amber, Jet, Anthracite, Cat's-Eye Miner als, Catlinite, ..... CONTENTS 5 PAGE 211 258 275 303 310 33i ■366 Chapter XII. Pearls, Chapter XIII.

In the Dominion of Canada, Chapter XIV. In Mexico and Central America, Chapter XV. Aboriginal Lapidarian Work in North America, Chapter XVI. Definitions, Imports, and Production, Values, Cutting of Diamonds and other Stones, Watch- J ewels, Collections of Gems, Minerals, and Jade, Uses of Precious and Ornamental Stones for the Ornamentation of Silver and Furniture and for Interior Decoration, Trilobite Ornaments, . Index, Appendix,

Introduction

EARLY all the known varieties of precious stones are found in the United States, but there is very little sys tematic exploration for them, as the indications seldom justify the investment of much capital in such search. The daily yield from the coal and iron mines would exceed in value all the precious stones found in the United States during a year. Systematic search for gems and precious stones has been conducted only in Maine, Montana, Washington, North Carolina and New Mexico. Otherwise, the gems are found accidentally, in connection with other substances that are being mined, or in small veins which are only occasionally met with, as the turquoise in New Mexico. They are often gathered on the surface, as is the case with the garnet and olivine from Arizona and New Mexico ; or in sluicing for gold, as the sapphires from Montana ; or in connection with mica mining, as the beryl from Connecticut and North Carolina ; or from the beds of streams and decomposing rocks, as the moss-agate from Wyoming ; or on the beaches, as the agate, chlorastrolite, and thomsonite from the shores of Lake Superior.

Nearly all the gems found in these various ways are sent to the large cities in small parcels, or sold in the neighborhood to tourists, or sent to other places to be disposed of as having been found in their vicinity. Many of them are only known locally, some to mineralogists, while others, mentioned in the following

INTRODUCTION.

pages, are accepted by the few gem collectors of the United States, whose only object is to find something possessing the qualities of a gem or precious stone, wherewith to enrich their cabinets. A list of such gem stones will be of interest to many who have not known of their existence in this country, and to others this knowledge may have a commercial value, should some of these minerals be met with in sufficient quantities and of good quality ; and, in directing attention to valuable de posits where a small amount has already been realized, it may stimulate the interest in and search for gems, and aid in develop ing what may become an important industry. It is known that the Indians worked the turquoise mines of New Mexico more than two centuries ago ; that they made arrow and spear points of rock crystal, smoky quartz, agatized and opalized woods, agates, jaspers, and obsidian, and buried crystals of quartz with their dead ; that the richly colored fluorite of Hardin County, 111., was worked by them into ornaments.

Some of the most beautiful of their arrow-points are now used for decoration by the white man, paralleling the prover bial conversion of swords into plowshares. Mention will be made of a few localities where gem specimens have been found which are remarkable as such, and which have a special claim on the collector ; some notes will also be given concerning specimens that have been of value to the finder, such, for example, as the Pike's Peak amazonstone, or the spinels found at Monroe, N. Y., which have little or no gem value. Many of these stones are as beautiful, in their native form, as they are after having un dergone the grinding process. The cutting of such material, therefore, for its money value, is really vandalism and should be discouraged by all scientists, although we may not all be willing to accept more broadly Ruskin's opinion that " gems should not be cut, but worn in the natural state."

In 1882 the writer was invited to prepare a paper on precious stones of the United States for the first annual report of the Division of Mining Statistics, and since then has prepared similar annual reports. From that beginning the pres ent work has grown, and it contains much additional information obtained from studying the collections of the United States as

INTRODUCTION.

9 well as from a personal examination of many of the localities where gems are found. Its object is to present, in convenient form, as many of the facts as possible regarding the precious stones peculiar to the United States, Canada, and Mexico, so that they may be available, not only to the mineralogist, the miner, the mineral and gem collector, the archæologist and the jeweler, but also to the public, to give the conditions of their occurrence, the methods by which the mining and search for them are con ducted, the value and production of different stones, and also an account of the collections in these countries. A brief general description of each important gem will be found at the beginning of the article ; and a series of analyses indicating the composition of each precious stone of American production, and also, for comparison, a typical analysis, are gen erally included.

Full reference to the literature of the subject is given in the foot-notes. The chapter on Canadian precious stones is based on a report prepared for " The Mining and Mineral Statistics of Canada " for 1887, and its use is permitted through the courtesy of the authorities of the Canadian Geological Survey. One chapter is devoted to pearls, with a full account of their mention by the early explorers, their occurrence in mounds, Indian graves, and similar remains ; another is devoted to imports and values, and to the cutting of gem-stones, with mention of some remarkable gems owned in the United States, and a brief description of the best known collections in this country. A number of minerals are enumerated that are not only below 7 in the scale of hardness, but that are even below 6, and apparently too soft for cut gems ; yet cups, vases, and other objects may be made of these stones, such as serpentine and catlinite, which could be successfully used where transparent apatite could not, because they are opaque, do not show scratches, and always present a good even color.

During recent years a number of items have appeared in the newspapers relative to the finding of alleged valuable gems, which have proved on investigation to be without foundation. As newspaper statements are sometimes copied into special literature, it was thought well to refer briefly to them here.

INTRODUCTION.

10 The " Blue Ridge sapphire," or " Georgia marvel," as it was called in the reports, was found in 1883 in a brook in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Georgia. It was estimated to be worth about $50,000 by the owner, he having been assured of its genuineness as a sapphire by two Southern jewelers, who had arrived at its valuation by computing its weight. Anything scratched by a file is sure to be pronounced glass, whether it is glass, topaz, or some other equally hard stone ; while, on the other hand, the common fallacy prevails that anything that a file cannot scratch is a genuine stone, even though it may be only glass. In this in stance the gem proved to be a piece of rolled blue bottle-glass, of which fact its owner could be convinced only when he saw a platinum wire coated with a melted fragment.

Another wonder was a stone weighing 9 ounces, plowed up near Gibsonville, Guilford County, N. C, which was pro nounced a genuine emerald by some local expert, who tested it, and with the microscope showed that it contained various small diamonds. Its value was estimated up in the thousands, and $1,000 was reported to have been refused for it by its owner, who, as it was believed to be the largest known emerald, expected that it would bring him a fortune. Being, therefore, too valuable to be entrusted to an express company, he put himself to the ex pense of a trip to New York, where his prize proved on examina tion to be a greenish quartz crystal, filled with long hair-like crys tals of green byssolite or actinolite, on which were series and strings of small liquid cavities that, glistening in the sun, had led to the included diamond theory.

The best offer that he received for the stone was $5. The "Wetumpka Ruby," from Elmore County, Ala., was supposed to be a ruby of six ounces weight, " after cutting away all the roughness." Owing to its assumed value, it was deposited in the Wetumpka bank vault, and on no consideration would be sent to any one on approbation. A small fragment sent to New York City proved the stone to be only a garnet and from its quality, of no gem value, even if a ruby. Another is a crystal found near Danbury, N. C, which was examined and pronounced to be a genuine diamond by the local jewelers, and valued at $7,000.

INTRODUCTION.

11 A number of the supposed diamond discoveries will be found at the end of the first chapter. It is not intended to make this volume either a complete treatise on precious stones or on the science of mineralogy, but to confine it more particularly to the occurrence of precious stones in North America; and for comparison, occasional reference is made to foreign sources and authorities. The beautiful colored plates contained in this volume are the work of the eminent art lithographers, Messrs. L. Prang & Co., of Boston, Mass., and are unquestionably the finest work of the kind ever published. The writer's thanks are extended to Messrs. Tiffany & Co. for the facilities afforded by their corps of artists in the preparation of the original designs used in the production of these plates. During the preparation of this work, much valuable assist ance has been received from the following gentlemen, to whom the author begs to tender his most sincere thanks.

Maj. John W. Powell, William H. Holmes, Prof. Frank W. Clarke, Joseph S. Diller, and Dr. David T. Day, of the United States Geological Survey ; Lester F. Ward, Frank H. Knowlton, William H. Dall, George H. Merrill, Dr. Thomas Wilson and Dr. Robert E. C. Steams, of the United States National Mu seum ; Prof. Edward S. Dana, Dr. Samuel L. Penfield and Mr. O. H. Drake, of Yale University ; Dr. Augustus C. Hamlin, Bangor, Me. ; Dr. Robert Lilley, Mr. Paulding Farnham, Prof. Daniel S. Martin, Mr. James D. Yerrington, Prof. Oliver P. Hubbard and Mr. C. J. Cottier, of New York City, also Dr. E. Hamy, of Paris, France.

Preface

TO THE SECOND EDITION THE author and the publishers feel much gratified that so soon after the first appearance of " Gems and Precious Stones of North America," a second edition is called for. During this interval the author has visited many of the principal localities mentioned in the work — in the United States, in the interest of the Department of Mines and Mining of the Eleventh United States Census, and in Mexico for Messrs. Tiffany & Co. ; and such new and additional facts as presented themselves on those journeys are now given in an appendix, as well as some facts not in the first edition, the work being thus brought down to the end of January, 1892 Part of this edition is printed from the original plates. Although this work refers principally to the occurrence of precious stones in the United States, yet it has found a ready sale throughout other countries.

As regards the colored illus trations of minerals and precious stones, it may be fairly claimed, that they are superior to any heretofore published inasmuch as this was the decision of a committee of French artists, who were selected by a leading American art amateur, to pass upon the execution of the colored plates.

Chapter I

Diamond. THE diamond crystallizes in the isometric system, and is usually found as an octahedron or as some modification of that form. It is io in the scale of hardness and the hardest of all known substances. Its composition is pure carbon. It has a greater refractive and dispersive power on light than any other gem, and is the only one that is combus tible. Its specific gravity is about 3*525. In color its range is extensive, and it is found in almost all shades, usually white, yellow, or brown ; rarely rose-red, red, blue and green. It phos phoresces in the dark by attrition.1 Ninety-five per cent, of the diamonds at present obtained are from the Kimberley Mines, Griqua Land West, South Africa. The remainder come from Brazil, India, and Borneo. A few have been found recently in New South Wales, and they are known to exist in the Ural Mountains.

Since the discovery of the South African mines in 1867, and the opening a short time afterward of 3,143 claims that are now consolidated into one gigantic company, all within a radius of a mile and a half, more diamonds have been found than during the two preceding centuries throughout the whole world. Over 9^ tons (40,000,000 carats) of diamonds, valued in the rough at $300,000,000, and after cutting at over $600,000,000, have been taken from these mines. Diamonds are sold by the carat. The International 1 Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sci., Jan., 1891. carat weighs 205 milligrams, equal to 3*168 4- grains troy. The proportions according to quality of the entire South African yield are as follows : First quality, eight per cent., second quality, twenty-five per cent., third quality, twenty per cent., and the balance bort, which is used for slitting gems, polishing diamonds, more recently for saws, and ground into powder for use in the arts.

An impression seems to prevail that a diamond will not break if struck with a hammer on an anvil, and several that were supposed to be good specimens have been broken in this way. While the diamond is hard, it is also very brittle, and can be easily broken, and although every substance from the hardness of feldspar up, including a cleavage or cut dia mond, will scratch glass, nothing but the natural edge of a diamond crystal will cut it. To determine whether a given specimen is a diamond, the best test is to try if it will scratch corundum. If it does so, and if the specimen cannot be scratched by a diamond, it is safe to assume that it is a diamond. It is well to make the trial on a smooth or polished surface, otherwise the scratch may not be perceptible, even if it exists. The occurrence of diamonds in the United States is chiefly confined to two regions, geographically very remote and geo logically quite dissimilar.

The first is a belt of country ly ing along the eastern base of the southern Alleghanies, from Virginia to Georgia, while the other extends along the western base of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges in northern California and southern Oregon. In both cases the mode of occurrence has several marked resemblances. The diamonds are found in loose material, among deposits of gravel and earth, and are associated with garnet, zircon, iron sand, monazite, anatase, and particularly with gold, in the search for which they have usually been discovered. This resemblance is due al together to the fact that these loose deposits, in both regions, are merely the debris of the crystalline rocks of the adjacent moun tains, and therefore present a general similarity, while the ages of the rocks themselves are widely different.

In the case of the South Atlantic States, the rocks of the Blue Ridore and eastern Alleghanies are of ancient Archæan and Cambrian ages ; while in the western belt, the Sierra Nevada was not elevated and meta- UNITED STATES, CANADA AND MEXICO 15 morphosed until the middle or later Mesozoic. From the general resemblance of conditions above referred to, the details of discov ery in the two regions are remarkably similar, and in both occas ional diamond crystals are found, accidentally picked up on the surface, or more frequently encountered in the search for gold, sometimes in placer-mining and sometimes in the flumes and sluices of hydraulic workings. They have sometimes been over looked, unrecognized, or destroyed by rude and ignorant methods of testing, and at other times have been made the basis of fabulous estimates and exaggerated tales, but they have not as yet been found in sufficient quantities to justify an attempt at diamond-mining, nor have the specimens obtained been of more than local interest and moderate value.

With regard to the finding of diamonds in other parts of the country, there have been various reports, but little or no positive evidence. The supposed diamond field of central Kentucky has been the subject of much interesting study and discussion on ac count of the striking resemblance of the rock to that of the diamantiferous region of South Africa ; but the conditions are found, upon closer examination, to present important differences, and the diamonds are yet to be discovered. The formations in the eastern portions of the United States where diamonds have been found are entirely different from those of South Africa. They resemble more nearly those of the diamond fields of Brazil and of parts of India. The diamonds found in the United States are much older than those of South Africa, and if they have ever occurred in rock similar to that in Kimberley, there is nothing to indicate it now, since the rocks in American diamond-bearing localities are mainly granitic.

It may be said that, while diamonds are found to some extent within the limits of the United States, there is no reason as yet to believe that they will ever be numbered among our important mineral products. Their local and scientific inter est is of course very great ; and this fact will justify the some what detailed account of their occurrence given in this volume as an important part of a work on precious stones in the United States. Prof. H. Carvill Lewis paid much attention to this subject, visiting many of the localities where diamonds had been found in the eastern part of the United States, and personally investigating the history of such stones as he could trace. His con clusions are to be published in a final memoir on the " Genesis of the Diamond," the completion and editing of which has been undertaken, since his death, by his friend and associate, Prof. George H. Williams, of the Johns Hopkins University.

A moderate number of well-authenticated diamonds have been found in Georgia and in North Carolina, a very few are reported from South Carolina, and one or two are known from southern Vir ginia. These are all apparently derived from the detritus of the crystalline metamorphic rocks that extend through these States as the eastern ranges of the Appalachian system. Of these, the great continuous Blue Ridge is, of course, the leading member ; eastward of it lies the so-called Atlantic or Tidewater gneiss, by many regarded of later age ; and another belt, perhaps distinct, extends from Richmond, Va., to the vicinity of Raleigh, N. C. It is much to be regretted that the geology of these crystalline belts is thus far so little known. At some points they appear to be well distinguished, while at others they merge into one another and have not been clearly defined.

The names Laurentian, Hur onian, Montalban, and Cambrian are variously applied to different portions of them by different geologists. The Blue Ridge proper is generally admitted to be chiefly true Laurentian ; and it is certain that Cambrian beds appear at some points in the area. The remarkable itacolumite rock, popularly associated with the occurrence of diamonds, is found at many points on the flanks of the Blue Ridge, but its geological age is not yet clearly established. Beginning with the account of the one well-known Virginia diamond, we shall pass on southward, taking up the States in or der. The Dewey diamond (see Colored Plate No. i), was found at Manchester, Va., in 1855, and John H. Tyler, Sr., of Richmond, Va., who was the first to see it, says : " This diamond was found just opposite Richmond, by a laborer engaged in grading one of the streets.

It was brought to me to ascertain its character and value. I pronounced it at once a valuable diamond, and recom mended the finder to keep it carefully and to see me about it again. I did not know his name, and have not seen him since, but after wards learned that he sold it." The first record that we have of PLATE i. A D Cut sapphire, El Dorado Bar, near Helena, Montana. B Dewey diamond found in 1855, near Manchester, Virginia. C Natural crystal of sapphire, El Dorado Bar, Montana. E Section of a sapphire crystal, banded blue and yellow, Jenks Mine, Macon Co., North Carolina. [American Museum of Natural History, New York City.] F Asteriated sapphire, Jackson County, North Carolina. G Ruby, Jenks Mine, Macon County, North Carolina. H First sapphire found at Corundum Hill, Macon County, North Carolina.

Restored to matrix after being cut. [American Museum of Natural History, New York City.] Plate No.l it is from the "New York Evening Post" of April 28, 1855, where it says : " We were shown yesterday, on board the steam ship ' Jamestown,' what is said to be the largest diamond ever discovered in North America. It was found several months ago by a laboring man at Manchester, Va., in some earth which he was digging up. It was put into a furnace for melting iron, at Richmond, where it remained at red heat for two hours and twenty minutes. It was then taken out and found to be uninjured and brighter than ever. It was valued in Richmond at $4,000." This stone next passed into the possession of Samuel W. Dewey, of Jackson, now of Philadelphia, and by him was named the Oninoor, or " Sun of Light," though it has more generally been known as the Dewey diamond.

It was for a time on exhibition in New York, at the store of Ball, Black & Co., and was cut at an expense of $1,500 by Henry D. Morse, of Boston. Having passed out of Mr. Dewey's hands, through his failure to redeem it on a loan, it was then sold to J. Anglist, who received from John A. Morrissey a loan of $6,000 on it, and as he failed to redeem it, it became part of the Morrissey estate and was known as the Morrissey diamond. It had a large flaw on one side (see Colored Plate No. 1), and was an octahedron with slightly rounded faces. Its original weight was 23 s carats, and after cutting it weighed 1 i-H* carats. As it is off-color and imperfect, it is to-day worth not more than from $300 to $400. Exact copies of it in glass, as well as copper electrotypes of it as it was found, and as cut, were deposited by Mr. Dewey in the United States Mint at Philadelphia, and also at the Peabody Museum in New Haven and in a number of cabinets.

North Carolina, so rich and varied in mineral resources, has long been known to yield a certain amount of gold ; and in the same region have been found some diamonds, either loose in the soil, or taken from the washings of auriferous gravel. The por tion of the State which has yielded these valuable substances is that known as the Piedmont region, — a belt of country lying, as its name indicates, at the foot of the mountains, along the eastern base of the Blue Ridge. The rocks here are metamorphic and crystalline, with some Cambrian beds a little farther west. There runs throughout much of this region a belt or belts of itacolumite, the so-called " flexible sandstone," which is sometimes found in Brazil and in the Ural Mountains, and is generally supposed to be the matrix of diamond crystals.

The presence of this peculiar rock and the occasional discovery of diamonds in adjacent dis tricts have led to the idea that the itacolumite belt of North Caro lina might prove to be a valuable diamantiferous region ; but as yet no diamonds have actually been discovered there, and but few have been found in the loose debris of the crystalline beds. Prof. Frederick A. Genth, of the University of Pennsylvania, describes 1 the occurrence of the two crystalline varieties of carbon in that State, — the graphite in beds interstratified with mica schist or gneiss ; the diamond in the debris of such rocks, associated with gold, zircon, garnet, monazite, and other minerals, and after speaking of this occurrence in connection with rocks of identical age, as a very interesting circumstance, he says : " The diamond has not been observed in North Carolina in any more recent strata, and in the itacolumite regions no diamonds have ever been found, as in Brazil ; from which it appears that the itacolumite of Brazil is either simply a quartzose mica slate of similar age with the North Carolina gneissoid rocks, or, if it be contemporary with the North Carolina itacolumite, the diamonds were not produced in the same but came from the older rocks, and were redeposited with the sands resulting from the reduction to powder of these and are now found imbedded in the same, their hardness having prevented their destruction.

Seven or eight diamonds have thus far been found. They occur distributed over a wide area of surface in the counties of Burke, Rutherford, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, and Franklin, and I have no doubt if a regular search were to be made for them, they would be more frequently found." To the counties named by Professor Genth, must now be added McDowell, and these all form, with the exception of Franklin, a group lying together in the line of the general drainage of the country, southeast of the Blue Ridge. Franklin County is far to the northeast of the others ; and any diamonds occurring there must be derived from the disintegration of another belt of crystalline rocks, that traverses the eastern portion of the State, near Weldon, in Halifax County, or else have been i Mineral Resources of North Carolina, p. 28, Philadelphia, 187 1. transported to a great distance by rivers.

The same is doubtless true of the diamond found at Manchester, Chesterfield County, Va. Historically the North Carolina diamonds are reported as follows : The first specimen was picked up at the ford of Brindletown Creek, Burke County, in 1843, by Dr. F. M. Stephenson. It was an octahedral crystal, and was estimated to be worth $100. Another was found in the same neighborhood by Prof. George W. Featherstonhaugh ; but there seems to be no account of its characters. The third found, but the first to attract much attention, was obtained in 1845, from the gold-washings of D. J. Twitty's mine, in Rutherford County. It was owned by Gen. Thomas L. Clingman, of Asheville, and was described by Prof. Charles U. Shepard.1 It was a curved and remarkably distorted octahedron, clear, almost .flawless, and faintly tinged with yellow.

The weight was about ii carats (4*1 2 grains). Professor Shepard had announced the existence of itacolumite in the gold-bearing region of North Carolina, at the meeting of the American Asso ciation of Geologists and Naturalists in 1845, and under the im pression that the itacolumite is their matrix, had predicted the further discovery of diamonds in that region, as in Brazil. For this reason, diamonds, when found, were naturally submitted to him. C. Leventhorpe, of Patterson, Caldwell County, N. C, reports a small and poor specimen found in a placer-mine on his property in Rutherford County, and states that he presented it to Professor Shepard, who retained it in his cabinet. The fourth important specimen was found in gold-washings in 1852, by Dr. C. L. Hunter, near Cottage Home, Lincoln County.