Salite is hot confined to Sweden and Norway. It has been found in
Scotland by Colonel Imrie, and it occurs likewise in Greenland, being
observed in considerable quantity in a set o f minerals collected in that
Country by Geiseke, and purchased by Colonel Imrie and Mr. Allen of
Edinburgh.
9. Horn-stone, called by the Swedes Halleflinta. It is o f a reddish
brown Colour, and of the specific gravity 2'68og. It is hard, brittle,
has a splintery fracture, and is translucent on the edges. According
to the analysis o f Godon de St. Menin, the constituents of the horastone
of Sala are as follows:
Silica...................................•••• 68
Alumina................................. 19
Lime ............. 1
Oxide o f iron»........................... 4
Potash» ........................ S'S
Volatile matter. . . . . . . . . . . . 2-5
100
10. Hornblende.
11. Galena. It occurs usually in the common form, and breaks
into cubic fragments. Sometimes it is steel-grained.
12. Sulphuret o f antimony. I did not see any specimens o f this
mineral, but was assured that it bad been found in the mine of
Sala.
13 . Amalgam o f silver. This uncommon mineral has not been
observed in the mine of Sala for many years: only three periods when
i t occurred are on record ; namely, 1660, 1689, and 1696.
14. Native antimony. This rare mineral occasionally occurs in the
Sala mine; but very seldom, I saw, however, several specimens of
i t in the possession o f Mr. Billow, and he politely made me a present
«if one.
15 . Blende. This almost perpetual companion of galena occurs
likewise in the mine of Sala; tout I believe in very small quantity.
16 Arsenic pyrites ; both compact and crystallized.
These, except basalt, quartz, granite, and gneiss, are all the minerals
that I recollect, at present, to have met with at Sala. Salite is
by far the most interesting of them all, whether we attend to its
beauty, or to the way in which it occurs.
I shall now mention some of the places where remarkable minerals
have been found in Westmanland.
West from Sala about twelve miles, in the parish of Fernebo, there
is a small hill called Karingbricka, which consists o f gneiss, containing
garnets and pretty large crystals o f tourmaline. They are of a
black colour, and very completely crystallized. In the same hill
there is found a pretty curious variety of ruthile, or oxide of titanium,
for an account o f which we are indebted to Ekeberg. Sometimes the
colour of this mineral is steel grey, at other times reddish brown. It
has a metallic lustre, strikes fire with steel, and scratches glass.
It is opaque and brittle, and its specific gravity is 4 -207. Before the
blow-pipe it undergoes no alteration; but with borax it melts into a
hyacinth-coloured bead. According to the analysis of Ekeberg, it is
composed of ninety-seven parts of oxide o f titanium, and three parts
o f oxide o f chromium.* This singular result Was confirmed by a
subsequent analysis o f the same mineral by Vauquelin.
One of the most remarkable tracts in the province of Westmanland
is Ridderhyttan, a copper mine which lies in the parish of Skins-
katteberg, about eighteen miles west and a little south from Sala. It
is singularly situated, being nearly enclosed by four small lakes, called
Linsjon, Upper Skarsjon, Lower Skarsjon, and Bjursjon; the first o f
which lies on the west side, and the last on the east side o f the tract;
the two others lie on the north and the south side o f it. In this
oblong square (for it extends much farther from east to west than from
north to south) there are three elevated plains or hills; namely, Blokull,
which borders on the westernmost lake, and Bastnas and Korphytte,
which lie near the easternmost lake. There is likewise a kind o f ridge
* Memoirs of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, £» 1803.
2 I