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Washington Jany 21. 1821

[[underlined]] For the Columbian Institute.[[/underlined]]

I have the pleasure to present, /thro. Doctor Huntt/ to the Columbian Institute, two specimens of the Sulfate of Strontian; the one, the fragment of a large tabular chrystal; the other the fibrous variety. As this substance has but few known localities in the United States, and as the locality from whence these specimens came, is thought both remarkable and interesting, the following description may be acceptable. 

The Sulphate of Strontian abounds in the lime stone of some of the Islands of Detroit ^[[insertion]] River [[/insertion]]. in the Islands known as the Bass Islands in Lake Erie; and on the main[[strikethrough]]e[[/strikethrough]] shore of Lake Erie in the neighborhood of Sandusky. The most remarkable locality however is upon one of the Bass Islands, now called Strontian Island,  four miles West, of the well known Put-in-Bay-Island. The present specimens are from this locality. The shores of Strontian Island are of perpendicular limestone cliffs, and every where is seen the opaque, white and massive Sulphate of Strontian, filling cavities in the lime stone.

On one side of the Island, the Rocks have been lately rent by severe frosts, or other causes, and projected into the Lake, and here is exposed a vein of this mineral, of great beauty and  

Transcription Notes:
Strontium was referred to at the time as Strontian.