[UNITED STATES CONSULAR REPORTS. SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 10.] SULPHUR MINES IN SICILY. BY PHILLIP CARROLL, U. S. CONSUL, PALERMO. Sulphur, or brimstone, is a hard, brittle substance of various colors, from brilliant yellow to dark brown, without smell when cool, of a mild taste, and burns with a pale blue flame, emitting pungent and suffocating fumes. Its specific gravity is from 1.9 to 2.1. Sulphur exists more or less in all known countries, but the island of Sicily, it is thought, is the only place where it is produced on a large scale, and consequently that island appears to command the market. Small quantities have been found in the north of Italy, the Grecian Archipelago, Russia, Austria, Poland, France, Spain, eastern shores of Egypt, Tunis, Iceland, Brazil, Central America, and the United States. Large quantities are said to exist in various countries of Asia, but it is understood to be impracticable to utilize the same, consequent upon the distance from any commercial port and the absence of rail or other roads. Sulphur is of two kinds, one of which is of volcanic emanation, the other being closely allied to sedimentary rocks. The latter is found in Sicily, on the southern and central portions of the island. Mount Etna, situated in the east, seems to exert no influence in the formation of brimstone. There are various hypotheses relative to its natural formation. Dr. Philip Swarzenburg attributes it to the emanations of sulphur vapor expelled from metallic matter existing in the earth, consequent upon the fire in the latter, while Professors Hoffman and Bischoff ascribe it to the decomposition of sulphureted hydrogen. Hoffman believes the sulphureted hydrogen must have passed through the fissures of stratified rocks, but Bischoff is of opinion that the sulphureted hydrogen must have been the result of the decomposition of sulphate of lime in the presence of organic matter. The theory of others is that sulphur owes its origin to the combination of lacustrine deposits with vegetable matter, and others again suppose that it is due to the action of the sea upon animal remains. The huge banks of rock salt often met with in the vicinity of sulphur mines, and which in some places stretch for a distance of several miles, seem to indicate that the sea has worked its way into the subsoil. Fish and insects, which are frequently found in strata of tripoli, which lie under sulphur beds, induce the belief that lakes formerly existed in Sicily. The following is a list of the various strata which form part of the crust of the earth in Sicily, according to Professor Mottura, an Italian geologist: _Pliocene._--Sandstone; coarse calcareous rock; marl. _Upper Miocene._--Calcareous marl; gypsum, etc.; sulphur embedded in calcareous limestone; silicious limestone; tripoli, containing fossils of fish, insects' eggs, etc. _Middle Miocene._--Sandstone containing quartz, intercalated with marl of a saltish taste.