Babingtonite is found as small black crystals on felspar in the granite of Baveno in Italy, and in the Haytor iron mine in Devonshire.
The formation is very uniform in its character, the gneiss having a red colour and containing small granules of magnetite, but, nevertheless, not a single iron mine belongs to this region.
In 1785 he was invited to Padua, but to retain his services his sovereign doubled his salary and allowed him leave of absence for a visit to Turkey, where he remained nearly a year, and made many observations, among which may be noted those of a copper mine in Chalki and of an iron mine at Principi.