in the Appenlnes of Liguria, 299 



of a steatitic aspcgt, and presenting, when we look at it 

 through the microscope, very fine lineaments which unite 

 aboiU the centre of each globule. Here we have a true va^ 

 riolite, which ought not to be confounded with an amygda- 

 loid. The specimen I have described, and which was con- 

 founded with the other stones I have mentioned in the bed 

 of the Charavagna, is more remarkable from the globules 

 being distinct, a little projecting and distinct from each other, 

 a^ in the variolites of Durance, occupying one-third of the 

 size of the specimen ; they are also much nearer together, 

 and seem to touch, and they are confounded afterwards 5 

 forming at the extremity of the piece but a single couch 

 where the globules have disappeared, Jind where the same 

 substance of which they are composed no longer affects the 

 regular form. 



This stone fixed my attention, since it gave me reason to 

 expect a variolite analogous to that of Durance, in a place 

 where no jierson had met with it, or even suspected it to 

 exist. 



As the globules, however, of the true variolitfe belong to 

 a substance very like feldspar and fusible like it, and as I 

 have neither met with compact feldspar, (petro-silex of 

 the Germans,) nor feldspar under other forms ; I think the 

 round variolite which I found, was one of thofe stones 

 transported in great revolutions of the earth, and out of 

 its proper place. 



I made these refjections when advaricing up the bed of 

 the torrent ; but I suddenly discovered a stony mass of a 

 white or greenish hue, weighing more than thirty pounds, 

 which, at fjrst sight, awakened in my mind the idea of feld- 

 spar : it may be described as follows : 



9. Compact stone, with fine paste, translucid upon the 

 edges, soft to the touch, of a white slightly tinged wjth asr 

 paragus green, having the appearance of jade, breaking into 

 scales rather lamellous than conchoidal, scratching glass 

 strongly, and emitting some sparks when struck with steel ; 

 but it is not so hard as the jade. In the blow-pjpe it bub» 

 bles up almost as soon as the fire touches it, and melts very 

 soon into a yellowish transparent glass. On breaking this 

 2 stone. 



