300 GeologJcal Journey to Mmint. Ramazzo 



stone, we perceived, some partsf, of a lively apple-grccn, ar- 

 ranged in small elongated laminae, flat arfd of a silky lustre, 

 owing to the diallagc. 



I consider this stone as a true compact feldspar, mixed 

 with a little steatitic- serpentine, and with iridescence 

 {(iiallage): it is this mixture which contributes, perhaps, to 

 its great fusibility. I found another piece of it weighing 

 more than twelve pounds. 



With the blow- pipe I made a comparative trial of the 

 greenish-white globules of the variolite No. 8, which I 

 found in the bed of the torrent, and they bubbled up and 

 melted with the same facility as the stone I have described. 

 Now, as the latter was of a large volume, and did not ap- 

 pear to come from any distance, for its angles were scarcely 

 abraded, I presumed that it should abound in some parts of 

 the neighbouring mountains, in the direction of the torrent 

 which had received these fragments, and that it v/as perhaps 

 found in a furrow, or mixed into the paste itself of some of 

 the serpentines, which T thought 1 should find in its proper 

 place. In fact, it was natural to think that the junction 

 of the molecules of feldspar in globules, at the time of the 

 formation of these mountains, might have given rise to va- 

 riolltes analogous to those known by the name of varioUtcs 

 (f Durance ; and thence I did not lose hopes of finding this 

 kind of stone in the same rock which contributed to its 

 formation. 



10. Finallv, the bed of the torrent, in proportion as I ad- 

 vanced, presented me with various fragments of a compact 

 calctreous stone, hard and of a fine paste, susceptible of 

 beinn; polished, with some veins of calcareous spar which 

 traversed it ; I saw also some of the same spar adhering to a 

 rein of white quartz. 



These calcareous stones found in a considerable number, 

 beside the serpentine, magnesian, and feldsparry stones I have 

 mentioned, left me also some hope of being able to observe 

 the points of contact of the magnesian with the calcareous 

 rock in a country quite free of wood, and torn up by tor- 

 rents, presenting great hills and deep ravines. Reflecting 

 in this manner, I advanced a little further, and in a deep 



