1 70 Parallel of Rome de I' Isle's and 



sent from Spain a quantity of this substance to Paris : some 

 of it was purchased by the Ecole dcs M nes, and Vauquelin 

 was desired to analyse it. The latter soon suspected Achard 

 had been misled by the name, and had not obtained the pro- 

 per substance; amistake the more easily made, as, says Vau- 

 quelin, " the name of chrysolite was given to a great variety of 

 stones, such as the peridot, the cknjsoberil, the olivine (since 

 found to be the same as the peridot), and in general to stones 

 having a yellow colour." He observed that the chrysolite 

 sent from Spain contained limeand phosphoric acid. " I had 

 no sooner made this discovery," says he, " than I inquired 

 of Abbe Haiiy whether he had compared the integrant par- 

 ticles of the chrysolite with those of the apatite or crystal- 

 lized phosphate of lime. He answered me that he had not 

 made the comparison, but that he would get his papers on 

 primitive forms, " (this was four years before the publication 

 of his work) " see what notes he had made on each of those 

 substances, and immediately compare them together ; when 

 with pleasure he found that there was not the least variation 

 between them. Thus had the Abbe Haiiy discovered, by 

 the help of geometry alone, that which I confirmed by che- 

 mical analysis ; and this satisfactory accord between two 

 sciences apparently so distant from each other, while secu- 

 ring each other's steps, serves also to show the certainty of 

 the principles on which they are grounded." — Journal des 

 Mines, xxxvii. p. 21. 



A more singular anecdote is what took place with respect 

 to the emerald and the btril. Vauquelin had analysed 

 the emerald of Peru, and read the result of it at a sitting 

 of the Ecole des Mines, which is preserved in the jour- 

 nal, (No. xxxviii. p. 96.) viz. of silex 64, ofalumine 29, 

 oxide of chrome 3, of lime 1 , and of volatile substance 2 ; 

 I have neglected decimals. Soon after he discovered a new 

 earth, which he called the glucine, and gives the following 

 account of it to the National Institute: — " The Abbe Haiiy 

 having observed a perfect conformity between the structure, 

 the hardness, and the weight of the beril and the emerald, 

 pressed me a few months back to make an analysis of these 

 two substances, to know whether they contained the same 

 principles, and in similar proportions. In the result, the t fact 

 that will most interest the Institute is the discovery of a new 

 earth, &c. k,c."—(Annales de Chymie, vol.xxvi. p. 157.) 



I am certain, sir, it will give you no less pleasure to 

 learn that Vauquelin, in consequence of this discovery, made 

 an addition to the paper read at the Ecole des Mines, begin- 

 ning thus : u Since the reading of the above paper, having 

 fiiscoyered a new earth in the berilj and as this stone, ac- 

 cording 



