JOURNAL 



OF 



NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, CHEMISTRY, 



AND 



THE ARTS. 



FEBRUARr 1799. 



ARTICLE I. 

 On the Corundum Stone from Afta. By the Right Hon. CHARLES GrEP'ILLE, F. R. S *. 



H. 



Analyfi cryftaUoriim, tarn cjufdem quam diverfae figurae, multum lucis fcientia expeftat. 



Bergman, Opufc. de Terra Gemmarum. 



. AVING contributed to bring into notice the mineral fubftance from the Eaft-Indies, 

 which is generally called adamantine fpar, I beg leave to lay before the Royal Society the 

 following account of its hiftory and Introduction, 



About the year 1 767, or 1 768, Mr. William Berry, a very refpefkable man, and an emi- 

 nent engraver of ftone, at Edinburgh, received from Dr. Anderfon, of Madras, a box of 

 cryftals, with information of their being the material ufed by the natives of India to polifli 

 cryftal, and all gems but diamonds. Mr. Berry found that they cut agate, cornelian, &c. 

 but in his minute engraving of figures upon feals, &e. the fuperior hardnefs of the diamond 

 appeared preferable 5 and its difpatch compenfatcd for the price : the cryftals were therefore 

 laid afide as curiofities. Dr. Black afcertained their being different from other ftoncs ob- 

 ferved in Europe ; and their hardnefs attached to them the name of adamantine fpar. My 

 friend, Colonel Cathcart, fent me its native name. Corundum, from India, with fome fpecimens 

 given to him by Dr. Anderfon in 1784, which I diftributed for analyfis. 



When the native name was obtained, it appeared from Dr. Woodward's catalogue of 

 foreign foffils, publiflied about the year 17 19, that the fame fubftance had been fent to him 

 by his correfpondent Mr. Bulkley. 



In his firft catalogue of foreign foflils, p. 6. ^. 17. " Nella corivindum is found in fields 

 where the rice grows : it is commonly thrown up by field rats, and ofed, as we do emery, to 

 folifli iron*" 



• Philofophical Tranfaftions, 179S, p. 403. 



Vol. II. — Feb. 1799. 3 CJ^ Page 



