On the Emery of Commerce. 319 



The Nicaria emery, in many instances, presents a slaty 

 or lamellated structure to a very remarkable degree, so 

 much so that certain specimens might pass for gneiss. The 

 colour is dark blue, and somewhat mottled, like that of 

 Naxos. There is also much that is quite compact that is 

 found in the same locality. The lamellated variety contains 

 an abundance of a micaceous mineral, vy^hich in this instance 

 appears to have determined its structure. 



The Samos emery ^ as yet found only in small quantities, 

 and in the form of nodules, is uniformly of a dark blue 

 colour, sometimes of a coarse-grained, and at other times of 

 a fine-gi^ained structure, not unlike certain varieties of a very 

 compact blue limestone. 



Emery, at first sight, might be confounded w^ith several ores 

 of iron ; as magnetic iron, certain varieties of iron glance, 

 and sometimes with chromate of iron. 



Geographical Distribution. — Prior to the latter part of the 

 year 1846, the period when Mr Lawrence Smith, the American 

 missionary, discovered emery in Asia Minor, emery was sup- 

 plied to the arts almost entirely from the Island of Naxos, 

 in the Grecian Archipelago ; and the proprietors of the mines 

 there controlled completely the price of this substance. The 

 emery from Naxos frequently went under the name of 

 Smyrna emery, from the fact of its coming to us from that 

 port, where it is originally carried from the island for future 

 exportation. 



Prior to 1846, the existence of emery in large quantities was 

 not remarked in Asia Minor, or any of the contiguous islands, 

 except that of Samos, which fact is alluded to in Tournefort's 

 travels in the seventeenth century. "In the latter part of 1846," 

 says Mr Smith,"! arrived in Smyrna, and was shown specimens 

 which I recognised as emery that came from a place about 

 twenty miles north of Smyrna ; they had been first discovered 

 through the agency of a knife-grinder of the country, who 

 had been in the habit of using it to charge his wheels with. 

 The importance of this circumstance to the Turkish govern- 

 ment as well as to the arts (emery being at that time sold at 

 a most exorbitant price) induced me to return to Smyrna in 



