Nov. 1, m6:\ 



tll£ fl^Ol^iCAL AGI^tetJfLTUmSf. 



Sii 



MilQiO(n«uiij!i i t ii i riTf i in« ijtMi_M », 



turuing are also on view — a carved elepliant, an ele- 

 phant hunting scene in a jungle by Morgan Brothers 

 — a cashew tree with crows, a crab and lobster, by 

 Mr. A. T. t'ernaucio, a Buddhist Dagoba, by W. A. 

 Fernando, and other articles including models of the 

 sifter and tools employed in preparing the graphite 

 after extraction. Nearly one-half the entire quantity 

 produced in Oeylon is exported to the United .Statues, 

 the other moiety is distributed between this country, 

 the Continent, and India. 



The ironstone found largely in the southern 

 provinces is of excellent (luality. A true bog 

 iron ore is exhibited from Kumilamzunai, in the 

 RfuUaitivoe district, by the Government of Ceylon. It is 

 found as large boulders and gravel, and was formerly 

 smelted by the Sinhalese and used for tools, weapons, 

 and other articles. Although of a rude character, these 

 have been found to possess a fine temper, and to be 

 not inferior to those made of the finest Swedish metal. 

 Talc has been found in the province of Uva, and speci- 

 men are on view. A few building stones are exhibited 

 by the Government, including pedestals of a massive 

 gneiss, both polished and unpolished from Mahara, 

 Western Province, showing but little evidence of feli- 

 ation. Gneiss appears to be the chief geological feature 

 of the island, and is overlaid by a dolomitic limes- 

 tone, hand specimens of which are also on view. A 

 pedestal of a highly crystaline limestone from the 

 Dolosbage district, and a coarse, gritty sandstone from 

 the sea coast, in the neighbourhood of Colombo, are 

 prominent stones in this collection. And this very in- 

 teresting sandstone is also to be seen slashed with 

 dark curving lines of foreign minerals, which seem 

 to be small octohedral magnetite, and garnets in 

 small grains. We again meet with laterite, or, as 

 it is called in Ceylon, cabook, in masses of suit- 

 able size for building purposes. Some interesting 

 blocks of coral-rock are also exhibited from the 

 Peninsula of Jaffna, Northern Province, where it forms 

 the principal rock of the country. Finally, Mr. A. 

 M. Ferguson has a good red granite from Veyangoda, 

 Western Province. 



Oeylon produces almost every variety of gem 

 commercially valuable, with the exception of the 

 diamond ; but the principal are rubies, the sap- 

 phire, cat's-eye, and the moonstone. The gems 

 are chiefly obtained from the alluvial plains at the 

 foot of the Saffragam Hills not, however, in the 

 recent alluvium, but in an older and similar 

 stratum, known as nellau usually at a depth of 

 10 ft. to 20 ft. from the surface. It is separated from the 

 overlying recent alluvium by a hard crust called liadiia, 

 a few inches in thickness. The gem drift is composed 

 of waterworn pebbles and blocks of granite embedded 

 in clay. In 1884, oOO of these gem diggings existed. 

 The chief producing district of sapphires and rubies 

 is within a small radius around the town of Ratua- 

 pura (City of Gems), in the Western Province, and 

 near Kakwana. 



The Ceylon Government have been much assisted 

 in their exhibit of the gems of the island, by the 

 loan of some exceedingly fine examples and suites 

 of stones by the following gentlemen, Messrs. C. H, de 

 Soysa, .}. i'.;E.O. Nockold, E. W. Streeter, Hunt and 

 lloskell; W, J. Tripp; O. L. M. Macau Marikar ; A. h. 

 Meera Ismail Lebbe ; A. L. M. Mohamadu ; Captain 

 F. Bayleyi and A. de Beer. The Sapphires of Ceylon 

 are very variable in colour, which is by no means con- 

 fined to shades of blue as is very generally supposed, 

 but embraces all colours and their shades, until they 

 approach that of the rose-red, Avhenthey are included 

 under the ruby. The blue stones range from a pale 

 azure blue, througn deepening tints to inky black, 

 when it is useless as a gem-stone, the most valuable 

 of those tints being the velvety blue found in the dis- 

 trict of Rakwana. Some very fine examples of these 

 are shewn, also a very large suite illustrating their 

 range of other colours besides blue. These form a 

 large part of the contents of two cases lent by R. C. 

 Nockold, eaoh of whicli contains 221 facetted stones 

 of high quality and beauty. Noteworthy also are 

 the sapphire and ruby star stones, the characteristic 

 feature oi which lwwev«r, is ouly well isecu uuder direct 



instead of diffused light, as daylight. Like the other 

 varieties of corundum, the star stouo or " Asteria" 

 varies nuich in colour, but is usually of shades of sap- 

 phire blue or of ruby red. These stones are almost most 

 peculiar to Ceylon. 



The Ceylon Ruby is iisually of a rich rose, vary- 

 ing iu intensity, and differs in this respect from the 

 Burniali ruby, which is mostly of a pigeon-blood 

 colour ; it also differs in its brilliancy, and " has 

 considerably more light and life." A peculiar kind 

 of chatoyance or as soiae may express it, a " silki- 

 ness " is characteristic of most of the rubies of Ceylon. 

 Of this stone a remarkably fine example is shown by 

 Mr. de Soysa, valued at £450. AVith this may be 

 coupled a tine exhibit of 49 unusually fine examples 

 of this rare gem which are designated as " specimen 

 rubies." 



Some really magnificent examples of the true " cat's 

 eye " which is a stone also peculiar to Ceylon are 

 exhibited. One of those belongs to a " Moorman," 

 and is valued by him at €3,000. This mineral is a 

 chatoyant variety of the species chrysoberyl. The 

 finest are found in the gem pits of Morowa Korle. 

 Like the star stone these chatoyant stones require 

 the aid of direct, instead of diffused light, to developo 

 the characteristic band to which they owe their 

 name. 



Another variety of chrysoberyl is the " Alexan- 

 drite," which was first found in the emerald niineg 

 of Ekaterinburg, Government of Perm, Russia, where 

 it occurred frei|uently in large twined crystals of 

 the same type as those of the chrysoberyl of Brazil 

 and Ceylon, but, rarely of sufficient transparency to 

 admit being facetted as a gem. Its colour in day- 

 light varies from that of a dark emerald-green to a 

 smoky or sometimes bottle-green, but it possesses the 

 peculiarity of exhibiting a raspberry to a columbine- 

 red colour when exposed to artificial light. A stone 

 weighing about 23 carats is one of (if not the most) 

 beautiful example of this peculiar mineral we have 

 yet had the pleasure of examining. Quite new to 

 us is a single example of a chatoyant variety of 

 this stone, designated as an "Alexandrite Cat's-Eye." 



The moonstone, hitherto in our opinion a much neg- 

 lected stone, is, we learn, meeting with a greater amount 

 of favour. Numerous examples illustrating its adaptabi- 

 lit3' for ornaments of personal decoration in the way of 

 brooches, necklaces, scarfpins, &c., are shown. This 

 variety of felspar is found in considerable quantities of 

 varying quality iu a pegmatite rock. The other gems 

 shown are the varieties of zircon, (the jargoon and hya- 

 cinth or jacynth), the lustre of which approaches 

 nearer to that of the diamond than any other known 

 mineral ; cinnamon stone, a variety of garnet often sold 

 as jacj'nth, which, however, is an exceedingly rare min- 

 eral. Most of the above minerals are also represented 

 iu their natural state as found, both those fit and unfit 

 for facetting purposes. Finally, a large crystal of quartz 

 is shown enclosing numerous cavities (some of consider- 

 able dimensions), each of which contains a fluid and 

 a moveable bubble, which recalls to mind the equally 

 interesting example from Brazil preserved in tho 

 National Collection of Bliiierals in the Natural History 

 Museum. — Minintj Journal. 



At the British Pharmaceutical Conference an interest- 

 ing paper on the CoimEL.vno.v ov Sri-nv ix Boiaxy 

 AM) M.VJ'ERTA Medic.v was admirably read by 

 the author. Professor Hillhouse, of the Mason College. 

 The arguments set forth were based in a great mea- 

 sure on the requirements of the medical .student, 

 but Professor Hillhouse struck a chord of symp;ithy 

 with a section of his audience in declaring that 

 pharmacy is a part of the medical profession. Thy 

 paper was intended as the basis of an arrangement 

 for future consideration, and the subjects advanced 

 were (1) a thorough training in pharmacognosy, 

 pharmacogenesis, pharmacy, posology, and therapeutics ; 

 and (2) a comprehensive course of histological work. 

 The author re^'retted the abolition of botanical studies 

 by some medical qualifying bodies, and this was taken 

 as the key-note by some of the speakers who followed. 

 Dr, Triuieu— the wvll-kuowu botanist— could not agree 



