The Beauty and Use of /risk B nil din f^ Stones. 181 



marble in the British Isles, as now in America, lies in 

 internal decoration. There is a most satisfactory taste for 

 marble panelling of walls, even in the palaces of nitrate-kings 

 and the sober haunts of stockbrokers. A splendid exhibit 

 of Irish marbles is formed by the entrance-hall of the new 

 museum in Dublin; while the green " ophicalcite " of Con- 

 nemara can be seen in perfection throughout the staircases 

 of that building and the National I^ibrary. When we consider 

 that the latter stone is practicall}^ unique, its nearest ally 

 being the Eozoonal limestone of Canada, it may be hoped that 

 in due time the quarry at Recess may be kept permanently 

 active. The rock seems, like the olivine-bearing masses on 

 Monte Somma, a product of contact-metamorphism ; and the 

 hydration of the olivine gives us the beautiful and varied green 

 of the serpentinous streaks and patches. This stone requires 

 to be cut up into slabs, from w^hich suitable ones must be 

 selected to be placed together; but its great charm is its 

 infinite variety — one cannot grow tired of it as one can of 

 Shap granite, or even of the beautiful Italian "Pavonazza." 

 There are more rocks in Donegal also than have ever yet 

 come out of it, and some of its marbles with silicates de- 

 veloped in them may in time prove attractive for ornamenta- 

 tion. 



Though the foregoing notes have, in the nature of the 

 subject, been somewhat utilitarian, I have endeavoured to 

 show that the beauty and utility of a building-stone are in 

 reality inseparable ideas. It is the business of practical men 

 to demonstrate the utility of the materials in which they deal ; 

 and to do this they must thoroughly appreciate and under- 

 stand them. This is, I take it, one of the aims of technical 

 education — to teach a man to get the best and noblest out 

 of the materials placed at his disposal. Such education should 

 be within the reach of every man who handles a crowbar in a 

 quarry; but with it comes a stimulus to better and firmer 

 work, such as no considerations of pounds, shillings, and 

 pence can ever give. The toiler among the rocks will learn 

 to feel the beauty of them, and of the long processes by which 

 they have finally come to be ; his work will become daih' 

 more true, more thoughtful, less mechanical ; and he will take 

 care that his use and handling of the stone shall be alwa5\s for 

 the perfecting of its beaut}-. 



