AG ATI ZED AND JASPERIZED WOOD OF ARIZONA. 365 



quartz, aud calcite, which add their brilliancy to the endless variety of 

 color. 



Beautiful as the wood is to the naked eye, a microscope is needed 

 to reveal its true beauty. Not only does the glass enhance the colors, 

 but it also renders visible the structure, which has been perfectly pre- 

 served even to the forms of the minute cells, and is more beautiful 

 now than before the transformation. 



Dr. P. H. Dudley, of New York, microscopically examined some 

 sections of this wood, and finds that part of it at least belongs to the 

 genus Araucaria. He says that the Araucaria excelsa, the Norfolk 

 Island pine of the South Pacific Ocean, grows to a height of from one 

 hundred and fifty to two hundred feet. In radical longitudinal section, 

 the lenticular markings on the wood-cells near each end are in double 

 rows and contiguous, the markings of one row alternating with those 

 of the other, giving the appearance of the beautiful hexagonal mark- 

 ings of this genus. In central portions of the cells sometimes only one 

 row of markings is seen, and some cells show only one row. Medul- 

 lary rays were indistinct. 



Other portions resembled our red cedar {Juniperus Virginianus) 

 when grown in the extreme South. The cell-structure of some indi- 

 cates a growth in a mild and uniform climate, the annular rings being 

 marked only by one, two, three, or more, slightly smaller hexagonal 

 or rounded cells, not tabular, as is usually the case. The cell-walls 

 were nearly uniform in thickness. All the specimens examined showed 

 that the wood originally was undergoing decay before being filled 

 with the various media which afterward solidified. On some of the 

 specimens traces of fungi {mycelium), causing decay, were discovered. 

 The beauty of the wood is largely due to the destructive influence 

 of fungi. 



Agate-cutting has been carried on as an industry for over three 

 hundred years, in the Oberstein district, in Germany, but little atten- 

 tion has been paid heretofore to the cutting of large masses, because 

 few agates are found over a foot in diameter, and the banding is not 

 such as to offer much inducement. But in the future this material 

 will doubtless be in great demand for interior house-decoration, 

 where it can be advantageously used as inlays in wood or stone ; for 

 paneling and wainscoting walls ; for tiling ; and, if desired, for en- 

 tire floors. Whole table-tops could be made of the largest size from a 

 single section of one of these giant trees, and the design would be 

 Nature's own incomparable handiwork. For mosaic-work it would 

 also find a ready use, since the infinite diversity of color would afford 

 an ample field for the imagination of the skillful artisans employed at 

 this industry. 



The rich, warm, blending colors, and the remarkable polish that 

 this material is susceptible of, are the main features that will always 

 give it a high place among minerals of its class. In fact, it is a ques- 



