1888.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNLTED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 115 



ON NEPHRITE AND JADEITE.* 

 BY F. W. CLARKE AND G. P. MERRILL. 



(With Plate xxxin.) 



Iii the ethnological collections of the U. S. National Museum there 

 are many objects of jadeite, nephrite, and of various jade-like stones. 

 They represent a wide range of localities, especially as regards the 

 North American specimens ; and in their external characteristics they 

 exhibit great variety in color, texture, and quality. Some came from 

 regions which have already been well studied : but others, as in the 

 series of objects from Alaska and Costa Eica, seemed to merit ad 

 ditional investigation ; and at the earnest desire of the late Professor 

 Baird we undertook their miueralogical description. With anthropo- 

 logical questions Ave have had nothing to do; in each case the nature 

 and character of the material has been our sole study. 



In Alaskan specimens the Museum is, as might naturally be expected, 

 particularly rich. Since the acquisition of that Territory by the United 

 States, it has been visited by many official expeditions, and their as- 

 sembled collections represent the entire coast line from Point Barrow 

 to its southernmost extremity. If we except the remarkable hammers 

 of jade-like pectolite from Point Barrow described by one of us some 

 years ago,t all of the Alaskan jades are true nephrites, indistinguisha- 

 ble in most particulars from the nephrites of Siberia, New Zealand, or 

 the Swiss Lake dwellings. In general terms this nephrite is coarse in 

 quality ; but occasionally objects are seen having high finish, some trans- 

 lucency, and great beauty. Of course such objects could not be sac- 

 rificed to so destructive an investigation as ours, even though we en- 

 deavored to injure specimens as little as possible. In each case in which 

 analysis seemed desirable the necessary material was carefully sawed 

 off, and as little was taken as would suffice for our purposes. The fol- 

 lowing objects were more or less fully examined by us : 



43415. Part of adze, Capo Prince of Wales. 

 43440. Material for drill, St. Michaels. 

 44606. Knife- sharpener, Cape Nome. 



44920. Knife-sharpener, Sledge Island. 



44921. Knife-sharpener, Sledge Island. 



44922. Knife-sharpener, Sledge Island. 

 63715. Stone implement, Diomede Island. 

 63733. Small knife, Diomede Island. 

 63762. Sharpening tool, Hotham Inlet. 

 89622. Knife-sharpener, Point Barrow. 

 896. r )8. Stone adze, Point Barrow. 



* In this investigation the chemical work is entirely due to F. W. Clarke, and the 

 microscopio work to G. P. Merrill. » 



tClarke, Amor, Jour. Sci,, 1884. 



