ETHNOLOGY. 403 



be, as the eminent English mineralogist, Kidd, supposes, that such varie- 

 ties have really existed, their localities are exhausted or lost. 



As regards the orange jade, M. Jacquemart hesitates about recogniz- 

 ing it, and refers to a sale-catalogue, where a vase, supposed to be made 

 of it, is stated to be an oriental sardonyx of an amber-yellow color. 



The old oriental travelers believed jade to be a variety either of 

 marble or of agate. Abel Eemusat, in a curious dissertation, supposes 

 the jade to be the celebrated stone Kasch, or the ancient jasper, which 

 has been, in all ages, brought from the Himmalaya Mouutaius into 

 Asiatic countries. Theophrastus, who was learned in minerals, unites 

 jasper and emerald under one species. Dionysius Periegetes describes 

 it as a green transparent substance, comparing it with air and water for 

 translucency, all of which is rather applicable to aqua-marine, although 

 his commentator, Eustathius, calls attention to the word used by 

 Dionysius. The pseudo Orpheus, of whom we have an apocryphal 

 poem on precious stones, probably alluded to this kind of jasper when 

 he speaks of it as the color of spring; which can bear no other interpre- 

 tation than of a green tint. Finally, Dioscorides says positively that 

 certain jaspers bear a resemblance to emeralds, others to a crystal, the 

 Callais, which is a stone of a pale green or sea-green hue. Pliny, the 

 naturalist, affirms that jasper is of the color of the emerald, and that 

 it is worn as an amulet in all eastern countries. 



The separation of jade and jasper into different species is somewhat 

 modern, as M. Clement Mullet judiciously remarks ; that it was effected 

 only about 1647, when the third edition of Boetius was published, for 

 it is seen in the treatise of Jean de Laet d'Anvers, concerning gems 

 and stones, at the end of the volume, that jade is treated of as jasper. 

 Now, however, the two minerals are regarded as entirely distinct. Jade 

 is a silicate of alumina and lime, and jasper is a variety of quartz. 



The white variety, called oriental jade, is the hardest of all. It 

 melts when in fragments without any flux, and is readily fused. Chemi- 

 cal analysis presents the following composition : 



Silex 59.50 



Magnesia 31. 00 



Alumina 10. 00 



Oxide of iron 5. 50 



Water 2. 75 



Oxide of chrome ; 5. 00 



Lime « 2.00 



The specific gravity of the principal varieties, according to M. Damour: 



White oriental jade 2. 900 



Grayish jade . 3. 003 



Dull green jade 3. 017 



Jadeite, grayish- white, and of pearly aspect 3. 344 



Jadeite, bluish-gray variety - 3. 336 



Jadeite, emerald-green, or imperial jade 3. 338 



