270 REPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1886. 



white 15 carat cut stone from Pike's Peak, Colo., wliicli is not surj)assed 

 in beauty by the brilliant white 4-carat (Minas Novas) from Minas- 

 Geraes, in Brazil. A G-carat orange-yellow stone, also from Minas- 

 GeraeSjis quite characteristic of the topaz, which is most commonly used 

 in jewelry. A series of two cut stones, of 5 and 8 carats respectively, 

 and a number of crystal fragments show the effect, which heat has upon 

 some varieties of topaz. These si)ecimens vary in color from dark pink 

 to white, according to the degree of calorification. 



Among the garnets are ten flat, brilliant-cut stones, one carbuncle, 

 two long table-cut stones, and six rosecutfrom Bohemia; six Tyrolese 

 red garnets, three essonites (usually sold as hyacinths by the jewelers), 

 4 carats, 1| and one-quarter carat from Ceylon, six small brilliant-cut 

 stones from Cape Colony, and'a series, cut and uncut, from New Mexico, 

 which furnishes the finest garnets in the world in point of color. In 

 addition to these, we notice a 1-carat and a 1^-carat demantoid (green 

 garnet or Uralian emerald) from Bobrowska Eiver, Syssersk, in the 

 Urals, and a brownish-green 2-carat stone from the same locality. 



From New Mexico we have a fine yellowish-green jieridot or olivine, 

 of iii carats, called chrysolite by the mineralogist, but not by the jew- 

 eler; also a number of pebbles of the same, known as "Job's Tears" 

 locally (from their pitted, tear-like appearance). The Orient is repre- 

 sented by a beautiful olive-green cut stone of about 18 carats weight. 



From the zircons or jargons we may single out for remark a number 

 of small cut stones, steel-blue, yellowish-brown, yellow, and white, the 

 latter color being often produced by heating. Stones of this kind were 

 at one time used for iucrusting watches, which were then sold as diamond- 

 incrusted. Next we observe a fine, rich, hyacinth-colored gem (the true 

 hyacinth of the mineralogist), a 2-carat green, a yellow, an orange, and 

 a long brownish-green 3-carat stone, all from Ceylon. The 2-carat axi- 

 nite, from Dauphiuy, is one of the rarest of gems. A G-carat greenish- 

 brown epidote, from the Knappenwand, the well-known locality in 

 Tyrol, should be mentioned. 



Here, too, is a one-fourth-carat idocrase from Ala, in Piedmont. This 

 mineral, which received the name of vesuvianite, because it is found 

 among the formations in the lava at Vesuvius, is sold by the Neapolitan 

 jewelers, and used to make the letters I and Y in the manufacture of 

 initial or sentimental pieces of jewelry. The same mineral is found at 

 Sanford, Me., and other localities here, but rarely in gem form. 



lolite (dichroite, cordierite), or water sapphire {sapJiire-(Veau), as it is 

 also called, is here seen in the form of a flat-cut stone of 2 carats' 

 weight from Ceylon, and a(;ube one-fourth inch S(|uare from Bodenmais, 

 Bavaria. These are not comparable with ouq found at Haddam, Conn., 

 that was worn as a charm by the late Dr. Torrey. This stone has 

 dichroic jiroperties; if viewed in one direction it appears blue; if in 

 another, pure white. 



The Scarat titanite or yellow sphene is from the Tavetschthal, in the 



