364 TALAFITTES, OR LACUSTRIAN CONSTRUCTIONS 



from Meilen, on Lake Zurich ; one from Moosseedorf, in the canton of Berne ; 

 and one from Concise, on Lake Neuchatel, with the following results : 



No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No. 5. 



Silicacid 57.10 56.50 5(5.90 58.89 56.14 



Alumine 22.40 0.48 



Magnesia 20.60 20.09 20..37 1.28 22.68 



Linie 12.76 13.27 1294 3.12 11.12 



Oxidulated iron 6.30 6.75 7.03 1.66 4.66 



manganese 0.05 0.42 0.67 1.13 



Oxide of zinc 0.73 



Soda 12.86 



Potassium 0.49 



Water 3.25 3.50 2.80 0.20 3.72 



100.66 100..53 100.74 101.63 99.93 



It follows that four of these fragments, Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 5, have nearly the 

 same composition ; while No. 4, from Moosseedorf, would correspond to the 

 green jade or jadeite of M. Damour. It would represent a new hi-silicate in 

 the group of feldspaths, or alkaline silicate of aluminum, resembling in many- 

 respects oligoclas. On the other hand, the four identical fragments agree in a 

 striking manner with the analyses which M. Scheerer* has made of the true 

 oriental nephrite, and especially with his analysis No. 7, which yielded him : 

 Silic acid, 57.10; alumine, 0.72; magnesia, 23.29; lime, 13.48; oxide iron, 

 3.39 ; oxide mangan., ; water, 2.50. 



M. de Fellenberg thinks that, in view of this remarkable correspondence, 

 and to the extent that chemical composition can be made subservient to ethno- 

 graphy, it must be admitted that the hatchets of Meilen and Concise are of the 

 true nephrite, while that of Moosseedorf is the green oriental jade. " It might, 

 indeed," adds M. de Fellenberg, "be asked whether the nephrites of our lacus- 

 trian stations be not of Alpine origin, like the serpentine hatchets which accom- 

 pany them, since we iind in the Grisons and in Valais the same masses of ser- 

 pentine talcose and chloritic schists which in New Zealand accompany the true 

 nephrites, and of which these last are but emanations, (by segregation.) But 

 as yet the facts have not confirmed this hypothesis, so that, until proof of the 

 contrary, the hypothesis of the oriental origin of the nephrite appears the most 

 just and probable." 



Without making pretensions to combat deductions drawn from investigations 

 so precise and conscientious as those of M. de Fellenberg, we cannot help observ- 

 ing that if the Asiatic origin of nephrite in itself presents difficulties, by attrib- 

 uting to the tribes of the age of stone commercial relations with India, Persia, 

 or Arabia, these difficulties appear to us still greater, if not, iudeed, insurmount- 

 able, when the question concerns the pursuit of this nephrite in China, New 

 Zealand, or New Caledonia.t As regards the fragments of white coral which 

 have been found at Concise, they might well pertain, like the fragment of amber 

 at Meilen, to the age of bronze, some vestiges of Avhich exist in each of these 

 stations. 



* Rammelsberg, Mineralchemie, p. 777, note. The green jade should not be confounded 

 v/ith .saussurite, which, according to M. Damour, presents the following composition: Si- 

 lex, 0.50U9; alumine, 0.2505; oxide of h'on, 0.0250; lime, 0.1061 ; manganese, 0.0576; soda, 

 0.0404. The chief difference consists in the much less considerable quantity of soda. (Let- 

 ter of M. Damour to Dr. Clement.) 



t It is from New Caledonia that proceed the beautiful translucid nephrites, of a delicate 

 green color, which form an ornament of the museum of Montpolier. As we go to press, the 

 ComjTtes Rcndiis of the Academy of Sciences of Paris (25th and 2dth August, I8l)l) bring us, 

 on this much-controverted question, a remarkable memoir of M. Damour "On the composi- 

 tion of the hatchets of stone found in Celtic monuments and among savage tribes," {Comptes 

 Jiendus, T. LXl,) which we cannot but commend to the attention of om- readers. 



