542 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



deposits, the so-called ouyx marbles, or oriental alabasters, the lapis 

 oniscits, or onychites, of the Eomaus, It is the purpose of the writer 

 to present herewith in considerable detail the results of his own 

 researches and observations on this class of rocks, together with so 

 much additional information as can be gleaned from available sources. 



It is unfortunate in our discussion of the subject in hand, that both 

 the popular names by which these stones are known are erroneous and 

 misleading. The term onyx as properly used, includes a banded variety 

 of chalcedony — a purely siliceous rock — the name being derived from 

 the Greek <ryu^ or (r^uj(u>v, a nail, in allusion to the wavy bands by 

 which the stone is traversed, and its translucency, both of which are 

 characteristics of the nails upon tbe hand. That such a name should 

 have become applied to this particular variety of travertine is by no 

 means strange, since both the characteristics of banding and translu- 

 cency are often as pronounced as in the true onyx. And, inasmuch as 

 the name has become too firmly engrafted upon the literature to ever 

 become wholly eradicated, it is the name used here, but in its adjec- 

 tive form only, as descriptive of a kind of marble. 



The term alabaster as applied to the stone is even more misleading 

 than onyx, since both stones are used for nuich the same purposes, 

 and when reading published accounts we are not infrecprently at a 

 loss, unless descriptive qualities are mentioned, to know at all times 

 whether the material under discussion is a true alabaster (gypsum) or 

 an onyx marble. Thus Chateau * states that the alabasters are trans- 

 lucent, of a greater hardness than the marbles proper, and are hence 

 more expensive to work. Finally he says the alabasters "presenteut 

 des veines festonneeset onduleuses, que 1' on ne remarque jamais dans 

 les marbres avec cette meme irregularite." It is obvious that this is a 

 travertine and not a true alabaster. Again (on p. 453) he speaks of 

 " Valabatre dnr,^^ or '■^ealcaire,^' having a yellow or variegated tint, and 

 which is found in grottos and caverns in calcareous rocks. The '^ ala- 

 batre tendre'''' or '■'(jijpseux'''' of this writer is the true alabaster. 



Pliny, the elder, from whom we quoted at the beginning of this arti- 

 cle, wrote with an equal lack of perspicuity, though this perhaps is to 

 be little wondered at. He says: "Our forefathers imagined that onyx 

 was to be found only in the mountains of Arabia, and nowhere else, but 

 Sundines was aware that it is also found in Carmania. Drinking ves- 

 sels were made of it at first, and then the feet of beds and chairs. Cor- 

 nelius Nepos relates that great was the astonishment when P. Lentulus 

 Spinther exhibited amphorse made of this material, as large as Chian 

 wine vessels in size, 'and yet five years after,' says he, 'I saw columns 

 of this materml, no less than 2 and 30 feet in height.' At a more 

 recent period again some change took place with reference to this stone. 



Teclinokijrie du Batiment, Vol. ii, p. 448. 



