size, or at least in sizes such as the 

 nature of the beds will allow. Blast- 

 ing is never resorted to in a properly 

 managed quarry, since the shock of 

 the explosion is likely to develop 

 flaws in so tender a material. When 

 freed from the quarry bed and brought 

 to the surface the stone is sawn into 

 the desired shapes by means of " re- 

 ciprocating " blades of soft iron, the 

 cutting material being sand, washed 

 under the blades by small jets of 

 water. 



The use to which any particular 

 marble is put is governed largely by 

 its price and color, though texture or 

 grain often are taken into con- 

 sideration. The coarsely crystalline 

 white and white clouded marbles of 

 southern New York, Maryland, and 

 Georgia, are used almost wholly for 

 building purposes; the pink and varie- 

 gated marbles of Tennessee for interiors 

 and for furniture; while the white and 

 blue-grays of Vermont find a large 

 market for interiors, cemetery work, 

 tiling, and, to a much smaller extent, 

 for building. 



It was stated before that not all our 

 marbles were changed (metamor- 

 phosed) marine sediments. The ex- 

 ceptions are (i) the onyx marbles, 

 which, though composed of carbonate 

 of lime, like the last, are deposited 

 from solution, and (2) the so-called 

 verdantique marbles, which are mainly 

 altered eruptive rocks. These last 

 differ widely from those we have been 

 describing, being of a prevailing green 

 color, though often variegated with 

 white or red. They are, in fact, not to 

 be classed with the lime rocks at all. 

 The names verda?itique, verte antique, 

 and verde antique are but varying forms 

 of the same words, indicating a green 

 antique marble. The term antique has 

 been applied simply because stones of 

 this type were used by the ancients, 

 and particularly by the Romans. 



The so-called onyx marbles are, as 

 noted above, spring deposits, differing 

 from ordinary lime deposits only in 

 color and degree of compactness. The 

 name has also been made to include 

 the stalagmites and stalactites in caves, 

 such as were used by the ancient 

 Egyptians in the construction of ala- 



bastrons, amphorae, funeral urns, and 

 various household utensils. The ma- 

 terial is translucent and often beauti- 

 fully clouded and veined in amber, 

 green, yellow, and red colors. Owing 

 to its mode of origin it shows a beauti- 

 ful wavy banding, or grain, like the 

 lines of growth in the trunk of a tree 

 when cut across the bedding. This 

 fact, together with its translucency, has 

 been the cause of the wrong use for it 

 of the name onyx, which properly be- 

 longs to a banded variety of agate. 

 Equally wrong and misleading is the 

 name " oriental alabaster," which is 

 commonly applied to the Egytian vari- 

 ety, the true alabaster being a variety 

 of gypsum. 



The larger part of our onyx marbles 

 comes to-day from Mexico, though 

 there are equally good materials of 

 this type in Arizona and California. 



The foreign supplies come in part 

 from Egypt. Their use is almost 

 wholly for interior decoration, as wain- 

 scotings, and the like, and for tops to 

 small stands, bases for lamps, and so 

 forth. These are by far the most ex- 

 pensive of all the stones to which the 

 name marble is properly applied. 



Some of the most noted of our for- 

 eign marbles are those of Carrara, 

 Italy, which are ancient sediments 

 thought to have been changed 

 at the time of the uplifting which 

 formed the Apennines. They are of 

 white and blue-gray colors, sometimes 

 beautifully veined. A beautiful, mellow 

 yellow to drab variegated variety, very 

 close in texture and almost waxy in 

 appearance, is found near Siena, and is 

 known as Siena marble. It is a great 

 favorite for interior decorative work, as 

 may be seen to advantage in the vesti- 

 bule of the new public library building 

 in Boston, and the rotunda of the Na- 

 tional Library building at Washington. 



Other marbles, which at the present 

 time are great favorites with the archi- 

 tects, are the so-called Numidian mar- 

 bles, from Algeria. These are of yel- 

 low, pink, and red color, and often 

 beautifully mottled. Their textures 

 are so close that they take a surface 

 and polish almost like enamel. Since 

 their first hardening these beds have 

 been shattered like so much glass into 



