1885.] NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 11 



Here we have every imaginable shade of red, yellow, brown, and 

 green. Sometimes the colors appear in distinct spots, forming 

 a mottled appearance, then again all blend so imperceptibly as 

 to make a much more pleasing and harmonious effect than the 

 decided banding of the agate, where the lines of demarcation 

 between the colors are so distinct as to become obtrusive. The 

 colors above mentioned are often relieved by white, black, and 

 gray, and by transparent spaces of brilliant quartz crystals, or — 

 as sometimes occurs — of amethyst. 



Broken sections of the hollow trunks. are often lined with 

 amethyst, quartz, and calcite, which add their brilliancy to the 

 endless variety of color. 



Beautiful as the wood is to the naked eye, a microscope is 

 needed to reveal its true beauty. Not only does the glass en- 

 hance the colors, but it also renders visible the structure, which 

 has been perfectly preserved even to the forms of the minute 

 cells, and is more beautiful now than before the transformation. 



Agate-cutting has been carried on as an industry for over three 

 hundred years, in the Oberstein district, in Germany; but little 

 attention has been paid heretofore to the cutting of large masses, 

 because few agates are found over a foot in diameter, and the 

 banding is not such as to offer much inducement. But in the 

 future this material will doubtless be in gre.it demand for inte- 

 rior house decoration, where it can be advantageously used as in- 

 lays in wood or stone; for panelling and wainscoting walls; for 

 tiling; and, if desired, for entire floors. Whole table-tops of the 

 largest size could be made from a single section of one of these 

 giant trees, and the design would be Nature's own incomparable 

 handiwork. For mosaic work it would also find a ready use, 

 since the infinite diversity of color would afford an ample field 

 for the imagination of the skilful artisans employed in this in- 

 dustry. 



As before stated, the deposit has been estimated at a million 

 tons, but probably not more than a thousand tons would be suit- 

 able for the purposes of art, while for finer work only a small 

 par: of this would be available. One instance should be noted 

 to show the high estimation in which the wood is held by for- 

 eigners. A Eussian dealer recently paid $500 for a piece twenty- 

 eight inches in diameter and thirty inches in length, to be cut 

 into table-tops. A large lot was recently sent abroad for cutting, 

 and soon we shall have a new decorative stone which will possess 

 what very few now in use do — the proper hardness. 



There is an increasing demand for Scotch jewelry at present, 

 and it would be a great gain if the Scotch designs could be sup- 

 plemented by American, and the familiar agates and bloodstones 

 now in use be varied with our own beautiful silicified Avoods. 



