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115 
III. History.—Not incongruous, or unconnected with this 
subject, is the history of Vivianite in reference to a particular 
line of research, that of Experimental Mineralogy. The credit 
of the distinction which this department has earned is mainly 
due to the French chemists, and to the subsidies afforded by 
the Government to the laboratories in Paris. It has for its aim 
the artificial re-production of rocks and minerals; and the 
operations involved in the experiments are far too costly to 
be undertaken by private workers in general; for instance, 
sometimes it means keeping quantities of refractory material 
in crucibles up to a constant white heat for weeks together. 
A glance at their experience in the way of re-production of 
Vivianite,—I translate from a recent publication, “ Synthése 
des Mineraux et des Roches, par F. FouguEé et Micuen Levy.” 
Paris, 1882, page 257. 
Date of the re-production of Vivianite :— 
By Brecqueret,in 1861. (Ann. de ph. et ch. t. LIV, p. 149 ;) 
and by Drsray, in 1864. (C. r. t. LIX, 1864, p. 40.) 
Accidental re-productions of this mineral have been not 
unfrequently noticed. Harprncer has described a case that 
fell under his notice, in which it was found in the bones of a 
skeleton, dug up under the ruins at Tarnowitz. Nicxies found 
it in the tibia of a skeleton, obtained from the cemetery of 
EKumont; it appeared as a blue substance, which, seen under 
the microscope, was recognised by him as consisting of ortho- 
rhombic prisms of Vivianite. ScHtosspercER submitted to 
chemical analysis a blue substance which had been developed, 
in contact with the air, upon some iron nails that were 
extracted from the stomach of an ostrich, and he determined 
that this substance possessed the composition of Vivianite. 
It appears that the artificial re-production of this mineral 
is éffected whenever plates of iron are plunged into an aqueous 
solution of phosphate of ammonia; the plate becomes covered 
with a white crystalline deposit, possessing the composition and 
physical properties of the natural hydrous phosphate of iron. 
M. Davsrex has described its presence, under the form of a 
blue coating, on the surface of ferruginous objects found in the 
