doctor's prescription than the making of 

 a respectable mineral." 



As to its hardness and specific gravity, 

 Tourmaline may be said to be both hard- 

 er and heavier than quartz, its hardness 

 being 7-7.5 in the scale of hardness of 

 which the diamond is 10. Its specific 

 gravity is 2.98-3.20. These qualities fit 

 it admirably for use as a gem. It is, how- 

 ever, quite brittle and even at times fria- 

 ble. Cracks therefore frequently cut 

 across good crystals and spoil what would 

 otherwise make a good gem. It is very 

 common to find tourmalines in the rocks 

 broken into a number of pieces and the 

 fragments "mended" together with 

 quartz or calcite. This has been true of 

 the black Tourmaline shown in the ac- 

 companying plate. Scarcely any other 

 mineral exhibits this change so often 

 as Tourmaline, a result due prob- 

 ably to its brittleness and the character 

 of the rock in which it occurs. 



I have shown how one of the most re- 

 markable properties of Tourmaline was 

 discovered by children. It is also inter- 

 esting to know that the locality of the 

 finest Tourmalines in the world was dis- 

 covered by two boys named Elijah L. 

 Hamlin and Ezekiel Holmes. They were 

 interested in the study of minerals and 

 spent much of their leisure time searching 

 for them. One day in the fall, having 

 been out many hours hunting for new 

 minerals, they were about to return home 

 Vvhen a gleam of something green at the 

 roots of a tree caught their eye. Eagerly 

 bringing it to light, they found it to be a 

 Ijeautiful green Tourmaline. A fall of 

 snow that night prevented their obtain- 

 ing more of the crystals, but the follow- 

 ing spring they returned and secured 

 many fine gems. For many years there- 

 after the locality furnished gems of 

 purest ray serene whicli have gone to 



adorn the coronets of kings and enriched 

 the mineral cabinets of the world. 



It is estimated that fifty thousand dol- 

 lars' worth of Tourmalines have been 

 taken from this one locality. Auburn and 

 Rumford, Me., are two other neighbor- 

 ing localities where good gems have been 

 found. At Haddam Neck, Conn., fine 

 transparent Tourmalines occur, generally 

 green in color, and many of them of gem 

 quality. They occur in a granite rock. 



The red Tourmaline (Rubellite) from 

 California, illustrated in the accompany- 

 ing plate, is found in San Diego County 

 of that State. The matrix in which it 

 occurs is a lithia-bearing mica (lepi- 

 dolite) of a delicate violet color. In this 

 matrix the Tourmaline usually occurs in 

 radiating masses. The rose color of the 

 Tourmaline contrasting with the violet of 

 the lepidolite makes an object which is 

 quite a favorite with mineral fanciers, 

 although the former is not sufficiently 

 transparent to be used as a gem. At two 

 other localities in the same State large 

 transparent Tourmalines of varying col- 

 ors have been found. 



The Brazilian Tourmalines are chiefly 

 fa-een in color. They occur in connection 

 with blue and white topaz. They are ihe 

 source of the gem known as Brazilian 

 Emerald, which has not, however, the 

 value of the true emerald. 



The Tourmalines from the island of 

 Elba are generally red in color, transpar- 

 ent and well crystallized. They are. how- 

 ever, too small to use as gems. 



The Ceylon Tourmalines occur in the 

 gem gravels of that locality accompany- 

 ing rubies, sapphires, etc., while those of 

 Russia, chiefly red in color, come from 

 the Ural Mountains, being found in com- 

 ])any with amethyst, topaz, beryl and oth- 

 er gems. 



Oliver Cummings Farrington. 



73 



