WRITINGS OF JAMES SMITHSON. 13 



easily rubbed to powder between the fingers. They had a 

 disagreeable taste, something like that of rhubarb. Put 

 into water, the white bits scarcely grew at all transparent ; 

 but the yellow ones became so to a considerable degree. 



The brown earth-like pieces were harder than the above, 

 had little taste, floated upon water, and remained opaque. 



Exposed to the blow-pipe, they all charred and grew 

 black; the last variety even burned with a flame. When 

 the vegetable matter was consumed, the pieces remained 

 white, and then had exactly the appearance, and possessed 

 all the properties, of the foregoing Tabasheer from Hydra- 

 bad, and like it melted with soda into a transparent glass. 



No. II. 



Also consisted of bits of three sorts. 



(a) Some white, nearly opaque. 



(b) A few small very transparent particles, shewing, in an 

 eminent degree, the blue and yellow colour, by the different 

 direction of light. 



(c) Coarse, brownish pieces of a grained texture. 



These all had exactly the same taste, hardness, &c., and 

 shewed the same effects at the blow-pipe, as No. I. 



27 gr. of this Tabasheer thrown into a red-hot crucible, 

 burned with a yellowish white flame, lost 2.9 gr. in weight, 

 and became so similar to the Hydrabad kind as not to be 

 distinguished from it. 



Some of this Tabasheer put into a crucible, not made very 

 hot emitted a smell something like tobacco ashes, but not 

 the kind of perfume discovered in that from Hydrabad, 

 IV. (E). 



No. IV. 



All the pieces of this parcel were of one appearance, and 

 a good deal resembled, in their texture, the third variety of 

 No. II. Their colour was white; their hardness such as 

 very diflicultly to be broken by pressure between the fingers. 



