190 



DOMAIN II. SILICEOUS. 



The learned M. de Sacy, in his recent trans- 

 lation of Abd-allatif, or Abdolatiph*, who, about 

 A. D. 1210, wrote a curious account of Egypt, 

 uses the words elk est de, granit, de cette pierre 

 rouge, tiquetee, qui est d'une extreme durete. 



It appears from the same work that some of 

 the pyramids were covered with granite, and even 

 with hieroglyphics ; which the Arabian author says 

 might fill a book of ten thousand pages. Gro- 

 bert, in his description of the pyramids, mentions 

 the fragments of that covering, as granite of rose- 

 coloured felspar, a little quartz, and black siderite, 

 like that of Elephantina, near Syene. This cover- 

 ing existed till at least the thirteenth century. 

 Curious authorities concerning the granitic column 

 called Pompey's, particularly that of Apthonius, 



simte Syenite Japide, quern et pyrrhopwcilum vocat Plinius ; Itali 

 autem granito rosso, lithologi graniten ritlrutn." Zoega de Obeliscis 

 Romse 1797, folio, p. 140. 



Petrini, on breaking some pieces, found that when there was 

 hornblende, it was always mixed with mica; as it is in the large 

 black spots. Ibid. 



Granite seems first to be mentioned by a writer of the middle 

 ages, Vacca, whose description of Rome is published by Mont- 

 faucon in his Diarium Ifalicum. Vacca repeatedly mentions mar- 

 mor granitum JEthalios insulce, that is, " granite marble from the 

 isle of Elba," whence he supposed it came. The word granito is 

 probably as ancient as the restoration of the arts in Italy, in the 

 thirteenth century. 



* Paris, 1810, 4to. p. 182. 



