334 DOMAIN IV. TALCOUS. 



first may possibly be the white ophite of 

 Pliny*. 



Ollite, in rude pots, &c. from the extreme 

 northern regions of America. 



The same, formed into the heads of calumets, 

 or pipes of peace, from North America. 



MODE VI. SERPENTINE. 



Characters. Texture, small-grained, compact. 



Hardness, marmoric. Fracture, rather un- 

 even, sometimes scaly, sometimes flatly con- 

 choidal. Fragments, amorphous, rather blunt. 



Weight, granitose, sometimes siderose. 



Lustre, dull, sometimes rather glimmering. 

 Opake; often faintly translucent on the edges. 



The colours of this noble rock are surprisingly 

 rich and various. They are thus enumerated 

 by Mr. Jameson: 



ce Its principal colour is green, of which it 

 presents the following varieties : leek, qil, and 

 olive green ; from oil green it passes into moun- 

 tain green, and greenish grey ; from leek green 



* Saussure says, 1724, that near Zumloch, on the river Egina, 

 there is a quarry of ollite, the stone being composed of whitish 

 translucent talc, grey mica, little pyrites of a golden yellow, some- 

 times iridescent, and a little lime. 



