84 DOMAIN IX. ANOMALOUS. 



being sometimes of a greyish white, sometimes 

 inclined to lilac; the smaragdite is disposal in 

 small masses, which never exceed one or two 

 inches in diameter, and is of a beautiful velvety 

 grass green. 



" The base of the third picture is of a most 

 extraordinary beauty ; it is at least 4 feet long, 

 and 28 or 30 inches in height. It is almost 

 entirely composed of pure smaragdite, of a dark 

 green, and yet of the most beautiful semi-trans- 

 parency, which has a more imposing effect than 

 if perfectly transparent, by the varieties which 

 its mixture forms with the jad. The latter is in 

 small quantity, but spread in the form of little 

 undulating leaves, as thin as paper, and as white 

 as milk. As the stone has, with much inge- 

 nuity, been cut obliquely to the planes of these 

 leaves, their extremities are seen on the surface, 

 and in proportion to their depth in the smarag- 

 dite, they assume, by imperceptible degrees, the 

 beautiful green colour; which, added to their 

 undulating and festooned form, and their dispo- 

 sition in little masses near each other, makes 

 them resemble in a singular manner the beautiful 

 foliage of trees, and, in other parts, the waves of 

 the sea gently agitated."* 



* Patrin,Min. i. l63. 



