1839.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



435 



Mamurra was the first Roman, who, in the time of Julius Cfesar, used 

 cohimns of this marble. — Emerald. It seems tliat the emeralds or 

 tmaragdcs, of which the ancients made statues and columns were only 

 green fluor spar, just as the yellow fluor spar passed for topaz, it 

 might even have been only coloured glass. It is known that the an- 

 cients were very skilful in the art of making glass, and that they even 

 employed it in large columns, such as those with which Scaurus de 

 corated his theatre. — Taygetes, a mountain of Laconia ; it was called 

 also Lacedemonian marble. It was green, according to what authors 

 says of it, it has more relation to pear coloured green* than to verde 

 antique; it was perhaps the prasinum. It was worked in the time of 

 Strabo. — Tenakik, in Laconia. According to the same author it was 

 used later than that of Taygetes, and seems to have been a dark green 

 nearly black. — Tiberius, discovered in the reign of that emperor. It 

 was green, with dispersed and mixed streaks, resembling the marble 

 of Augustus. — ThessalonicaN seems to have been green, and is ap- 

 parently our verde antique.t 



variegated marbles. 

 Mount Atrax, on the Peneus, in Thessaly. It appears to have 

 been of several colours, among others white and black ; of a pear 

 coloured green. It was used in the church of Santa Sophia. — Celtic, 

 white, veined with black. — Chiax, Theophrastes is the first author 

 who speaks of it ; it was black, shaded with several coluurs. — Jassos, 

 a. Carian island, veined with red and white, tending to yellow ; it was 

 iramed also Car/cm marb'e. — Proconessus, one of the Sporades islands 

 in the sea of Marmara, which derives its name from the great quantity 

 of marbles (Marmora) found in its islands. This marble was also 

 named Cycican marble, because it was much used there. A fine 

 white, veined with black, and must have been of the kind called grand 

 antique. It was much esteemed. The palace of Ma\isolus, at Hali- 

 carnassus, built of bricks, was covered with this marble. — Rhodian, 

 with golden or pyritic spots. It was perhaps a kind o{ portor. — Of 

 Lysimachus seems to have resembled the preceding.^ 



— Alba NO. 



marbles of unknown colour. 

 Of Mount Cybele, in Phrygia. — Egina. — Gabi.e.- 



* Green marble of this kind was also found at Mount Atrax. — [Note of 

 Translator.] 



t Purple Marble. — The marble of Alabanda was a purple black. Grey 

 Marble. — Marble of tliis colour was found at Lesbos. — [Note of Translator.] 



X There was Synnadic marble of white and purple. — [Note of Translator.] 



Heraclea in Caria. — IIieroi'OLis. This was perhaps a porphyry or 

 granite as well as the Memphis stone. — Miletus.- — MoLOSSi, in Epinis, 

 veined with different colours. — Scyros. The same. — Syracusan. 

 It was wrought from the lalomia, which were quarries before Diony- 

 sius converted them.into prisons. It seems that this stone contained 

 casts of fishes. — Tauromenian', in Sicily, of several colours. — Of Tiber 

 or Tivoli. — Traguriu.m or Salone in Dalmatia. 



BASALTS, granites, PORPHYRIES, &C. 



Basalt.^ — According to some authors, the name of this sfjone ought 

 to be barsalt, from a Hebrew word, signifying iron, of which it has 

 the colour and the hardness. It has very small and often microscopic 

 grains, and sometimes has the appearance of a fine green bronze. 

 According to Pliny, this stone was brought from Arabia and Ethiopia; 

 Pausanias says that the statues of the Nile were made of basalt, be- 

 cause this river comes from Ethiophia. There was also a porphyry 

 which the ancients might have mistaken for basalt.* LeucostiCTOs 

 or Leptosephos, porphyry in which white prevailed. It was brought 

 from Arabia and the Thebaid. Ophite or Serpentine. The first 

 name was given by the ancients to green porphyries, on account of 

 their colour and their spots, which are like the skin of some serpents 

 (nphis). It was only used in vases and columns. The ophite of 

 Eltphantina was called Tepliria, because its colour was ashy (tephra, 

 ashesj. There was some almost black, others with white spot.s. 

 Small columns only were made of it. Much ophite is found in the 

 paved road from Rome to Ostia. Psaron, Lycian porphyry, was so 

 named on account of its spots resembling those of the sturgeon (psarj. 

 Sye.nite, rose porphyry, named Pyrrliopceale, on account of its colour 

 (pyr, fire , poihlos, varied). It was named also Psaronwn. Theban 

 Porphyry was black with yellow spots. Obsidian, volcanic glass or 

 stone, was so named because in the time of Augustus, it was found by 

 a certain Obsidius, who made of it a statue of that emperor. Obsidian 

 is very hard aud black, and is translucent in small pieces or in sheets; 

 it is then of a brown black. It was used, according to Pliny, to 

 imitate precious stones, and to work the harder ones. No monuments 

 made of this volcanic stone remain. 



(The next section will contain an alphabetical list of all the antique 

 stones, as rosso, iiero, rerd, giallo antico, &c., with explanations of all 

 the Italian terms.) 



* They also called touchstone a marble. — [Note of Translator.] 



CURTISS PATENT RAILWAY IMPROVEMENTS. 



Hydrostatic Jack. 

 Figure I. — Elevation and .Section. 



Figure 3.— End View. 



Figure 2. — Ground Pian and Section. 



