635 



MARANTACE^E. 



MARBLE. 



Messrs. Payen et Chevalier, ' Traite* de la Pomtne de Terre,' p. 126 ; 

 also ' Journal de Pharmacie,' Aout, 1833.) Potato-starch is not 

 soluble in cold water, which is the case with arrow-root. Dissolved 

 in absolute alcohol, arrow-root separates into two distinct portions, 

 which neither wheat nor potato-starch does. In equal proportions 

 dissolved in warm water, Arrow-root yields a thinner solution, with 

 f more slimy aspect than wheat-starch. 



Arrow-root dissolved in water, milk, or any other appropriate 

 vehicle, constitutes, from its easy digestibility, a most excellent article 

 of diet for delicate persons and young children. It may be given 

 plain, or with wine or spices, according to circumstances. The 

 valuable property just mentioned does not belong to either wheat- or 

 potato-starch. The latter, if prepared from potatoes in spring, is 

 very liable to disturb the stomach ; but less so if prepared in October 

 or November. Potato-starch may be prepared at a very cheap rate, 

 and kept for a long period unchanged, thus affording a protection 

 against times of scarcity. 



(Sir John Sinclair, On tlie Culture and Uses of Potatoes. Edinb., 

 1828.) 



MARANTA'CEjE, Starantt, a natural order of Endogenous Plants, 

 which have either no stems or annual ones only, whose leaves have 

 diverging veins, and whose flowers are constructed with an inferior 

 ovary surmounted by a 3-leaved calyculus ; very irregular flowers, 

 white, red, or yellow ; and a single stamen, whose anther has but 

 one lobe. 



With the exception of the genus Culathea, and of C'anna, which is 

 communly cultivated under the name of Indian Shot, because of its 

 beautiful flowers, the species included in this order are of small size, 

 and by no means attractive, but the fleshy tubers of some of them 

 abound in starchy matter, which renders them nutritious. Arrow- 

 root of the finest quality is obtained from Maranta arundinacea, and 

 a similar product is yielded by Canna edulis and others. The order 

 is known from Zinyiberacea by the anther having but one lobe instead 

 of two. 



All the species are found wild in tropical countries only. 



The species are natives of the tropics of America, Africa, and Asia. 

 Amylaceous qualities prevail in this order, and starch is prepared from 

 many of the species. The fleshy corms of some species of the Canna 

 are eaten in Peru, and a sort of arrow-root, called Tous le Mois, is 

 extracted from some of the species. The seeds of others, called Indian 

 Shot, have been used as a substitute for coffee, and yield a purple dye. 



(Lindley, Vegetable Kingdom.) 



MARBLE. A strict definition of this term is perhaps impracticable, 

 unless, with Da Costa, we limit it to the calcareous rocks " of very 

 lively colours, and of a constitution so fine that they will readily take 

 a good polish." In a vague sense other ornamental stones, as granite 

 and porphyry, may be ranked among marbles, but the catalogue of 

 the typical or calcareous marbles is long enough without these some- 

 what inconvenient additions. A limestone which will admit of being 

 worked easily and equally in all directions is properly called ' freestone,' 

 aa the Bath or Ketton freestone ; a rock of similar chemical compo- 

 sition, generally capable of being worked equally in all directions, and 

 also of taking a good polish, deserves the title of marble; when it is 

 glanular and of a white colour, it may be useful iu statuary. 



Da Costa, in his ' Natural History of Fossils,' gives a large catalogue 

 of marbles, disposed in methodical order, which we shall follow in the 

 subsequent brief notices of this extensive subject. 



Division I. Marbles of one plain Colour. . 



Section 1. Black Marbles. Most of these contain bitumen, and are 

 fetid when bruised. 



Examples. The Namur marble, the marble of Ashford in Derby- 

 shire, Dent iu Yorkshire, near Crickhowell, Tenby, Kilkenny, 

 &c. The marble, anciently called Marmor Luculleum, and now 

 Nero Antico. 

 Section 2. White Marbles. 



Examples. The marble of Paros, in which the Laocoon and 

 Antinous are executed; the Carrara marble, of finer grain, 

 much used in modern sculpture ; the Skye marble, noticed by 

 Dr. M'Culloch ; that of Inverary, Assynt, Blair Athol, &c. 

 Section 3. Ash and Gray Marbles. 



Examples. A beautiful marble, of compact oolitic texture, at 



Orelton, near the Clee Hills in Shropshire, deserves mention, 

 Section 4. Brown and Red Marbles. 



Examples. The Rosso Antico; a rival to which, at least in 

 colour, has been found on the estate of the Duke of Devonshire, 

 near Buxton. The mottled brown marble of Beetham Fell, 

 near Milnthorp, is of good quality. 

 Section 5. Yellow Marbles. 



Example. The Oiallo Antico. Siena marble, also dug at Mafra, 

 near Lisbon. That used in ancient Rome is said to be from 

 Nnmidio. ( 



Section 6. Blue Marbles. 



Example near St. Pons in Languedoc. 

 Section 7. Green Marbles. 



Example. The Marmor Lncedsemonicum of Pliny. It is dug 

 near Verona. 



Division II. Marbles of two Colours. 

 Section 1. Black Marbles variegated with other colours. 



Example. Near Ashburton in Devonshire, Torbay in the same 

 couuty, Bianco e Nero Antico, the African Breccia of the 

 ancients, Giallo e Nero Antico. 

 Section 2. White Marbles variegated with other colours. 



Example. Marble imported from Italy. Marbles of this gene- 

 ral character occur in" Siberia, at Plymouth, at Killarney, iu 

 Sweden, &c. 



Section 3. Ash and Gray Marbles variegated with other colours. 

 These are very numerous, and occur in various parts of Europe. 

 Section 4. Brown and Red Marbles variegated with other colours. 

 Section 5. Yellow Marbles variegated with other colours. 

 Section 6. Green Marbles variegated with other colours. 



Examples. Egyptian Marbles the Marmor Tiberium and Augus- 

 tum of Pliny; some Verde Antico, as that dug near Susa iu 

 Piedmont, the "beautiful marble of Anglesey (called Mona 

 marble), the marble of Kolmerden in Sweden. 



Division III. Marbles variegated with many Colours. 

 Example. Some of the Plymouth marble, the beautiful Brocatello 

 or Brocade marble of Italy and Spain. 



Division IV. Marbles containing Shells, Corals, and other 

 extraneous bodies. 



In this division of marbles the British Islands are rich. Some of the 

 Plymouth, Ashburton, and other Devonian limestones are extremely 

 beautiful, from the abundance of fine corals exquisitely preserved iu 

 them ; the crinoidal marbles of Flintshire, Derbyshire, and Garsdale 

 in Yorkshire, are elegant examples of the carboniferous limestone ; 

 the shell marbles of Ranee (Northamptonshire), Buckingham, Which- 

 wood Forest, Stamford, Yeovil, may be noticed from the Oolitic rocks; 

 that of Petworth and Purbeck, from the Wealdeu strata, has been 

 extensively used by the architects of the middle ages. In general the 

 workiug of the English marbles is costly, and their use limited. 



Dana gives the following account of marbles in his ' Manual of 

 Mineralogy,' with especial references to the American sources of this 

 substance : 



" The finest and purest white crystalline limestones are used for sta- 

 tuary and the best carving, and are called Statuary Marble. A variety 

 less fine in texture is employed aa a building material. Its colours are 

 white and clouded of various shades. It often 6ou tains scales of mica dis- 

 seminated, and occasionally other impurities, from which the cloudings 

 arise. The finest statuary marble comes from the Italian quarry at Car- 

 rara, from the island of Faros, whence the name Parian ; from Athens, 

 Greece ; and from Ornofrio, Corsica. Of these the Parian is the most 

 pure, consisting almost entirely of carbonate of lime ; whilst that of 

 Carrara is frequently intermixed with granular quartz, which renders 

 it more durable. The Medicean Venus, and most of the fine Grecian 

 statues, are made of the Parian marble. These quarries, and also 

 those of the islands of Scio, Samos, and Lesbos, afforded marble for 

 the ancient temples of Greece and Rome. The Parthenon at Athens 

 was constructed of marble from Pentelicus. 



" Statuary marble has been obtained in the United States, but not of 

 a quality equal to the foreign. Fine building material is abundant 

 along the western part of Vermont, and south through Massachusetts 

 to western Connecticut and eastern New York. In Berkshire county, 

 Massachusetts, marble is quarried annually to the value of 200,000 

 dollars. The principal quarries are at Sheffield, West Stockbridge, 

 New Ashford, New Marlborough, Great Barrington, and Lanesborough. 

 The columns of the Girard College are from Sheffield, where blocks 

 50 feet long are sometimes blasted out ; the material of the City Hall, 

 New York, came from West Stockbridge; that of the Capitol at 

 Albany from Lanesborough. At Stoueham is a fine statuary-marble 

 quarry, but it is difficult to obtain large blocks. The variety from 

 Great Barrington is a handsome clouded marble. Some of the West 

 Stockbridge marble is flexible in thin pieces when first taken out. 

 There are Vermont localities at Dorset, Rutland, Brandon, and Pitts- 

 ford. Extensive quarries are opened at New York, at Sing Sing ; 

 also at Patterson, -Putnam county; at Dover, in Dutchess county, 

 New York. In Connecticut there are marble-quarries at New Preston; 

 iu Maine, at Thomastown. In Rhode Island, at Smithfield, a fine 

 statuary marble is found; in Maryland, a few miles east of Hagerstown, 

 20 miles from Philadelphia, a fine clouded variety is found. A fine 

 dun-coloured marble is found at New Ashford and Sheffield, Massa- 

 chusetts ; and at Pittsford, Vermont. 



" The granular limestone, when coarse, usually crumbles easily, and 

 is not a good material for building ; but the finer varieties are not 

 exceeded in durability by any other architectural rocks, not even by 

 granite. 



" The impurities are sometimes so abundant as to render it useless. 

 For statuary it is essential that it should be uniform in tint, and with- 

 out seams or fissures. 



" The common minerals in this rock are tremolite, asbestus, scapolite, 

 chrondrodite, pyroxolite, apatite, besides sphene, spinel, graphite, 

 idocrase, and mica. 



