MAItCASITK. 



MARCHANTIACE& 



"Vrd Antique Marble, or Verde- Antico, U a clouded green marble 

 nmnfallm of a mixture of eerpentine and limestone, found at Genoa 

 and Tuscany, and U much valued for iU beauty. A variety u called 

 Polxinera di Genoa, and Vert d'Kgypto. 



" A marble of this kind is found alo in America, at Millford, near 

 New Haven, Connecticut, of fine quality ; alao in Essex county, New 

 York ; at Moria, near Port Henry, on I jike Cbamplain. 



"TheCipolin Marble* of Italy are white, or nearly to, with shading* 

 or MOM of fcmau tale. 



" The Bardiglio U a gray variety, found at Corsica, also at Carrara. 



" Compact Limestone usually breaks out into thick slabs, and U a 

 convenient and durable itone for building. It is not possessed of 

 much beauty in the rough state. When polished it constitutes a 

 variety of marbles, according to colour; the shades are very nume- 

 rous, from white, cream, and yellow shades, through gray, dove- 

 coloured, slate-blue, or brown, to black. 



" The Nero-Antico Marble U an ancient deep-black marble ; the 

 Paragon ' U a modem one, of a fine black colour, from Bergamo ; and 

 Panno di Morte is another black marble, with a few white fossil shells. 



" The Koaoo-Antioo is deep blood-red, sprinkled with uiiuute white 

 dots. 



" The Ginllo-Antico, or Yellow Antique Marble, is deep yellow, with 

 black or yellow rings. 



" A beautiful marble from Sienna, called Brocatello di Siena, has a 

 yellow colour, with large irregular spots and veins of bluish-red or 

 purplish. 



" The Mandclato of the Italians is a light-red marble with yellowish- 

 white spots. It is found at Luggezano. 



" At Verona there is a red marble inclining to yellow ; and another 

 with Urge white spots in a reddish and greenish paste. 



" The Bristol Marble, of England, is a black marble, containing a 

 few white shells, and the Kilkenny is another, similar. There is also 

 a black marble found in America at Shore ham, New York, and in 

 other places in that state near Lake Champlaiu. There are several 

 quarries at Isle la Motte. 



" The Porto is a Genoese marble very highly esteemed. It is deep 

 black, with elegant veiuings of yellow. The most beautiful comes 

 from Porto-Venese, and under Louis XIV. a great deal of it was 

 worked up for decorations at Versailles. 



" The Bird's-Eye Marble of western New York is a compact lime- 

 atone with crystalline points scattered through it. 



" Ruin Marble is a yellowish marble, with brownish shading* or lines 

 arranged so as to represent castles, towers, or cities in ruins. These 

 markings proceed from infiltrated iron. It is an indurated calcareous 

 marl. 



" Oolitic Marble has usually a grayish tint, and is speckled with 

 rounded dote, looking like the roe of fish. 



" Shell Marble contains scattered fossils, and is of different colours, 

 as the Petworth and Betheraden marbles. It is abundant in the 

 United States. Crenoidean or Encrinital Marble differs only in the 

 fossils being mostly encriuites, resembling thin discs. Large quantities 

 are found in Onondaga and Madison counties, New York, and the 

 polished slab* are much used. 



"Madreporic Marble consists largely of corals, and the surface 

 consists of delicate stars. It is called by the Italians Pietra Stellaria. 

 It U also common in some of the states on the Ohio. 



" Fire Marble, or Lumachelle, is a dark-brown shell marble, having 

 brilliant fire or chatoyant reflections from within. 



" Breccian Marbles, and Pudding-Stone Marbles, are the polished 

 calcareous breccia- or pudding-stone. 



" Stalagmite* and stalactite* are frequently polished, and the variety 

 of shades is often highly beautiful. The Gibraltar Stoue, so well 

 known, U of this kind. It comes from a cavern in the Gibraltar rock, 

 and was deposited from dripping water. It is made into ink -stands, 

 letter-hoMers, and various small articles. 



' Wood is often petrified by carbonate of lime, and occasionally 

 whole trunks are changed into stoue. The specimens HUOW well the 

 grain of the wood, and some are very handsome when polished. 



44 Marble U sawn by means of a thin iron plate and sand and water, 

 either by hand or machinery. In poluhing the slab* are first worn 

 down by the sharpest (and, either by rubbing two slabs together, or 

 by means of a plate of iron ; finer sand is afterwards used, and then a 

 till finer. Next emery U applied of increasing fineness by mean* of 

 a plate of lead ; and, finally, the last polish U given by means of 

 putty powder, rubbed on with a piece of felt about a third of an inch 

 in thickness fastened on to a block of wood made for the purpose. 

 Mora or less water is used throughout the process. " 



MARCASITK, a name for Iron Pyritea, IInoK.1 



MARCELINK. [MAXUAKCM.] 



MARCORAA'VIACEJC, Marcyrariad,, a natural order of Poly- 

 petalou* Kinmns, having an imbricated calyx, numerous bypogynous 

 <timi, Mad a superior ovary with discoid stigma and many 

 polysperraous cells. They are all inhabitant* of the tropical parts 

 of America, and are usually scrambling shrubs, which are sometimes 

 true parasite*. The order is of no known ue, and of but little 

 interest, except in a systematical point of view ; unless for the sake 

 of its very curious bract*, which vary in form in different species, but 

 which are tuually more or lea pitcher-shaped. The stem, root, aud 



leaves of Marcyraaria unbeUala are regarded in the West Indie* ft* 

 diuretic and antiseptic. 



Uarcgracia untbcllala. 



1, a pithcr-haped Inverted bract adhering to the peduncle of n unczpandrd 

 (tower ; 2, a ripe fruit seated in the persistent imbricated calyx ; S, s transverse 

 eccliou of the same. 



MARCHANTIA'CE-iE, Liverworts, a small natural order of Aero- 

 gens, or Cryptogamic Plants, forming part of the old group called 

 J/tjiatica. They are plants of a low organisation, in most instance* 

 having no distinction of leaves and stem, but a thin leafy lobed 

 thallus in their room, in which respect they resemble lichen?, but are 

 furnished with breathing pores and an approach to spiral vessel* in 

 the form of elaters, which latter circumstances elevate them to tho 

 level of Lycojiodiacece and Xfanileacett. 



ATarchintia pitty 



I, a vertical nection of an Involucrum, with the young capralci imbedded in 

 the receptacle. 



Marchantiacett differ from ./ . with which they were- 



formerly combined under the old name of Mepaticcct, in not having 



