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sometimes flattened, and by the 

 arrangement of its colours. These 

 colours are brown, of different 

 shades, yellow and grey, always 

 arranged in zones, or bands, more 

 or less concentric, sometimes inter- 

 mixed with spots and dentritic 

 marks. According to Dr. Clarke, 

 Egyptian jasper is found in great 

 abundance scattered over the sur- 

 face of the sandy desert eastward 

 of Grand Cairo, in the sand near 

 Suez in Egypt, and in the adjoin- 

 ing deserts ; it forms a constituent 

 part of extensive beds of a siliceous 

 breccia, which, by their decompo- 

 sition furnish these pebbles in a 

 loose state. Cleaveland. Phillips. 



ELA'OLITE. (from e'Xata, an olive, 

 and X/009, a stone.) A sub-species 

 of pyramidal felspar, known also as 

 fettstein, or fatstone, a name given 

 to it from its greasy feel. 



ELASMOTH'EEITJM. The name given 

 by Fischer to what he considered 

 an extinct genus of fossil pachy- 

 dermata. 



"What," says Griffith, "dis- 

 tinguishes the elasmotherium from 

 all known animals is that the 

 Iamina3 of the teeth form a very 

 elevated shaft, which grows like 

 that of the horse, preserving a long 

 time its prismatic form, and that 

 they descend vertically through the 

 entire extent of this shaft, not 

 dividing into roots until after a 

 considerable time, while, in other 

 animals, they unite promptly into a 

 single osseous body which is itself 

 speedily divided into roots ; and 

 also that their section has its edges 

 festooned like those of the trans- 

 versal bands of the molars of the 

 Indian elephant." 



The only relic hitherto found 

 occurred in Siberia. 



ELA'STIC. (from e'Xao?, Gr. &lmtique y 

 Fr.) Having the power of re- 

 turning to the form from which 

 it is distorted or withheld; springy. 

 It is applied to such minerals as 



being bent have the property of 

 springing back to their original 

 form, and therein differ from those 

 that are merely flexible ; thus, talc 

 is only flexible, mica is elastic. 



ELA'STIC MINEBAL PITCH. Called also 

 elaterite and mineral caoutchouc ; 

 a brown, massive, elastic variety of 

 bitumen : it consists of about 52 

 per cent, of carbon, 40 per cent of 

 oxygen, 0*15 of nitrogen, and 8 

 per cent, of hydrogen. 



ELA'TERITE. Another name for elas- 

 tic mineral pitch. 



ELE'CTEUM. Argentiferous gold ore, 

 a variety of hexahedral gold, of a 

 pale brass-yellow colour. Pliny 

 informs us that it was a mixture 

 of gold and silver, and thus writes, 

 " Omni auro inest argentuin vario 

 pondere. TJbicunque quinta argenti 

 portio est, electrum vocatur." It 

 has been attempted to prove that 

 platinum is the electrum of the 

 ancients, but such is not the case. 



ELEME'NTAEY. (elementarius, Lat ele- 

 mentaire, Fr. elementdle, It.) Un- 

 compounded; uncombined; simple; 

 primary. 



ELEME'NTAET SUBSTANCES. There are 

 about sixty simple, or elementary 

 substances at present known, that 

 is, substances, which, under the 

 conditions yet applied to them, 

 are found to be incapable of further 

 analysis, and are therefore called 

 simple, or elementary substances. 



ELEVA'TION. The question of the 

 elevation and subsidence of the 

 earth's surface is one which long 

 gave rise to controversy, and various 

 were the arguments adduced in 

 support of, and in opposition to, 

 opinions which now are unhesita- 

 tingly and universally received, and 

 on which the vitality, as it were, 

 of geology depends. It may not, 

 however, be amiss to quote here 

 some of the views of our best and 

 soundest geologists, on a point of so 

 great importance, and one which, 

 to the Neophyte, seems often so 



