MINERALOGY. 



523 



Nephrite. 



Common 

 nephrite. 



3. MEERSCHAUM , Jameson. Meerschaum, Werner. 



External Character*. Colours yellowish and greyish- 

 white, seldom snow-white. Occurs massive. Inter- 

 nally dull. Fracture fine earthy, passing on the one 

 side into flat conchoidal, on the other into even. Frag- 

 ments indeterminate angular, and not particularly sharp- 

 ed/fed. Opaque, rarely translucent on the edges. Be- 

 come* slightly shining in the streak. Does not soil. 

 Very aoft. Sectile. Rather difficultly frangible. Ad- 

 here* strongly to the tongue. Feels rather greasy. 

 Specific gravity, 1.209, Karsten. 1.600, Klaprotk. 

 0.988, 1.279, Breithaupt. 



Chemical Characters. Before the blowpipe it melts 

 on the edges into a white enamel. 



Constituent Parts. Silica, . 41.50 



Magnesia, 18.25 



Lime, . 0.50 



Water and carbonic 



acid, . 39.0098.25 



Ktaproth, Beit b. ii. . 172. 



Gtognostic and Geographic Situation*. It occurs in 

 rein* in the serpentine of Cornwall ; in serpentine, at 

 Hrubschitz in Moravia ; at Vallecas, near Madrid in 

 Spain, also in serpentine. It is dug at Sebastopol and 

 Kaffi, in the Crimea ; and near Thebes in Greece. 



Asia. It occurs in beds immediately under the soil, 

 at Kittisch and I5ur i in Natolia ; and in the mountains 

 of E^kischehir, also in Natolia, where from 600 to 700 

 men are employed in digging meerschaum. 



/ '*,-,. When first dug from the earth, it is soft and 

 greasy. It lather* with water like soap ; hence it is 

 uted by come nations, as by the Tartars, for washing. 

 In Turkey, it is made into tobacco-pipes. 



* NUPHRITE, Jameton. Nephrit, Werner. 

 Of thi mineral there are two kind?, viz. Common 

 Nephrite and Axestone. 



<* COMMON NcHHRiTt, Jameson Gemeiner Nephrit, 

 Werntr. Fetter Nephrit, Sautrurr. 



External Character*. Co\our leek-green, of various 

 degrees of intensity, sometimes passes into mountain- 

 green, greenish-grey, and greenish-white. Occurs mas- 

 live, in blunt-edged pieces, and rolled pieces. Inter- 

 nally dull or glimmering, owing; to intermixed talc 

 and asbevtuv. Fracture coarse-splintery, and the splin- 

 ters are greenish-white. Fragments indeterminate an- 

 gular, and rather sharp-edged. Strongly translucent. 

 Neirly as hard as rock-crystal. Difficultly frangible. 

 Feels rather greasy. Rather brittle. Specific gravity, 

 2.;)62, Oriental, according to Karsten. 



Chemical Character*. Before the blowpipe, it melts 

 into a white enamel. 



Conitituent Part*. Silica, . 0.50 

 Magnesia, 31.00 

 Alumina, 10.00 



Iron, . 5.50 

 Chrome, 0.05 



Water, . 2.75 Kartte*. 

 Geotnostic and Geographic Situations. Europe^ 

 In Switzerland, nephrite occurs in granite and gneiss ; 

 in the Hartz, in veins that traverse primitive green- 

 stone ; and in rolled masses near Leipsic in Saxony. 

 Alia. The most beautiful varieties ofVthis mineral 

 are brought from Persia and Egypt, from the mines of 

 Seminowski, near Kolyvan in Siberia ; and from China. 



America. It is found on the banks of the River of Oryctogrm- 

 Amazons, and near Tlascala in Mexico. 



Uses. Nephrite, When cut and polished, has always ' r ~-~ -* 

 an oily and muddy aspect, yet it is prized as an orna- 

 mental stone. The Turks cut it into handles for sabres 

 and daggers. Artists sometimes engrave figures of dif- 

 ferent kinds on it ; and it is said to be highly esteemed 

 a* a talisman by the savage tribes of the countries where 

 it is found. It was formerly believed to be useful in 

 alleviating or preventing nephritic complaints : hence 

 it has been called Nephritic Stone. 



b. AXESTONE, Jameson. Beilstein, Werner. Panamus- Axestone. 

 tein, Blumrnbach. 



External Characters. Colour intermediate between 

 grass-green and leek-green, passes into mountain green, 

 oil green, and greeni-h-<:rey. Occurs massive. Inter- 

 nally its lustre is strongly glimmering, inclining to 

 glistening. Fracture slaty in the great, and more or 

 less distinctly splintery in the small. Fragments tabu- 

 lar. Translucent, or only strongly translucent on the 

 edges. Semihard, approaching to hard. Softer than 

 common nephrite. Rather difficultly frangible. Speci- 

 fic gravity, 3.008. 



Geographic Situation. It occurs in New Zealand, 

 and several of the 1 -lands in the South Sea. Also in 

 Saxony ; and at Gothaab in Greenland in primitive 

 rocks. 



Viet. It is used by the natives of New Zealand, 

 and other inlanders in the South Sea, for hatchets and 

 ear-drops. 



5. SERPENTINE, Jameson, Serpentin, fVerner. 



Serpentine. 



There are two kinds of this mineral, viz. Common 

 Serpentine, and Precious Serpentine. 



o. COMMON SBRPENTINE, Jameson. Gemeiner Ser- Common 

 pentin, Werner. serpentine, 



External Characters. Its colours are green, black> 

 yellow, red. The colours are either uniform, or veined, 

 spotted, dotted, and clouded ; and frequently several 

 o!' these delineations occur together. Occurs massive. 

 Internally it is dull, or glimmering, owing to intermix- 

 ed foreign parts. Fracture small and fine splintery, 

 sometimes small and fine grained uneven, which some- 

 times passes into even ; and it is occasionally large, and 

 flat conchoidal. Fragments rather sharp- edged. Translu- 

 cent on the edges, or opaque. Soft; It does not yield 

 to the nail, but is scratched by calcareous-spar. Ra- 

 ther sectile. Rather difficultly frangible. Feels some- 

 what greasy. Specific gravity, 2.56'0, 2.604, Breil/iatipt. 

 Physical Character** Some varieties of serpentine 

 not only move the magnetic needle, but even possess 

 magnetic poles. 



Chemical Characters. }t is infusible before the blow- 

 pipe, but on exposure to a higher temperature, it melts 

 with difficulty into an enamel. 



Constituent Parts. Silica . 32.00 



Magnesia . 37.24 



Alumina . . 0.50 



Lime, . . 10.60 



Iron . . 0.66 



Volatile matter, and Carbonic 

 acid . 14.16 



Hisinger, Afhandlingar, 

 i. Fysik, iii. p. 303. 



Mfrrrhatm, in German, lignifui tea-froth, and U by some philologists alleged to have been applied to this mineral on account of its 

 "-*-' a*pect and fightatM ; while other: derive it from the Natolian word mynen. 



