WRITINGS OF JAMES SMITHSON. IB 



easily rubbed to powder between the fingers. They bad a 

 disagreeable taste, something like that of rhubarb. Put 

 into water, the white bits scarcely grew at all transparent ; 

 but the yellow ones became so to a considerable degree. 



The brown earth-like pieces were harder than the above, 

 had little taste, floated upon water, and remained opaque. 



Exposed to the blow-pipe, they all charred and grew 

 black; the last variety even burned with a flame. When 

 the vegetable matter was consumed, the pieces remained 

 white, and then had exactly the appearance, and possessed 

 all the properties, of the foregoing Tabasheer from Hydra- 

 bad, and like it melted with soda into a transparent glass. 



Fo. II. 



Also consisted of bits of three sorts. 



(a) Some white, nearly opaque. 



(6) A few small very transparent particles, shewing, in an 

 eminent degree, the blue and yellow colour, by the different 

 direction of light. 



(c) Coarse, brownish pieces of a grained texture. 



These all had exactly the same taste, hardness, &c., and 

 shewed the same effects at the blow-pipe, as No. I. 



27 gr. of this Tabasheer thrown into a red-hot crucible, 

 burned with a yellowish white flame, lost 2.9 gr. in weight, 

 and became so similar to the Hydrabad kind as not to be 

 distinguished from it. 



Some of this Tabasheer put into a crucible, not made very 

 hot emitted a smell something like tobacco ashes, but not 

 the kind of perfume discovered in that from Hydrabad, 

 § IV. (E). 



No. IV. 



All the pieces of this parcel were of one appearance, and 

 a good deal resembled, in their texture, the third variety of 

 No. II. Their colour was white; their hardness such as 

 very diflScultly to be broken by pressure between the fingers. 



