I 



56 Wade of Lancaster. 



every 



an 



Aug them. It was 

 by endeavoring to ascertain how these crystals were 

 formed; that the author of this article was first led to 

 investigate the structure of minerals, and to read some of 

 those interesting sermons that are written in every stone. 

 If the same feeling of curiosity is excited in those who 

 may read this short and imperfect essay, and any one is 

 induced to study the subject which has afforded him so 

 much pleasure, he will consider his labor of some value, 

 since It may be the means of bringing new and more effi- 

 cient laborers into this comparatively little explored Afield 



of science. 



The name Chiastolite or Crucite was given to this 

 mineral by Karsten, and adopted by Jameson in his Sys- 

 tem of Mineralogy. The first of these names was derived 

 from the resemblance which the dark lines of the crystals 

 bore to the Greek letter X. Crucite signifies a stone like 

 a cross. Haiiy gave the name Made now generally 

 adopted for the mineral. Previous to this, Rome de 

 Lisle had used this term for those crystals now called 

 Hemitrojpey or half turned round sections of crystals. 

 Haiiy defines the term Made to signify a prismatic crys- 

 tal^ whose interior is hollowed out. For my own part, if 

 the mineral were to be considered a distinct species, I 

 should prefer the old name ChiastoUtey as more descrip- 

 tive of the specimens met with in this country. The 

 name Made, as used by Haiiy, is more appropriate to the 

 French and German varieties, which are generally very 

 small, and have the exterior crust very thin, and difficult 

 to study by itself. From a long and attentive examina- 

 tion of the forms assumed by this mineral, I came to the 

 conclusion that it is identical with Andalusitey from which 

 it differs only in respect to the arrangement of the crys- 



f 



