32 On Serpentine, 



In Limoges, in France, quarries of serpentine h-ave witliin a few 

 years been re-opened, wliicli Avere explored by the Romans, who 

 held this stone in great esteem. Near Grenada, in Spain, also 

 tliere are quarries of serpentine, wliich form tlie ornament of the 

 palaces and churches of Madrid. The famous vert antique mar- 

 ble is no other than a serpentine intermingled with a portion of 

 white or gray dolomite or carbonate of lime; and many other 

 varieties of serpentine rock, not less beautiful, are known in France 

 .and Italy, as marbles vert de mer, vert (TEgypte^ (£:c. The serpen- 

 tines of the Vosges, in France, are very extensively wrought and 

 -employed for tables and chimney pieces, and for the decoration of 

 churches and palaces. There are extensive mills at Epinal (Vosges) 

 where the serpentine of Goujot, which is much esteemed, is sold 

 when polished, for 54 francs the square metre, or about 45 shil- 

 lings the square yard. The serpentine marbles of Galway and 

 Mayo, in Ireland, are also much esteemed, and those of the New 

 England States are beginning to attract attentioix. That of 

 Roxbury, Vermont, is now coming into extensive use for furniture 

 and interior decoration. 



The serpentine rocks of Canada afford varieties which will not 

 yield in beauty to any foreign specimens. The whole range of 

 tlie Eastern townships abounds in localities which offer great di- 

 versities of hues and combinations. The colours are green of 

 every shade, sometimes nearly black, and occasionally intermingled 

 with white and gray. These are sometimes veined or bended, 

 at others arranged in clouds, or in spots like a pudding stone. 

 The only explorations as yet attempted among these beds, are 

 those of the Geological Commission, Sir William Logan has 

 caused trials to be made of several blocks taken from different 

 exposures of serpentine in Brompton and Oxford, and not one of 

 these, when cut and polished, but has afforded a beautiful variety 

 of marble.* These specimens may be seen at the Geological 

 Museum. It is greatly to be desired that native industry should 

 be turned to the working of our marbles, in a region where water- 

 power is abundant, and where., in addition to these beautiful ser- 

 pentines, there is to be found a variety of other marbles rivalling 



* The name of marble is strictly applied only to such stones as are 

 composed wholly or in part of carbonate of lime ; but as the marbles 

 which are mixed with serpentine pass by insensible degrees into pure 

 serpentine, it is not easy to distinguish between the latter and the ser- 

 pentine marbles, properly so called. 



