ening luster and semi-translucency of 

 jadeite and like that mineral breaks with 

 a splintery fracture. It is not attacked 

 by acids. It does not occur in distinct 

 crystals. 



The most important locality for neph- 

 rite at the present time is Turkestan 

 where it occurs in the Karakash valley 

 in the Kuen Lun mountains, and at 

 other points in the same range. 



In these localities it forms layers in 

 gneiss and amphibole schists. The 

 nephrite from these localities is unusu- 

 ally pure and translucent. Some of the 

 mines have been worked for over two 

 thousand years. 



Nephrite of excellent quality also oc- 

 curs in eastern Siberia in the beds of 

 the Onot and Chara Jalga rivers. It 

 occurs here as boulders, one of which 

 is described as being twelve feet in 

 length and three feet in width, and it 

 is also found in place. A canopy thir- 

 teen feet in height has been made for 

 the tombs of the present Czar of Rus- 

 sia and his wife of nephrite from this 

 locality. 



In New Zealand nephrite occurs in 

 several localities on the west coast of 

 South Island and is used extensively by 

 the Maoris for fasliioning into weapons 

 and ornaments. 



Boulders of nephrite have also been 

 found in river beds in Alaska. In sev- 

 eral river beds of Europe nephrite is 

 found as pebbles and it occurs in place 

 in the region of the Zabten mountains 

 in Silesia, but none of these localities 

 afifords an important source of supplv. 



Jade, including both jadeite and neph- 

 rite though still highly prized by the 

 Chinese and other people of Asia, is lit- 

 tle used by Europeans at the present 

 time. Among early man, however, in 

 Europe, Asia, America and Africa, the 

 use of jade seems to have been well- 

 nigh universal. Ornaments and uten- 

 sils of this stone are found among the 

 remains of the lake dwellers of Switz- 

 erland, the ancient peoples of France, 

 Mexico, Central America, Greece, 

 Egypt and Asia Minor. The re- 

 markable similarity in the material 

 from which these objects are made. 



as well as their resemblance in form 

 has led some authorities to conclude that 

 they came from a single region and in- 

 dicate a migration of people from one 

 locality and a commerce in this stone. 

 If the evidenc to this effect were suf- 

 ficiently convincing it would make pos- 

 sible many deductions regarding the 

 peopling of the globe of which we have 

 as yet little certain knowledge. Those 

 who oppose the view of the distribution 

 of jade from a single source declare that 

 the stone was found in each dift'erent 

 country and was similarly selected at a 

 certain stage in the development of each 

 people. This view seems to be supported 

 by the fact that the so-called jade objects 

 of dift'erent peoples are not composed ex- 

 clusively of the two minerals above men- 

 tioned, but include any stone having 

 aliout their physical characters and col- 

 or. Still the two minerals jadeite and 

 nephrite largely predominate. The two 

 are equally used by the Chinese of the 

 present day who do not seem to dis- 

 tinguish between them. Their name for 

 jade is Yu, or Yu-shih (Yu-stone). 

 In general it has been found that the 

 peoples nearer the equatorial zone of 

 the earth use more jadeite and those 

 nearer the poles more nephrite, but 

 whether this use is anything more than 

 accidental cannot be said. 



The name jade is from the Spanish 

 piedra de hijada, "stone of the loins," 

 and was given by the Spaniard Monar- 

 das in 1565 to the jade brought from 

 Mexico and Peru because these stones 

 were reputed to be of value in kidney 

 diseases. This name was given the 

 Latin form lapis nephriticus by Gutius 

 in 1627 and hence comes the word neph- 

 rite. Jade is also known as ax-stone 

 because of the amount of it used in 

 making these objects. 



The Aztecs applied the name chalchi- 

 hutl to a greenish stone which they 

 used exclusively and prized highly. 

 This in some instances proves to be jade 

 and in others turquois. It is probable 

 that much of the so-called emerald of 

 ancient writers and historians, both of 

 Europe and America, is jade. 



Oliver Cummings Farrington. 



78 



