184 TURQUOIS SrON?. 



The oriental According to Meder, the oriental turquois Is found In a pri- 

 turquois sup- milive argillaceous schistus, of a jyrev bluish, or blaek a;reyish 



posed noi lobe , 7- i -i , " o / 



« petretaction. colour, which excludes all supposition ot petrefaction. Graphic 



schistus, and quartz, are found in the same place. In the argil- 

 laceous schistus, the turquois is found disseminated ; and it is 

 the same with quartz, and the graphic schistus. 



To remove every idea that the turquois cannot be consi- 

 dered as malachite, or green copper (Kupfergriin), Meder has. 

 given the following character : 



Its colour is apple green greyish ; when it begins to soften, 

 it is decomposed, and assumes a mountain-green colour; wloen 

 completely decomposed, it is gf a yellowish white, green, and 

 near straw colour. 



It is commonly found disseminated in small superficial parts, 

 and seldom in masses ; its interior structure is dull, or scarcely 

 sublucid ; its fracture compact, and the fragments irregular 

 with sharp edges, opake when it is decomposed, and more or 

 less transparent at the edges. Its hardness varies according to 

 the degrees of its decomposition, it is easily broken, and its 

 specific gravity, according to Curwan, is between 2,500, and 

 2,908. 



The turquoises are not all of equal hardness: this must be 

 attributed to the differences of the boney substances which con- 

 stitute their base. The degree of pct.efaction must also in- 

 fluence this properly. 



The turquois, in the solid form, is sometimes mixed with 

 -the brown earthy oxides of copper. 



M. Meder infers, from all these characters, that the 



' turquois ought to be placed between the opal and the chry- 



sopaze, with which it appears to agree by the varieties of green. 



Cuivier consi- Lastly, the celahrated Cu'wiev, in the Jcunial de PJ/ysique, 



*^uois'^ls"ossil P^g^' ^'^^^ ^''^'- ^'^' ^^"^'^s ^^at the turquoises, namely, those 



teeth, coloured which, are found near Simore, in Languedoc, and nearTr^voux, 



by copper. are thecuperferous teeth of an animal, resembling that which has 



been found near the Ohio, or the mammoth of the English and 



Americans ; the carnivorous elephant. 



Mr. Reaumu.- alone has given some detail respecting the mines 

 of turquoises, and the nature of the substances there found. 



His 

 ought to be considered as a turquois, or as a particular mineral ; but I 

 am more disposed to think it was not as in all the turquois. I have 

 examined, and found lime and phosphoric acid. D, L. 



