G R A 



w^iere it Is called /irbre tk bins, or Box tree, from the fiml- 

 litude of its haves to the Buxus. Thefe are about an inch 

 long, ovate, acute, entire, veiny, fmooth on both fides, 

 nearly feflilc, with a pair of fmall awl.fhape<l_/7;y;!;/<«. Floivers 

 fmall, in terminal or axillary clullers. Fni'u iomewhat like 

 that of an olive, but fmaller, and rather angular. 



GRANHULT, a town of Sweden, in the province of 

 Smaland : 35 miles N. W. of Calmar. 



GRANI, inoury^nacn/ Wtilers, muftachoes or whificcrs 



of a beard. . 



The word feems formed from the ancient Britilh or Inlh, 



greanii, a leant. 



It is given for a rcafoii why the cup is refufed to the 

 laity, " Quia barbati, & prolixos habent granos, dum pocu- 

 Inm inter epulas fumunt, prius liquorc pilos inficiunt, quam 

 ori infundunt.'" 



GRANIFEROUS, producing or bearing any fort of 



grain. 



GuANiFEROUS PoJs, a term fignifying fuch pods as con- 

 tain fmall feeds of fome of the grain kinds. 



GRANILITE. Under this denomination Kirwan com- 

 prehends all varieties of granite that contain more than 

 three ingredients, fuch as quart/., feldfpar, mica, and garnet : 

 fuch fupcrnumerary ingredients, however, muft be con- 

 fidered as accidental, and of too little importance to confer 

 the diftindtion of a particular name on the granite in which 

 they occur. 



GRANINGE, in Geography, a town of Sweden, in 

 Angermannland, on a lake ; 40 miles N. W. of Hcrnofand. 

 GRANITE, an aggregate rock, the elTential ingredi- 

 ents of which are feldfpar, quartz, and mica, being the 

 fame as thofe of gneifs, from which granite differs chiefly 

 in the arrangement of the three component parts : their 

 "being mingled without order or regularity, produces a gra- 

 nular ilrufture, while that of gneifs is generally flaty. (See 

 Gneiss.) It is, probably, this granular nature of the 

 rock in qucftion which has procured it its name ; though 

 fome authors are of opinion that the word gran'ile is nothing 

 but a corruption oi geranites, a name mentioned by Pliny, as 

 that of a ftone of tlie colour of a iiork's neck. The faft is, 

 that the word granite, which is now adopted by almoll all 

 European nations, originated with Italian antiquaries, and 

 Tournefort was not the ilrll writer who makes mention of it. 

 The three conftituent parts of granite vary with regard 

 ■to their colour, fize, relative quantity, form, and freflmefs. 



The colour of this rock is generally more or lefs reddifh, 

 becaufe the feldfpar, ufually the predominating part, is 

 cftencr of that than of any other colour. Sometimes the 

 ■feldfpar is greyifli and yellowhh-white, and fo like the ad- 

 mixed quartz, that it can be diilinguillied only by its pecu- 

 liar fracture and lullre. It has been obferved that the red 

 colour occurs more frequently in the newer, while the grey- 

 ifli-white appears to be more charaftcriftic of the older 

 formation of granite. Alfo long continued expoiition of 

 granite to the aftion of the atmofphere contributes to 

 render its feldfpath pale or grey. Yellow and green feld- 

 fpar feldom occur as ingredients of granite. — The colour 

 of the quartz is ufually greyilh ; fometimes this part is per- 

 fectly colourlefs and tranfparent, in which cafe, as the grains 

 cannot be \'iewed by tranfmitted light, it appears deep grey 

 or black. — The mica is mu:h more frequently black or 

 grey, tiian brown or perfectly white. 



The abfolnte Ji%e of the ingredients of granite is fubjeft 

 to confidersfele variation ; they are feen from very large to 

 .very fine granular, the latter being more frequent in the 

 newer formation. With regard to the j-elative fize of its 

 Conllitucnt parts, we diltinguiilt equally mixed from une- 



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qually mixed granite ; the former being that in which the 

 magnitude of the three ingredients is nearly the fame. 



The quantity of thefe parts is equally various : fo that fome- 

 times one, iometimes two of them predominate : upon the 

 whole it is the feldfpar that is found in the greatell proportion, 

 and the mica in the leall. There are, indeed, fome varieties 

 of granite in which the quartz or mica are entirely wanting. 

 Such binary aggregations of the granitic kind have receiv- 

 ed diftinft appellations by fome authors, Thofe of quartz 

 and feldlpar, or feldfpar and mica, were called fimple gra- 

 nites by Wnllerius ; femi-granites by Blumenbach ; and 

 Kirwan propoles to denote all thefe duplicates in general by 

 the ntivae granite/!, fpecifying, when neceffary, the conftituent 

 peculiar parts of each. The aggregate of quartz and mica 

 is called ge/Iili-/!e!n, orjlell-jleiit, by fome of the older Germarj 

 writers ; and that of feldfpar and mica, efpecially when the 

 latter is of a brown or bro\vni(h-red colour, and forms the 

 predominant ingredient, has obtained the Finlandic name of 

 Rapakim. Such diCtinttions, however, are unnecefTary and 

 inapplicable, fincc often in one and the fame granitic mafs 

 the proportion and number of the component parts are feen 

 confiderably to vary. Befides, there are many rocks enume- 

 rated by authors as granitels, which cannot, with any pro- 

 priety, be ref;?rred to granitic compounds ; fuch as feldfpar 

 with hornblende, with nephritic ftone, with garnet, lleatite, 

 or the fame feparately combined with quartz or mica. 



There is but very little variety in the form of the com- 

 ponent parts : they are almoft always maliive and indetermi- 

 nately angular, and feldom occur in the form of regular 

 cryftals. The feldfpar is found cryftalhzed in Bohemia, 

 at Schlakkcnwalde, near Carlibad ; at Tzeidler, in the 

 Saatz dirtritt ; alfo near Hohenwalde, in Upper Palatinate ; 

 at Ochfenkopf and Keftein, on the Fichtel-gebirge ; at 

 Schneeberg, in Saxony; in England; in the ifland of ArraH, 

 (Sec. The granite in which thefe feldfpar cryftals are feen, 

 is often of inch fine grain, and the quartz and the mica are 

 fo intimately united with each other, that they form, as it 

 were, a matrix for the cryftals: fuch granite is called />or/i/'j- 

 rriic granite. Part of the pavement on Weftminfter and 

 Blackfriars' bridge confifts of this fpecies of granite. Some- 

 thing like cryftalli::ation of the quartz is now and then ob- 

 ferved in granite, but it is always irregular. In the variety, 

 called graphic or Portfoy granite, in which the feldfpar 

 conftitutes by far the greatelt part of the mafs, and which 

 contains mica in fmall groups, at great diftances from 

 each other, the quartz is difpofed in luch a manner, that 

 when the rock is cut in a certain direction, it exhibits forms 

 which bear fome djftant refemblance to written characters : 

 whence it has obtained its name. But by fome, neither the 

 Portfoy nor Siberian graphic ftones are confidered as true 

 granites. — Alfo, the mica is now and then found cryftalhzed 

 in granite, fuch as in Siberia, at Waldheim, Metweida, Jo- 

 han-georgenftadt, in Bohemia, &c. In a variety of granite 

 of Mount St.Gothard, all the three conftituent parts are 

 faid to occur cryftalhzed together. 



The feldfpar is alfo fometimes found in the ftiape of 

 cuneiform concretions, reprcfenting on their fraclure a fav- 

 face comparable to the paws of fome animals, or to the petals 

 of flowers : this Angular variety comes from the neighbour- 

 hood of Breitenbnuin, in the Upper Ertzgebirge. 



AVith regard to the fre/J;!ieJs or Hate of pref rvation which 

 thefe three ingredients exhibit, we have to obferve that the 

 feldfpar, which, in general, has a vitreous hittre and a perfectly 

 foliated fracture, is alio feen in various itages of decompofi- 

 tion ; it occurs dull, earthy, friable, and even entirely difin- 

 tcgrated, in which ilate it is known by the name of porcelain- 

 earth. This difintegration takes place chiefly near the fur. 



face 



