GRANITE. 



d'Ente (ancient temple of Auguftus) at Lyons, are of this layers ; it confifts of a blackifli and a wliiti/h fiibflancc, tJic 



' " former fiirrounded by, and paffing into the latter, the centre 



of which is iifually a dark-grey fpot. 



The quarry of this rock is unknown, a fingle block only 

 liaving been found in the gulf of Valinco, in Corfica : its 

 weight was al)Out 80 pounds ; but it was loon broke into 



kind of granite, which lias alfo been worked by the Romans. 

 dry Granile nfThain. — It conhlls of grey quartz, bli<-ck 

 mica, and white fildfpar crydals, whicli are fonictimcs from 

 two to three inclies long. The quarries of this granite are 

 on the road from Lyons to Valence, 'on the right bank of _ 



the Rhone. It is very well adapted for the conlhuclion of fmall Iragmenls, which are now dillributed among collectors 

 large monuments. The granite of St. I'eray, not far from 

 Thain, is exactly like thts, except tliat its feldfpar cryftals 

 are of a rofe -colour. 



Grey Gr.iniic of LrtTi.zi/.— Found in the fmall illand 

 Lave/.zi, near Bonifacio, S. of Corfica, in the llraits that 

 feparate this iiland from Sardinia. This granite is coni- 

 pofed chiefly of fmall irregular cry ftals of feldfpar, mixed 

 with a little black mica, befuics wliich it contain.-; alfo feld- 

 fpar cryftals, of a milk-whue colonr. In the quany of 

 that island a large unfiniftied column is to be feen, wlucli 

 has been relinquilked by tlie Roman workmen. 



Grey Granite of Elba. — Its grain is pretty unifomi ; its 

 colour fometimes approaclies to light violet. I'liere are 

 four columns of this variety to be feen in the Mulce Napo- 

 leon : they were taken out of the church which contained 

 the tomb of Charlemagne, at Aix-la-Chapelle. 



The grey granites are much more common tlian the 

 green or greenifh, of which the following deferve to be 

 mentioned. 



Antique green Granite. — Its predominant ingredient is 

 Tvhite quart/., which contains here and there fonie light green 

 feldfpar. There is a column of it in the Villa Pamfih, near 

 Rome. 



Fine gra'me'd antique Granite. — (Bafalte verd oriental.) The 



There is a bcautifvd vafe of it, or.e foot fix inches high, in 

 the cabinet of M. Dedree. The granite of Corfica is figured 

 by M. Faujas de St. Fond, in his " EITai de Geologic," 

 and in Mr. Sowerby's " Exotic Mineralogy." 



Among the red granites, we have what is called ml 

 oriental granite, which, as ufually containing hornblende, 

 often in large feparate patches, will be defcribed under 



SlICMTE. 



The red Granite of Ingria. — This granite, fays M. Patrln, 

 •is dillinguilhcd from others in this, that the feldipar, inilead 

 of being in grains, or parallelopiped cryllals, as in moll 

 other granites, conliantly appears in the fliape of round ur 

 oval piecesof from half an incli to two inches in diameter. This 

 granite takes a very fine polilh, and in this ilate exhibits the 

 feldipar in the fliape of white, round, or o^A chatoyant fpots,, 

 in a reddilh ground. The rock, which ferves as a pedellal 

 of the equellrian ilatue of Peter the Great, at St. Peterf- 

 burg, is of this granite : the block was originally 32 feet 

 long, 21 feet thick, and 17 feet long ; but, in order to give 

 It its prefent fhape, imitative of a pic^urefque natural rock, 

 it has been much diminitlied in fi/.e. This block was di!- 

 cngaged from a fwamp, about forty verfts from Peterl- 

 burgh : its weight was calcidated to be above three millions, 

 of pounds. We have feen feveral fragments that were 



ecnnponent parts of this work are fo minute and intimately detached from the very black forming the pedellal of tlie 



blended, that they can fcarcely be diftinguiflicd by the naked 

 eye. Its colour approaches to deep olive. It is very hard, 

 and takes a fine polifli. The Egyptians have much employed 

 it for the conllruclion of monuments ; and feveral ilatues 

 of it may be feen in the Capitol and the Villa Albani. 

 There is another variety with white fpots, which is known 

 at Rome under the name of Bafalto Orientale pidochiofo ; 

 tliis is very rare, for there arc but two columns oi it in 

 fxiftence, namely, in the church of St. Pudentiana at 

 Rome. Some varieties bearing that name are filenite. 



Granite of St. Chriflvph : — compofed of violet quartz, 

 ivliite feldfpar, and green mica. This magnificent rock is 

 found at Oifans, in the department of the Here. 



Corfican orbicular Granite. — This beautiful rock (which 

 probably belongs to the fienite formation) was difcovered 

 by M. Barral, in the ifland from which it derives its name. 

 Its compofition is very extraordinary ; it has a bafis of or- 

 dinary grey granite, which, however, in mod parts, exhibits 

 a confiderable portion of hornblende. But what more par- 

 ticularly characterizes it, is a number of balls, of from, one 

 to two inches in diameter, each compofed of feveral con- 

 centric and perfectly parallel layers, the outermofl of which, 

 generally white, opaque, and two or three lines thick, is 

 compofed of quartz and feldfpar, blended in various propor- 

 tions, and exhibiting a radiated appearance, rather conve 

 ing towards the centre of the ball. 



which is of a greenifh-black colour, and about 



The fecond layer, 

 le line thick, 

 is compi'fed of fine laminar hornblende ; and tins is fucceeded 

 by a white, generally tranllucid quartz layer, of about four or 

 live lines in thicknefs, inclufive of two or three very thin lavers 

 of hornblende, that are generally feen within the fubllance 

 of this third principal layer. Each of thefe layers is gene- 

 rally cf equal thicknefs in the .whole of its circumference. 

 Thefe three parts may be confidered as the coating : the 

 interior of each ball is kfs defined than the furrounding 



ftatue ; but in none of them did we obferve the ton» 

 alcribed by Patrin to the feldfpar. 



The public fummer promenade-garden at Peterlburg fs 

 decorated with a fuperb colonade of this granite : the 

 columns, which are fixty in number, are of the Tufcan 

 order ; their (hafts, made of one piece, are about twenty feet 

 high, and three feet in diameter. The ifland, called Kotlin- 

 Ollrow, on which is the fortrefs of Croniladt, is covered with 

 blocks of this granite, the feldfpar of which is fometimes of 

 the kind called Labrador-ltone. 



Red Granite of the I^ojges .Mountains. — Tin's granite is com- 

 pofed of large laminx ot rofc-coloured feldfpar, grey grains 

 of quartz, and fmall fcales of mica. It has fo Itrong a re- 

 femblance to the Egyptian red granite, that it is difficult, 

 to dillinguilh them. Its (piarrics are on the heights of 

 Montanjeu, near the Pupean mountains, in the Vofges. 



Fio/et Granite of' Elba. — The feldfpar of this variety is in 

 large violent cryllals. The pedcftul of the equeftrian ilatue, 

 in the Piazza della Santiffima Aniionzia'.a at Florence, is 

 made of it, as are alfo the fodes in the chapel of St. Lau- 

 rence in the fame town. 



Rofe-coloured Granite of Baveno. — This beautiful granite 

 confiits of flefti-coloured feldfpar, white quartz, and fbme 

 grains of black mica. Confiderable quarries of it are found 

 on the borders of the Lago Maggicre, which are worked, 

 without intermilTion, for iupplying Milan, and the whole of 

 the neighbouring country, with thi& granite. It takes a. 

 very fine pohih : here and there it exhibits ribbands, or 

 zones, of a grey colour, which are compofed of the faire 

 ingredients as the reft of the mafs, but reduced into vry 

 muiule particles. Many columns, porticos, &.c. are feen of 

 it at Milan. 



The name of graphic granite is given to tliofe kinds in. 

 which the feldfpar forms large concretions, intermixed with 

 grey quartz-cryftalsj exhibiting, when cut tranfverftly, an- 

 gular 



