478 REPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1886. 



durability when exposed in the trying climate of America is a matter 

 of great doubt. 



Nevertheless, churches and cathedrals erected in the west of En- 

 gland as long ago as the eleventh, twelfth, and fifteenth centuries, are 

 stated by Hull* to be still in good preservation. 



As yet the stone has been but little used in this country, though 

 a movement has been of late on foot for its introduction. 



Portland stone. — This stone, which has been in use in England since 

 the middle of the seventeenth century, is a light-colored Jurassic lime- 

 stone from quarries on the Isle of Portland, near Weymouth. In com- 

 position it is a nearly pure carbonate of lime, but its texture is too un- 

 even to recommend it for other than massive structures. It was used 

 in the construction of St. Paul's Cathedral (Loudon), and many churches 

 erected during the reign of Queen Anne, t 



(5) FRANCE. 



Griotte, or French Red. — This beautiful stone takes its name, according 

 to Violet,| from the griotte cherry, owing to its brilliant red color. 

 When, as frequently happens, the uniform redness is broken by small 

 white spots, it is called " birds-eye griotte " (griotte ceil de perdrix). 

 Some varieties are traversed by white veins, but these are regarded as 

 defects and are avoided in quarrying. The stone is found in several lo- 

 calities in the French Pyrenees, notably in the valley of the Barousse, of 

 the Pique, at the bridge of the Taoulo, and in the environs of Prades. 

 It is used for all manner of interior decorative work in France, and is 

 exported to a very considerable extent to this country. This is by all 

 odds the most brilliant in color of any marble of which the author has 

 knowledge. In the small slabs usually seen in soda-fountains, coun- 

 ters, etc., it appears homogeneous and free from flaws. As displayed in 

 the halls of the capital building at Albany, N. Y., however, it is full of 

 flaws and has been so extensively "filled" as to give the whole surface 

 a gummy appearance, in striking contrast with that of the Tennessee 

 marble with which it is associated. The price in France as given by 

 Violet § is from 400 to 500 francs per cubic meter, or about $2.75 to 

 $3.50 per cubic foot, according to quality. 



Another marble of a brilliant scarlet color, blotched with white and 

 known as Languedoc marble or French red, is stated by*Violet (op. cit.) 

 to occur at various points in the Pyrenees, but in masses of exceptional 

 beauty and compactness at Montague Noire (Black Mountain), where it 

 has been quarried since the sixteenth century. It is obtainable here in 

 blocks of considerable size which bring in the market of (Jarcassone prices 

 varying from 250 to 350 francs per cubic meter, or, roughly speaking, 



Op. cit., p. 209. 



t Hull, p. 212. 



JLes Marbres, etc. Rapports sur L'Exposition Miu., 1878, xxviii, p. 15. 



§ Op. cit., p. 16. 



