AGATE-Jx\SPEE. 



Localities.— English. Banner Down, neai 

 Bath. Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. Near 

 Sunderland. — Welsh. Llyn Savaddan, on the 

 river Llynvi, in Brecknockshire. Trevor, 

 near Llangollen, Merionethshire. — Scotch. 

 Near Edinburgh. — Irish. Aghanloo and 

 Curly Burn, in New Bed Sandstone. Slieve 

 Gallion, coating flint balls. — Foreign. Near 

 Eatisbon. Switzerland, where it is used for 

 •whitewashing houses. The United States, 

 covering the sides of a cave at Watertown. 



Name. From its resemblance to agaric 

 {a fungus) in colour and texture. 



Agate- JASPER. A variety of Jasper found 

 in agate- veins. 



Brit. Mus., Case 23. 



Agate mousseuse. Moss Agate. 



Agate perigone. Fortitication Agate. 



Agate terreuse. See Cacholong, 

 Floatstone, &c. 



Agate yersicolore. Variegated Agate. 



Agate zoNAiRE. Agate, the layers of 

 which are arranged in concentric curvili- 

 near bands. 



Agathe coRNALtNE, La Ilethevie. See 

 Carnelian. 



Agnesite : an earthy steatitic mineral 

 from Huel Coates, near St. Agnes, in Corn- 

 wall. It is, probably, an impure Bismuth - 

 ochre, according to Greg & Lettsom. 



AiGUE MARINE. See Aqua-jiarine. 



AiGUE MARINE DE SiBKRiE, Rome de 

 L'lsle. See Beryl. 



AiKENlTE, Chapman, Dana. Rhombic : 

 occurs in imbedded acicular four or six- 

 sided prisms, indistinctly terminated, and 

 striated longitudinally; also massive. 



Colour. When fresh broken dark steel- 

 grey, but soon acquiring a yellowish or pale 

 copper-red tarnish. Opaque. Lustre me- 

 tallic. Streak blackish-grey. Structure la- 

 mellar. Fracture small-grained, uneven ; 

 sometimes approaching to conchoidal. H. 2 

 to 2-5. S.G. 6-1 to 6.8. 



Comp. Sulphide of Bismuth, Copper and 

 Lead, or (Cu, Pb) S +3 Bi S^. 



Analysis by Hermann, from Beresowsk : 

 Bismuth .... 34-87 



Lead 3G-3L 



Copper . . . .10-97 

 Sulphur . . . .16-50 

 Nickel . . . .0 36 

 Gold 0-09 



99-00 

 BB gives off fumes of sulphur, fuses and 

 emits numerous burning globules, and 

 finally yields a globule of lead containing 

 copper, which colours glass of borax green- 

 ish-blue. Dissolves in nitric acid with 



ALABASTER. 5 



separation of lead -sulphate and a small 

 quantity of sulphur. 



Localities. Beresowsk near Ekatherinen-' 

 berg, in Siberia, imbedded in white Quartz, 

 and accompanying Gold, Malachite, and 

 Galena. 



Names. Named by Chapman after Aiken 

 the chemist. 



Brit. Mus., Case 9. 



M.P. G. Principal Floor, Wall-cases 9, No. 

 465 ; 20 (Russia). 



AiMANT, Beudant. See Magnetite. 



AiMANT DE Ceylon. See Tourmaline. 



AivANTHiTE, Dufrerioy: (from axavQa., a 

 spine,) a variety of Epidote from Achma- 

 towsk. 



Akanticone. See Epidote. 



Akimit, Haidinger. See Achmite. 



Alabandicus, a stone " Called after the 

 name of tiie countrey that yieldeth it, it 

 is black : Howbeit, there is of it to be found 

 growing in Miletus, but not altogether so 

 blacke, for it enclineth or declineth rather 

 to a purple colour. This stone of Miletus 

 will resolve in the fire, and commonly thev 

 use to melt it for drinking cups, in manner 

 of glasses." — Pliny, book xxxviii. ch. 7. 



Alabandine, Beudant, Brooke §• 3Iiller. 

 See Manganblende. 



Alabandine, Fliny : those carbuncles 

 which were cut and polished at Alabanda, 

 and were called in consequence Alabandine 

 or Alamandine. "^Ethiopian Rubies and 

 the Alexandrian, Avhich are found, indeed, 

 among the cliffs of the hill Orthosia, but 

 trimmed and brought to their perfection by 

 the Alabandians. . . . Many authors have 

 written . . that the Alabandines be more 

 darke and blackish than others, and withal 

 rough in hand." — Fliny, book xxxviii. 

 ch. 7, 



Alabaster : is the name by which the 

 fine massive varieties of Gypsum are called. 

 It is a sulphate of lime, composed of sul- 

 rihuric acid, 46-51 ; lime, 82 56 ; water, 

 20-93. At Volterra and Castellina, in Tus- 

 cany, it occurs extremely pure and compact, 

 and is conveyed thence in large blocks to 

 Florence, where it is manufactured into 

 figures, vases, and other works of art, which 

 are exported to all parts of Europe. Twenty 

 years ago there was a great taste for such 

 objects in France, and the material was then 

 obtained from quarries at Lagny, near 

 Paris. In England it occurs in New Red 

 Marl, principally at Ashton-on-Trent, and 

 Chellaston Hill, near Ashbourne, in Derby- 

 shire, at both of which places it is exten- 

 sively worked for ornamental purposes 

 " The principal demand for this material 

 B 3 



