MEMOIR ON EMERY. 23 



if we are allowed to judge from the specimens of their skill in 

 this art that have come down to us. 



Nevertheless, the quantity of emery formerly employed was 

 insignificant in comparison to the quantity now required, more 

 particularly within the last twenty years, since the use of plate- 

 glass has been extended. The annual consumption at the 

 present time is about fifteen hundred tons. 



For various reasons the island of Naxos furnished for sev- 

 eral centuries almost exclusively the emery used in the arts, as 

 much from the facility with which it was obtained as for the 

 uniformity of its quality. The emery exists in very great 

 abundance on this island, and notwithstanding the quantity 

 already extracted there still remain immense deposits of it. 



The price of this substance at the end of the last century 

 was from forty to fifty dollars per ton, and between 1820 and 

 1835 it was at times even less. About this period the monopoly 

 of the JSTaxos emery was purchased from the Greek Government 

 by an English merchant, who so regulated the quantity given 

 to commerce that the price gradually rose from forty to one 

 hundred and forty dollars per ton, a price at which it was sold 

 in 1846 and 1847. It was at this time that I commenced exam- 

 ining and developing the emery formations of Asia Minor, until 

 then unknown. And after making a report to the Turkish 

 Government the monopoly of the emery of Turkey was sold to 

 a mercantile house in Smyrna, and since then the price of this 

 article has diminished to fifty and seventy dollars per ton, 

 according to the quality. I speak of the prices in the English 

 market. 



The different mines explored are those of J^axos, of an an- 

 cient date; of Kulah, commenced in 1847, and now abandoned 

 for those nearer the sea; of Gumuch-dagh, commenced in 1847 

 and worked largely ; and of Nicaria, commenced in 1850. From 

 all these different places the emery goes to Smyrna, and from 

 there principally to England, the vessels taking it at a very 

 low price, as it serves for ballast. 



The various mines belong to the Turkish and to the Greek 

 governments. The Greek Government now sells its emery in 

 lots of several tons. The Turkish Government sells the entire 

 monopoly of its mines, and consequently its operations are 

 controlled by a single interest; but in all probability this 



