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“TAB. CCXXI. 
SILEX steatites; var. induratum. 
Red and Green Serpentine. 
Class 2. Earths. Order 1. Homogeneous. 
Gen. 4. Silex. Spec. 13. Steatites. 
Div. 3. Amorphous. 
IT po not much admire the name Serpentine, nor do I 
think it very appropriate to this substance, and it has in- 
deed been the cause of much confusion, as different states 
of Jade, Asbestos, and Actynolite have been mistaken for 
it. I should rather consider this substance (which has 
generally been called Serpentine) as a variety of Steatite 
more or less veined with the help of Oxide of Iron, often 
red, and of the colour of brown Bricks, as in some parts 
near the Lizard Point, and Kynance Cove, where the rocks 
are massive, and of a dark green on the outside, but when 
broken look within of a brick-red, and the varieties found 
about the Lizard Point are veined with red and different 
greens, The upper specimen was obtained from thence by 
favour of my kind friend P. Rashleigh, Esq. and is chiefly 
green veined with red and a bright silky red interspersed, 
which is reckoned rather rare. There are also bricht plates 
of a substance about it which is considered by some as a 
sort of crystallization of the Serpentine, and is called by 
the general name of Schillerspar. The lower specimen is 
such as is found at the Lizard, Portsoy, or in Wales, and 
is in part approaching Jade*, but is much softer. This 
and its varieties often include the silky Asbestos ;—see 
tab. 123. 
* Jade is hard and tough, or it would not answer the purpose of Hatchets 
to the New Zealanders. 
