161 



TAB. CCCLXXXVII. 



SILEX quartzum, car. fibrosum. 



Fibrous Quartz. 



Div. 2. Imitative. 



Sir Joseph Banks* the discoverer, and many others who 

 have been surprised at the regular pediment and archi- 

 tecture formed at Fingall's Cave, now so well known, 

 would again be surprised, were they to see the present 

 specimen of the same dimensions. As a representation 

 on paper, however, only gives a diminished figure, this, 

 in that respect, only wants the idea of largeness to be 

 annexed to it to equal that in grandeur. 



Here we see what may in common be termed coarsely 

 fibrous Quartz, the fibres lying in a vein in a Schistose 

 Rock stretched more or less regularly from one side to 

 the other, connecting the two by these filaments ; a very 

 curious circumstance, and little noticed before this in any 

 Mineralogical work. 



Besides the instructive point in which the upper specimen 

 may be viewed, the picturesque structure which represents 

 a ruined Temple also points out a new and most natural 

 order for Architecture. The upper part represents a rude 

 and heightened pediment, with a sketch of radii placed be- 

 hind a bust, which is roughly but elegantly sculptured, as 

 if for a sign to point out to whom the building was dedi- 

 cated. The cornice is in a somewhat stalactitical form, 

 giving much effect by projecting forward so as to show the 

 Stalactites partly in the shade beneath, which, in tolera- 

 ble order, hang lower and lower till a less projecting cor- 

 nice is as it were formed, with various openings, orna- 

 menting the space between like Attic windows elegantly 

 contrived of oval and other forms. Beneath this cornice 

 are the main columns in varied proportions, arranged so 

 as to admit light to the interior, and finishing by gradually 

 swelling into a sort of base on the lower cornice and on 

 some of the columns, giving a good hint for order. 

 There are some bright octaedral crystals of Pyrites, point- 

 ing out judicious places for lamps. 



* Who first made known the description of Fingall's Cave, and furnished 

 Pennant with the account. 



VOL. IV. N 



