40 



FELDSPAR. MICA. 



and forms a constituent part of numerous rocks. It 

 is not as hard as quartz, but more brittle. It is 

 composed of thin laminae or plates, which are most 

 commonly four or six sided prisms, which have a 

 bright, pearly lustre, which distinguishes it from 

 quartz, whose lustre is dull. 

 Fig. 2. 



An oblique parallelepiped^ the primi- 

 tive form of feldspar. 



The colours of feldspar are white, gray, milk- 

 white, yellowish or reddish white, sometimes in- 

 clining to green. When crystallized it is translu- 

 cent. It may be melted into a glass without adding 

 any alkali, because an alkali forms one of its con- 

 stituent ingredients. It is found, on analysis, to 

 contain silex 63; alumine 17; potash 13 ; lime 3; 

 oxide of iron 1 : it is probably owing to the fact that 

 feldspar contains potash that it is so easily decom- 

 posed, although nearly as hard as quartz. Those 

 feldspars which do not decay on exposure to the 

 atmosphere contain but little, if any, potash. When 

 decomposed it forms a kind of clay called kaolin, 

 from which .china or porcelain-ware is made by 

 burning. In its manufacture a little lime is added 

 as a. flux, which tends to soften it in the fire, and, 

 on cooling, it assumes the requisite degree of hard- 

 ness. Feldspar forms a constituent part of granite, 

 gneiss, and mica slate, and enters more or less into 

 the formation of greenstone and most volcanic sub- 

 stances, as well as porphyry and sienite. In some 

 parts of the world it forms entire mountains ; as in 

 Siberia, Scotland, Labrador, &c. 



Mica,* sometimes called isinglass, is also compo- 

 sed of silex, alumine, potash, and oxide of iron. 



* From the Latin micans, shining. 



