384 



less tenacity. The substance which I obtained 

 from the hands of the Indians, belongs to the 

 saussurite*, to the real jade, which approaches 

 oryctognostically to compact feldspar, and which 

 forms one of the constituent parts of the verde de 

 Corsica, or gabbro -}~. It takes a fine polish, 

 and passes from apple-green to emerald-green ; 

 it is translucent at the edges, extremely tena- 

 cious, and sonorous to such a degree, that, being 

 formerly cut by the natives into very thin plates, 

 perforated at the centre, and suspended by a 

 thread, it yields an almost metallic sound, if 

 struck by another hard % body. This observa- 

 tion adds to the connection which we find, not- 

 withstanding the difference of fracture and of 

 specific gravity, between the saussurite and the 

 petrosiliceous basis of the porphyrschiefer, which 



in America, for instance in Mexico, are not of beilstein, but 

 of compact feldspar. 



* Jade of Saussure, according to the system of Brongniart; 

 tenacious jade, and compact tenacious feldspar of Hauy ; 

 some varieties of the variolithe of Werner. 



f Euphotide of Haiiy, or schillerfels of Raumer. (See 

 the classical memoir of Mr. Leopold von Buch, ueber den 

 Gabbro in the Mem. de la Societe d Hist . Nat. de Berlin, 1810, 

 vol. iv, p. 134.) 



J M. Brongniart, to whom I showed these plates on my 

 return to Europe, very justly compared these jades of Pa- 

 rime to the sonorous stones employed by the Chinese in their 

 musical instruments called king, Traite' de Min. vol. i, p. 



