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NOTICES OF SCIENTIFIC MEMOIRS 
a single precious stone in all its aspects and, though scientific in scope and 
technical in detail, aims to have a popular appeal and a general interest as 
well. The first chapter deals with turquois from the historical standpoint, 
tracing its position in literature from remote times to the present. Special 
emphasis is laid upon the mediaeval ideas that obtained regarding this pre- 
cious stone, and the review affords an epitome of the development of early 
mineralogic science. Chapter two describes in detail the physical properties 
of turquois and discusses its chemical composition. Chapter three is largely 
geological and is descriptive of the turquois localities of the world. Special 
attention is given to the early history of the interesting deposits in the Sinai 
Peninsula, which were extensively exploited by the Egyptians during the 
Dynastic Period; and the famous mines near Nishapur in Persia are brought 
before the reader in the detail their significance deserves. The importance 
of scarcely known deposits in Central Asia, which have for centuries contributed 
a notable supply of stones to the Orient, is also pointed out. Chapter four 
goes into a careful discussion of the origin of turquois. In chapter five the 
use of turquois from a world point of view is taken up and traced from antiq- 
uity to the present. The human element is here uppermost and interesting 
analogies appear in parallel applications by independent peoples. Its employ- 
ment by the American aborigines leads to especially full treatment of a phase 
of the subject of considerable ethnologic significance. The position held 
by turquois in Tibet and China is discussed in the light of recent investigations 
by Berthold Laufer. In chapter six the identity of chalchihuitl, a species of 
precious stone used by the Aztecs, is investigated and its bearing on turquois 
discussed. The seventh chapter depicts the position of turquois in the myth- 
ology and folklore of the various peoples that have chanced to use this mineral. 
The superstitions in which the turquois is concerned are many and varied and 
afford an interesting parallel to its ornamental application. Chapter eight 
is given up to the more technical aspects of the subject, wherein the mining, 
cutting, means of imitation, and production are considered. The final sec- 
tion is an annotated bibliography, comprising upwards of 400 titles, which 
forms a reasonably complete record of the works that touch on turquois. 
