COMMON FELSPAR. LABRADOR FELSPAR. 69 
FELSPAR FAMILY. 
1 10. COMMON FELSPAR is a hard kind of stone which 
varies much in colour, being fash-red, bluish grey, yellowish 
white, milk-white, or brownish yellow. 
It is found in a massive state, disseminated or crystallized in 
four, six, and ten-sided prisms ; will strike fire with steel, and 
is sometimes opaque and coloured, sometimes transparent and 
whitish. 
The name of felspar is derived from the German 
language, and signifies spar of the fields. It is a very 
common substance, and constitutes a principal part of 
many of the highest mountains of the world. When 
exposed to weather, it gradually acquires an earthy 
appearance, and at length passes into porcelain clay 
(118). 
Felspar is of great use in the manufacture of the 
finer kinds of earthenware. Of the two substances 
which chiefly compose the porcelain of China, one 
called petunze is a whitish laminar kind of felspar. 
This mineral is used in the celebrated porcelain that is 
manufactured at Sevres, near Paris, for the purpose of 
giving to it a white and transparent appearance. Pre- 
viously to being used, it is pulverized, made into a 
paste, and suffered to dry. It is sometimes applied to 
the surface of ornamental vases in the form of enamel; 
111. AMAZON STONED a green variety of felspar, 
which is found in small rolled pieces on the bank of 
the river of Amazons, in South America, whence it has 
its name. It is susceptible of a beautiful polish, and is 
often cut into ring-stones, brooches, and the tops of 
snuff-boxes. Lapidaries consider it to be most estim- 
able when accompanied by mica, which gives it a kind 
of speckled perlaceous appearance. 
112. LABRADOR FELSPAR is a very beautiful stone, 
of smoky grey colour, intermingled zoith veins and shades of 
blue, green, and golden yellow, exhibiting a brilliant play of 
