106 GERMAN MARBLES. 
167. LUMACHELLI MARBLE. This exhibits beautiful 
iridescent colours, which are sometimes prismatic inter- 
nally, but more commonly of various shades of red or 
orange ; whence it has also obtained the name ofjlre 
marble. Few kinds of marble are more generally ad- 
mired than this. It has a dark ground, and is marked 
throughout with the appearance of small whitish shells, 
which, in certain parts, refract the most beautiful and 
brilliant colours. This marble is cut into the tops and 
bottoms of snuff-boxes, and several other ornamental 
articles. It is found in veins at Bleyberg, in Carinthia. 
168. Many beautiful kinds of marble are obtained 
from the island of SICILY, particularly one called Sici- 
lian jasper 9 which is red, with stripes like ribbons, white, 
red, and sometimes green. SWITZERLAND abounds in 
marbles; PORTUGAL, SWEDEN, and NORWAY, afford 
few. In the RUSSIAN EMPIRE many have been noticed, 
particularly among the Uralian mountains. The late 
Empress Catharine caused an immense palace to be 
built for her favourite Orloff, which is entirely coated, 
both inside and outside, with marble. She built the 
church of Isaac with marbles of different kinds, on a 
vast space, near the statue of Peter the Great, in Pe- 
tersburgh. We are at present very imperfectly ac- 
quainted with the marbles of ASIA. Dr. Shaw men- 
tions a red marble obtained from Mount Sinai; and 
Mr. Morier, in his journey through Persia, speaks of a 
beautiful translucent kind which he calls marble ofTa- 
?>riz, and the colours of which are light green, with 
veins sometimes of red, sometimes of blue. He says it 
is cut into large slabs, some of which he describes to 
have measured nine feet in length, and five feet in 
breadth. No account has hitherto been published of 
the marbles of AFRICA. In the United States of AME- 
RICA many kinds of marble have been discovered, some 
of which have been wrought, r.nd polished ; but very 
imperfect descriptions have yet been given of them. 
169. Few countries produce a greater variety of ex- 
