190 TURQUOISE. 
and to adorn the handles of stilettoes. They are im- 
ported into England from Russia, stuck with pitch upon 
the ends of straws; because if mixed together in par- 
cels, the purchaser would not easily be able, in turning 
them over, to observe their colour, and ascertain their 
yaliie. 
In the turquoise there is nothing that can recom- 
mend it to notice except the agreeable softness of its 
colour, which is particularly distinguishable by candle- 
light ; this alone has rendered it so fashionable as an 
ornament in female dress, for rings, ear-drops, and 
brooches, thtit the demand for it is at present greater 
than the supply. Imitations of turquoise are easily 
made in paste, and not unfrequently imposed upon the 
ignorant purchaser; but in these, though the colour is 
correctly given, there is a glassy lustre much higher 
than that of the real stone. 
Of late years a spurious kind of turquoise has also 
found its way into Europe, which is much softer than 
the genuine kind ; has more of a green than a blue cast, 
and is -by no means capable of so good a polish. 
233. IRON is a well-known metal, of livid greyish colour, 
hard and elastic, and capable of receiving a high polish. Its 
weight is nearly eight times as great as that of water. 
It is seldom found in a truly native state, but occurs, abun- 
dantly, in almost every country of the world, in a state of oxide 
(21), and mineralized with sulphuric (24), carbonic (26), and 
other acids. 
Iron is found in plants, in several kinds of coloured stones, 
and even in tlie blood of animals. 
Of all the metals there are none which, in the whole, 
are so useful, or are so copiously and variously dis- 
persed as iron. Its uses were ascertained at a very 
early period of the world. Moses speaks of furnaces 
for iron, and of the ores from which it was extracted, 
and tells us that swords, knives, axes, and instruments 
for cutting stones/ were, in his time, all made of this 
metal. 
, The most considerable iron mines at present existing 
