Chapter 15
Section 15 of Birds and All Nature, Volume 6, No. 2, September, 1899. Recorded for LibriVox.org. Minerals. Hornblend. A mineral species placed by Dana in the augite section of the anhydrous silicates.
In common use the name is limited, as it was formally applied only to the dark crystalline minerals which are met with in long, slender prisms, either scattered in quartz, granite, etc., are generally disseminated throughout their mass. The color of the mineral is usually black or dark green, owing to the presence of much iron. It appears to have been produced under conditions of fusion and cooling, which cannot be imitated in the laboratory. The crystals
obtained artificially being of augite type. Malachite. One of the native carbonates of copper. It is sometimes crystallized, but more often occurs in concretionary masses of various shades of green, which are generally banded or arranged in such a manner that the mineral, which takes a fine polish, is much prized as an ornamental stone. Great quantities of it are found in the Siberian mines, and many beautiful objects are manufactured from it. Quartz. The
most abundant of all minerals, existing as a constituent of many rocks, composing of itself the rock known as quartzite or quartz rock, and some of the sandstones and pure sand, forming the portion of most mineral veins. In composition it is silica, and when uncontaminated with any foreign intermixture, it appears in clear, transparent crystals like glass or ice. Pure quartz is largely employed in the manufacture of glass and is commonly obtained for this
purpose in the form of sand. Quartz veins, with few exceptions, form the gangs in which gold is found. Tourmaline. A name applied to a group of double silicates, composed of many other minerals. The color of tourmalines varies with their composition. The red, called rubelite, are manganese tourmaline, containing lithium and manganese, with little or no iron.
The violet, blue, and green contain iron, and the black are either iron or magnesium iron tourmalines. Sometimes the crystals are red at one extremity and green at the other, or green internally and red externally, or vice versa. Pink crystals are found in the island of Elba.
Tourmalines are not often used in jewelry, although they form beautiful gems and bear a high price. A magnificent group of pink tourmalines, nearly a foot square, was given by the King of Burma to Colonel Sykes, while commissioner to his court. The tourmaline appears to have been brought to Europe from Ceylon by the Dutch about the end of the 17th century, and was exhibited as a curiosity on account of its pyroelectric properties. Agate, of the quartz family, and is one of the modifications in which silica presents itself
nearly in a state of purity. Agates are distinguished from other varieties by the veins of different shades of color which traverse the stone in parallel concentric layers, often so thin as to number fifty or more to an inch. Externally the agates are rough and exhibit no appearance of their beautiful vein structure, which is exposed on breaking them, and still more perfectly after polishing. Though the varieties of agate are mostly very common minerals in this
country as well as in the old world, those localities only are of interest which have long been famous for their production and which still furnish all the agates required by commerce. Amethyst. So named because it was supposed by the ancient Persians that cups made of it would prevent the liquor they contained from intoxicating. The stone consists of crystallized quartz of a purple or blue-violet color, probably derived from a compound of iron and soda. The color is not
always diffused through it and is less brilliant by candlelight. Serpentine. Serpentine differs in composition from the other marbles. It is a soft mineral of different shades of green, of waxy luster, and susceptible of a high polish. It is better adapted to ornamental work within doors than to be exposed to the action of the weather. Sulfur, an elementary substance belonging to the class of metalloids.
It has been known from the earliest times as the product of volcanoes and as a natural mineral deposit in clay and marl formations. It also exists in primitive rocks as granite and mica. End of section 15. This recording is in the public domain.
