The blowpipe vade macum : the blowpipe characters of minerals deduced from the original observations of Aquilla Smith ; alphabetically arranged and edited by Samuel Haughton and Robert H. Scott / [Aquilla Smith].

  • Aquilla Smith
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The blowpipe vade macum : the blowpipe characters of minerals deduced from the original observations of Aquilla Smith ; alphabetically arranged and edited by Samuel Haughton and Robert H. Scott / [Aquilla Smith]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    CUAR.VCTKKS OF MINKIt.U.S. :3l brilliant dark purple bead. No water. With borax it effervesces, and dissolves speedily into a glass of a deep violet colour. Epistilbite (Al. 127).—Faroe. Hardness about = 4’0. In the forceps it intumesces and curls up a little, and fuses readily into a white blebby globule, rendered perfectly transparent in a long-continued heat. Contains much water. With borax fuses readily into a co- lourless glass; gelatinizes slightly in cold nitric acid. Erinite (Th. 341).—Antrim. Yields to the nail; streak white; feels soapy. In tlie forceps becomes white, and fuses with slight effer- vescence into a white blebby glass, rendered more transparent in a strong heat. Contains much water. With borax it effervesces a little at first, and fuses rather slowly into a colourless glass; with nitrate of cobalt it fuses into a blue glass ; with bi-phosphate of soda it dissolves slowly into a colourless glass, which becomes opaline when cold, and leaves a transparent skeleton of silica. Mr. Allen had given the name of Erinite to an Arseniate of copjjer, said to be from the county Limerick, previous to the publication of Dr. Thompson’s Mineralogy.-*-Allan, p. 83. Essonite {Vide Garnet). (Th. 2C5; Al. 201).—County DonegaL About as hard as quartz. In tlie forceps fuses quietly and rather readily into a transparent greenish globule, slightly blebby. No water. M ith borax dissolves slowly into a glass coloured by iron. Fahlunite, massive {Vide Bonsdorffite). (Th. 284; Al. 101). Eric Matts, Sweden. Yields easily to the knife; almost sectile ; streak white. In the forceps becomes white, and fuses on the edge (intu- mesces and curls up a little) and surface into a white blebby glass. Contains some water. With borax fuses very slowly into a colour- less glass. Fluate of Lime, octohedral.—In the forcaps decrepitates violently ; re- duced to powder, and moistened, it fuses readily into a white'bead, which turns turmeric paper brown. Contains some water. With borax fuses rather readily into a clear glass, which becomes opaque by flaming, if a sufficient quantity of the assay be used; heated on platina foil with sulphuric acid, it corrodes glass placed over it. Some specimens, in the forceps, phosphoresce, and emit a purple liglit for an instant, decrepitating slightly. FrankUnite (Th.219).—NewJersey,North America. Yieldstothe knife. I owder reddish-brown. A minute fragment is taken up by the mag- net. In the forceps it fuses on the edge with some difficulty, and is rendered more attractable by the magnet. N o water. With borax it dissolves slowly, the glass is coloured by iron; by adding a little nitre, the purple colour of manganese becomes evident in the outer flame! I believe Fraiikliiiite contains much less of manganese than its ana- lyses indicate. Fuchsite.—Tyrol. In the forceps, fusible on the edge with great difii- culty, \\ ith borax (hssolves very readily, with effervescence, leav- ing a peiiuanent green colour in the bead (chrome). In raicrocosmic salt dissolves with equal facility, leading a skeleton; and the bead IS coloured green when hot, colourless when cold (iron). En.]