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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    Mesole. —Yields easily to the knife ; scratched by fluor spar. In the forceps fuses readily, with some intumescence and effervescence, into a bead, transparent while hot, but white and opaque when cold. Contains much water. With borax effervesces a little at first, and fuses slowly into a glass, colourless and transparent; with nitrate of cobalt, it fuses into a blue glass. Reduced to powder, and moistened with nitric acid, it gelatinizes slightly. It is very tough. Mesole (Al. 128).—Faroe Isles. Hardness about = 3_-5. Its pyrognostic characters correspond exactly with those of Mesolite. Mesole (Al. 128.)—Portrush, North of Ireland. Hardness about = 4'0. In the forceps becomes white; exfoliates a little ; intumesces and fuses rather slowly into a white blebby bead. Contains much water. With borax it dissolves readily. When reduced to powder, and moistened with nitric acid, it gelatinizes. Mesolite (Th. 317 ; Al. 122).—Yields with some difficulty to the knife. In the forceps it becomes opaque, exfoliates, intumesces, and fuses into a white blebby globule, which becomes more transparent in a stronger heat. Contains much water. With borax it effervesces a little at first, and then fuses readily into a transparent colourless glass, leaving a skeleton which is more slowly soluble. When pow- dered, it gelatinizes with nitric acid. This is the Skolezite of Mr. . IT -n [Mica, Margarodite.—Three-rock Mountain, county Dublin. Fusible on the edge with great difficulty. Contains water. With borax dissolves readily. Leaves a skeleton of silica in microcosmic salt, in which, however, it easily dissolves.—Ed.] ^ Molybdena, sulphuret of (Th. 88).—Cumberland. Yields to the nail. In the forceps it is infusible, and does not undergo any change with MuBsite (Fic?e Pyroxene). (Th. 187; Al. 144). Mussa, Piedmont. Hardness = 5-0. In the forceps, in the outer fiame, fuses quietly into a clear glass; in the inner flame intumesces and effervesces. A piece the size of a pin’s head fuses only on the edge. With borax fuses very slowly. Contains no water. Nacrite (Th. 244).—Fair Mountain, Glendalough, county Wicklow. Yields easily to the knife; streak white. In the forceps fuses on the edge with difficulty, into a white enamel. Gives a trace of water. With boraxit effervesces at first, and fuses slowly into a transparent glass, coloured by iron while warm. With biphosphate of soda partly fuses into a glass, which is slightly opaline when cold, if saturated, and leaves a large residue of silex. Napoleonite (Th. 291). Corsica. Yields with difficulty to the knife; powder white. In the forceps becomes white, and fuses on the edgn into a blebby glass. Does not contain water. Almost insoluble with boi*3iX • NatroUte (Th. 315 ; Al. 121)—North of Ireland. Yields to the knife ; hardness about = 5. In the forceps, at a low heat, it becomes opaque,