specific
gravity, 3*33 to 3*44 ; becomes electric by rubbing; is infusible by
itself before the blowpipe, but is dissolved into a transparent
pale-green bead with borax; acids do not affect it ; it consists of
magnesia, silica, and oxtde of iron. Chrysolite is found particularly
in basalt, trap, greenstone, porphyry, and lava.; sometimes in
alluvial deposits and the sands of rivers.
The
perfectly crystallized chrysolite is brought from Constantinople, but
its true locality is unknown ; less distinct crystallizations occur
imbedded in .lava at Vesuvius and the Isle of Bourbon ; imbedded in
obsidian at Reel del Monte, in Mexico; among sand at Expaillie, in
Auvergne, in pale-green transparent crystals.
Egypt,
Natòlia, and Brazil are the principal localities for the prismatic
chrysolite ; the olivin is more frequently found in imbedded crystals,
and granular aggregations, in the basalts of the Habichtswald, the
Eiffel, the "Upper Palatinate, Geysingburg near Altenburg,
Kapferistein· in Styria, and in the sienite at Elfaden in Sweden. The
brown variety (hyalosiderite) is- found at Sabbach and Iringen on the
Kaiserstahl, and in dolerite, near Freiburg in Baden. Crystals of
olivin, several inches in length, occur in greenstone, at Unkle near
Bonn, on the Rhine, and it is a frequent ingredient of meteoric stones.
The word chrysolite is derived from χρυσός, gold, and λίθος, stone, in .allusion to its color.
The
dark-colored peridots, which take a high polish, are now much worn in
Europe ; they lose, however, their gloss verj soon, on account of their
softening.
The
ligurite is a species of chrysolite of an apple-green color, is
transparent and of uneven fracture ; hardness, 5.3 ; specific gravity,
3.49. Its primary form is an oblique rhombic prism ; the ligurite
contains some alumina and lime in addition to the composition of the
chrysolite ; it is
