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Ch. 3: Physical Properties of Gem Stones

Ch. 3: Physical Properties of Gem Stones Page of 311 Ch. 3: Physical Properties of Gem Stones Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
48                                PRECIOUS STONES.
one another at 120°, intersecting in a point through which passes a fourth axis of length different from the others.
The tetragonal system has two axes of equal length at right angles to one another and a third unequal axis at right angles to the other two.
The rhombic system has three unequal axes all at right angles.
The monosymmetric system has three axes of unequal length, two of them at right angles and the third inclined to the plane containing the other two at an angle other than 90°.
The triclinic system has three unequal axes, all inclined to one another at angles other than right angles.
The easiest way perhaps to get a clear conception of the simplest forms of each system is to use several pieces of fine steel wire; old knitting needles answer very well. These may be cut to the lengths corresponding to the system to be represented ; for instance, for the rhombic system we might have one piece 3 inches long, one piece 2-1/2 inches and another 1-1/2 inches in length. These can now be run through an indiarubber ball of about 1 inch diameter, taking care to keep them as near the centre of the ball as possible and at right angles to one another. If the ball be now covered over with moist pipeclay moulded into an eight-faced solid figure whose corners coincide with the tips of the wires, a rhombic pyramid will be produced. If a set of the pyramids belonging to the six systems of crystals be made in this way, a general conception of their form is obtained.
It must be borne in mind that the external form of a crystal is by no means its most important phenomenon, for with this external form is associated a definite internal
Ch. 3: Physical Properties of Gem Stones Page of 311 Ch. 3: Physical Properties of Gem Stones
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