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46 HISTORY OF THE GEMS FOUND IN NORTH CAROLINA.
supposed
to be diopside, were found at Stony Point, Alexander Count)*, X. C,
associated with beryl, quartz, rutile, garnet, dolomite, etc. These
crystals soon came into the hands of J. A. D. Stephenson of
Statesville, who sent the best of them to Norman Spang, of Pittsburg,
Pa., a noted collector of choice minerals. About 2 years later
Mr. Stephenson called the attention of William E. Hidden to this
mineral, and to the locality; Mr. Hidden then sent specimens for
examination to Dr. J. Lawrence Smith, of Louisville, Ky., who found, on
investigation, that the mineral was not diopside but a transparent
variety of spodumene. The crystals were first found loose in the soil
with emeralds, but systematic mining revealed them attached to the
veins of the wall-rock (PI. XII, A). The spodumene is generally more or
less altered, hence its pitted or eaten-out appearance; but when found
in the rock, the crystals are quite perfect and unchanged. They are all
transparent and range from colorless (rare), to a light yellow, into
yellowish-green, then into deep yellow emerald-gfeen. Sometimes an
entire crystal has a uniform green color, but generally one end is
yellow and the other green. Its hardness is on the prism faces, G.5,
and across them, according to Doctor Smith, nearly that of the emerald;
but a series of experiments proved it to be somewhat less. At first
considerable difficulty was experienced in cutting it, owing to its
remarkably perfect prismatic cleavage, which is very lustrous. Gems
have, however, been cut up to 2-1/2 carats in weight. Specific gravity,
3.18 to 3.194.
Specimens
of the crystals and of cut stones, have gone into all important public
and private collections in the United States, and to some extent
abroad. Dr. Spencer, of the British Museum, has recently described
several specimens there contained, in a report to the Director, Dr.
Fletcher, as follows:
Hiddenite: Alexander County, N. C.
A faceted stone of a rich emerald-green color, perfectly transparent, and with only 1 or 2 small cracks. Weight, 0.494 gram.
A
piece of matrix bearing 2 or 3 small crystals. Also numerous isolated
prismatic crystals up to 2-1/2 centimeters in length; many rather pale
in color, but 3 crystals, presented by Mr. Hidden, in 1893, of a rich
emerald-green.
The
yellow tinge exhibited by this mineral in even the darkest green gems
will prevent it from competing with the emerald, since it is this very
quality that has kept down the prices of the Siberian demantoids, or
Uralian emeralds, as the green garnets are variously termed. The finest
crystal of lithia emerald ever found is in the Morgan-Bement collection
at New York. (See PL III.) It measures 2f inches (68
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