|
UNITED STATES, CANADA AND MEXICO
|
101
|
||
|
|
|||
|
will
soon be reported. It has been found in magnificent crystals at Villa
Rica, Brazil, S. Α., but it is of extremely rare occurrence, is highly
cleavable, and is scarcely known except to mineralogists.
The
peridot of the jeweler, which is the chrysolite or olivine of the
mineralogist, is found in abundance and of a good quality, in the form
of small, olive-green, pitted grains or pebbles associated with
garnet, in the sands of Arizona and New Mexico. Locally they are called
Job's tears on account of their pitted appearance. This material
affords smaller gems than those coming from the Levant, and as the
demand seems to be for the large peridots of the richer olive-green
color, which is not possessed by those from the United States, only a
small number of the peri-
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
dots
found in the West have been cut into gems. Many of the so-called "
emeralds " in European church treasuries, notably those of the " Three
Magi " in the Cathedral of Cologne, are peridots and not emeralds, but
the locality whence they were taken is now unknown. All the peridots
that are sold in modern times are taken out of jewelry which is often
two centuries old. The chrysolite of the French jewelers is
chrysoberyl. From the meteoric iron that was found on Glorietta
Mountain, Santa Fé County, N. M., in 1885, the writer' obtained some
peridots of 1 carat in weight, that were transparent and
yellowish-green in color. The meteorite that was found on Glorietta
Mountain, Santa Fé County, Ν. Μ., and the one found at Eagle Station,
Carroll County, Ky., is believed to be identical with the piece,
1 Am. J. Sci. III., Vol. 32, p. 311, Oct., 1886.
|
|||
|
|
|||