Sec. IV, Ch. 22: Semi-Precious Stones, Malachite

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	CHAPTER XXII. MALACHITE.

	HERE can be little doubt that this stone was known to the Ancients, and it has been suggested that our Malachite was the Smaragdus Medicus of Pliny. Malachite, a hydrated carbonate of copper, is found in almost every locality which yields copper-ores, occurring principally in the upper parts of the deposits where atmospheric influences have been at work. The finest specimens have been obtained from the mines of the Urals, and from the great deposits of copper-ore in South Australia. Malachite is occasionally found in crystals, but perfect specimens are rare. It usually occurs in masses with rounded surfaces—mammillated, botryoidal and reniform— which have evidently been deposited from solution in water, much in the same way that deposits of stalagmitic marble have been formed. Its gradual deposition in successive layers is shewn by the concentric structure which specimens of Malachite so often display, and owing to this structure, a slab of polished Malachite usually exhibits a beautifully variegated pattern. malachite:.

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