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350 Glossary
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Maacles. Flat triangular diamond crystals or twin stones.
Macled. Twinned crystals.
Masculine. A term applied to rubies of an intensely red hue.
Matrix. The
portion of rock in which a mineral is embedded. Gem minerals are
sometimes cut together with a portion of the matrix and the matrix
itself is sometimes cut and mounted like gems.
Melange. Diamonds of mixed sizes.
Melee. Small diamonds.
Metallurgy. The
art of separating metals from their ores or from impurities; smelting,
reducing, refining, amalgamating, alloying, parting, brazing, plating,
etc.
Mineralogy. A science treating of those natural inorganic products of the earth which possess definite physical and chemical characters.
Monoclinic. Inclining in one direction.
Monoclinic System. Having
two of the axial intersections rectangular and one oblique; having the
lateral axes at right angles to one another, one of them being oblique
to the vertical axis and the other at right angles to it.
Mossy. Term applied to emeralds clouded by fissures.
Muddy. Imperfect crystallisation which obstructs the passage of light; exemplified by mud stirred in water.
Muffle. An
oven-shaped vessel of baked fire-clay containing cupels or cups in
which alloy is fused, or a furnace with a chamber surrounded by
incandescent fuel.
Mytilidae. A family of conchiferous molluscs—pearl producing mussels.
Mytilius Edulis. The true mussel.
Naats. Thin flat crystals (diamond) used for "roses" and, by resplitting, for draw-plates.
Nacreous. Lustre resembling mother-of-pearl, the lining of mollusc shells.
Night Emerald. Olivine, which loses its yellow tint by artificial light, showing only its green.
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