The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-03-22
Whitby Jet.

Who has not heard of Whitbv iet
and admired its indispensable lusfre
with which it is compliment to com.
pare beautiful woman's eye? Wherev-
or jet is offered for sale, whether #
is in America or in England, the dealer
insists that it is ''reGl Whitby Jet" for
Whitby jet is known to be finer than
any other, and for centuries that Quaint
little town on the Yorkshire coast has
been noted for the manufacture of arti-
Giles of personal adornment from II.
Jet is of two kinds-one hard and the
other soft-and its exact nature is in
dispute among those who have given
most time to its investigation. To one
observer the jet rock in which the hard
jet is found seems to be a deposit of
sea-anemones. and some wears ago a
patent was taken out to distill petrol
cum from it. Experiments proved that
ten gallons of a pure oil could be ex-
tracted from one ton of it, but the pro-
duction was too costly to compete with
American petroleum. The hard let
itself, lying in this rock in a horizontal
position, is said by some to be the re-
suit of a distillation by igneous action
from the inclosing shale; and others
again declare their belief that it is of a
pure ligneOus formation similar to coal
perhaps, indeed, undeveloped coal
for coal and jet are never found CO.
existent. The miners express some
faith in both modes of origin, and say
they believe that the hard jet is of two
distinct formations, being both w6ofi'
and petroleum, now in a state of high
characterization. But, though geolo-
gists differ as to its nature, it is def
nitely known that it is discovered in
compressed layers of variable sizes,
generally from half an inch to two and
half inches in thickness, from four 10
thirty inches wide, and from four to
five feet in length. Such is hard jet.
The soft jet, which is much less valua.
BILE than the hard, is found in sandstone
and shale, much nearer the surface
than the latter, and, according to Mr.
H. Curwen, is undoubtedly Of pure
Hgneous origin, the fibre and branches
OF trees being more or less distinctly
marked in it. The greater value of the
hard is that it wears longer, is less brit
tie, and takes higher polish than the
soft.
Whitby jet, both hard and soft, has
always been considered better than any
other; and no less q poet than Michael
Drayton has sung of it out of his seven
teenth century knowledge. The prom
nence given to it in the shop-window
signs, and their emphasis that the lus-
trous black jewelry there displayed is
made Of it alone, excite good deal of
respect for the genuine Whitby article
But do Goals really come from New
castle, and brass buttons from Birming-
ham? Is Everton tatfy myth, and are
Chelsea buns made at Stratford- le-Bow?
Are Eccles cakes the product of Orms-
kirk, and is the origin of Ormskirk gin
gerbread to be traced TO Eccles? Is any
truth left in the world? When we
landed at Whitby we were told that
Whitby jet principally comes from the
Pyreneesl that the jet is found in such
great abundance in Spain, and obtained
with 50 much greater ease, that the
search for it in the scaurs of Yorkshire
has been almost entirely absn-
doned.
The manufacture of the crude Jet into
various articles of adornment continues
to be almost monopoly of Witty,
however, and it has been known there
since 1898. Nearly an eleventh of the
total population of the town (say be-
tween 1,300 and / 400 persons) are en-
gagged in it William II. Bideing, ga
HQrper'S Maqdzi1se.