The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1886-12-25

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many scanty currents. filling only the
small, round chamber to the left and
the lower part Of the main cavity.
Then followed a very long undis-
turbed period in which the crystals
grew. Every band shows the compost
ton of its tide, and how long, compar-
atively, it remained.
But how could the later solutions en-
ter the cavity when it was lined with a
wall OF quartz? Often the imprisoned
water was expelled by q terrible press
ure. The exit through which it burst
out was the entrance for the succeeding
one. Sometimes the mighty forces
without made a way through the walls
for the new arrival. In most sliced
agates you will find channels by whi'f
some of the waters CINE and went.
Nearly every country contaiAs somt
kind of agates, but all are formed SINH.
larly, except "moss-agalcs." These
have a very different origin, as they
contain no layers. The delicate .moss''
scattered all through the transparent
quartz, like a miniature forest, is made
of manganese crystals which took their
shapes while the stone was hardening
around them. In Great Britain all the
agates are small, the best being the
pretty Scotch pebbles" Those in
Palestine used to be especially priced
because of their associations. An old
writer explains the hollow ones on
Mount Carmel Us pctrified melons. On
the shores Of Lake Superior and many
other waters they are washed up from
the mother rock. The supply in Ger
many seems inexhaustible, but most
agates come nowadays from South
America.
About sixty years ago, a company Of
German agate workers emigrated to a
colony near the La Plata river. The
courtyard of a country house was paved
with cobble-stones which, they thought,
resembled the agates of their native
hills. Specimens sent home and pol
ished were found far superior to Ober-
stein agates in richness of color. From
that beginning there has grown q largo
commerce between Uruguay and Ger
many in rough agates, and the German
mines have been abandoned.
At first the stones were easily OBJ
tanned from the loose soil and shipped
as ballast. Now it takes much trouble
and cost to collect them. They are
brought to the coast IN open o~x-carts,
like ordinary paving material. and
freighted to Oberstein. There they are
sorted into piles, according to the size
and quality, and auctioneered to the
mill-owners. In the mills they are first
sawed or broken with hammer and
chisel. The dyeing process follows,
and determines into what shape each
stone should be cut to the best ad-
Tantage.
Many Of the colors in polished agates
ire artificial. The old Greeks and
Romans, who regarded agates as
precious gems because of their rarity in
heir times. invented a method of stain
ng them. The modern Italians inhcr-
ted the secret.
Until 1919 all the agates had to be
'ent to Italy for coloring. In that year
German and an 1tal. an, both agate
workers, strayed to Paris, got into
and were locked in the same
dungeon. Their common misfortune
made them chatty. Forgetting their
the Italian told the Oberstein
nan his secret, and the Germans have
ince dyed agates as we'll as any one.
The stones are stewed for a number
# days in oil and honey. Some Of the
ayers are porous and absorb the mix.
ure. Some are SO denso hat none
penetrate them. They are then cooked
n warm acids, which char the oil and
loney, and darkcn the saturated lay
RS into black or brown, according to
heir original color and soaking powers,
the unporous ones white. Rcd
tones are colorcd by a careful roasting
# several weeks in special ovens. This
treatment improves yer the most beau.
iful stones, and the plain ones that
eemed worthless become handsomely
When the bands are black and white
the agate Is called ''onyx,"
nd when brown or red and white, it is
.'sardonyx." Either form is valuable
D the cameo-worker, who carves his
in the white layer so that it
out upon the dark background.
'oJ ouotou oro sooruo1;ou