The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1886-12-25
ALL ABOUT AGATES.
How the Stones Are First Formed
by Nature.
The Great Deposits In Southern Germany
The Tales They Tell-IiOw the
secret Of COlorinG Was Dis.
covered by Germany.

In the picturesque mountain regio1
OF South Germany, not far from tn
Rhine, are the little towns of Obersteil
and Idar. The steep hills which rise be
hind them are tull of curious roun'
Jumps, varying in size from a pea to
pumpkin. and hard as flint. You woul'
think them only common stones, goo'
to threw at a target or to pave streets
but every child there knows that the.
contain elegant treasures. They ar
agates. For centuries the villagers hav'
been engaged in turning these stone
into bread for themselves and feasts o
beauty to Others. Nearly all the agate'
of Christendom have come from them
in museums, parlor ornaments and jew
elry.
The eraggy rocks overlooking these
quiet og%ate-workers are topped with ro'
mantle old castles, of which strange
stories might be told. But the moun
tsins themselves have a far more an.
cient and interesting history, and we
must know something more of it TO IN
derstand how the agates came there.
Ages ago a terrific explosion from the
earth's interior burst through in that
place, and forced out a torrent Of melt
ed rock. As the lava cooled. it became
m immense mass of stone called
''trap''), much greater than these
mountains, which are only the present
relics of ii.
Earthquakes lowered and raised it
many times; tremendous tempests wore
it away; rivers carried fragments to the
sea; a~yalanches of ice plowed over it.
rounding the sharp edges and grinding
away the older and softer rock, until
this vo'canic ridge stood out above the
hills which had nodded its shape. Then
the glaciers melted and the moderate
storms of recent times ate off the sum.
mits into Their ragged condition. Ag.
ates are scattered all through this trap
mountain as thick as raisins in plum
pudding. In the tunnels, which we're
bored for mining them, you may see the
stones all about, many of them loose on
the floor.
Occasionally amethyst crystals glisten
in q broken n Were they mixed in
like the pIums, while the dough was
soft? No; but, odder still, they got into
their places after the bodybuilding was
baked.
When that melted stone came from
the hot regions below, it was charged
with gases which acted like yeast in
bread. 1t could not escape. and there
fore gathered in bubbles through the
pastry mass, stretching it out until the
rock hardened around thousands of
holes. In the course of the ages follow
ing the mountain was sunk to the depths
where mineral waters flow, and was
soaked in solutions of quartz (the min.
cral of which agates are made). Cavi.
ties filled with these fluids were coated
with quartz layers. The stronger tho
solutiOn and the longer it stayed. the
thicker became the hard lining. When
it had peaceful rest, the deposit took the
form Of crystals, with a size proper
toned to the time. If il was driven
out by another solution, as was oftenest
the case, q band of quartz remained to
show what was there.
The layers kept increasing from the
outside inward as the floods followed
each other. each line being the result of
a separate current, which occupied the
space alone for its period. Sometimes
there came small solutions. but partly
filling the hole, and leaving only q
on tho bottom instead of all
around. The colors depended on the
metals in the water. Iron compounds
made most Of them.
Every agate carries its record of
what was doing ages ago in a deep lit
tic cavern, where tides of flinty waters
kept surging in and out. The rough
outer surface is a copy Of the original