The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1890-03-01
FACTS ABOUT MOONSTONES.

FACTS ABOUT MOONSTONES.
The Gems Place in Mythology, Folklore
and Modern MineralOgy.
While the moonstone has but little value
at the present time, those who cared to be
yersed in gem lore hold it remarkable for
the fables which cling to it, writes John IL.
Allen in the Chicago Jeweler. Burnham
says sit is no easy matter to class this
chameleon-like gem, since it claims kin
dred with so many species and passes un-
der so greats number of names," but what
ever the moonstone or the ancients may
have been, the moonstone of to-day is
stripped of all imagery, and in the didactic
language of cold but bright-eyed science Is
an opalescent variety of straight cleaving
feldspar. Its hardness is six, and its spe
cltic gravity is almost invariably 2.5S 1t
contains in one hundred parts:
Silica. OLA partS.
Alumlna. ........................' Ion .
Potash an
Traces of soda, lime and magnesia. II
While the moonstone of the ancients was
quite appropriately termed selenite the
mineral of to-day is not so well named. 1t
is known as adularia, from Mount Adula,
one of the highest peaks of the Leontine
Alps, in that group to which the st. Gothard
| pass gives it's name, and whose bowels
have since been pierced by the railway tun-
mel The best specimens of the gem, howev-
er, come from Ceylon. at occurs in crystals,
crystalline fragments and solid masses; it's
fracture is uneven; it is translucent or the
edges, with double refraction or light;
the luster is vitreous and pearly, more
n especially when cut and polished" The
light thrown out from the interior of the
stone is greenish and blush white, the re-
Elections being changeful in color when
viewed in different aspects. The cleavage
of the stone is in two directions, the crys-
tails often being found in the hemitrope form
having compound structure, which may
be initiated by bisecting crystal and re-
volving one-half 1S0 degrees Tor in some
cases 12O degrees), and then reuniting the
halves. In polished specimens this form be-
comes obvious from the different directions
of the lamine. Adularia is found in cavities
of the granite, gniess and limestone, and in
pebbles from Ceylon, Greenland, Bavaria,
st. Gothard, Tyrol, Dauphine and at several
places in this country, particularly at Ii
conderoga, N. Y, Maryland, Pennsylvania,
Connecticut and Massachusetts. The adu-
laria from st. Gothard is found in very
large masses, and at Zurich, Switzerland,
there were formerly on exhibition in the
museum groups of crystallzed adularia
measuring two feet in length and one foot
IN thickness, which glinted with royal
beauty.
The gems are secured by taking the speci-
mems which possesses good color and strong
pearly reflections and cutting them out of
larger Jumps. The piece Is then ground on
q vxyha ,.+
polished with rottenstone.
In commerce the adularia goes under
various names, such as moonstone, sun
stone, girasol, fish'eye, Ceylon or water
opal. The difference between the moon
stone and the sunstone seems to be in color
only, the moonstone being white with small
blush or greensh shades, while the sun
stone shows a yellow and reddish play of
colors The sunstOne is another member of
the feldspar group, its internal prlsmatic
reflections and minute spangles being due
TO the presence of included crystals of
oxide of iron or of MICA 1t is found in
limited quantities in Norway, and also at
Media, Pa, and at Orange Court House,Va
Orpheus, the semi-fabulous Grecian bard,
recognized two kinds of gems which were
symDollcal OF the sun. "In both" he says,
there appear rays shining straight and
hAe luminous hair, but the colors of tn
stones are different; the one would b
ueened a crystal, the other chrysolit
except Tor the hair" He also wrote: "Phu.
pus hath planted in both species a mighty
III spirit Which gives glory and heroic beauty
10 whatsoever shall wear them with due
understanding"
Ay' tnere's the rub" Probably few OF
W,pheus, cotemporaries had the necessary
Que understanding"
inaI the sunstroke was connected in the
minus OF ancient GENE -engravers with Sol is
.s'oent ts. from beautifully carved gem oi
.u's character discovered by G. w. King
IN the Marlborough collection of Jewels
showlng Sol driving three horses attached
Whis chariot through the heavens, thus
marking this stone as that gods peculiar
property
q now are the mighty fallen!
tne stone which used to possess the mi
Mcuious powers ascribed to this; the gem
wnlch enjoyed the favor Of princes, and
lne felicity Of being lied about by writers
whom we now term classical; the only jewe
wwhlcn the ancients paid the compliment
vi oestowing upon it the names of their
worshped luminaries, is now common
ss'one, valuable only for the skill displayed
In cutting it.
Let us recount its glorious past. and draw
.he vail OF charitable silence over it's igno
mlnious present.