1377
321
Specimen of a patented gold tissue, for tlie covering ofcupolas, instead of copper gilt.
322
8 tones.
Brooch in the form of a branch.
Bracelet of turquoises and diamonds.
Gold chain bracelet, with pearls and diamonds.
Bracelet, vine leaf in diamonds, grapes in rubies.
Sevigne, diamonds and pearls.
Brooch, ear-rings, and bracelet, of turquoises.
A selection of these articles is given in Plate 226.
323 Deviidoni', Messrs., St. Petersburg —Proprietors
and Manufacturers.
Articles made of malachite, viz.:—
Doors . Cliimneypiecc. Writing tables, oval and square.Barge and small round table. Chairs in variety. LargeVases (Medicis, Chinese, Rococo ). Large tazza. Varioussized book paper weights. An assortment of paperPressers. Pedestals, with busts of Peter the Great ,Charles XII., and with figure of Peter the Great atBoltava. Clock. Several specimens and blocks of ma-lachite. Horses, by Baron Klott, bases of green marble.
Dor a selection of these articles see Plates, 180, 189,192, 193, 195, and 271.
[The following account of the discovery of a greatblock of malachite may be considered interesting :—In searching for ores of copper in the mine of MiedroRoudiansk, situated witliin the lands of Nijni Tagilsk, theProperty of the Messrs. Demidoff, distant about 120 verstslo the northward of Yekaterinburg, in the Ural Moun-tains , the explorers came, at a depth of 36 sajines, to theB outh of the shafts of Hadojnaia, and 23 sajines below thelittle torrent of Roudianlta, upon an immense block ofMalachite . That portion of it which was exposed, and de-tached from the surrounding rocks, measures on one of itssides 7-J sajines in length, 3)- sajines broad, and 21 sajines111 depth; and on the other side, half a sajine. From thefollowing calculations it results that tills block must con-tain a mass of the weight of 3,000 poods. Fragments areto be seen weighing each from 300 to 400 poods, andwithout fissure. The net weight of this malachite mass,deducting for cavities and inequalities, may be taken at3)000 poods.
On detaching the block from the adjoining rocks whichbad been penetrated by the malachite in different ramifi-°ations, upwards of 1,000 poods of it were extracted,'"’hich are not allowed for in the foregoing estimate, sothat the entire of the mass would have weighed as muchas 4,000 poods, without taking into account tlie fact thatto the north of it, in quarrying the upper stratum and tlier °ck on each of its sides, enormous fragments of the same8ll bslauce were perceived, extending over a space 36a i'chines in length, which were left there, and which ex-tandecl further both in an upward and a downward diroc-fion. To the south this great mass, whose angle of^lolination is about 18°, stretches in a direction followingjbat of the gallery, to the extent of another 10 arcliines inl0 "gth, so that we may assume the entire length of theVls ible mass to he from 45 to 46 ai'chines. A considerablequantity of this mineral is in like manner imbedded in tlies ide
bith,
quarryings. The violent irruption of the water has
i erto precluded the further exploration of its down-^I’d extension, and the workings have not yet been com-menced for following out its continuation upwards; there• Sj however, every reason for believing that the mass whichVl 5ible, as above described, constitutes but a very minute
fraction of the entire malachitic rock. Finally, we maystate that beneath this bed of malachite, at G sajines belowits level, there is being now excavated a shaft which willbo 42 sarjines deep from the surface of the soil above.
The malaeliite presents the appearance of a prolongedplain running from north to south, its texture composedof large and small kidney-shaped nodules. Its colourpasses from a deep green, in some varieties, to a finoturquoise tint in others. On being polished it exhibitsvery beautiful markings, and were this mass of malachiteapplied to purposes of ornamental decoration, it ■wouldsuffice to coat a surface of 13,440 square arcliines. Thebed in which this vast mass is found occurs principally inan oligistic manganiferous iron, in a state of decomposition.This occupies a space of very considerable extent eastward,and there forms into lodes. This oligistic iron has pene-trated reciprocally the malachite on the east, in the shapeof a wedge. Some argillaceous schist is also found here.
This great mass is surmounted by a fcliin crust, aiidcomposed of small nodules full of hollows, the partitionsbetween which are coated with manganese, forming some-times a casing for them, and occasionally dendrites, orarborescent forms. The mass is covered, in like manner,with a slight layer of decomposed oligistic iron, abovewhich we meet with a talco-argillaceous schist, also de-composed. The superstratum and the bed of this wonder-fid formation are composed of the same description ofrock—the schist just mentioned.
The lower gallery of the mine, at some depth belowthe surface soil, and carried under the malachitic mass,traverses some ferruginous rocks in which occur lodes ofgreen carbonate of copper, succeeded by kaolin and taleososchist; at last it cuts a vein of porphyritic schist, con-taining ores of a brick-coloured and vitreous copper.
The largest block of malachite that had been known toexist up to the present time, was extracted in the year1789, from the mine of GroumechefF, the property of II.Toru'chaninoff. This block weighed, when fomid as itwas deposited, 106 poods, without reckoning tlie frag-ments. It has been placed in the cabinet of the “ Corpsdes Mines, ” and still weighs upwards of 90 poods.
Tlie malaeliite block of Tagilsk, which, even after beingdisengaged from the encompassing rock, weighed morethan 3,000 poods, with its compact texture and itsbeautiful turquoise colour, is a product unquestionablyunique, of its kind, in the mineralogical history of ourglobe.— Translated from the <c Annuaire du Journal desMines de Jlussie
Two lumps of native gold.
[The following is M. Erman’s account of tlie gold wash-ings, and gold and silver collections at ICeeshva, in aregion through which the metalliferous Ural extends itsmighty chain: —
At Keeshva, the gold and platinum of the district “liein beds of pebbles, partly at the bottom of tlie valleysthat cross the course of the Tura, and partly diffusedmore widely, through tlie plains on either side of thisriver; the metals lying among the detritus of the horn-blende and feldspath, collected between the transitionlimestone rocks which bound the valleys. There wouldappear to be no difficulty at first as to tlie source of theirproduction, as they are scattered over the slopes of theUral, east and west. Still, the unaccountable peculiaritywas found to prevail here, that the quantity of gold in theundisturbed veins of quartz was much less than in thosedimentary beds, and that it was likewise different in itsform and condition, being in crystalline scales in tho