The Peridote- Discovery and Composition

PERIDOTE:

The peridote is a stone very anciently employed in jewelry; and as up till late years it was only found in water-worn fragments, its form of crystallization could not be determined. The recent discovery, however, of well-defined crystals of peridote on Vesuvius shows that they appertain to the right rhomboidal prism.

The peridote is a double silicate of magnesia and iron, with variable proportions of manganese, alumina, and sometimes nickel. According to the nature and quantity of the metallic compounds that enter into its composition, the peridote exhibits crystals of different colours. The peridote, properly so called, is a yellow-green; other varieties have clear olive-green tints and are called by the lapidaries olivines.

The crystals of peridote are sometimes called chrysolite, but this must not be confounded with oriental chrysolite or cymophane.

An interesting fact attaches itself to the peridote. It is, among all the precious stones, the only one which has to this time had the honour of being found in those stones dropped from space, which we designate under the name of aerolites.