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JADE

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 124 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JADE , a name commonly applied to certain ornamental stones, mostly of a See also:

green See also:colour, belonging to at least two distinct See also:species, one termed nephrite and the other jadeite. Whilst the See also:term jade is popularly used in this sense, it is now usually restricted by mineralogists to nephrite. The word jade' is derived (through Fr. le jade for l'ejade) from Span. ijada (See also:Lat. ilia), the loins, this See also:mineral having been known to the See also:Spanish conquerors of See also:Mexico and See also:Peru under the name of piedra de ijada or yjada (See also:colic See also:stone). The reputed value of the stone in renal diseases is also suggested by the term nephrite (so named by A. G. See also:Werner from Gr. vechpos, See also:kidney), and by its old name lapis nephriticus. Jade, in its wide and popular sense, has always been highly prized by the See also:Chinese, who not only believe in its medicinal value but regard it as the See also:symbol of virtue. It is known, with other ornamental stones, under the name of yu or yu-chi (yustone). According to See also:Professor H. A. See also:Giles, it occupies in See also:China the highest See also:place as a See also:jewel, and is revered as " the See also:quintessence of See also:heaven and See also:earth." Notwithstanding its toughness or tenacity, due to a dense fibrous structure, it is wrought into complicated 1 The See also:English use of the word for a worthless, See also:ill-tempered See also:horse, a " See also:screw," also applied as a term of reproach to a woman, has been referred doubtfully to the same Spanish source as the O. Sp. ijadear, meaning to pant, of a broken-winded horse.

forms and elaborately carved. On many prehistoric sites in See also:

Europe, as in the Swiss See also:lake-dwellings, celts and other carved See also:objects both in nephrite and in jadeite have not infrequently been found; and as no See also:kind of jade had until See also:recent years been discovered in situ in any See also:European locality it was held, especially by Professor L. H. See also:Fischer, of See also:Freiburg See also:im See also:Breisgau, See also:Baden, that either the raw material or the worked objects must have been brought by some of the See also:early inhabitants from a jade locality probably in the See also:East, or were obtained by See also:barter, thus suggesting a very early See also:trade-route to the Orient. Exceptional See also:interest, therefore, attached to the See also:discovery of jade in Europe, nephrite having been found in See also:Silesia, and jadeite or a similar See also:rock in the See also:Alps, whilst pebbles of jade have been obtained from many localities in See also:Austria and See also:north See also:Germany, in the latter See also:case probably derived from See also:Sweden. It is, therefore, no longer necessary to assign the old jade implements to an See also:exotic origin. Dr A. B. See also:Meyer, of See also:Dresden, always maintained that the European jade objects were indigenous, and his views have become generally accepted. Now that the mineral characters of jade are better understood, and its See also:identification less uncertain, it may possibly be found with altered peridotites, or with amphibolites, among the old crystalline See also:schists of many localities. Nephrite, or true jade, may be regarded as a finely fibrous or compact variety of See also:amphibole, referred either to actinolite or to See also:tremolite, according as its colour inclines to green or See also:white. Chemically it is a See also:calcium-See also:magnesium silicate, CaMg3(SiO3)4.

The See also:

fibres are either more or less parallel or irregularly felted together, rendering the stone excessively tough ; yet its hardness is not See also:great, being only about 6 or 6.5. The mineral sometimes tends to become schistose, breaking with a splintery fracture, or its structure may be horny. The specific gravity varies from 2.9 to 3.18, and is of determinative value, since jadeite is much denser. The colour of jade presents various shades of green, yellow and See also:grey, and the mineral when polished has a rather greasy lustre. Professor F. W. See also:Clarke found the See also:colours due to compounds of See also:iron, See also:manganese and See also:chromium. One of the most! famous localities for nephrite is on the See also:west See also:side of the See also:South See also:Island of New See also:Zealand, where it occurs as nodules and See also:veins in See also:serpentine and talcose rocks, but is generally found as boulders. It was known to the Maoris as pounamu, or " green stone," and was highly prized, being worked with great labour into various objects, especially the See also:club-like See also:implement known as the See also:mere, or pattoo-pattoo, and the See also:breast See also:ornament called hei-tiki. The New Zealand jade, called by old writers " green See also:talc of the Maoris," is now worked in Europe as an ornamental stone. The green jade-like stone known in New Zealand as tangiwai is bowenite, a translucent serpentine with enclosures of See also:magnesite. The mode of occurrence of the nephriteandboweniteof New Zealand has been described by A.

M. Finlayson (Quart. Jour. Geol. See also:

Soc., 1909, p. 351). It appears that the Maoris distinguished six varieties of jade. Difference of colour seems due to See also:variations in the proportion of ferrous silicate in the mineral. According to Finlayson, the New Zealand nephrite results from the chemical alteration of serpentine, See also:olivine or See also:pyroxene, whereby a fibrous amphibole is formed, which becomes converted by intense pressure and See also:movement into the dense nephrite. Nephrite occurs also in New See also:Caledonia, and perhaps in some of the other Pacific islands, but many of the New Caledonian implements reputed to be of jade are really made of serpentine. From its use as a material for See also:axe-heads, jade is often known in Germany as Beilstein (" axe-stone "). A fibrous variety, of specific gravity 3.18, found in New Caledonia, and perhaps in the See also:Marquesas, was distinguished by A.

Damour under the name of " oceanic jade. Much of the nephrite used by the Chinese has been obtained from quarries in the Kuen-lun mountains, on the sides of the Kara-kash valley, in See also:

Turkestan. The mineral, generally of See also:pale colour, occurs in nests and veins See also:running through See also:hornblende-schists and gneissose rocks, and it is notable that when first quarried it is comparatively soft. It appears to have a wide See also:distribution in the mountains, and has been worked from very See also:ancient times in See also:Khotan. Nephrite is said to occur also in the Pamir region, and pebbles are found in the beds of many streams. In Turkestan, jade is known as yeshm or yeshm, a word which appears in Arabic as yeshb, perhaps cognate with iao,ris or See also:jasper. The " jasper " of the ancients may have included jade. Nephrite is said to have been discovered in 1891 in the Nan-shan mountains in the Chinese See also:province of Kan-suh, where it is worked. The great centre of Chinese jade-working is at See also:Peking, and formerly the See also:industry was active at Su-chow Fu. See also:Siberia has yielded very See also:fine specimens of dark green nephrite, notably from the neighbourhood of the Alibert See also:graphite mine, near Batugol, Lake See also:Baikal. The jade seems to occur as a rock in See also:part of the Sajan See also:mountain See also:system. New deposits in Siberia were opened up to See also:supply material for the See also:tomb of the See also:tsar See also:Alexander III.

A gigantic monolith exists at the tomb of Tamerlane at See also:

Samarkand. The occurrence of the Siberian jade has been described by Professor L. von Jaczewski. Jade implements are widely distributed in See also:Alaska and See also:British See also:Columbia, being found in See also:Indian See also:graves, in old See also:shell-heaps and on the sites of deserted villages. Dr G. M. See also:Dawson, arguing from the discovery of some boulders of jade in the See also:Fraser See also:river valley, held that they were not obtained by barter from Siberia, but were of native origin; and the locality was afterwards discovered by Lieut. G. M. Stoney. It is known as the Jade Mountains, and is situated north of Kowak river, about 15o See also:miles from its mouth. The study of a large collection of jade implements by Professor F. W.

Clarke and Dr G. P. See also:

Merrill proved that the Alaskan jade is true nephrite, not to be distinguished from that of New Zealand. radeite is a mineral species established by A. Damour in 1863, differing markedly from nephrite in that its relation lies with the pyroxenes rather than with the amphiboles. It is an See also:aluminium See also:sodium silicate, NaAl(SiO3),, related to See also:spodumene. S. L. See also:Pen-See also:field showed, by measurement, that jadeite is See also:monoclinic. Its colour is commonly very pale, and white jadeite, which is the purest variety, is known as " camphor jade." In many cases the mineral shows See also:bright patches of See also:apple-green or See also:emerald-green, due to the presence of chromium. Jadeite is much more fusible than nephrite, and is rather harder (6.5 to 7), but its most readily determined See also:character is found in its higher specific gravity, which ranges from 3.20 to 3.41. Some jadeite seems to be a metamorphosed igneous rock.

The Burmese jade, discovered by a Yunnan trader in the 13th See also:

century, is mostly jadeite. The quarries, described by Dr F. Noetling, are situated on the Uru river, about 12o m. from Mogaung, where the jadeite occurs in serpentine, and is partly extracted by See also:fire-setting. It is also found as boulders in See also:alluvium, and when these occur in a See also:bed of See also:laterite they acquire a red colour, which imparts to them See also:peculiar value. According to Dr W. G. Bleeck, who visited the jade See also:country of Upper See also:Burma after Noetling, jadeite occurs at three localities in the Kachin Hills—Tawmaw, Hweka and Mamon. The jadeite is known as chauk-sen, and is sent either to China or to See also:Mandalay, by way of See also:Bhamo, whence Bhamo has come erroneously to be regarded as a locality for jade. Jadeite occurs in association with the nephrite of Turkestan, and possibly in some other See also:Asiatic localities. In certain cases nephrite is formed by the alteration of jadeite, as shown by Professor J. P. Iddings.

The Chinese feits'ui, sometimes called " imperial jade," is a beautiful green stone, which seems generally to be jadeite, but it is said that in some cases it may be See also:

chrysoprase. It is named from its resemblance in colour to the plumage of the See also:kingfisher. The resonant character of jade has led to its occasional use as a musical stone. In Mexico, in Central See also:America and in the See also:northern part of South America, objects of jadeite are See also:common. The Kunz votive See also:adze from See also:Oaxaca, in Mexico, is now in the See also:American Museum of Natural See also:History, New See also:York. At the See also:time of the Spanish See also:conquest of Mexico amulets of green stone were highly venerated, and it is believed that jadeite was one of the stones prized under the name of chalchihuitl. Probably See also:turquoise was another stone included under this name, and indeed any green stone capable of being polished, such as the See also:Amazon stone, now recognized as a green feldspar, may have been numbered among the Aztec amulets. Dr Kunz suggests that the chalchihuitl was jadeite in See also:southern Mexico and Central America, and turquoise in northern Mexico and New Mexico. He thinks that Mexican jadeite may yet be discovered in places (Gems and See also:Precious Stones of Mexico, by G. F. Kunz: Mexico, 1907). Chooromelanite is Damour's name for a dense, dark mineral which has been regarded as a kind of jade, and was used for the manufacture of celts found in the dolmens of See also:France and in certain Swiss lake-dwellings.

It is a mineral of See also:

spinach-green or dark-green colour, having a specific gravity of 3.4, or even as high as 3.65, and may be regarded as a variety of jadeite See also:rich in iron. Chloromelanite occurs in the Cyclops Mountains in New See also:Guinea, and is used for hatchets or agricultural implements, whilst the See also:sago-clubs of the island are usually of serpentine. See also:Sillimanite, or fibrolite, is a mineral which, like chloromelanite, was used by the See also:Neolithic occupants of western Europe, and is sometimes mistaken for a pale kind of jade. It is an aluminium silicate, of specific gravity about 3.2, distinguished by its infusibility. The jade tenace of J. R. Haiiy, discovered by H. B. de See also:Saussure in the Swiss Alps, is now known as saussurite. Among other substances sometimes taken for jade may be mentioned See also:prehnite, a hydrous calcium-aluminium silicate, which when polished much resembles certain kinds of jade. Pectolite has been used, like jade, in Alaska. A variety of See also:vesuvianite (idocrase) from See also:California, described by Dr. G.

F. Kunz as californite, was at first mistaken for jade. The name jadeolite has been given by Kunz to a green chromiferous See also:

syenite from the jadeite mines of Burma. The mineral called bowenite, at one time supposed to be jade, is a hard and tough variety of serpentine. Some of the common Chinese ornaments imitating jade are carved in steatite or serpentine, while others are merely See also:glass. The pate de riz is a fine white glass. The so-called " See also:pink jade " is mostly See also:quartz, artificially coloured, and " See also:black jade," though sometimes mentioned, has no existence. An exhaustive description of jade will be found in a sumptuous See also:work, entitled Investigations and Studies in Jade (New York, 1906). This work, edited by Dr G. F. Kunz, was prepared in See also:illustration of the famous jade collection made by See also:Heber Reginald See also:Bishop, and presented by him to the See also:Metropolitan Museum of See also:Art, New York. The work, which is in two See also:folio volumes, superbly illustrated, was printed privately, and after See also:loo copies had been struck off on American See also:hand-made See also:paper, the type was distributed and the material used for the illustrations was destroyed.

The second See also:

volume is a See also:catalogue of the collection, which comprises 900 specimens arranged in three classes: mineralogical, archaeological and See also:artistic. The important See also:section on Chinese jade was contributed by Dr S. W. Bushell, who also translated for the work a discourse on jade—See also:Yii-shun by T'ang See also:Jung-tso, of Peking. Reference should also be made to Heinrich Fischer's Nephrit and Jadeit (2nd ed., See also:Stuttgart, 188o), a work which at the date of its publication was almost exhaustive. (F. W.

End of Article: JADE

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