This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1915 Excerpt: ...in this place! The young geologist picked it up, glanced at it, and replaced it. "I wouldn't give much for your knowledge of stones, then," he said superciliously. "If you could trade malachite for turquoise, weight for weight, you'd make money." "Trade how much?" asked Laurence. "What do you call it?" "That stone of ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1915 Excerpt: ...in this place! The young geologist picked it up, glanced at it, and replaced it. "I wouldn't give much for your knowledge of stones, then," he said superciliously. "If you could trade malachite for turquoise, weight for weight, you'd make money." "Trade how much?" asked Laurence. "What do you call it?" "That stone of yours? Malachite." "What's it worth?" "I really couldn't tell you. I'm not a Brummagem jeweler." Laurence sat upright in his chair. "What--the--deuce," he said, "has that stone got to do with Brummagem jewelry?" "That's all it's fit for. You seem to have an exaggerated idea of its value." "Perhaps so. What's it worth a ton?" "A ton, eh?" He laughed. "You don't buy malachite by the ton, my dear sir. Might as well buy precious stones--really precious ones, I mean--by the pound instead of the carat." "Look here"--Laurence began to get excited--"what is malachite, anyway?" The young man entered into a learned disquisition on copper ores and their deposits--"Something after the manner in which stalagmites are formed," he concluded, emerging from a mist of technical terms. Laurence looked at the woman sitting gracefully between them. Her face, turned towards the speaker, showed polite meaningless interest, but he could see that every word had passed unheeded. "Is the stuff of any real value?" he asked. "In large slabs--yes. The Emperor of Russia, I believe, presented a pair of doors to the late Queen that were considered priceless. In small pieces like that--no, not much. As I tell you, it's very largely used for cheap jewelry, being of a fine green color with variegated surface...
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