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MOONSTONE.
The feldspar group flowers in the moonstone, the commonest
semi-precious stone in Ceylon, valued far more here than there. In
Colombo moonstones can be bought for a few pennies each, a handful
for the English pound. Fine, clear stones, translucent but never
transparent, blue, gray or colorless, with a peculiar sheen, cut always
en cabochon, are really very lovely. The blue are the most
rare, scarce even in Ceylon, the only ones which command a price
there, though hardly more attractive to strangers than the gray, in
its soft, gentle, mysterious opalescence. When cut in a high dome
or in balls, the spot of light follows the eye like the play of light
in a drop of water suddenly congealed, but more poetically likened
to the luminosity of the moon. This is admirably reproduced in
ground glass imitations.
Adularia is the same stone when white and colorless and sub-
transparent. The hardness is 6 to 6.5, specific gravity 2.4 to 2.6.
It has light green and red tints, as well as blue and pearly gray.
Sometimes the play of light shows green or red floating on a gray
background. But that best known to jewelers is either gray or blue.
It is found at Mount Adula, Switzerland, in the Scandinavian
Peninsula and the United States, to a small extent, but the great
deposits are in Ceylon, where it occurs in granite rocks.
Moonstone is an alternative August birthstone for those who
do not care for sardonyx or carnelian. In the Orient it is a sacred
stone. It signifies good luck.
With the loved moon it sympathetic shines,
Grows with her increase with her wane declines;
And since it thus for heav'nly changes cares,
The fitting name of sacred stone it bears.
A powerful philter to ensnare the heart,
It saves the fair from dire consumption's dart
Marbodus.
SUNSTONE.
Another form of feldspar is sunstone, unattractive and seldom
used as an ornament. The public prefers the goldstone, a manufactured
article, but more interesting than the stone it simulates.
AMAZONSTONE.
Amazonite bears a strong resemblance to jade, but is really
a feldspar, found along the banks of South America's great river.
It is used to a limited extent in decorative jewelry.
LABRADORITE.
A score of years ago a beautiful greenish blue substance was
found in Labrador, at first thought to be a form of onyx, but
eventually identified as feldspar, and made into various household
articles by the Tiffany Company.
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