- Lapis armenus
Lapis armenus, also known as Armenian stone or lapis stellatus, in
natural history , is a variety ofprecious stone , resemblinglapis lazuli , except that it is softer, and instead of veins ofpyrite , is intermixed with green. "The Armenian stone" is so nearly identical to "lapis lazuli" that it has often not been distinguished from it [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=YpsbmI84LxkC&pg=PA102&dq=%22armenian+stone%22+%22lapis+lazuli%22&sig=OyHPxj-OKDK3v9AIqH6SqbtvS2U "Simply Crystals"] Jackson, p. 102] [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=kWkSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA201&dq=%22armenian+stone%22+%22lapis+lazuli%22&lr= "Handbook and Descriptive Catalogue of the Collections of Gems and Precious Stones"] p. 201 by George Perkins Merrill] ] ; "Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary " for instance treats the two terms as synonyms [ [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/armenian%20stone 1998 "Webster's"] ] .Herman Boerhaave believed it rather to rank amongsemi-metal s, and supposed it was composed of both metal and earth. He added that it only differs from "lazuli" in degree of maturity, and that both of them seem to containarsenic .It has been found in
Tirol ,Hungary , andTransylvania , and used both inmosaic work, to make the blue colorazure , and as a treatment ofmelancholia .cite web | last = Burton | first = Robert | authorlink = Robert Burton | year = 1621 | url = http://www.psyplexus.com/burton/38.htm | title = SUBSECT. II.—Simples purging Melancholy downward. | work =The Anatomy of Melancholy | accessdate = 24 May | accessyear = 2006]The [http://books.google.com/books?id=_QIhQ6CRJkUC&pg=RA2-PA526&dq=%22armenian+stone%22+armenia&lr= 1816 "Encyclopedia Perthensis"] notes that Armenian stone "was anciently brought of Armenia, but now found in Germany, Tyrol".
References
*1728 [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&entity=HistSciTech000900240184&isize=L&q1=132]
ee also
*
Lapis lazuli
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