Alabaster

“ It is the oriental alabaster (aragonite) used in the horizontal bands of the nave, and some of the panels. It is a translucent, fibrous stalagmite formation, generally of a clear honey-colour. Some of the varieties are strongly veined with white, and others are much darker. Large ancient quarries of this Egyptian alabaster have been discovered on the east bank of the Nile.
Paulus appears to make no mention of the dusky black with dull golden veins used in the bema apse, which closely resembles the “Porto Venere” quarried at Spezzia. ”

“ When sulphate of lime or gypsum assumes the opaque, consistent, and semi-transparent form of alabaster, it is worked like marble. The pure white and harder varieties are usually employed for the sculpture of statues and busts; while the softer kinds are cut into vases, boxes, lamps, and other ornamental objects. The alabaster quarries in the neighbourhood of the ancient Etruscan town of Volterra are the most famous in Europe, and have afforded employment for many centuries to her industrious population. ”

“ Among the loads of gypsum that came to the mill, there were often pieces of the best kind,—lumps of real, fine alabaster. Alabaster is so soft as to be easily worked. Even a finger-nail will make a mark upon it. Everybody knows how beautiful vases and little statues, well wrought in alabaster, look on a mantelpiece, or a drawing-room table. Oliver had seen such in France, where they are very common: and his father had carried one or two ornaments of this kind into Holland, when he had to leave France. ”

“ To dream of alabaster, foretells success in marriage and all legitimate affairs. To break an alabaster figure or vessel, denotes sorrow and repentence. For a young woman to lose an alabaster box containing incense, signifies that she will lose her lover or property through carelessness of her reputation. ”

“ Theophrastus (c. 314 B.C.) states that vessels of lead and alabaster were best for the purpose, on account of their density and coolness, and their power of resisting the penetration of the ointment into their substance. Pliny also recommends alabaster for ointment vases. ”

“ The ancients obtained large blocks of alabaster from quarries in Thebes in Egypt, in the neighbourhood of Damascus, and on Mount Taurus. They imported some kinds also from Cyprus, Spain, and Northern Africa. They obtained varieties nearer home, in different parts of Italy, such as the beautiful Alabastro di Tivoli, employed by Hadrian in his villa, and which appears to have been brought from Terni, where it still exists in abundance. From the quarry near Volterra the Etruscans obtained the alabaster for their cinerary urns. ”

“ There was something else,—something quite undefinable, that gave a singular glow and radiance to the whole countenance, and suggested the burning of a light through alabaster,—a creeping of some subtle fire through the veins which made the fair body seem the mere reflection of some greater fairness within. ”

“ ALABASTER, or Arblastier, WILLIAM (1567–1640) , English Latin poet and scholar, was born at Hadleigh, Suffolk, in 1567. He was, so Fuller states, a nephew by marriage of Dr John Still, bishop of Bath and Wells. His surname, sometimes written Arblastier, is one of the many variants of arbalester, a cross-bowman. Alabaster was educated at Westminster school, and entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1583. He became a fellow, and in 1592 was incorporated of the university of Oxford. About 1592 he produced at Trinity College his Latin tragedy of Roxana. ”

“ He perceived then, at a glance, that this woman was young and beautiful; and her style of beauty struck him more forcibly from its being totally different from that of the southern countries in which d’Artagnan had hitherto resided. She was pale and fair, with long curls falling in profusion over her shoulders, had large, blue, languishing eyes, rosy lips, and hands of alabaster. ”

“ Alabaster.—Pliny (XIII, 3) , says, “ Ointments keep best in boxes of alabaster, and perfumes when mixed with oil, which conduces all the more to their durability the thicker it is, such as the oil of almonds, for instance. Ointments, too, improve with age; but the sun is apt to spoil them, for which reason they are usually stowed away in a shady place in vessels of lead.” (See also Pliny, XXXVI, 12; Mark, XIV, 7; John, XII, 3.)
24. Avalites and the far-side coast.—The text is corrupt, having Adulis; Fabricius translates “ aus dem gegenüber gelegenen Adulis.” ”

“ Alabaster. Vessels made of alabaster, or onyx stone, which Pliny says was an excellent material for preserving ointment incorrupt (lib. 36, cap. 8) , were made use of for this purpose. Wherefore it is not surprising that this hollow vessel, which was as thin and brittle as glass, might easily be broken by Mary Magdalene, by striking it with a small hammer, so that she might pour the whole of the ointment upon the head of Christ. ”

“ Less white than alabaster, the nest of the sea-swallow is of a light color, and semi-transparent, odoriferous in smell, glutinous, and rather sweet to the taste. {350} Rows of these little bowls, which look like so many vessels of porcelain, run along the rocky walls of caverns, and are filled with a thickly bedropped with spots of celestial blue. To the people of the Flowery Land, these nests are a delicacy, which, when of the best quality, are weighed in the market against gold. What, however, renders some nests better than others is uncertain ”

“ If any thing be apply'd to it cold, it will strike a greater chill upon it, and change its true colour to a pale or deep blue one; to prevent which, and take off the chill, you must,
For a Pipe,
Take one gallon of lac and one ounce of isinglass broke in small pieces, three pounds of alabaster, two ounces of sweet spirit of nitre; boil them together for five or six minutes; Stir them and apply to the pipe as hot as possible. Stir it well in the pipe with your paddle, and in about two hours after, bung it close up. Let it lay five or six days, and you'll find it quite fine and bright. ”

“ The common termination ite (originally itis or ites) was adopted by the Greeks and Romans for the names of stones, the names themselves indicating some character, constituent, or use of the stone, or the locality at which it was found. For example, haematite, because of the blood-red colour; siderite, containing iron; alabaster (originally alabastritis) , a stone from which a vessel called an alabastron was cut; magnetite, from the locality Magnesia. The custom of naming minerals after persons is of modern origin; e.g. prehnite, biotite, haüyne, zoisite. ”

“ Of the scenes depicted on the slabs of alabaster in the state apartments Rawlinson writes at length: "The most striking characteristic of Sennacherib's ornamentation is its strong and marked realism. Mountains, rocks, trees, roads, rivers, lakes were regularly portrayed, an attempt being made to represent the locality, whatever it might be, as truthfully as the artist's skill and the character of his material rendered possible. The species of trees is distinguished, gardens, fields, ponds, reeds, are carefully represented; wild animals are introduced, as stags, boars and antelopes ”

“ If for a single moment he lights upon the water to seize some object of food, there is a trifling exertion evinced in rising again, until he is a few feet above the waves, when once more he sails with or against the wind, upon outspread, immovable wings. With no apparent inclination or occasion for pugnacity, the albatross is yet armed with a tremendous beak, certainly the most terrible of its kind possessed by any of the feathered tribe. ”

“ Mr Earle, whose observations were made on the almost inaccessible heights of Tristan d'Acunha, remarks:—'The huge albatross here appeared to dread no interloper or enemy, for their young were on the ground completely uncovered, and the old ones were stalking around them. They lay but one egg, on the ground, where they make a kind of nest by scraping the earth around it: the young is entirely white, and covered with a woolly down, which is very beautiful. ”

“ Even a poor weak Sea-mew will attack an Albatross, the cowardly giant finding no better means of getting rid of his enemy than by plunging into the water. Although they are most gluttonous in taste, they prefer flight to contending for their food. This consists of marine animals, Molluscs, and the spawn of Fish. When they are filled to repletion, and the prey which they have seized is too large to swallow whole, they may be seen with part of it hanging outside their bill, until the first half is digested. Thus embarrassed, the Albatross has only one mode of escape if it happens to be pursued ”

“ Most noteworthy is the perfect freedom of the albatross. He shuns the mainland and breeds on solitary islands; he can scarcely move on the ground, and when he is forced to alight he waddles clumsily along like a swan. He comes in contact with the earth only at the nest, where the hen sits on her single egg and tucks her white head under her wing. ”

“ The flight of the albatross is truly majestic, as with outstretched motionless wings he sails over the surface of the sea—now rising high in the air, now with a bold sweep and wings inclined at an angle with the horizon, descending until the tip of the lower one all but touches the crests of the waves as he skims over them. ”

“ According to J. Gould the latter is the commonest species of albatross inhabiting the Southern Ocean, and its gregarious habits and familiar disposition make it well known to every voyager to or from Australia, for it is equally common in the Atlantic as well as the Pacific. The back, wings and tail are of a blackish-grey, but all the rest of the plumage is white, except a dusky superciliary streak, whence its name of black-browed albatross, as also its scientific epithet, are taken. The bill of the adult is of an ochreous-yellow, while that of the young is dark. ”

“ This species varies much in size, and still more in colour and plumage, which is more or less mixed with grey or brown, and sometimes even entirely white; this depends doubtless on the season, the sex, and the age.
2nd. The epauletted albatross, Diomedea epomophera, which is smaller than the common albatross. His head, neck, body, back, and rump are snowy white, while the feathers of his wings are perfectly black, with the exception of a large white lozenge-shaped spot on each; the beak is yellowish. Some naturalists believe these to be only the young of the ordinary kind. ”

“ This species is entirely sooty brown except the white eyelids. It is similar to the Black-footed Albatross from which species it can be distinguished in all plumages by the narrow base of the bill, while the bill of the former species is broad and rounded. They breed commonly on isolated islands in many quarters of the southern hemisphere. Sometimes this species constructs a mound of mud on which to deposit its single white egg, and also often lays it on the bare ground or rock. ”

“ The young are at first clothed in a pure white down, which gives place to the dark-brown colouring.' The 'cautious albatross,' as its name indicates, is very shy, seldom approaches the land, and is not easily captured: the yellow-billed species, when in pursuit of its prey, will dive and swim for several yards under water. ”

“ The common albatross is the Diomedea exulans of naturalists. Its plumage, except a few of the wing feathers, is white; its long, hard beak, which Is very powerful, is of a pale yellow colour; and its short, webbed feet are flesh coloured. It is frequently met with in the Southern Ocean. The species mentioned in the text is the black-beaked albatross, which frequents the India waters. The albatross Is a formidable enemy to the sailor, for if one falls overboard, he will assuredly fall a victim to this powerful bird, unless rescued immediately by his comrades. ”

“ On April 1, under similar weather conditions which were growing so familiar that even the capsizing of a 183 tin of syrup in a locker created no more than a passing anathema, Mr. Jeffrey made an April fool of an albatross by catching it. Albatrosses possess an acquisitive nature, and would probably thrive well in Aberdeen. The proper way of fishing for them is to construct a small hollowed triangle out of sheet tin or brass, lash strips of blubber or other highly scented provender along the metal, and stream the bait temptingly astern at the end of a stretch of fishing line. ”

“ She died at Florence in 1824, where she was buried at the Church of Sta Croce, by the side of Alfieri, whom she is supposed to have married secretly.
Alba′ta, a name sometimes given to German silver.
Wandering Albatross (Diomēdea exŭlans)
Al′batross, a large marine swimming bird of several species, of which the wandering albatross (Diomedēa exŭlans) is the best known. The bill is straight and strong, the upper mandible hooked at the point and the lower one truncated; there are three webbed toes on each foot. The upper part of the body is of a greyish brown, and the belly white. ”

“ It costs him far less exertion to rise from the sea for flight than the unwieldy paddling run along the surface necessary to give sufficient impetus for raising the huge albatross, and consequently his alightings are much more frequent. But he is undoubtedly a beautiful bird, suffering only by comparison with the most splendid of all sea-fowl. A brown kind of albatross, with a dirty white beak, is very much in evidence south of 20° S., dropping continually into the turbulence of a ship’s wake, and diving to considerable depths after scraps. ”

“ The different species or varieties of the albatross, [49] are but little understood; in the course of a long voyage but few opportunities occur to any person acquainted with natural history to examine specimens, and consequently our knowledge respecting them is limited to a very few facts. It is not in many instances that a new species can be defined; age and sex often producing differences which are frequently regarded as specific characters. If persons, who may feel an interest, or have studied this interesting science, would note down the differences of plumage, size, and sex, &c. ”