jade, jadeite, fei cui, Burma, gems, Fischer-Book, Broken Bangle

Extremely important article on the first scientific analysis of nephrite jade from China. Reports Damour’s chemical analysis of Oriental jade and his conclusion that the material is mineralogically a compact variety of tremolite. He compares its chemical composition and physical properties with tremolite and discusses the evidence for uniting the two substances rather than treating jade as a separate mineral species. The paper is important in the history of jade mineralogy because it established the tremolitic nature of what would later be termed nephrite and formed an essential precursor to Damour’s subsequent recognition that another type of jade, jadeite, was a chemically and mineralogically distinct material.