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AUGITIC BOCKS. 91 amongst the Egyptian antiquities is the statue of an Egyptian priest in black basalt, and a remarkably truthful figure of a negro, the only human subject for which a basaltic statue appears suited. As applied to the representation of animals it is otherwise, and of its suitability in this direction we have examples in the two water-spouting lions, which repose on either side of the grand central stairs leading up to the Capitol at Rome. They are of black polished basalt with veins of porphyry, and are of Egyptian workmanship. In the Gallery of the Uffizi, in Florence, there are several illustrations of the use of basalt. One of these is a life-size torso of early Roman workman ship, and a torso of Bacchus in the chamber called ‘ The Cabinet of the Hermaphrodite ’; while small images of Egyptian deities are deposited in the Louvre, at Paris, one of which represents the god dess Paght, and belongs to the eighteenth dynasty. Melaphyre of a very fine green colour, from Ter- nuay, Department of Haute Saone, has been em ployed in the decoration of the tomb of Napoleon I.; and a similar rock with crystals of Labrador fels par, porphyritically developed, is obtained from the quarries of Belfay, near Vesoul, in the same depart ment. Special uses of Basaltic Rocks. Basalt and dolerite are among the most effective rocks in resisting crush-
