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CHAPTER V. CONTINENTAL GRANITES. France. Granite is largely distributed over the central parts of France, as well as Normandy and Brittany. It forms the plateau from which rise the giant volcanic cones of Auvergne, 1 and in Normandy is largely employed as a building stone both for churches and secular structures, which, receiving their characteristic features from the rock itself, are for the most part massive, severe, and devoid of elaborate ornamentation. 2 A handsome porphyritic variety comes from Laber, in Brittany, consisting of grey and white felspar, quartz, and black mica, with large crystals of light pink orthoclase. A tazza formed of this stone is in the collection of the Royal College of Science, Dublin. A red granite which takes a good polish is obtained from Avallon, near Auxerre, Department of Yonne. 3 Italy. The most important granite quarries in Italy are those of Fariolo, near Baveno, situated on the western bank of Lago Maggiore; of this rock the com- 1 Scrope’s Volcanoes of Central France, second edit. p. 37. 2 Chateau, Teclmologie du Batiment,’ i. 147. 3 Ibid. p. 237.