EPIDOTE

epidote, a mineral species consisting of basic calcium, aluminium and iron orthosilicate, ca2(aloh)(al, fe)2(sio4)3, crystallizing in the monoclinic system. well-developed crystals are of frequent occurrence: they are commonly prismatic in habit, the direction of elongation being perpendicular to the single plane of symmetry. the faces lettered m, t and r in the figure are often deeply striated in the same direction: m is a direction of perfect cleavage, and t of imperfect cleavage: crystals are often twinned on the face t. many of the characters of the mineral vary with the amount of iron present (fe2o3, 5-17%), for instance, the colour, the optical constants, and the specific gravity (3.3-3.5). the hardness is 6-1/2. the colour is green, grey, brown or nearly black, but usually a characteristic shade of yellowish-green or pistachio-green. the pleochroism is strong, the pleochroic colours being usually green, yellow and brown. the names thallite (from [greek: thallos], "a young shoot") and pistacite (from [greek: pistakia], "pistachio nut") have reference to the colour. the name epidote is one of r.j. hauy's crystallographic names, and is derived from [greek: epidosis], "increase," because the base of the primitive prism has one side longer than the other. several other names (achmatite, bucklandite, escherite, puschkinite, &c.) have been applied to this species. withamite is a carmine-red to straw-yellow, strongly pleochroic variety from glencoe in scotland. fouqueite and clinozoisite are white or pale rose-red varieties containing very little iron, thus having the same chemical composition as the orthorhombic mineral zoisite (q.v.). [illustration] epidote is an abundant rock-forming mineral, but one of secondary origin. it occurs in crystalline limestones and schistose rocks of metamorphic origin; and is also a product of weathering of various minerals (felspars, micas, pyroxenes, amphiboles, garnets, &c.) composing igneous rocks. a rock composed of quartz and epidote is known as epidosite. well-developed crystals are found at many localities, of which the following may be specially mentioned: knappenwand, near the gross-venediger in the untersulzbachthal in salzburg, as magnificent, dark green crystals of long prismatic habit in cavities in epidote-schist, with asbestos, adularia, calcite, and apatite; the ala valley and traversella in piedmont; arendal in norway (arendalite); le bourg d'oisans in dauphine (oisanite and delphinite); haddam in connecticut; prince of wales island in alaska, here as large, dark green, tabular crystals with copper ores in metamorphosed limestone. the perfectly transparent, dark green crystals from the knappenwand and from brazil have occasionally been cut as gem-stones. belonging to the same isomorphous group with epidote are the species piedmontite and allanite, which may be described as manganese and cerium epidotes respectively. piedmontite has the composition ca2(aloh)(fe, mn)2(sio4)3; it occurs as small, reddish-black, monoclinic crystals in the manganese mines at san marcel, near ivrea in piedmont, and in crystalline schists at several places in japan. the purple colour of the egyptian _porfido rosso antico_ is due to the presence of this mineral. allanite has the same general formula r2"(r'"oh)r2'"(sio4)3, where r" represents calcium and ferrous iron, and r'" aluminium, ferric iron and metals of the cerium group. in external appearance it differs widely from epidote, being black or dark brown in colour, pitchy in lustre, and opaque in the mass; further, there is little or no cleavage, and well-developed crystals are rarely met with. the crystallographic and optical characters are similar to those of epidote; the pleochroism is strong with reddish-, yellowish-, and greenish-brown colours. although not a common mineral, allanite is of fairly wide distribution as a primary accessory constituent of many crystalline rocks, e.g. gneiss, granite, syenite, rhyolite, andesite, &c. it was first found in the granite of east greenland and described by thomas allan in 1808, after whom the species was named. allanite is a mineral readily altered by hydration, becoming optically isotropic and amorphous: for this reason several varieties have been distinguished, and many different names applied. orthite, from [greek: orthos], "straight," was the name given by j.j. berzelius in 1818 to a hydrated form found as slender prismatic crystals, sometimes a foot in length, at finbo, near falun in sweden. (l. j. s.) epigoni ("descendants"), in greek legend, the sons of the seven heroes who fought against thebes (see adrastus). ten years later, to avenge their fathers, the epigoni undertook a second expedition, which was completely successful. thebes was forced to surrender and razed to the ground. in early times the war of the epigoni was a favourite subject of epic poetry. the term is also applied to the descendants of the diadochi, the successors of alexander the great. epigonion (gr. [greek: epigoneion]), an ancient stringed instrument mentioned in athenaeus 183 c, probably a psaltery. the epigonion was invented, or at least introduced into greece, by epigonus, a greek musician of ambracia in epirus, who was admitted to citizenship at sicyon as a recognition of his great musical ability and of his having been the first to pluck the strings with his fingers, instead of using the plectrum.[1] the instrument, which epigonus named after himself, had forty strings.[2] it was undoubtedly a kind of harp or psaltery, since in an instrument of so many strings some must have been of different lengths, for tension and thickness only could hardly have produced forty different sounds, or even twenty, supposing that they were arranged in pairs of unisons. strings of varying lengths require a frame like that of the harp, or of the egyptian cithara which had one of the arms supporting the cross bar or zugon shorter than the other,[3] or else strings stretched over harp-shaped bridges on a sound-board in the case of a psaltery. juba ii., king of mauretania, who reigned from 30 b.c., said (ap. athen. l.c.) that epigonus brought the instrument from alexandria and played upon it with the fingers of both hands, not only using it as an accompaniment to the voice, but introducing chromatic passages, and a chorus of other stringed instruments, probably citharas, to accompany the voice. epigonus was also a skilled citharist and played with his bare hands without plectrum.[4] unfortunately we have no record of when epigonus lived. vincenzo galilei[5] has given us a description of the epigonion accompanied by an illustration, representing his conception of the ancient instrument, an upright psaltery with the outline of the clavicytherium (but no keyboard). (k. s.) footnotes: [1] michael praetorius, _syntagma musicum_, tom. 1, c. 13, p. 380: salomon van til, _sing-dicht und spiel-kunst_, p. 95. [2] pollux, _onomasticon_, lib. iv. cap. 9, 59. [3] for an illustration, see kathleen schlesinger, _orchestral instruments_, part ii. "precursors of the violin family," fig. 165, p. 219. [4] athenaeus, iv. p. 183 d. and xiv. p. 638 a. [5] _dialogo della musica antica e moderna_, ed. 1602, p. 40.