IVORY n.
ness into a whitish, close- grained, albuminous substance, resembling the finest ivory in texture and color, whence it is called vegetable ivory. It is wrought into various articles, as buttons, chessmen, etc. The palm is found in New Grenada. A smaller kind is the fruit of the Phytephas microarpa. The nuts are known i…
JET n.
A variety of lignite, of a very compact texture and velvet black color, susceptible of a good polish, and often wrought into mourning jewelry, toys, buttons, etc. Formerly called also black amber. Jet ant (Zoöl.), a blackish European ant (Formica fuliginosa), which builds its nest of a paperlike material in the trunks…
MOUNTAIN a.
See Capercailzie. -- Mountain cork (Min.), a variety of asbestus, resembling cork in its texture. -- Mountain crystal. See under Crystal. -- Mountain damson (Bot.), a large tree of the genus Simaruba (S. amarga) growing in the West Indies, which affords a bitter tonic and astringent, sometimes used in medicine. --…