in general, denotes anything that resembles a serpent; hence the worm or pipe of a flint, twisted in a spiral manner, is termed a serpentine worm.

SERPENTINE STONE, a genus of magnesian earths, of which there are different species: 1. The fibrous, composed of fibrous and coherent particles. This resembles the asbestos so much that it might be confounded with it, were not the fibres of the serpentine so closely coherent, that they cannot be distinguished when the stone is cut or polished. The fibres themselves are large, and seem to be twisted. There are two varieties, a dark green and a light one; the former from Germany, the latter from Sweden. 2. The zoebitz serpentine, found near that place, of many different colours, as black, deep green, light green, red, bluish-grey, and white; but the green colour is most predominant. 3. Porcelain earth mixed with iron. It is met with either fusible in water or indurated. The former is found of a red colour from China and Montmartre. The water-clinkers, imported from some places in Germany, seem to be made of this kind of earth. There are two varieties of the indurated kind, viz. the martial soap-earth, of a red colour, from Jutberg and other places in Norway, or black from some parts of Sweden. 4. The talcstone of the Swedes, the same with the lapis ollaris. It is found in various places of Norway, as light grey, dark grey, whitish-yellow, and dark green. It is employed with great advantage for building fire-places, furnaces, &c. the extremities of the flue being turned towards the fire when it is flat.

M. Magellan observes, that there is a great variety of colour as well as composition in this kind of stones; it being found either white, green, brown, yellow, light-blue, black, spotted, or streaked with veins of different colours. Its texture is either indistinct, obscurely lamellar, or fibrous. The specific gravity is from 2400 to 2650; and it is harder than soap-rock or steatite; though not hard enough to strike fire with steel; being less smooth to the touch than steatite, but susceptible of a good polish, looking like marble; and is often met with in thin semitransparent plates. It melts in a strong heat without addition, and corrodes the crucibles, but hardens in a lower degree of heat. It is flowly and partially soluble in acids, but does not effervescence with them. According to Bayon's analysis, 100 parts of it contain about 41 of filex, or rather nica; 33 of magnesia; 10 of argillaceous earth; 12 of water, and about 3 of iron. That brought from Corsica contains a greater proportion of argil, and a smaller one of filex. The serpentine commonly so called, according to Fabroni, is a true lapis ollaris; but has its name from being variegated with green, yellowish, and brown spots, like the skin of some serpents; great quantities of it are found in Italy and Switzerland, where it is frequently worked into dishes and other vessels.

SERPENTINE verbs, are such as begin and end with the same word. As,

Ambo florentes statibus, Arcades ambo.

in the Manege. A horse is said to have a serpentine tongue, if it is always frisking and moving, and sometimes passing over the bit, instead of keeping