This view was strongly opposed by Prof. A. B. Meyer, of Dresden, and recent discoveries have effectively disproved the theory in the case of Europe at least, for nephrite has been found there _in situ_ in several places. The largest mass of this material that has been taken from a European deposit is that found by the writer at Jordansmühl in Silesia, in April, 1899, and which weighed 4704 pounds.[379] The origin of American jade in the forms of nephrite and jadeite has not yet been definitely determined, but we have every reason to suppose that deposits of these minerals will eventually be discovered in various parts of the American continent, as they have already been in Europe. Indeed, the existence of nephrite in Alaska is already well attested. The peculiar and characteristic qualities of these substances have made them favorite materials for ornamental objects from the earliest ages down to our own day, and in almost all parts of the world. A most important element contributing to the popularity of jade has been its supposed possession of wonderful talismanic and therapeutic virtues, and while the Western world has not the same belief in these matters as the Eastern world, a more or less definite appreciation of what jade still signifies for many in the Orient, continues to exercise an influence over both Americans and Europeans, making objects of nephrite or jadeite highly prized everywhere at the present time. The term _chalchihuitl_ was indifferently applied by the ancient Mexicans to a number of green or greenish-white stones; _quetzal chalchihuitl_, which was regarded as the most precious variety, may perhaps have more exclusively denoted jadeite. This is somewhat indefinitely described by Sahagun as being “white, with much transparency, and with a slight greenish tinge, something like jasper.” Of eight ornamental objects of green stone examined some years ago by the writer, four were of jadeite, one of serpentine, another of green quartz, and the remaining two of a mixture of white feldspar and green hornblende. An inferior kind of _chalchihuitl_, said by Sahagun to have come from quarries in the vicinity of Tecalco, appears to have been identical with the so-called “Mexican onyx” which is found in veins in that place and is an aragonite stalagmite. This material, from which figures, ornaments and beads were made by the ancient Mexicans, is to-day greatly valued as an ornamental stone.