The porphyries possess various degrees of hardness and compactness. When a fine dark-red colour--which contrasts well with the white of the felspar--is combined with hardness, a magnificent stone is the result, susceptible of taking a polish, and fit for any kind of ornamental work; for the decoration of buildings, for the construction of vases, columns, &c. The red Egyptian porphyry, called _Rosso antico_, was particularly sought after by the ancients, who made sepulchres, baths, and obelisks of it. The grandest known mass of this kind of porphyry is the Obelisk of Sextus V. at Rome. In the Museum of the Louvre, in Paris, some magnificent basins and statues, made of the same stone, may also be seen. In spite of its compact texture porphyry disintegrates, like other rocks, when exposed to air and water. One of the sphinxes transported from Egypt to Paris, being accidentally placed under a gutter of the Louvre, soon began to exhibit signs of exfoliation, notwithstanding it had remained sound for ages under the climate of Egypt. In this country, and even in France, where the climate is much drier, the porphyries frequently decompose so as to become scarcely recognisable. They crop out in various parts of France, but are only abundant in the north-eastern part of the central plateau, and in some parts of the south. They form mountains of a conical form, presenting, nearly always, considerable depressions on their flanks. In the Vosges they attain a height of from three to four thousand feet. The _Serpentine_ rocks are a sort of compact _talc_, which owe their soapy texture and greasy feel to silicate of magnesia. Their softness permits of their being turned in a lathe and fashioned into vessels of various forms. Even stoves are constructed of this substance, which bears heat well. The serpentine quarried on the banks of Lake Como, which bears the name of pierre ollaire, or pot-stone, is excellently adapted for this purpose. Serpentine shows itself in the Vosges, in the Limousin, in the Lyonnais, and in the Var; it occupies an immense tract in the Alps, as well as in the Apennines. Mona marble is an example of serpentine; and the Lizard Point, Cornwall, is a mass of it. A portion of the stratified rocks of Tuscany, and also those of the Island of Elba, have been upheaved and overturned by eruptions of it.