Lapis armenus, also known as

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

n stone or lapis stellatus, in natural history, is a variety of

precious stone Precious may refer to: Music * Precious (group), a British female pop group Albums * Precious (Chanté Moore album), ''Precious'' (Chanté Moore album), 1992 * Precious (Cubic U album), ''Precious'' (Cubic U album), 1998 * Precious (Ours albu ...

, resembling lapis lazuli, except that it is softer, and instead of veins of

pyrite The mineral pyrite (), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Fe S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue giv ...

, is intermixed with green. "The Armenian stone" is so similar to ''lapis lazuli'' that it has often not been distinguished from it; ''

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary ''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's ...

'' for instance treats the two terms as synonyms. The ''Dictionary of Traded Goods and Commodities 1550-1820'' defines ''lapis armenus'' as

Armenian stone, or
azurite Azurite is a soft, deep-blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits. During the early 19th century, it was also known as chessylite, after the type locality at Chessy-les-Mines near Lyon, France. The mineral, a basic carb ...
, a naturally occurring basic carbonate, originally from Armenia, but later from Germany, from which was prepared. It was often found in association with another
copper carbonate Copper carbonate may refer to : ;Copper (II) compounds and minerals * Copper(II) carbonate proper, (neutral copper carbonate): a rarely seen moisture-sensitive compound. * Basic copper carbonate (the "copper carbonate" of commerce), actually a cop ...
,
malachite Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral, with the formula Cu2CO3(OH)2. This opaque, green-banded mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often forms botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic masses, in fracture ...
from which was prepared... Probably because they were both blue, blue bice was sometimes misinterpreted to mean .

Chemically however lapis lazuli is not at all similar.

Herman Boerhaave Herman Boerhaave (, 31 December 1668 – 23 September 1738Underwood, E. Ashworth. "Boerhaave After Three Hundred Years." ''The British Medical Journal'' 4, no. 5634 (1968): 820–25. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20395297.) was a Dutch botanist, ...

believed it rather to rank among

semi-metal A semimetal is a material with a very small overlap between the bottom of the conduction band and the top of the valence band. According to electronic band theory, solids can be classified as insulators, semiconductors, semimetals, or metals. ...

s, and supposed it was composed of both metal and earth. He added that it only differs from ''lazuli'' in degree of maturity, and that both of them seem to contain

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, ...

. It has been found in

Tirol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, and

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

, and used both in

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

work, to make the blue

color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are assoc ...

azure, and as a treatment of

melancholia Melancholia or melancholy (from el, µέλαινα χολή ',Burton, Bk. I, p. 147 meaning black bile) is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly d ...

. The '' Encyclopedia Perthensis'' of 1816 notes that Armenian stone "was anciently brought of Armenia, but now found in Germany, and

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

References

*{{1728, title=Armenian Stone, Lapis Armenus, Λιθος Αμενιος Gemstones Minerals