過去我們常聽見說過有收買金銀財物的商人,或在當舖中的驗貨商人,假如你將飾物或貴重的金銀等東西拿給他們的時候,他們除了用很熟悉的眼光瞅一瞅,用手來權衡一下它大概的重量之外,有時候還拿出黑色扁圓形的小石卵子劃上一些條痕,看一看它的顏色。這種做法就是利用顏色、比重、光澤、條痕等特性來分別金銀的好壞,與礦物學鑑定礦物的原理是一樣的。地壳中所包藏的礦物,不下數千種,這些礦物的顏色、輕重及其産生形狀都是各有不同的。研究礦物的人,就是依靠各種礦物的特點,而把它分門別類,不這樣就不容易認識它們。要鑑定礦物,就先要了解礦物的特性,這些特性,有的是要從結晶形狀上來探索的,有的是要從物理性質上來探索的,有的是要用化學方法,更有的是要利用光學儀器來 In the past, we often heard people who said that they had bought gold and silver goods, or an inspector in the pawnshop. If you brought ornaments or valuable gold and silver to them, they would use a familiar eye instead. Hand to weigh it out of the approximate weight, sometimes took out the black flat oval stone egg streak some marks to see its color. This approach is to use the color, specific gravity, luster, streak and other characteristics to distinguish between gold and silver, and the principle of mineralogical identification of minerals is the same. There are no less than thousands of minerals in the earth’s crust. The color, weight, and shape of these minerals are all different. Those who study minerals rely on the characteristics of various minerals and classify it. If they do not, it is not easy to recognize them. To identify minerals, we must first understand the characteristics of minerals, some of which are to be explored from the crystalline shape, some are to be explored from the physical properties, some are to use chemical methods, but also to use optical instruments to