The name chrysocolla (from [Greek: chrysos], gold, and [Greek: kolla], glue) was applied by Theophrastus and other ancient writers to materials used in soldering gold, one of which, from the island of Cyprus, may have been identical with the mineral now known by this name. Borax, which is used for this purpose, has also been called chrysocolla.
A mineral known as pitchy copper-ore (Ger. _Kupferpecherz_), and of some importance as an ore of copper, is usually classed as a variety of chrysocolla containing much admixed limonite. It is dark brown to black in colour, with a dull to glassy or resinous lustre, and resembles pitch in appearance. In thin sections it is translucent and optically isotropic, and recent examinations seem to prove that it is a homogeneous mineral and not a mechanical mixture of chrysocolla and limonite. (L. J. S.)
CHRYSOLITE, a transparent variety of olivine, used as a gem-stone and often called peridot. The name chrysolite, meaning "golden stone" ([Greek: chrysos] and [Greek: lithos]), has been applied to various yellowish gems, notably to topaz, to some kinds of beryl and to chrysoberyl. The true chrysolite of the modern mineralogist is a magnesium silicate, referable to the species olivine. It is appropriate to call the lighter coloured stones inclining to yellow chrysolite, and the darker green stones peridot. Certain kinds of topaz, from the Schneckenstein in Saxony, are known as Saxon chrysolite; while moldavite, a substance much like a green obsidian, is sometimes called water chrysolite or pseudo-chrysolite.
CHRYSOLORAS, MANUEL [or EMMANUEL] (c. 1355-1415), one of the pioneers in spreading Greek literature in the West, was born at Constantinople of a distinguished family, which had removed with Constantine the Great to Byzantium. He was a pupil of Gemistus (q.v.). In 1393 he was sent to Italy by the emperor Manuel Palaeologus to implore the aid of the Christian princes against the Turks. He returned to Constantinople, but at the invitation of the magistrates of Florence he became about 1395 professor of the Greek language in that city, where he taught three years. He became famous as a translator of Homer and Plato. Having visited Milan and Pavia, and resided for several years at Venice, he went to Rome upon the invitation of Bruni Leonardo, who had been his pupil, and was then secretary to Gregory XII. In 1408 he was sent to Paris on an important mission from the emperor Manuel Palaeologus. In 1413 he went to Germany on an embassy to the emperor Sigismund, the object of which was to fix a place for the assembling of a general council. It was decided that the meeting should take place at Constance; and Chrysoloras was on his way thither, having been chosen to represent the Greek Church, when he died suddenly on the 15th of April 1415. Only two of his works have been printed, his _Erotemata_ (published at Venice in 1484), which was the first Greek grammar in use in the West, and _Epistolae III. de comparatione veteris et novae Romae_.