Emily Dickinson Lexicon

HEM'A-TITE, n. [Gr. αιματιτης, from αιμα, blood.]

The name of two ores of iron, the red hematite, and the brown hematite. They are both of a fibrous structure, and the fibers, though sometimes nearly parallel, usually diverge, or even radiate from a center. They rarely occur amorphous, but almost always in concretions, rendiform, globular, botryoidal, stalactitic, &c. The red hematite is a variety of the red oxyd; its streak and powder are always nearly blood red. The brown hematite is a variety of the brown oxyd or hydrate of iron; its streak and powder are always of a brownish yellow. The red hematite is also called blood-stone. Cleaveland. Encyc.