Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BILD'STEIN, n. [G. bild, shape, and stein, stone.]

Agalmatolite, or figure stone. A massive mineral, with sometimes a slaty structure; of a color gray, brown, flesh-red, sometimes spotted, or with blue veins. It fuses into a transparent glass. Brongniart calls it steatite pagodite, from its coming from China in grotesque figures. – Ure. This mineral resembles steatite in its physical characters, but differs from it essentially in its composition. It is soft, easily cut with a knife, and reducible to a fine unctuous powder. – Cleaveland.