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Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed in swiftly cooling lava that has a high silica content. It is not considered a true mineral, as it does not have an entirely consistent chemical content and it does not form crystals.
Color in obsidian varies, depending on impurities in the parent lava formation. Obsidian gets its English name from a mistranslation of Natural History by Pliny the Elder
"Among the various kinds of glass, we may also reckon Obsian glass, a substance very similar to the stone which Obsius [mistranslated as Obsidius] discovered in Æthiopia. This stone is of a very dark color, and sometimes transparent ... Many persons use it for jewelery, and I myself have seen solid statues in this material of the late Emperor Augustus .... Xenocrates says that Obsian stone is found in India also, and in Samnium in Italy; and that it is a natural product of Spain, upon the coasts which border on the Ocean."
--Pliny the Elder
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