​BLOOD-STONE, or Hematites, is a hard mineral substance of a red or purple colour. It is found in masses of different forms, and contains a considerable portion of iron, insomuch, that forty pounds of that metal have been extracted from a quintal of the stone. The iron is of a very inferior quality, and therefore seldom used; but the blood-stone itself, on account of its hardness, serves to burnish or polish metals.