[f. Gr. σταυρός cross (see STAURO-) + -SCOPE.] An instrument used for the microscopic examination of rocks (see quot. 1879). Also attrib.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech.
1877. Catal. Special Collect. Sci. Apparatus S. Kens. Mus. (ed. 3), 220. Stauroscope, according to the design of F. von Kobell, executed by Wiedemann.
1879. Rutley, Stud. Rocks, ix. 81. The determination of the crystallographic system to which a mineral belongs, and the exact position of the planes of vibration and of the axes of elasticity, are best effected by means of the stauroscope. Ibid. (1888), Rock-Forming Min., 48. The most perfect arrangement yet devised for this purpose is Bertrand’s stauroscope eye-piece.
Hence Stauroscopic a., of, pertaining to or made by means of the stauroscope. Stauroscopically adv., by means of the stauroscope.
1879. Rutley, Stud. Rocks, vii. 56. A small plate of calcspar for making stauroscopic measurements. Ibid., ix. 81. The stauroscopic examination of thin sections of minerals. Ibid., ix. 84. The different crystallographic systems may be determined stauroscopically in the following way.
