covered the range of corundums
of every tint except red. Thus green sapphires are noted, although very
rarely, and yellow and gray, as well as pure white or colorless, and
this stone is presumed by Streeter and other investigators to have
been the " adamas " first known to the Greeks.1
There
can be no question that sapphires or corundums of varied hue were much
more common than diamonds in the hands of the merchants of the East or
any other ancient collectors before the Christian era. The sapphire
was, indeed, one of the most widely known of all gems, and how highly
it was valued may be surmised from the dignity given to it by the
sacred writers. The prophet Ezekiel likens to a " Sapphire stone " the
appearance of the throne in the firmament above the cherubim. Job makes
it the representative of all gems in his splendid description of the
daring of miners.2
Like
the sapphire, the diamond is repeatedly referred to by the Hebrew
writers. It formed one of the typical stones in the high priest's
breastplate, and Ezekiel puts it in the first rank of the stones of
fire. Jeremiah speaks of the sin of Judah as written with the point of
a diamond, " puncto adamantinis" of the Latin Bible, but Streeter holds
that this pen point was probably a corundum and not the true diamond.8
This
is a stretch of assumption largely based upon the lack of any precise
description applying to the diamond until close to the beginning of the
first century of our reckoning. Adamas, the indomitable, the adamant of
the ancients, was the name given to the diamond because of its
distinguishing hardness. Pliny was greatly impressed by what he heard
of this characteristic, but obviously knew little or nothing of the
stone by personal handling or test. For he wrote down soberly: " The
most valuable thing on earth is the Diamond, known only to kings, and
to them imperfectly. It is only engendered in the finest gold. Six
different kinds are known, among these the Indian
1 " Traite de Mineralogie, avec application aux Arts," Brongniart, Paris, 1807.
2 Job xxviii. 1 —11. ! "Precious Stones and Gems," Streeter.
