mineral species besides the beryl, is given to precious stones
which resemble in color the water of the sea. The beryl
aquamarine is light blue or sea-green, and, though of less
value in commerce than the emerald, it possesses the quality of
retaining its brilliancy by candle-light, a merit which does not
belong to many of the more costly gems, consequently it is a
favorite in the fashionable circles of some countries. It is held
in England, says Streeter, in the same high estimation that the
topaz is in Spain.
Aquamarine occurs in many different localities, but the
greater part used for jewelry is obtained from India, the Ural
and the Altai Mountains, and Brazil. It has sometimes
passed for other gems, and is so near the color of greenish
glass that frauds have been easily perpetrated by throwing
fragments of green bottles into the sea to be washed ashore
and gathered as pebbles of aquamarine.
A superb specimen discovered in Russia, in 1827, was
valued at the marvellous price of one hundred and eleven
thousand six hundred dollars. The historical aquamarine
which once adorned the tiara of Pope Julius II., having passed
into the control of the French, was placed in the Museum of
Natural History in Paris, where it remained for more than
three centuries, until it was returned to the Vatican by Napoleon I., who presented it to Pius VII. It is described as a
beautiful sea-green gem more than two inches in length, and
between two and three in depth.
The hilt of Murat's sword, now in the South Kensington
Museum, was ornamented with one of these stones, weighing
three and one-half ounces. It is said that the Emperor of
Brazil owns a large, splendid aquamarine, without a flaw and
of remarkable transparency. The finest gem of this variety of
beryl ever discovered in the United States, says Mr. Kunz, was
