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THE BERYL.
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formed by a chemical solution. These interesting theories
have, of course, their objectors, who argue that the Muzo· emeralds do not lose color except by exposure for several hours to red heat and a prolonged state of fusion, which no organic matter could possibly endure without destruction. Finally, since M. Lewy's reasoning is supposed to be illogical, the chromic origin of the coloring agent has been taken up again, if it ever was abandoned, by a certain school of scientists. The localities where the emerald occurs are various and
widely separated. Those of the finest color are found at the Muzo mines, near Bogota, New Grenada, in a calcareous rock, in isolated crystals and géodes. They have also been obtained from other regions in South America, from Siberia, the Deccan in India, Egypt, the Tyrol, France, Norway, and North Carolina, in the United States. It is probable the emerald was a native of Mexico, since it was used very abundantly for ornaments by the aborigines of the Western Continent, at the time of the Spanish conquest. Peru was the great storehouse where it was obtained for more than two centuries after the discovery of the land of the In cas, and immense quantities were imported into Europe, as we learn from D'Acosta, one of the writers of the times, who mentions a ship coming from the western world which had on board two chests of these gems, the spoils of war, each weighing one hundred pounds. The soldiers of Pizarro, not understanding1 the properties of the emerald, destroyed many fine specimens in their clumsy experiments to test its frangibility. The natives, who had been acquainted with the use of this
precious stone from time immemorial, venerated it as the abode of their favorite divinity. The chief goddess of Peru, says De la Vega, was an emerald as large as an ostrich egg, and the principal offerings made to it consisted of this gem, of |
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