276 PRECIOUS STONES.
probably a shaft of glass made to enclose a lamp, thus leading the credulous to believe it shone by its own inherent
brilliancy.
The substances most closely resembling the emerald, are
green jasper, green spinel (laal), and green glass. Some
remarkable instances of fraud have been practised by passing
off articles made of glass for emerald, as the traditional Sacro
Catino, "Sacred Cup," belonging to the Cathedral of Genoa,
supposed to be emerald for centuries, is now believed to be
glass. This cup, fourteen inches wide and five deep, is claimed
to be the identical one used by our Saviour at the institution of
the Lord's Supper, and once belonged to the banqueting plate
of King Herod. It was given to the Republic of Genoa in noi,
as an equivalent for money due from the Crusaders who had
captured it during their wars in the East. It was pawned for
a large sum, nearly two hundred thousand dollars, in the beginning of the fourteenth century, but was redeemed under the
belief that it was genuine emerald. When the French captured Genoa, they tested this famous relic and found it to be
glass. A rival to the Genoese vessel, though of much smaller
dimensions, was discovered at a monastery near Lyons in 1565.
A gigantic emerald, weighing twenty-nine pounds, given by
Charlemagne to the Abbey of Richenau, could not stand the
test of modern experimenters, who very unceremoniously pronounced it green glass. The most disappointing results followed a similar trial of the celebrated "Table of Solomon,"
discovered by the Arabs in the Gothic treasury of Toledo. It
is described as a single piece of solid emerald encircled by
three rows of pearls and supported by three hundred and
sixty-five feet made of gems and massive gold. This table was
plundered from the Temple of Jerusalem by Vespasian, and
deposited in the Temple of Concord at Rome, but when the
