bewildering, sometimes denoting the manner of cutting, and at
other times a variety of several species. The ancients gave
this term to all red stones in general, while modern writers
are not much more definite in their application of the word.
Theophrastus says it resembles burning coal, and emits light
in the dark, is scarce and found only in few places, as Carthage,
Massalia (Marseilles), Egypt, and some other localities. The
Hebrew for carbuncle is a word meaning "lightning," and,
according to a legend among the Jews, this precious stone was
suspended in Noah's Ark, to diffuse light. In modern jewelry,
the term is applied to the scarlet, deep-red, and crimson
garnets cut en cabochon.
The garnet has always been extensively used for an ornamental stone both in ancient and modern times ; the Greeks
and Romans showed their predilection for it in their numerous
engravings, while the Celts and Anglo-Saxons employed it for
jewelry, granulated, filagree, and enamel work.
Though the garnet was quite generally used by the
ancients for engraving, yet there are few good antique gems
of the kind, and those belong mostly to the Roman school,
which produced some fine intagli cut in this stone, especially
those engraved with imperial portraits. The celebrated Marlborough garnet, engraved with Sirius, is considered a
masterpiece of the glyptic art. The variety called carbuncle
was frequently employed for engraving, as is known by
several beautiful specimens seen in Paris, Turin, Rome, and
St. Petersburg. The magnificent Atalanta, on carbuncle,
contained in the Berlin collection, is considered one of the
finest of the Greek school. Portraits of the Sassanian kings
frequently appear on this species of precious stones, implying
it was a general favorite with the Persian lapidaries, but on
account of its brittleness, and, therefore, difficulty of being
