In all ages amethysts were used as feminine ornaments. With regard to their colour, Pliny says : Ad ricinium crystalli descendent, albicante purpuroe defectu.
The
Romans gave the name of amethyst to many different substances,
beginning with violet corundum down to the purple garnet. Perhaps the
name is of more ancient origin, therefore the vain Greeks interpreted
it as from their language because it was believed that he who drank
from an amethyst cup was secure from the effects of any poison it might
contain. Ar-pesani remarks that the name came from a, non, and μίθν, wine ; or from a, and μεθνσκω, to intoxicate ; and
in that case it would refer to the other opinion held by the ancients,
viz., that it was a powerful antidote against drunkenness.
IX.
APATITE.
This mineral was thus named by Werner, from the Greek απατάω, to deceive, on
account of its deceptive colour, which resembles that of many other
precious stones ; whence, before its nature was precisely determined,
many mineralogists were led into error. It contains ninety per cent, of
subsesquiphosphate of lime, and the rest fluoride of calcium.
It
is found in hexagonal crystals ; its fracture is concave ; it has a
vitreous lustre, of a sea-green colour, or bluish green, bluish violet,
often white, and some-
