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Gagat or Greek Jet

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JACINTH.
115
various articles, believed to have been used orna­mentally by the priestesses of Cybele.
The gagat was used in medicine and alchemy. It was also used in marking fictile vases indelibly in black : " Fictilia ex eo inscritta non delentur."
XLII.
JACINTH.
This stone, of a fine reddish-yellow colour, is dis­tinguished as either Oriental or Western.
The Oriental is much more esteemed, and chiefly for its colour and hardness. It scratches quartz, but is scratched by corundum ; for which reason it cannot be mistaken for it, although some people have confounded them.
It comes from Pegu, Ceylon, and Arabia. It is very bright and receives a fine polish, although its light is rather resinous.
It crystallizes in oblong tetrahedral prisms, ter­minating in two short pyramids ; has double refrac­tion, and its specific gravity is from 3-631 to 3-687.
The Western jacinth is, on the contrary, a very common yellow quartz, which is found in Brazil and in France.
In colour it is more yellowish than the Oriental. On analysis it yields
Fluorite Page of 243 Gagat or Greek Jet
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