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154
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GEMS.
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Cat's
eye is found in pieces which, are never larger than half a walnut; it
is found in Malabar, in the island of Ceylon, in the Hartz Mountains,
in Bavaria and in the United States of America.
The
finest come from Ceylon. We must be careful not to confound them with
certain iridized agates which come from Arabia and Persia and much
resemble them, but are softer, of a finer texture, and have brighter
colours.
In
order to make them shine more brightly they are cut like the asteria,
but the mineralogist assigns them a higher value in the rough state.
It
is not known whether the ancients were acÂquainted with this gem, or
whether it was included in the asteria. The Moors and the Malabarese,
from the remotest time, have held this stone in great veneration.
In
every country of the East it is worn as an amulet, which procures
riches to the possessor. The Indians believe that the largest and most
beautiful have this virtue in an eminent degree.
Cat's
eye, on account of its hardness, is well suited Tor engraving, but its
colour, and the fact of its being iridized, only adapt it for such
designs and ornamental figures as have been executed on this stone from
the sixteenth century to the present time.
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