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Touchstone

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PASTES.
163
The touchstone came formerly from Asia Minor ; now it is found in Bohemia, Silesia, and in Saxony.
This stone may be considered as very useful in the arts, but not as a gem.
Schistose silicates, jaspers, basalts, and black " breccie " can sometimes be used instead.                    —
Very ancient weapons have been found, made of this material.
LXXV.
PASTES.
Imitations of gems, of camei, and of engraved stones, as well as other ornaments made in glass, are, in Italy, always called paste. These imitations were also made by the ancients. In the Tyrrhenian tombs and on Egyptian mummies, necklaces of margherite are found, made of coloured glass.
Besides the margherite and other feminine orna­ments, the Tyrrhenians made vases, cups, and balsamari, all of which were made in two different manners; some have a foundation of terra-cotta covered with a vitrification of generally-opaque colours ; and these are found in the most ancient tombs. Others are of bright colours, transparent and opaque, and altogether in glass.
Amulets, also, cups, balsamari, and globules of glass, often figured and interspersed with globules of gold finely worked, are found in the Etruscan tombs, and
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