|
210
|
GEMS.
|
||
|
|
|||
|
on which is represented, with three figures, the soul carried away by pleasures.
The ancients dedicated this gem to Mercury, and believed
that it had the peculiar virtue of preserving the sight if worn in a
ring, of alleviating the pains of parturition, and of being an
infallible talisman for preserving chastity.
When reduced to powder, six grains of it were swallowed as a noble remedy for various maladies.
According to Ebelman, Western emeralds could be manufactured by melting a mixture of
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
From
this results a green crystal, having a specific gravity of 2*73 to
2-77, which can be marked by an English file, but deeply marks common
white crystal and the softer kinds of quartz.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
XCI.
EMERY.
A mineral substance whose name is derived from σμΰρις, a
word by which the Greeks meant the stone used by lapidaries in cutting
gems. , It is divided, like those, into Oriental and Western.
|
|||
|
|
|||