in
the province of Silesia, in Germany, where it occurs in thin layers and
veins in serpentine. The green color is due to nickel oxide, which is
present in the stone to the amount sometimes of one per cent. The first
discovery of the stone is said to have been made by a Prussian officer
in 1740. The stone was especially fancied by Frederick the Great, so
that he had two tables made of it, and used it frequently in mosaics.
The color fades with light and heat; but it is said can be restored by
burying the stone in moist earth for a time. Beautiful chrysoprase
comes from India, and there are a few localities in our own country
where it is found, it being usually associated with nickeliferous
deposits. The name chrysoprase comes from two Greek words, meaning
golden leek, and refers to the color of the stone. By the ancients it
was supposed to possess the virtues of the emerald though in less
degree. They thought that it lost its color in contact with poison, and
was an excellent cordial and stimulant.
Plasma, as
already stated, is a name applied to green chalcedony, or by some to
green jasper. The name comes from the Greek for image, and shows that
the stone was largely used for seals and other engraved work. Most of
that known at the present time comes from India and China.
Bloodstone is
a variety of plasma containing spots of red jasper, looking like drops
of blood. Another name for bloodstone, by which it was chiefly known by
the ancients, is heliotrope. This name is derived from two Greek words,
meaning " sun turning," and refers to the belief that the stone when
immersed in water would change the image of the sun to blood-red. The
water was also said to boil and overflow the containing basin. As late
as the middle of the seventeenth century bloodstone was used as a cure
for dyspepsia, and when powdered and mixed with honey was considered a
remedy for tumors. If rubbed with the juice of the heliotrope it was
supposed to render its wearer , invisible. It was often used for
stopping the flow of blood, either by touching the bleeding spot with
it, or by wetting the stone in water and holding it in the hand. It was
also often used for carvings representing the head of Christ, one fine
specimen of such work being preserved in the Field Columbian Museum.
The ancients had a tradition that the stone originated at the
crucifixion of Christ, from drops of blood drawn by the spear thrust in
his side, falling on a dark green jasper. The stone takes a beautiful
polish. To be of the best quality, it should have a rich, dark green
color, and the red spots should be small and uniformly distributed/-
The supply is obtained almost wholly from India, especially from
the^Kathiawar Peninsula west of Cambay, whence agate,
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