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116 PRECIOUS STONES.
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THE EMERALD.
The Emerald is
found principally in South America, which is its real nursery. It is
esteemed by the priests as a holy Gem ; as likewise by the Jewish
Rabbis ; being worn by the former in a ring, by the latter in the
Ephod, or breast-plate. " The Emeraude passeth all grene thynges of
grenesse," saith an old black-letter book sententiously ; " the finest
come from the flode of Paradyse terrestre." " That Emeraude that is
most clennest, and passynge grene, he is most gentyll, precyous, and
best." It is said that the Emerald is born white, and ripens in the
mine to its mature perfect-ness of meadow-green, first assuming this
verdancy in the part nearest the rising sun. The chemical composition
of the Emerald is sixty-two, and a fraction, of silica; fifteen, and a
fraction, of glucina (a sweet earth); sixteen, and a fraction, of
alumina, with a dash of the oxides of iron, and chrome. Its crystal is
a long six-sided prism, which was formerly believed to restore sight,
and memory : it sent evil spirits howling into space ; changed colour
when the lover was faithless, passing from the hue of the spring-leaf
to that of the sere ; and, if unable to do its possessor good, or to
avert evil, it shivered into a thousand atoms, broken by despair. " So
delightful," quoth Leonardus, " is the Emerald in its colour that there
is scarce any jewel that affords more refreshment to the eyes."
The Emerald is in truth a beryl, of
which Gem there are two other varieties, humble cousins of the
Emerald,— the precious Beryl, or Aqua-marine, and the common Beryl. In
general the Beryl is of a sea-green colour, or a pale blue, partaking
both of Emerald and Sapphire
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