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130 PRECIOUS STONES.
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matrix
of the Gem. This rock is a Limestone, slightly bituminous, often black,
with white veins, whilst containing Ammonites, and other shells. The
Emperor Nero—as is well known—observed the feats of gladiators through
an eyeglass of Emerald. Hence the name of the Gem is sometimes "
Neromanus." This Stone was also used during the Middle Ages for
adorning Church Cups, and Chalices. Likewise one of the chief
ornaments of the Crown of Charlemagne was a lustrous Emerald. But so
rarely has a perfect Emerald been found that " An Emerald without a
flaw " has passed into a proverb. The Greeks sometimes called the
Emerald " Prasinus," on account of its colour resembling the greenness
of Leeks. Pliny tells that a sculptured marble Lion, with Emerald Eyes,
was placed on the tomb of King Hermias in the Island of Cyprus, near
the fisheries. Such was the extraordinary brilliancy of these Emeralds,
and so far out at sea did they shine, that the frightened, fish swam to
a great distance off. The fishermen, having ascertained the cause of
the scarcity of their supply, abstracted the Emeralds, replacing them
by other Stones, and thus induced the fish to return. An old treatise
on Jewels tells that if a serpent, or snake, should fix his eyes on the
lustre of Emeralds, he would straightway become blind.
For
two centuries past the only country known to yield Emeralds has been
Peru. The belief that demons, or wicked spirits guard the treasures
contained in the Emerald mines is as strong at the present day among
the Peruvian Indians as it was in the time of Pliny, or as it is now
with the Arabs of Mount Zebarah.
The Beryl, or Aqua-marine (in the Hebrew " Belur," signifying " Crystal,"), and the Emerald are of the same
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