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THE RUBY. 139
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when
set in the full rays of the sun, or exposed to a great amount of heat,
it gives out a radiance such as will account for the Eastern
exaggeration, telling that, according to the Talmud, Abraham, when
keeping his numerous wives shut up in an iron city, in order to give
them light, set a bowl of Rubies in its midst, which filled all the air
with lustre.
There
are various kinds of Rubies : the Spinel, or scarlet-red, the best form
of true Ruby ; the Balas, or rose-red ; the Rubicelle, or orange-red ;
the Alman-dine, or violet-red; the Chlorospinel, or green-red ; and the
Pleonaste, or black ; there is also a Cat's-eye, or opalescent Ruby,
found in Burmah. A belief is held by the Burmese that Rubies ripe a in
colour gradually, whilst maturing in the earth,—like fruit upon a sunny
wall.
This
Gem (the Ruby) like all the nobler precious stones, has been thought to
give warning of poison, whilst refusing to endure its presence. It grew
dark, and cloudy if any evil was about to befall its wearer ; but it
banished sadness, and many forms of sin, and vice. Rubies were formerly
believed to be male, and female; Pliny saying that " the males were
more vigorous, and acrid, the females more languishing." The chemical
composition of the Ruby is seventy-five per cent of alumina, seventeen
of magnesia, four of peroxide of iron, with a fraction of silica, and
of other minor elements. But the Gem consists chiefly of alumina, and
magnesia.
The
Oriental Topaz, and the Ruby, are the same generic stones, but of
different colours. Yet the value of the Ruby surpasses that of the
Topaz a hundred-fold, provided it has the proper precise
pigeon-coloured, blood-red hue, whilst brilliant, and is free from
flaw, or
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