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172 PRECIOUS STONES.
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the
wall of the Holy City. " The first foundation was Jasper ; the second,
Sapphire ; the third, a Chalcedony ; the fourth, an Emerald; the fifth,
Sardonyx; the sixth, Sardius; the seventh, Chrysolite; the eighth,
Beryl; the ninth, a Topaz ; the tenth, a Chrysoprasus ; the eleventh, a
Jacinth ; the twelfth,, an Amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve
Pearls ; every several gate was of one Pearl; and the street of the
City was pure Gold, as it were transparent glass."—" Amethyst" in
Heraldry is the purple in a nobleman's coat of arms.
Again, there is a pretty little blue spring flower (Amyihystea ccerulea) of Siberian origin, which grows, rarely, in our hedges
Richard Jefferies, always a close observer, when discoursing about the " winds of heaven" (in Field and Hedgerow,) says,
" to the Amethyst in the deep ditch, the wind comes ; it lifts the
guilty head of the passionate Poppy, that has sinned in the sun for
love."
The Amethyst is almost the only coloured stone which can be worn with mourning garb.
Inferentially
it is fair to conclude with respect to the Amethyst that the violet
rays, focussed from its own tutelary planet, serve to influence, as
nerve tonics, the bodily system of its wearers ; seeing that violet
rays are now known by scientists to thus improve vitality ; whilst
yellow rays of light are concerned in promoting the decomposition of
the carbon (carbon di-oxide) in the atmosphere, as involved in the
growth of vegetation. By reason of its thus focussing the violet rays
of light, (which are eminently calmative, and soothing,) the Amethyst
has been supposed from the earliest times to subdue the passions; being
specially an antidote to drunkenness, when habitually worn.
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