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310 PRECIOUS STONES.
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value.
When acquainted with the history of some such former illustrious
owners, we look, with pathetic interest on gems which have survived so
many griefs, fears, hopes, and joys ; but still retaining, in most
instances their sheen, and their brilliancy as luminously as of yore.
"
Pearls," as Mr. Harry Emanuel asserts, 1847, " are frequently imitated
with marvellous skill, but it will be seen that false Pearls are much
lighter in weight than real ones ; that generally the former are
brittle, (although some are made solid, of fish-scale, and do not break
so easily), and the holes, which in the real Pearl are drilled very
small, and have a sharp edge, in the false are larger, and have a blunt
edge."
In the Pearl-oyster (Meleagrina margaritifera), and
the Pearl-Mussel, about one shell in four is found to contain a Pearl.
A Pearl of particular purity, from the river Conway, in North Wales,
was presented to the Queen of Charles II. by Sir Robt. Wynne ; and is
now in the Crown of our King, Edward VII.
" Full many a Gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom'd caves of Ocean bear ;
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air."
AGATES.
Agates are
of the Quartz family of Precious Stones. They comprise Chalcedony (the
Carnelian sort, red, or brownish—muddy), its colouring matter being a
hydrated oxide of iron ; Mocha stones, which are grey; Moss-Agates,
exhibiting arborisations of oxide of iron; the Bloodstone; Plasma,
which is grass-green ; and Chrysoprase, apple-green, by reason of its
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