color
of water. We find also, in Germany, traces of sculpture in the
fourteenth and sixteenth centuries; the oldest known artist, Daniel
Engelhard, at Nuremburgh, died in 1552 ; also Lucas Kilian; and the
best artist, ISTater, died in 1705. England and France had likewise
very distinguished artists in carving. A full history of gem-sculpture
may be found in the Encyclopedia Americana, pp. 403-405.
»
ON GEINDING.
The
art of grinding gems is of more modern origin; it consists in cutting
the gems, and other precious stones, into figures, bounded by many
planes, and by polishing the faces thus formed, increasing their
lustre, transparency, and other valuable properties. This constitutes
the work of the lapidary. Ih the year 1290 a society of lapidaries was
formed at Paris, and in 1385 there were diamond-cutters at N"uremburgh
; but it was not until 1456 that Ludwig Van Bergen invented the art of
polishing the diamond with its own powder; gems were then cut according
to mathematical principles; the art has been brought, in modem times,
to the greatest perfection. There is a great difference in gems (which
are mostly procured from the Indies in a rough or polished state),
easily to be detected by their im-
