240 A POPULAR TREATISE ON GEMS.
The
largest cut emeralds and in great profusion, set in bridles, saddles,
and in the girdle of an apron, about the size of pigeons' eggs, were in
the East India Company's collection. From forty to fifty of that size
were set together, some of them not well cut and polished, but all
transparent and of beautiful green color, they were certainly very
valuable.
Mr. Herz, of London, has a beautiful polished emerald of 112 carats.'
Mr.
Stephen H. Palmer, jeweller of this city, has some very fine cut
emeralds, one of which weighs four and seven eighths carats, for which
he asks $350.
The
prettiest cut emerald is in the imperial cabinet of St. Petersburg; it
weighs thirty carats; is of pure color, and a perfect stone; it has a
round form with too many facets.
The emerald has been very successfully imitated, so much so that' the most experienced, eye may sometimes be deceived.
BERYL, AQUAMARINE.
This
gem was likewise known to the ancients, who considered and described
it as a sea-green precious stone, and called the yellow varieties of
this mineral the chrysoberyl. It was used 'by the Romans as ornaments
for cups, also for cameos. The crystals of the beryl are six-sided,
terminated by six-sided pyramids, they also taper gradually from one
end to the other; the lateral faces are striated; the fracture is
conchoidal or uneven; they are transparent or translucent at the
angles, with indistinct double refraction, and vitreous lustre: the
colors are green, bluish-green, yellowish-green, or greenish-white ;
bluish, sky, smalts, or indigo blue; straw, wax, or honey yellow; all
pale colors: hardnesses ; specific gravity, 2'67 to 2:71. According to
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