nuts. Splendid specimens occur also in Greenland and Norway.
Hyacinth
is not highly prized by the jeweller. A large hyacinth of two hundred
and fifty carats, in the collection of Mr. Herz, of London, was
offered at a nominal sum of fifty pounds. Wm. J. Lane, Esq., of New
York, has a beautiful seal-stone of hyacinth, which the author has much
admired. Mr. Herz has also a cut zircon of forty-six carats, which lie
values very highly.
It is very doubtful whether the modern hyacinth is one of the number of stones called hyacinths, υάκινθος, by the ancients. It is supposed that the name was applied to the amethyst or sapphire.
GARNET.
Garnet
was well known to the ancients, who considered the carbuncle as the
same mineral, representing the whole species. It has been found among
the ruins of Rome, in a variety of cut forms. But the name garnet is of
modern origin, and probably was bestowed on this mineral from being
found mostly in grains.
The
garnet crystallizes in dodecahedral forms, with many modifications ;
the crystals are sometimes flattened into tables; it-is also found in
round angular grains, and massive; the structure is imperfectly
lamellar ; fracture, more or less conchoidal, sometimes uneven and
brittle; lustre, shining vitreous; it is transparent and translucent;
the color is blood, cherry, or brownish red, but almost invariably with
a violet or blue tinge ; sometimes, however, we find garnet of a
yellow, green, brown, or black color.
The
red garnet scratches quartz faintly, but is attacked by topaz, and even
by the file ; its powder is reddish-green ; hardness, 6.5 to 7.5 ; specific g-avity i.c from 3.lC to 4.30 ;
