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Amethystus, Amethyst

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AMETHYSTUS
27
Ïur Common Amethyst, and the stone (perhaps) generally-designated amongst the ancients by this name, is nothing more than rock crystal coloured purple by manganese and iron, and on this account is more properly termed in modern mineralogy Amethystine Quartz. It is therefore of an entirely distinct species from the true Oriental Amethyst, a most rare and valuable variety of the Precious Corundum, and which is in fact a purple Sapphire, but its purple shows little of the red (ponceau) seen in the common Amethyst, being rather an extremely deep shade of violet.* The name of " Oriental " is, however, improperly applied by the English lapidaries to the Amethystine Quartz when very brilliant and of two shades of colour (qualities dis­tinguishing the Indian from the German), the true gem of the name, from its rarity, being known to very few among them.
The name " Amethyst," though most probably a mere corruption of the Eastern name for the stone, a trace of which seems preserved in the Hebrew Achlamath,f was by the fanciful Greeks interpreted as though formed in their own language, from à ìþõ " wineless," and on the strength
* The common Amethyst, formerly brought from Carthagena in Spain, and now only to be met with in old-fashioned pieces of jewelry, alone of its species exhibits this pure violet colour.
t Perhaps the true origin is, as Von Hammer suggests, the Persian " Shemest."
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