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Amethystus, Amethyst

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34
NATURAL HISTORY OF GEMS.
out of the inside a vinous appearance. Of it there are' various species : one of the sorts is very similar to a clear hyacinthus (Sapphire), the other to the nmrex-blood, i.e. Tynan dye. They are found in the mountains and on the coast of Libya." Again, Pliny's definition of the Pœderou suits no other gem so exactly as a particular variety of the Almandine sometimes met with amongst antique Garnets, the tint of which is truly roseate, not purple. One such in my possession is engraved with a Cupid proudly bearing off the spoils of the vanquished Hercules ; there is good reason to suspect that the popular name of the goin had influenced the choice of the subject.
Throughout the Gothic period the common Amethyst held the same rank as it had enjoyed with the Roman jeweller, and continues to keep company with the Sapphire in the ornaments of the priest or prince. Even as late as the year 1600 a perfect Indian Amethyst is valued at hah the price of the Sapphire, viz., one thaler or crown for the first carat. For higher weights De Boot gives a curious rule ; to add together the weight, and value in thalers, of the stone preceding in his table the number of the one in question, and thus brings up the value of one of 20 carats to the high figure of 201 thalers.
Even in the last century this now despised stone was held in high estimation, when Queen Charlotte's necklace of well-matched Amethysts, the most perfect ever got together, was valued at 2000Z. ; at present it would not command as many shillings, so swamping has been the im­portation of late years of German Amethysts and Topazes (purple and yellow crystals of quartz), which are got in endless abundance from various parts of Hungary, Bohemia, Saxony, and notably at Oberstein, where they are cut and polished expeditiously and cheaply by water power (on sandstone wheels turned by the stream of the Nahe), and
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