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34
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NATURAL HISTORY OF GEMS.
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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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