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Corallium, Coral

Chrysolithus, Oriental Topaz Page of 384 Corallium, Coral Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
100                 NATURAL HISTORY OF GEMS.
The Greek name for this zoophyte was derived, according to some (Plin. xxxii. 11), from the necessity of cutting off the plant while still living with a sharp steel (êïíñÜ, shear­ing), for if touched by the human hand it instantly became petrified. It was considered to be a marine plant, green whilst growing, and producing white and soft berries, which, exposed to the air, hardened into the colour and the size of cornel-cherries ; this latter tale bearing the true stamp of a Greek theory coined by their fancy to explain the origin of the beads first brought to them by their navi­gators from Massilia. It is briefly noticed by Theophrastus (38) as being a stone, blood-red in colour, but of a cylin­drical form like the root of a plant, and growing in the sea ; " the petrified Indian Eeed " (the Arabian Coral) not being far removed from it in character. The ancient notion as to its vegetable nature rested not merely upon its shrub­like form, but also on the fact that its branches are clothed with a fleshy coating, soft whilst in the water, but drying up immediately upon extraction.
The Romans obtained their Coral from the Red Sea, but of too dark a tint to be in much request ; from the Persian Gulf, where it was called Lace ; but the best quality was fished up on the Gallic coast off the Stœchades isles (Hyères), and also off Lipari, and Trapani in Sicily. The Gauls before the subjugation of their country used it profusely in the decoration of their swords, shields, and helmets (this with
Chrysolithus, Oriental Topaz Page of 384 Corallium, Coral
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