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104 NATURAL HISTORY OF GEMS.
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CRYSTALLUS: Êñýóôáëëïò and "¾áëïò: Rock-Crystal.
The Crystal
(Pure Silica) is reckoned by Theophrastus (30) amongst the gems used in
rings, where he speaks of it in company with the Amethyst, adding "
both are transparent." Their joint mention shows his knowledge of the
true nature of the latter, as being merely an accidentally coloured
Kock-crystal. It is curious that, in spite of this inclusion of it in
his list of ring-stones, intagli of the Greek, or indeed of the Roman
period, upon Crystal, are unknown to collectors. Herodotus (iii. 24)
mentions a stone by the name of valos, which, if there be any truth at
the bottom of his story, must have been Rock-salt, judging from its
magnitude and facility in working. " The corpse (of the defunct
Ethiopian amongst the Macrobii), after having been dried, whether in
the Egyptian or some other manner, is coated with plaster, and painted
so as to imitate life, and then put inside of a hollow pillar of hyahs, which
is dug up there in large quantities, and is easily worked ; and the
corpse, being enclosed within the pillar, shows through it, without
producing a stench or anything unpleasant, and wearing all the clothes
he used in life."
Rock-crystal,
however, was in enormous request amongst the luxurious Romans under the
Empire for the purpose of making drinking-cups, valued as highly as the
Murrhina, with which they are generally associated in the allusions of
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