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Murrhina, China-Agate

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MURRHINA.
183
(Brit. Mus.), a fiat shallow dish with two slightly projecting ears angularly cut ; fully a foot in diameter, and most exqui­sitely polished. The substance itself exactly corresponds to Pliny's description, being a reddish opaque purple, diversified with pure milk-white, the colours intermingling in the most intricate patterns. The stone is indeed a China Agate ; for Agates present all possible varieties of colour : they occur with shades of the Sapphire passing through their white, or with well-defined bands of the brightest opaque and translucent tints ; but the sort first mentioned has the best claim to be declared the true Murrhina. I have myself remarked all the changes noticed by Pliny, exhibited in a large Agate trulla, the colours being a partly transparent, partly opaque white, slightly opalescent, spotted with choco­late-brown, all going through the most singular variations as the light is allowed to pass through the sides at different angles. And what strongly supports this view is the fact of so many antique glass bowls and saucers being found, both whole and in fragments, which are very exact imita­tions of darkly-clouded Agates ; for Pliny expressly men­tions (xxxvi. 66) amongst the varieties of coloured glass manufactured in his day, one counterfeiting the Murrhina. A conclusive proof this that the latter substance was not artificial : indeed Pausanias, speaking of the water of the Styx (a most deadly and subtle poison), says (viii. 18) that it breaks to pieces' not only glass vessels, but crystal, mur-rhina, and all else made by man out of stone. Besides, owing to its common use for the most approved kind of drinking-vessel, it came to be designated absolutely as " Gemma," and the " potare gemma," so frequent in Martial, signifies this alone ; " gemmati calices," on the other hand, implying gold set with precious stones. Briefly to sum up this argument : the ancient writers name Onychina, Crystal­lina, and Murrhina, as in equal request amongst the upper
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