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King: Precious Stones and Gems

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PREFACE.
Precious Stones are things in which most people take an interest, either practical or speculative ; the owner of a jewel, however insignificant, is naturally desirous to know something about its character and value. To such inquirers purely scientific treatises are distasteful, and indeed of little service. The two or three books upon Precious Stones, written for the use of the trade (like Jeffreys' and Mawe's), are from their technical nature dry and uninteresting; and, besides, they have now become extremely scarce.
This want the present work is intended to supply. It has been undertaken upon a somewhat comprehensive plan, which may thus be briefly exhibited. It is a novel one, or, more truly speaking, so obsolete as to have all the recommendation of novelty, for in the mode of treating the subject I follow in the steps of Pliny, and of the early restorers of Mineralogy to the rank of a science., Like them, I commence with the natural history of each species, its chemical composition (in their age merely guessed at), its origin, place producing it, its varieties, distinctive characters, the counterfeits of it, and its ancient and present value. In doing this my object has been to make the part relating to the Mineralogy of the ancients, so far as our subjects coincide, as complete as pos­sible ; an undertaking to which Corsi has led the way in his admirable ' Delle Pietre Antiche;' although, from the more general character of his treatise, only very restricted limits could be there allotted to the section upon Precious Stones.
This department had been already sketched out, though very imperfectly, in the First Section of my ' Antique Gems.'
King: Precious Stones and Gems Page of 453 King: Precious Stones and Gems
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