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Adamas, Diamond

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ADAMAS.
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instance, weighing 53 carats) could not be termed " punctum lapidis:" and besides this, tbe latter stone could not have been engraved by means of its own fragments. The Sapphire, too, usually occurs in masses of considerable relative size, especially the white sort, supposed, according to this theory, to represent the Adamas, and these are mostly found rounded and pebble-shaped ; of a form, in short, to be described by anything better than the term " punctum."
It is, however, impossible to mistake Pliny's true meaning, especially if a little attention be paid to his admirably chosen comparisons exemplifying the characters of the gem. " The Indian appeared to have a certain affinity to Crystal, being colourless and transparent, having six angles, polished faces, and terminating like a pyramid in a sharp point (laterum sexangulo lasvore turbinatus in mucronom); or also pointed at the opposite extremities, as though two whipping-tops3 (turbines) were joined together by their broadest ends." A wonderfully compact summary this of the distinctive features of the Diamond, for the "six angles" can only belong to an octahedron, the primary form of its crystal­lisation ; the "two pyramids joined together by their bases" expressing the case where the octahedron is perfect; and the " natural polish " marking those small Diamonds, perfectly crystal­lised, called '-' Naifes" by the Indians, completes the picture. These Indian stones, the largest known to the Romans, attained the " size of a hazel-nut 'kernel" or about 3 carats' weight.4 This comparison was not selected at random; it is more full of meaning than at first sight appears, and affords the aptest pos­sible illustration of the idea. Pliny's " nux avellana," the noc-ciuolo of the Italians (so called to distinguish it from the proper nux, noce, a walnut), is the kind known in England as the Barce-
Adamas, Diamond Page of 453 Adamas, Diamond
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