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Beryllus, Beryl

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BERYLLUS.                                      133
of the true Emerald : but its modem plentifulness, coupled with its beauty, has rendered it a favourite stone with the artists of the Renaissance and of succeeding times. These modern works may be distinguished as invariably executed upon the green sort or Aquamarine ; the Aeroides or sky-blue of the ancients not being longer to be obtained, or else of much greater rarity. It is the vast supply poured in from Saxony, Siberia, and America, that has sunk the value of this beautiful stone so low in modern times. It possesses very great lustre, especially by lamp-light; hence the lighter-coloured varieties have long been used in jewelry as fraudulent substitutes for the true diamond, a deception noted as early as the end of the fifteenth century by Camillo Leonardo in treating of the tricks of the jewellers in his own times. At present it is similarly employed in Germany under the name of " Diamond of the Rhine." Hence it happens that people have often flattered themselves with being the owners of a diamond of enormous value, which, on examination by a skilful lapidary, has turned out to be nothing more than a small, worthless, Aqua­marine. The stone has gone completely out of fashion in this country (though not in Italy), in consequence of the abundance in which it is now produced by the different regions above men­tioned, and that too in masses often of enormous size, their dimensions reminding us of the monstrous smaragdi spoken of by Apion and Theophrastus. Thus in the British Museum are two Beryls from Acworthv New Hampshire, one weighing 48, and the other 83 pounds.
It is a curious fact that Beryllus is the Low Latin term for a magnifying glass: hcnco the German " Brille," a pair of spec­tacles. Hence Nicolaus de Cusa, bishop of Brixen (who died 1454), gave the name of " Beryllus " to one of his works, "because by its aid the mind would be able to penetrate into matters which otherwise it would be unable to pierce."2 Which designation he
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