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Murrhina, China-Agate

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MURRHINA.
239
in the Fluor Spar or Blue John of Derbyshire, but it is very doubtful if that substance was known to the Romans at all, the only mines of the beautiful quality fit for ornamental purposes being in Cornwall and Derbyshire. Mongez, basing his decision upon the iridescence above noticed, proves it must have been Caeholong, or Semi-Opal, but the large dimensions specified of the antique pieces entirely controvert such an explanation.
Strange to say, the first English translator of Pliny, old Phi­lemon Holland, has come nearer the mark than any, by rendering the word as Cassidoine, or Calcedony; in fact he is perfectly correct, if we take that term in its fullest sense. For the only mode of arriving at the true solution of the question is by the careful examination of ancient remains, more particularly those exhumed in Rome itself. For if the whole vessels of an impe­rishable material were so abundant there during the four cen­turies of the Empire, as contemporary allusions lead us to believe, it is a logical consequence that their fragments at least must be as plentiful in the same place at the present day, since no possible circumstance could have swept them entirely out of existence. Now what is actually the case ? Fragments of bowls made of Agate (but of no other stone) are turned up in abund­ance in the soil of the ancient capital, and often of a radius that bespeaks the extraordinary circumference of the perfect vessel. Such pieces, if not large enough to be preserved as antiques, are cut up into brooch-stones ; and every year furnishes the Roman lapidaries with an inexhaustible supply. Perfect vessels, from the fragility of the substance, are rare, yet a comparatively large number are yet in existence. Of these by far the most magnificent example is to be seen amongst the Townley Pastes (Brit. Mus.), a flat 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 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 tints : but the sort first mentioned has
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