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Onyx, Nicolo

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ONYX.
257
red was the proper character of the Sard. Pliny proceeds to give the reason for its universal use as a signet-stone amongst the Greeks upon, its first introduction from India, because the soft wax used for sealing did not adhere to the engravings in this material, in which respect they excelled almost every other gem. He uses the word " initio," at first, in evident allusion to the total neglect of the gem in this capacity in his own times. For amongst the purely Greek and Etruscan works, the tri-coloured Agate is frequent, presenting its bands in sard-red and white as well as in the dark-brown and white of the original ονίγιον. This valuable property of the gem, its non-adhesion to the wax, is a sufficient reason why the Greeks should have adopted it for their signets, above all others, although its deeply-coloured and contrasted bands completely prevent the intaglio sunk in them from producing any effect to the eye. The signet, however, in those early ages was designed for use not ornament.
No better definition of the Onyx can be given than in the words of Hill (Translation of Theophrastus) : " The zones are laid with perfect regularity, and do not, in the judgment of the nicest distinguishers of the present times, exclude it from the Onyx class, of whatsoever colour they are except red ; in which case it takes the name of Sardonyx. The colour of the ground and the regularity of the zones are therefore the distinguishing characteristics of this stone ; and in the last particularly it differs from the Agate, which often has the same colours, but placed in irregular clouds, veins, or spots."
Kohler, however, who has treated this question more fully than any other writer in his ' Untersuching fiber den Sard, den Onyx, und den Sardonyx,' basing his explanation upon the nu­merous and confused definitions of the Onyx, extracted by Pliny from various Grecian authorities, has arrived at a conclusion differing very widely from Hill's : " The question, how is the Onyx to be distinguished from the Sardonyx, is now easily to be answered out of Pliny. As far as regards the substance and the colours, both are one and the same stone. It is called the Onyx, when the red, brown, or yellow ground is covered by white veins irregularly and capriciously disposed. If therefore these veins formed sometimes stripes, sometimes spots, some-
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