|
SANDASTER.
|
291
|
||
|
|
|||
|
SANDASTER : Aventurine (?).
A gem so
called from the locality in India that produced it; sometimes also
known as the Garamantica, as coming from the interior of Africa. It was
likewise found in Southern Arabia. It is described by Pliny as related
to the Anthracitis (a substance like fossil charcoal, and probably
Jet) ; but its value consisted in the circumstance that a fire shone
enclosed within it, with golden drops glittering like stars, and these
always within the substance of the stone, not upon its exterior,
(xxxvii. 28.)
Hence
De Laet, and most mineralogists after him, pronounce the Sandaster to
have been our Aventurine (then newly brought from India), a
reddish-brown translucent quartz, filled with innumerable particles of
gold-like mica. It takes its present name froni the fact that the
Venetian imitation of it, so often seen in brooches, &c, was found
out " per aventura," by good luck ; from the accidental admixture of
brass filings with melted glass.
But the innumerable specks of gold, the chief beauty of the Aventurine, prove of themselves that this was not the Sandaster : because
the latter was held a sacred gem, as bearing an affinity to the
heavenly bodies, on account of the stars within it being arranged as
the Hyades stand in heaven, and in the same number—that is, only five. Besides, the golden specks in the Aventurine would not have been described by Pliny as stars, implying a certain definite form, but as aureus pulvis, the terms he uses of the similar appearance in the Lapis-lazuli.
The
brilliancy of the Indian kind was so great as to injure the sight, if
viewed too long. Another character mentioned by Ismenias, that this gem
could not be polished in consequence of its tenderness, and therefore
brought a high price in its native condition, does not by any means
suit the Aventurine, a hard
v 2
|
|||
|
|
|||