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Topazius, Peridot

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338                                       TOPAZIUS.
Greeks, whose sole method of cutting coloured stones was en cabochon. Few gems approach it in lustre and richness of hue, and but for its extreme softness it would still hold a high place in the rank of precious stones.2
This substance is polished with great difficulty, and only by the use of tripoli moistened with vitriol upon a leaden wheel, a secret discovered in Europe only in the last century. Hence it is not improbable that Theophrastus may have had the Peridot in view when speaking (27) of the peculiar process required to give lustre to the Smaragdus, naturally a dull stone ; for in his age the coast of the Eed Sea was the only locality supplying the Greeks with the true Emerald, and very possibly the Peridot, at a somewhat earlier period than that allowed by Juba. Certainly the natural brilliancy of the true Emerald prism is its most dis­tinguishing feature, and could not have been much improved by the simple cutting of the Greek lapidary. Some fine Greek in-tagli occur in Peridot, to be ascribed from their style to the date of its first introduction at the Alexandrian court, but they are of the highest rarity. The Romans appear never to have used the stone for engraving on, deterred either by its softness ensuring the speedy destruction of the intaglio, or else by its high value as a precious stone. Modern works in it, on the contrary, are abundant enough, and to this class will the majority of supposed antiques in Peridot, when critically examined, be found to belong.
Much light is thrown upon the meaning of Theophrastus as above quoted by the following instructive chapter in M. Ben Mansur :—" Abunnasser Farabi, and many other philosophers, hold the Chrysolite for no distinct species, but for a sort of Emerald, than which it is more agreeable and purer. It is divided into three classes : the strong green, middling green, and weak green. It comes from the same mines as the Emerald, and appears to be formed of the same substance, but less perfected. Teifashi says that in his time no Chrysolites were found any longer : those now seen come from Mauritania, and are the relics
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