σπινθηρ, a spark. Theophrastus
(13) describes by this name a mineral found at Binse, in the
copper-mines, which broken to pieces and piled up in the sun ignites
spontaneously, the more readily if sprinkled with water; but this
must, from the last peculiarity, have been Iron Pyrites.
" Balais" is foolishly explained by De Boot as a corruption of Palatium, as
being the "abode" or matrix of the true Ruby, according to the doctrine
of his day, that every Precious Stone was produced in a matrix
consisting of an inferior variety of the same subject-matter. But De
Laet comes nearer the mark in quoting Marco Polo's notice of a
mountain, Ballaheia, in India, supplying this stone and giving
it the appellation. The old French designation " Eubin de Balais,"
further confirms this. Ballen, " king," was the Phrygian name
for a certain fiery stone : perhaps this, after all, is the true
etymology of the word. And to conclude, Chardin gives the true source
as Balachani, " the stone of Balachan" (Pegu), the Persian name for the Ruby.
Another
argument, perhaps of some weight, as founded on old tradition, in
support of the identity of the Balais with one kind of the Lychnis, is
that Camillo ascribes the same supernatural virtues in averting hail
and tempests to the Balais, which Orpheus has given to his Lychnis.
The
only Eubies fit for the jeweller's purpose are brought from Siam, whose
king assumes the style of " Lord of Eubies," and does his best to
preserve the title by making the mines a royal monopoly, and strictly
prohibiting the exportation of all the fine specimens that come to
light. This is the true cause of the extreme rarity of large Eubies in
Europe. But ill-coloured, flawed stones abound in every quarter of the
globe; in America, occurring in large, opaque crystals ; in Ceylon, in
small rounded masses in company with Sapphires in the river
