324 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES
For
spring, no precious stone is more appropriate than the emerald. Its
beautiful color is that of Nature, for Nature clothes herself with
green when she awakens from her long rest of winter. Having decked
herself with green of the various tints and colors, she has selected a
background by which a contrast is made for the flowers that come in the
spring and summer and ripen into fruit and seeds of autumn. To be a
seasonable gem it must be rare, and the emerald is rare. Whether found
in the mines of Bogota, whether mined in ancient times at Zabarah in
Egypt, or in the past century in the Ural Mountains, it has never been
found in abundance. It is softer in color than the ruby and less hard
in structure.
The
ruby, although as a natal stone it,belongs to December, is the gem of
summer. It is born in the hot climates,—the pigeon's-blood ruby in
Burma, the pomegranate-red in Ceylon, and the more garnet-hued type in
Siam,—these three equatorial countries produce the ruby. Those of large
size are always rare, and this is the gem which Job valued more highly
than any other, although "garnet" may perhaps be a better rendering. It
is on an equal plane in hardness, in composition, in crystalline
structure, and in every way, with the sapphire. These are sister gems,
structurally alike, yet varying in complexion, due to a slight
difference which some scientists think is not even dependent upon the
coloring matter.
The
sapphire—the gem of autumn, the blue of the autumn sky—is a symbol of
truth, sincerity, and constancy. Less vivid than its sister gem, the
ruby, it typifies calm and tried affection, not ardent passion; it is
therefore appropriate to the autumn season, when the declining sun no
longer sends forth the fiery rays of summer but shines with a tempered
brilliancy.
