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18 HISTORY OF THE GEMS FOUND IN NORTH CAROLINA.
The
largest crystal ever found, which is 5 times larger than any other
known, is one early discovered by Mr. Jenks and described by Professor
Shepard.2" It is now in the cabinet at Amherst College; but
much injured by the disastrous fire of 1882, which destroyed so many
fine specimens of the Shepard collection. It weighed 312 pounds, and
measured 22 inches in length, 18 inches in breadth, and 12 inches in
thickness. In form it was a steep and somewhat irregular six-sided
pyramid, terminated above by a rather uneven basal plane. Its general
color is grayish blue.
In
addition to these and other notable crystals, many public collections,
besides the American Museum of Natural History (which possesses much
the finest series), contain numerous cut gems from this mine.
A
blue stone of over 1-carat weight is in the United States National
Museum at Washington, and a series of fine red and blue crystals have
been deposited there by S. F. Lucas. In the collection made by the late
Prof. Joseph Leidy, of Philadelphia, and now also in the National
Museum, are several gems from the same mine, including a wine-yellow
sapphire of 3-1/4 carats (660 milligrams) ; a violet-blue stone of a
little over 1 carat (215 milligrams) ; and three dark-blue ones
weighing respectively about 1-1/2 (320 milligrams) ; 1-1/4 (250
milligrams) ; and 3/4 (145 milligrams) carats each.
In
Dr. Spencer's notes on American gems in the British Museum of Natural
History, London, is noted a specimen of corundum from Corundum Hill,
Macon County, N.C., which consists of a rough hexagonal prism, 26 cm.
long and 18 cm. across, of a reddish color.
In a recent report of Prof. J. H. Pratt, State Geologist, he thus refers to gems from this locality :
At
the Corundum Hill Mines, Cullasagee, N. C, various shades of gem ruby
corundum have been found. Two of the best rubies of good color that
have ever been found at this mine are in the collection of Clarence S.
Bement, of Philadelphia; there are also a number of fine ones in the
United States National Museum at Washington. Many of the smaller
crystals of various shades of pink to red are transparent near the
outer surface and near their extremities, and from these small gems can
be cut, but few that are worth ?100 have been obtained from them.
Probably
the finest emerald green colored sapphire in the world came from the
Culsagee mine sand is now in the Morgan-Bement collection at New York.
This is the rarest of all the colors of sapphire or corundum gems, and
is known as Oriental emerald. The specimen is a crystal
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