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Ch. 1: Introduction

Chemistry of Precious Stones Page of 118 Ch. 1: Introduction Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
THE
CHEMISTRY, PROPERTIES AND TESTS OF PRECIOUS STONES
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
What constitutes a precious stone is the question which, at the onset, rises in the mind, and this question, simple as it seems, is one by no means easy to answer, since what may be considered precious at one time, may cease to be so at another.
There are, however, certain minerals which possess dis­tinctive features in their qualities of hardness, colour, transparency, refractability or double refractability to light-beams, which qualities place them in an entirely different class to the minerals of a metallic nature. These particular and non-metallic minerals, therefore, because of their comparative rarity, rise pre-eminently above other minerals, and become actually " precious."
This is, at the same time, but a comparative term, for it will readily be understood that in the case of a sudden flooding of the market with one class of stone, even if it
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Chemistry of Precious Stones Page of 118 Ch. 1: Introduction
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