should
be one hitherto rare and precious, there would be an equally sudden
drop in the intrinsic value of the jewel to such an extent as perhaps
to wipe it out of the category of precious stones. For instance, rubies
were discovered long before diamonds ; then when diamonds were found
these were considered much more valuable till their abundance made
them common, and they became of little account. Rubies again asserted
their position as chief of all precious stones in value, and in many
biblical references rubies are quoted as being the symbol of the very
acme of wealth, such as in Proverbs, chapter iii., verses 13 and 15,
where there are the passages, "happy is the man that findeth wisdom
.... she is more precious than rubies "—and this, notwithstanding the
enormous quantity of them at that time obtained from the ruby mines of
Ophir and Xubia, which were then the chief sources of wealth.
'
It will also be remembered that Josephus relates how, at the fall of
Jerusalem, the spoil of gold was so great that Syria was inundated with
it, and the value of gold there quickly dropped to one-half ; other
historians, also, speaking of this time, record such a glut of gold,
silver, and jewels in Syria, as made them of little value, which state
continued for some considerable period, till the untold wealth became
ruthlessly and wastefully scattered, when the normal values slowly
reasserted themselves.
Amongst
so many varieties of these precious minerals, it cannot be otherwise
than that there should be important differences in their various
characteristics, though for a stone to have the slightest claim to be
classed as " precious " it must conform to several at least of the
following re-
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