Sec. IV, Ch. 4: Semi-Precious Stone, Amethyst

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	Amethyst.	245

	perfect stones, although only of the common variety, and was valued at £2,000 ; but it is doubtful whether, apart from its historical associations, it would now realise £100. I think, however, that the Amethyst will again come into favour, and probably the Americans may be the means of reviving its popularity, just as they have made Opals fashionable. Cameos and intaglios of very ancient date, and in every style are met with in Amethysts. As a rule, stones of a pale colour are used for engraving rather than the dark ; yet the late Rev. C. W. King says he has seen perhaps the grandest Greek portrait in existence, a head of Mithridates, cut in a large Amethyst of the deepest violet colour, which was found a century ago in India. There was another very ancient intaglio of the head of Pan in the Uzielli collection. One of thè largest Amethyst cameos was the gem, representing a bust of Trajan, taken from the Prussian treasury during the Napoleonic wars. It may be added that the word " Amethyst," though probably of Oriental origin, is usually regarded as derived from the Greek privative a and the verb methuo, " to intoxicate "—whence the old notion that this stone was an antidote to drink, a charm against intoxication. AMETHYST.

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