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CHAPTER XIX.
JASPER.
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Y modern mineralogists the term Jasper is re-restricted to the opaque varieties of Quartz, which present a compact texture, and are destitute of any crystalline structure. But the jasper of the Ancients was evidently a different substance> inasmuch as it is usually described as possessing a green colour associated with more or less translucency. The Greek name, Jaspis, according to Isodore, "signifieth green, and such a green as doth illustriously shine forth with a very supreme viridity, or greenness of glory." Pliny considers the Jaspis to be a gem of a dull green-colour, like an Emerald, but not so transparent. The name itself is very ancient. This gem is said to be the Jaspek or eleventh stone, in the breastplate of the High Priest. The glory of the supposed Jasper is often made use of in the Holy Scriptures to represent the New Jerusalem, but the author believes this to be wrongly translated and to refer really to the Diamond.
Pliny assures us that Eastern nations wore pieces of it as amulets. Even Galen soberly asserts that " the green Jasper benefits the chest and mouth if tied upon it ; " and De Boot, writing so late as 1609, does not hesitate to ascribe rare medicinal virtues to the Jasper.
Jasper is commonly found in compact masses or as pebbles. Its colours are brown, yellow, and red of various shades, sometimes green and rarely blue. That known as
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