98 A Book of Precious Stones
amethyst
with sacerdotal things is old and long, for it is the pious or
episcopal gem, and regarded as imparting especial dignity and beauty to
the property of the Roman Church. The amethyst is sacred to St.
Valentine, who is said to have always worn one.
The word amethyst owes its root to the Greek word amethustos, meaning
not drunken, and also construed to mean a remedy for drunkenness.
Pliny, with customary quaintness, thought it prevented intoxication
because it did not reach, although it approximated, the colour of wine.
Amethyst,
a variety of quartz, plainly crystalline, is called by Dana,
amethystine quartz. Its colour, which is diffused throughout the
crystals or affects only their summits, is a clear purple or
bluish-violet, and it is therefore sometimes called violet-quartz. The
amethyst is of all degrees of colour from the slightest tint to so
dark as to be almost opaque. Not always uniform, the colour is
sometimes in spots and in some crystals shades gradually from light to
dark. The dark reddish-purple colour is most highly prized; it has the
advantage, too, of holding its value under all circumstances, for in
an artificial light, especially if containing yellow
