Precious stones and gems : their history, sources and characteristics / by Edwin W. Streeter.

  • Edwin William Streeter
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Precious stones and gems : their history, sources and characteristics / by Edwin W. Streeter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    34/428 (page 12)
    Precious Stones advanced. Herodotus must have had accurate acquaintance with many of them. He mentions, besides the Emerald in Polycrates’ ring, signet rings, such as that of Darius ; and speaks of the so called Emerald column in the Temple of Hercules at Tyre, which at night gave out a wonderful light. Plato mentions the Sard, Jasper, and Emerald. The Adamas, Amber, and Loadstone were not unknown to him ; and he shows some knowledge of the origin of both common and Precious Stones, and of their natural forms. It is certain that Aristotle had knowledge of a still larger number of Precious Stones, and that he was acquainted with some of their special properties. His scholar, Theophrastus, has left us a small work on this subject. The little treatise of Theophrastus, rbpf rdv AlOmv, was written before the year 300 B.C., and, notwith- standing its brevity, is of special interest as being the earliest Greek work devoted to Mineralogy which has come down to modern times. It is true there exists a curious Greek poem on Precious Stones, AlOlku, by the pseudo Orpheus, but this is of very little value from a scientific point of view, and its date is a matter on which the opinion of scholars is divided. But though we have no other early Greek treatises on minerals, we find references to Precious Stones occa- sionally interspersed through the pages of other writers. Diodorus mentions the Topaz found in the Serpent Island of the Arabian Sea, probably what we now call Chrysolite. Dionysius Periegetes refers to the clear and brilliant Diamond, the beautiful Asterios that glitters like a star, the Lychnis, with the colour of fire, the blue Beryl, the dull Jasper, the pure bluish and greenish Topaz, and the lovely Amethyst with its soft, purple sheen.