TOPAZ
“The flaming topaz with its golden beam.”
Glover.
At various times the word has been rendered tupase, tupace, topace, topas, thopas, topaze, topasie, topazius, topasius. In the traditional derivation of the word a mystery is concealed. Pliny says that the stone was found in an island difficult for mariners to locate on account of the fogs and mists surrounding it, and Marbodus seems to indicate the true topaz when he says:
“From seas remote the yellow topaz came,
Found in the island of the self-same name.”
The Island was known as Topazios, which owes its origin to the Greek word meaning “to divine, guess, conjecture.” The misty island is the celestial Scorpio which is accounted in astro-philosophy the death sign and the sign of the serpent, the wounder of the heel of man. It also concerns the goods of the departed, their abode in the world to come, etc., hence the Island of the Mists, the place of guess, conjecture or philosophical speculation which the traveller in the flesh can dimly see through the strange cloudy lights of the spirit. The name was originally given to the stone known to us as the Chrysolite which gem is now identified with the occult sign of the Fishes employed in the mysteries in ancient and modern times. The classification as we at present know it, is of very ancient date, and specimens of the modern topaz have been found adorned with various intagli of proven antiquity. Although it has been stated that Thomas A’ Becket wore a topaz ring, there is no doubt that Adam Sodbury, Abbot of Glastonbury, was correct when he says it was a peridot, for the peridot or chrysolite was the stone of the Churchmen and intimately associated with the mystic sign of Christianity—Pisces, the Fishes. The old Abbot wrote that “a gold ring in which was set the stone peritot (an old form of peridot) encircled the finger of our Martyr St. Thomas when he was killed by the swords of evil men.” At that time it is certain that the topaz and the peridot were the stones known as such today and as such they had been known for many centuries before.
The Sanscrit word TOPAS, meaning heat, may well describe the topaz, the colour of which can be changed readily by heat, and which, under heat pressure and friction, exhibits strong electric phenomena.
Scorpio, as before remarked, is the sign of the snake or serpent so intimately connected with the mysteries of life and death, and the topaz is remarkable for its cleavage, for when struck with a hammer it breaks into flakes like the backbone of a serpent. The topaz was considered as of wonderful potency in the treatment of sexual disorders, which astrologically are considered as disorders of the sign Scorpio. It contains from 55 to 58 per cent of Alumina, which substance has been used in modern times by Dr. Richard Hughes, Dr. Teste, Dr. Peters, Dr. Marcy and others in troubles of the sexual system and the mucous membranes. The drug has been used homœopathically in such morbid conditions and in chronic pharyngitis and diseases of the nose and throat. The nose is ruled by Scorpio in astrological deductions, and the throat by Taurus, its opposite sign. Alumina is most strongly expressed in Corundums, which include the Oriental Topaz, next the chrysoberyl, next the spinel, and next the topaz, but there are certain characteristics of the Topaz which in some way render it distinct from other gems, and these would have been considered by the hermetic schools whence such philosophy originated. Amongst mineralogists the topaz is known as Topaz Rhombicus. It is found in colours golden, yellow, reddish, white, greenish, wine colour and blue. A charming pink is produced artificially by subjecting the real stone to heat, the best results being procured from a golden-brown variety. This process was first discovered by M. Dumelle, a Paris jeweller, in the year 1750. The colour thus obtained is doubtless permanent, the shade being manifest when the stone cools. Great care must be observed in this simple experiment because the stone is so sensitive that unless properly handled it is likely to split under the various degrees of heat and cold.
Translucent achromatic topaz is called Pingos d’Agoa (drops of water) by the Brazilians, and Gouttes d’Eau by the French. In England the variety is called Minas Novas, after the Minas Novas in the State of Minas Geraes in Brazil where it is extensively found. In Portugal this type of topaz is called the “Diamond of Slaves.” The large British Museum specimen of this White Topaz which, according to Mr. Emanuel, weighs over 12 lbs. (avoirdupois), was sold for three shillings by a marine store dealer who used it to hold open his door. The great blue Queensland topaz in the possession of Queen Mary of Great Britain is said to have been discovered by a shepherd who, thinking it was a common stone, threw it at a howling dog during the night and wakened in the morning to discover the precious nature of his missile. The Topazion Statue of 4 cubits high which Pliny mentions as having been made by the order of Ptolemy Philadelphus to the memory of his sister-wife Arsinoe, has puzzled investigators. It has been set down as indicating a statue of jasper, agate, prase, chrysoprase or rock crystal of the Citrine or the Smoky Quartz varieties. Probably this latter suggestion is right but the real meaning will no doubt lie in the sign Scorpio, which was known in old Egypt as the Eagle—(the symbolic badge of the Ptolemaic dynasty)—and was the sign of material death and spiritual life. The Emperor Hadrian is said to have had a large topaz ring on which was engraved: