Concerning German beers, we need only allude to Mum, or Mumm, which is peculiar to Brunswick, and named after Christoph Mumme, who first brewed it in 1492; Lager-Bier, so called because it is kept in a lager or cellar; and Bock-bier, a liquor which causes the inconsiderate tippler to caper about like a bock, or goat.
DIAMONDS AND PRECIOUS STONES.
The word Diamond is a corruption of, and synonymous with, Adamant, derived from the Greek adamas, untamable, infrangible, not to be subdued, in accordance with the prefix a, without, and damas, to tame, to subdue. As every one must be aware, the diamond is capable of resisting fire.
The great diamonds of the world are the following:—The Kohinoor, or “Mountain of Light,” weighing 106 carats, came into the possession of Queen Victoria on the annexation of the Punjaub in 1849; the Mattan (367 carats) belongs to the Rajah of Mattan; the Orloff (194 carats) preserves the family name of Catherine II. of Russia, who purchased it in 1775; the Shah (86 carats), presented by Chosroes I., Shah of Persia, who died in the year 579, to the Czar of Russia; the Star of the South (254 carats), discovered in Brazil by a poor negress in 1853; the Sauci (106 carats), originally the property of a French gentleman of this name, and bought by the Russian Czar for half a million roubles in 1835; the Regent, also known as the Pitt (137 carats), first acquired by Mr. Pitt, the grandfather of the Earl of Chatham, and subsequently sold to the Duc d’Orleans, Regent of France, for £135,000; the Pigott (82¼ carats), brought from India by Lord Pigott sometime previous to 1818, when it came into the possession of Messrs. Rundell and Bridge; the Dudley (44½ carats), found at the Cape by a black shepherd in 1868, and, after various changes of ownership, bought by the Earl of Dudley for £30,000; and the Twin Diamonds, both found in the bed of the river Vaal at the Cape in 1872.
With regard to precious stones:—the Turquois derived its name from Turkey, where it was first found; the Topaz, from Topazos, an island in the Red Sea; and the Agate, from the Greek Achates, a river in Sicily, in the bed of which it was anciently discovered. The term Amethyst comes from the Greek amethustos, a precious stone, and Opal, through the Latin opalus, from the Sanskrit opula, a precious stone. Emerald traces its origin through the French emerande to the Latin and Greek omaragdus; Garnet, through the French grenat, from the Latin granatus; and Ruby, from the Latin ruber, red. Pearl is an Anglo-Saxon word derived from the Latin pirula, a diminutive of pear.
We may conveniently add that the weight of precious stones, as well as that of gold, is regulated by Carats, because formerly carat seeds, or the seed of the Abyssinian coral flower were employed for this purpose.