Among the ancients rock crystal was much more highly prized than among us, as it answered them many of the purposes for which we now find glass more suitable and cheaper. Wine glasses were made from it, though of course at great cost, a thousand dollars being considered a small price for one. Lenses of rock crystal were used to concentrate the rays of the sun for cauterizing wounds and also to light fires, especially sacrificial ones. Roman ladies were also accustomed to carry balls of rock crystal in their hands in summer for the sake of the coolness they afforded. The ladies of Japan are said to do the same at the present day.
QUARTZ (crystalline.)
LOANED BY FOOTE MINERAL CO.]
Top row: Rutilated Quartz, polished (Brazil.) Amethyst (Virginia.) Center: Smoky Quartz (Switzerland.) Bottom row: Rose Quartz (Black Hills.) Amethyst (Montana.)
The stone was in former times often stained different colors, and thus all sorts of imitation gems were produced. The modern method of making doublets has now superseded this art.
Amethyst.—This is the name given to the violet or purple varieties of crystallized quartz. The color has often been supposed to be due to small quantities of oxide of manganese, but is more probably the result of a content of organic matter, as the color can usually be mostly burned out by heating the stone. By partial heating the color is changed to yellow, and much so-called citrine is simply burned amethyst.
Quartz having in a general way the amethystine color is comparatively common, but for gem purposes only that transparent and of good color is available.
Important localities for gem amethysts are Southern Brazil, the Ural Mountains, Ceylon, and occasional finds in the States of Maine, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Montana in our own country.
Very commonly where crystallized quartz occurs, crystals of an amethystine hue are to be found, so that to enumerate localities of the mineral would be a considerable task. Good cut amethysts command a fair price, though they are much less valuable than formerly. Three or four dollars a carat is a fair price at the present time. At the beginning of this century Queen Charlotte of England is known to have paid $10,000 for an amethyst for which $500 could now hardly be realized. One reason for the greater esteem in which amethyst was formerly held is probably the virtue ascribed to it of shielding its wearer from the effects of drinking too much wine. Its name is derived from two Greek words, meaning “not to inebriate.” The drinking cups of the Romans were often made of it, partly for the above reason and partly on account of their belief that any poison placed in such a cup would be rendered harmless. Amethyst is the “birth stone” of the month of February, and St. Valentine is said always to have worn an amethyst.
“The February born shall find