Amethyst

“ The amethyst has always been regarded as symbolical of the pioneer in thought and action on the philosophical, religious, spiritual and material planes. The virtues ascribed to this stone are many. It was regarded as a charm against witchcraft, poison and evil thoughts; it was an aid to chastity, a power against all forms of over-indulgence and a strengthener of the mind; it was a charm for securing the favour of princes, rulers, churchmen, people of wealth, influence and power, people with prophetic ability, poets, travellers, publishers, etc. ”

“ Stones of the earth have been especially employed by these scholars with results of such marked importance that the contention of the ancients regarding the amethyst as a charm against drunkenness, deserves respect. To be effective in the induced magnetic sleep, stones had to be placed in the left hand. Connected with the ancient belief in the sobering power of the amethyst is the beautiful allegorical legend telling that Dionysius, enamoured of a graceful nymph, pressed his love upon her, but Diana intervened, transforming her into a purple amethyst. ”

“ The second plate of amethyst is a magnificent section 9 millimetres thick and 21⁄2 inches in diameter, of which alternate 60°-sectors are deeply amethyst coloured, the tint being a pure violet of about the wave-length of the hydrogen line near G of the spectrum. ”

“ In the Book of the Dead a heart made of hemag is mentioned, and two such heart-shaped amulets of amethyst are preserved in the Boulaq Museum. As the amethyst retained its repute as a stone of beauty and power through the Greek and Roman periods, we may safely assert that it was set in both the first and second breastplates. Upon the aḥlamah was engraved the name Dan.
X. Tarshish. [תַרשִׁישׁ.] The Septuagint renders this word “chrysolite,” where it is used in the description of the breastplate, as does Josephus also. In the Authorized Version, “beryl” is the rendering. ”

“ The ancients imagined it to possess the property of preventing drunkenness, and those addicted to that habit wore it on their persons. Amethyst frequently occurs lining the interior of balls or geodes of agate, and in veins and cavities in various rocks. The finest specimens are from Scotland, Siberia, India, and Ceylon. In the United States the amethyst is found in many localities, but seldom of sufficient clearness or color to be used as a gem. ”

“ The various yellow varieties of corundum take the name of the "oriental topaz," which, like most, if not all, the corundum varieties, is harder than the gem which bears the same name, minus the prefix "oriental." Then we have the "amethyst" sapphire, which varies from a red to a blue purple, being richer in colour than the ordinary amethyst, which is a form of violet-coloured quartz, but the corundum variety, which, like its companions, is called the "oriental" amethyst, is both rarer and more precious. A very rare and extremely beautiful green variety is called the oriental emerald. ”

“ Amethysts calculated for brooches or seals, may be purchased at from fifteen shillings to two or three guineas each, for which, ten years ago, treble that sum would have been given.
The amethyst shews to the greatest advantage when cutin steps, with double work upon the bizel; and the table and facets proportioned according to the intensity of the color. A perfect stone, when turned out of hand by a good workman, is a beautiful gem ”

“ Defn: Not undergoing any metamorphosis; as, ametabolic insects.
AMETHODIST
A*meth"o*dist, n. Etym: [Pref. a- not + methodist.]
Defn: One without method; a quack. [Obs.]
AMETHYST Am"e*thyst, Etym: [F. ametiste, amatiste, F. améthyste, L. amethystus, fr. Gr. Mead.]
1. (Min.)
Defn: A variety of crystallized quartz, of a purple or bluish violet color, of different shades. It is much used as a jeweler's stone. Oriental amethyst, the violet-blue variety of transparent crystallized corundum or sapphire.
2. (Her.)
Defn: A purple color in a nobleman's escutcheon, or coat of arms. ”

“ While the various corundum gems, ruby, sapphire, Oriental topaz, Oriental amethyst, etc., offer a remarkable instance of the many varieties of beautiful coloration observable in a practically identical substance, no single gem-mineral can be said to equal tourmaline in this respect, more especially, however, in the combination of several colors sometimes disposed in bands, at other times in concentric circles in the same crystal. ”

“ In the distant past, moonstone, topaz, and other white stones were believed to be in sympathy with the Moon, diamond and ruby with the Sun, jasper and emerald with Mars, amethyst, topaz, and emerald with Venus, carnelian, topaz, and amethyst with Jupiter, turquoise and sapphire with Saturn, and rock crystal, agate, and emerald with Mercury. Since Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto were unknown to the ancients, these planets have not been represented by gemstones.
Of special interest to the American public are birthstones. ”

“ Good groups of pale amethyst crystals have been found in quartz veins near the old town site of Oxford, Llano County. The occurrence seems to be much the same as the Amethyst Hill locality. Little exploration for gemstones has been done in this area, and future discoveries seem likely.
Chalcedony geodes lined with amethyst crystals have been found in Brewster, Presidio, Culberson, and Hudspeth counties, but the occurrences are scattered. The crystals are seldom large enough to yield gems of more than 3 carats and are mostly very light colored. ”

“ Broadly speaking, the greatest claim which a stone can possess in order to be classed as precious is its rarity. To this may be added public opinion, which is led for better or worse by the fashion of the moment. For if the comparatively common amethyst should chance to be made extraordinarily conspicuous by some society leader, it would at once step from its humbler position as semi-precious, and rise to the nobler classification of a truly precious stone, by reason of the demand created for it, which would, in all probability, absorb the available stock to rarity ”

“ Excepting the diamond and sapphire, each of the precious stones—the emerald, the topaz and amethyst—possesses a more noble, a harder, and more highly-prized counterpart of itself, alike in colour, but superior in brilliancy and hardness; still more strange, the precious stone to which its special name is usually attached is the variety the least prized. The ruby itself might almost be included in the same category. The true ruby consists of the earth alumina, in a clear, crystalline form, having a minute quantity of the element chromium as the colouring matter. ”

“ The Oriental emerald or green sapphire does not approach the beryl or true emerald in depth of color, but because of its superior hardness and brilliancy, added to its extreme rarity, it is the most valuable of green gems. The Oriental amethyst or purple sapphire sometimes reflects a red color by artificial light, and is valued highly as a gem stone; the common amethyst is softer, less brilliant, and loses by artificial light. ”

“ The twinning of amethyst in 60°-sectors is very characteristic of this variety of quartz, and it is an interesting fact that the sectors which show the laminar bands in polarised light often appear purple coloured in ordinary light, the tint from which amethyst derives its name. This is not necessarily or always so however, and the section just described and illustrated in Fig. 93 appears quite colourless throughout on casual inspection in ordinary light, in fact as a clear colourless hexagonal section of ordinary simple quartz ”

“ An effective talisman for the protection of horses and their riders was a winged horse cut on an amethyst. The ancients connected the amethyst with the ninth celestial mansion—the mansion of Sagittarius—and there is no reason for allotting it to any other.
ANATASE. The name is derived from the Latin ANATASES, elevation. It was so named from the length of its chief axis. This mineral is composed of Titanic acid which crystallizes in fine, transparent stones of brown, dark blue or black, of adamantine lustre. The anatase, which equals the opal in hardness, cannot be traced in ancient writings. ”

“ These, although they are with truth denominated oriental, must be carefully distinguished from the true oriental amethyst (55) , which is a much more valuable gem. The amethysts next in esteem are found in Brazil, and are procured in the mining districts of that country. Siberia, and various countries in Europe, especially Germany and Spain, also furnish very beautiful amethysts; and inferior stones of this description are even found in the mountainous districts of some parts both of Scotland and Ireland.
80. False Ruby is a crystal of red colour, and found in Bohemia, Silesia, and Barbary. ”

“ Amethyst laughed, and stepping out of the sunlight, came and knelt down by Una’s side; no longer a heavenly vision of light and colour, but a happy-faced girl, decorated with quaint and splendid ornaments of amethysts set with small diamonds.
“Mamma says that she has given me my own jewels. She says she was so fond of these beautiful stones that she made up her mind to call me after them, and I am to wear them whenever I can. Aren’t they lovely?”
“Yes,” said Una; “I didn’t know my lady had them still. They’re just fit for you.” ”

“ I held a jewel in my fingers
And went to sleep.
The day was warm, and winds were prosy;
I said: "'T will keep."
I woke and chid my honest fingers, —
The gem was gone;
And now an amethyst remembrance
Is all I own. ”

“ The Amethyst loses its Colour in the Fire, like the Sapphire and Emerald: The Oriental Kind, divested of its Colour by this Means, comes out with the true Lustre and Water of the Diamond; and is so nice a Counterfeit of it, that even a very expert Jeweller may be deceived by it.
↑ The Division of the Gems into Male and Female, from their deeper or paler Colour, I have before observed, is in a Manner general, and runs through almost the whole Class: The Male is always the deeper, the Female the paler; tho' both Kinds, as they are called, are often found in the same Stone. ”

“ I replied, “but I have heard of it, of course.”
“Up to the present,” he continued, a flush of excitement coming into his cheeks, “the only gem which has been made artificially is the diamond. Now, please listen—the sapphire, ruby, topaz, emerald, and amethyst are all of the same chemical composition, the colouring ingredients alone differentiating them—corundum, it is called—sesquioxide of aluminium, you know. If that could be crystallized, priceless gems could be made—real ones, mark you, not imitations. ”

“ QUARTZ
(Rock-Crystal, Amethyst, Citrine, Cairngorm, Cat’s-Eye, Tiger’s-Eye) ALTHOUGH the commonest and, in its natural form, the most easily recognizable of mineral substances, quartz nevertheless holds a not inconspicuous position among gem-stones, because, as amethyst (Plate XXVII, Fig. 7) , it provides stones of the finest violet colour ”

“ In the case of amethyst the colour is changed to a deep orange, or entirely driven off if the temperature be high enough. Its density is very constant, varying only from 2·654 to 2·660; the purest stones are the lightest. To it has been assigned the symbol 7 on Mohs’s scale of hardness.
To physicists quartz is one of the most interesting of minerals because of its power of rotating, to an extent depending upon the thickness of the section, the plane of polarization of a beam of light traversing it in a direction parallel to the prism edge. ”

“ Amethyst
The amethyst has a purple color, or sometimes is like violet or like drops of wine or like a rose. Some there are which turn almost white, others are like red wine mixed with water. From India it comes; it is easy to work, and it prevents intoxication. It would be precious if it were not so abundant, but it is commonplace since there is so much of it. There are five kinds.
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Geratite
Geratite is black. It is of such a nature that if a man opens his mouth and puts the stone under his tongue he will divine what another person thinks of him, and can win any woman's devotion. ”

“ The author insists on a direct sympathy between the human soul and surrounding nature, and his work illustrates his method of linking together these eternal immortal powers so that the human can draw from these elements exactly that force he needs. The “Psychological Properties of Precious Stones,” includes his occult researches into hidden properties which he presents in certain order. The stones mentioned are the topaz, amethyst, coral, rock crystal, emerald, diamond, ruby, turquoise, sapphire, red garnet, carbuncle. ”

“ This mineral is a species of crystal, or crystalline alumina—an almost pure anhydrous alumina, Al2O3—in many varieties, both of shape and colour. The chief stone is the ruby, considered, when large, to be of even more importance and value than the diamond. There are many other red stones in this group; sapphires, also, are a species of corundum, both the blue and the colourless varieties, as are also the aquamarine, the emerald, the amethyst, the topaz, and others, all of widely differing colour, as well as the star-shaped, or "aster" ruby, called the "ruby" cat's-eye. ”

“ One last experiment may now be referred to, the concluding experiment of the Winnipeg lecture, and which is very reminiscent of the beautiful slate colour of the lamellæ of amethyst. It is the actual crystallisation, projected on the screen, of a thin film of melted benzoic acid, which affords radiating closely packed long and narrow crystals, shooting out on the screen from centres near the margin of the field, very much like the individual crystals of repeatedly twinned quartz in the beautiful amethyst crystal illustrated in Fig. ”