EMERALD.
Zamurrud, . ARAB., PERS. PRRIla, . . BIND.
Erneiatide, . . . FR. Smeraldo, . . . . IT.
Smaragd, . . . , GER. Permataeju, . MaLsat.
Ismaragdon, . . GR. Esmeralda, . . . 8r. Stnaragdus, . GR., LAT. Patches kallu, . . TAIL, Nophec, . . . . Hen. Pates rai, . . . TEL.
This precious stono is mentioned in Exodus xxviii. 18 ; in Tobit, Judith, Ecclesiastes, and Ezekiel. The famous emerald mines in Jabl Zabaralt in Egypt—the Samaragilus Mons of the ancients--were worked 1650 B.G., in the time of the great Sesostris and by extensive galleries. They were again worked in tho early part of tho reign of .Muliannuad Ali, and about 1876 a Britiah company undertook them. The mines (Bunsen's Egypt, p. 303) were on the Koaseir road from Koptos t,o Acne= (Philoteraa).
It is tho rarest of all gems, of a beautiful green e,olour, unsurpassed by any gem. 'When of a deep rich grass-green colour, clear and free from flaws, it sells at from i20 to SAO tile carat, those of lighter shade from 5s. t,o .£15 the carat. The finest occur in a limestono rock at Muzo, in New Granada, near Santa FiS do Bogota, 5" 28', at Odontehelong in Siberia, and near ATh.
From ancient times 'rainy stones have been famed as emeralds, which can only have been jasper or other green mineral, such as tho emerald pillars in the temple of Hercules at Tyro, the emerald sent from Babylon as present to a Icing of Egypt, four cubits in length and three in breadth, and the emerald obelisk doseribed by Herodotns, wero all doubtless green jasper. The book of Esther describes tho hall of king Ahasuerus as paved with emeralds. De Canto mentions (p. 125) an emerald statue of Buddlta,a cubit in height, valued at £40,000, now in the pagoda of the king of Siam. It was carried off in 1777 from a pagoda in the city of Vien-chan in Upper ,Laos. In the United States very large beryls have been obtained, but seldom transparent crystals ; they occur in granite or gneiss. One in the imperial collection of Russia ineasures 4i inches in length and 12 in breadth. Another is 7 inches long and 4 broad,
and weighs 6 pounds. Mr. Powell had seen a flat tablet of emerald, full of flaws, but otherwise of good colour, nearly 2i inches square, worn as an amulet, and engraved all over. The maharaja of Kapurthalla possesses a large oblong emerald of this kind, and the maharaja of Patiala has a round emerald of enormous size. A crystal in the cabinet of the Duke of Devonshire measures in its greatest diameter 2Z- inches nearly ; its lesser diameter barely 2 inche,s ; its 3d diameter, 2k inches ; the extreme length of the prism is 2 inches. It con tains several flaws, and is therefore only partially fit for jewellery. It has been valued at more than 500 guineas. A more splendid specimen, weighing 6 ounces, belonging to Mr. Hope, cost £500. Aqua marine includes dear beryls of a sea-green, or pale bluish, or bluish-green tint. Hindus and Mahome dans use them pierced as pendants and in amulets. 14lany of the stones used as emeralds in India consist of beryl. Prismatic corundum or chryso beryl, says Dr. Irvine, is found among the Tora hills near Rajmahal on the Bunas, in irregular rolled pieces, small, and generally of a light green colour. These stones are considered by the natives as emeralds, and are called in Panjabi Panna. The most esteemed colours are the Zababi, next the Saidi, said to come from the city Saidi in Egypt ; Raihani, new emeralds ; Fastiki, old emeralds, that is, such as have com pleted their 20 years ; Salki, Zangari, colour of verdigris ; Kirasi and Sabuui.
Most of the emeralds commonly in use in India are smooth, cut and bored like beads ; they are always full of flaws.—Powell, p. 49 ; Tavernier's Tr. p. 144 ; Bunsen's Egypt, ii. p. 303 ; Wellsted's Tr. p. 323 ; Irvine, Med. Top.; Tomlinson.