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the Copper Mines of [1]Cyprus, and an Iſland over againſt Carthage. In this Iſland the true Emerald is alſo ſometimes found. Theſe are dug out of the Earth as the other; and in Cyprus there are many Veins of them together;
- ↑ Theſe were the Emeralds which in after Times were diſtinguiſhed into two Kinds, and made two of the twelve Species they reckoned of this Gem, the Cyprian and Carthaginian; but it is evident from this Author's Account, that they were really no genuine Emeralds, but are two of the Kinds which a more ſcientific way of writing would have ſtruck off from that Liſt. Pliny accounting them Emeralds, we ſee, ſays they were always bad; and Theophraſtus tells us, they ſerved as Chryſocolla, for the ſoldering of Gold: and that ſome were of an Opinion, which it is eaſy to ſee he him-
Copper Mines there were exhauſted. Copper ſeems, therefore, to have been eſſential to their Formation; and their want of Luſtre and Hardneſs ſhews them not to haye been truly Gems, but, what I have before called them, coloured Cryſtals.
Salmaſius is of opinion, that Καρχηδόνι here is an Error, and that the Word ſhould be Χαλχηδόνι; and that the Iſland, the Name of which the Author has not mentioned, was Demoneſus, in which there were antiently Copper Mines.
Others are for preſerving the Word as it ſtands, and ſuppoſe the Iſland to be Cothon or Coton, mentioned by Strabo, and placed over againſt Carthage. I have every where paid great Deference to that excellent Critic's Opinions; but in this cannot agree with him, becauſe if this be an Error in the Copies of this Author, it is alſo to be amended in Ariſtotle, Pliny, and the reſt of the Antients, who all have it Carchedonius, not Chalcedonius: and I ſee no Reaſon why we ſhould doubt but that there may have been Copper Mines in Cothon, though exhauſted or loſt many Ages ſince. There are ſo many Paſſages in the Antients, where theſe Alterations are abſolutely neceſſary, that a Commentator who wiſhes the World to have any Opinion of the Certainty of what they have left us, ought to be very careful how he adds to the Number without apparent Neceſſity.
