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in great Quantity in Gold Mines; and even much more plentifully in thoſe of Copper, and the Places near them.
XLVIII. The true Emerald is, as before obſerved, a ſcarce Stone; it ſeems to be [1]produced from the Jaſper, for it
- ↑ The Jaſper is often the Matrix of the Praſius, and that of the Emerald: this latter is often called the Root or Mother of the Emerald, as that Gem is ſometimes found adhering to it: And, indeed, there are often Parts of the Praſius, which, when cut, are not diſtinguiſhable from genuine Emeralds. The Jaſper itſelf alſo often emulates the Colour and Appearance of the Praſius and Emerald. Indeed when we conſider what has already been obſerved, in regard to the original Formation of Gems, we cannot wonder if they are often found degenerating in Appearance, or improving into, and much oftener affixed upon, or in ſome meaſure blended with the Subſtance of one another, What the particular Stone here mentioned by the Author was, it is not eaſy to aſcertain; perhaps ſome Stone, which they improperly reckoned among the Emeralds; perhaps a Praſius, clearer than ordinary, affixed to a Jaſper, as it frequently is, as well as to Cryſtals and other Subſtances; perhaps no more than a Jaſper, finer than ordinary at one End; for it was often found in thoſe Times green and pellucid; viret & ſæpe tranſlucet
in thoſe of other Metals, no where but where there was an Admixture of Copper with the Metal of the Mine. It owed its Colour, as the green Cryſtals and Emeralds do, to that Metal, and was generally found in form of Sand; but if embodied in Maſſes of other Matter, was always ſeparable by waſhing or other Means; and when ſeparated, appeared looſe and in the ſame Form. It was in different Places of different degrees of Colour, but the deeper coloured, and ſuch as reſembled the Emerald, was the moſt eſteemed. It is deſcribed by Dioſcorides and Pliny to be coloris herbæ ſegetis læte virentis, and porracei coloris; which is exactly what the Greeks called πράσινος. And Disſcorides, in another Place, ſays, the beſt Chryſocolla was that which was κατακόρως πρασίζουσαν, ſatiatè porraceum. The Chryſocolla of the Antients was therefore very different from that of the Moderns: and was what, in a purer State, and larger Size, might in thoſe Times very naturally be, and really was, accounted a Species of the Emerald.
