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LVI. Other Differences there alſo are, as was before obſerved, in Gems of the ſame Name: As in Carnelians, that Species which is pellucid and of a brighter red, is called the [1]Female; and that which is pellucid and of a deeper red, with ſome Tendency to Blackneſs, the Male. The Lapis Lyncurius is diſtin-
- ↑ 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. This Difference in the Degree of Colour, happens from the different Quantity of the metalline Particles, to which they all owe their Colours, as mixed with them at their original Formation: And I make no doubt, but that there are ſome of all the Kinds perfectly colourleſs, if we were enough acquainted with their exact Texture and Degree of Hardneſ to be able to diſtinguiſh them by it. If we were, we ſhould as ſurely find white Emeralds, and white Amethyſts, as white Sapphires; there being ſcarce any of the coloured Gems of which we do not ſee the Male and Female, as they are called; and of which ſome Specimens of the Female are not found nearly as colourleſs as Cryſtal.
many among the Jewellers at preſent, though they are not at the pains to diſtinguiſh them by particular Names; they divide them in general into Oriental and Occidental: The former are very ſcarce, but of great Hardneſs, Luſtre, and Beauty; the latter are had from many Places, particularly Saxony, Germany, and Bohemia: They are often as finely coloured as the Oriental, but are ſoft. In England we alſo ſometimes find them very beautiful, and of tolerable Hardneſs.
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.
