394 pliny's NATUEAL HISTOET. [Book XXZVII. 



ceed a small waiter," and, as to thickness, they rarely admit of 

 being used as drinking- cups, so large as those already** men- 

 tioned. The brightness of them is destitute of strength, and 

 it may be said that they are rather shining than brilliant.*'* 

 But the chief merit of them is the great variety of their 

 colours, and the wreathed veins, which, every here and there, 

 present shades of purple and white, with a mixture of the two ; 

 the purple gradually changing, as it were, to a fiery red, and 

 the milk-white assuming a ruddy hue. Some persons praise 

 the edges of these vessels more particularly, with a kind of 

 reflection in the colours, like those beheld in the rain-bow. 

 Others, again, are more pleased with them when quite opaque, 

 it being considered a demerit when they are at all transparent, 

 or of a pallid hue. The appearance, too, of crystals*^ in them 

 is highly prized, and of spots that look like warts ; not pro- 

 minent, but depressed, as we mostly see upon the human body. 

 The perfume,*^ too, of which they smell, is looked upon as an 

 additional recommendation. 



CHAP. 9 THE NATUEE OF CEYSTAL. 



It is a diametrically opposite cause to this that produces 

 crystal,** a substance which assumes a concrete form from ex- 

 cessive congelation.*^ At all events, crystal is only to be found 

 in places where the winter snow freezes with the greatest in- 

 tensity ; and it is from the certainty that it is a kind of ice, 

 that it has received the name^° which it bears in Greek. The 

 East, too, sends us crystal, there being none preferred to the pro- 

 duce of India. It is to be found, also, in Asia, that of the vicinity 

 of Alabanda,*^ Orthosia,^- and the neighbouring mountains, 

 being held in a very low degree of esteem. In Cyprus, also, 



nizing any affinity between murrhine vessels, as here described, and porce- 

 lain. *3 "Abacus." ** In the preceding Chapter. 



*5 Meaning that they are semitransparent, Ajasson thinks. One great 

 characteristic of Fluor spar is its being subtranslucent. 



*f' This would appear to be the meaning here of '* sales." See p. 396. 



*"' One of the grounds, Ajasson says, on which may be based the 

 opinion that they were artificial. 



*8 Colourless crystals, quartz, or rock crystal ; called " white stone " in 

 jewellery. 



*' See B. xxxvi. c. 45. This was a very general opinion of the ancients 

 with respect to crystaL 



s" KpvaTaWog, from KpioQ, '< cold." . 51 See B. v. c. 29. 



" In Caria, see B. v. c. 29. 



