Chap. 36.] MOLOCRITIS. 429 



CHAP. 34. PEASIUS ; THREE VAEIETIES OF IT. 



There are numerous other kinds also of green stones. To 

 the more common class belongs prasius ;^ one variety of which 

 is disfigured with spots^^ like blood, while another kind is 

 marked with three streaks of white. To all these stones 

 chrysoprasus^" is preferred, which is also similar to the colouring 

 matter of the leek, but varies in tint between topazes and gold. 

 This stone is found of so large a size as to admit of drinking- 

 boats*^ even being made of it, and is cut into cylinders very 

 frequently. 



CHAP. 35. NILION. 



India, which produces these stones, produces nilion*^ also, a 

 stone that dift'ers from the last in its dull, diminished lustre, 

 which, v/hen steadily looked upon, soon fades from the sight. 

 8adines says that it is to be found also in the Siberus, a river of 

 Attica. In appearance it resembles a smoke-coloured topazes, or, 

 in some cases, a topazes with a tint like honey. According to 

 Juba, Ethiopia produces it, upon the shores of the river known 

 to us as the Nilus ; to which circumstance, he says, it owes its 

 name. 



CHAP. 36. MOLOCHITIS. 



Molochitis*^ is not transparent, being of a deeper green, and 

 more opaque than smaragdus ; its name is derived from the 

 mallow,^* which it resembles in colour. It is highly esteemed 

 for making seals, and it is endowed by Nature with medicinal 

 properties which render it a preservative for infants against 

 certain dangers which menace them. This stone is a native of 

 Arabia.*^ 



38 The stone now known as " Prase" is a vitreous, leek-green, variety 

 of massive quartz. 



39 This may possibly have been Plasma, a faintly translucent Chalce- 

 dony, approaching jasper, having a greenish colour, sprinkled -with yellow 

 and whitish dots, and a glistening lustre. Or, perhaps, Bloodstone or 

 Heliotrope, a kind of jasper. 



^^ See the preceding Chapter, and Note 31. 



*i " Cymbia." Drinking vessels shaped hke a boat, 



43 Qj. a Nile-stone." Egyptian jasper, or Egyptian pebble, a kind of 

 quartz. 



*3 Our Malachite, a green carbonate of copper. See B. xsxiii. c. 26. 



^* Called fioXoxv or jiaKdx'n ^^ Grfek, 



*= Also ot Siberia, Shetland, the United States, and numerous other 

 localities. 



