278 



THE MUSEUM. 



property of Naito Anmari, and pur- 

 chased from Naito Tsukuba for i 8,0:0 

 yen — about $18,000. It was cut by 

 an old workman, who had devoted 

 his entire Hfe to cutting crystal balls. 

 This one was started in June, i8gi, 

 and finished in December, 1894. The 

 ball weighs nineteen pounds. The 

 famous Dresden ball weighs 16J His, 

 but is quite imperfect. A five-inch 

 ball cut from material found, in Ashe 

 county. North Carolina, and another 

 nearly si-x inches in diameter, from the 

 summit of Mount Antero, Colorado, 

 are now in the Field Columbian Muse- 

 um in Chicago. Though not entirely 

 perfect, they are quite equal to the 

 balls of the eighteenth century. 



At Hot Springs, Ark., clear, rolled 

 pebbles found on the banks of the 

 Ouachita are often sold. These are 

 more highly prized than th& quartz 

 crystals, as the fancy prevails that 

 they cut clearer gems. The scarcity 

 of these, and the demand for them has 

 led to the artificial production, by 

 putting the crystals into a box which 

 is kept revolving for a few days by 

 water power. Any expert, however, 

 can discern the difference, since the 

 artificial ones have a little whiter sur- 

 face. 



Many places in Colorado furnish 

 fine specimens, and along the New 

 Jersey coast and Long Branch, Atlan- 

 tic City, Cape May, and other places, 

 transparent pebbles are found in the 

 sand, and sought after by the visitors, 

 who often have them cut as souvenirs. 

 At such places the local lapidaries 

 have been known to substitute for peb- 

 bles from the beach foreign-cut quartz, 

 cairngorm, topaz, crocidolite, Ceylon 

 moonstone, and even glass, obtaining 

 twice the value of the foreign gem for 

 the supposed cutting. Sometimes ev- 

 en the stones found by the visitors are 

 exchanged for cut ones from Bohemia. 

 Oldenburg, and the Jura. Cutting is 

 done abroad on so large a scale and by 

 labor so poorly paid, that the cut 

 stones can be delivered in this country 

 at one-tenth of the price of cutting 



here, because the rock crystal itself 

 has but little value. 



Amethyst is a transparent puple var- 

 iety of quartz, its color being due to 

 oxide of mangnese. It is a very beau- 

 tiful stone, much used by the ancients 

 to engrave on, but certain varieties 

 are now but little valued, because not 

 rare enough to be costly. It is found 

 in Brazil, Ceylon, India, and the Ural 

 Mountains. In the latter region, near 

 Mursinka, are found superb deep pur- 

 ple gems, changing to red by artificial 

 light, some of which have sold for $500 

 each. For intensity and perfection of 

 color, and, one might say, majestic 

 beauty, these rival almost any other 

 gem. Smaller but equally fine ame- 

 thysts occur in Delaware county, Penn- 

 sylvania, Maine and North Carolina. 

 Oriental amethyst is a purple variety 

 of sapphire, far more rare and valua- 

 ble than the ordinary amethyst. 



Agates are usually formed by the 

 deposit of silica, with more or less of 

 coloring oxides, in the cavities of ig- 

 neous rocks. When the rock disinte- 

 grates, they fall out as hard nodules, 

 and are then found on the surface, or 

 frequently strewn along shores, beach- 

 es, and the beds of streams. These 

 agate pebbles are abundant on the 

 shore of Lake Superior and on the 

 beach at Pescardo, Cal., and are gath- 

 ered as souvenirs, and to some extent 

 cut for local jewelry. They are made 

 into seals, rings, pencils, handles for 

 swords, knives and forks, mortars for 

 grinding chemicals, bearings for fine 

 balances, beads, studs, ear rings, trin- 

 kets, match boxes, and many other 

 objects. 



A peculiar feature of all these agates 

 and chalcedonies is their power of ab- 

 sorbing coloring matters under certain 

 conditions, and by this means all man- 

 ner of highly colored varieties are arti- 

 ficially produced by skillful treatment 

 of the stone. Most of the deep red 

 carnelians and sards are thus prepared 

 by burning from pale or dull colored 

 chalcadony, and all the black agate,, 

 which has now quite replaced jet ia 



