178 Exlractsfrom the Persian Work called [March, 



Article V. 



Translated Extracts from the Persian Work called " The Book 

 of Precious Stones," by Mohammed Ben Manssur. Trans- 

 lated into German by Mr. Joseph Von Hammer. 



There can remain little doubt but that the knowledge of 

 precious stones first came to us with them from the East ; even 

 the names of most of them do not differ from those in the coun- 

 tries where the mines of them are situated; and yet nothing has 

 been made known from these Sources except some specimens of 

 the Arabian work of Teifaschi, which Ravius published in the 

 year 1784, at Utrecht, and some passages in Bochart's Hiero- 

 zoiconj treating of precious stones. These extracts will, there- 

 fore, not be unwelconxe, particularly to lovers of mineralogy and 

 precious stones, as they not only contain the original Persian 

 names, but also the veiy important classification ; from which it 

 appears that the fact, that rubies, oriental topazes, and sapphires, 

 belono- to one and the same class, namely, that of the Jakut, 

 (which is a modern discovery in Europe,) has long been known to 

 the inhabitants of the East, and that they have been acquainted 

 for centuries with the mode of determining the specific gravity. 

 The author composed his work in the seventh century of the 

 Hegira (in the 13th of the Christian era) for the Emperor Abu 

 NassrBehadirchan, of the family of Abbas, in two books, the first 

 treating of precious stones, and the second of metals. Considering 

 the ideas that have prevailed in the East for thousands of years, 

 it will not be surprising that among the former the pearl takes 

 the lead. 



Every chapter regularly consists of four sections, the first of 

 which treats of the external and visible qualities, the second of 

 the mine, the third of the value, and the fourth of the internal 

 mystical qualities. Our extracts are confined to the first two 

 sections of each chapter ; as the value set on precious stones in 

 Asia in the 13th century could, at the most, be a useless gratifi- 

 cation of the curiosity of amateurs, and an enumeration of their 

 secret, fabulous, and talismanic properties could be of no kind of 

 use to real science. 



Chap. I. 



Sect. 1. Of the Classes of Pearls. — Pearls are called merwarid 

 whence the Latin margariia), or lulu ; this last name is usually 

 given them when pierced. They are divided into various classes, 

 according to their water and lustre. 1. Schahwar, i. e. Royal 

 pearls, the brightest and purest. 2. Durr, the common pearls, 

 like-wise called choschab, nedschmi, and ojun. 3. Schekeri, i. e. 

 sugar pearls, are of a red and yellowish colour. 4. Benini, 

 yellow-white. 5. Serdi, the yellow-red. 6. Kebudij the blue- 



