GEMS, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL 



THE RUBY AND ITS ALLIES 



The ruby has been called "the most coveted of 

 Nature's treasures," since it represents a greater amount 

 of wealth in a smaller bulk than any other precious 

 stone. It is one of the varieties of the mineral corun- 

 dum, which ranks very high in the scale of hardness, 

 and is a most useful substance for abrasive purposes. 

 In the opaque forms corundum enters largely into the 

 composition of emery, while its translucent forms are 

 gems having the widest range of colors and shades. 

 Thus the ruby is red corundum; sapphire is blue 

 corundum; "oriental emerald" is green corundum; 

 "oriental topaz" yellow corundum; and "oriental 

 amethyst" purple corundum. To the chemist these 

 stones are identical, differing only in an infinitesimal 

 amount of coloring matter; but to the prospector, 

 miner, and dealer, this minute difference in coloring 

 matter means the difference between day -wages and 

 boundless riches. 



While ordinary varieties of corundum occur plen- 

 tifully all over the world, the variety which we know 

 as the ruby is extremely rare. Rubies of inferior 

 quality, and in small quantities, have been found in 

 several places, but the three great sources of the gems 

 to-day are Burma, Siam, and Ceylon. Burmese rubies 

 are considered the most valuable, since a greater num- 

 ber of them have the "pigeon-blood" color the color 

 of the blood of a freshly killed pigeon which is most 

 highly prized by the connoisseur. 



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