from Australia and a few from Brazil. 

 In present usage bloodstone is the ''birth 

 stone" of .the month of March. 



"Who on this world of ours their eyes 

 In March first open shall be wise, 

 In days of peril firm and brave 

 And wear a bloodstone to their grave." 



Agate was described in the June num- 

 ber of this magazine. 



Onyx and sardonyx are varieties of 

 agate in which the layers are in even 

 planes of uniform thickness. This struc- 

 ture enables the stone to be used for en- 

 graving cameos. As is weh known, these 

 are so made that the base is of one color 

 and the figure of another. This art of 

 making cameos reached a high degree of 

 perfection among the Romans and many 

 superb examples of it have come down 

 to us. The word onyx means a nail (fin- 

 ger nail) and refers to some fancied re- 

 semblance, perhaps in luster, to the 

 hurnan nail. Sardonyx is a particular 

 variety of onyx in which one of the lay- 

 ers has the brown color of sard. Other 

 kinds of onyx are those known as chal- 

 cedonyx and carnelionyx in reference to 

 the color of the intervening layers. So- 

 called Mexican onyx is composed of quite 

 a different mineral from the onyx here 

 considered, it being made up of calcite 

 rather than quartz. Mexican onyx can 

 be scratched easily with a knife while 

 quartz onyx cannot. Mexican onyx has, 

 however, the banded structure of quartz 

 onyx and it is in allusion to this undoubt- 

 edly that the name has been applied. A 

 sardonyx upon which Queen Elizabeth's 

 portrait was cut constituted the stone of 

 the famous ring which she gave the Earl 

 of Essex as a pledge of her friendship. 

 It will be remembered that when the 

 Earl was sentenced to death he sent this 

 ring to his cousin, Lady Scroop, to de- 

 liver to Elizabeth. The messenger by 

 mistake gave it to Lady Scroop's sister, 

 the Countess Nottingham, who being an 

 enemy of the Earl's did not deliver it to 

 the Queen and the Earl was executed. 

 On her deathbed the Countess confessed 

 her crime to the Queen, who was so in- 

 furiated that she shook her, saying "Cod 

 may forgive you, but I cannot." The 

 onyx is the emblem of conjugal felicity 

 and by some is made the "birth stone" of 

 the month of July. It is one of the stones 



prescribed for the ephod of the Jewish 

 High Priest. 



The sardonyx was supposed by the 

 ancients to be a different stone from the 

 onyx. To it was ascribed the property 

 of conferring eloquence upon its wearer. 

 It is mentioned in Revelations as one of 

 the stones forming the foundations of the 

 Holy City. Onyx and sardonyx which 

 come from the Orient are esteemed of 

 much higher value in trade at the present 

 time than those prepared in Germany. 

 There seems to be no good reason for 

 this, however, as • the latter can be so 

 skillfully made that it is impossible to 

 distinguish them from the Oriental 

 stones. 



Jasper is a name which includes in gen- 

 eral nearly all varieties of impure opaque 

 colored crypto-crystalline quartz. In 

 color it may be red, yellow, green, brown, 

 bluish and black. To many of the peb- 

 bles found on almost any sea or lake 

 shore or in the beds of streams the name 

 jasper may properly be applied. If it oc- 

 curs banded, that is, in stripes of differ- 

 ent colors, it is known as ribbon jasper. 

 The different colors of jasper are due to 

 the different impurities it contains. These 

 may be clay, iron oxides or organic mat- 

 ter and at times reach a quantity as high 

 as twenty per cent. The color often varies 

 irfegularly in a single stone, giving dif- 

 ferent effects and sometimes imitating 

 paintings. Jasper which can be used in 

 the arts is very widely distributed. Good 

 red jasDer is obtained in Breisgau and 

 near Marburg in Germany. Much of 

 the brown jasper comes from Egypt. 

 What is known as ''Sioux Falls jasper" 

 from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is 

 chiefly of a brown color. This stone was 

 highly prized by the Indians for its color 

 and is the "jasper" referred to by Long- 

 fellow in Hiawatha : 



"At the doorway of his wigwam 



Sat the ancient Arrow-maker 

 In the land of the Dacotahs, 

 Making arrow-heads of jasper 



Arrow-heads of chalcedony." 



The yellow jasper used for mosaics 

 comes chiefly from Sicily, but as good 

 could be obtained in many places in our 

 own country. The green jasper of the 

 present time is obtained chiefly in the 

 Urals and is to a considerable extent 

 worked there into ornamental pieces. The 



