Chinese prize green jasper highly, the 

 seal of the Emperor being made from it. 

 Some jasper of a bluish shade is found 

 in Nature, but that of a deep blue tinge 

 is always artificially colored by Prussian 

 blue. It is then sometimes known as 

 ''false lapis," that is, false lapis lazuli. 

 Ribbon jasper is found in Saxony, but 

 chiefly comes from the Urals. The qual- 

 ities which make jasper of use in the arts 

 are its color, opacity and capacity for tak- 

 ing a polish. At the present time it is not 

 much used except for mosaic work and 

 for small boxes, vases and dishes. The 

 ancients, however, prized it highly and 

 used it extensively. It is one of the 

 stones prescribed in the Book of Exodus 

 to be worn in the ephod of the High 

 Priest and also forms one of the gates 

 of the Holy City as described by St. John 

 in Revelations. It is probable that the 

 jasper referred to in these instances was 

 of a dark green color, as this was the tint 

 most prized in early times. Green jasper 

 was also called emerald in some in- 

 stances. The banded varieties were much 

 used for cameos, specimens of which are 

 still extant. By taking advantage of the 

 colors of the different layers, colored ob- 

 jects were made, such as one which 

 shows the head of a warrior in red, his 

 helmet green and breastplate yellow. 



Basanitc is also known as Lydian 

 stone or touchstone on account of its use 

 for trying the purity of metals. Its value 

 for this purpose depends on its hardness, 

 peculiar grain and black color. Different 

 alloys of gold give different colors on the 

 stone which one soon learns to recog- 

 nize, and jewelers become very skillful 

 in judging of the fineness of gold by this 

 test. Also if an object is plated, by giv- 

 ing it a few strokes on the stone the dif- 

 ferent color of the gold and base will be 

 revealed. It is simply a black variety 

 of crypto-crystalline quartz, differing 

 from jasper in being tougher and of finer 

 grain and from hornstone in not being 

 splintery. 



Flint is likewise an opaque quartz of 

 dull color. It differs from jasper in 

 breaking with a deeply conchoidal frac- 

 ture and a sharp cutting edge. It is also 

 often slightly transparent and has a 

 somewhat glassy luster. These proper- 

 ties have led to its extensive use by the 

 Indians and by nearly all primitive peo- 

 ples for the manufacture of weapons and 

 implements. Hornstone is more brittle 

 than flint and has a splintery rather than 

 a conchoidal fracture. A number of other 

 subvarieties of crypto-crystalline quartz 

 occur, but they are not important. 



Oliver Cummings Farrington. 



MIDWINTER. 



The air is like a beryl, clean and clear, 



Intensified by gleaming points of blue. 

 Sharp-outlined, distant sounds come ringing near 



And crisply pierce the brittle silence through. 



The sturdy trees that yester-eve were gray 



In dim and foggy veils, and half effaced 

 By winter rain that compassed them, to-day 



Arise like knights in crystal armor laced. 



The stiff, brown-fibered weeds beside the walk 



Have pinned, with each -dull spike, a shivered star. 



An icy chime is rung from every stalk 



To wandering step that clashes them ajar. 



The wood is bright as when the summer lost 

 Her sun-gems in the deep, soft shadow-seas — 



Only the light is dagger-edged with frost, 



And breaks in spangles on the ice-mailed trees. 



— Hattie Whitney in The Ladies' World, 



79 



