TOPAZ. 



size from 1 to 2 carats to 3 ounces and 

 more. The utmost skill on the part of the 

 lapidary is required to display this stone to 

 the greatest advantage. Its proportions 

 must be very exact ; the table should be 

 somewhat small, the bizel deep, and the 

 under parts, from the girdle to the collet, 

 graduated into fine and delicate steps, with 

 equidistant ribs. Cut in this manner, it 

 reflects a full celestial blue colour through- 

 out the stone, especially round the girdle. 

 Sometimes it requires a foil. 



III. White or perfectly colourless varieties 

 are much esteemed in the Brazils, Avhere 

 they are called Minas Novas, after the locality 

 from which they are brought. They are 

 generally of small size, and are used for 

 circular ear-rings, or for setting round the 

 yellow Topaz. In lustre they far surpass 

 Rock Crystal. The most advantageous way 

 of cutting them is like a brilliant with a 

 small table, in which case the setting should 

 be open. The purest varieties, called 

 Gouttes-d'eau (Pingos d'agoa, or water- 

 drops), from their peculiar limpidity, when 

 cut in facets, like the Diamond, bear a close 

 resemblance to it both in lustre and bril- 

 liancy. Coarse varieties of Topaz may be 

 employed as a substitute for Emery. 



Localities. — English. The Topaz is found in 

 Cornwall, at St. Michael's Mount (Jig. 437), 

 at the granite quarries of Constantine and 

 Mabe, at St. Austell Hill Mine, at Kea, and at 

 Huel Kind and Huel Trevaunance, near St. 

 Agnes. — Scotch. Fine specimens have been 

 found in Scotland, in Aberdeenshire and 

 Banffshire; near Cairngorm, they occur 

 sometimes in transparent rolled crystals 

 and masses, three or four inches in diameter. 

 The colour of the Scotch Topaz is generally 

 pale blue, with a tinge of reddish-brown 

 along the acute edges of the prism. Good 

 crystals also occur in the Hebrides, in the 

 part of Lewis called Harris. — Irish. In the 

 Mourne Mountain district of Ireland, To- 

 pazes are found on Slieve Carragh, gene- 

 Tally in doubly terminated colourless crys- 

 tals, or with faint tinges of blue, green, or 

 pink. — Foreign. Brazil. Siberia. Ala- 

 baschka, near Mursinsk, the Ilmen moun- 

 tains, Adon-Tschelon, and the mountains 

 near Nertchinsk. A Topaz, Aveighing 

 nearly 20 lbs., was lately found in the river 

 of Uralga, in the province of Nevansk, in 

 Eussia, and was presented by the finder, a 

 tradesman, to the Emperor Alexander. 

 Kamschatka. Asia Minor. Pegu. Ceylon. 

 Kew Holland. Victoria. Bohemia. Saxony. 

 Peru. Trumbull and Middleton, Connecti- 

 cut, U.S. Tasmania, of the finest water and 



TOPAZOLITE. 383 



of brilliancy scarcely inferior to that of the 

 Diamond. 



Name. The name is derived from ToVo£?/es, 

 an island in the Red Sea, whence the 

 ancients procured their Topazes; but it is 

 supposed that the stone called Topaz by 

 them was that called Chrysolite now, and 

 vice versa. 



Even at the present day, in the East, the 

 name Zabarjad is applied indiscriminately to 

 varieties of the Topaz, Chrysolite and BeVyl. 

 This confusion may be accounted for bv the 

 ignorance of the lapidaries of eastern coun- 

 tries, of chemistry, and of the mode of 

 distinguishing between substances resem- 

 bling one another in other respects, by 

 determining their specific gravity. Beryl 

 and Aquamarine pass from pale green into 

 yellow, while the striated prisms of Topaz 

 pass from a deep yellow to pale green ; their 

 hardness is nearly the same, and they 

 occur in the same mines in Egypt and else- 

 where ; indeed, the term Beryl was applied 

 to both by Werner. 



Aquamarine and Chrysolite are sometimes 

 substituted for Topaz, but may easily be 

 distinguished by difference of hardness, 

 specific gravity, and especially by not be- 

 coming electric by friction. 



Brit. Mus., Case 58. 



M. P. G. Horse-shoe Case, Nos. 905 to 

 920, 996. 



TopAZE Baccillaire. See Ptcnite. 



TOPAZE BE BoHEME,~] Crvstr'see Gt- 



TOP.ZE 1,'taOK^. ^Sfi„f |f;j, 

 lOPAZE DE SAXE. Top\7 



TopAZE Enfumee. Smoky Quartz. See 

 Cairngorm. 



ToPAZE Grenue, Beudanf. Granular 

 Topaz, forming veins in what is called the 

 Topaz rock. 



ToPAZE OCCIDENTALE. Yollow Eock 



Crystal. See False Topaz. 



ToPAziNE Quartz. See False Topaz, 

 also S3IOKY Quartz. 



ToFAzoL.iTE,Bonvoisin. A variety of Lime- 



Fig. 438. 



Garnet, occurring in translucent and well- 



* This name is also applied bj' jewellers to the 

 False Topaz brought from Brazil. 



