The Louisiana cotton-boll. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], Attakapas, La.) 1872-1883, 1874-01-28

an object Of worship. It has been ex
alted as an amulet in cases of epilepsy
and insanity its aid has been invoked
for the detection of witches and hidden
treasures that of Mantu, indeed, was
formerly termed the "goddess." " Still,
our chemists will, with paste, oxide OF
copper and nitre ofpotash, create some
thing wonderfully similar, or, more
elaborateIy, he may employ numerous
different materials, including the inyalu-
able silver sand. The true hyacinth OF
Ceylon, often confounded with the or
ange sapphire and the saffron topaz,
and known also as the "browny dia-
mond," can be counterfeited almost to
perfection. Sowith the water sapphire,
hyaline, the common amethyst, the
& smoke diamond of Alencon, the cats
eye, and the agate. Onyx and coral
need scarcely be enumerated. There is
a notorious manufacture of onyx nearly
all over Europe, from German pebbles,
treated with acids; and the false can
scarcely be distinguished from the true,
except by their weight and price. We
should recommend very great caution
in purchasing what purports to be onyx.
In no kind of precious stones is more
deception practiced. AS regards coral
there are also false kinds as well as the
reality. By the aid Of the real or pink
coral, many beautiful limitations are
effected sometimes with the assistance
of diamond dust, for application to mo-
sale, to furniture ornaments, and
enamel. The opal is, in its way,
peerless among precious stones, and
the only one which, when extrac-
ted from the earth as in Hungary,
is soft, hardening, and diminishing in
size through exposure to the air. 1t is
rarely larger, with its milk-blue beauty,
Illuminated by sun-tints, than a nut,
but has always been mar7elously es-
teemed. In fact, the famboyant opal
of Mexico, representing an admixture
of silica, iron, and water, is a magnii-
cent gem, and its family is mentioned
in the Apocalypse as including "the
most noble of stones" In consequence
of their being excessively priced,
and of a quickly fading nature,
sham specimens are fabricated to an
extraordinary extent.
Thus also with pearls, although by
many they are preferred when they
have lost their original whiteness. The
rage for these has no limit. False
pearls we're invented in Paris towards
the close of Henry Tvs reign by an in
genious fellow named Joaquin. Thence
the manufacture spread into Italy,
where it was extensively practised,
though the French specimens retained
their superiority. To begin with, were
employed the scales of the blay,
small fiat fish, with green back and
white belly, common in numerous rlV-
ers of Europe. The scales were care
fully scraped off and repeatedly washed
in pure water until they glistened like sill
yer. They are then washed in a sieve
enclosed in a net and whipped into
pulp, though still retaining those rec
tangular particles which, to some extent
distinguishable to the eye, constitute q
high merit in genuine pearls. The
mass thus formed was at one time
known as essence of the east" To it
was added some gelatine from the same
fish. Glass of the most delicate text
ure and powdered white wax,
with a dish of mother-of-pearl,
completed the operation, and the neck
lace of the demoiselle was ready for
wearing. 1t needs only slight addi-
tional chemistry to convert these pearls
into opals-a kind of jelly made from
parchment is added,
The rose-pearls of Turkey are formed
by pounding fresh and young flowers in
a mortar until they become as paste,
spreading this on cloth, and laying to
partially dry in the sun. When nearly
dry they are pounded again in rose
water and dried again, and so on until
the paste is exceedingly fine, when it is
rounded into shape, polished with rose
water, for the sake of lustre and scent,
and thus bee ?mes the pretty imposture
celebrated as the rese-pearl. They are
of various colors-black, for the white
throats of Circassia; red, for beauty of
darker depth; blue, also for fairness !;
and splendid amber, fit for all COM
plexions, though chiefly for the bru-
nette. Mock-pearls, it should be re-
m srked, by the way, have been made
from fruit, perfumed with borax and
musk. The commerce in these fictitious
decorations is principally French and
Austrian, though something is known
about it in our own honorable country.
There is Japanese cement, there is rice
paste, and there are Roman pearls,
made mp of silver-sand, fish-scales,
spirits Of wine, and white wax. The
Venetian pearls are generally Yitreous,