The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-07-19
THE FATHER Of JEWELRY
Promstheus is the Chap Who Is
Responsible for This Femi-
nine Fad.
Where the Gems Come From
Which Decorate the
Fair Sex.
Pointers About Raro Stones Of All Sorts
From Every Section Of the
Great World.

The father Of iewslry vas Prometbeus,
says the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette.
When he was cut loose by Hercules from
the chain that fastened him to Mount Cau-
casus he made q ring ont of one Of the links
Of his letters. and In the bezel he fixed q
portion of the rock. According to Pliny.
that was the first ring and the frat stone.
Hebrew tradition says that the tablets
Of Moses were of sapphire. In Hebrew
the word sapphire means the most
beautiful. 1t symbolizes loyalty, just
loo, beauty mi nobility. The emer-
aid ia mentioned by ~. John in his Apo
calypso. An emerald OF inestimable value
ornamented the bezel of the ring Of Poly
crates, king of Samos. The monarch, hav-
ing been all his life fav o,ed BY fortune, do
tel mined to put his luck to a severe test.
He threw the ring into tho sea. The next
day he went fishing. The record of tbs
days sport still remains unbroken. His
majesty caught q fne fish. and inside OF tho
fish he found his ring. This happened in
the year $50 Of the foundation of Rome.
and the ring. considered ss a talisman, was
placed among the royal treasures of the
temple Of Concord.
AhAAoS ~ ASsu
are the most valuable. According 10 their
tints and their lustsr they are elasssd -
prosines. %neronians, and domitianss. Ac-
cordinR to Suetonius. Nero used to look Ut
the fighting eladiators in his emerald. The
stone is the emblem Of charity, hope, Joy
and abundance. 1t had the reputation of
curing epilepsy by application. and of BE-
ing an all-ruund pain killer.
The diamond has always been regarded
as the most precious stone. II rssists the
hardest bodies. The Pontih Aaron wore 4
diamond of astounding virtues. 1t be-
came obscure, almost black, whom the He
brews were in a state of mortal sin. If the
guilty deserved death ii became red, but in
the presence of innocence it came
back to its original purity and brill
iancy. Rues assures us that diamonds
breed, and that a certain princess
of the house of Luxembourg had two which
had a family in the course of . reason able
time. The same interesting assertion is
also made by Boethius. The diamond was
reputed as a preserver against epidemios
and p~oisons. 1t calms anger and foments
conjugal love. The ancients called it ''the
stone of reconciliation" It symbolizes
constanoy. and strength, and innocence.
The name of the precious stone inserted
In the ring Of Gygea has not been handed
down to US, but it il probable that it was q
topaz. whose wonders Philostrates recounts
in the life of Appollonius. An attribute Of
the sun and Of fire the anoients called it the
gold magnet. as it was credited with
al. indicated it's veins and dis
covering treasures. Hellodo,us, in
his story of Iheaenes and Carleles. says
that the topaz saves from fire ali those who
wear it. and that Carioles was preserved by
a topaz from the fiery vengeance of Ar
seces, queen of Ethiopia. This stone was
n of the first talismans that T%heaRenes
possessed in Egypt. The topaz at present
symbolizes Christian virtues, faith. Justice,
temperance, g%entleness. clemency.
One of the rarest and most precious
stones is the carbuncle, which is sometimes
COMPOUNDED with the ruby. from which it
differs by the intensity of its fires,
produced by an internal luster of gold,
while under the purple of the ruby
there only appear dottings Q: azure or
lacquer. ETHIOPIA produced the most prec-
ious ancient carbuncles. Tbe Chaldeans
regarded this stone rs a powerful talisman.
Legend makes the eyes of dragons out of
carbuncles. Garcias alb Horto, physician
of one Of the %viceroys OF India, speaks Of
carbuncles which he saw in the palace of
their b%rilliancy that they seemed like red
hot GOALS in the midst of darkness" Louis
Vertoman reports that the king OF Pegu
wore an enormous one, which at night ap-
peared to be lighted up with sunbeams.
The virtues of the carbuncle are resistance
to fire, preservation of the eyes, promotion
OF pleasant dreams, creation of happy illu-
sions. and an antidote against impure air.
The ruby is valued highest when it oop-
tains the least azure. The largest ruby
that history speaks Of belonged to Eliz-
abeth of Austria. the wife of Charles TX.
IL vvtAa = I'm nk M Irv nr n hAnvA A~~ Fl>
virtues attributed to rubies are to- Danish
sadness. to repress luxury, and TO drive
ava annoying thoughts. At the same
time it symbolizes cruelty. anger.
and carnage as we'll as bold
ness and bravery. A change in it, color
BILE is over it regains its primitive luster.
+ The amethyst, SO called from the Greek
Amethustos, meaning mot drunk" was =
favorite stone among the Roman ladies. Its
principal virtue was to draw away the vapor
of inebriety from the brain. It also drove
away evil thoughts and attracted to ito
possessors the favo:s of princes.
The opal. fallen from its ancient splen-
dor. is to-day called an unlucky stone, even
by those who laugh at old superstitions,
but it once held a high rank among prso-
ious stones. The belief that it attracted
legend, which found its way into France.
The Empress Eugene had a horror of an
opal. At sight of one in the Tuileriss she
manifested terror. That had the effect Of
lowering the price of the tone.
The tul quolse ia considered as q talisman
in Persia, its native soil. II preserves it,
possessor from accidents and insures con-
stancy in affections. The value of the tur-
quoise depends on its shade and its size, g.
pecially in thickness. Those classed as be-
longing to the old rock are valued very
highly. Emblem of youth, of sentiment.
and tender recollections. the turquoise
may be called the forget me-not of stones.
1t breaks on the death of it's prop ietor, and
it changes color when he is ill. This last
observation is perfectly true, and is csrti-
fed to by all lapidaries. The same thing
has been remarked of coral. mot only dc
preciou stones live" SAYS Jerome Oardan.
but they are liable to get sick, to auffer from
the iutirmities of old age, and at last to
die"
The most precious of all stones. according
to DR.. de Lignieres, ia the jade, on account
Of its rarity, its extl aordinury qualities,
and the mystery of its cutting. II was re-
garded AZ a sacred stone. aud nobody had a
right to possess it except a prince Of impe'
rial blood. ArRerius Clutius, a famous
physician i'll Amsterdam at the time Of the
Renaissance, published q work on the jade
or nephritic stone, AZ it was then called, on
account of it's action on the renal system.
At the same period Italian authors spoke OF
the jade AZ osiada, and discussed its won
derful powers for healing H~oiatioa. The
legends surrounding this stone abound in
hintnFv GnpA apa~iprapu of iaIa n -