Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-09-16
WHERE JET COMES FROM
How the Stone is Mined and Polished in Whitby. England.


 How the Stone is Mined and Polished
 in Whitby, England.
 Our ~great-great grandfathers were as proud of their Whitby jet jewelry as the American duchesses are to-day of their husbands family diamond. Fifteen hundred years ago Whitby jet was fashioned into crucifxes, rOsar- 1 ies, crosses and other ecclesiastical de vices for the monks and nuns under l the charge of the Abbess Hiada at the Monastery of Streonshalh, now known as the ruins of Whitby Abbey. The l Lady Hilda was the eldest daughter of Oswy, King of Northumbria, as the northern part of the middle countries of England was then called. Her father, in gratitude for having beaten the pa gan King Penda on the battlefield of 1 Winwidfield, founded the monastery in A. D. 658, and placed Hilda, then forty five years of age in charge She was very devout woman, and the monks and nuns under her were sup piled with beads and crosses made from local substance known as jet 1 As the years rolled by, jet became pop ular on account of it's beauty, rarity | ish 1t was worked by clever artisans over grin1stone and lathe, and then turned over to expert carvers, who fashioned it into the most elaborate I brooches, necklaces, earrings, pend- ants, bracelets, pins, etc. Sometimes it was set in gold and sometimes sur rounded by diamonds and other prec- ious stones, so that a brooch would retail for hundreds of pounds sterling. Paper knives, watch charms and an 1n- ] finite variety of articles followed, and at length it became popular to wear jet for mourning. At the first glance jet looks like polished black glass, but the merest novice can detect it's peculiar beauties upon closer exam ination. It so happens that jet has never been found anywhere in Eng land except in the precipitous cliffs overlooking the sea, on which the quaint old seaport of Wmtby stands The chief industry of Whitby for hun- dresds of years was the manufactnre lof jet, and then some seven hundred years ago part of the inhabitants took l to fishing and whaling, and the DIG turesque old seaport has ever been the l home of a prosperous community
 1 The late Queen Victoria was a great admirer of jet, and during her reign Whitby fourished from the industry as never before Muff chains, lockets, penhoIders, cigarette holders, book marks, shirtstuds, cuff links, hatpins, spangles and bangles, flowers and me dallions, were produced in great quan- titles and were shipped all over Eu- rope and especially over the British empire When any person Of 1mpor- tance died in any part of Europe the l Whitby merchants would immediately send a box of jet mourning by ex- press to the bereaved family. Such l jewelry as was kept was paid for by check. and the rest of the stock re turned.
 l Of late years cheap substitute has been discovered in Spain and much or this is now used by the Wmtby nlanu- facturers, who find the real article scarce and very dear. From skele- tons found in the umah of the district it is known that hundreds of years 1t was customary to bury the dead with jet ornaments.
 Tn his Mirror of Stones Camillus Leonardus calls jet black amber and states that it possesses the peculiar property of attracting to it, when rub bed, light substances of all kinds. He also tells us that the thin smoke pro duced by this friction of rubbing was used by the ancient Britains for driv- ing away devils and dissolving spells.
 s'Jet,' says Dr Young, appears to be wood in high state of bitnnainiza- tion." And certainly jet often appears with traces of iigenous structure; at the same time there are specimens of bones which seemingly have been gradually impregnated with, and at last wholly replaced by this substance. Among the jetrock there is found liquid hydrocarbon, somewhat resem- bling petroleum oil, which occurs in the cavities of ammonites, etc, and IS also sometimes found in nodules, the presence of which is generally sup posed to point to a rich vein of jet
 From these and other observations , it would appear that pet existed as liquid substance. and that this sub. ] stance gradually permeated between !, the laminations of the shades, etc, GOV ering over or in some cases entirely replacing any woody matter which IS } met with.-New York Evening Post. .THREH YEARS AND UNDER |, fv