Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-09-11

this beautiful mineral as highly val
ued Jewel.
The turquois, or turquoise, is for
tunate in it's name. which has a par
tioularly rich sound, quite in accord with
the old fancy that it is a sign or tails
man, of prosperity for it's possessor The
word is said to have originated from the
TACT that turQuoises were brought into
Europe through Turkey.
Among Shylock's riches there seems
to have been nothing that he esteemed
so much as jewel of this kind which
he wore in a ring. When Tubal tells
him of the ring which his runaway
daughter, Jesica, exchanged for mon
key, he cries out: Thou torturest me,
Tubal; It was my turquoise; ] had it
OF Leah when l was a bachelor, l would
not have given it for q wilderness of
monkeys"
Shakespeare was right in thus repre-
sentlng the turquoise as specially pre-
cious in the eyes Of a wealthy inhabitant
of luxurious Venice, possessed of an ORR
entail appreciation of the beauty of gems.
In the sixteenth century, when he wrote,
the turquoise was universally regarded
as perhaps the most excellent subject of
lapidary art.
One of the early sources of the tur-
quoise was in the wild, rugged mountain
peninsula of Sinai but still more famous.
from the dawn of civilization to the pres
ent time, have been the turqoIse deposits
of Nishapur, in Persia, near the Caspian
sea. The Persian stones were always
regarded as the finest. OF late years,
however, the supply has been falling,
and the majority of turquoises now put
on the market come from other parts of
the world. and largely from New Mexico
and Arizona.
The characteristic color is an exquisite
blue. or greenish-bhe. The most prev
ious. possess the so-called robins egg
tint In composition the stone is a hy-
drous phosphate of aluminium containing
a little copper to which the color is due.
1t is not as hard as quartz and Is not
crystalline in structure. but forms
nodples in rock of igneous origin. 1t
has @ waxy lustre, which shows beau
tiful play of light.
In former times the turquoise was q
royal jewel. and the earliest Egyptian
kings had fine gold ornaments inlaid
with turquoises buried with them In their
toinbs In China, in India and in Tibet
great value was set upon the turquoise.
But nowhere was the stone more highly
esteemed than in Me xico in the times of
the conquest of Cortez. The Aztecs in
accordance with their gloomy. superst-
tious character. regarded the turquoise
with religious veneration, and used It to
ornament the jewelry and ceremonial ap-
Paratus of the priests.
In Arizona and New Mexico the tur-
duoise was equally esteemed by the ma
tives. and the Spanish explorers found
many beautiful examples OF 1ewelry
work containing turquoises. Prof. Pogue,
in his address, mentions four factors to
which the wide use OF the turquoise may
be attributed. These are: Its char
acteristc occurrence in desert religions,
due to peculiar geologic conditions there
obtaining. in positions Of significant con-
tact with early trade routes and lines of
important migrations; Ats presence at
or near the surface In such occurrences;
sits comparative softness enabling 1t
to be worked with crude tools; 4-its dis
tinctiye color range. from the blue Of
the sky to the green of water and plants
making strong psychological appeal to
Uncivilized peoples"
The Mexican mineral "chalchihuitl'
which was also greatly esteemed by the
Aztecs. is similar to turquoise, and Is
sometimes confused with It. There Is
also substance called bone turquoise. 4"
which consists of fossil bone stained blue
with phosphate Of iron. Tho stone is
easily initiated In other ways. but chem
zeal tests detect the fraud.