Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-15
The Month Stone.
a sardonyx. or for thee

a X,
No conjugll felicity:
'Tis said must live unloved and lone.
THE sardonyx. the natal stone for
August. is the gem of sef-control.
1t is symbolic of matrimonial bliss.
and according to ancient belief, girls
born in August will never marry If
they fail to wear this stone. The
Sardonyx Is under the heavenly Leo
of the Zodiac. the sign of sensation
and feeling, and to ii is attributed the
power of banishinY grief and woe. As
late as the MiddlS Ages sardonyx was
used as a remedE for ScrOfuia and
other skin diseases. and even today
it is employed in Persia as a cure
for epilepsy.
This stone was first made fashion
able in Rome by Scipio Africans. the
elder, two centuries before Christ,
who, it is said. believed in it's spirit
ual virtue. Throughout its history
SardonyX has been associated with
religion, for ii was one of the stones
in the breastplate of the ancient
Hebrews and is mentioned in Reeve
lations as forming a part of The
foundation of the holy city. The an
cient Egyptians carved from this stone
the sacred scarab, which was sign
of their religion, much in the same
way as the cross is the symbol OF
Christianity.
Sardonyx Is a variety of chalcedonic
quartz composed of different colored
LAYERS. In it's CommoneSt form II
exhibits sard. reddish brown in color.
alternating with white chalcedony. the
latter formerly called onyx. This
stone, however, not ln1requentlF u!S
pla.vs as many as four or five colors
;r1 -
pleasiug color effects may be had in
the various shades of yellow, red.
brown and orange. This artistic dis
NAV of ColOrS makes 1t highly deSlr-
able for cameo manufacture, since the
different layers are utilized appro-
priately in the finished engraving
Many of the famous canoes or history
are cut from this stone. In olden
times the requirements for hlGh-
grade sardonyX cameo was Diack
base for humility. white zone Tor
virtue and Il layer of red or brown
for fearlessness. but many of the later
cameos cut in this stone display as
many as five differently colored zones
The largest known sardonyx cameo
a fiye-layer stone, IL by 10 inches, was
formerly in the possession of Cardinal
Carpegna, but is now In the Vatican
At Rome. The famous Sainte Chapelle.
II by 10 inches, the second largest
sard0nyx cameo was also a five-layer
stone. This cameo, now in the Biblio-
theoue Rationale at Paris. was long
thought to typify the triumph or
Joseph in Egypt and vas regarded
as a sacred relic.
Perhaps the most famous stone
cameo in history was a sardonyx upon
which Queen Elizabeth's portrait was
cut. According to tradition. this
cameo was set I'm the famous ring
which she gave the Earl of Essex aS
q. pledge of her friendship. When
sentenced to death. Essex sent this
ring TO his cousin, Lady Scroop, to
deliver to Elizabeth. BY mistake TN"
messenger gave the ring To LADY
Scroop's sister, Countess Nottingham,
an enemy Of the earl; the vengeful
countess did not deliver the talisnlanIc
ring and in consequence the fated
earl was executed. The Countess Not
tingham confessed this act of ven
peance to Elizabeth when the countess
was on her deathbed. which. accord
ing to the chroniclers of Elizabeth
life history, so Infatuated the Queen
that she shook the dying noblewoman.
saving, God may forgive you, but
I cannot.