Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Garnet Gemstones - A Collection of Historical Articles on the Origins, Structure and Properties of Garnet
    Garnet Gemstones - A Collection of Historical Articles on the Origins, Structure and Properties of Garnet
    Garnet Gemstones - A Collection of Historical Articles on the Origins, Structure and Properties of Garnet
    Ebook71 pages1 hour

    Garnet Gemstones - A Collection of Historical Articles on the Origins, Structure and Properties of Garnet

    By Read Books Ltd.

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    This book contains classic material dating back to the 1900s and before. The content has been carefully selected for its interest and relevance to a modern audience. Carefully selecting the best articles from our collection we have compiled a series of historical and informative publications on the subjects of gemology and crystallography. The titles in this range include "Gemstone Manufacturing" "The Optical Properties of Gemstones and Crystals" "The Thirty-Two Classes of Crystal Symmetry" and many more. Each publication has been professionally curated and includes all details on the original source material. This particular instalment, "Garnet Gemstones" contains information on their properties, origins, structure and much more. Intended to illustrate the main features of garnet it is a comprehensive guide for anyone wishing to obtain a general knowledge of the subject and to understand the field in its historical context. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRead Books Ltd.
    Release dateMay 6, 2015
    ISBN9781473394353
    Garnet Gemstones - A Collection of Historical Articles on the Origins, Structure and Properties of Garnet

    Related to Garnet Gemstones - A Collection of Historical Articles on the Origins, Structure and Properties of Garnet

    Related ebooks

    Science & Mathematics For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Quartz

      Jan 19, 2023

      Quartz
      4 min read

    • Article

      Romancing The Stone

      Sep 17, 2020

      Romancing The Stone
      1 min read

    • Article

      On The Rocks

      Aug 20, 2020

      On The Rocks
      1 min read

    • Article

      Inside Out

      Oct 2, 2023

      Inside Out
      7 min read

    • Article

      Tomography Helps Study Medieval Coins

      Jul 27, 2020

      NUMISMATIC STUDIES EMPLOY many techniques used in related fields of science. Tomography involves using a penetrating wave to image a section of something. It has been useful in archeology, astrophysics, atmospheric science, biology, geophysics, mater

      2 min read

    • Article

      Eye For The Precious

      Jun 7, 2019

      Eye For The Precious
      3 min read

    • Article

      Garnet

      Sep 27, 2018

      Garnet
      5 min read

    • Article

      Garnet

      Nov 24, 2022

      THE NAME GARNET actually refers to a group of chemically and physically similar minerals. The name was derived from the Latin word granatum (meaning grain), which may have been taken from Punica granatum (pomegranate), as small, red garnet crystals w

      5 min read

    • Article

      Ask a Pirate

      Sep 1, 2023

      Ask a Pirate
      4 min read

    • Article

      Rainbow Vibes

      Aug 2, 2022

      Rainbow Vibes
      1 min read

    • Article

      Is There a Meteorite in Your Backyard?

      May 1, 2020

      How can you tell if a rock is a meteorite or just a rock? Here are a few signs to look for. Meteorites are often a bit heavier than ordinary rocks. Many contain metal. But there are also heavy Earth rocks. Falling meteorites heat up super hot. Most

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Black-rock Enigma

      Feb 25, 2022

      The Black-rock Enigma
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Building Blocks of Earth

      Aug 9, 2021

      Most rocks in the Earth’s crust are composed of only eight of the chemical elements – oxygen, silicon, aluminium, iron, calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium. Two of these elements, silicon and oxygen, combine in silicates, which make up 75 per ce

      4 min read

    • Article

      Faroese Minerals

      Nov 11, 2022

      Faroese Minerals
      1 min read

    • Article

      As Nature Intended

      May 17, 2023

      As Nature Intended
      2 min read

    • Article

      Rock stars: CRYSTAL CLARITY

      Apr 5, 2023

      Rock stars: CRYSTAL CLARITY
      3 min read

    • Article

      What Is A Crystal?

      Aug 9, 2021

      These magnificent crystals have formed from hot watery solutions within the Earth. They show characteristic faces. Many substances can grow in characteristic geometric forms enclosed by smooth plane surfaces. They are said to have crystallised, and t

      2 min read

    • Article

      Into The Blue

      Oct 13, 2021

      Into The Blue
      6 min read

    • Article

      Being Crystal Clear

      Dec 1, 2023

      Being Crystal Clear
      4 min read

    • Article

      Proud To Be An Aussie!

      Jul 28, 2022

      Proud To Be An Aussie!
      5 min read

    Reviews for Garnet Gemstones - A Collection of Historical Articles on the Origins, Structure and Properties of Garnet

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Garnet Gemstones - A Collection of Historical Articles on the Origins, Structure and Properties of Garnet - Read Books Ltd.

      Whitlock

      ALABANDICUS: Almandine: Precious Garnet.

      GARNET Lessing conjectures to be an Italian corruption of Garamanticus, an inferior kind of the Carbunculus according to Pliny’s classification; but a much less farfetched derivation presents itself, viz., that the common gem has borrowed its present name (Anglicised from Grénat; Granato) from the Granaticus specified by Marbodus as early as the 11th century. This was the Red Hyacinthus of the Romans, so called from the resemblance of its colour to the crimson juice of the pomegranate. For stones of the same colour were promiscuously classed under one head by the ignorance of the Middle Ages (unacquainted with even the ancient test of comparative hardness), whence has arisen that strange interchange of names between ancient and modern precious stones so perplexing to every mineralogist. But in the present instance the confusion is the more excusable, seeing that every variety of the Red Hyacinthus (Ruby) has an exact counterpart in colour amongst the various kinds of Garnets, and in many cases they can only be distinguished from each other through hardness, specific gravity, original crystallisation, and other properties not obvious to the eye, till lately the sole criterion. The Father of Mineralogy, Theophrastus, evidently is describing several very different stones under the head of ῎Aνθραξ (18); for although his first kind, brought from Carthage and Massilia, blood-red, but like a live coal when held against the sun, and of extreme value, so that a very small one sold for 40 gold staters (40 guineas), seems to have been the true Ruby, yet that found near Miletus in polygonal pieces must have been our Garnet, the primary form of which is the rhombic dodecahedron. Similarly those named by him as found in various parts of Greece, and as being of little value (33), and which he distinguishes from the precious ῎Aνθραξ by giving them the lowering name ῎Aνθράκιον, must have been the Common Garnet. These were, that found at Orchomenus, darker than the Chian sort, and out of which mirrors were made; the Trœzenian, red clouded with white; and the Corinthian, still fainter in colour. The plane surface of a dark Garnet will reflect objects with considerable distinctness; the mirrors here mentioned were, it is not impossible, table Garnets of this kind:* (the only gems employed in the Merovingian jewels of the 7th and 8th centuries are in fact Garnet tables neatly inlaid, so as to form patterns in the fibulæ of copper gilt): Theophrastus thereupon remarks that all the kinds found in Greece were common enough and of trifling value, but that the better sort were rare, and brought only from few places—Carthage, Massilia, Egypt, and Syene. Pliny divides his Carbunculi into male and female, the former of a brilliant, the latter of a duller lustre. In the males of the Carthaginian kind, as it were a blazing star shone within them, whereas the females diffused their entire lustre externally. These Carthaginian stones were smaller than those coming from India. It may be deduced from these characters that the male Carbunculi were our Rubies, the females our Garnets.

      The precious varieties, according to Pliny, were the Indian, the Garamantic or Carthaginian, the Ethiopic, and the Alabandine. The last were so called because, though found in the Orthorian rocks, they were worked up (perficiuntur) at Alabanda. This was the sort called by Theophrastus the Milesian, both places being in the same province, Caria. The Almandines of the moderns are the finest species of Garnet, of a beautiful crimson tinged with violet, and are brought from Siriam in Pegu, hence they are vulgularly called Syrian Garnets. These were the Amethystizontes of Pliny, then, as now, considered the best of the whole species, though it is probable he, or at least his Greek authorities, included the Balais under the same designation. He notices how some amongst the males possessed a more liquid, others a darker fire; how some were lighted up with a colour not their own, and shone more than others in the sunlight. The description he quotes from Archelaus of the Carthaginian sort exactly applies to our best Indian Garnet, that it was of a darkish aspect, but kindled up more brightly than the others when held and turned about in the light of the fire or sun. In the shade within doors the colour was purple; in the open air flamy; the wax sealed with such a gem would melt even though in the cool.

      These descriptions of the several varieties of the ancient Carbunculus will be rendered more intelligible by a brief account of the various Garnets known to the modern lapidary. First in value comes a rarer sort, the Almandine, already described. It is a splendid stone, of great lustre, and, when of the first quality, can with difficulty be distinguished from the purple Spinel, which indeed usually passes under the same name in its antique specimens. Fine Roman intagli frequently, and sometimes imperial portraits, occur in this admirable material.* Closely approximating to the

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1