Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 September 1893 — Among the Gems. [ARTICLE]

Among the Gems.

Artificial agates are now made by so many different and effective processes that the stone has lost most of its value as a gOm. The Russian Fcepter is of solid gold, three feet long, and contains among its ornaments 268 diamonds, 360 rubies and fifteen emeralds. After the conquest of Mexico and Peru, emeralds were so abundant that one Spanish nobleman took home three bushels of them. Nero’s eye-glass, through which the near-sighted tyrant watched the gladiatorial games, was an emerald cut into the form of a lens. With the funds raised by pawning the Regent diamond Napoleon was enabled to undertake the campaign that ended at Marengo. The diamond, though hard, is one of the most brittle of stones. A iall on a wooden floor will sometimes crack and ruin a fine diamond. Amber, often classed among gems, is a fossil product. Most of the specimens inclosing insects are manufactured from gum copal.