CHAPTER XIII

THE BERYL FAMILY

THE BERYL FAMILY: SOME LARGE SPECIMENS: VAUQUELIN’S DISCOVERY: THE CELESTIAL SIGN OF THE BERYL FAMILY: OLD MINES OF KLEOPATRA: WOMEN SEARCHERS OF EGYPT: THE CANOPY OF HOLOFERNES: STARS OF THE PLEIADES: EMERALD AND THE EYES: POPE JOHN XXI AND HIS ASSERTION: THE SERPENT’S GAZE: TAURUS, SCORPIO AND THE STORY OF EDEN: THE TRUE VENUS: REPTILES OF OVER-INDULGENCE: CIRCE AND THE SWINE: DIANA, GODDESS OF THE MOON: VIRTUES ASCRIBED TO THE EMERALD: ESMERALDA: THE DRAGON OF THE EMERALD MINE: PRESCOTT’S STORY: PIZARRO’S LARGEf EMERALD: THE TRICK OF PEDRAZA: INDIAN BELIEF: APOLLONIUS OF TYANA AND THE EMERALD OF IARCHUS: THE EMERALD IN ROSICRUCIAN PHILOSOPHY: SWEATING EMERALDS: EMERALDS IN OLD EXCAVATIONS: ESTEEM OF THE ROMANS: PERSIAN BELIEFS: ALBERTUS MAGNUS, CARDANUS AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE MASTERS: MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS’ STONE IN BRAZIL: HINDOO BELIEFS: THE HEAVEN OF THE MUSLIMS: THE INHABITANTS OF PARADISE: PARACELSUS AND THE EMERALD: EARLY CHRISTIAN EMBLEM: BERYL IN MAGICAL RITES: “THE TEMPEST”: RECOMMENDATION OF LEONARDUS: WATER DIVINATION: STORY OF THE RING OF POLYCRATES: FISH AND RING STORIES: HERODOTUS AND OLD WRITERS ON THE RING OF POLYCRATES: PHILIP II AND THE FATAL RING OF SPAIN: SPAIN’S DEFEAT BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE BURIAL OF THE ILL-OMENED RING: GIFT OF POPE ADRIAN VIII TO HENRY II: EMERALD OF KING ARTHUR: POPE INNOCENT’S PRESENT TO KING JOHN: SWEDENBORG’S EMERALD CORRESPONDENCE: THE FALSE AQUAMARINE AMONGST THE BRITISH CROWN JEWELS: THE FATAL EMERALD OF RUSSIA.

BERYL

“_What rings of Eastern price his fingers hold. Gold decks the fingers, beryl decks the gold._” PARNELL.

The name beryl is derived from the Greek and Latin BERYLLUS; some say also from the Persian BELUR. Some of the old fashions of writing the name are included in the following: beril, beryll, berall, birrall, byral, byrrall, byralle, berial, beryall, bureall, beryl stone.

Dr. Holland’s rendering of Pliny’s remarks on the beryl (