coat, which produces a valuable fur. The representative of the ligure is the orange jacinth, called jargon: the true jacinth should be purple, from varios, "the hyacinth;" the jacinth is an anhydrous silicate, called zircon. It would be quite as satisfactory to the writer's views to place the purple jacinth here, under the idea that a purple robe befits an appointed judge; but there is no preceding authority for the suggestion.

viii. in, shebo. This points directly to the agate; for it is allied to ra and , which mean "to mingle, make intricate, way, chequered:" nothing could more accurately describe the "changeful agate; "moreover, we have allied words in Hindustani with the same meaning, and it involves a curious point of philological speculation; —, yashb,, yashm, are given as equivalents for "agate; " yashb might seem an equivalent for the yashpeh, which we call jasper; but compare it with shebo above: the s, h, b, are preserved in both words: again, compare yashm with the Hebrew shoham, which stands for "onyx:" the consonants s, h, m, are preserved in both words. Jasper, agate, and onyx are all allied stones; and the oriental words seem very much interchangeable. The shebo, or agate, was inscribed with the name of Gad, which signifies abundance: "A troop cometh," said Leah (Gen. xxx. 2); and the agate is, perhaps, the most abundantly diffused of all that have ever figured as precious stones. An allied word to shebo, vay, means "satisfied, full;" and the Greek word

axarns may probably be derived from a (privative) and Kartow, used as an antidote to hunger. The agate is a mixture of chalce

*The writer first met with this suggestion in Mr. King's valuable books, viz.: "Antique Gems; their Origin," &c. 8vo, London, 1861; "Natural History of Precious Stones," by C. W. King, M.A.

dony and quartz, and the choicer varieties were very highly valued by the ancients.

ix. s, achlamah.

This word is generally supposed to be an older form of the Greek word autovaros; the common amethyst is violet quartz, a species of rock crystal; but the precious amethyst is violet corundum, a variety of true adamantine spar. This stone ranked very high with the ancients, as the earliest known talisman, or amulet, and was supposed to act as a charm, according to the nature of the inscription marked upon it. In the present instance, it was inscribed with the name of Asher, which in Hebrew means happiness, as in the exclamation, "Happy am I" (Gen. xxx. 13).

The Greek etymology, α μεθύω = uninebriating (Pliny xxxvii. 9), is probably a mere play upon the words. In Scripture, ibn and nisi are frequently used as of heavenly dreams; and is used by the Psalmist (cxix. 5) of his heavenly aspirations, as expressive of his special wish or strong desire. All seems to indicate some accepted character in the stone, as of mystical power, apart from its physical qualities.

X., tarshish. This stone was inscribed with the name of Naphtali, and would seem to have been selected in reference to the position of that tribe in the promised land. The Tarshish of Gen. x. 4 has been clearly identified with Cilicia in Asia Minor, and also preserved in Tarsus, now Tersoos, St. Paul's native and most famous city. The word is also connected with is and, from which we get our word Tyre, for "the strong city built on a high rock.” Tersoos itself may be only a form of portus Cilicia, from 7, Semitic forms for "a gate, or port.'

The tribe of Napthali drew, by lot, the most northerly part of Canaan, and the most lofty ground in Syria. Its northern aspect looked up the ravine of the Leontes towards Cilicia, and the spurs of the lofty Lebanon; and it was a reproach against this tribe that it did not dispossess the people whom we now call Phonicians; the more enterprising tribes of Asher, Manasseh, and Dan having closed them in on both sides.

The word tarshish affords us no clue to the name or qualities of the stone indicated; but it is frequently used in the Old Testament with poetical imagery expressive of great beauty (ex. gr. Canticles v. 14; Daniel x. 6); and it must have been a stone well known, and in the highest repute. The Septuagint, Josephus, and the Vulgate, all give us the chrysolite; and I think this word xpuσósλίθος Ξ "golden-stone," gives us an ideal of perfect beauty. It is an aluminate of glucina. There is a variety called the chrysoberyl, or oriental chrysolite, scientifically known as cymophane, a compound of glucina and alumina; it is opalescent in lustre, and exhibits double refraction. I feel sure that the Hebrews of old could obtain for the breastplate a pure and perfect chrysolite.

The word tarshish, used as a precious stone, may very probably be interchangeable with topaz, a stone which somewhat resembles chrysolite. Tarshish is inextricably mixed up with the colonial system of ancient Tyre, maintained only by a vast marine. The modern word cymophane is from Kúpa paivw, "wave-like," the stone itself being iridescent, or "sheeny," exhibiting in a beautiful way the play of light, as if sparkling upon the sea waves.

κύμα

xi. D, shoham. This stone was inscribed with Joseph's "The Stone of Israel," said his father. The word shoham appears several times in the Old Testament: it was that selected

name.

par excellence for the shoulders of the high priest (Ex. xxviii. 9; xxxix. 6). They would require for this special purpose to be of large size, to be engraved "like the engravings of a signet." There is no stone so suitable for this purpose as the precious onyx; for the design, penetrating one colour, the letters are brought out into high relief by impinging on the next layer. It is said that the onyx was the favourite national ornamental stone of the Israelites the word itself is traced to y, oney, "a delight; and the Jews retain a tradition that an onyx stone of one particular pattern was in the breast-plate, and must still be in existence somewhere. The Greek etymology "a claw," όνυξ = cannot be maintained. The onyx is a species of chalcedony, a variety of agate, from which it only differs in having the patterns arranged in parallel bands or layers. The precious, or oriental onyx, is of three layers, and it is found beautifully striped, or veined in regularly stratified patterns: the pattern centres at one point in a series of minute concentric circles; this circumstance has its analogy in the word shoham, which is allied to no, "round," whence s, a name for the moon, which is round. The sardonyx, as explained before, is a stone with layers of white and red chalcedony, alternately superimposed.

xii., yashpeh. This, the concluding stone, it will be noticed, St. John selected as the first stone in the foundation of his heavenly Jerusalem, where the last shall be first; it is the stone that to him realises the perfection of beauty. (Rev. iv. 3; xxi. 11.) Pliny speaks of it in his time as "viret et sæpe translucet jaspis." This stone has been identified with the noble beryl or aqua-marine. The jasper of the present day is a variegated mineral, a siliceous variety of quartz, opaque and very hard, more ferruginous than the

agate, which it greatly resembles; but the beryl is a double silicate of alumina and glucina, and the aqua-marine is coloured by chromic or ferric oxide; it is green, and closely resembles the emerald, but is of a much paler tint. The Greek word novos is probably closely allied to the Hebrew, bahar, "bright, clear."

At page 9 we have alluded to the close etymological connection that subsists between the words shebo, No. 8, shoham, No. 11, and jasper. It is seen in the use of yashb and yashm for "agate," in Hindustani; yashb, I feel convinced, is identical with yashpeh; but as we appear to have its equivalent, shebo, for agate, that seems a sufficient reason for not repeating it in No. xii. We may therefore conclude that yashpeh, at the date of the book of Exodus, meant the 'beryl." The word yashpeh itself is allied to ", "salvation, safeguard, help, support."

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This stone was inscribed with the name of Benjamin, the only one of Jacob's sons, who bore the Hebrew prefix for son. This word is derived from ri, "to build," for the son is a "help and support" to the father's declining years. Benjamin is especially ??, "Son of my right hand;" here again we have the primary idea of "help, support, safeguard" emphasised.

The modern stone called jasper is of various kinds, but forms no distinct class: 1, the Egyptian jasper is a brown agate of very ferruginous tint; 2, the heliotrope, or blood stone, much used for rings, is opaque green, sprinkled with red spots; 3, agate-jasper is the name for a very beautiful variety of transparent quartz, found naturally streaked in a wonderful combination of forms, and has, from all time, been shaped into some of the choicest vases, cups, and drinking vessels ever known.

* The ancient word, Beryl, is clearly an equivalent for our word "brilliant;" but we apply it to a different object in mineralogy.