Agate is a semi-precious stone siliceous semi-pellucid compound mineral, consisting of bands or layers of various colours blended together, the base generally being chalcedony, and this mixed with variable proportions of jasper, amethyst, quartz, opal, heliotrope, and carnelian. The varying manner in which these materials are arranged causes the agate when polished to assume some characteristic appearances, and thus certain varieties are distinguished, as the ribbon agate, the fortification agate, the zone agate, the star agate, the moss agate, the clouded agate, etc. In Scotland they are cut and polished under the name of Scottish pebbles. Research Agate
Amethyst is a purple or bluish-violet coloured precious stone comprised of quartz coloured with manganese. It is so named from the ancient Greek's belief that it had the power to cure drunkenness. Research Amethyst
Gems, or precious stones, are sometimes found crystallized in regular shapes and with a natural polish, more commonly they are of irregular shapes and with a rough coat.
The term gem often denotes more particularly a stone that is cut, polished, or engraved, and it also includes pearls and various artificial productions.
The first and most valuable class of gems includes diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and a few others; the second class includes the amethyst, topaz, garnet, etc;
while agate, lapis-lazuli, cornelian, etc, though much used for ornament, can scarcely be called gems.
The fabrication of artificial gems became an important industrial art during the 19th century. The base of one class of imitations is a peculiar kind of glass of considerable hardness, brilliancy and refractive power called paste or strass, which is distinguished from ordinary glass by the presence of 50 per cent of oxide of lead among its constituents. When the strass is obtained very pure it is melted and mixed with substances having a metallic base, generally oxides, which communicate to the mass the most varied colours.
Another class, called semi-stones or doublets, are made by affixing thin slices of real gem to an under part of strass by means of an invisiblecement. In some cases an imitation is made by setting uncoloured strass or quartz in jewelry with some coloured 'foil' at the back of it.
At the end of the 19th century attempts were made with a fair measure of success to manufacture true gems by artificial processes. The French chemists Becquerel, Ebelman, Gaudin, Despretz, and others did much in this direction.
In 1858 Deville and Caron communicated to the Academy of Sciences, Paris, a process for the production of a number of gems of the corundum class, such as rubies, sapphires, etc. The process essentially consisted in exposing the fluoride of aluminium, together with a little charcoal and boracic acid, in a plumbagocrucible protected from the action of the air, to a white heat for about an hour. Many experiments with a view to producing diamonds artificially have also been made. From hydrocarbons, subjected to a very intense heat and enormous pressure, minute crystals, differing from natural diamonds in no respect save brilliancy, have been produced. Artificial diamonds are now widely used in industry.
In art and archaeology the term gem is usually applied to a precious stone cut or engraved in ornamental designs, or with inscriptions. Stones on which the design is raised above the general surface are called cameos; those having the design sunk below the surface are called intaglios. Early specimens of cut gems are seen in the scarabaei or beetle-shaped signets worn in rings by the ancient Egyptians. Among the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans gem-sculpture held a high place, reaching its highest point under Augustus. Modern gem-engraving dates from the beginning of the 15th century, the chief seats of the art being Italy and Germany. Rome becoming the headquarters of the seal-engraving art. The traditional tools of the engraver consist of a lathe, and a series of little rods with heads of different shapes, all of which can be adjusted to the lathe. The axis of the lathe is pierced at the centre with an orifice, into which the tools for cutting the stone are firmly fixed by means of a screw. The engraver wets the extremity of the mounted rod with diamond dust made into a paste with oil (traditionally olive oil), and as the wheel is in motion he applies the stone, firmly cemented to a piece of reed, to the revolving tool. The diamond dust enables the tool to cut into the stone with ease. As the design is frequently very elaborate and of the greatest delicacy, the tools are necessarily multiform. The stones used for cameo-cutting often exhibit layers of different colours, so that the raised design has a tint distinct from the ground. Intaglios are very often executed in transparent stones, and the subjects treated in this manner are more limited in number. They are chiefly such as seals, devices, coats of arms, etc. Research Gems
Quartz is a very widespread mineral which occurs as an important constituent of igneous rocks which have an excess of silica. Very resistant to mechanical and chemical attack. Massive, fine grained types are called jasper, chert, flint, agate. Coarse crystalline types called amethyst, rose quartz etc. Quartz has the formulae SiO2 and a relative hardness of 7. During the Second World War attempts were made to synthesise quartz, and in 1947 the first optical grade crystals large enough for scientific use were grown by the hydrothermal method. Research Quartz
HMS Amethyst was a British modified Black Swan Class sloop of 1430 tons displacement launched in 1943. HMS Amethyst was powered by two 3-drum type boilers providing a top speed of 20 knots and carried a complement of 192. She was armed with six 4 inch dual purpose guns and eight 2 pdr anti-aircraft guns. Research Amtheyst
Abbreviations
Research Agate
