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RUBY.
Known under different names since the beginning of gem his-
tory, the ruby was not fully distinguished from other red stones,
cept by the learned few, until comparatively recent times. Not many
even now understand that the ruby and the sapphire are identical
that the only difference is one of color. Both are the gem forms of
corundum, the crystallization of a widespread and common thing in
nature, the earth alumina, and the hardest substance known next to
diamond. Emery is corundum in an amorphous state, the ancient
"stone of Naxos," used for polishing. It is 9 in hardness, about 4 in
specific gravity, and its lustre is vitreous.
Nowadays the dull, opaque, coarse crystals, unfit for gems, are
referred to as corundum; the blue, green, yellow, pink, white, as
sapphire, the red as ruby. Where the line is drawn that converts
the light ruby into the pink sapphire it is difficult to describe ; yet one
much less than an expert generally can tell. There is a salmon tinge
to the pink sapphire never found in the ruby, whose red inclines to
violet. While rubies degenerate in color till they are exiled to the
sapphire's realm, there is no doubt when the sad circumstance takes
place. The ruby is much more like the spinel, the garnet, the tourma-
line, than its own faded pink sister. Sometimes it is exceedingly
difficult, by the color alone, to distinguish a fine tourmaline from a
ruby.
Yet there is a depth and at night a vivid brilliance which ex-
plains why the ruby is the peer of all colored stones. Particularly is
this the case with that called the "pigeon's blood," said to be the
exact shade of the blood of a pigeon dropped on white paper. A very
small pigeon's blood placed beside other red stones, no matter how
large, casts them all into the shade. There is a spirit, a vitality, to a
fine ruby which invariably makes itself felt.
But this applies only to stones of the finest color and lustre.
Several softer stones are more attractive than the ruby in its "off"
moments. Its basic red is so tinged with violet as to approach a deep,
glowing pink. Now pink is beautiful when it is beautiful, but too
much involved with purple it may easily suggest the most hideous
of all colors, magenta. Somebody once said that a woman who
would wear magenta would steal. Yet in Burmah, home of the finest
rubies, the common people all wear that vile pink, trying to carry out
in clothes the color of their famous gem. It is well-known that a
given pigment will act quite differently on different materials. The
tint of a jewel may be exquisite, when its reproduction in cotton
would be execrable. So in Burmah, the native patriotism, laudable
enough in itself, gets on the stranger's nerves. Queer how Nature
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