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PERIDOT.
As the green garnet beside the emerald shows a yellowish cast
of green, so the peridot beside the green garnet carries the tone to a
point where green so mingles with yellow that you hardly know
whether you are looking at yellowish green or greenish yellow.
There are peridots from Egypt of a dark olive green,
rich in color
and large in size, but the majority come from New Mexico and
Arizona, small and brilliant when diamond cut, of an ethereal tint
very lovely in company with other stones or richly wrought gold,
but scarcely strong enough to stand alone. These the jewelers call
chartreuse green.
The peridot, olivine, chrysolite for they are identical in composition
is a soft stone, less than quartz in hardness. A careful
lady might wear one in a ring and keep it in good condition a long
time, but it is more suitable for necklaces, lorgnettes, pendants and
the like, where friction is at its minimum. Set deep in Roman gold,
to protect it and also bring out its dainty, dancing, springlike light
and coloring, it is not lacking in either beauty or distinction. The
golden green of the chrysolite is a whole world away from the green
of the emerald, even when the latter is light in shade, but many
prefer it, as more in harmony with modern colors.
The true chrysolite, with which the olivine and peridot have
been classed, is a very ancient stone, at one time of more value
than the diamond. That it even exists at present is doubted by high
authorities. No chrysolite suitable for cutting is now found in
nature; authentic material of the name in the market is derived
from old ornaments, and could have come from no mine now known
to man ;
the deposit was probably exhausted or the mines abandoned
and their exact location forgotten. The ancient mines were on the
Island of Topazius in the Red Sea, about which hung many a
fabled story, particularly in regard to this gem. It was called
topazius in those days, but the description applies to the modern
chrysolite or peridot. Our topaz was unknown to them.
According to Pliny, the topazius came from the Red Sea, was
of a bright greenish yellow, the largest of all the precious stones,
and the only one of high value yielding to the action of the file,
the rest being polished by the stone of Naxos, or corundum, otherwise
emery. Like our peridot, it was so soft as scarcely to scratch
glass too soft for serviceable engraving. Greek intagli on it are
rare, the Romans seem not to have used it at all, but modern works
in it abound.
Under the head of chrysolithos during some periods were
classed many yellowish green stones, and some pure yellow. This
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