Gems Notes and Extracts Augusto Castellani, Mrs. John Brogden 1871

PASTES. 163The touchstone came formerly from Asia Minor ;nowit is found in Bohemia, Silesia, and in Saxony.This stone may be considered as very useful in thearts, but not as a gem.Schistose silicates, jaspers, basalts, and black" breccie" can sometimes be used instead.Very ancient weapons have been found, made of thismaterial.LXXY.PASTES.IMITATIONS ofgems, of camei, and of engraved stones,as well as other ornaments made in glass, are, in Italy,always called paste. These imitations were also madeby the ancients. In the Tyrrhenian tombs and onEgyptian mummies, necklaces of margherite are found,made of coloured glass.Besides the margheriteand other feminine ornaments,the Tyrrhenians made vases, cups, and balsamari,all of which were made in two different manners;some have a foundation of terra-cotta covered with avitrification of generally-opaque colours; and theseare found in the most ancient tombs. Others are ofbright colours, transparent and opaque,in glass.Amulets, also,and altogethercups, balsamari, and globules of glass,often figured and interspersed with globules of goldfinely worked, are found in the Etruscan tombs, and