1. A mineral and a precious stone, whose colors are a pure, lively green, varying to a pale, yellowish, bluish, or grass green. It is always crystallized, and almost always appears in regular, hexahedral prisms, more or less perfect, and sometimes slightly modified by truncations on the edges, or on the solid angles. It is a little harder than quartz, becomes electric by friction, is often transparent, sometimes only translucent, and before the blowpipe is fusible into a whitish enamel or glass. The finest emeralds have been found in Peru.
2. The subspecies of emerald are the precious emerald and the beryl.
EMERALD (Greek, σγzαpαyδoς), a precious stone classed mineralogically with the beryl (see vol. iii. p. 613), from which, however, it differs in having a fine green colour, attributed to the presence in it of chromiumsesquioxide: it also never presents the internal striae often seen in the beryl. The chemical composition of the emerald may be represented by the formula 6SiO 2 ,Al 2 O 3 ,3GlO. It occurs iu six-sided prismatic crystals of the hexagonal system, the edges of which not unfrequently show various modifications. The emerald is transparent or translucent, and has a vitreous, rarely resinous lustre, an uneven and conchoidal fracture, a hardness of 7 - 5-8, and a specific gravity of 2 - 670to 2 ’ 732. It is brittle and comparatively soft when fresh from the mine, but hardens on exposure to the air. The specific gravity of crystallized emeralds after fusion was found by Greville Williams to be 2 ’ 4, 9 per cent, of the original weight having been lost. The emerald is unaffected by acids, but with borax gives before the blowpipe a transparent greenish glass. On friction it becomes electric. Wohler, Rose, Hofmeister, and Greville Williams have shown that the emerald may be heated to a very high temperature without destruction of its colour, which cannot therefore, as supposed by Lewy, be due to the organic impurities discovered in the stone. Cleavage of the emerald at right angles to the axis of the crystals may be effected without much difficulty, and in the East, previous to about the middle of the 15th century, the stone was generally worn in slices so obtained. The finest emeralds are procured from Muzo, in Colombia (see vol. vi. p. 154). The fossiliferous character of the limestone in which they occur at Muzo. and the presence in them of from 1*65 to ...2*15 per cent, of water, led Mr Lewy to the conclusion that they must have been crystallized out of aqueous solution. Other localities are Henbachthal in Salzburg, Odontchelong in Siberia, and Canjargum in India. The emeralds of Colombia, according to Boussingault, are divided into several classes, the principal of which are the canutillos or the crystallized and more valuable stones, and the morallons or amorphous stones, poor in colour, and of little value. The Hebrew word nophech, rendered “emerald” in the English version of the Scriptures, appears to have been the carbuncle. The emerald was highly valued by the ancients (see Pliny, Nat. Hist., xxxvii. 5). Various virtues were formerly ascribed to the gem: it was said to be good for the eyes, to colour water green, to assist women in childbirth, and to drive away evil spirits; and in the East it is still accredited with talismanic and medicinal properties. One of the most celebrated examples of the emerald is that in the possession of the duke of Devonshire, measuring upwards of 2 inches in length, and across its three diameters 2∣, 2∣, and 1⅞ inches. Other fine stones are the Hope emerald, weighing 6 oz, and those of the Russian, Saxon, and Papal crowns. Emeralds are cut on a copper wheel with emery, and polished on a tin wheel with rotten-stone. “In a good gem,” says Mr Emanuel, “the surface must be perfectly straight and smooth, so as to cast no darkening shadow on any of its particles.” The form usually given to emeralds is that of a square table with the edges replaced, the lower surface being cut into facets parallel to their sides. When fine they are always set without a foil; and, as their brilliancy is someλvhat impaired by candlelight, they are generally surrounded with small diamonds or pearls, which enhance their effect. The gem has been very successfully imitated by manufacturers of paste stones, the colouring matter used being oxide of chromium. As a gem the emerald is reckoned inferior only to the diamond and ruby, but, unlike them, it does not increase in value in proportion to the cube of its weight. What is termed the Oriental emerald is a green variety of corundum, an exceedingly scarcegem.
See II. Emanuel, Diamonds and Precious Stones, 1865; Greville Williams, “Researches on Emeralds and Beryls,” Proc. Roy. Soc. xxi. 1872-3, p. 409.
9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 8, p. 170 [709 words — estimated reading time: 5 minutes]
נפך, Exod. xxviii, 19; Ezek. xxvii, 16; xxviii, 13; σμάραγδος, Rev. xxi, 19; Eccles. xxxii, 6; Tobit xiii, 16; Judith x, 21. This is generally supposed to be the same with the ancient _smaragdus_. It is one of the most beautiful of all the gems, and is of a bright green colour, without the admixture of any other. Pliny thus speaks of it: “The sight of no colour is more pleasant than green; for we love to view green fields and green leaves; and are still more fond of looking at the emerald, because all other greens are dull in comparison with this. Beside, these stones seem larger at a distance, by tinging the circumambient air. Their lustre is not changed by the sun, by the shade, nor by the light of lamps; but they have always a sensible moderate brilliancy.” From the passage in Ezekiel we learn that the Tyrians traded in these jewels in the marts of Syria. They probably had them from India, or the south of Persia. The true oriental emerald is very scarce, and is only found at present in the kingdom of Cambay.
And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones: the first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this shall be the first row.
And mount on it a setting of gemstones, four rows of stones: In the first row there shall be a ruby, a topaz, and an emerald;
Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate.
Aram was your customer because of your many products; they exchanged turquoise, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and rubies for your wares.
Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every kind of precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald. Your mountings and settings were crafted in gold, prepared on the day of your creation.
And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
The foundations of the city walls were adorned with every kind of precious stone: The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,
As a signet of an emerald set in a work of gold, so is the melody of musick with pleasant wine.
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