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Goodchild Precious Stones

Book Name: Precious Stones

Author: Goodchild

published: 1908

From the earliest times gems and precious stones have been prized on account of their beauty and for the purposes of personal adornment; this is amply shown by the numerous references to them by the ancient authors; Pliny, in Books XXXVI. and XXXVII. of the Natural History, quotes from many of these works, all of which, except that of Theophrastus, are now lost. A considerable number of these writers were Greeks, and several of them would appear to have lived in or visited more Eastern lands, where very probably their interest in the precious stones was largely brought into being. King, in his work on "The Natural History of Precious Stones," calls attention to the fact that Socatus, one of the authors quoted by Pliny, speaks of having seen a certain wonderful gem in the possession of the King, which according to Greek usage would mean the king of Persia; this gives us a definite con­ception of the antiquity of this love of gems. Another author quoted by Pliny is spoken of as Zachalias the Babylonian-again pointing to the connection between the study of this subject and the ancient civilisation of the East.

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