Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, June 1899: Volume LVVarious
Science
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, June 1899: Volume LV
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
The jeweled chalice above referred to is of scientific interest from
the great variety and rarity of the gems with which it is set. During
years of travel to and from many parts of Europe, Professor Egleston
had remarkable opportunities, in his visits to mining regions and his
intercourse with mineralogists, to obtain fine and choice specimens of
gems; these he had mounted in elegant forms as presents to his wife,
Mrs. Augusta McVickar Egleston. Her death, in 1895, was a very great
blow to her husband, as their married life had been extremely happy;
and the only satisfactory use to which this beautiful treasure of
jewelry could be put seemed to him to be in the services of divine
worship in the church. It is not possible in brief compass, without a
figure, to describe the arrangement of these jewels on the base, stem,
and cup of the golden chalice; but it must suffice to say that there
are one hundred and eighty stones set in, with embossed work, on a cup
and pedestal nine inches high and half that width. The species and
varieties number fifteen, many of them in rare shades of color; among
them are the ruby-colored Siriam garnets, green "demantoid" garnets of
the Ural ("Uralian emerald"), Ceylonese moonstones, colored diamonds,
sapphires, both yellow and green (Oriental topaz and emerald),
rubellites, red zircon, moldavite (the rare green obsidian of
Moravia), green tourmaline, chrysoberyl, the rich purple amethysts of
the Urals, etc. Considered either mineralogically or as a work of art,
this chalice is almost unique; while the conception and designing,
which are wholly of Professor Egleston's own, reveal the same union of
artistic and scientific qualities that was shown in the Audubon
monument above mentioned, joined with a religious and a personal
sentiment almost too sacred to dwell upon in a sketch like the
present.
In all these aspects of his life and work, as we said at the
beginning, Professor Egleston has been little known to the general
public; but among scientific and engineering circles he has been
highly honored. In these pages he may become more widely known, and
the people of the metropolis and of the country at large may learn
something of the manner of man that has lived and labored so honorably
among them, and has done so much for science and his fellow-men.
Editor's Table.
_SCIENCE AND THE IDEAL._
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