Jasper is a name which includes in general nearly all varieties of impure opaque colored crypto-crystalline quartz. In color it may be red, yellow, green, brown, bluish and black. To many of the pebbles found on almost any sea or lake shore or in the beds of streams the name jasper may properly be applied. If it occurs banded, that is, in stripes of different colors, it is known as ribbon jasper. The different colors of jasper are due to the different impurities it contains. These may be clay, iron oxides or organic matter and at times reach a quantity as high as twenty per cent. The color often varies irregularly in a single stone, giving different effects and sometimes imitating paintings. Jasper which can be used in the arts is very widely distributed. Good red jasper is obtained in Breisgau and near Marburg in Germany. Much of the brown jasper comes from Egypt. What is known as “Sioux Falls jasper” from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is chiefly of a brown color. This stone was highly prized by the Indians for its color and is the “jasper” referred to by Longfellow in Hiawatha: “At the doorway of his wigwam Sat the ancient Arrow-maker In the land of the Dacotahs, Making arrow-heads of jasper Arrow-heads of chalcedony.” The yellow jasper used for mosaics comes chiefly from Sicily, but as good could be obtained in many places in our own country. The green jasper of the present time is obtained chiefly in the Urals and is to a considerable extent worked there into ornamental pieces. The Chinese prize green jasper highly, the seal of the Emperor being made from it. Some jasper of a bluish shade is found in Nature, but that of a deep blue tinge is always artificially colored by Prussian blue. It is then sometimes known as “false lapis,” that is, false lapis lazuli. Ribbon jasper is found in Saxony, but chiefly comes from the Urals. The qualities which make jasper of use in the arts are its color, opacity and capacity for taking a polish. At the present time it is not much used except for mosaic work and for small boxes, vases and dishes. The ancients, however, prized it highly and used it extensively. It is one of the stones prescribed in the Book of Exodus to be worn in the ephod of the High Priest and also forms one of the gates of the Holy City as described by St. John in Revelations. It is probable that the jasper referred to in these instances was of a dark green color, as this was the tint most prized in early times. Green jasper was also called emerald in some instances. The banded varieties were much used for cameos, specimens of which are still extant. By taking advantage of the colors of the different layers, colored objects were made, such as one which shows the head of a warrior in red, his helmet green and breastplate yellow.