Nearly all red stones are grouped under the name ruby, which is derived from a Latin word, _ruber_, meaning red, or under other names adapted from it, such as rubellite, rubicelle. It is properly applied to red corundum; ‘balas’ ruby is spinel, which is associated with the true ruby at the Burma mines and is similar in appearance to it when cut, and ‘Cape’ ruby, is, as has been stated above, a garnet from South Africa. Rubellite is the lovely rose-pink tourmaline, fine examples of which have recently been discovered in California, and rubicelle is a less pronouncedly red spinel. Sapphire is by far the oldest and one of the most interesting of the words used in the language of jewels. It occurs in Hebrew and Persian, ancient tongues, and means blue. It was apparently employed for lapis lazuli or similar substance, but was transferred to the blue corundum upon the discovery of this splendid stone. Oblivious of the real meaning of the word, jewellers apply it in a quasi-generic sense to all the varieties of corundum with the exception of the red ruby, and give vent to such incongruous expressions as ‘white sapphire,’ ‘yellow sapphire’; it is true such stones often contain traces of blue colour, but that is not the reason of the terms. ‘Brazilian’ sapphire is blue tourmaline, a somewhat rare tint for this species. The curious history of the word topaz will be found below in the chapter dealing with the species of that name. It has always denoted a yellow stone, and at the present day is applied by jewellers indiscriminately to the true topaz and citrine, the yellow quartz, the former, however, being sometimes distinguished by the prefix ‘Brazilian.’ ‘Oriental’ topaz is corundum, and ‘occidental’ topaz is a term occasionally employed for the yellow quartz. Emerald, which means green, was first used for chrysocolla, an opaque greenish stone (p. 288), but was afterwards applied to the priceless green variety of beryl, for which it is still retained. ‘Oriental’ emerald is corundum, ‘Brazilian’ emerald in the eighteenth century was a common term for the green tourmaline recently introduced to Europe, and ‘Uralian’ emerald has been tentatively suggested for the green garnet more usually known as ‘olivine.’ Amethyst is properly the violet quartz, but with the prefix ‘oriental’ it is also applied to violet corundum, though some jewellers use it for the brilliant quartz, with purple and white sectors, from Siberia. Almandine, which is derived from the name of an Eastern mart for precious stones, has come to signify a stone of columbine-red hue, principally garnet, but with suitable qualification corundum and spinel also. The nomenclature of jewellery tends to suggest relations between the gem-stones for which there is no real foundation, and to obscure the essential identity, except from the point of view of colour, of sapphire and ruby, emerald and aquamarine, cairngorm and amethyst. CHAPTER XIV