A superb aqua-marine formerly adorned the tiara of Pope Julius II. and was considered as one of the most celebrated in the world, notwithstanding it exhibited a slight flaw. This gem, which was of an exquisite sea-green color, was 2¹⁄₁₀ inches in length and 2²⁄₅ in depth. After having been kept in the Museum of Natural History in Paris for more than three hundred years, Napoleon presented it to Pope Pius VII. The Asiatics, and especially the Turkish officers, prize the prisms of beryl as handles to their scimetars and daggers. This fondness for decoration of sword-blades and arms is by no means confined to the soldiers of the East. The officers of Napoleon’s armies exhibited the same taste. Murat adorned the hilt of his sword with one of the finest beryls ever seen in Europe. Another famous aqua-marine formed the handle of the sword of the poet Moncrif, who, like another celebrated swordsman, the painter Caravaggio, compelled admiration of his works at the point of his sword. This blood-stained gem bore as inscription the epitomized history of the author, a quotation from the poet Theophile, “Tous mes jours sont des Mardis-gras.” One of the most beautiful beryls known is that purchased by the English banker, Mr. Hope, and placed in his collection of gems. It weighs six and one half ounces, and cost its princely owner nearly twenty-five hundred dollars. It is reported to have come from the mine of Cangazum, in the district of Coimbatoor in India, a locality which has been long famous for its fine beryls. The most magnificent aqua-marine described in history is that belonging to Dom Pedro. It was found in the diamond districts of Minas Geraes, in Brazil. In form and size it resembles the head of a calf. Only on one side does it preserve any trace of a crystalline form; the rest is water-worn. It is said to be of a fine color, without a flaw, and perfectly transparent.