When we recall the phenomena of the opal, and the wonders of its reflections, with their strange and sudden disappearance, we may pardon the credulity of the Arabian romance writers in ascribing to the gem supernatural powers. It was a beautiful theory with them that it falls from heaven in the lightning’s flash, and is the veritable Ceraunia. Its charming and mysterious play of colors suggested to their ardent imaginations the glories of Paradise, and hence they invested it with wonderful talismanic properties, and believed it to be the abode of afreets and genii. Alas for romance! Science clearly demonstrates that many of the phenomena which puzzle the superstitious are simply due to atmospheric influences and to the natural laws which regulate the decay of organic and inorganic forms. THE SAPPHIRE. “The azure light of sapphire stone Resembles that celestial throne, A symbol of each simple heart That grasps in hope the better part, Whose life each holy deed combines, And in the light of virtue shines.” MARBODEUS. THE SAPPHIRE. The colored varieties of sapphire were probably known to primitive man, and were gathered in their rough state to serve as rude ornaments long before the diamond, with its less attractive natural appearance, was recognized as a treasure or a gem. The mountain torrents, laying bare the superficial strata of the gem beds, early exposed to view the sapphires of bright and attractive colors, which readily caught the close, observing eye of the savage; while the diamond, lustreless within its apparent crust, was unnoticed and unknown until civilization became far advanced and revealed the hidden splendors of the gem by the application of art. We may therefore infer with a reasonable degree of probability that the colored sapphires, though perhaps not the most ancient in mineralogy, were in reality among the earliest gems known to man. The researches of the antiquary and the archæologist rather strengthen this view, for specimens of these stones are found among the ruins of the ancient and long-forgotten cities of Arabia and Persia, while the diamond is not. This beautiful mineral has been known in the land of its birth from time immemorial as “korund;” and under this harsh name were included all those beautiful gems known to commerce as the Oriental ruby, topaz, emerald, and sapphire. The ancients in the days of Pliny bestowed upon the blue variety the more euphonious name of “hyacinthus.” Modern nomenclature, however, has adopted the term “sapphire” for all the transparent forms of the mineral, reserving the name “corundum” for the opaque and translucent or non-crystallized varieties.