Of signets[831] the most ancient would appear to have been small bits of wood, which, having been worm-eaten in a grotesque or fanciful manner,[832] were cut and polished, and used by some rough Thane for a crest, in memory of which practice precious stones were in after ages engraved so as to imitate exactly these rude materials.[833] In process of time nearly every variety of precious stone[834] came to be engraved for rings and seals.[835] Of these the most remarkable was the carbuncle, in colour like a ripe mulberry, which when held up in the sun glows like a flame or burning coal,[836] probably the reason why it was supposed to shine in the dark like a lamp.[837] Under this name many gems known at present by different appellations seem to have been included, as the ruby,[838] whose proper colour is a cochineal red of surpassing richness, admitting, however, occasionally, various intermixtures of blue, producing the rose-red ruby, the former of a full carmine, or rose colour, the latter tinged with a mixture of blue; the rubacelle whose glowing red is dashed with a cast of yellow; the true and the sorane garnet; the rock ruby of a violet red; the almandine and the hyacinth, now confounded with the amethyst. Next to the above was the carnelian[839] of a deep ensanguined hue, chiefly obtained from the island of Sardinia: the jasper of a dark green, with spots of many colours, the sapphire blue bespangled with gold. ----- Footnote 831: Treasurer’s ring. Athen. viii. 29. See Long. de Annul. Sig. p. 42, sqq. Gorl. de Annul. Orig. Kornman. de Tripl. Ann. p. 44. We may here, by the way, mention that law of Solon which forbade a lapidary to retain in his possession the copy of any ring he had engraved. Diog. Laert. i. 2. 9. Footnote 832: Theoph. Hist. Plant. v. i. 2. Θριπήδεστα, ξυλήφια τὰ ὑπὸθριπων βεβρωμένα, οἷς ἐχρῶντο οἱ σφόδρα οἰκονομικοὶ ἀντὶ γλυπτῶν σφραγίδων. Eustath. ad Odyss. α. t. iii. p. 37. 12. Suid. θριπηδέστατον. t. i. p. 1329. b. Etym. Mag. 456. 23. Footnote 833: “Dans le cabinet de Stosch il y a une pierre dont la gravure imite très-bien les sillons d’un bois rongé par les vers.” Winkel. Hist. de l’Art. t. i. p. 43. Footnote 834: Plat. Tim. vii. 80. Plin. ii. 63. xxxiii. 1. Herod. i. 195. Footnote 835: Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 994. See Mawe, Treatise on Diamonds, p. 85—134. Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 954. Footnote 836: Ἀλλο δὲ τι γένος ἐστὶ λίθων ὥσπερ ἐξ ἐναντίων πεφυκὸς, ἄκαυστον ὅλως, ἄνθραξ καλούμενος, ἐξ οὗ καὶ τὰ σφραγίδια γλύφουσιν, ἐρυθρὸν μὲν τῷ χρώματι, πρὸς δὲ τὸν ἥλιον τιθέμενον ἄνθρακος καιομένου ποιεῖ χρόαν. Theoph. de Lapid. § 18. Footnote 837: “Is vulgo putatur in tenebris carbonis instar lucere; fortassis quia Pyropus, seu Anthrax appellatus à veteribus fuit.” Anselm, Boet. Gemmarum et Lapidum Historia, t. ii. c. viii. p. 140. Footnote 838: Sir John Hill, Notes on Theophrastus, de Lapidibus, p. 76, seq. Footnote 839: Theoph. de Lapid. § 23. -----