The Amethyst has ever been a gem symbolizing spirituality in its highest degree, and by the virtue of its power it opposed evils, drunkenness, and the sin of distorted appetites. Indeed, the Amethyst was considered a sign of such holiness that evil was always courted by one wearing it whilst overindulging in eating and drinking. It was cut into sacred scarabei by the Egyptians and Etruscans and is frequently found engraved. Pliny writes of its fitness as a sealstone, and Mr. King mentions a large pale Amethyst, signed, in the Pulsky collection, on which is engraved the head of a Syrian King. The Amethyst has been frequently quoted as a stone of the celestial Aries, even ancient writers commenting on its sympathetic Aries vibration. The mistake arose from confounding the Babylonian Mars with the Mars of the Greeks and Romans. The Babylonian Mars of Centaur form is clearly identified with the sign Sagittarius. The Amethyst was the ninth stone of the Breastplate, and on it was engraved the name of the tribe of Asher. =The Tenth Stone of the Breastplate= Regarding the tenth stone of the Breastplate there is a general disagreement amongst authorities, some preferring simply to give its Hebraic name THARSHISH without attempting its meaning. The tenth division of the Breastplate is the division of the zodiacal Capricorn, the colour of which is generally regarded as black, the colour of the planet Saturn, and which according to Dr. Simmonite, William Lilly, Madame Blavatsky and others, is, esoterically, green. The Targums describe the stone Tharshish as of the colour of the Great Sea, or sea colour. This is found in the Serpentine variety of a translucent deep green, oily colour capable of receiving a high polish. The colour of the Egyptian and Arabian Serpentine (or HYDRINUS) is deep and a little heavy. Many intagli and camei of antique origin are found cut in Serpentine; these specimens include Egyptian scarabei and Babylonian cylinders of about 5,000 years ago, clear evidence that the ancients knew the stone, appreciated it and worked it. The sign Capricorn is a strange one, symbolizing the Gateway of Heaven through which men pass when life on earth is done. Hence it expresses the mystery of the deep seas which were compared with the seas of space in sacred philosophy. Amongst others, Manilius recognizes Capricorn as a sailor’s sign: _But when receding Capricornus shows The star that in his tail’s bright summit glows, Then shall the native dare the angry seas, A hardy sailor live, spurning inglorious ease._