The Rev. C. W. King mentions that agates are still found “adorned with designs which one feels the greatest difficulty in admitting to be the mere fortuitous result of the arrangement of their shaded strata, so exactly does that result imitate the finished production of art.” He instances the “Egyptian Pebble” in the British Museum which shows the head of the poet Chaucer covered with the hood, a faithful portrait even more remarkable when it is considered that the specimen was just broken in two pieces and not even polished. A specimen in the Galleria of Florence shows in the markings of yellow and red a running Cupid. Such curious markings are continually exhibiting the silent, magical symbols of Nature by the aid of which the great but humble philosophers of ancient days read the messages of the Divine. Many and various are the virtues ascribed to the agate by the ancient masters, and when considering these it is well to remember their passion for making meanings obscure in order that the hidden secrets might be successfully guarded. The “pleasant scent of the agate”—obtainable most truly by rubbing together two polished specimens—is lauded by Pliny, and Orpheus recommends that the “changeful agate” be steeped in wine to improve the flavour. Powdered and bound on wounds, it healed them, and Rabbi Benoni of 14th century fame advised that an agate be held in the mouth to quench thirst and soothe fever. It was regarded as a charm against poisons, which no doubt accounts for its being used to form vases, bowls, cups, and vessels for holding foodstuffs, specimens of which are still found in more or less perfect state in the excavations. Mr. King mentions the Carchesium or two-handled agate cup of Charles the Bold (presented by that King to the Abbey of St. Denis) which was used to hold the wine at the ceremony associated with the coronations of the kings of France. It was stolen in 1804, the year Napoleon Buonaparte was crowned Emperor at Paris, and was not used, therefore, at his coronation—a significant circumstance in the career of this man of Destiny who, with his innate love for the occult must have known long before this event that the agate was his birthstone. Shortly after the vase was recovered uninjured, but its jewelled setting had been removed from it, never to be seen again.