The Greek ALABASTROS was derived from Alabastron, a town in Upper Egypt where this beautiful white massive variety of gypsum was found. It was used by the ancients for fashioning perfume bottles, the vials to hold oil for anointing kings, priests, initiates into the mysteries, etc. These articles were commonly called alabastra, and the name continued in use long after other materials had replaced alabaster in their manufacture. The quarries of Hat Nub and those near Minieh supplied ancient Egypt with the material which was compared by ancient masters to the purity of the soul. No doubt this accounts for its use in holy works, and in the making of sarcophagi, statues, etc. In the Book of Matthew we read of the woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment. In Mark “she brake the box and poured it (the ointment) on his head.” In Luke we are told that “a woman in the city brought an alabaster box of ointment,” etc. “Box” is a mistranslation; the “box” holding the oil was an alabastrum, and this “oil of holy ointment compound after the art of the apothecary,” as set down in the Book of Exodus, was put in the alabaster vases which were sealed in such a way that the tops had to be broken in order to release the liquid. This was seemingly done to prevent evaporation. Many of these vases have been found amongst the ruins, together with other Egyptian vases called Canopic jars in which were placed the embalmed viscera of the departed. On the covers of these canopi were drawings of the heads of the genii of the dead known as the four children of Horus—Kesta, Hapi, Tuamutef, and Qebhsennuf. A vessel surrounded by receptacles for holding a number of alabastra was called an ALABASTRO-THECA. Pure specimens of alabaster were also employed as milk-stone talismans. Oriental alabaster, known as the Algerian onyx, is a solid crystalline carbonate of lime, precipitated from water in stalagmitic form. This Oriental alabaster is considerably harder than true alabaster which is easily scratched. Pliny writes of columns of alabaster over thirty feet in height. In ancient times it was regarded as a species of onyx, and was made into cups, vases and other utensils. Pliny says that it was “of the colour of honey, opaque and spirally spotted.” There are also specimens in colour brown mixed with lemon, and others of the colour of the finger-nail. Leonardus regards alabaster as the right substance for preserving unguents, and Dioscorides employed it in medicine. It was used as a charm against accidents, especially whilst travelling, for securing public favour, for success in legal affairs, etc.