The whole beryl family is classified under the sign Taurus. Their crystalline form is hexagonal (six-sided), and six is the traditional number of Venus, whose earth house or mansion in astrology is the heavenly Taurus. Beryllium enters largely into their composition, and because of the sweetness of its salts this element is also termed Glucinum (Greek GLYKYS, sweet). Glycina was first discovered by the great chemist Vauquelin while experimenting with emeralds in 1797. Much confusion has arisen amongst authors on the subject of gems and the Heavens, from confounding the beryl with the tourmaline—a distinctly Mercurial gem. The beryl, aquamarine and emerald present only colour shade differences. It is more difficult, however, to find really fine emeralds than it is to find other varieties of the same family. The emeralds found in the workings of the old Kleopatra mines, whose very existence was at one time doubted, are of the lighter or beryl variety. These gems were much sought after in ancient times, the Egyptian women being esteemed the best searchers “because of their superior eyesight.” There is no doubt, as before noted, that the sex was considered as well as the sight, and the selection of women “daughters of Venus” for this work was not without design. The splendour of the canopy of purple and gold under which Holofernes, the Assyrian general, rested was enriched according to the Apochrypha with emeralds and precious stones (Judith X. 21). This symbol of Assyrian luxury—considering the accredited virtue of the emerald amongst the ancients—was of evil import to the leader of the army of Nabuchodonosor, the “King of all the earth.” Astrology notes that a person born in the sign Taurus, especially from the 20° to the 30° amongst the nebulous stars of the Pleiades, or with violent stars in that sign at birth, has his sight always affected to a greater or lesser extent, hence the accredited virtues of the emerald as an eye stone, and no pharmacy of the Middle Ages would have thought of omitting it from its dispensary. As eye stones the stones of the beryl family have always been held in high esteem, Pope John XXI affirming that a diseased eye treated with an emerald became sound again. It was not claimed that the emerald would restore lost sight, but it was regarded as extremely potent in eye disease, injury or trouble of any kind. Sometimes it was sufficient, especially in the case of inflamed eyes, to bathe the eye in water in which emeralds had been steeped for six hours; at other times the stone was reduced to the finest powder, an extremely small quantity of which was placed in the eye at stated intervals, Tom Moore sings in Lalla Rookh: “_Blinded like serpents when they gaze Upon the emerald’s virgin blaze._”