Pliny the Elder, The Natural History (eds. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A.)

BOOK XXXVII. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES.

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CHAP. 10.--LUXURY DISPLAYED IN THE USE OF CRYSTAL. REMEDIES DERIVED FROM CRYSTAL.

The largest block of crystal that has ever been beheld by [p. 6396] us, is the one that was consecrated by Julia Augusta in the Capitol, and which weighed about one hundred and fifty pounds.¹ Xenocrates speaks of having seen a vase of crystal, which held one amphora,² and we find other writers mentioning a vessel from India which held four sextarii. For my own part, I can positively say, that there is crystal amid the crags of the Alps, so difficult of access, that it is usually found necessary to be suspended by ropes in order to extract it. Persons who are experienced in the matter detect its presence by certain signs and indications.

Crystal is subject to numerous defects, sometimes presenting a rough, solder-like, substance, or else clouded by spots upon it; while occasionally it contains some hidden humour³ within, or is traversed by hard and brittle knurrs,⁴ which are known as "salt grains."⁵ Some crystal, too, has a red rust upon it, while, in other instances, it contains filaments that look like flaws, a defect which artists conceal by engraving it. But where crystals are entirely free from defect, they are preferred uncut; in which case, they are known as "acenteta,"⁶ and have the colour, not of foam, but of limpid water. In the last place, the weight of crystals is a point which is taken into consideration.

I find it stated by medical men that the very best cautery for the human body is a ball of crystal acted upon by the rays of the sun.⁷ This substance, too, has been made the object of a mania; for, not many years ago, a mistress of a family, who was by no means very rich, gave one hundred and fifty thousand sesterces for a single basin made of crystal. Nero, on receiving tidings that all was lost, in the excess of his fury, dashed two cups of crystal to pieces; this being his last act of vengeance upon his fellow-creatures, preventing any one from ever drinking again from these vessels. Crystal, when broken, cannot by any possibility be mended. Vessels in [p. 6397] glass have been brought to a marvellous degree of resemblance to crystal; and yet, wonderful to say, they have only tended to enhance the value of crystal, and in no way to depreciate it.

¹ Ajasson remarks that blocks have been found in Switzerland, weighing above eight hundred pounds.

² Forty-eight sextarii. See Introduction to Vol. III.

³ This "vomica," Ajasson says, is either water, azote, rarified oxygen, or water in combination with naphtha.

⁴ "Centra," knots, or flaws. See B. xvi. c. 76, where he speaks of the "centra" in marble. See also Beckmann, Hist. Inv. Vol. I. p. 471. Bohn's Edition.

⁵ "Sale." See Note 46 above.

⁶ "Without flaw."

⁷ See B. xxxvi. c. 67.

Cross references from Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898):
amuletum [Amulētum]

Cross references from A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) (eds. William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin):
fig.10131 [Ring with Key attached. (British Museum.)]
olla [OLLA]
v2p607 [ZZZ]

This text is based on the following book(s):
The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.