Scientific American Volume 85 Number 10 (September 1901) . those most deserving of encour-agement. 155 The Ruby. In trade three classes of rubies are distinguished—rubies of the Orient, rubies of Siam, and spinel rubies. The different varieties called balass rubies, Brazilrubies, rose rubies, rubace rubies, rock rubies, Si-berian rubies, etc., cannot be compared at all with thepreceding, of which they have neither the compositionnor the constitution. Apart from the balass ruby,which from a scientific view-point does not differ fromthe spinel ruby, all the others are, properly speaking,only col
Scientific American Volume 85 Number 10 (September 1901) . those most deserving of encour-agement. 155 The Ruby. In trade three classes of rubies are distinguished—rubies of the Orient, rubies of Siam, and spinel rubies. The different varieties called balass rubies, Brazilrubies, rose rubies, rubace rubies, rock rubies, Si-berian rubies, etc., cannot be compared at all with thepreceding, of which they have neither the compositionnor the constitution. Apart from the balass ruby,which from a scientific view-point does not differ fromthe spinel ruby, all the others are, properly speaking,only colored quartz or feldspar. The ruby of theOrient is the first of all colored stones in beauty, asin price. Its marvelous hue is that of the humanblood, as it jets from an open artery, that of thered ray of the solar spectrum at its maximum in-tensity. The ruby is one of the most exquisite products ofnature, but it is becoming rare and more rare to findit perfect. It even causes atonishment to find anOriental ruby as large in size as the topazes and sap-. THE WRECK OF THE SANTOS-DUMONT No. 5. phi res of the same countries. If it reaches a certainsize it is almost always filled with defects. Rubies of all sizes are put to use. The smallest,down to 20 or 30 to the carat, are employed speciallyfor delicate jewels, for numbers, figures, etc., Manyof the smallest are cabochons. When a ruby exceedsthe weight of a carat it commands a high price. Aruby may fetch ten or twenty times the price of adiamond of the same weight if it is really of a superiorquality. It may be interesting to give the figures at whichrubies were valued fifty years ago. They were muchlower than to-day. A perfect ruby of one carat waspriced at 240 francs; of two carats, 960 francs; threecarats, 3,600 francs; five carats, 14,400 francs; andsix carats, 24,000 francs. In general the cutting as a brilliant is alone suit-able for a fine ruby. The ruby is very hard, almostas high as the sapphire. It was but little used
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