CHAPTER III.
CUTTING AND FASHIONING PRECIOUS STONES.
Very few precious stones, as we receive them from the hands of nature, present the beautiful qualities for which we look in these concentrated treasures of the earth. Often they are waterworn pebbles, roughened by attrition and blows during years or even centuries of wanderings in the beds of streams and rivers. If we find them intact in their rocky homes, they are oft-times obscured with flaws and intruding matters which mar their beauty. If transparent and without speck or fracture, yet the natural forms in which crystallised gem-stones occur are but rarely adapted for direct employment in objects of jewellery. In shape or size they are awkward for such use, while many of those marvellous optical qualities which distinguish them from the crowd of commoner materials are brought into prominence only by the artificial processes of cutting and polishing. These processes convert rough crystals into shapely gems, having fine qualities of surface lustre and interior colour, and, withal, much less liable to fracture than the original stone. Now and then a perfect natural octohedron of flawless diamond or rosy spinel may be set in a ring or jewel; but such instances are exceptional, and gem-stones, in order that all their elements of beauty may be developed to the uttermost, must be cut and polished according to rule.
All the different forms into which precious stones are cut may
