The New Student's Reference Work/Agate

Ag′ate is a kind of chalcedony. Its colors are arranged in bands, but sometimes form spots, clouds and often stains like moss, when it is called the moss agate. By boiling the stone in a syrup and then in an acid the beautiful colors can be made brighter. Agates take a high polish and are cut into brooches, seals and bracelets, and used in mosaic work. They are found in Egypt, Germany, Scotland, South America, the United States and other parts of the world. In this country moss agates abound in Wyoming, Nevada and other points; small banded agates of great beauty are numerous on the shores of Lake Superior, and also in western Texas, where large specimens are plentiful. The agate marble is a name known to every boy, though most of these marbles are cheap glass imitations. Agate was prized by the ancients, mention being frequently made in history of onyx, the black and white banded agate, and of sardonyx, the red and white.