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Topaz
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The
Septuagint's ' Topazion' of the Old Testament
was our peridot. The 1611 'King James Version' of the
Old Testament, translated 'Topazion' as ' Topaz.'
However, at the time of the 1611 translation, ' Topaz'
was used to denote any yellow colored gemstone, irrespective
of the different chemical properties. So, where and
when did the Topaz
we know today become identified as such?
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The
Renaissance, beginning in the late 15th century, spelt
a revival in classical Greece, Rome and the preceding
cultures of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. These archaic
cultures based many of their fundamental idea systems
around the precursor of modern science: Alchemy. By
today's standards, alchemy is regarded as a mystic,
esoteric, and slightly immoral art. The tainted public
image, due in part to closed, elitist, secret societies
formed around alchemy such as the Illuminati and the Rosicrucianism, or as
we know them today: 'Free Masons.' |
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Nevertheless,
we owe the discovery of many substances and processes
that are the mainstay of modern physical, chemical,
biological knowledge to alchemists. Where would we be
without Isaac Newton, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Boyle, Bacon
and Thomas Browne? All devoted alchemists. Alchemists
were the high priests of the 'Modern Age' transforming
the artistic, scientific, religious and political landscape
of Europe. They provided the framework for a grand new
design of understanding, based on rational materialism:
Modern science.
With the advent of these more exacting processes, mineralogy
became more defined, and the true nature of a mineral
was understood more by its chemical composition and
crystalline form than its external characteristics.
In 1669, Rasmus Bartholin discovered the double refraction
of light rays in calcite, prompting Thomas Young to
propose the theory that light sources travel
in waves at different frequencies.
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Later,
at the beginning of the 17th Century, the German mineralogist
and director of mines at Freiberg in Saxony, Johann
Friedrich Henckel published a book of his teachings.
Writing on the chemical properties of minerals in his
book 'Pyritologie.' Henckel was the first to recognize
Topaz,
as the mineral that we know today. Henckel sourced his
Topaz
from the deposits of Schneckenstein, in the Voigtland
of Saxony in East Germany. This was the most important
source of Topaz
up until the 1730 discovery of deposits in the Brazilian
state of Minas Gerias. |
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Henckels
Topaz
was further identified and assayed by Andreas Marggraf
who in 1776 wrote the book 'Findings on the Topaz
of Saxony.' Marggraf was the director of Physics at
the Berlin Academy, where he had become famous for numerous
discoveries including formic acid, he had also learnt
assaying alongside Henckel in Freiberg. The following
excerpt, taken from the book, gives an overview of Henckel
and Marggraf's Topaz and is translated below: |
This gem is found in the "Vogtland', on the 'Schneckenberg' near the hills of the 'Tonneberg' two miles from 'Auerbach': We see quite a lot of it in the deep fissures of a very hard rock, and it is found mixed with a type of yellow schist and quartz. The interior structure/texture is compact but with thin leaf-like layers, which this gem has in common with diamond. It has a prismatic structure at four unequal angles, it is hard with a bright sparkle." |
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There
can be little question that this description corresponds
to the Topaz
of today, which is found in this area in association with granite
rocks, within pegmatite veins and in association with
schist rocks. Topaz's crystals form in the rhombic system
of crystallization, and are prismatic in shape. Topaz
possesses a perfect basal cleavage, and is one of the
hardest minerals known to man, second only to corundum
and diamond. Most Topaz
is transparent to translucent with a vitreous glass-like
luster, exhibiting strong brilliance. |
Towards the end of the 1700's numerous
mineral substances were analyzed by Scheele, Kiaproth,
Vauquelin, Kirwan, Berzelius, Rose and other chemists,
and many new mineral-species and chemical elements discovered.
In 1819, the principles of differentiation between isomorphic
and dimorphic crystal structures were expressed by E.
Mitscherlich, who dispelled the many difficulties encountered
in defining different mineral species. Later in 1820,
classing a mineral's characteristics became even more
precise with Frederich Mohs scale of 1-10 hardness,
starting with Talc: 1, and ending with Diamond: 10.
All these different systems of mineral classification
gave birth to the exactitude of modern mineralogy, by
which we determine a gems
identity. |
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It is important to state that the etymological theories on these
pages are speculative, and should not be taken as gospel.
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