in natural history, a precious stone, of which there are three kinds, distinguished by three colours, a red, a yellow, and a white. The red is very well known among us; is found in roundish or oval masses, much like our common pebbles; and is generally met with between an inch and two or three inches in diameter: it is of a fine, compact, and close texture; of a glossy surface; and, in the several specimens, is of all the degrees of red, from the palest flesh-colour to the deepest blood-red. It is generally free from spots, clouds, or variegations: but sometimes it is veined very beautifully with an extremely pale red, or with white; the veins forming concentric circles, or other less regular figures, about a nucleus, in the manner of those of agates. The pieces of carnelian which are all of one colour, and perfectly free from veins, are those which our jewellers generally make use of for seals, though the variegated ones are much more beautiful. The carnelian is tolerably hard, and capable of a very good polish: it is not at all affected by acid menstrums: the fire divests it of a part of its colour, and leaves it of a pale red; and a strong and long continued heat will reduce it to a pale dirty gray.

The finest carnelians are those of the East Indies; but there are very beautiful ones found in the rivers of Silegia and Bohemia; and we have some not despisable ones in England.

Though the ancients have recommended the carnelian as altringent, and attributed a number of fanciful virtues to it, we know of no other use of the stone than the cutting seals on it; to which purpose it is excellently adapted, as being not too hard for cutting, and yet hard enough not to be liable to accidents, to take a good polish, and to separate easily from the wax.