among the ancients, the name of a beautiful species of alabaster. It is a rude irregular mass, very flattery and friable, but of a brightness superior to that of most other marbles, and excelling them all in transparency. The colour is an agreeable pale, yellowish, white, or honey colour; the yellowish is more intense in some places than in others, and sometimes makes an obscure resemblance of veins. It is very weak and brittle in the mass; and when reduced to small pieces, may be easily crumbled between the fingers into loose, but considerably large angular pieces; some perfect, others complex, irregular, or mutilated, and all approaching to a flat shape. The ancients were very fond of this species in public buildings; and the Temple of Fortune, built entirely of it, has long been celebrated. Its great beauty is its transparency, from which alone this temple was perfectly light when the doors were shut, though it was built without a window, and had no other light but what was transmitted through the stone its walls were built with. It was anciently found in Cappadocia, and is still plentiful there: we have it also in Germany and France, and in our own kingdom in Derbyshire, and some other counties. It takes an excellent polish, and is very fit for ornamental works, where there is no great strength required. See AMETHYST.