Naturalis historia 37.114

37.114

— India et has generat et nilion, fulgore ab ea distantem brevi et, cum intueare, fallaci. Sudines dicit et in Sibero Atticae flumine nasci. est autem color fumidae topazi aut aliquando melleae. Iuba in Aethiopia gigni tradit in litoribus amnis, quem Nilum vocamus, et inde nomen trahere.— non tralucet molochitis; spissius viret ab colore malvae nomine accepto, reddendis laudata signis et infantum custodia quodamque innato contra pericula medicamine.—

CHAP. 35.—NILION. India, which produces these stones, produces nilion also, a stone that differs from the last in its dull, diminished lustre, which, when steadily looked upon, soon fades from the sight. Sudines says that it is to be found also in the Siberus, a river of Attica. In appearance it resembles a smoke-coloured topazos, or, in some cases, a topazos with a tint like honey. According to Juba, Æthiopia produces it, upon the shores of the river known to us as the Nilus; to which circumstance, he says, it owes its name.

CHAP. 36.—MOLOCHITIS. Molochitis is not transparent, being of a deeper green, and more opaque than smaragdus; its name is derived from the mallow, which it resembles in colour. It is highly esteemed for making seals, and it is endowed by Nature with medicinal properties which render it a preservative for infants against certain dangers which menace them. This stone is a native of Arabia.