Agate

A variety of quartz often employed by the engravers of antiquity. The term is a corruption of the word Achates, a river of Sicily, on the banks of which numerous varieties of the stone abound. Among these maybe mentioned the cerachates, or white wax-like agate; dendrachates, or arborescent agate; hem achates, or blood-agate, so called from its blood-like spots; and leucachates, or white agate. Agates were often carved into scarabæi by the Egyptians, and Babylonian cylinders have been found, made of the same material. The oriental agate is semi-transparent, the occidental is opaque, of various tints, often veined with quartz and jasper; hence its fitne for cutting cameos.