Lapidary

An artist who cuts, grinds, and polishes gems and stones. In the lapidary’s scale of hardne of minerals there are 10 standard degrees, represented as follows:—No. 1, talc, which is very easily cut; No. 2, compact gypsum; No. 3, calc-spar; No. 4, fluor-spar; No. 5, apatite; No. 6, felspar; No. 7, quartz; No. 8, topaz; No. 9, sapphire; No. 10, diamond. Diamonds are for the most part cut at Amsterdam.