AM′ETHYST

(-thĭst). Syn. Purple rock-crystal ; Améthyste , Fr.; Amethys′tus , L. A beautiful sub-species of quartz or rock crystal, of a violet-blue colour of varying intensity, in great request for cutting into seals, brooches, and other like articles of ornament. It was known and prized in the earliest ages of antiquity. Among the ancients, cups and vases were made out of this mineral; and it was an opinion of the Greeks and Persians, that an amethyst bound on the navel would counteract the effects of wine, and that wine drank out of an amethystine ve el would not intoxicate. See Gems .