However, pearl has also been interpreted to be the meaning in these passages. The coral referred to in the Bible is the precious coral (corallium rubrum), the formation of which is well known. It is a calcareous secretion of certain polyps resulting in a tree-like formation. Presently coral is found in the Mediterranean, the northern coast of Africa furnishing the dark red, Sardinia the yellow or salmon-coloured, and the coast of Italy the rose-pink coral. One of the greatest coral-fisheries of the present day is Torre del Greco, near Naples. Crystal Crystal, Heb. ghbsh (Job, xxviii, 18), qrh (Ezech, i, 22): both words signify a glassy substance; Sept. gabis; Vulg. eminentia (Job, xxviii, 18); krystallos, crystallus (Ezech., i, 22). Crystal is a transparent mineral resembling glass, most probably a variety of quartz. Job places it in the same category with gold, onyx, sapphire, glass, coral, topaz, etc. The Targum renders the qrt of Ezech. as "ice"; the other versions translate it as "crystal". Crystal is again mentioned in Apoc., iv, 6; xxi, 11; xxii, 1. In Ps. cxlvii, 17, and Ecclus., xliii, 22, there can be no question that ice is indicated. The word zkwkyh, Job, xxviii, 17, which can be translated as crystal, means glass. Diamond Diamond, Heb. shmyr; Sept. adamantinos; Vulg. adamas, adamantinus (Ezech., iii, 9; Zach., vii, 12; Jer, xvii 1). Whether or not this stone is really diamond cannot be established. Many passages in Holy Scriptures point to the qualities of diamond, in particular to its hardness (Ezech., iii, 9; Zach., vii, 12; Jer., xvii, 1). In the last citation Jeremiah informs us of a diamond usage which is much the same as its usage today: "The sin of Juda is written with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond". However, although diamond is used to engrave hard substances, other stones can serve the same purpose. The Septuagint omits the passages of Ezech. and Zach., while the first five verses of Jer., xvii, are missing in the Cod. Vaticanus and Alexandrinus, but are found in the Complutensian edition and in the Syriac and Arabic Versions. Despite the qualities mentioned in the Bible, the stone referred to may be the limpid corindon, which exhibits the same qualities, and is used in India for the same purposes as the diamond. Diamond was not very well known among the ancients; and if we add to this