Carbuncle. A beautiful gem of a deep red color (with a mixture of scarlet), found in the East Indies. When held up tot he sun, it loses its deep tinge, and becomes of the color of a burning coal. The carbuncle of the ancients is believed to have been a garnet. The name is now given also to the ruby sapphire and the red spinel. The ordinary carbuncle is a garnet cut en cabochon.

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“The meanest and most contemptible person whom we behold is the offspring of heaven, one of the children of the Most High; and, however unworthily he may behave, so long as God hath not passed on him a final sentence, He will have us acknowledge him as one of His; and, as such, to embrace him with a sincere and cordial affection.”
–Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man