Handbook of Engraved Gems

THE prophet Enoch has recorded (viii. 1) that it was Azazyel, the chief of the angels who took unto themselves wives from among the daughters of men, who first taught "the use of stones of every valuable and select kind ;" and although the "seventh from Adam" is no longer regarded as a canonical authority, yet history and archaeology combine to point out the first cradle of the human race as the region where originated the notion of applying stones, recommended by their beauty of appearance, to the purposes of personal decoration, and of serving for signets...