Opal. A mineral consisting, like quartz, of silica, but inferior to quartz in hardness and specific gravity. The precious opal shows a peculiar play of colors of delicate tints and is highly esteemed as a gem. One kind, with a varied play of color in a reddish ground, is called harlequin opal. The fire opal (which comes from Mexico) has colors like the red and yellow of flame.

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“Hope in this life is a perishing thing, but the hope of good men, when it is cut off from this world, is but removed like a tree, transplanted from this nursery to the garden of the Lord.”
–Matthew Henry, Commentary, Job 19