Garnet And Ruby
Sir, —An unidentified prospector is reported in today's issue as saying that “garnet was the least valuable of the three members of the corundum family, the other two being ruby and sapphire.” He went on to say that the only difference between ruby and garnet was the lighter colour of ruby. Garnet is a quite different mineral from ruby, and is not related to corundum. The garnet group includes six main minerals, and these are all rather complex silicates. Almandine, the common red garnet, is an ironaluminium silicate and has a hardness of about seven and a specific gravity of about 4.25. Ruby is the deep-red variety of corundum and is composed of aluminium oxide or alumina. It is much harder than garnet, having a hardness of nine and its specific gravity is about 4. Sapphire is the blue variety of corundum.—Yours, etc., D. G. GREGG, Keeper of Geology, Canterbury Museum. February 6, 1968.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31597, 7 February 1968, Page 12
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157Garnet And Ruby Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31597, 7 February 1968, Page 12
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