Crystal

Meaning

Crystal appears among the claimed objects of the art’s colouring power: it may be tinged so that it is valued like the most precious stones. The statement is immediately subordinated to knowledge of heavenly things, beside which such splendid material results are called the least part of the mastery. The English “held equal” preserves the valuation in the German comparison; it does not assert that crystal has become a particular named gemstone. This is a report of a claimed use and its low place in the author’s hierarchy of goods, not a verified mineral transformation or an instruction for making jewels.