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TRANSFERRED

HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY

^

Wl^t tttvUm^ note of ptttUm^ ^umt$

LIPPINCOTT'S PRACTICAL BOOKS FOR THE ENRICHMENT OF HOME LIFE

THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF DECORATIVE WALL-TREATMENTS. Bt Namct MgClbllakd.

THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF LEARNING DECORATION AND FUR. NITURE. Bt Edwabd Stbatton Hollowat.

m

THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF CHINAWARE. Bt Habold Donaldson Ebkblbin and Rogeb Wbabnii Rajuebdsll.

THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF TAPESTRIEa Bt.Gsobgb Leland Hunter.

THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF OUTDOOR FLOWERS. Bt Richabdson Wbioht, Editor of House and Oardtn,

THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF FURNISHING THE SMALL HOUSE AND APARTMENT. Bt Edwabd Stbatton Hollowat.

THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF INTERIOR DECORATION. Bt Habold Donaldson Ebbblbin, Abbot McClubb and Edwabd Stbatton Hollowat.

THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF PERIOD FURNITURE. Bt Habold DoNAU)fiON Ebkblbin and Abbot McClubb. Revised and Enlarged .

THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF ORIENTAL RUGS. Bt G. Gbiitin

LnwiB.

THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF AMERICAN ANTIQUES. Bt Habold Donaldson Ebeblein and Abbot McClubb.

THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF ARCHITECTURE. Bt C. Matlack Pbicb.

THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF GARDEN ARCHITECTURE. Bt PBbbb

WaraOOTT HUMPHBETB.

THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF ITALIAN, SPANISH AND PORTU- GUESE FURNITURE. Bt Habold Donaldson Ebeblbin and Roger

WbaBMB RAMgn«.T^

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Asleria-Star Sapphire A..rna-Star SappWre Astcri.-Star Sapphire

Ceylo" Ceylon ^'*'°''

Rub>"—Asieria— Ceylon

Asterla— SUr Sapphire A«.teria— Star Sapiihire

Ce>lon Ceylon

Moonstone — with white Sunstone light— Ceylon Moonaone— bluish

Perth. Canada chatoyancy— Ceylon Iris— Bra«ll.

South America

Alexandrite— Green Alexandrite— Red by

Ceylon ^.^j,, gye-Ceylon artificial li»fht-CeyIon

PredousOpal-Hunifary Queretera Mexico Black 0|wl—Lijfhining Ridge.

New South Wales

PHENOMENAL GEMS (Gbms Exhibiting Phenomeka) From the J. P. Morgan Collection, American Museum of Natural Hiatory, New York

OK^I

Hi

OOFnOOBT, 1918, BT J. B. UFPnoOR OMUXT

HARVARD

UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY

NOV 11954

FBOfTED BT J. B. UPPINCOTT OOMPANT

AT THS WAflBINOTON BQUABB PBESS

railADELFBIAt V. 8. ▲•

WITH HBABTFBI/r APPfiBdAIION OP THB NOBLB SPIBIT THAT CON- CEIVED AND FOUNDED THB MOBGAN-TIFPANT COLLECTION OF OBliB AND THB MOBGAN-BEMEMT COLLBCTIONB OF IIINEBALB AND MBTBOB- ITE8 OF THB AMEBICAN ICXTBEUU OF NATURAL HI8T0BT, AND THB MOBGAN COLLECTION OF THB MUBEB D'HIBTOIBE NATUBELLE OF PABI8, AND WHOSB KINDLY ADVICE AND ENCOUBAGEMENT HAVB DONE BO MUCH FOB THB PBBCIOU8 STONE ABT, THIB VOLUME IB BB8FBCTFULLT DEDICATED TO THB MEMOBT OF THB LATB

J. PIERPONT MORGAN

^Preface

/^IKHE love of precious stones is deeply implanted in Kiy the human heart, and the cause of this must be sought not only in their coloring and brilliancy but also in their durability. All the fair colors of flowers and foliage, and even the blue of the sky and the glory of the sunset clouds, only last for a short time, and are subject to continual change, but the sheen and coloration of precious stones are the same to-day as they were thou- sands of years ago and will be for thousands of years to come. In a world of change, this permanence has a charm of its own that was early appreciated.

The object of this book is to indicate and illustrate the various ways in which precious stones have been used at different times and among different peoples, and more especially to explain some of the curious ideas and fancies that have gathered around them. Many of these, ideas may seem strange enough to us now, and yet when we analyze them we find that they have their roots either in some intrinsic quality of the stones or else in an in- stinctive appreciation of their symbolical significance. Through manifold transformations this symbolism has persisted to the present day.

The same thing may be said in regard to the various superstitions connected with gems. Our scientific knowl- edge of cause and effect may prevent us from accepting any of the fanciful notions of the physicians and as- trologers of the olden time ; nevertheless, the possession of a necklace or a ring adorned with brilliant diamonds, fair pearls, warm, glowing rubies, or celestial-hued sapphires will to-day make a woman's heart beat faster

vi PBEFACE

and bring a blush of pleasure to her cheek. Life will seem better worth living to her; and, indeed, this is no delusion, for life is what our thought makes it, and joy is bom of gratified desire. Hence nothing that con- tributes to increasing the sum of innocent pleasures should be disdained ; and surely no pleasure can be more innocent and justifiable than that inspired by the posses- sion of beautiful natural objects.

The author, who possesses what is believed to be the most comprehensive private library on this subject, has obtained many references from material which he has been gathering during the past twenty-five years. Many of the types exist in the collection of folk-lore precious stones exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and now in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Other types are drawn from the Morgan Col- lection exhibited at the Paris Expositions of 1889 and 1900, which, with additions, is now in Morgan Hall, in the American Museum of Natural History, New York City.

Other prominent references are the collection of pre- cious stones in the California Midwinter Memorial Museum, in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco; the Tiffany collection of precious stones, exhibited at the Atlanta Exposition of 1894, now in the National Museum in Washington; the collection exhibited at the Pan- American Exposition, and presented to the Musee d'Histoire Naturelle, in Paris, by the late J. Pierpont Morgan; the collection exhibited at the exposition held in Portland, Oregon, in 1905 ; and the collection of gems and precious stones exhibited at the Jamestown Ex- position, 1907. All of these collections, either entirely or very largely, have been formed by the author.

Some references to sentiment connected with precious stones are embodied in the little work, now in its 21st

PREFACE vii

V

« I

edition, entitled: ^' Natal Stones, Sentiments and Super- stitions Associated with Precions Stones/* compiled by \ the writer, who has examined nearly all the principal col- lections in the United States, Europe, Mexico, Canada, and Asiatic Bnssia.

For courtesies, information and illustrations, I am in- debted to the following, to whom my thanks are due :

Prof. Taw Sein Ko, Superintendent of the Ajclueo- logical Survey, of Burma ; Dr. T. Wada, of Tokyo, Japan ; Dr. G. 0. Clerc, President of the Societe Ouralienne des Amis des Sciences Naturelles, Ekaterinebourg, Russia; Dr. Charles Braddock, late Medical Inspector to the King of Siam ; Sir Charles Hercules Beed, Curator of Arclue- ology, and Dr. Ernest A. Wallis Budge, Egyptologist, British Museum, London ; A. W. Feavearyear, Esq., Lon- don ; Dr. Salomon Beinach, Director of the Archfleological Museum of St. Germain-en-Laye, France ; Prof. Giuseppe Belucci, of the University of Perugia ; Dr. Peter Jessen, Librarian of the Kunstgewerbe Museum, of Berlin ; Miss Belle DaCosta Green ; Dr. Frederick Hirth, Chinese Pro- fessor, Columbia University, New York; Dr. Clark Wissler, Curator of ArchsBology, Dr. L. P. Gratacap, Curator of Mineralogy, American Museum of Natural History; Dr. Berthold Laufer, Oriental Archaeologist, and Dr. Oliver C. Farrington, Curator of Geology and Mineralogy, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago ; Hereward Carrington, Esq., Psychist, New York ; Dr. W. Hayes Ward, Archaeologist and Babylonian Scholar; Mrs. Henry Draper, New York; H. W. Kent, Esq., Metro- politan Museum of Art, New York City ; Consul General Moser, Colombo, Ceylon ; W. W. Blake, Mexico City, who has done so much to encourage Mexican archseolognical investigation; the late A. Damour, of Paris, the great pioneer of mineralogical archflBology ; the late Dr. A. B.

V

viii PREFACE

Meyer, of DroBden, who, more than anyone else, proved that the Nephritfrage or the jade question was to be solved by chemical and mineralogical investigation; the late Bajah Sir Sourindro Mohnn Tagore, of Calcutta; and Br. A. M. Lythgoe, Egyptologist, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

G. F. K. Septbmbbb, 1913.

V

Contentiee

LPrm TAQM

I. StTPBBSTITIONS AMD THBIB SOUBGBS 1

II. On thb Usb of Pbxcioub and Ssia-PBaGionB Stonbs as

TAI4E8MANB AND AlfULETB 19

nL On THB Taubmanic UfiB OF Special Stones 51

IV. On the Use of Enqraybd and Carved Gems as TAUBiiANS 115

v. On Ominous and Luminous Stones 143

VI. On Cbtbtal Balis and Cbtbtal Qazino 176

VU. Religious Uses of Pbegious Stones, Paqan, Hebbew, and

Christian 225

VnL On the High-friest'b Breastplate 275

IX. Birth-stones 307

X. Planetary and Astral Inflxtences of Frbcious Stones. . . . 338 XI. On the Therapeutic Use of PREaous and Semi-precious

Stones 367

y

iUnsAvationsi

COLOR PLATES

PHBNOiiBNAL Qems (Gbms EXHIBITING J^HMNoumsA) , . . . Fnmiupieee.

Mahabaja Runjit Singh, with Pbabls and Gems 42

Cabdinal Fablbt's Ring, — Sapphibb with Diamonds 104

Obm8 ntou TEm Moboan-Tiitant Gouaction 107

Sblf-pbints of Diamonds, Showing Phosphobbscencb 170

Cbobs, Attached ab Pbndant to the Cbown of thb Gothic Kino Rbccbsvinthub (649-672 a.d.) 293

DOUBLETONES Rock-cbtbtal Amulet set in Silveb 10

ROCX-GRTBTAL PLAGQUB, AnCIENT MEXICAN 10

Necklaces fbom Egypt. Fibst Centubt 20

Mosaics of Tubquoise Ain> Enamelled Cabnelian Beads 26

Nbcklaces fbom Egypt 37

Afbican Agatb Chabms 64

Ambeb Obnamentb 58

Chalcedony Votive Chabm fbom Mexico 65

CuBious Altab of Powalawa Indians of Abisona' 65

Kabylb Jewblby 68

Jaspeb Pendant 93

Piece of Natubal Loadsionb fob Medicinal Pubposes 93

Abagonite Pendant 93

Obsidian Mask, fbom the Fayoum, Egypt 99

Tubquoise Necklace, Thibbt 110

Phoenician Scabab, with Engbaybd Scobpion 123

Ancient Babylonian Cyundeb Impbession, Bbabing Figubbs of the

God Nebo and a Wobshippeb, and Symbols of Sun and Moon. . . 123 A Small Jade Celt Engbaybd with Gnostic Inscbiptions in thb

Fourth Centuby 123

Moss Agate Mocha Stones, Hindoobtan 132

Agates Used as VoriYli Chabms jlnd Set in Rings 149

ROCK-CBYSTAL BaLL PBNETBATED BY CbYBTALS OF RUTILB 176

Glass Ball, Perfobated and Mounted in Metal 183

Ball of Jbt, Pkbfobated and Mounted in Metal 183

Eyb Agate, Showing a Numbeb of Cibculab Mabkings 183

Db. Dee*s Shbw Stonb 190

xli ILLUSTRATIONS

Obsidian MmROB, with Natiyb Txxtilb String 190

EOCK-CBTBTAL SPHERES A2XD NaTUBAL CbOBS 196

Babylonian Ctundebs and Pbbsian Beads 204

ROCK-CETBTAL SfHEBES WITH JAPANESE MonNTINGS 209

Cbtstal Ball, Supported bt Bronze Dragon 217

Method or Grinding Crtbtal Balls and Other Hard Stone Objects

IN Qericant Ain> France 219

Japanese Method of Chipping, Grinding and Polishing Rock- crystal Balls 219

Rock-crystal Sphere with THREB-nGnRE Mounting 221

"Phantom Crystal" of Quartz (Rock-crystal) 224

Rock-crystal Balls 224

Amber Heart-shaped Amulet 228

An Inscribed Scarab of the Type known as a Heart-scarab .... 228

Babylonian Axe Head 233

Mani MLlL, or Chain of Gems 242

Sculptured Jade Mountain Weighing 640 lbs 245

Votiye Adze of Jadeite from Mexico 249

Statue of a Maori Wabbiob, by Sigubd Nbandboss 254

Jadeite Celts 264

Staubolite Cbybtals (Faiby Stones) 271

Frontispiece of the "Vestitus Sacebdotum Hebbaobum/' of

JoHANN Bbaun, Amstebdam, 1680 275

SiLVEB Cboss with Quabtz Cat's-eye 286

Spbcimsns of Chiastoute (Lapis Cbucifer) 286

Facsimile of the Betrothal Ring of the Virgin in the Cathedral

OF Perugia 317

Moss Agates 330

The Figures of the Planets with thbib Significant Stones 332

The Zodiacal Stones with theib Signs 343

Necklaces (Fibst Centuby, a.d., and Ancient Pebsian) 346

Statuette Known as that of Sainte Foy, in the Abbey-ghubch

AT CoNQUES, Dept. Avbybon, Fbance 356

Inbcbiption on a Small Piece of Limestone, in Cubsitb Egyptian

Wbiting — ^AN Ancient Pbbscbiption 368

Necklaces — (1) Cabnbuan Beads; (2) Onyx Beads 370

Facsimile Page of Italian Vellum Manuscbift Tbeatise of the

ViBTUES OF Gems 374

Initials fbom the Lapidabio De Alfonso X 377

ILLUSTBATIONS mi

LINE CUTS IN TEXT

Ttflb Pagb of thb FntsT Edition of the Poetical Tbbatisb on PBBdouB Stones bt Mabbodus, Bishop of Rennes, Punted

IN Fbibxtbg, 1531 16

Title Page of the Fibst Edition of the Gbeek Tbeatise bt St. Efiphanius on the Gems of the Bbeastplate, with a Latin Vebt

bion 16

Title Page of One of the Eabliest Tbeatises on Pbbcious Stones

Published in England 17

Peabl Dealeb 42

An Aib-ship of 1709 63

The Tbeb that Exxtdbs Aiibeb 66

A Pbactical Test of the Vibtues of the Bloodstone to Pbeyent

Nose-bleed 60

Cabnblian Seal, wobn bt Napoleon I, Napoleon III, and the Pbince

Impebial 64

Specimbn Page of Italian Manuscbipt of Foubteenth Centubt. . 77 Obsidian Mibbob, fbom Oazaca, Mexico. Now in Tbocad£bo

Museum, Pabis 99

Rock-cbtstal Skull, Ancient Mexican 100

Engbaved Heuotbopb 124

Engbayed Red Jaspeb 124

Gnostic Gems 127

Antique Jade Celt Conyebted into a Gnostic Talisman 129

MONOGBAM OF THB NaMB OF ChBIST EnGBAVED ON AN OnTX GeM 136

Two Gold Rings Set with Engraved Ontx Gems 138

The "Obphanus Jewel" in the Gebman Impebial Cbown 147

Title Page of Robebt Botle's Wobk on the Obigin and Vibtues

OF Gems 169

Tttlx Page of a Gboup of Tbeatises bt Vabious Authobs, Col- lected AND Edited bt Conbad Gesneb at Zxjbich in 1566 258

The Hebbew High-pbiest Attibed with his Vestments 279

The Bbeastplate Unfolded, I, II; Ephod with Bbeastplate Folded AND Attached, III 281

xiv ILLUSTRATIONS

TnuB Pags of thb Edition of Mabbodub on Pbecioub Stonxs, Pub- u8bed in colognb, 1530 290

Cabnblian, Enqraybd with thx Zodiacal Siqnb, Taubub, Leo and Capbioobn; in thx Cbntbb a Six-bated Stab, thb Fobm of onb of THX8B Rats Dbnoting a Combt 322

Wbt CurtouiBi lore of Jj^xttmi Sktoxitfi

I

^upevittitionsi and QP^efr ^ontxem

«^BOM the earliest times in man's history gems and ^ precious stones have been held in great esteem. They have been found in the monuments of prehistoric peoples, and not alone the civilization of the Pharaohs, of the IncaSy or of the Montezumas invested these bril- liant things from Nature's jewel casket with a signifi- cance beyond the mere suggestion of their intrinsic properties.

The magi, the wise men, the seers, the astrologers of the ages gone by found much in the matter of gems that we have nearly come to forgetting. With them each gem possessed certain planetary attractions peculiar to itself, certain affinities with the various virtues, and a zodiacal concordance with the seasons of the year. Moreover, these early sages were firm believers in the influence of gems in one's nativity, — ^that the evil in the world could be kept from contaminating a child properly protected by wearing the appropriate talismanic, natal, and zodiacal gems. Indeed, folklorists are wont to wonder whether the custom of wearing gems in jewelry did not originate in the talismanic idea instead of in the idea of mere additional adommeut

The influence exerted by precious stones was assumed in medieval times without question, but when the spirit of investigation was aroused in the Benaissance period, an effort was made to find a reason of some sort for the

1

2 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

traditional beliefs. Strange as it may seem to ns, there was little disposition to doubt that the influence existed ; this was taken for granted, and all the mental effort expended was devoted to finding some plausible explana- tion as to how precious stones became endowed with their strange and mystic virtues, and how these virtues acted in modifying the character, health, or fortunes of the wearer.

When the existence of miracles is acknowledged, there will always be a tendency to regard every singular and unaccountable happening as a miracle; that is to say, as something that occurs outside of, or in spite of, the laws of nature. We even observe this tendency at work in our own time. As regards visual impressions, for in- stance, if a child of lively imagination enters a half- lighted room and sees a bundle of clothes lying in a comer, the indistinct outline of this mass may be trans- formed to his mind into the form of a wild animal. The child does not really see an animal, but his fear has given a definite outline and character to the indefinite image printed on the retina.

The writer has always sought to investigate anything strange and apparently unaccountable which has been brought to his notice, but he can truly say he has never found the slightest evidence of anything transcending the acknowledged laws of nature. Still, when we con- sider the marvellous secrets that have been revealed to us by science and the yet more wonderful things that will be revealed to us in the future, we are tempted to think that there may be something in the old beliefs, some residuum of fact, susceptible indeed of explana- tion, but very different from what a crass scepticism supposes it to be. Above all, the results of the investi- gations now pursued in relation to the group of phe-

SUPERSTITIONS AND THEIR SOURCES 3

Bomena embraced under the designation of telepathy, — the subconscious influence of one mind over an absent or distant mind, — and the wireless transmission of power in wireless telegraphy and telephony, may go far to make us hesitate before condemning as utterly preposterous many of the tales of enchantment and magical influence. If the unconsciaus will of one individual can affect the thoughts and feelings of another individual at a great distance and without the intervention of any known means of communication, as is confidently asserted by many competent investigators in the domain of tele- pathy, their claims being supported by many strange happenings, perhaps the result of coincidence, but pos- sibly due to the operation of some unknown law, does this not give a color of verity to the statements regarding the ancient magicians and their spells?

Auto-suggestion may also afford an explanation of much that is mysterious in the effects attributed to precious stones, for if the wearer be firmly convinced that the gem he is wearing produces certain results, this conviction will impress itself upon his thought and hence upon his very organism. He will really experience the influence, and the effects will manifest themselves just ai powerfully as though they were caused by vibrations or emanations from the material body of the stone.

AU this may serve to explain the persistence of the belief in magic arts. A few hundred years ago, a Hun- garian woman was accused of having murdered two or three hundred young girls, and at her trial she confessed that her object was to use the blood of her victims to renew her youth and beauty, for the blood of innocent virgins was supposed to have wonderful properties. In some parts of England to-day there is a superstitious belief that an article of clothing worn by a person, or

4 THE CURIOUS LOBE OF PREaOUS STONES

anything he has habitually used, absorbs a portion of his individuality. Therefore, it sometimes happens that a handkerchief, for instance, will be stolen and pinned down beneath the waters of a stream on a toad, the pins marking the name of the enemy, the belief being that as this cloth wastes away, so will the body of him who had worn it In medieval and later times this was the common practice of the sorcerers, although they frequently com- posed a wax figure rudely resembling the person against whom the spell was directed, and then thrust pins into this figure or allowed it to melt away before a slow fire. The enchantment of the sorcerer was supposed to have caused some essence of the personality to enter into the image, and therefore the living and breathing being felt sympathetically the effects of the ill-treatment inflicted upon its counterfeit.

The persistence of the most cruel and unnatural prac- tices of old-time sorcery is illustrated by the fact that only a few years ago, in the island of Cuba, three women were condemned to death for murdering a white baby so as to use the heart and blood as a cure for diseases. Four other women were sentenced to from fourteen to twenty years * imprisonment as accomplices. When such things happen in Cuba, it is not surprising that in half- civilized Hayti similar crimes are committed. Here the Voodoo priests and priestesses, papalois and mamalois (papa-kings and mama-queens) require from time to time a human sacrifice to appease their serpent-god. One strange case is related where a stupefying potion, in- ducing a state of apparent death, was secretly adminis- tered to a sick man. When the attending physician pro- nounced him dead, he was duly interred ; but, two days after, the grave was found open and the body had dis- appeared. The Voodoo worshippers had carried the man

SUPERSTITIONS AND THEIR SOURCES 6

away so as to revive him and then sacrifice him at their fearful rites.

In a poem addressed to Marguerite de Valois, — ^''La Marguerite des Marguerites, " as she was called, — ^by Jean de la Taille de Bondaroy,^ we read of the diamond that it came from gold and from the sun. But we are told that not only are precious stones endowed with life, they also are subject to disease, old age, and death; 'Uhey even take offence if an injury be done to them, and become rough and pale.'' The sickness of the pearl has been a theme for centuries, and in many cases is only fancied. It is but a subterfuge or deception for a lady to remark that her pearls have sickened ; by referring to this sickness, her friends are naturally led to believe that at one time her pearls were fine, perfect ones, when in reality they may never have been so.

The opinion given in 1609, by Anselmus De Boot, court physician to Rudolph II of Germany, regarding the power inherent in certain precious stones,' embodies the ideas on this subject held by many of the enlightened minds of that period.

The supernatural and acting cause is God, the good angel and the evil one; the good by the wiU of God, and the evil by His permission. . . . What God can do by Himself, He could do also by means of ministers, good and bad angels, who, by special grace of Gk>d and for the preservation of men, are enabled to enter precious stones and to guard men from dangers or procure some special grace for them. However, as we may not affirm anything positive touching the presence of angels in gems, to repose trust in them, or to ascribe undue powers to them, is more especially pleasing to the spirit of evil, who transforms

^ Jean de la Taille de Bondaroy, ^Le Blason de la Marguerite/' Paris, 1574.

' De Boot, '' Gemmarum et lapidum historia," lib. i, cap. 25, Lug. Bat, 1636, pp. 87, 9L

6 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES

himself into an angel of light, steals into the substance of the little gem, and works such wonders by it that some people do not place their trust in God but in a gem, and seek to obtain from it what they should ask of God alone. Thus it is perhaps the spirit of evil which exercises its power on us through the turquoise, teaching us, little by little, that safety is not to be sought from God but from a genu

In the next chapter of his work, De Boot, while ex- tolling the remedial power of a certain group of stones, insists upon the falsity of many of the superstitions regarding these objects.^

That gems or stones, when applied to the body, exert an action upon it, is so well proven by the experience of many persons, that any one who doubts this must be called over-bold. We have proof of this power in the carnelian, the hematite, and the jasper, all of which when applied, check hemorrhage. . . . However, it is very necessary to observe that many virtues not possessed by gems are falsely ascribed to them.

Paracelsus, the gifted and brilliant thinker, scientist, and, we must probably add, charlatan of the sixteenth century, whose really extraordinary mental endowment was largely wasted in the effort to impress his followers with the idea that he had a mystic control over super- natural agencies, was the owner of a talismanic jewel which he asserted to be the dwelling-place of a powerful spirit named ** Azoth.*' Some old portraits of the philosopher, or pseudo-philosopher, figure him wearing this jewel, in whose virtues we may fairly doubt that he himself believed, but which furnished part of the para- phernalia be freely employed to gain influence over the credulous.*

' De Boot, '^ Genmiarum et lapidum historia,'' lib. i, cap. 26, Lug. Bat., 1636, p. 103.

*Mackey, "Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions,^' Lon- don, n. d., p. 144.

SUPEBSTITIONS AND THEIE SOUECBS 7

The following passage from the ''Faithful Lapidary*' of Thomas Nicols,** who wrote in the middle of the seven- teenth century, illustrates the prevailing opinion in Eng- land at that time as to the virtues of precious stones :

Perfectionem effectHia contineri in causa. But it cannot truly be so spoken of gemms and pretious stones, the effects of which, by Lapidists are said to be, the making of men rich and eloquent, to preserve men from thunder and lightning, from plagues and diseases, to move dreams, to procure sleep, to foretell things to come, to make men wise, to strengthen memory, to procure honours, to hinder fas- cinations and witchcrafts, to hinder slothfuln^ss, to put courage into men, to keep men chaste, to increase friendship, to hinder difference and dissentioD, and to make men invisible, as is feigned by the Poet concerning Gyges ring, and affirmed by Albertus and others concerning the ophihdlmiua lapis, and many other strange things are affirmed of them and asoiibed to them, which are contrary to the nature of gemms, and which they as they are materiall, mixt, inanimate bodies neither know nor can effect, by the properties and faculties of their own consti- tutions: because they being naturall causes, can produce none other but naturall effects, such as are all the ordinary effects of gemms: that is, such effects as flow from their elementary matter, from their temper, form and essence; such as are the operations of hot and cold, and of all the first qualities, and all such accidents as do arise from the oommixtion of the first qualities: such as are hardnesse, heavinesse, thicknesse, colour, and tast. These all are the naturall faculties of gemms, and these are the known effects of the union of their matter, and of the operation of the first qualities one upon another.

The long-continued concentration of vision on an object tends to produce a partial paralysis of certain functions of the brain. This effect may be noted in the helplessness of a bird when its gaze is fixed upon the glittering eyes of a serpent, or in the unwilling obedience yielded by a lion or some other wild animal when forced to look into the intent eyes of its trainer. In the same way those who gaze for a long time and without inter-

• Nicols, " Faithful Lapidary,'' London, 1659, pp. 32, 33.

8 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

ruption on a crystal or glass ball, on an opal, a moon- stonoy a sapphirey or a cat's-eye, may become partially hypnotized or even fall into a profound sleep. The con- dition induced, whether it be that of semi-trance, of hyp- notism, or simply due to the imaginative workings of tiie brain, is believed to give an insight into the future. This hypnotic effect is probably caused by some gleam or point of light in the stone, attracting and fixing the beholder's gaze. The moonstone, the star sapphire, and the cat's-eye are all gems which possess a moving light, a moving line, or three crossed lines, and they are believed by the Orientals to be gems of good luck. Indeed, it is supposed in the East that a living spirit dwells within these stones, a spirit potent for good.

Superstitious fancies bear the same relation to truth that the shadow of a form does to the form itself. We know that the shadow has no substantial existence, and yet we know equally well that it is cast by some real body ; in the same way we may be sure that, however foolish a superstition may appear to be, it has some foundation in fact. Indeed, superstition is associated with the highest attribute of the human mind, — imagination. The realities about us gain much of their charm from senti- ment, and all that is great in art and literature owes its being to the transforming energy of pure imagination. Morbid imagination, on the other hand, distorts and degrades the impressions it receives and produces only unlovely or ignoble forms and ideas.

Sentiment may best be expressed as the feeling of one who, on a warm summer's day, is rowing along a shady brook or resting in some sylvan dell, with nothing to interfere with his tranquil mood and nothing to spur him on to action; thus he has only suggestions of hope and indulges in rosy views of life. Beality, on the other

SUPERSTITIONS AND THEIR SOURCES 9

handy may be likened to a crisp winter's morning when one is filled with exhilaration, conscions of the tingle of the cold, but comfortable in the knowledge of wearing a tightly-bnttoned garment which will afford protection should the elements become disturbing. Superstition, lastly, can be said to resemble a dark, cold, misty night, when the moon is throwing malevolent shadows which are weird and distorted, while the cold seems to seize one by the throat and arouse a passionate desire to free one 's self from its grip in some way, to change a horrible nightmare into a pleasant dream.

In the early part of the last century a series of very interesting experiments designed to demonstrate the effects produced upon a sensitive subject by the touch of precious stones and minerals, were made in the case of the ^'Seeress of Prevorst,*' Frederike Hauffe (b. 1801), a woman believed to possess remarkable clairvoyant powers.* When pieces of granite, porphyry, or flint were placed in her hand, she was not affected in any way. The finest qualities of fluorspar, on the other hand, had a marked action, relaxing the muscles, causing diarrhoea, and producing a sour taste in the mouth ; occasionally a somnambxQistic state was induced. This latter condition was also produced by Iceland spar and by the sapphire. While the substances so far noted depressed the vital energy, sulphate of barium stimulated the muscles, produced an agreeable warmth of the body, and made the subject feel as though she could fly through the air. If the application of this' material was long con- tinued, the pleasurable sensation found expression in laughter. In the case of witherite, a carbonate of barium,

* Gorres, " Die chiistliche Mystik,'' Regensburg, 1840, voL iu, pp. 190 sqq.

10 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES

this effect was produced to an even greater degree, for if water in which this mineral had been dipped were swallowed, spasms of laughter resulted.

Eock-crystal also was found to possess a strongly stimxQating influence, for if put in the hand, it aroused the subject from a half -slumber, and if placed on the pit of the stomach, it had the power to awaken the seeress from a somnambulistic trance, while at the same time an aromatic odor was diffused around. When, however, the application was continued for some time, the muscles stiffened, imtil finally an epileptic state ensued. In- deed, the rigidity produced was so great that the limbs resisted all attempts to bend them. The same effect, but in a much less degree, was caused by glass, even by look- ing at it, or by the tones emitted by a glass object when struck. All colorless silicates, the diamond, and even gypsum, had a similar effect, as did also heliotrope and basalt, either of which caused a bitter taste in the mouth.

The most powerful action was that exerted by hem- atite, the oxide of iron in this substance inducing a kind of paralysis, with a sensation of inner chill; this condi- tion could only be relieved by the application of a piece of witherite. Octahedrons of magnetite (loadstone) caused a sensation of heaviness and convulsive move- ments of the limbs, even when the material, wrapped up in paper, was brought near the subject. Spinel, in whose composition oxide of chromium enters, caused the same symptoms as loadstone, except thait in this case the force seemed to exert itself from the hand upward along the arm, while with the loadstone the action was downward along the arm to the hand, owing to the attractive quality of this magnetic iron. Buby called forth a sensation of coldness in the tongue, and rendered this member so heavy that only incoherent sounds could be emitted;

SUPERSTITIONS AND THEIR SOURCES 11

the fingers and toes also became cold, and the body was agitated by a violent shivering ; but to all these bad symp- toms succeeded a sense of elasticity and well-being, not, however, without a vague fear that the stone might cause a renewal of the physical depression. When chrysoprase was used, chills and shivering resulted, beginning at the breast and spreading thence over the whole body.

We have touched upon the hypnotic influence exer- cised by gems, but there can be no doubt that the subject has not been as carefully studied as it deserves to be. That the hypnotic state can be induced by gazing fixedly upon a bright object held just above the eyes is a well- known fact, but quite probably a similar though not so pronounced effect results from gazing on a bright object just before the gazer's eyes. In the case of colored precious stones, the effects of the various color-rays com- bine with the light effects and strengthen the impression upon the optic nerve. All this, however, concerns only the purely physical impression, but we know that very often the hypnotic state is produced by a mental impres- sion, by the belief, or the fear, that the state will super- vene. With precious stones as hypnotizing agents, the mental impression is widely different, for here the physi- cal impression is heightened by the consciousness of the value and rarity of the material. The fascination that a fine set of jewels, with all their sparkle and color, exer- cises upon the mind of a woman who sees them in their glorious radiance on the !Qeck, the arms, and the head of another woman, is not only due to the beauty of the spectacle, but is largely owing to the consciousness that they are rare and valuable objects and are perhaps eloquent witnesses of the power of love. A dash of envy sometimes serves to render the emotion more complex.

The names of precious stones and semi-precious

.if

12 THE CURIOUS LOBE OF PRECIOUS STONES

stones are frequently used as adjectives, and when so employed convey something more to the mind than do the corresponding adjectives of color. "We may instance the following expressions: the ** Emerald Isle'* and "em- erald meadows * ' ; * * sapphire seas ' * and ' ' sapphire eyes ' ' ; 3 ' *'ruby wine/' '*ruby lips,** and, in Shakespeare, '*the • ft^'^ natural ruby of your cheeks**; ''coral lips** and "coral ^ P ears**; "pearly teeth*' and "pearly skin**; "turquoise skies**; "amethystine locks** and, in Roman times, "amber hair.** In all these cases the name of the prec- ious mineral is really used as a superlative of the adjec- tive, suggesting the choicest variety of the color or shade. The phrases "hard as adamant** and "clear as crystal** show a similar use of the name of a precious or orna- mental stone to express the highest grade of a given quality.

Before the introduction of the "point** system in typography three of the grades of type bore the names of precious stones, — ^namely, "diamond type,** "agate type,** and "emerald type*'; this latter designation is employed only in England, where "agate type** is called "ruby type.** Another size was denominated "pearl type.**

A fanciful tale written not long ago treats of the practical inconveniences which would result, could such metaphorical expressions find a realization in fact.*^ At the birth-feast of a certain princess, one of the fairies was not invited ; she, nevertheless, made her appearance. After the other fairies had endowed the child with many good qualities, the neglected fairy said, "I will give her vanity, and her vanity shall change her beauty to the things it is said to resemble. * * However, a friendly fairy

*yima Sheard, "The Jewelled Princess/' in Canadian Magazine.

SUPERSTITIONS AND THEIR SOURCES 13

came to the rescue, saying, '^I will give her tinselfishnessi and by it she shall turn her beauty back to what she wishes it to be.''

The result can easily be imagined. As the little princess grew up, those who wished to flatter her vanity spoke of her ** teeth of pearl,*' of her ** golden hair," of her * * coral lips, ' ' and of her ' * sapphire eyes. ' ' Upon this her teeth changed to pearls, her hair to spun gold, her lips to coral, and her eyes to two magnificent sapphires. However, beautiful as these were, they did not grant the power of sight, so that the unhappy princess became blind. Not long after this a revolution deprived the king and queen of their throne and they were reduced to great poverty. In these straits the daughter sacrificed her ** gold-hair" to relieve their wants, and inmiediately the spell was dissolved and she regained all her natural beauty.

Shelley, who saw the world illumined by the rainbow hues of poetic fancy, wrote of ** diamond eyes," **an emerald sky," **the emerald heaven of trees," "tiie sap- phire ocean," ** sapphire-tinted skies," **the sapphire floods of interstellar air," and ''the chrysolite of sun- rise." For some reason, he does not use the ruby, a favorite stone with many poets, and psychologists might find in this a proof that red appeals less strongly to the idealist than do the other colors.

The principal literary sources for the talismanic and therapeutic virtues attributed to ornamental stones may be divided into several groups, at first more or less inde- pendent of each other, but combined to a greater or lesser extent by later writers. Pliny gives, sometimes rather grudgingly, a number of superstitions current in his time, but the Alexandrian literature of the second, third, and fourth Christian centuries provides a much richer field

Va

>.> -

14 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES

for these superstitions, as shown in the Orphic poem **Lithica,'' the * * Cyrianides/ ^ attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, the little treatise * * On Rivers, ' ' which bore the name of Plutarch, and last, but not least, in the work by Damigeron, which purported to be written by an Arab king named Evax, and sent by him to Tiberius or Nero. The influence exerted by the legends surrounding the stones of the high priest's breastplate, and those chosen as foundation stones for the New Jerusalem, will be treated of elsewhere.

In the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, a new literature on this subject made its appearance, probably in Asia Minor. Some of the works were originally written in Syriac and later translated into Arabic. Others were composed in the latter language. This source was drawn upon for the production of the Lapi- darium of Alfonso X, of Castile. This compilation, although dating in its present Spanish form from the thirteenth century, is based upon a much older original in *^Chaldee'' (Syriac t). There can be little doubt that many Hindu superstitions, no longer preserved for us in the literature of India, are reproduced in these Syrio- Arabic works, wherein we have also noiuch that is of Alexandrian origin. This indeed is easily explained by history, for the Arabs, through their widely extended conquests, were led to absorb and amalgamate the date they secured, directly or indirectly, from the East and the West.

While this literature was developing in the Moham- medan world, the tradition of Pliny and Solinus was transmitted to the Christian world of the seventh and succeeding centuries by Isidorus of Seville. This brings us to the remarkable poetical treatise on the virtues of precious stones by Marbodus, Bishop of Rennes, a work

SUPERSTITIONS AND THEIR SOURCES 15

written at the end of the eleventh centnry, and often qnoted as that of Evax ; indeed, it purports to be by him and really contains a good part of the material com- posing the treatise of Damigeron or Evax. At the same time Marbodns drew freely upon Pliny, either directly or through Isidoms. For the Middle Ages this poem of Marbodns, already translated into Old French in the twelfth century, became known as the **Lapidario'' par excellence, and furnished a

great part of their material to l^Ji A R T^ C^ ^ medieval authors on this sub- \^^ f^it^oirAaVB ject. Soon, however, extracts wffHiiiii^uAmffmikudkik

from the Arabic sources be- *^**S2ir*^^''

came available, and the whole

mass of heterogeneous ma- ■'^"{JLiL^Ii^^ *"•

terial was worked over and

recombined in a variety of ^^....^^r^t-Ai^

ways. llicaflrf«,MMiMi«M»^lit9i

This complex origin of the ^^SW^ traditions explains their almost incomprehensible contradic- ah ho m. d*

tions regarding the virtues as- xxxn

signed to the different stones, poetillu^tSe^Vrp'r^Sot^^^^^^^ and also the fact that the SSSSiTwif''*''''^^*™''^'^*^^ qualities of one stone are fre- quently attributed to another one, so that, in the later works on this subject, it becomes quite impossible to pre- sent a satisfactory view of the distinguishing qualities and virtues of the separate stones. The habit of copying, without discrimination or criticism, whatever came to hand, and the aim to utilize as much of the borrowed ma- terial as possible, is scarcely less a characteristic of the seventeenth and eighteenth century writers than it is of those of a later date. This is in part an excusable and

16 THE CUBIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

even an unavoidable defect, bnt it should be minimized as much as possible.

The treatise known nnder the title "Cyrianides" was,

as we have noted, a product of the Alexandrian schooL

It was asserted to be the work of Hermes Trismegistus,

the name given by the Greeks to the Egyptian god Thoth.

Here we have a specimen of

T^ -r ■ -m-^ ^® species of magic known as

j^_/\_ J[^j|^|^j3 J^ litteromancy, or divination by

PIPHaNII £PI« means of the letters of the

SCOPI CYPR.I AD Dio. alphabet, since a stone, a bird,

S^^tteiSJ^ » plant, and a fish, each begin-

lib«rGnteut,&iK^oiMUtiB«* Bing with the same letter and

"'iSSSS'CSSr' rignifying the fonr elements,

diGciaen. are given for each of the

twenty-four letters of the Greek

alphabet. These four objects

were to be grouped together to

form a talisman, the bird being

usually engraved on the stone,

while a portion of the fish and

TtarMX Maijcrr ^^ ^^^ plant was placed in the

«.u j.u B—j.- .... ^62^1 of the ring in which the

Tltla paca of tba Bnt xLtioD ol tb* °

1»M (ISeS) br Coand O— _. ....

the exceedingly curious and m- teresting treatise by St. Epiphanius, Bishop of Con- stantia, on the twelve gems on the ' ' Breastplate of Judg- ment" of the high priest (Ex., xxviii, 15-21). Thisxmique production is in the form of a letter addressed to Dio- doms. Bishop of Tyre, and it is peculiarly valuable as the

' De MHj, " Lea lapidairea de rantiqniti et du moyen-Sge," vol. ii, "Lea Upidurea greca," Paria, 1898, pp. 1-50.

SUPERSTITIONS AND THEIR SOURCES 17

first of a long series of attempts to elucidate the question as to the identity of the twelve stones. The special virtues of each stone are also given, and this treatise may be regarded as the prototype of all the Christian writings on the symbolism of stones.

A most interesting medieval treatise on the virtues of precious stones forms part of the De rerum natura of Thomas de Gantimpre (1201-1270), who was a pupil of Albertus Magnus and composed his work between 1230 and 1244. The tj r c T^ /^ ry -xr Latin text has never been printed, rl 1 ^ A yJ -K X but the book was translated into -. ^^ i German by Konrad von Megenberg J CWCISa about 1350. Strange to say, the ^^ ^ ^ pmAmA rii4im ^r translator did not know the name of the EAStiSTwEST. the writer and supposed when he njJJ^rf^iSw*. rf a- began to translate the book that it mo^ Faaooi Tntdfen of was by Albertus Magnus. In many ^ ^iLrfl* ^

cases Thomas de Cantimpre merely fair Di9CovBRitf^ copies the statements of older au- vntrtttrt nrf tfjiim.

thors, but occasionally he gives us t,o n * • ir.

new material, or at least a new ver- '^s^VJ^totaS^^ sion of his originals. th»nr#»AwH^iw<

fjn^ J J. 1 vM THIepafeofoneoftheearil-

Ine renowned meoievai pml- eit tn»tiMa on pnoioui ftoiiM

^ i_— jxi-i'^ Aii_x published in England.

osopher and theologian, Albertus Magnus (1193-1280), for a short time Bishop of Batisbon, and who later taught theology in the University of Paris and had the great iSt Thomas Aquinas for a pupil, was not altogether free from the superstitious notions of his time, traces of which appear in certain of his numerous writings. Many years after his death some of this material was extracted from his works and, amplified by additions from other sources, was pubUshed under the title ** Secrets des vertus des Herbes, Pierres

2

18 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

et Bestes." Of this there are two versions, one being an epitome of the other and termed respectively **Le Grand Albert'' and **Le Petit Albert/' These little books were often reprinted and widely circulated, and eventually enjoyed great popularity among the French peasants. Indeed, even to the present day they may still be met with in out-of-the-way parts of rural France. Among literary deceptions one of the boldest was that practised in the early part of the seventeenth century by Ludovico Dolce. This writer made, in 1565, a literal translation into Italian of the ** Speculum lapidum" of Camillo Leonardo, printed in Venice in 1502, and he had the courage to issue it as his own work, under the title ^'Trattato delle gemme che produce la natura." In view of the general familiarity with Latin among the better classes at that period, and the numerous fine libraries existing in Venice at the time, it seems most extraordinary that Dolce should have been successful in palming off this work as his own, but even to-day cita- tions are made from Dolce 's *'Trattato delle gemme" and from Leonardo's '* Speculum lapidum," as though these were distinct works.

n

iDn fi^t (3j3e of ptttioa^ anti ^tmUpxttUm^

^If^HE use of precious stones in early times as amulets ^U^ and talismans is shown in many ancient records, and several scholars have assumed that the belief in the magic efficacy of stones gave rise to their use as objects of personal adornment. It is, of course, very difficult either to prove or to disprove such a theory, for, even in the case of the oldest texts, we must bear in mind that they do not in the least represent primitive conditions, and that many thousands of years must have elapsed before a people could attain the grade of civilization necessary for the production of even the simplest litera- ture. For this reason, certain investigators have pre- ferred to seek for a solution of this problem in the cus- toms and habits of the so-called uncivilized peoples of our own time; but we must not forget that conditions which seem to us very rudimentary are, nevertheless, the result of a long process of development. Even if this development was arrested many centuries or millenniums ago, it must have required a very considerable period of time to evolve such usages and conventions as are found even among the lowest races. Indeed, many uncivilized peoples have very complicated rules and observances, testifying to considerable thought and reflection.

Fetichism in all its forms depends upon an imperfect conception of what constitutes life and conscious being, so that will and thought are attributed to inanimate

10

20 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

objects. We can observe this in the case of animals and very young children, who regard any moving object as endowed with life. In the case of stones, however, it seems probable that those supposed to be the abode of spirits, good or evil, were selected because their natural form suggested that of some animal or of some portion of the human body. On the other hand, the wearing of what we call precious stones is more likely to have been due to the attraction exercised by bright colors upon the eye of the beholder and to the desire to display some distinguishing mark that would command attention and admiration for the wearer. This tendency runs through the higher animal kingdom, and its workings have served as a foundation for the theory of natural selection.

It seems likely that we have here the true explanation of the motive for the gathering, preserving, and wearing of precious stones. Since these objects are motionless, they can scarcely have impressed the mind of primitive man with the idea that they were alive; they were not imposing by their mass, as were large stones, and their crystalline form scarcely figured any known living shape. Hence their chief, we may even say their only attrac- tion was their color and brilliancy. What effect these qualities had upon the visual sense of primitive man may be safely inferred from the effect such objects pro- duce upon infants. The baby has no fear in regard to a small and brilliantly colored object which is shown to it, but will eagerly put out its hand to seize, hold, and gaze upon a bright-colored stone. As the object is quite pas- sive and easily handled, there is nothing to suggest any lurking power to harm, and therefore there is nothing to interfere with the pleasurable sensation aroused in the optic nerve by the play of color. In this naive admira- tion of what is brilliant and colored, the infant undoubt-

1. Necklace of rock-crystal and amethyst beads, transparent and translucent; very pale;

from Egypt. First century.

2. Necklace of antique emeralds with gold beads and amason stones; from Egypt. First

century a.d.

TALISMANS AND AMULETS 21

edly represents for us the mental attitude of primitive man.

Probably the first objects chosen for personal adorn- ment were those easily strung or bound together, — for instance, certain perforated shells and brilliant seeds; the softer stones, wherein holes could be easily bored by the help of the simplest tools, probably came next, while the harder gems must have been hoarded as pretty toys long before they could be adjusted for use as ornaments.

Unquestionably, when these objects had once been worn, there was a disposition to attribute certain hap- penings to their influence and power, and in this way there arose a belief in their efficacy, and, finally, the con- viction that they were the abodes of powerful spirits. In this, as in many other things, man's first and instinctive appreciation was the truest, and it has required cen- turies of enlightenment to bring us back to this love of precious stones for their esthetic beauty alone. Indeed, even to-day, we can see the power of superstitious belief in the case of the opal, which some timid people still fear to wear, although until three or four centuries ago this stone was thought to combine all the virtues of the various colored gems, the hues of which are united in its sparkling light.

A proof that bright and colored objects were attrac- tive in themselves, and were first gathered up and pre- served by primitive man for this reason alone, may be found in the fact that certain birds, notable the CMamy- dera of Australia, related to our ravens, after construct- ing for themselves pretty arbors, strew the floors with variegated pebbles, so arranged as to suggest a mosaic pavement. At the entrance of the arbors are heaped up pieces of bone, shells, feathers, and stones, which have often been brought from a considerable distance, this

22 THE CURIOUS LOBE OF PRECIOUS STONES

giving evidence that the birds have not selected these objects at randonu It is strange that the attraction ex- ercised upon the sense of sight by anything brilliant and colored^ which is at the same time easily portable and can be handled or wom^ should be overlooked by those who are disposed to assert that all ornaments of this kind were originally selected and preserved solely or principally because of their supposed talismanic qualities.

The theory that colored and brilliant stones were first collected by men because of their beauty rather than because of their talismanic virtues, is corroborated by the statement made that seals select with considerable care the stones they swallow, and observers on the fishing grounds have noted this and believe that pebbles of chalcedony and serpentine found there have been brought by the seals.^

The popular derivation of the word ** amulet'* from an Arabic word hamaldt, signifying something suspended or worn, is not accepted by the best Arabic scholars, and it seems probable that the name is of Latin ori^, in spite of the fact that no very satisfactory etymology can be given. Pliny's use of amuletum shows that with him the word did not always denote an object that was worn on the person, although this later became its meaning. The old etymology given by Varro (118-29 B.C.), who derived amuletum from the verb amoliri, **to remove,'* **to drive away," may not be quite in accord with modem philology, but still has something to recommend it as far as the sense goes, for the amulet was certainly believed to hold dangers aloof, or even to remove them. Talis-

* Lucas, " The Swallowing Stones by Seals,'* Science, N. S., vol. xx, No. 512, pp. 537, 538; Report of Fur Seal Investigation, vol. iii, p. 68.

TALISMANS AND AMULETS 23

man, however, a word not nsed in classical times, un- doubtedly comes from the Arabic tilsam, this being in turn derived from riX9<rpui^ used in late Greek to signify an initiation, or an incantation.

It has been remarked that in the earliest Stone Age there is no trace of either idols or images ; the art of this period being entirely profane. In the later Stone Age, however, entirely different ideas seem to have gained the ascendancy, for a majority of the objects of plastic art so far discovered have a religious significance. This has evidently proceeded from the conception that every image of a living object absorbs something of the essence of the object itself, and this conception, while a primitive one, still presupposes a certain degree of development. This rule applies more especially to amulets, which were therefore fashioned as beautifully as primitive art per- mitted, that they might become fitting abodes for the benevolent spirits believed to animate them and render them efficacious.^

A curious idol or talisman from Houailou, New Cale- donia, is in the collection of Signer Giglioli. This is a stone bearing naturally a rude resemblance to the human form.* We can easily understand that such an object was looked upon as the abode of some spirit, for similar strange natural formations have been regarded with a species of superstitious awe by peoples much more civil- ized than the natives of New Caledonia.

For the Middle Ages and even down to the seven- teenth century, the talismanic virtues of precious stones were believed in by high and low, by princes and peas-

■ Hoernes, " Urgeschichte der bildenden Kunst," Wien, 1898, p. 108.

•Giglioli, "Materiale per lo studio della 'EUl della Pietra,'" Archivio per TAntropologia e l^tnologia, vol. xzzi, p. 83, Firenze, 1901.

24 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES

ants, by the learned as well as by the ignorant. Here and there, however, a note of scepticism was sometimes apparent, as in the famons reply of the court jester of Emperor Charles V, to the question, **What is the prop- erty of the turquoise?'* **Why,'' replied he, **if you should happen to fall from a high tower whilst you were wearing a turquoise on your finger, the turquoise would remain unbroken/'

The doctrine of sympathy and antipathy found ex- pression in the belief that the very substance of certain stones was liable to modification by the condition of health or even by the thoughts of the wearer. In case of sickness or approaching death the lustre of the stones was dimmed, or else their bright colors were darkened, and unfaithfulness or perjury produced similar phe- nomena. Concerning the turquoise, the prosaic explana- tion can be offered that this stone is affected to a certain extent by the secretions of the skin ; but popular super- stition saw the same phenomena in the ruby, the dia- mond, and other stones not possessing the sensitiveness of the turquoise. Hence the true explanation is to be found in the prevailing idea that an occult sympathy existed between stone and wearer. The sentiment un- derlying the conception is well expressed by Emerson in the following lines from **The Amulet'';

Oive me an amulet

That keeps intelligence with you, — Red when you love, and rosier red,

And when you love not, pale and blue.

A Persian legend of the origin of diamonds and pre- cious stones shows that in the East these beautiful ob- jects were looked upon as the source of much sin and sorrow. We are told that when God created the world he made no useless things, such as gold, silver, precious

TALISMANS AND AMULETS 25

BtoneSy and diamonds; bnt Satan, who is always eager to bring evil among men, kept a close watch to spy ont the appetites and passions of the human mind. To his great satisfaction he noted that Eve passionately loved the many-colored flowers that decked the Garden of Eden ; he therefore undertook to imitate their brightness and color out of earth, and in this way were produced colored precious stones and diamonds. These in after time so strongly appealed to the greed and covetousness of mankind that they have been the cause of much crime and wretchedness.^

The present age could afford us nearly as many ex- amples of faith in talismans and amulets as any epoch in the past, if people were willing to confess their real beliefs. However, they are half-ashamed of their fond- ness for such objects, and fail to see that, back of all the folly and superstition that may find expression in this way, there is a deeper meaning in these talismans than we at first perceive. We may be disposed to smile when we are told that many of the soldiers in the Austro-Prus- sian War of 1866 carried amulets of some kind upon their persons, and that the great Marshal Canrobert trusted to the protection of an amulet in the Crimean campaign. Of course the Russian army, during the Busso-Japanese War, was amply provided with amulets, religious medals or pictures to which a special virtue had been given by a priestly blessing.

In all these cases, however, it is not the object itself, but the idea for which it stands and which it incorporates, that gives confidence to the wearer, and in this sense the wearing of a talisman is no more a proof of blind super-

^Rose, '' Handleiding tot de Kennis van diamanten/' etc., Am- sterdam, 1891, p. 110.

26 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES

Btition than is the devotion to a flag, in itself only a few square feet of silk or bunting, but, nevertheless, the symbol of the noblest ideas and feelings, of patriotic de- votion to one's native land and to one's fellow-country- men. The tendency to give a substantial visible form to an abstract idea is so deeply rooted in humanity that it must be looked upon as responding to a human neces- sity. It is only very rarely that purely intellectual con- ceptions can satisfy us ; they must be given some exter- nal, palpable and visible form to exert their greater influences.

Although it may bear a certain superficial likeness to fetichism, this use of signs and symbols is something entirely and radically different, for the idea is never lost sight of, it is only strengthened and vivified by the con- templation of the symbol. Hence, while we know quite well that the symbol is nothing in itself, we know just as well that it has a real power in its relation to the idea it typifies, and we can no more be indifferent to its injury or destruction than we could be indifferent to the injury or destruction of a cherished memento of one whom we have loved and lost.

What super-subtle sense is it that enables some women to endow their gems with a certain individuality, and leads them to feel that these cold, inanimate objects partake of human emotion! A French writer, Mme. Catulle Mendes, gives expression to this when she says that she always wears as many of her rings as possible, because her gems feel slighted when she leaves them unworn. She continues :

I have a ruby which grows dull, two turquoises which become pale as death, aquamarines which look like siren's eyes filled with tears, when I forget them too long. How sad I should feel if precious stones did not love to rest upon me !

TALISMANS AND AMULETS 27

A very beautiful and curious object was found in the Australian opal-fields in 1909. This is a reptilean skeleton resembling a small serpent that has become opalized by natural processes. Perfect in all its de- tails, which are rendered more striking by the splendid play of color, this specimen of Nature's handiwork pos- sesses a beauty and an interest exceeding those to be found in any work of man. As an amulet it certainly is sui generis, and in ancient times would have been valued at an immense sum, for the figure of a serpent was a favorite symbol of medical science; even to-day there is little doubt that this strange object will be eagerly sought for by collectors, and will appeal more especially to all who are interested in occult science, and to all who appreciate the poetic and perhaps mystic sig- nificance of form, sign, and symbol.

It is impossible to over-estimate the effect of color in determining the supposed influence of gems upon the fortunes or health of the wearers. When we gaze upon the beautiful play of light emitted by a fine ruby or sap- phire, we are all conscious of the aesthetic effect pro- duced ; but in earlier times, when scientific ideas were not yet prevalent, many other considerations combined to give a peculiar significance to these brilliant gems. Bare and costly as they were, they were supposed to possess mystic and occult powers and were thought to be the abode of spirits, sometimes benevolent and sometimes malevolent, but always endowed with the power to in- fluence human destinies for weal or woe. Coupled with this was the instinctive appreciation of the essential qualities of certain rays of light, and modem science, far from doing away with these ideas, has rather seemed to find a good reason for them. We all know the thera- peutic value of the ultra-violet rays, and when the unin-

28 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

stmcted mind saw therein the embodiment of purity and chastity, it perhaps realized this health-giving and bene- ficent function* In the same way the idea of passion was associated with the red and radiant ruby, another concept the relative truth of which has been demon- strated by spectrum analysis, since the red rays are heat- giving and vivifying. But this was not the only source of these primitive ideas in regard to color; the thera- peutic effect was often sought and found in some fancied analogy between the color of the gem and the character of the malady or infirmity to be cured. Thus, yellow stones were supposed to be especially efficacious in cases of jaundice, an instance of instinctive homoeopathy, based on the dictum similia similibus curantur. Following out this train of thought, the red stones were endowed with the power of checking the flow of blood; especially the so-called bloodstone was prescribed for this use, and it was supposed that by its mere touch it could stop the most violent hemorrhages. Green was regarded as the color most beneficial for the sight, and to the emerald and other green stones was ascribed great curative power in this respect. Here, however, the simple influence of the color was later combined with its symbolical signifi- cance. In heathen mythology this showed itself in the ascription of the emerald to Venus, as the exponent of the reproductive energies of nature, while in the Chris- tian conception these stones became typical of the resur- rection, of the birth into a new and purer life. Nowhere can we find a better illustration of the transforming effect of distinct and diametrically opposite concepts upon the impressions made by natural objects. The pure and colorless and yet brilliant stones, such as the diamond and all other white stones, were naturally

TALISMANS AND AMULETS 29

brought into connection with the moon, although the diamond, becanse of its superior qualities and excep- tional brilliance and value, was frequently looked upon as the gem of the stul All gems associated with the moon partook of its enigmatic character. Illuminating the witching hour of the night, when malevolent and treach- erous spirits were supposed to hold sway, the moon was sometimes regarded as baleful, as may be seen in the idea that associated lunacy with exposure to the bright rays of the moon ; at other times it was supposed to have the power to conjure these evil influences and to drive off the powers of darkness.

The symbolical significance of the colors of precious stones is treated at considerable length by Giacinto Gimma,*^ who has gathered together a great quantity of material on the subject.

Yellow worn by a man denoted secrecy, and was ap- propriate for the silent lover ; worn by a woman it indi- cated generosity. Golden yellow was, of course, the symbol of the sun and of Sunday. The precious stone was the chrysolite or the yellow jacinth. The animal connected with the color was the lion, doubtless from the association of the zodiacal sign Leo with the mid- summer sun. Of the seven ages of man yellow typified adolescence. Boman matrons covered their heads with a yellow veil to show their hope of offspring and happi- ness. Because garments of this color were a sign of grandeur and nobility, a golden vestment is assigned to the Queen of Heaven as a sign of her pre-eminence, as we read in Psalm xlv, 9 : ^'IJpon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.'' Gimma's explanation of

"'DeQa storia naturale delle Qemme/' Napoli, 1730, YoL I, pp. 131-137.

80 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

this as referring to the Virgin Mary is in accord with the Catholic exegesis of his time.

White signified for men friendship, religion, integ- rity; for women, contemplation, affability, and purity. It was associated with the moon and with Monday and was represented by the pearl. The animal having an aflSnity with white was quite naturally the ermine. The mystic number was seven, and white was the color of in- fancy. Among the ancients white was a sign of mourn- ing and sadness, and the Greek matrons attired them- selves in white on the death of their husbands. Gimma states that in his tnne, in Rome, widows used to wear white as mourning for their husbands, while throughout Italy a white band worn around the head was a sign of widowhood.

Red garments on a man indicated command, nobility, lordship, and vengeance; on a woman, pride, obstinacy, and haughtiness. This was the color of the planet Mars and of Tuesday; it was represented by the ruby. Why the lynx should have been selected as the animal for red is rather difficult to understand, but, as the most vivid color, the choice of red as a type of full manhood need not surprise us. Its number was the potent nine, three multiplied by itself. The ancients covered with a red cloth the biers of those who had died valiantly in battle, as Homer ® shows when he relates that the brothers and companions of Hector covered the urn containing the hero's ashes with soft purple (scarlet) robes. Plutarch asserts that the Lacedemonians clothed their soldiers in red to strike terror into the hearts of their enemies and to manifest a thirst for blood. We might perhaps say much the same of the English ** red-coats * ' to-day. The

• H., xxiv, 795, 796.

TALISMANS AND AMULETS 81

t

Italian code of criminal laws known as the ^^Digesto Nuovo'^ was bound in red, to signify that a bloody death awaited thieves and murderers.

Blue on a man's dress indicated wisdom and high and magnanimous thoughts; on a woman's dress, jealousy in love, politeness, and vigilance. Friday and Venus were represented by blue, and the celestial-hued sapphire was the stone in which this color appeared in allTtsl^eauty. Blue was a fit symbol of the age of childhood, but it is less easy to understand the choice of the goat as the animal associated with the color. The significant number was six. Natural science, the contemplation of the heavens and of the heavenly bodies, and the study of stellar influences were all typified by blue.

Green signified for men joyousness, transitory hope, and the decline of friendship; for women, unfounded ambition, childish delight, and change. The early ver- dure of spring might be regarded as at once a symbol of hope and of eventual disappointment, for it must soon paas away. Mercury, and Wednesday, the day of Mer- cury, were both typified by green, the sly fox being selected as the animal is sympathy with the wily god. The typical green stone is the emerald, youth is the age of man represented by the color, and five the magic number expressing it. In ancient times green was used in the case of those who died in the flower of youth, an emerald being sometimes placed on the index-finger of the corpse, as a sign that the light of hope was spent, for the lower part of the torches used in religious cere- monies was marked with green. Fulvius Pellegrinus re- lates that, in the tomb of Tullia, the dearly-beloved daughter of Cicero, there was found an emerald, the most beautiful that had ever been seen. This passed into the hands of the Marchesana di Mantova, Isabella Gonzaga

32 THE CURIOUS LOBE OP PRECIOUS STONES

da Este. In Italy the graves of young virgins and of children were covered with green branches. When the Codex Justinianus was rediscovered and added to the other Pandects, it was bound in green to signify that these laws were rejuvenated.

Black for men means gravity, good sense, constancy, and fortitude; for young women, fickleness and foolish- ness, but for married women, constant love and perse- verance. The planet Saturn and Saturday are denoted by black. Strange to say, the diamond, the white gem par excellence, was selected to represent this sombre hue. Perhaps to offset this the animal chosen was the hog. As black was a mourning color, we need not be sur- prised that it typified decrepitude. The number eight, the double square, was supposed to have some affinity with black. Black is a symbol of envy, for the thoughts which aim at another's injury cloud the soul and afflict the body. The book of laws treating of dispositions made in view of death was bound in black. The sinister sig- nificance of black is well illustrated by what is told of the ruthless Tartar Tamerlane. When he attacked a city, he caused a white tent to be pitched for himself on the first day of the siege, as a sign that mercy would be shown to the inhabitants if they immediately sur- rendered ; on the second day a red tent was substituted, signifying that if the city yielded, all the leaders would be put to death; on the third day, however, a black tent was raised, an ominous signal that no mercy would be shown and that all the inhabitants would be slaughtered.

Violet for a man denoted sober judgment, industry, and gravity; for a woman, high thoughts and religious love. It was the color of the planet Jupiter and of Thursday. As with blue, the sapphire was conceived to

TALISMANS AND AMULETS 33

present violet most attractively. That the bull should be selected as the animal represented by this color prob- ably arose from some mythological connection with Jupi- ter, possibly the myth of Europa and the bull. Violet was the color of old age and was associated with the number three. / The influence of color upon the nerves has been noted \ by some of the leading authorities on hypnotism. For ; example, Dr. Paul Ferez, finding that red light is stimu- lating and blue-violet calming, suggests that those who treat patients by means of hypnotism should have two ' rooms for their reception. Li one of these rooms the curtains, wall-paper, chair-coverings, etc., would be red, while in the other they would be of a violet-blue hue. Those suffering from a lack of will-power or from lassi- tude and depression are to be received in the red room, and those who are a prey to over-excitability are intro- duced into the blue room. Moreover, according to Dr. Ferez, the sedative qualities of the violet-blue can be utilized in inducing the hypnotic state. For this pur- pose he recommends a violet-blue disk, which is to be rotated rapidly before the eyes of the patient, the move- ment serving to attract and hold his gaze better than any immovable object would do.''

Bed stones such as rubies, carbuncles, and garnets, whose color suggested that of blood, were not only be- lieved to confer invulnerability from wounds, but some Asiatic tribes have used garnets as bullets, upon the contrary principle that this blood-colored stone would inflict a more deadly wound than would a leaden bullet. Siech bullets were used by the rebellious Hanzas^ in

* Paper by Dr. Paul Ferez in the Revne de FHypnotisme, Paris, No. 10, April, 1906, p. 306. 8

/

34 THE CURIOUS LOBE OP PRECIOUS STONES

1892, during their hostilities with the British troops on the Kashmir frontier, and many of these precious mis- siles were preserved as curiosities.

In his *^ Colloquy on Pilgrimages, '* Erasmus makes one of the speakers ask, ^^Dost thou not see how the artificer Nature delights to represent all things by colors and forms, but more especially in gems f ' ' He then pro- ceeds to enumerate the various images of natural objects in stones. In the ceraunia appeared the thunder-bolt; in the pyrope, living fire; the chalazia (rock-crystal) preserved the form and coldness of the hailstone even if cast into the fire. In the emerald were shown the deep and translucent waves of the sea ; the carcinia imitated the form of crabs ; the echites, of vipers ; the hieracites, of hawks ; the geranites, of cranes. The aetites offered the image of an eagle with a white tail ; the taos had the form of a peacock ; the chelonites, of an asp ; while the myrmecites bore within the figure of an ant.® The stones bearing this latter name were probably specimens of amber containing ants.

The Greek names of these stones enumerated by Erasmus signify their real or supposed resemblance to certain natural objects, or to something characteristic of such objects. Many of them were fossils, preserving the form of some living organism; a few were entirely fabulous; still others owed their names to some legend or myth illustrating their fancied therapeutic virtues, as in the case of the aetites (eagle-stone) said to be found in the eagle's nest. Evidently this was a quartz pebble.

The oldest magic formulas that have been preserved

for us are those of the Sumerians, the founders of the

■ — *^ ■ — ■ — —

•Erasmi, "Colloquia," LipsiiB, 1713, pp. 697-8. Suggested by Pliny, lib. xxzvii, cap. 71-73.

TALISMANS AND AMULETS 35

ancient civilization of Babylonia. Some of them contain references to the nse of precious stones as amulets, as appears in the following specimen:

Cords of light-colored wool,

Offered ( f ) with a pure hand,

Por jaundice of the eye,

Bind on the right side (of the patient).

A lululti ring, with sparkling stones

Brought from his own land.

For inflammation of the eye,

On the little finger

Of his left (hand), place.*

A curious Babylonian mythological text represents the solar diety Ninib, the son of Bel, as determining the fate of various stones by pronouncing a blessing O'r a curse upon them. For instance, the dolomite was blessed and declared to be fit material for the statues of kings, while a substance called the elu stone was cursed, pro- claimed to be unfit for working, and doomed to disin- tegration. Alabaster was favored by the god, but chal- cedony aroused his anger and was condemned.*®

In these Sumero- Assyrian inscriptions, there is also mention of two stones, the ahan rdme and the aban la rdme, the ** Stone of Love'* and the ** Stone of Hate^' (lit. ** non-love *').** Evidently these stones were believed to excite one or other of these contradictory passions in the hearts of the wearers, and they may be compared with the stones of memory and forgetfulness in the ''Gesta Bomanorum.*'

In an ancient Egyptian burial-place at Shech Abd el-

* Morris Jastrowy ''Die Religion Bahyloniens nnd Assyriens/' vol. i, Giessen, 1905, p. 374.

* Morris Jastrow, 1. c., p. 462.

^ Delitzsch, " Assyrisches Worterbuch,'' Leipzig, 1896, p. 604.

36 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES

Quma, excavated by Passalaqna, was found the mnminy of a young woman. Not only was it evident from the ' rich ornaments adorning the body that she had been of noble birthy but it was also apparent that she must have been exceedingly beautiful in form and feature, and must have died in the flower of her age. The hair was artis- tically braided and adorned with twenty bronze hair- pins. About her neck was a remarkably beautiful neck- lace composed of four rows of beads with numerous pendants representing divinities and sacred symbols. There were also two smaller necklaces with beads of gold, lapis-lazuliy and camelian ; two large jewelled ear- rings hung from her ears, and on the index-finger of her right hand was a ring set with a scarab; a gold belt garnished with lapis-lazuli and carnelians was bound about her waist and a gold bracelet adorned with semi- precious stones encircled her left wrist. In the sarco- phagus was a beautiful mirror of golden-yellow bronze, and three alabaster vases, one still containing some balm or. perfume, and another some galena (native lead sul- phide) to be used as a cosmetic for the eyes, as well as a little ebony pencil for its application. All these objects are now in the Egyptian collection of the Berlin Museum, and they probably belong to the period of the XVIII Dynasty, about 1500 b.c.

The principal necklace was undoubtedly regarded by the fair Egyptian as an amulet of great power, but it failed to protect her from an untimely end; perhaps, however, its virtues may have aided her soul in its pas- sage through the trials and tests imposed in the under- world. Of the numerous pendants which lent to the neck- lace its peculiar quality as an amulet, three, in camelian, figure the god Bes; seven, also in camelian, the hippo-

of rock crystal, cmerBldg, hencoDBl cryatali. ■nd mmaion atoDei: from Egypt, ofonyi uidgold beads with Ihe " Lucky Ey8"iu[Bte«! from Egypt. Camelisn.

TALISMANS AND AMULETS 87

potamus-goddess Toeris, of whom there are besides two representations in lapis-laznli ; then we have a heart of lapis-lazuli ; a cat of lapis-lazuli ; four falcons of came- lian; one crocodile of camelian and two of lapis-lazuli ; four fish of camelian^ as well as two others of a blackish- white and of a green stone, respectively, and two scor- pions of camelian, and seven flower-forms of the same stone. The greater part of the beads in this necklace are of annular form, of gold, electnun, ivory, or lapis- lazuli ; there are a few larger annular or spherical beads of camelian, chrysoprase, and malachite, and measuring up to 3.5 cm. in diameter.^*

A necklace, from the time of the Old Empire (c. 3500 B.C.), and having for its chief adornment a turquoise pendant rudely fashioned into the form of an ibex, was found by the German Orient-Gesellschaft at Abusir el- Meleq in 1905. This necklace, the parts of which were found about the neck of a body, presumably that of a young man, was composed of rounded and annular beads of camelian and shell, as well as of flat, perforated frag- ments of turquoise and almandine garnet and an ap- proximately lozenge-shaped bead of amethyst 1.7 cm. «• long and 1.4 cm. broad. The chief ornament was the

tf turquoise ibex 1.7 cm. in length and 0.9 cm. high.^^ This

figure suggests a comparison with the animal and bird forms fashioned out of turquoise that have been found in Indian graves in Arizona and New Mexico, and it probably had the quality of a fetich, or at least of a

" '' Aegyptische (Joldschmiedearbeit/' ed. by Heinrich Schaffer, Berlin, 1910, pp. 25-32; necklace figured on PI. Y, other objects on

Pis. v-vn.

" Ibid., p. 14, Pi. n, figs. 3a, 3b.

^

38 THE CITBIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES

talisman, intended to guard the wearer of the necklace from harm.

That there was in Egypt a strong inclination to use a certain particular stone for a given amulet, will be noted in the case of those inscribed with special chapters of the Book of the Dead. This is also true of amulets of certain forms. For instance, the head-rest amulet is usually of hematite as is also the carpenter's square. Of the heart amulets, numbering 47 in the rich collec- tions of the Cairo Museum, nine are of camelian, four of hematite, two of lapis-lazuli, and two each of green porphyry and green jasper, camelian being thus the most favored among the more precious materials. Amulets of animal form are plentifully represented in this collec- tion, figuring a large variety of members of the animal kingdom such as the hippopotamus, crocodile, lion, bull, cow, hare, dog-headed ape, cat, dog (somewhat doubtful), jackal, hedgehog, frog, hawk, cobra and fishes, to which list may be added a four-headed ram and a ram-headed sphinx."

One of the special uses of amulets was for seafaring people, for, in ancient times especially, all who went down to the sea in ships were greatly in need of protec- tion from the fury of the elements when they embarked in their small sailing-vessels. A fragment of a Greek Lapidary,^* probably written in the third or fourth cen- tury of our era, gives a list of seven amulets peculiarly adapted for this purpose. The number might suggest a connection with the days of the week, and the amulets

^See Reisner, ^'Catalogue g^n^rale des antiquity dgyptiennes da Mus^ dn Caire: Amulets'' Le Caire, 1907.

"Pitra, ''Speeilegium Solesmense/' Parisiis, 1855, voL iii, p. 393.

TALISMANS AND AMULETS 39

were perhaps regarded as most efficacious when used on the respective days.

In the first were set a carbuncle and a chalcedony; this amulet protected sailors from drowning. The second had for its gem either of two varieties of the adamas, — one, the Macedonian, being likened to ice (this was prob- ably rock-crystal), while the other, the Indian, of a silvery hue, may possibly have been our corundum ; however, the Macedonian stone was regarded as the better. The third amulet bore the beryl, '^transparent, brilliant, and of a sea-green hue," evidently the aquamarine beryl; this banished fear. The fourth had for its gem the druops, ** white in the centre,'^ probably the variety of agate so much favored as a protector against the spell of the Evil Eye. A coral was placed in the fifth amulet, and this was to be attached to the prow of the ship with strips of seal-skin ; it guarded the vessel from winds and waves in all waters. For the sixth amulet the ophiokiolus stone was selected, most probably a kind of banded agate, for it is said to have been girdled with stripes like the body of a snake ; whoever wore this had no need to fear the surging ocean. The seventh and last of these nautical amulets bore a stone called opsianos, apparently a resinous or bituminous material, possibly a kind of jet; this came from Phrygia and Galatia, and the amulet wherein it was set was a great protection for all who journeyed by sea or by river.

The ancient treatises on the magic art show that the use of amulets was considered to be indispensable for those who dared to evoke the dark spirits of the nether- world, for without the protection afforded by his amulet the magician ran the risk of being attacked by these spirits. One of these texts gives directions for prepar- ing an amulet, or phylacterion, for the ** undertaking**;

40 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

for this a ^^ sweet-smelling " loadstone should be chosen, and should be cut heart-shaped and engraved with the figure of Hecate.**

A costly Chinese amulet consists of the diamond, the ruby, and the emerald, to which are added the pearl and coral ; Oriental sapphire and topaz are classed with the ruby. An amulet containing these five substances is thought to combine the protecting influences of the dif- ferent deities presiding over them, and is supposed to lengthen the wearer's life. Sometimes these five princely gems are wrapped up in a paper bearing the names of the respective divinities, to which is added the name of the moon, and those of the twenty-seven constellations, or houses of the moon. Such an amulet, suspended at the entrance of a house, is believed to afford protection to the inmates."

In the language of the ancient Mexicans blood was called chalchiuhatl, or ** water of precious stones, '^ as the quintessence of what were regarded as the most costly things." Although such poetic designations are in modem times mere figures of speech, among primi- tive peoples they are more significant, and it is highly probable that with the Aztecs, as with other peoples, the wearing of precious stones was believed to enrich the blood and thus to promote health and vigor, for **the blood is the life.'*

That gems had sex is asserted by the earliest writers

^ Ejropatschek, ^De amnletorum apud antiques nsa,'' GhryphiA, 1907, p. 24 (Paris papyrus, 2630).

" Surindro Mohun Tagore, " Mani Mal&,'' Pt 11, Calcutta, 1881, p. 943.

''Seler, ^' Codex Borgia: Eine altzneidcaiiisGhe Bildersehrift,'' Ber- lin, 1904, vol i, p. 16.

TALISMANS AND AMULETS 41

as well as by many of those of a later date. While this must usually be understood as a poetic way of indicating a difference in shade, the darker varieties being regarded as male and the lighter ones as female, Theophrastus, the earliest Greek writer on precious stones, clearly shows that this sexual distinction was sometimes seri- ously made, for he declares that, wonderful as it might seem, certain gems were capable of producing offspring. This strange idea was still prevalent in the sixteenth century, and ingenious explanations were sometimes given of the cause of this phenomenon, as appears in the following account by Bueus of germinating dia^ monds : *•

It has recently been related to me by a lady worthy of credence, that a noblewoman, descended from the illustrious house of Luxemburg, had in her possession two diamonds which she had inherited, and which produced others in such miraculous wise, that whoever examined them at stated intervals judged that they had engendered progeny like themselves. The cause of this (if it be permissible to philosophize regarding such a strange matter) would seem to be that the celestial energy in the parent stones, qualified by some one as **v%8 adaman- tifica" first changes the surrounding air into water, or some similar substance, and then condenses and hardens this into the diamond gem.

The pearl-fishers of Borneo are said to preserve carefully every ninth pearl they find, and place them in a bottle with two grains of rice for each pearl, be- lieving, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, that these particular pearls have the power to engender and breed others. Custom and superstition require that each bottle shall have the finger of a dead man as a stopper.

Talismanic influences are taken into account in the

•rrancisci Ruei, " De genmus,'' Tiguri, 1566, f. 4.

42 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

wearing of jewelry by Orientals, two bracelets being frequently worn lest one member should become jealous of the other, thus disturbing the equilibrium of the whole orgaaism. The pierdng of the ears for ear-rings has been attributed to a desire to chastise the ear for its indiscretion in hearing secrets not intended to be heard, while costly and ornamental ear-rin^ are set in the ears to console those parts of our anatomy for the suffering caused by the operation of piercing. In the case of necklaces of brilliant metal, adorned with pendants of glittering stones, the talismanic pur- pose is to attract the be- holder's gaze and thus ward off the mysterious and dangerous emana- tions set forth by the Evil Eye; the necklace, or its ornaments, are supposed to perform a similar ser- vice to that rendered by the lightning-rod in di- verting the electric dis- charge.

At an early date the Christian Church registered its opposition to the practice of wearing amulets. At the Council of Laodicea, held in 355 a.d., it was decreed, in the thirty-fourth canon, that priests and clerks must be neither enchanters, mathematicians, nor astrologers, and that they must not make "what are called amulets," for these were fetters of the soul, and all who wore them

PEABL DEALER, fiom tha "HorttuSanitatia" of Johumll At Ciitw [Stiuaburt, Js>d Pr7>^ <<>- 1«S8] ; D* lixTiii. AaUur'a library.

MAHAttAJA KUNJIT SINGH. RII.ER OF THE PIXJAB. 17(11 TO 183».

TALISMANS AND AMULETS 43

should be cast out of the charch«^^ This emphatic con- demnation of the prevailing nsage was not so much a protest against superstition per se as against pagan BuperstitioUy for almost if not all the amulets in use in the early centuries of our era bore heathen or heretical symbols or inscriptions. In later times the invincible tendency to wear objects of this character found expres- sion in the use of those associated with Christian belief, such, for instance, as relics of the saints, medallions blessed by the priest, etc

The amulets of the Jews differed in many respects from those used by Christians. The Mosaic prohibition of representations of human or animal forms imposed great restrictions upon the employment of engraved gems, and the Jew was only permitted to wear or carry those bearing merely characters of mystic or symbolic significance. In talmudic times amulets were sometimes hidden in a hollow staff, and they were believed to have more power when concealed from view in this way. They were like concealed weapons, and it was said that, as a father might give such an amulet to a son, so Qod had given the Law to Israel for its protection.**

In the Old French didactic poem, the Roman de la Rose, composed in the twelfth century, appear traces of the belief in the magic properties of precious stones. Chaucer translated this poem into English in the four- teenth century and we quote the following lines from his version. They describe the costume of the symbolical figure, Biches.

*Hiatoire eritique des pratiques saperstitieiueB; par un prStre de rOratoire," Paris, 1702, p. 320.

*" Blum, ^ Das alt jiidische Zanberwesen/' Strassbuig, 1898, p. 91.

44 THE CURIOUS LOBE OF PRECIOUS STONES

Richesse a girdle hadde upon

The bokel of it was of a stoon

Of Vertue greet, and mochel of might.

That stoon was greetly for to love,

And til a riehe mannes bihove

Worth al the gold in Rome and Fryse.

The mordannt" wrought in noble wyse, Was of a stoon full preeious, That was so fyn and vertuous, That hool a man it coude make Of palasye and of tooth-ake.**

At the trial, in 1232, of Hubert de Bnrgh, chief jus- ticiar, one of the charges brought against him was that he had surreptitiously removed from the English treas- ury an exceedingly valuable stone, possessing the virtue of rendering the wearer invincible in battle, and had given it to Llewellyn, King of Wales, the enemy of his own sovereign, Henry HI of England (1207-1272)." This must have taken place about 1228, when Henry was engaged in a war with the Welsh.

That precious stones could, under certain circum- stances, lose the powers inherent in them was firmly be- lieved in medieval times. If handled or even gazed upon by impure persons and sinners, some of the virtues of the stones departed from them. Indeed, there were those who held that precious stones, in common with all created things, were corrupted by the sin of Adam. Therefore, in order to restore their pristine virtue it might become

■

"A projection serving to fasten down the belt " Compleat Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, ed. Skeat, Oxford, 1849, vol. i, p. 139.

^ Matthni Paris, '' Historia major,'' London, 1684, p. 318.

TALISMANS AND AMULETS 45

necessary to sanctify and consecrate them, and a kind of ritnal serving this purpose has been preserved in several old treatises. The subject is sufficiently curious to war- rant here the repetition of one of these forms. The stones which required consecration were to be wrapped in a perfectly clean linen cloth and placed on the altar. Then three masses were to be said over them, and the priest who celebrated the third mass, clad in his sacred vest- ments, was to pronounce the following benediction : ^^

The Lord be with us. And with thy spirit. Let us pray. Almighty God and Father, who manifestedst thy virtue to Elias by certain senseless creatures, who orderedst Moses, Thy servant, that, among the sacerdotal vestments, he should adorn the Rational of Judgment with twelve precious stones, and showedst to John, the evangelist, the famous city of Jerusalem, essentially constituted by the same stones, and who hadst the power to raise up sons to Abraham from stones, we humbly beseech Thy majesty since Thou hast elected one of the stones to be a dwelling-place for the majesty of Thy heart, that Thou wilt deign to bless and sanctify these stones by the sanetification and incarnation of Thy name, so that they may be sanctified, blessed, and consecrated, and may receive from Thee the effect of the virtues Thou hast granted to them, according to their kinds, and which the experience of the learned has shown to have been given by Thee; so that whoever may wear them on him may fed the presence of Thy power and may be worthy to receive the gift of Thy grace and the protection of Thy power. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, in whom dwells all sanetification, benediction, and consecration; who lives with Thee and reigns as God for all eternity. Amen. Thanks be to God.

Konrad of Megenburg also gives this benediction in his "Buch der Natur.^'

Luther tells the following humorous tale of a Jew who was a vender of amulets :

"'Le Grand Lapidaire" of Jean de Mandeville, Vienna, 1862, pp. 126-128.

46 THE CURIOUS LOBE OF PRECIOUS STONES

There is soreery among the Jews and their sorcerers think: ''If we succeed, it is well for us; if we fail, a Christian is the sufferer; what care we for thatf " • . • But Duke Albert of Saxony acted shrewdly. When a Jew offered him a button, inscribed with curious characters and signs, and asserted that this button gave protection from cuts, thrusts, and shots, the Duke answered: ''I will test that upon thyself, O Jew." Hereupon he led the man to the gate, hung the button at his neck, drew his own sword, and thrust the fellow through the body. '' The same fate would have happened to me,'* said the Duke, ^ as has happened to thee." *

Buskin, with his keen poetic insight into the working of natural laws, saw in the formation of crystals the action of both ^^ force of heart" and ^^ steadiness of pur- pose." He thus found himself, consciously or uncon- sciously, in agreement with the old fancies which attrib- uted a species of personality to precious stones. Just as the Hindu regarded an imperfectly shaped crystal as a bringer of ill luck to the owner, so Buskin sees in such a crystal the signs of an innate * * immorality, " if we may use this expression. Of a crystal aggregation of this type he writes as follows : ^''

Opaque, rough-surfaced, jagged on the edge, distorted in the spine, it exhibits a quite human image of decrepitude and dishonour; but the worst of all signs of its decay and helplessness is, that half-way up, a parasite crystal, smaller, but just as sickly, has rooted itself in the side of the larger one, eating out a cavity round its root, and then growing backwards, or downwards, contrary to the direction of the main crystal. Yet I cannot tiace the least difference in purity of substance between the first most noble stone, and this ignoble and dissolute one. The impurity of the last is in its will or want of will.

There is established a very pretty custom of assign- ing to the various masculine and feminine Christian

"Gudermann, ''Das jiidische TTnterrichtswesen,'' Wien, 1873, p. 225.

* " Ethics of the Dust," Now York, 1886, p. 96.

TALISMANS AND AMULETS 47

names a particular gem, and such name-gems are often set together with natal and talismanic gems and with gems of one's patron saint. It is considered an exceed- ingly good omen when it happens that all three gems are of the same sort

GEMS FOB FEMININE NAMES.

Adelaide Andalnmte

Agnes Agate

Alice Alexandrite

Anne Amber

Beatrice Basalt

Belle Bloodstone

Bertha Beiyl

Caroline Chalcedony

Catherine Cat's-^e

Charlotte « . . .Carbuncle

Clara Camelian

Constance Crystal

Dorcas Diamond

Dorothy Diaspore

Edith Eye-agate

Eleanor ElaoUte

Elizabeth Emerald

Ellen Essonite

Emily Eudase

Emma Epidote

Florence Flnorite

Frances

Gertrude Garnet

Gladys Golden Beiyl

Grace Grossularite

Hannah Heliotrope

Helen Hyacinth

48 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

Irane lolite

Jane Jacinth

Jessie Jasper

Josephine Jadeite

— Jolia Jade

Louise Lapis-laznli

Lnej Lepidolite

Maigaret Moss-agate

Martha Malachite

Marie Moldavite

Mary Moonstone

Olive Olivine

Panline • Peari

Rose Rnhy

Sarah Spodmnene

- Susan Sapphire

Therese Turquoise

OEMS FOR MASCULINE NAMES.

Abraham Aragonite

Adolphus Albite

Adrian Andalusite

Albert Agate

Alexainder Alexandrite

Alfred Almandine

Ambrose Amber

Andrew Aventuiine

Archibald Azinite

Arnold Aquamarine

Arthur Amethyst

Augustus Agalmatolite

Benjamin Bloodstone

Bemsxd •• •••• Beryl

TALISMANS AND AMULETS 49

Charles Chalcedony

Christian Crystal

Claude Cyanite

Clement Chrysolite

Conrad Crocidolite

Constantino Chrysoberyl

Comelins Cat's-eye

Dennis Demantoid

Dorian Diamond

. Edmund Emerald

Edwaxd Epidote

Ernest Eudase

Engene Essonite

Ferdinand Feldspar

Francis Fire-opal

Frederick Fluorite

Geoige Oamet

Gilbert Gadolinite

Godfrey Gagates

Gregory Grossnlarite

Gostavus Galactides

Guy Gold quartz

Henry Heliolite

Herbert Hyacinth

Horace Harlequin opal

Hubert Heliotrox>e

Hugh Heliodor

Humphrey Hypersthene

James Jade

Jasper Jasper

Jerome Jadeite

John Jacinth

Joseph Jaigoon

Julius • Jet

4

50 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

Lambert Labradorite

Lawrence Lapis-lazali

Leo Lepidolite

Leonard Loadstone

Mark Malachite

Matthew Moonstone

Maurice Moss-agate

Michael Microcline

Nathan Natrolite

Nicholas Nephrite

Oliver Onyx

Osborne Orthoclase

Osmond Opal

Oswald Obsidian

Patrick Pyrope

Paul Pearl

Peter Porphyry

Philip Prase

Ralph Rubellite

Raymond Rose-quartz

Richard Rutile

"Robert Rock-crystal

Roger Rhodonite

Roland Ruby

Stephen Sapphire

Theodora Tourmaline

Thomas Topaz

Valentine Vesuvianite

Vincent Verd-antique

Walter Wood-opal

William Willemite

Ill

^n ti^e Zali^xamit aise of Special ^tone^'

'^fpHE author of **Lithica'^ celebrates the merits of the ^51^ agate in the following lines : ^

Adorned with this, thou woman's heart shall gain, And by persuasion thy desire obtain; And if of men thou aught demand, shalt come With all thy wish f ulMed rejoicing home.

This idea is elaborated by Marbodns, Bishop of Bennes, in the eleventh century, who declares that agates make the wearers agreeable and persuasive and also give them the favor of God.^ Still other virtues are recounted by Camillo Leonardo, who claims that these stones give victory and strength to their owners and avert tempests and lightning.*

The agate possessed some wonderful virtues, for its wearer was guarded from all dangers, was enabled to vanquish all terrestrial obstacles and was endowed with a bold heart ; this latter prerogative was presumably the

*See also the writer's pamphlet: "The Folk-Lore of Precious Stones/' Chicago, 1894; a paper read before the Folk-Lore Congress held at the World's Columbian Exhibition, and describing the Kunz Collection exhibited in the Anthropological Building there. This col- lection is now in the Field Museum, Chicago.

'King's version in his "Natural History of Precious Stones," London, 1865, p. 392.

• Marbodei, " De lapidibus," Friburgi, 1631, f ol. 10.

^Camilli Leonard!, "Speculum lapidum," Yenetia, 1502, fol. 22.

51

52 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

secret of his success. Some of these wonder-working agates were black with white veins, while others again were entirely white.*^

The wearing of agate ornaments was even believed to be a cure for insomnia and was thought to insure pleas- ant dreams. In spite of these supposed advantages, Car- dano asserts that while wearing this stone he had many misfortunes which he could not trace to any fault or error of his own. He, therefore, abandoned its use; although he states that it made the wearer more prudent in his actions.^ Indeed, Cardano appears to have tested the talismanic worth of gems according to a plan of his own, — ^namely, by wearing them in turn and noting the degree of good or ill fortune he experienced. By this method he apparently arrived at positive results based on actual experience; but he quite failed to appreciate the fact that no real connection of any kind existed be- tween the stones and their supposed effects. In another treatise this author takes a somewhat more favorable view of the agate, and proclaims that all varieties render those who wear them ** temperate, continent, and cau- tious ; therefore they are all useful for acquiring riches.''

According to the text accompanying a curious print published in Vienna in 1709, the attractive qualities of the so-called coral-agate were to be utilized in an air- ship, the invention of a Brazilian priest. Over the head of the aviator, as he sat in the air-ship, there was a net- work of iron to which large coral-agates were attached.

*Albertus Magnus, ^'Le Grand Albert des secretz des vertus des Herbes, Pierres et Bestes. Et aultre livre des Merveilles du Monde, d'aulcuns effetz causez daulcunes bestes," Turin, Bernard du mont du Chat (c 1515). liv. ii, fol. 8 recto.

*Cardani, '^De subtilitate,'' Basilesd, 1560, p. 460.

* Cardani, '< De genmas," Basileea, 1585, p. 323.

TALISMANIC USE OP PRECIOUS STONES 53

These were expected to help in drawing up the ehip, when, throngh the heat of the son's rays, the stones had acquired magnetic power. The main lifting force was.

AN AIB^HIP OP IToe. In tb< network kboT* An tgun ware to ba wt coril-M>t«*> nippoMd to pmmi *ueh DMMtJa powcra ■■ to kaap the ontt aloCt. From ValanUnl, " Muiaum Miuaorum." Ft. Ill, FnnekfutCunM*yB,irii. p.S5. Author'alibtary.

provided by powerful magnets enclosed in two metal spheres ; how the magnets themselves were to be raised is not explained.^

'Valentini, "Mnseam museomm oder die vollstandige Schtm- Buhne," Franekfort am Majn, 1714, voL ii, pt 3, p. 34; figure of m- ihip on p. 35,

54 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

About the middle of the past century, the demand for agate amulets was so great in the Soudan that the ex- tensive agate-cutting establishments at Idar and Ober- stein in Germany were almost exclusively busied with filling orders for this trade. Brown or black agates having a white ring in the centre were chiefly used for the fabrication of these amulets, the white ring being regarded as a symbol of the eye. Hence the amulets were supposed to neutralize the power of the Evil Eye, or else to be emblematic of the watchfulness of a guardian spirit. The demand for these amulets has fallen off greatly, but when it was at its height single firms exported them to the value of 40,000 thalers ($30,- 000) annually, the total export amounting to hundreds of thousands of thalers. Even at present a considerable trade in these objects is still carried on. That there is a fashion in amulets is shown by the fact that, while red, white, and green amulets are in demand on the west coast of Africa, only white stones are favored for this use in Northern Africa.

There are a few talismanic stones which have gained their repute in our time, notably the alexandrite, a variety of chrysoberyl found in Russia, in the emerald mines on the Takowaya, in the Ural region. The dis- covery of this variety is stated to have been made in 1831 on the day Alexander II (then heir-apparent) reached his majority, and it was therefore named alexandrite, by Nordenskjold, the mineralogist. The stone as found in gem form rarely weighs over from one to three carats, and is characterized by a marked pleochroism of a splen- did green changing to a beautiful columbine red. But in Ceylon much larger gems are found, some few weighing

TALISMANIC USE OP PRECIOUS STONES 55

60 carats each, although rarely of more than one or two carats. The color is of a darker and more bottle-like green, and the change by night renders them darker and more granitized than the Russian stones, which are ex- tremely rare. As red and green are the Russian national colors, the alexandrite has become a great favorite with the Russians, and is looked upon as a stone of good omen in that country. Such, however, is its beauty as a gem that its fame is by no means confined to Russia, and it is eagerly sought in other lands aa well.

9Lmbtt

Amber was one of the first substances used by man for decoration, and it was also employed at a very early period for amulets and for medicinal purposes. More or less shapeless pieces of rough amber, marked with circular depressions, have been found in Prussia, Schleswig-Holstein, and Denmark, in deposits of the Stone Age. These depressions are sometimes regularly disposed and at other times irregularly, and seem in- tended to imitate similar depressions found in large stones and rocks, often the work of man's hand, but occasionally the result of natural causes. In Hoemes' opinion they marked the resting place of the spirit or spirits believed to animate the stone, and hence it is probable that the amber fragments were used as talis- mans or amulets.®

For the ancient Greek poets, the grains of amber were the tears annually shed over the death of their brother Phaethon by the Heliades after grief had meta-

•Hoernes, " Urgeschichte der bildenden Kunst," Vienna, 1898, p. 376. Figured in S. MuUer's « Ordn. af Damn. Olds.," i, PI. XV, Figs. 252 sq.

56 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES

morphosed them into poplars growing on the banks of the Eridanns (the modem river Po).*" In a lost tragedy of Sophocles, he saw the origin of amber in the tears fihed over the death of Meleager by certain Indian birds. For Nicias it was the "juice" or essence of the brilliant rays of the setting snn, congealed in the sea and then cast ap npon the shore. A more prosaic ex- planation likened am- ber to resin, and re- garded it as being an exndation from the trunks of certain trees. Indeed, the poetic fancy we have just noted is the same idea clothed in a met- aphorical or mytho- logical form. Another fancy represented amber to be the solid- ified urine of the lynx, TyM, sa! iis3ii D« hfn^- heuce o u e of its

"""""'"' " names, lyncunus.^^

The brilliant and beautiful yellow of certain ambers and the fact that this material was very easily worked served to make its use more general, and it soon became a favorite object of trade and barter between the peoples of the Baltic Coast and the more civilized peoples to the

" Ovidii, " Metamorphoses," lib. ii, 11. 340 sqq. Some have pro- poeed to read Redanns instead of Eridanus and have seen in the for- mar name the designation of a stream flowing into the Vistula.

" Piinii, " Naturalia Hiatoria," lib. zxxvii, cap. 7.

TALISMANIC USB OP PRECIOUS STONES 57

south. Schliemann found considerable amber from the Baltic in the graves of MycenaB, and the frequent allu- sions to it in the works of Latin authors of the first and succeeding centuries testify to its popularity in the Roman world.

Probably the very earliest allusion in literature to the ornamental use of amber appears in Homer's Odys- sey,*^ where we read:

Eurymaclms Received a golden necklace, richly wrought, And set with amber beads, that glowed as if With sunshine. To Eurydamas there came A pair of ear-rings, each a triple gem, Daintily fashioned and of exquisite grace. Two servants bore them.

Amber ingeniously carved into animal forms has been discovered in tumuli at Indersoen, Norway.*' These curious objects were worn as amulets, and the peculiar forms were supposed to enhance the power of the mate- rial, giving it special virtues and rendering it of greater value and efl&cacy.

Pieces of amber with singular natural markings were greatly esteemed, especially when these markings sug- gested the initials of the name of some prominent person. Thus, we are told that Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia paid to a dealer a high price for a piece of amber on which appeared his initials. The same dealer had an- other piece on which he read the initials of Charles XII of Sweden. When he received the news of this king's death, he bitterly lamented having lost the opportunity of selling him amber for a high price. But he was cleverly consoled by Nathaniel Sendal, the relator of the

" Bk. xviii, 11, 295-298, trans, of William Cullen Bryant. » Dn Chaillu, " The Viking Age," New York, 1889, vol. ii, p. 314. (Figs. 1210, 1211, 1212.)

58 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

story, who easily persuaded the dealer that the markiiigs could just as well signify the initials of some other name. Sendal adduces this as a proof that the letters read on such pieces of amber were as much the product of the observer's imagination as of the markings on the mate- rial.^* Those who secured amber so mysteriously marked by Nature's hand probably felt that they had obtained a talisman of great power, especially destined for their use.

While the special and traditional virtue of the ame- thyst was the cure of drunkenness, many other qualities were attributed to this stone in the fifteenth century. For Leonardo,^*^ it had the power to control evil thoughts, to quicken the intelligence, and to render men shrewd in business matters. An amethyst worn on the person had a sobering effect, not only upon those who had partaken too freely of the cup that intoxicates, but also upon those over-excited by the love-passion. Lastly, it preserved soldiers from harm and gave them victory over their enemies, and was of great assistance to hunters in the capture of wild animals. The amethyst shared with many other stones the power to preserve the wearer from contagion.i«

A pretty legend in regard to the amethyst has been happily treated in French verse. The god Bacchus, offended at some neglect that he had suffered, was deter- mined to avenge himself, and declared that the first per- son he should meet, when he and his train passed along, should be devoured by his tigers. Fate willed it that this

M U

Sendelii, " Electrologise," Elbing», 1725, Pt. I, p. 12, note. Camilli Leonardi, " Speculum lapidum,'' Venetia, 1502, fol. 22. "Johannis de Cuba, "Hortus Sanitatis," [Strassburg, 1483] traetatus de lapibus, cap. vii.

I, pfriorsted, tfom Awyri

TALISMANIC USE OP PRECIOUS STONES 59

luckless mortal was a beautiful and pure maiden named Amethyst, who was on her way to worship at the shrine of Diana. As the ferocious beasts sprang toward her, she sought the protection of the goddess, and was saved from a worse fate by being turned into a pure white stone. Recognizing the miracle and repenting of his cruelty, Bacchus poured the juice of the grape as a libation over the petrified body of the maiden, thus giving to the stone the beautiful violet hue that so charms the beholder's eye."

From the various descriptions of this stone given by ancient writers, it appears that one of the varieties was probably the purple almandine or Indian garnet, and it is not improbable that we have here the reason for the name amethyst and for the supposed virtue of the stone in preserving from drunkenness. For if water were poured into a vessel made of a reddish stone, the liquid would appear like wine, and could nevertheless be drunk with impunity.

Arnoldus Saxo, writing about 1220, after reciting the virtues of the beryl as given by Marbodus, after Evax and Isidorus, reports in addition that the stone gave help against foes in battle or in litigation; the wearer was rendered unconquerable and at the same time amiable, while his intellect was quickened and he was cured of laziness.*® In the old German translation of Thomas de Cantimpre's **De Proprietatibus Rerum,*' we read that

" Belleau, '' (Euvres poetiques,'' ed. Marty-Laveanx, Paris, 1878, vol. ii, pp. 172 sqq. The poem in which this tale occurs is the ''Amours et nouveaux eschanges des pierres precieuses,'' written in 1576 and dedicated to Henri III.

'* Rose, '' Aristotles de lapidibus und Arnoldus Saxo/' in Zeitschr. fiir D. Alt, New Series, vol. vi, p. 431.

60 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

the beryl reawakens the love of married people (er hat such die art daz er der elant lieb wiederpringt).'*

The heliotrope or bloodstone was supposed to impart a reddish hue to the water in which it was placed, so that when the rays of the sun fell apon the water they gave forth red reflections. From this fancy was devel- oped the strange ex- aggeration that this stone had the power to tnm the son itself a blood-red, and to canse thunder, lightning, rain, and tempest. The old treatise of Dami- geron relates this of ihe bloodstone, adding that it announced future events by pro- ducing rain and by "audible oracles."

A PRACTICAL TEST OF THE VIRTUES xi 1. 1.1 x 1.

op THE BLOODSTONE TO PREVENT JrrobaDiy the con- N08E-BLEED. juTOTS, before pro-

Frofd tbs"HDrtDaeuitaa>"i>f Johaanuds ■,. ■,

Cuba |SUM>bur(, Jmd Pryas. ca. 14S31; D« ceedlUg tO USe the lapidibiia, oap. ic. Author'* library. , . j.v - ■

stone for their incan- tations, watched the heavens and waited until they noticed the signs of an approaching storm. They then interpreted

"KoDrad von Megenberg, "Bnch der Natur," ed. by Dr. Franz Pfeiffer, Stuttgart, 1861, p. 436.

€apMim4it,

TALISMANIC USB OF PRECIOUS STONES 61

the sounds of the wind and thnnder in various ways, so as to give apt answers to the questions addressed to them touching future events. It is well known that the sighing of the wind, and, indeed, all those natural sounds which constitute the grand symphony of Nature, were inter- preted by prophets and seers into articulate speech. Dami- geron also declares that the bloodstone preserved the fac- ulties and bodily health of the wearer, brought him consid- eration and respect, and guarded him from deception.^

In the Leyden papyrus the bloodstone is praised as an amulet in the following extravagant terms :

The world has no greater thing; if any one have this with him he will be given whatever he asks for; it also assuages the wrath of kings and despots, and whatever the wearer says will be believed. Whoever bears this stone, which is a gem, and pronounces the name engraved upon it, wiU find all doors open, while bonds and stone walls will be rent asunder."^

€e«butttlt

The carbuncle was recommended as a heart stimu- lant ; indeed, so powerful was its action, that the wearers were rendered angry and passionate and were even warned to be on their guard against attacks of apo- plexy .^^ The blood-red hue of the stone also suggested its use as a symbol of the divine sacrifice of Christ on the cross. However, not only in Christianity was this stone used to illustrate religious conceptions, for the Koran affirms that the Fourth Heaven is composed of car-

Pitra, ** Specilegium Solesmense,'' Parisiis, 1855, vol. iii, p. 325.

Kropatschek, " Do amuletornm apud antiquos usu,'' Gryphias, 1907, p. 16.

** Cardani, '' Philosophi opera quedam lectu digna," Basiles, 1585, p. 323. " De gemmis."

62 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES

biincle. In mythical fancies too this stone played its part, for dragon 's eyes were said to be carbuncles.

Rumphius ^ states that in 1687 he was told by a chi- rurgeon that the latter had seen in the possession of one of the rulers in the island of Amboin a carbuncle said to have been brought by a serpent. The story ran that this ruler, when a child, had been placed by his mother in a hammock attached to two branches of a tree. While there a serpent crept up to him and dropped a stone upon his body. In gratitude for this gift the parents of the child fed and cared for the serpent. The stone is described as having been of a warm yellow hue, verging on red; it shone so brightly at night that a room could be illuminated by it. It eventually passed into the pos- session of a King of Siam.

Carneltan

Talisman ist Kameol

Glaubigen bringt er Gliiek und Wohl;

Steht er gar auf Onyx' Grunde,

Kiiss' ihm mit geweihtem Munde !

Alles IJbel treibt er fort,

Schiitzet dieh und schiitzt den Ort;

Wenn das eingegrabene Wort

Allab's Namen rein verkiindet;

Dich zu lieb' und Tat entziindet;

Und besonders werden Frauen

Sich am Talisman erbauen!**

Camelian is a talisman,

It brings good luck to child and man;

If resting on an onyx ground,

A sacred kiss imprint when found.

"Rumphius, ^'Amboinsche Rariteitkamer," Amsterdam, 1741, p. 308.

^ Qoethe Westosterlicher Divan I, Segenspfander.

TALISMANIC USE OP PRECIOUS STONES 63

It drives away all evil things; To thee and thine proteetion brings. The name of Allah, king of kings. If graven on this stone, indeed, Will move to love and doughty deed. From such a gem a woman gains Sweet hope and comfort in her pains.

The wearing of camelians is recommended by the Lapidario of Alfonso X ^^ to those who have a weak voice or are timid in speech, for the warm-colored stone will give them the courage they lack, so that they will speak both boldly and well. This is in accord with the general belief in the stimulating and animating effects produced by red stones.

On a camelian is engraved in Arabic characters a prayer to keep away evil and to deliver the wearer from all the tricks of the devil and from the envious. The inscription reads in translation:

In the name of Ood the Just, the very Just ! I implore you, 0 God King of the World, God of the World, deliver us from the devil Who tries to do harm and evil to us through Bad people, and from the evil of the envious.

Throughout all the East people are afraid of the envious. They believe that if you envy a person for his health or his wealth or any good thing he may have, he will lose it in a short time, and it is the devil who incites the envy of some people against others. So it is sup- posed tiiat by wearing this stone, bearing this prayer against the envious, their envy will cease to do you harm.

The popularity of the camelian as a talismanic stone

"''Lapidario del Rey D. Alfonso X,'' codiee original, Madrid, 1881, f ol. 77, p. 49.

64 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES

among Mohammedan peoples is said to be due to the fact that the Prophet himself wore, on the little finger of his right hand, a silver ring set with a eamelian engraved for use as a seal. One of the most famous of the imams, Jafar, lent the weight of his authority to the belief in the virtue of the eamelian, for he declared that all the de- sires of any man who wore this stone would be gratified. Hence in Persia the name of one of the twelve imams, oomprising Ali and his successors, is frequently engraved on this stone.^

Thi< ami Intersititix ■>■! ii deuribed by tha Bar. C. W. Eina, the wiiUr od Antiqua Oama. It U euneliu), octigonil-ahaped, niid ui»a it ii tncrtved the legend: "Tbe alive Abnham relyinc upon the Meroifut (Qsd)." Nipoleoa III won it on hia mtoh-chniii. Bauidkboutlt; "The Fini Conaul picked it up with hit an hand* duriuc tha campucn in Eiypt ud alwaya cacried it about him, aa hia nephew did laUr." Tha Prince Imperial reeaiTtd it with tha lollawini manKce: "A* re(>rda my aon, I deaira that he will keep, aaa »f "■"*■", tha Seal which 1 oied to wear attached to my watch." Be carried the ae&J upon a atiips taitened about bi* Deck in abedianee to tha injuactioa of hi* tathar. At the tlma ■t have been euried oil in Sooth Alrin by the Ztilua, wban

An Armenian writer of the seventeenth century re- ports that in India the lal or balas-ruby, if powdered and taken in a potion was believed to banish all dark forebod- ings and to excite joyous emotions. To the carnelian was attributed a virtue somewhat analogous to that ascribed to the turquoise, as anyone wearing a eamelian was proof

" Hendley, " Indian Jewellery," London, 1909, p. 158.

CURIOCa ALTAR OF FOWALAWA INDIANS OF ARIZONA.

al objeqlg ire grouped around b crygtal »[ rock-cryilal in the cenlrs. (i

TALISMANIC USE OF PRECIOUS STONES 65

against injury from falling houses or walls ; the writer emphasizes this by stating that ^'no man -who wore a camelian was ever found in a collapsed house or beneath afaUenwall.''*^

An ingenious though far-fetched explanation of the power attributed to chalcedony of driving away phan- toms and visions of the night is supplied by Gonelli, writing in 1702. For him the source of this asserted power was to be foilnd in what has been erroneously termed the alkaline quality of the stone. This dissipated the. evil humors of the eye, thus removing the diseased condition of that organ which caused the apparitions to be seen.^® However absurd this explanation may be, it nevertheless shows that the author put little faith in visi- ble ghosts, and rightly enough recognized the purely subjective character of such phenomena.

The cat*s-eye variety of chrysoberyl, or precious cat^s-eye, is used by the natives of Ceylon as a charm against evil spirits. As a proof of the high value set upon the gem in India, De Boot states that a cat^s-eye estimated as worth ninety gold pieces in Lusitania was sold for six himdred in India.** Some of the finest speci- mens come from Ceylon«

" Arakel, "Livre d'histoire," chap, liii; transl. in Brosset, " Collec- tion d'historiens arm^niens,'' St. Petersburg, 1874, voL i, pp. 544, 545.

" Josephi Oonelli,''ThesauraBpliilosophici2s, sen de gemmis,'' Nea- poU, 1702, p. 112.

** " Oemmamm et lapidum historia,'' Lug. Bat., 1636, p. 230.

6

66 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

The ^'Serpent Isle/' in the Bed Sea, was stated by Agatharcides to be the source whence came the topaz (chrysolite) ; here, by the mandate of the Egyptian kings, the inhabitants collected specimens of this stone and delivered them to the gem-cutters for polishing.*^ These simple details are elaborated by Diodorus Siculus into the legend that the island was guarded by jealous watchers who had orders to put to death any unauthor- ized persons who approached it. Even those who had the right to seek the gem could not see the chrysolite in daytime ; only after nightfall was it revealed by its radi- ance; the seekers then marked well the spot and were able to find the stone on the following day.'^

From this Egyptian source, and possibly from others exploited by the Egyptians, have come the finest chryso- lites (peridots, or olivines), the most magnificent ex- amples of this gem. These found their way into the cathedral treasures of Europe, evidently by loot or trade at the period of the Crusades, and are generally called emeralds. Those most notable are in the Treasury of the Three Magi, in the great **Dom,'' or Cathedral at Cologne. Some of these gems are nearly two inches long.

In our own land beautiful specimens can be seen in the Morgan collection at the American Museum of Natural History and in the Higinbotham Hall in the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois.

Pliny quotes from Juba the tradition that the topaz (chrysolite) derived its name from the Island of To-

•• Agatharcides, " De Mare Erythneo," §2. The topaz of the an- eiente was nnquestiofnably the gem commonly called chxysolite at present (olivine, peridot).

" Diodorus Siculus, lib. iii, cap. 38.

TALISMANIC USB OF PRECIOUS STONES 67

pazoSy in the Bed Sea, the first specimen having been brought thence by the procurator Philemon, to Berenice, mother of Ptolemy n, Philadelphus. This monarch is said to have had a statue of his wife Arsinoe made from the stone.'^ If there be any foundation for this latter statement, the precious gift sent by Philemon must have been a mass of fluor-spar, or some similar material. More than three hundred years after Pliny's time, Epi- phanius, evidently repeating another version of this tra- dition, states that the ''topaz'' was set in the diadem of the ''Theban queen."

Chrysolite (olivine, peridot), to exert its full power, required to be set in gold ; worn in this way it dispelled the vague terrors of the night. If, however, it were to be used as a protection from the wiles of evil spirits, the stone had to be pierced and strung on the hair of an ass and then attached to the left arm.^* The belief in the virtue of the chrysolite to dissolve enchantments and to put evil spirits to flight was probably due to the associa- tion of the stone with the sun, before whose life-giving rays darkness and all the powers of darkness were driven away.

«

Wonderful things are told of the virtue of the chrys- oprase, for Volmar states that, if a thief sentenced to be hanged or beheaded should place this stone in his mouth, he would immediately escape from his execu- tioners.** Although we are not informed in what way this fortunate result was attained, it seems likely that the

" Plinii, " Naturalis Historia, lib. xxxvii, cap. 32.

" Marbodei, " De lapidibus/' Friburgi, 1531, f ol. 16.

"Vohnar, Steinbueh, ed. by Hans Lambel, Heilbronn, 1877, p. 22.

68 THE CURIOUS LOBE OF PRECIOUS STONES

stone was believed to make the thief invisible, and thus possessed a virtue often attributed to the opal.

A strange story regarding a magic stone reputed to have been worn by Alexander the Great is related by Albertus Magnus. According to this recital, Alexander, in his battles, wore a ** prase'' in his girdle. On his re- turn from his Indian campaign, wishing one day to bathe in the Euphrates, he laid aside his girdle, and a serpent bit off the stone and then dropped it into the river.*^ Even Albertus, who is far from critical, admits that the story seems like a fable, and it probably belongs to a comparatively late period. As the term '^ prase" i? nsed very loosely by early writers, this ^'victory stone" may have been an emerald or possibly jade.

Coral

The appreciation of coral as an ornament, or for amulets, seems to presuppose a certain development of civilization, for savage tribes greatly prefer glass orna- ments. Many attempts have been made to introduce coral beads instead of glass beads among such tribes, but with no success, as the cheaper, but brighter, glass always commands a higher price.'*

To still tempests and traverse broad rivers in safety was the privilege of one who bore either red or white coral with him. That this also stanched the flow of blood from a wound, cured madness, and gave wisdom, was said to have been experimentally proved.**'

"Albert! Magni, ''Opera Omnia,'' ed. Borgnet, Parisiis, 1890, ▼ol. ▼, p. 43. De mineralibns, lib. ii, traet. 2.

"^ Bauer, '^ Edelsteinkmide," Leipzig, 1909, p. 750.

"Albertus Magnus^ "Le Grand Albert des seeretz des vertus des Herbes, Pierres et Beetes. Et aultre livre des MerveilleB du Monde, d'aulcuns effetz causez daulcnnes bestes," Turin, Bernard du mont dn Chat (e. 1515). Liv. ii, fol. 9 reeto.

KABYLE JEWELRY.

TALISMANIC USE OP PRECIOUS STONES 69

Coral, which for twenty centuries or more was classed among the precious stones, to retain its power as an amulet, must not have been worked, and in Italy only such pieces are valued for this purpose as have been freshly gathered from the sea or have been cast up by the sea on the shore. To exercise all its power against spells, or enchantments, coral must be worn where its brilliant color makes it conspicuous; if, however, it should by accident be broken, the separate pieces have no virtue, and the magic power ceases, as though the spirit dwelling in the coral had fled from its abode. The peasant women are careful to guard the corals they wear for a special purpose from the eyes of their husbands, for the substance is believed to grow pale at certain seasons, regaining its pristine hue after a short interval of time. Indeed, the women believe that the coral shares their indisposition with them. All this serves to show that a kind of vital force is believed to animate the ma- terial, gaining or losing in vigor according to certain conditions, and finally disappearing when the form is broken. These beliefs are all clearly traceable to the animistic ideas of primitive man.^^

Diamattti

The diamond is to the pearl as the sun is to the moon, and we might well call one the *' king-gem'* and the other the *' queen-gem. '* The diamond, like a knight of old, — ^brilliant and resistant, is the emblem of fear- lessness and invincibility; the pearl, like a lady of old, — ^pure and fair to look upon, is the emblem of modesty and purity. Therefore it does not seem unfitting that

"Belluccit "H feticismo primitivo in Italia," Perugia, 1907, pp. 22-25.

70 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

the diamond should be presented as a token to the pearl, and that pearls should go with the diamond. The virtues ascribed to this stone are almost all directly traceable either to its unconquerable hardness or to its trans- parency and purity. It was therefore thought to bring victory to the wearer, by endowing him with superior strength, fortitude, and courage. Marbodus*^ tells us it was a magic stone of great power and setved to drive away nocturnal spectres; for this purpose it should be set in gold and worn on the left arm. For St. Hildegard the sovereign virtue of the diamond was recognized by the devil, who was a great enemy of this stone because it resisted his power by day and by night.**^ Rueus *^ calls it * * a gem of reconciliation, * ' as it enhanced the love of a husband for his wife.

Cardano ^* takes a more pessimistic view of the quali- ties of the diamond. He says :

It is believed to make the wearer unhappy; its effects therefore are the same upon the mind as that of the sun upon the eye, for the latter rather dims than strengthens the sight. It indeed renders fear- less, but there is nothing that contributes more to our safety than prudence and fear; therefore it is better to fear.

The diamond was often associated with the lightning and was sometimes believed to owe its origin to the thunderbolt, but we do not recall having seen elsewhere the statement made in an anonymous Italian manu- script of the fourteenth century. Here it is expressly

• « De lapidibus," Friburgi, 1531, f . 8.

*St. Hildegarde, ''Opera Omnia,'' in Pat Lat. ed Migne, vol. ezevii, coL 1254.

•* " De gemmis," Tiguri, 1566, f . 52.

*"' Philosophi opera qusodam lectu digna,'' Basiles, 1585, p. 322. ^De gemmis.''

TALISMANIC USB OF PRECIOUS STONES 71

asserted that the diamond is sometimes consmned or melted when it thunders.*' Certainly, that the same force that was supposed to have formed the stone should be able to dissolve it, is not an illogical idea. That the diamond can be entirely consumed at a high temperature was a fact not known in Europe in the fourteenth cen- tury, and therefore the belief in the destructive effect of the electfic current must have arisen from super- stitious or poetic fancies, and not from any vague con- ception of the true nature of the diamond.

In the Talmud we read of a gem, supposed to have been the diamond, which was worn by the high priest.** This stone served to show the guilt or innocence of one accused of any crime ; if the accused were guilty, the stone would grow dim, but if he were innocent, it would shine more brilliantly than ever. This quality is also alluded to by Sir John Mandeville, who wrote :

It happens often that the good diamond loses its virtue by sin and for incontinence of him who bears it.

The Hindus classed diamonds according to the four castes. The Brahmin diamond gave power, friends, riches and good luck ; the Kshatriya diamond prevented the approach of old age; the Vaisya stone brought suc- cess, and the Sudra, all manner of good fortune. On the other hand, in the treatise on gems by Buddhabhatta *' we read:

A diamond, a part of which is the color of blood or spotted with red, would quickly bring death to the wearer, even if he were the Master of Death.

** Anonymous writer in Ital. MS. of the fourteenth centuiy in the author's library; fol. 41 p. verso.

** See page 278 for description of this diamond by St. Epiphanius. * Finot, '' Les lapidaires indiens,'' Paris, 1896, p. 9.

72 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES

The Arabians and Persians, as well as the modem Egyptians, agree in attributing to the diamond a wonder- ful power to bring good fortune, and Babbi Benoni, a mystic of the fourteenth century, treating of its magic virtues, asserts that it produces somnambulism, and, as a talisman, so powerfully attracts the planetary influences that it renders the wearer invincible ; it was also said to provoke a state of spiritual ecstasy. An alchemist of the same century, Pierre de Boniface, asserted that the dia- mond made the wearer invisible.

A curious fancy, prevalent in regard to many stones, attributed sex to the diamond, and it is therefore not sur- prising that these stones were also supposed to possess reproductive powers. In this connection Sir John Man- deville wrote :

They grow together, male and female, and are nourished by the dew of heaven; and they engender commonly, and bring forth small children that multiply and grow all the year. I have oftentimes tried the experiment that if a man keep them with a little of the rock, and water them with May dew often, they shall grow every year and the small will grow great.

The following lines from a translation of the cele- brated Orphic poem, written in the second century, show the high esteem in which the adamas was held at that time:

The Evil Eye shall have no power to harm Him that shall wear the diamond as a charm, No monarch shall attempt to thwart his will, And e'en the gods his wishes shall fulfil.

This probably refers either to colorless corundum, the so-called '* white sapphire,'* or to quartz. The writer is disinclined to believe that the ancients knew the diamond.

TALISMANIC USE OF PRECIOUS STONES 73

The ancient Hindu gem-treatise of Buddhabhatta asserts that the diamond of the Brahmin should have the whiteness of a shell or of rock-crystal ; that of the Ksha- triya, the brown color of the eye of a hare ; that of the Vaisya, the lovely shade of a petal of the Jcadali flower ; that of the Sudra, the sheen of a polished blade. To kings alone the sages assigned two classes of colored diamonds, — ^namely, those red as coral and those yellow as saffron. These were exclusively royal gems, but dia- monds of all other shades could be set in royal jewels.*®

A typical diamond is thus described in a Hindu gem- treatise : *^

A six-pointed diamond, pure, without stain, with pronounced and sharp edges, of a beautiful shade, light, with well-formed facets, without defects, illuminating space with its fire and with the reflection of the rainbow, a diamond of this kind is not easy to find in the earth.

According to a wide-spread superstition, the talis- manic power of a diamond was lost if the stone were acquired by purchase ; only when received as a gift could its virtues be depended on.*® The same belief is noted regarding the turquoise. The spirit dwelling in the stone was thought to take offence at the idea of being bought and sold, and was supposed to depart from the stone, leaving it nothing more than a bit of senseless matter. If, however, the diamond (or turquoise) were offered as a pledge of love or friendship, the spirit was quite willing to transfer its good ofl&ces from one owner to another.

The Talmud shows us that the Jewish Babbis some-

Unot, " Les lapidaires indiens," Paris, 1896, p. 8. Finot, 1. c, p. 9.

Konrad von Megenberg, "Buch der Natur," ed. by Dr. Franz Pfeiffer, Stuttgart, 1861, p. 433.

«r

74 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES

times endeavored to enliven their exhaustive discussions of ritual and legal questions by telling *'good stories'' to each other. One of these may be given as illustrating at once the wild improbability of some of these recitals and the belief in the wonderful magic virtues of the dia- mond : *•

R. Jehndah of Mesopatamia used to tell : Once while on board of a shipy I saw a diamond that was encircled by a snake, and a diver went to catch it. The snake then opened its mouth, threatening to swallow the ship. Then a raven came, bit off its head, and all water around turned into blood. Then another snake came, took the diamond, put it in the carcass, and it became alive; and again it opened its mouth, in order to swallow the ship. Another bird then came, bit off its head, took the diamond and threw it on the ship. We had with us salted birds, and we wanted to try whether the diamond would bring them to life, so we placed the gem on them, and they became animated and flew away with the gem.

It is said that the first large diamonds discovered by Europeans in South Africa were found in the leather bag of a sorcerer. Although large stones or fragments of rock are usually the objects of adoration as fetiches in Africa, any small stone that is wrapped in colored rags and worn on the neck may be regarded in the same way.*^^ Several competent authorities state that these diamonds were the playthings of some Boer children.

Al Kazwini relates as follows the marvellous tale of the Valley of Diamonds : ^^

* New edition of the Babylonian Talmud, ed. and trans, by Michael L. Bodkinson, vol. v (ziii), Baba Batra, New York, 1902, p. 207.

■• Ratzel, " Volkerkunde," Leipzig, 1885, vol. i, p. 36.

"Dr. Julius Ruska, ''Das Steinbuch aus der Kosmographie des al-Kazwini,'' Beilage zum Jahresbericht 1894r^ der Oberrealschule Hei- delberg, p. 35. See Aristoteles De Lapidibus und Amoldus Saxo, ed. Eose, Z.f.D.A. New Series VI, pp. 364, 365, 389, 390. The "other writer " is probably Ahmed Teif ashi.

TALISMANIC USE OP PRECIOUS STONES 75

''Aristotle** says that no one except Alexander ever reached the place where the diamond is produced. This is a valley, connected with the land Hind. The glance cannot penetrate to its greatest depths and serpents are found there, the like of which no man hath seen, and upon which no man can gaze without dying. However, this power endures only as long as the serpents live, for when they die the power leaves them. In this place summer reigns for six months and winter for the same length of time. Now, Alexander ordered that an iron mirror should he brought and placed at the spot where the serpents dwelt. When the serpents approached, their glance fell upon their own image in the mirror, and this caused their death. Hereupon, Alexander wished to bring out the diamonds from the valley, but no one was willing to undertake the descent. Alexander therefore sought counsel of the wise men, and they told him to throw down a piece of flesh into the valley. This he did, the diamonds became attached to the flesh, and the birds of the air seized the flesh and bore it up out of the valley. Then Alexander ordered his people to pursue the birds and to pick up what fell from the flesh."

''Another writer states that the mines are in the mountains of Serendib (Ceylon) in a very deep gorge, in which are deadly serpents. When people wish to take out the diamonds they throw down pieces of flesh, which are seized by vultures and brought up to the brink of the gorge. There such of the diamonds as cling to the flesh are secured; these are of the size of a lentil or a pea. The largest pieces found attain the size of a half -bean.''

In his version of the tale, one form of which appears in the seventh voyage of Sindbad the Sailor, Teifashi states that the finest corundum gems were washed down the streams that flowed from Adam's Peak, on the island of Ceylon; in time of drought, however, this source of supply ceased. Now it happened that many eagles built their nests on the top of this mountain, and the gem- seekers used to place large pieces of flesh at the foot of the mountain. The eagles pounced upon these and bore them away to their nests, but were obliged to alight from

" The work on precious stones attributed to Aristotle was composed in Arabic probably in the ninth century.

76 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES

time to time in order to rest, and while the pieces of flesh lay on the rock, some of the conmdums became lightly attached to this, so that when the eagles resumed their flight the stones dropped off and rolled down the mountain side.^^

These oft-repeated tales are explained by Dr. Valen- tine Ball as originating in the Hindu custom of sacri- ficing cattle when new mines were opened, and leaving on the spot a certain part of the meat as an offering to the guardian deities. As these pieces of meat were soon carried away by birds of prey, the legend arose that the diamonds were obtained in this way. This custom still prevailed in some parts of India when Dr. Ball wrote.^*

The effect exercised by Hindu superstition on even the most enlightened Europeans of our day may be rec- ognized in the fact that the gifted prima donna, Mme. Maeterlinck, the wife of the foremost living European poet, has confessed that she wears a diamond suspended on her forehead because her husband believes that this brings good fortune to the wearer. This forehead-jewel is characteristically Hindu and enjoys in India the repu- tation of being especially auspicious.

The emerald was believed to foreshow future events,^* but we do not learn whether visions were actually seen in the stone, as they were in spheres of rock-crystal or beryl, or whether the emerald endowed the wearer with a supernatural fore-knowledge of what was to come. As

" Teif ashi, '' Fior di pensieri sulle pietre preziose/' Firenzi, 1818, p. 13.

** Proc of the Royal Irish Academy, 2d Ser., Polite Literature and AntiqoitieB, vol. ii, Dublin, 1879-1888, p. 303.

" Epiphanii, '* De XII gemmis," Tiguri, 1565, f ol. 5.

TALISMANIC USB OF PRECIOUS STONES 77

a revealer of truth, this stone was an enemy of all en- chantments and conjurations; hence it was greatly favored by magicians, who found all their arts of no

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SPECIMEN PAGE OF ITALIAN MANUSCRIPT OP THE FOURTEENTH

CENTURY.

Containing an Italian version of the "De Mineralibus" of Albertus Magnus. On this page is the account of the emerald, set in a ring worn by King Bela IV of Hungary (1285-1270), that was fractured when he caressed hie wife. Author's librsry.

avail if an emerald were in their vicinity when they began to weave their spells.*^®

" Morales, " De las piedras preciosas," Valladolid, 1604, f ol. 101.

78 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES

To this supernatural power inherent in the stone, enabling it to quicken the prophetic faculty, may be added many other virtues. If any one wished to strengthen his memory or to become an eloquent speaker, he was sure to attain his end by securing possession of a fine emerald.*^^ And not only the ambitious, but also those whose hearts had been smitten by the shafts from Cupid's bow found in this stone an invaluable auxiliary, for it revealed the truth or falsity of lover's oaths. Strange to say, however, the emerald, although commonly assigned to Venus, was often regarded as an enemy of sexual passion. So sensitive was the stone believed to be in this respect that Albertus Magnus relates of King Bela of Hungary, who possessed an exceptionally valu- able emerald set in a ring, that, when he embraced his wife while wearing this ring on his finger, the stone broke into three parts.*^®

In Rabbinical legend it is related that four precious stones were given by God to King Solomon ; one of these was the emerald. The possession of the four stones is said to have endowed the wise king with power over all creation.*^® As these four stones probably typified the four cardinal points, and were very likely of red, blue, yellow, and green color respectively, we might conjecture that the other three stones were the carbuncle, the lapis- lazuli, and the topaz.

After stating that the emerald sharpens the wits and quickens the intelligence, Cardano declares that it therefore made people more honest, for "dishonesty is

"Marbodei, «De lapidibus, Friburgi, 1531, fol. 48; Camilli Leon- ardi, '^ Speculnm lapidum/' Venetia, 1502, fol. xliii.

"Fol. 55 recto of Ital. MS., 14th Century. Reference is to Bela IV (1235^-1270). Lo reo dilugaria bela loqale in di nostri tempi regna.

• Weil, " Biblische Legenden," p. 225.

TALISMANIC USE OF PRECIOUS STONES 79

nothing but ignorance, stupidity, and ill-nature. ' ' The same writer adds that the stone was believed to make men economical and hence to make them rich, but of this he was very sceptical, since the experience of others as well as his own showed that the emerald possessed very little power in this direction.®^

A talismanic emerald, once the property of the Mogul emperors of Delhi, has recently been shown in Europe. The stone is of a rich deep green, and weighs 78 carats. Around the edge in Persian characters runs the inscrip- tion: ^^He who possesses this charm shall enjoy the special protection of God.*'

Emerald sharpened the wits, conferred riches and the power to predict future events. To evolve this latter virtue it must be put under the tongue. It also strength- ened the memory. The light-colored stones were es- teemed the best and legend told that they were brought from the * ' nests of griffons. ' ' ^*

4Eippitvun

Gypsum when fibrous — the fibres being long and straight — ^is known as '* satin spar.'* This material is frequently cut rounded, or en cabochon, across the fibres ; sometimes it is cut in the form of beads, or of pear-shaped drops, which are mounted in earrings, scarf-pins, or neck- laces. The material is frequently found in Bussia, England, and elsewhere, and is cut in England or Bussia. Some of the cut stones are mounted in brass, or gilded

"Cardani, ''Philosophi opera quaedam," BasileaB, 1585, p. 328. " De gemmis/'

*^Albertus Magnus, ^'Le Grand Albert des secrets des vertus des Herfoes, Pierres et Bestes. Et aultre livre des Merveilles du Monde, d'aulcnns effetz cansez daulcunes bestes," Turin, Bernard du mont da Chat (c. 1515). liv. ii, fol. 11.

80 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES

brasSy and sold as luck stones at Niagara, the claim being made that the ^^ satin spar " was taken from beneath the Falls at great peril, as occasionally small deposits of this kind of gypsum are found under the Falls.

From time to time small consignments of this material have been sent to Japan, as the Japanese value it possibly on account of its purity, or owing to the fact that it has the effect of the cat's-eye. It is quite cheap, and at the same time very soft, so that it can be scratched with the finger-nail. That found in Bussia is of a golden-yellow or salmon color, and is worked into various ornaments, the one popular form being egg-shaped, and, because of their form, such objects are frequently given as Easter gifts. The same material is also known in Egypt, and is cut in the same egg form, the ornaments being called '^ Pha- raoh's eggs,*' although just which Pharaoh this refers to is not stated. They are also believed to possess quali- ties of protection and to bring good fortune.

i^etnatite

The virtues of the hematite were praised in an ancient gem-treatise written by Azchalias of Babylon for Mithri- dates the Great, King of Pontus (d. 63 b.c), a sovereign who was passionately fond of precious stones, and pos- sessed a splendid collection of them, both engraved and unengraved. Azchalias, as cited by Pliny** taught that human destinies were influenced by the virtues inherent in precious stones, and asserted that the hematite, when used as a talisman, procured for the wearer a favorable hearing of petitions addressed to kings and a fortunate issue of lawsuits and judgments. It is a red oxide of iron, which when abraded shows a red streak ; whence the

" ** NaturaliB hiBtoria,** lib. zzxvii, cap. 60.

TALISMANIC USE OF PRECIOUS STONES 81

name hematite, from the Greek haima, '^ blood." As an iron ore and hence associated with Mars, the god of war, this substance was also considered to be an invaluable help to the warrior on the field of battle if he rubbed his body with it. Probably, like the loadstone, it was believed to confer invulnerability.

The high degree of skill possessed by the Pueblo workers is strikingly shown in a finely inlaid hematite cylinder found in Pueblo Bonito. The inlays are of tur- quoise and are designed to make the cylinder a conven- tional representation of a bird. The wings are indicated by turquoise inlays of pyramidal outline, curved so as to follow the curvature of the cylinder, the head being figured by a conical piece of turquoise attached to one end. This conical termination bore a small bird-figure carved in relief.®' When we consider the diflSculties the Indian workers had to overcome in the execution of this artistic task with the tools at their command, we can well realize that this object, probably an amulet, must have been considered very valuable, and was most likely the property of some one of high rank in the tribe or com- munity.

The jacinth was more especially recommended as an amulet for travellers, because of its reputed value as a protection against the plague and against wounds and injuries, the two classes of perils most feared by those who undertook long journeys. Moreover, this stone as- sured the wearer a cordial reception at any hostelry he

■George H. Pepper, "The Exploration of a Burial-room in Pueblo Bonito, New Mexico,'' Putnam Anniversary Volume, New York, 1909, p. 239; Fig. 5.

A

82 THE CURIOUS LOBE OP PRECIOUS STONES

visited.®^ It was said to lose its brilliancy and grow pale and dull if the wearer or any one in his immediate neigh- borhood became ill of the plagne. In addition to these qualities the jacinth augmented the riches of the owner, and endowed him with prudence in the conduct of his affairs.**

St. Hildegard, the Abbess of Bingen (d. 1179), gives the following details as to the proper use of the jachant (jacinth) : •«

If any one is bewitched by phantoms or by magical spells, so that he has lost his wits, take a hot loaf of pnre wheaten bread and cut the upper crust in the form of a cross, — ^not, however, cutting it quite through, — and then pass the stone along the cutting, reciting these words: ''May God, who cast away all precious stones from the devil • • . cast away from thee, N., all phantoms and all magic spells, and free thee from the pain of this madness.'^

The patient is then to eat of the bread; if, however, his stomach should be too feeble, unleavened bread may be used. All other solid food given to the sick person should be treated in the same manner. We are also told that if any one has a pain in his heart, the pain will be relieved provided the sign of the cross be made over the heart while the above mentioned words are recited.

The wearer of a jacinth was believed to be proof against the lightning, and it was even asserted that wax that had been impressed by an image graven on this stone averted the lightning from one who bore the seal. That the stone really possessed this power was a matter of common report, it being confidently declared that in re-

•• Marbodei, " De lapidibus," Friburgi, 1531, f ol. 38.

*Cardani, ''Philosophi opera quaddam," Basiles, 1585, p. 323. ^ De gemmis/'

** S. Hildegardffi, Opera omnia; in Pat Lat. ed. J. P. Migne, voL czcvii, Parisiis, 1855, eol. 1251.

J

TALISMANIC USE OP PRECIOUS STONES 83

gions where many were struck by lightning, none who wore a jacinth were ever harmed. By a like miracle it preserved the wearer from all danger of pestilence even though he lived in an air charged with the disease. A third virtue was to induce sleep. Of this, Cardano states that he was in the habit of wearing rather a large jacinth, and had found that the stone ^^ seemed to dispose some- what to sleep, but not much." He adds, in explanation of its slight efficacy, that his stone was not bright red, nor of the best sort, but of a golden hue, differing much from the best.«^

The name jade includes two distinct minerals, ne^di- rite and jadeite. The former is a silicate of magnesia, of exceedingly tough structure, and ranks 6.5 in the scale of hardness, while jadeite, a silicate of alumina, is more crystalline and not as tough as nephrite and has a hard- ness of 7. A variety having a rich emerald-green hue is called by the Chinese feits*ui, *' Kingfisher plumes"; it is also denominated Imperial jade.

The original form of the Chinese character pao, signi- fying * * precious, ' 'consists of the outline of a house, within which are the symbols of jade beads, shell, and an earthen jar. This shows that at the very early time when these characters were first used, the Chinese already collected jade and employed it for personal adornment.*® The

oldest form of the ideograph for **king" ,t, appears to be the symbol for a string of jade beads, which are even

" Cardani, " De subtilitate," BasileaB, 1560, pp. 442-3.

• Chalf ant, " Early Chinese Writing," Mem. of Carnegie Museum, vol. iv, No. 1, Pittsburg, 1906, p. 10 and PL XX, No. 275. See also PI. X, No. 132 ; pei, '' shell,'' '' value,'' aa shells were used as money in very ancient times.

84 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

now used in Cliina as insignia for high rank and an- thority.«*

Jade amnlets of many different forms are popular with the Chinese. One representing two men is called * * Two Brothers of Heavenly Love, * ' and is often given to friends. A phoenix of jade is a favorite ornament for young girls and is bestowed upon them when they come of age. To a newly-wedded pair is given the figure of a man riding on a unicorn and holding castanets in his hand ; this signifies that an heir will be bom in due time.

Such is the fondness of the Chinese for jade that those who can afford the luxury of its possession are wont to carry with them small pieces, so that they may have them always at hand; for they believe that, when handled, something of the secret virtue of the substance is absorbed into the body. When struck, jade is thought to emit a peculiarly melodious sound, which for the Chinese poet resembles the voice of the loved one ; indeed, jade is termed the concentrated essence of love.

Fashioned into the form of a butterfly, a piece of jade acquires a special romantic significance in China, because of a Chinese legend which relates that a youth in his eager pursuit of a many-hued butterfly made his way into the garden of a rich mandarin. Instead of being pun- ished for his trespass, the youth's unceremonious visit led to his marriage with the mandarin's daughter. Hence the figure of a butterfly is a symbol of successful love, and Chinese bridegrooms are wont to present jade butter- flies to their fiancees.

A Chinese jade ornament constituting a child's amu- let assumes a form approximating to that of a padlock. When this is attached to a child's neck, it is supposed to

• Chalf ante, " Early Chinese Writing," PL XXII, No. 299,

TALISMANIC USB OF PRECIOUS STONES 85

bind the little one to life and protect it from all danger in infantile diseases. A jade object of a different kind is sometimes nsed at nuptial feasts in China. This is a cup having the form of a cock, and both bride and groom drink from it. The form of this vessel is acconnted for by a legend to the effect that when a beautiful white cock saw its young mistress, who had often petted it, throw herself into a well in a transport of despair at the loss of her lover, the faithful fowl sought and found death in the same way, so as not to be separated from its mistress.

Among the splendid Chinese jade carvings of the Woodward Collection is a curious symbolic ornament carved out of the rare fei-ts^ui yu, or ** kingfisher-green jade,'' a rich emerald green jadeite with translucent green shading. This ornament, executed in the begin- ning of the eighteenth century and believed to be a product of the Imperial Jade Works in Peking, figures the natural form of a so-called ''hand-of -Buddha'* citron, the finger-like protuberances of the fruit suggesting this strangely fanciful name. The Chinese regard this as a most felicitous emblem, denoting at once a long life and abundance of riches for its enjoyment In the present carving the figure of a bat clinging to the foliage envelop- ing the fruit constitutes an added omen of good fortune, the Chinese character fu signifying at once **bat" and ** happiness," another proof of what we are prone to call Chinese queemess, for with the superstitious of our race the bat is always looked upon as especially ill-omened.''^

It is a well-known fact that many analogies have been found between the customs, usages, and products of the more civilized aborigines of the New World and those of

^ '' Catalogue of the Woodward Collection of Jades and other Hard Stones," by John Getz, Privately printed (New York), 1913, p. U, No. 24.

86 THE CURIOUS LOBE OP PRECIOUS STONES

the ancient Egyptians. Another instance is offered by the custom of placing a piece of chadchihuitl (jade?) or of some other green stone in the month of a noble, after his death, and calling this his heart Among the lower classes a texaxoctli, a stone of small value, was used for the same purposQ. We shall see that, in the Egyptian ^'Book of the Dead," directions are given for putting a semi-precious stone on or in a mummy, as a symbol, and designating this the heart of the deceased person. For the use of a green stone for this purpose by the ancient Mexicans, Mrs. Zelia Nuttall finds a reason in the two meanings of the Nahuatl word xoxouhquiryollotl, which is used to signify a '^free man,'' the literal meaning being a 'Afresh or green heart." Hence, the stone was a symbol of the rai^ of the deceased as well as of his heart.^^ The fact that jade celts have been found cut into several pieces is taken to indicate the high value placed upon this material ; for it has been conjectured by Dr. Earle Flint, that a living chief would cut a piece from the jade he wore as a sign of his rank, in order to provide a suitable ornament or amulet for a dead kins- man.

To certain of the Chinese "tomb- jades" — ^that is, jade amulets deposited with the dead — ^has been given the name han-yil, or "mouth- jade," because these amulets, supposed to afford protection to the dead, were placed in their mouths. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York contains a fine collection of 279 specimens of jade from Chinese tombs, found within the past five or six years, and presented to the museum by Mr. Samuel F.

"Zelia Nnttall, ^The Fundamental Principles of Old and New

World Civilization,'' Cambridge^ Mass., 1901, p. 195. ArchaBological

and Ethnographical Papers of the Peabody Mnseum, Harvard Uni- varsity, vol. ii.

TALISMANIC USE OP PRECIOUS STONES 87

Peters. In color these jades are not especially attractive, for the material has acquired a brownish stain, due to the products of decomposition of the body, and also to the absorption of some of the chemical constituents of the other objects in the tomb, during the long period of time, in many cases a thousand years or more, since the bodies were consigned to their final resting place.

So multifarious are the uses to which jade is put by the Chinese, and so great is their admiration of its qualities, that they regard it as the musical gem par eaxeUence. A series of oblong pieces of jade, of the same length and width, usually about 1.8 feet long and ?.35 feet wide, and numbering from 12 to 24, constitute a chime, the difference in the notes emitted by the material when sharply struck depending upon the varying thick- ness of the separate pieces. What is designated the ''stone chime'' used in court and religious ceremonials, is composed of 16 undecorated stones, while a series known as the singers' chime consists of from 12 to 24 pieces carved into fantastic shapes. This use of jade for the production of musical sounds dates far back in the Chinese annals. We are told that when Confucius was much troubled at the ill-success of his efforts to reform the Chinese morals of his day, he sought consolation in playing on the ''musical stone." A peasant who noted this in passing by, exclaimed, as he heard the sounds:

"Full indeed is the heart of him who beats the musical stone like that 1" ^2

A jade ornament greatly favored by the Maoris of

"The Bishop Collection. ^Investigations and Studies in Jade/' New York, priviUely printed, 1906, voL i, pt. iii, '^ Jade as a Mineral," by George Frederick Kunz, p. 117. Nos. 421 and 646 of the eolleetion are excellent examples of this special jade.

88 THE CUEIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

New Zealand bore the name heirtiki (**a carved image for the neck**). The ornaments of this class are very rude and grotesque representations of the human face or form, and were generally regarded as schematically figuring some departed ancestor. The head sometimes slanted right or left, so that the eyes, which were very large and occasionally inlaid with mother-of-pearl, were on an angle of forty-five degrees. These ornaments were prized not only as memorials, but because, having been worn by successive ancestors, they were supposed to com- municate something of the very being of those ancestors to such descendants as were privileged to wear the treas- ured heirloom in their turn. In many cases, when the family was dying out, the last male member would leave directions that his hei-tiki should be buried with him, so that it might not fall into the hands of str anger s.*^'

So rare was this New Zealand jade, known to the Maoris as punamu (green-stone), that the aid of a tohunga, or wizard, was regarded as necessary to learn where it could be found. On setting forth on a search for this material, the jade-seekers would take with them a tohunga, and when the party reached the region where jade was usually found the tohunga would retire to some solitary spot and would fall into a trance. On awaking he would claim that the spirit of some person, dead or living, had appeared to him and had directed to search in a particular place for the jade. He would then conduct

"The Bishop CoUection. '^ Investigations and Studies in Jade," New York, 1906, vol. i, p. 12. Privately printed and edition limited to 100 copies. For a description of this monumental work see *^ The Printed Catalogue of the Heber R. Bishop Collection of Jade," by George Frederick Kunz, supplement to the Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for May, 1906, Occasional Notes, No. 1..

TALISMANIC USE OP PRECIOUS STONES 89

the party to this place, where a larger or smaller piece of jade was invariably found. Of course the wizard had previously assured himself of the presence of the stone in the place indicated.

To this jade was given the name of the man whose spirit had revealed its location, and in many cases the grotesque form given to the stone was conceived to rep- resent this man. We can easily understand the reverence accorded to the hei-tikis when we consider that they were not only prized as heirlooms, which had been handed down by the successive heads of the family, but were also believed to have been originally found in such a mys- terious way.

When the head of the family died, his hei-tiki was generally buried with his body, but was exhumed after a shorter or longer time by the nearest male relative. As we have noted, if no representative of the family remained, the heirloom was allowed to remain in the grave. The fact that tribal or intertribal feuds some- times arose in regard to the possession of a hei-tiki serves to prove the peculiar virtues ascribed to them.

While there can be little doubt that the heirloom was supposed to represent, in a very general way, the person whose name it bore, the particular form given it was largely determined by the natural shape of the mass, which was slowly and patiently fashioned into the form it eventually acquired. Though this was mainly due to the imperfect means of which the artist disposed, there was probably a conviction that the form of the natural stone was not the result of accident, but was in itself significant and required only to be rendered more clear and definite. The fabrication of the hei-tikis of the Maoris is said to have ceased in the early part of the last

90 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES

century. The greater number of those that have been collected in New Zealand appear to have been made from one hundred to one hundred and fifty years ago J^

The jasper had great repute in ancient times as a rain-bringer, and the fourth century author of "Lithica" celebrates this quality in the following lines : ^*

The gods propitious hearken to his prayers, Whoe'er the polished grass-green jasper wears; His parched glebe theyHI satiate with rain. And Bend for showers to soak the thirsty plain.

Evidently the green hue of this translucent stone sug- gested its association with the verdure of the fields in an even closer degree than was the case with transparent green stones such as the emerald, etc. Another early authority, Damigeron, mentions this belief, and states that only when properly consecrated would the jasper do service in this way.''® Jasper was also credited in the fourth century with the virtue of driving away evil spirits and protecting those who wore it from the bites of veno- mous creatures.'''' An anonymous German author of the eleventh or twelfth century recommends the use of this stone for the cure of snake bites, and states that if it be placed upon the bitten part the matter will come out

'* See Fischer, " Ueber die Nephritindustrie der Maoris in Nensee- land/' Arehiv fiir Anthropologie, vol. zv, Braunsehweig, 1884, pp. 463-466.

'* Bang's version in his Natural History of Precious Stones, Lon- don, 1866, p. 382.

** Pitra, " Specilegium Solesmense/' Parisiis, 1855, p. 328.

" Epiphanius, " De XII gemmis," Tiguri, 1565, f ols. 7, 8.

TALISMANIC USE OF PRECIOUS STONES 91

from the woundJ® Here the cure is operated, not by the absorbent quality of the stone, bnt by its supposed power to attract poison or venom to itself, thus removing the cause of disease.

A popular etymology of the Greek and Latin name for jasper is reported by Bartolomaeus Anglicus, who writes that ^4n the head of an adder that hyght Aspis is founde a lytyl stone that is called Jaspis." The same authority pronounces this stone to be of *'wunder ver- tue,'* and says that **it hath as many vertues as dyvers coloures and veines/'*^* This is fully in accord with tradition, for, as color was at least as important as chem- ical composition in determining the talismanic or thera- peutic worth of the different stones, the great variety of colors and markings in the different jaspers naturally indicated their use in many different ways,

Hftt

Jet has been found among the palaeolithic remains in the caves of the * * Kesslerloch, ' ' near Thayngen, Canton Schaffhausen, Switzerland. The material was evidently derived from the deposits in Wiirtemberg and was shaped by flint chips. Quite possibly jet, as well as amber, was already regarded as possessing a certain talismanic vir- tue. Such ornaments, when worn, were believed to be- come a part of the very body and soul of the wearer, and were therefore to be guarded with jealous care.®^ In the

"Birlinger, '^Kleinere deutsche Sprachdenkmaler," in Oermania, ▼oL Tiii (1863), p. 302.

** Bartolomni Anglici ^'De proprietatibus rerum/' London , Wynkyn de Worde, 1495, lib. zvi, cap. 51, De Jaspide. Old English version by John of Trevisa.

"* Hoemes, '^ Urgeschichte der bildenden Kunst/' Wien, 1898, pp. 22, 24.

92 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

palaBolithic cave-deposits of Belgium also, jet appears, the supply being in this instance derived from northern Lorraine. The fragments had been rounded and pierced through the centre.®* This indicates their use as parts of a necklace or as pendants. Necklaces, bracelets, and rings were especially favored for the wearing of talis- manic gems, since the stones could easily be so set that they would come in direct contact with the skia.

Jet was one of the materials used by the Pueblo Indians for their amulets. An exceptionally well-exe- cuted figure of a frog made of this material was found in Pueblo Bonito, in 1896, by Mr. Pepper. The repre- sentation is much more realistic than is the case in the othef figures of this type from this region. Turquoise eyes have been inserted in the head of the figure and a band of turquoise surrounds the neck.®'

Both in Babylonia and in Egypt, lapis-lazuli was very highly valued, and this is shown by the use of its Assy- rian name {uknu) in poetic metaphor. Thus, in a hymn to the moon-god Sin, he is addressed as the ^ * strong bull, great of horns, perfect in form, with long flowing beard, bright as lapis-lazuli.*'®* This may remind us of the * * hyacinthine locks'* of classical literature.

Lapis-lazuli, ^'a blue stone with little golden spots," was a cure for melancholy and for the '* quartern fever,**

"Dupont, ''L^homme pendant les ages de la pierre,'' Brossels, 1372, pp. 156 sqq.

" Pepper, " The Exploration of a Burial-room in Pueblo Bonito,** Putnam Anniversary Volume, New York, 1909, p. 237.

• Ward, " Seal Cylinders of Western Asia," Washington, D. C, 1910, p. 121; citing Jastrow, " Religion,*' p. 303.

S o

oi g

TALISMANIC USE OP PRECIOUS STONES 93

an intermittent fever returning each third day, or each fourth day counting in the previous attack.^^

We have the authority of Plato (Ion, 533 D) for the statement that the word morgnetis was first applied to the loadstone by the tragic poet Euripides (480-405 b.o.), the more usual name being ^^the Heraclean stone." These designations refer to two places in Lydia, Mag- nesia and Herakleia, where the mineral was found.^' Pliny states, on the authority of Nicander, that a certain Magnes, a shepherd, discovered the mineral on Mount Ida, while pasturing his flock, because the nails of his shoes clung to a piece of it.®'

We are told by Pliny that Ptolemy Philadelphus (309- 247 B.C.), planning to erect a temple in honor of his sister and wife Arsinoe, called in the aid of Chirocrates, an Alexandrian architect. The latter engaged to place therein an iron statue of Arsinoe which should appear to hang in mid-air without support. However, both the Egyptian king and his architect died before the design could be realized.®^ This story of an image held in sus- pense by means of powerful magnets set in the floor and roof, and sometimes also in the walls of a temple, is repeated in a variety of forms by early writers. Of

"^Albertus Magntts, '^Le Grand Albert des secretz des verttia dea Herbes, Pierres et Bestes. Et aultre livre des Merveilles du Monde, d'anlcnns effetz cansez daulcunes bestes," Turin, Bernard du mont da Chat (c. 1515). Liv. ii, foL 11, recto.

** The Timffius of Plata, ed. by R. R. Areher-Hind, London, 1888, p. 302, note.

* Plinii, '' Historia naturalis,'' Venetiis, 1507, f oL 269 verso, lib. ixivi, cap. 16.

"^ Plinii, 1. c., f ol. 254, verso, lib. zzziv, cap. 14«

94 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

course, there was no real foundation for such tales, as the thing is altogether impracticable.

The Boman poet Claudian (fifth century a.d.) relates that the priests of a certain temple, in order to offer a dramatic spectacle to the eyes of the worshippers, caused two statues to be executed,— one of Mars in iron, and another of Venus in loadstone. At a special festival these statues were placed near to each other, and the loadstone drew the iron to itself. Claudian vividly describes this :

The prieBts prepare a marriage feast.

Behold a marvel I Instant to her anns

Her eager husband Cythereia charms;

And ever mindful of her ancient fires,

With amorous breath his martial breast inspires;

Lifts the loved weight, close round his helmet twines

Her loving arms, and close embraces joins,

Drawn by the mystic influence from afar.

Flies to the wedded gem the God of War.

The Magnet weds the Steel: the sacred rites

Nature attends, and th' heavenly pair unites.**

There was current as early as the fourth century a curious belief that a piece of loadstone, if placed beneath the pillow of a sleeping wife, would act as a touchstone of her virtue. This first appears in the Alexandrian poem ''Lithica/' and it has been thus quaintly Englished by a fourteenth century translator :

Also magnes is in lyke wyse as adamas; yf it be sett under the heed of a chaste wyfe, it makyth her sodenly to beclyppe [embrace] her hnsbonde; & yf she be a spowse breker, she shall meve her oute of the bed sodenly by drede of fantasy.**

■•King's metrical version in his "Natural History of (Jems,'' London, 1865, p. 226.

* John of Travisa's version (made in 1396) of Bartholomieus Anglicus* ^De proprietatibus rerum/' London, Wynkyn de Worde, 1495, lib. xvi, cap. 43^ De Magnete.

TALISMANIC USB OF PRECIOUS STONES 95

The same writer attempts an explanation of the pop- ular fancy that when powdered loadstone was thrown upon coals in the four comers of a house, the inmates would feel as though the house were falling down; of this he says: **That seemynge is by mevynge [moving] that corny th by tomynge of the brayn.*' ^^

In classical writings the fascination exercised by a very beautiful woman is sometimes likened to the attrac- tive power of the loadstone, as notably by Lucian,®^ who says that if such a woman looks at a man she draws him to her, and leads him whither she will, just as the loadstone draws the iron. To the same idea is probably due the fact that in several languages the name given to the loadstone indicates that its peculiar power was conceived to be a manifestation of the sympathy or love of one mineral substance for another. This is commonly believed to be the sense in which we should understand the French designation aimant, namely, as the participle of the verb aimer, **to love*'; however, some etymolo- gists prefer to derive the word from adamas, sometimes used in Low Latin for the loadstone, although properly signifying the diamond. It is certainly worthy of note that in two such dissimilar languages as Sanskrit and Chinese, the influence of this idea appears in the names given to the loadstone. In Sanskrit the word is chum- baka or **the kisser,*' and in Chinese t' su shi, or *Hhe loving-stone.*' Chin T^sang E[hi, a Chinese author of the eighth century, wrote that **the loadstone attracts iron just as does a tender mother when she calls her children to her.®*

•• Bartolomffii Anglici, " De proprietatibus rerum," 1. c. "Lneian, Imag. I.

" Klaproth, ^ Lettre k M. le Baron A. de Hnmboldt sur rinvention de la bousBole/' Paris, 1834, p. 20.

96 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES

A rich growth of Mohammedan legends grew up about the exploits of Alexander the Great, a striking example being given on another page, and in one of them it is re- lated that the Greek world-conqueror provided his sol- diers with loadstones as a defence against the wiles of the jinns^ or evil spirits ; the loadstone, as well as magnetized iron, being regarded as a sure defence against enchant- ments and all the machinations of malignant spirits.®^

In the East Indies it is said that a king should have a seat of loadstone at his coronation ; probably because the magnetic influence of the stone was supposed to attract power, favor, and gifts to the sovereign. But it is not only in the Orient that magnetite is prized for its talis- manic powers, for even in some parts of our own land this belief is still prevalent. Large quantities of loadstone are found at Magnet Cove, Arkansas, and it is estimated that from one to three tons are sold annually to the negroes to be used in the Voodoo ceremonies as conjuring stones. The material has been found in land used for farming purposes, and many pieces have been turned up in ploughing for com ; these vary from the size of a pea to masses weighing from ten to twenty pounds. They occur in a reddish-brown, sticky soil; their surface is smooth and brown and they have the appearance of water- worn pebbles. In July, 1887, an interesting case was tried in Macon, Georgia, where a negro woman sued a con- juror to recover five dollars which she had paid him for a piece of loadstone to serve as a charm to bring back her wandering husband. As the market value of this mineral was only seventy-five cents a pound, and the piece

"From El Kazwini's ''Adjail el makluquat"; cited in mai^al note, vol. i, pp. 310, 311, of El Damn's '^ Hayat el hayau&n," Cairo, 1313 (1805).

TALISMANIC USE OF PEECIOUS STONES 97

was very small, weighing but a few ounces, the judge ordered that the money should be refunded**

For some reason not easy to fathom, malachite was considered to be a talisman peculiarly appropriate for children. If a piece of this stone were attached to an infantas cradle, all evil spirits were held aloof and the child slept soundly and peacefully.** In some parts of Germany, malachite shared with turquoise the repute of protecting the wearer from danger in falling, and it also gave warning of approaching disaster by breaking into several pieces.** This material was well known to the ancient Egyptians, malachite mines having been worked between Suez and Sinai as early as 4000 b.c.

The appropriate design to be engraved upon mala- chite was the image of the sun. Such a gem became a powerful talisman and protected the wearer from en- chantments, from evil spirits, and from the attacks of venomous creatures.*^ The sun, as the source of all light, was generally regarded as the deadly enemy of necro- mancers, witches, and demons, who delighted in the dark- ness and feared nothing more than the bright light of day.

0i9tmitttme

The moonstone is believed to bring good fortune and is regarded as a sacred stone in India. It is never dis- played for sale there, except on a yellow cloth, as yellow

"Kunz, "(Jems and Precious Stones of North America," New York, 1890, p. 192.

"Marbodei, "De lapidibus," Fribui^, 1531, foL 51; Camilli Leon- ardi, " Speculum lapidum/' Venetia, 1502, f ol. zzzviii.

•• Chiocci, " Museum Calceolarium," Veronas, 1622, p. 227.

" De Boot, '^ Gemmarum et lapidum historia," Lug. Bat.,. 1636, p. 264, lib. ii, cap. 113. 7

98 THE CUKIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES

is an especially sacred color. As a gift for lovers the moonstone takes a high rank, for it is believed to arouse the tender passion, and to give lovers the power to read in the future the fortune, good or ill, that is in store for them. To gain this knowledge, however, the stone must be placed in the mouth while the moon is full.®®

Antoine Mizauld ®® tells us of a selenite or moonstone owned by a friend of his, a great traveller. This stone, about the size of the gold piece known as the gold noble, but somewhat thicker, indicated the waxing and waning of the moon by a certain white point or mark which grew larger or smaller as did the moon. Mizauld relates that to convince himself of the truth of this he obtained pos- session of the stone for one lunar month, during which time he sedulously observed it. The white mark first appeared at the top. It was like a small millet-seed, in- creasing in size and moving down on the stone, always assuming the form of the moon until, on reaching the middle, it was round like the full moon; then the mark gradually passed up again as the moon diminished. The owner declared that he had '^ vowed and dedicated this stone to the young king [Edward VI], who was then highly esteemed because he had good judgment in regard to rare and precious things.'*

The onyx, if worn on the neck, was said to cool the ardors of love, and Cardano relates that everywhere in India the stone was worn for this purpose.*®® This belief is closely related to the idea commonly associated with the onyx, — ^namely, that it provoked discord and separated

" Marbodei, « De lapidibus/^ Friburgi, 1531, fol. 51.

" " Les secrets de la Lune/' Paris, 1571.

"^ Cardani, " De subtilitate/' lib. vii, BasHeaB, 1560, p. 464.

/

TALISMANIC USE OP PRECIOUS STONES

lovers. The close onion and yet the strange contrast be- tween the layers of black and white may have suggested this.

Crystals of iron pyrites (pyrite, native iron dianl- phide) are sometimes used as amulets by the North American Indians, and the belief in their magic power is attested by their presence in the ontfit of miscellane- ous objects which the medi- cine-men nse in the course of their incantations. Be- cause these gleaming yellow crystals are occasionally mistaken for gold, the name "fool's gold" has been popularly bestowed upon them."*

Of this material the ancient Mexicans made wonderful mirrors, one side being usually polished flat, while the other side was strongly convex. Fre- quently this side was curi- ously carved with some symbolic representation as ap- pears in the case of a pyrite mirror of the Pinard collec- tion in the Troeadero, Paris.""

™ " Handbook of AmericaD Indians North of Mexico," ed. by Fnd«rick Webb Hodg«; Smithsonian Inst; Bur. Am. Ethn., Boll. 30; Wadingrton, 1910, Pt 2, p. 331.

"Kntix, "Oems and Precions Stones of North America," NeV York, 1890, pp. 299, 300.

OBSIDIAN MIRaOR, PROM OAXACA, MEXICO. NOW IN TB0CAD£E0 MUSBCM, PARIS.

B«'	■QBHua:	nd Prwioiu StoBU of North
		»rcg Fnderiok Kiuu. Ne*

100 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

The popular belief in his time as to the origin of rock- crystal is voiced by St. Jerome, when, using the words of Fliny, although not citing bis authority, he says that it was formed by the congelation of water in dark caverns of the mountains, where the temperatnre was intensely cold, so that, "While a stone to the tooch, it seems like

ROCK-CBYSTAL 6ECLL, ANCIENT MEXICAN

W«lsliiBB4T5Jjai. Troy. KowintboBiiluh MuMum.London. PrDm " Oemaaiul Pnoioai

BtoiH of North Anwiua," br Qvoice Fndaricfc Kuu, New York, IS90. p. 2SS.

water to the eye.'* This belief was evidently due to the fact that rock-crystal was so often found in mountain clefts and caverns. Symbolically, it signified that those within the portals of the Church should keep themselves free from stain and have a pure faith.""

The Chinese emperor Wn was devoted to the service of the gods and of the immortal spirits. He built many edifices for religious purposes, and all the doors of these

*" Saocti Ensebii Hieronymi " Opera Omnia," ed. Kigne, voL iv, pBiisiis, 1665, col. 545.

TALISMANIC USE OP PRECIOUS STONES 101

buildings were made of white rock-crystal, so that a flood of light ponred into the interior. Although the Chinese texts call this material rock-crystal, it is possible that the name was applied to glass when that substance was but recently introduced into China.*^*

Regarding this same '^rock-crystal" a humorous tale is related. Muan-f en, a mandarin who had a great terror of draughts, was once received in the palace by one of the Chinese emperors. The doors of the audience chamber were of rock-crystal and were tightly closed, but, because of the transparency of the material, they seemed to be wide open, and the emperor was greatly amused to note that Muan-f en was shivering with cold, although the tem- perature of the room was quite comfortable.^*^*

An exceptionally fine specimen of Aztec work is a skull carved out of rock-crystal. It weighs 475^4 ounces Troy, and measures 8^/4 inches in width.

The ruby has many names in Sanskrit, some of them clearly showing that it was more valued as a gem by the Hindus than any other. For instance, it is called rat- naraj, ''king of precious stones," and ratnandyaka, "leader of precious stones;" another name, applied to a particular shade of ruby is padmaraga, "red as the lotus.'' ^^«

The glowing hue of the ruby suggested the idea that an inextinguishable flame burned in this stone. From this fancy came the assertion that the inner fire could not

^** Pfizmeier, "Beitrage znr Geschichte der Edelsteinen und dee Ooldes,'' SitzungBberieht d. phil. hist. El., Wien, vol. Iviii, 1868, p. 200.

"• Pfizmeier, 1. c, p. 201.

'^Garbe, ''Die indische Mineralien; Naharari's Rajanighanto, Vaiga Xm, Leipzig, 1882, p. 70.

102 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

be hidden, as it would shine through the clothing or through any material that might be wrapped around the stone.* ®^ If cast into the water the ruby communicated its heat to the liquid, causing it to boil. The dark and the star rubies were called ^^male" stones, the others, more especially, however, those of lighter hue, being con- sidered as * 'female" stones. All varieties served to preserve the bodily and mental health of the wearer, for they removed evil thoughts, controlled amorous desires, dissipated pestilential vapors, and reconciled disputes.*®*

In the **Lapidaire" of Philippe de Valois, it is said that ^'the books tell us the beautiful clear and fine ruby is the lord of stones ; it is the gem of gems, and surpasses all other precious stones in virtue. * ' In the time of Mar- bodus (end of the eleventh century a.d.) the same proud place was assigned to the sapphire. The ruby is spoken of in similar terms in the * * Lapidaire en Vers, ' * where it is called *'the most precious of the twelve stones God created when He created all creatures" By Christ *s command the ruby was placed on Aaron's neck, *'the ruby, called the lord of gems ; the highly prized, the dearly loved ruby, so fair with its gay color." *°®

As with diamonds, rubies also were divided by the Hindus into four castes. The true Oriental ruby was a Brahmin ; the rubicelle,a Kshatriya ; the spinel, a Vaisya, and lastly, the balas-ruby, a Sudra. The possession of a padmcrdga, or Brahmin ruby, conferred perfect safety upon the owner, and as long as he owned this precious stone he could dwell without fear in the midst of enemies

•" Epiphanii, *' De XH gemmis,'' Tiguri, 1565, f ol. 5.

"• Camilli Leonardi, " Speculum lapidum/' Venetia, 1502, f ol.

"• Pannier, " Les lapidaires f rancais," Paris, 1882, pp. 246, 264, 295. Cited in Scbofield, " The Peart," Pub. of Mod. Lang. Asso. of Am., vol. zxivy Ft. 4, p. 599.

TALISMANIC USE OF PRECIOUS STONES 103

and was shielded from adverse fortune. However, great care had to be taken to preserve this ruby of the first class from contact with inferior specimens, as its virtue would thereby be contaminated, and its power for good correspondingly diminished."*^

The many talismanie virtues of the ruby are noted in the fourteenth century treatise attributed to Sir John Mandeville.^" Here the fortunate owner of a brilliant ruby is assured that he will live in peace and concord with all men, that neither his land nor his rank will be taken from him, and that he will be preserved from all perils. The stone would also guard his house, his fruit-trees, and his vineyards from injury by tempests. All the good effects were most surely secured if the ruby, set in ring, bracelet, or brooch, were worn on the left side.

The gorgeous ruby, the favorite gem of Burma, where the finest specimens are found, is not only valued for its beauty, but is also believed to confer invulnerability. To attain this end, however, it is not thought to be sufficient to wear these stones in a ring or other piece of jewelry, but the stone must be inserted in the flesh, and thus be- come, so to speak, a part of its owner's body. Those who in this way bear about with them a ruby, confidently be- lieve that they cannot be wounded by spear, sword, or gun.** 2 As it is often remarked that the most daring and reckless soldiers pass unscathed through all the perils of war, we can understand that this superstition may some- times appear to be verified.

"• Surindro Mohun Tagore, " Mani Mdld,'' Pt. I, Calcutta, 1879, p. 199.

^^^'Le grand lapidaire de Jean de Mandeville,'' from the ed. of 1561, ed. by J. S. del Sotto, Vienne, 1862, p. 8.

^ Taw Sein Ko, communication from his " Burmese Necromancy.''

104 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES

The sapphire is noted as a regal gem by Damigeron, who asserts that kings wore it about their necks as a powerful defence from harm. The stone preserved the wearer from envy and attracted diviae favor."* For royal use, sapphires were set in bracelets and necklaces, and the sacred character of the stone was attested by the tra- dition that the Law given to Moses on the Mount was engraved on tablets of sapphire."* While we should prob- ably translate here *'lapis-lazuli'* instead of "sapphire/* all such passages were later understood as referring to the true sapphire, which is not found in pieces of the requisite size.

In the twelfth century, the Bishop of Rennes lavishes encomiums upon this beautiful stone. It is quite natural that this writer should lay especial stress upon the use of the sapphire for the adornment of rings, for it was in his time that it was beginning to be regarded as the stone most appropriate for ecclesiastical rings. The sapphire was like the pure sky, and mighty Nature had endowed it with so great a power that it might be called sacred and the gem of gems. Fraud was banished from its pres- ence and necromancers honored it more than any other stone, for it enabled them to hear and to understand the obscurest oracles.^^*^

The traditional virtue of the sapphire as an antidote against poison is noted by Bartolomaeus Anglicus, who claims to have seen a test of its power, somewhat similar to that recorded by Ahmed Teifashi of the emerald. In

Pitra, " Specilegium Solesmense," ParisiiSy 1855, vol. iii, p. 328. "• Epiphanii, " De XII gemmis," Tiguri, 1565, f ol. 6. "• Marbodei, " De lapidibus," Friburgi, 1531, f ols. 46, 47.

is I' I

TALISMANIC USB OF PRECIOUS STONES 105

John of Trevisa'B version this pa43sage reads as follows :"«

His vertue is contrary to venym, and qnencheth it every deale. And yf you put an attercoppe "* in a boze and hold a .very saphyre of Inde at the month of the boze ony whyle, by vertne thereof the atter- coppe is overcome & dyeth as it were sodenly, as Dyasc. sayth [pseudo Dioficorides]. And this same I have assayed oft in many and dyvers places. His vertue kepeth and savyth the syght, & deaiyth eyen of fylthe wythout ony greyf .

Voicing the general belief that the sapphire was en- dowed with power to influence spirits, Bartolomseus says that this stone waa a great favorite with those who prac- tised necromancy, and he adds: ^^AIso wytches love well this stone, for they wene that they may werke certen wondres by vertne of this stone. * ' * "

There was in the South Kensington Museum, in London, a splendid sapphire of a peculiar tint. In the daylight it shows a beautiful rich blue color, while by artificial light it has a violet hue and resembles an amethyst. In the eighteenth century this stone was in the collection of Count de Walicki, a Polish nobleman, and Mme. de Genlis used it as the theme of one of her stories, entitled **Le Saphire Merveilleux.*' Here the sapphire is used as a test of female virtue, the change of color indicating unfaithfulness on the part of the wearer. If the owner of the stone wished to prove that the subject of the test was innocent, she was made to wear the sapphire for three hours of daylight ; but in the opposite case the test was so timed that it began in daylight and ended when the

"* Bartolomaei Anglici, "De proprietatihus rerum," London, Wynkyn de Worde, 1495, lib. xvi, cap. 86, De Baphiro. '" Old English for spider. "* Bartolomaras Anglicus, 1. c.

106 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES

candles or lamps had been lighted. This sapphire, still known as the '*Saphire Merveillenx/' was for a time in the collection of the Duke of Orleans, who bore the name of Philippe Egalite during the French Revolution.

The star sapphire is that variety of sapphire in which, when the stone is cut and rounded oflf horizontal with the dome of the crystal, the light is condensed across the three lines of crystalline interference. Three cross lines pro- duce a star which moves as a source of light, or as it is moved from the source of light. Star sapphires very rarely possess the deep blue color of the fine blue sap- phire; generally the color is somewhat impure, or of a milky-blue, or else a blue-gray, or sometimes almost a pure white. The blue-gray, gray, and white stones fre- quently show a much more distinct star, possibly from the fact that there are more inclusions between the layers of the crystals than with the darker blue stones, as it is the set of interference bands that produces the peculiar light. Just as the eye agate was used in some countries to preserve against the Evil Eye, so the moving star is believed by the Cingalese to serve as a protection and a guard against witchcraft of all kinds.

The great Oriental traveller. Sir Richard Francis Burton, had a large star sapphire or asteria, as it was called. He referred to it as his talisman, for it always brought him good horses and prompt attention wherever he went; in fact, it was only in those places where he received proper attention that he would show it to the na^ tives, a favor they greatly appreciated, because the sight of the stone was believed to bring good luck. The fame of Burton's asteria travelled ahead of him, and it served him well as a guiding-star. De Boot, writing in the seventeenth century, states that such a stone was called Siegstein (victory-stone) among the Germans.

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TALISMANIC USE OP PRECIOUS STONES 107

The remarkable asteria, known as the * ' Star of India, * ' in the Morgan-Tiflfany Collection in the American Mnsemn of Natural History, has a more or less indefinite historic record of some three centuries, but after its many wanderings it has now found a worthy resting-place in the great Museum. Its weight is 543 carats.* ^®

The asteria, or star sapphire, might be called a ^^ Stone of Destiny, '^ as the three cross-bars which traverse it are believed to represent Faith, Hope, and Destiny. As the stone is moved, or the light changes, a living star ap- pears. As a guiding gem, warding off ill omen and the Evil Eye, the star-sapphire is worn for the same reasons as were the oculus mundi and the oculus Beli. One of the most unique of talismanic stones, it is said to be so potent that it continues to exercise its good influence over the first wearer even when it has passed into other hands.

Jbattt

The sard was regarded as a protection against incan- tations and sorcery, and was believed to sharpen the wits of the wearer, rendering him fearless, victorious, and happy.* ^ The red hue of this stone was supposed to neutralize the malign influence of the dark oynx, driving away the bad dreams caused by the latter and dispelling the melancholy thoughts it inspired.

n*

The subject of the origin, development and reform of the carat- weight has been fully treated by the author in the Trans, of the Soe. of Min. Engineers, 1913, pp. 1225-1245, '* The New International Metric Diamond Carat of 200 milligrams/'

"• Marbodei, " De lapidibus," Friburgi, 1531, f ol. 50, note of Pictor Yillengensis.

108 THE CURIOUS LOBE OF PRECIOUS STONES

Jbttptotiut

The Italian peasants of to-day believe that pebbles of green serpentine afford protection from the bites of venomons creatures. These stones are usually green with streaks or veins of white, and the name was derived from their fancied resemblance to a serpent's skin. In addi- tion to their prophylactic powers, if any one has been bitten by such a creature, the stone, when applied to the wound, is supposed to draw out the poison. Here, as in the case of coral, the hand of man must not have shaped the amulet ; it should be in its natural state. As a gen- eral rule, however, the belief that the touch of any iron instrument, such as the tool of the gem-cutter, destroys the magic efficacy of the substance, is less firmly held in regard to stones than in reference to coraL^**

See Chrysolite.

€vttqumiit

While there was a tendency to attribute the virtues originally ascribed to one particular stone to others of the same or similar color and appearance, certain stones were regarded as possessing special virtues not com- monly attributed to others. A notable instance of this is the quality supposed to inhere in the turquoise. This stone was known in Egypt from a very early period and is later described by Pliny under the name of callais. For Pliny, and for all those who derived their informa- tion from him or from the sources he used, the turquoise only participated in the virtues assigned to all blue or

'"Bellucciy '^B feticismo primitivo in Italia," Perugia, 1907, pp. 25,26.

TALISMANIC USE OP PEBCIOUS STONES 109

greenish-bine stones; bnt from the thirteenth eentnry, when the name turqnoise was first employed, we read that the stone possessed the power to protect the wearer from injury by falling, more especially from horseback ; later, this was extended to cover falls from a building or over a precipice. A fourteenth century authority, the **Lapi- daire ' ' of Sir John Mandeville, states that the turquoise protected horses from the ill-eflfects resulting from drink- ing cold water when overheated by exertion, and it is said that the Turks often attached these stones to the bridles and frontlets of their horses as amulets. They are also so used in Samarcand and Persia. We might there- fore be justified in supposing that the turquoise was originally used in the East as a ** horse-amulet,*' and the belief in its power to protect from falls may have arisen from the idea that it rendered the horse more sure-footed and enduring. As the horse was often regarded as a symbol of the sun in its rapid course through the blue heavens, the celestial hue of the turquoise may have caused it to be associated in some way with the horse. We can only hazard this as a plausible conjecture.

Probably the earliest notice of the peculiar super- stition in regard to the turquoise — ^namely, that it pre- serves the wearer from injury in case of falling — ^is con- tained in