 Chapter 4 Part 1 of the Curious Lore of Precious Stones. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Rita Butros. The Curious Lore of Precious Stones by George Frederick Cunn's Chapter 4 Part 1 on the use of engraved and carved gems as talismans. The virtue believed to be inherent in precious stones was thought to gain an added potency when the stone was engraved with some symbol or figure possessing a special sacredness or denoting and typifying a special quality. This presupposes a considerable development of civilization since the art of engraving on precious stones offers many mechanical difficulties and thus requires a high degree of artistic and mechanical skill. It is true that the earliest engraved stones, the Babylonian cylinders and the Egyptian scarabs were both designed to serve an eminently practical purpose as well, namely that of seals. But in a great number of instances, these primitive seals were looked upon as endowed with talismanic power and were worn on the person as talismans. The scarab so highly favored by the Egyptians as an ornamental form is a representation of the scarabois sacchar, the typical genus of the family scaraboy day. They are usually black but occasionally show a fine play of metallic colors. After gathering up a clump of dung for the reception of the eggs, the insect rolls this along using the hind legs to propel it until the material at first soft and of irregular form becomes hardened and almost perfectly round. A curious symbolism induced the Egyptians to find in this beetle an emblem of the world of fatherhood and of man. The round ball wherein the eggs were deposited typified the world and as the Egyptians thought that the scarabois were all males, they especially signified the male principle in generation becoming types of fatherhood and man. At the same time, as only full-grown beetles were observed, it was believed these creatures represented a regeneration or reincarnation since it was not realized that the eggs or larval and pupa stages had anything to do with the generation of the beetle. Thus the scarab was used as a symbol of immortality. While, however, this was the popular view, it seems unlikely that such close observers as were the more cultured Egyptians should have been entirely unfamiliar with the real genesis of the scarabois sacchar. But in this case also there would have been no difficulty in finding it emblematic of immortality in the various stages through which it passed. The larval stage might well signify the mortal life. The pupa stage, the intermediate period represented by the mummy with which the soul was conceived to be vaguely connected in spite of its wanderings through the netherworld. And lastly, the fully developed beetle could be regarded as a type of the rebirth into everlasting life when the purified and perfected soul again animated the original and transfigured form in a mysterious resurrection. Scarabs are frequently engraved with the hieroglyph Ankh, Life, and Ha, increase of power. The emblem of stability, Tet, is also employed as well as many others. In addition to these simple symbols, many scarabs bear legends supposed to render them exceptionally luck-bringing. Symbols are shown indicating Lord of Truth and Life, abounding in graces, very deeply cut as a seal, may thy name be established, mayest thou have a son, good stability, all good things, a good day, a mother is a truly good thing, or truth is a good mother. The scarab for the Egyptians, a type of the rising sun and hence of the renewal of life after death, was copied by the Phoenicians from the Egyptian types and modified in various ways to suit the religious fancies of the various lands to which they bore the products of their art. Much of the original significance of this symbol must have been lost, probably in many cases little was left, but a vague idea that an amulet of this form would bring good luck to the wearer and guard from harm. Funeral scarabs were often made of Jasper, Amethyst, Lapis Leslie, Ruby, or Carnelian, with the names of gods, kings, priests, officials, or private persons engraved on the base. Occasionally monograms or floral devices were engraved. Sometimes the base of the scarab was heart-shaped and at others the scarab was combined with the utat, or eye of horus, and also with the frog, typifying revivification. Set in rings they were placed on the fingers of the dead or else wrapped in linen bandages they rested on the heart of the deceased, a type of the sun which rose each day to renewed life. They were symbols of the resurrection of the body. Some of the Egyptian scarabs were evidently used as talismanic gifts from one friend to another. Two such scarabs are in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. One bears the inscription, May Ra Grant you a Happy New Year, the text of the other reading as follows, May your name be established, may you have a son, and May your house flourish every day. It is a curious fact that the modern greeting Happy New Year was current in Egypt probably 3,000 years ago. On the Egyptian inscribed scarabs used as signets were engraved many of the symbols to which a talismanic virtue was attributed. The Eureus serpent signifying death is sometimes associated with the knot, the so-called Ankh symbol denoting life. Often the hieroglyph for Noob gold appears. This symbol is a necklace with pendant beads showing that gold beads must have been known in Egypt in the early days when the hieroglyph for gold was first used. All these symbolic figures of which a great number occur served to impart to the signet a sacred and auspicious quality which communicated itself to the wearer and even to the impression made by the seal this in turn acquiring a certain magic force. Few of us would be willing to confess to a belief in the innate power of any symbol but the suggestive power of a symbol is as real today as it ever was. Any object that evokes a high thought or serves to emphasize a profound conviction really possesses a kind of magical quality since it is capable of causing an effect out of all proportion to its intrinsic worth or its material quality. Many scarabs and signets exist made of the artificial cyanis which was an imitation lapis lazuli made in Egypt. This was an alkaline silicate colored a deep blue with carbonate of copper. Often a wonderful translucent or opaque blue glass was used. The genuine lapis lazuli was also used to a considerable extent for scarabs and cylinders in Egypt and Assyria and gems were also cut from it in imperial Roman times. A notable instance of the use of lapis lazuli in ancient Egypt was as the material for the image of truth, ma which the Egyptian chief justice wore on his neck suspended from a golden chain. In Roman times some of the legionnaires are said to have worn rings set with scarabs for the reason that this figure was believed to impart great courage and vigor to the wearer. The Egyptian amulets of the earliest period up to the 12th dynasty, circa 2000 BC differ considerably from those made and worn after the beginning of the 18th dynasty, 1580 BC. Those of the earlier period are not numerous and present but a small number of types, animal forms, or the heads of animals constituting the most favored models. The precious stone materials are principally carnelian, barrel, and amethyst. After the close of the so-called Hicksos period, the age during which foreign kings ruled over Egypt came the brilliant revival and development of Egyptian civilization that characterized the 18th dynasty. Some of the old forms were entirely cast aside while others were greatly modified in form and significance. The animal forms losing much of their feticistic quality and coming to be more and more regarded as images of the multifarious divinities worshipped in this later period. In many cases the animal type was entirely or partially discarded and the amulets figured the conventional types given to the various divinities. However, while some of these images were wholly human, many of them show a human body with an animal head. Various symbolic designs were also favored, one believed to signify the blood of Isis having the form of a knot or tie. A frog fashioned out of lapis lazuli and having eyes of gold is one of these amulets of the 18th dynasty or later. An interesting Egyptian talisman in the Louvre is engraved with a design representing Thotmys II seizing a lion by the tail and raising the animal aloft. At the same time he brandishes, in the other hand, a club with which he is about to dash out the lion's brains. The Egyptian word quen strength is engraved beneath the design and indicates that the virtue of the talisman was to increase the strength and courage of the wearer, the inscription being a kind of perpetual invocation to the higher powers whose aid was sought. The children of Israel, when in the desert, were said to have engraved figures on carnelian just as seals are engraved. This statement, repeated by many early writers, may perhaps have arisen from an identification of carnelian with the first stone of the breastplate, the odum, unquestionably a red stone and very possibly carnelian. There can be no doubt that this was one of the first stones used for ornamental purposes and for engraving, as a number of specimens have been preserved from early Egyptian times. Because of the cooling and calming effect exercised by carnelian upon the blood, if worn on the neck or on the finger, it was believed to still all angry passions. A class of amulets, even older than the Egyptian scarabs, is represented by the engraved Assyrio-Babylonian cylinders. There has been much discussion among scholars as to the original purpose for which these cylinders were made, some holding that they were exclusively employed as seals or signets while others inclined to the belief that many of them were intended only for use as amulets or talismans. These cylinders are perforated and were worn suspended from the neck or wrist, as is most frequently the case with talismans. And the engraved designs often represent religious or mythological subjects, the accompanying inscription merely consisting of the names of the gods. Cylinders of this type could not have been used as personal signets, and it is quite possible that Dr. Wiedemann is right in supposing that their imprint on a document was considered to impart a certain mystic sanction to the agreement and render the divinities or spirits accountable for the fulfillment of the contract. The oldest known form of seal is the cylinder. Babylonian and Assyrian cylinder seals are known of a date as earliest 4000 BC. From the earliest period until 2500 BC, they were made of black or green serpentine, conglomerate, diorite, and frequently of the central core of a large conch shell from the Persian Gulf. From 2500 BC to 500 BC, the cylindrical form was prevalent and the materials include a brick-red ferruginous quartz, red hematite, an iron ore, and calcidone, a beautiful variety of the last named stone known as saffron being sometimes used. On the cylinders produced from 4000 BC to 2500 BC, the designs most frequently represent animal forms. On those dating from 2500 BC to 500 BC are generally inscribed 5 or 6 rows of cuneiform characters. Up to the last named date, the work was all done by the sapphire point and not by the wheel, and it is not until the 5th century BC that wheel work is apparent in any Babylonian or Assyrian stone engraving. In the course of the 6th century BC, the cylindrical seals became less frequent and the tall cone-like seals came into use. A new type makes its appearance about the 5th or 6th century BC, namely the scaraboid seal introduced from Egypt. From the 3rd century BC until the 2nd or 3rd century AD, the seals became lower and flatter and the perforation larger until they sometimes assumed the form of rings. Later the ring form becomes general. They are usually hollowed a little in the middle which gives them the shape and size of the lower short joints of a reed. Indeed it has been suggested that the original seal was rudely patterned after a reed joint. The materials used for these cylinders include lapis lazuli, very freely used and probably from the Persian mines, jasper, rock crystals, calcedoni, carnelian, agate, jade, etc. A hard black variety of serpentine is perhaps the most common of all the materials used for this purpose. A good example of these talismanic cylinders shows the figure of the god Nebo seated on a throne and holding a ring in his left hand. For him are two altars over which appear respectively a star and the crescent moon. In front of the god is the figure of a man in an attitude of adoration. Borsippa, where the cylinder was found, was the special seat of the worship of Nebo whose name appears in those of the kings Nebuchadnezzar, Nebo Pulaser, and Nabonade. Regarded as the inventor of writing and as the god of learning, Nebo was the lord of the planet Mercury and this shows a close connection between Babylonian and Greco-Roman ideas in reference to the god associated with that planet. Nebo was also believed to be the order of times and seasons and this character is indicated by the star and the crescent. The Cretan peasants of today set a high value upon certain very ancient seals dating perhaps from as early as 2500 BC which they find buried in the soil. These seals are inscribed with symbols supposed to represent the prehistoric Cretan form of writing. Of course these inscriptions which have not yet been deciphered by archaeologists are utterly incomprehensible for the peasants but they undoubtedly serve to render the stones objects of mystery. The peasants call them Gallopetre or milk stones and they are supposed to promote the secretion of milk as was the case with the Galactite. The careful preservation of these so-called Gallopetre by Cretan women has served the purpose of archaeological research as otherwise so large a supply of these very interesting seals would not now be available. Many engraved stones of the Roman imperial period bore the figures of Serapis and of Isis, the former signifying time and the latter earth. On other stones the symbols of the zodiacal signs appear referring to the natal constellation of the wearer. The astrologers who derived their lore from the Orient were consulted by all classes of the Roman people and it is therefore very natural that the signet or the ring worn as an amulet should frequently have been engraved with astrological symbols. These designs were usually engraved on onyxes, carnelians and similar stones in Greek and Roman times but occasionally the emerald was used in this way and more rarely the ruby or the sapphire. Here the costliness of the material is probably thought to enhance the value of the amulet. The emerald ring of Polycrates must have possessed some other than a purely artistic value in his eyes when it could be regarded by him as the most precious of his possessions. In Roman times the image of Alexander the Great was looked upon as possessing magic virtues and it is related that when Cornelius Macer gave a splendid banquet at the Temple of Hercules the chief ornament of the table was an amber cup in the midst of which was a portrait of Alexander and around this his whole history figured in small finely engraved representations from this cup Macer drank to the health of the pontifex and then ordered that it should be passed around among the guests so that each one might gaze upon the image Polyo relating this states that it was a common belief that everything happened fortunately for those who bore with them Alexander's portrait executed in gold or silver. Indeed even among Christians coins of Alexander were in great favor as amulets and the stern John Chrysostom sharply rebukes those who wore bronze coins of this monarch attached to their heads and their feet. Nowhere in the world was the use of amulets so common as in Alexandria especially in the first centuries of our era and the types produced here were scattered far and wide throughout the Roman world. Amulets made from various colored stones had been used for religious purposes in Egypt from the very earliest period of its history so that the custom was deeply rooted in that land when therefore Alexandria was founded in the fourth century BC and became a great commercial center attracting men of all races and all religions it is not surprising that the population eagerly adopted the various amulets used by the adherents of the different religions. The result was a combining and confusion of many different types with the rapid rise and growth of the Christian religion a new element was introduced. Unquestionably the leading Christian teachers were strongly opposed to such superstitious practices but the rank and file of the faithful clung to their old fancies. In the second century the Gnostic heresy gave a new impulse to the fabrication of amulets this strange eclecticism resulting from an interweaving pagan and Christian ideas with its complicated symbolism much of which is almost incomprehensible found expression in the creation of the most bizarre types of amulets and the magic virtues of the curious designs was enhanced by inscriptions purposely obscure the incomprehensible always seems to have a mysterious charm for those devoted to the magic arts and the adepts so willingly catered to this taste so that we can often only guess at the signification of the words and names engraved upon the Gnostic or Basilidian gems so widespread was their use throughout the Roman Empire that there were factories entirely devoted to the production of these objects regarding the sacred name Abrasax which was inscribed on so many Gnostic gems we read in Saint Saint's treatise Deherre's 6 Basilides asserted that there were 365 heavens it was for this reason that he regarded the name Abrasax as sacred and venerable according to the Greek notation the letters comprising this name give that number alpha equals 1 beta equals 2 rho equals 100 alpha equals 1 alpha equals 1 sigma equals 200 alpha equals 1 she equals 60 total 365 it is however not unlikely that the 365 days in the solar year are signified and this enigmatic name might thus be brought into connection with Mithra the solar divinity which was inscribed throughout the Persian and Roman empires in the first and second centuries of our era a very recondite but ingenious explanation of the Gnostic name Abrasax is given by Hardouin in his notes to Pliny's natural history he sees in the first three letters the initials of the three Hebrew words signifying father, son, and spirit ab, ben, ruah the triune god the last four letters are the initials of the Greek words meaning he saves men by the sacred wood the cross this seems rather far-fetched it must be confessed and yet to anyone familiar with the vagaries of Alexandrin eclecticism and with the tendency of the time and place to make strange and uncouth combinations of Greek and Hebrew forms inherently improbable in the explanation indeed the Hebrew and Greek words in this composite sentence might have been regarded as typifying the union of the Old and New Testaments and such anacrostic would certainly have been looked upon as possessing a mystic and supernatural power End of chapter 4 part 1 on the use of engraved and carved gems as talismans chapter 4 part 2 of the Curious Lore of Precious Stones this is a Librebox recording all Librebox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit Librebox.org the Curious Lore of Precious Stones by George Frederick Kuntz chapter 4 many explanations have been offered as to the origin and significance of the characteristic figure of the Abraxax God engraved on a number of Gnostic Amulets there seems to be no doubt that this figure was invented by Asalides, chief of the Gnostic sect bearing his name and who flourished in the early part of the 2nd century AD while the details of the type as perfected were undoubtedly borrowed from the eclectic symbolism of the Egyptian and western Asiatic world it is almost impossible to conjecture the reasons determining the selection of this particular form a Jasper engraved with the famous Gnostic symbol was set in the ring worn by Sefrid Bishop of Chichester AD 1159 this ring was found on the skeleton of the bishop and is now preserved in the treasury of the Cathedral of Chichester undoubtedly the Curious Symbolic figure was given a perfectly orthodox meaning and indeed it was not really a pagan symbol as the Gnostics were in different Christians although their system was a fanciful elaboration of the doctrines of the late Alexandrian school of Greek philosophy and an adaptation of this to the teachings of Christian tradition in many cases however gems with purely pagan designs were worn by Christians designs such as Isis and the child Horus which was taken to be the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus a curious amulet apparently belonging to the Gnostic variety and intended to bring success to the owner of a racehorse is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York the material is green Jasper with red spots on the obverse the horse is figured with the victor's poem and the name Tiberius on the reverse appears the vulture headed figure of the Abraxas God and the characters Zacta Ea Bapia which have been translated Eow the destroyer and creator possibly this amulet may have been attached to the horse during his races to ensure victory as we know that amulets of this kind were used in this way as illustrating the acolytic character of some of the amulets used in the early Christian centuries we may note in the cabinet the medallies in Paris this has upon the obverse the head of Alexander the great on the reverse as a she-ass with her full and below this a scorpion and the name Jesus Christ another amulet of this class figured by Vittori also the head of Alexander on the obverse while the reverse bears the Greek monogram of the name Christos after the third or fourth century of our era the art of Jim engraving seems to have been lost or at least to have been very seldom practiced and it is noteworthy in the matter that after this period writers who treat of the virtues of engraved gyms as talismans rarely if ever use the words if you engrave such or such a figure on a stone but right if you find such a figure the figures engraved on precious stones were supposed to have a greater or lesser degree of efficacy in themselves independent of the virtues peculiar to the stone on which they were engraved and this efficacy depended largely upon the hour day or month during which the work was executed for the influence of the planet star or constellation which was in the ascended was thought to infuse a subtle essence into the stone while the appropriate image was being engraved however to exert the maximum power the virtue of the image must be of the same character as the virtue inherent in the material and the Jim became less potent when this was not the case certain images though symbolizing the zodiacal signs for instance were looked upon as possessing such power that their peculiar nature impressed itself even upon stones inherently of different quality others again were only efficacious when engraved on stones the quality of which was in sympathy with them naturally many of the ancient gyms which had been preserved from Greek and Roman times were recognized as being purely products of art but in medieval and later times the idea of the magic quality of all engraved gyms had become so deeply rooted that in many cases a magical character was ascribed to them entirely foreign to the intention of the engraver great ingenuity was often displayed in seeking and finding some analogy between the supposed significance of the design and the fancy power of the stone itself taking the agate as an illustration Camillo Leonardo says that it's many different varieties had as many different virtues and he finds in this an explanation of the multiplicity of images engraved on the various kinds of agate without realizing that the true reason was that this material lent itself more readily to artistic treatment than did many others the idea that some special design should be engraved upon a gibbon stone became quite general in the early centuries of our era the emerald for instance according to Damageron was to be engraved with the scarab beneath which to be a standing figure of Isis the gem when completed was to be pierced longitudinally and worn in a brooch the fortunate owner of this talisman was then to adorn himself and the members of his family and a consecration having been pronounced he was assured that he would see the glory of the stone granted it by God possibly this may have meant that the stone would become luminous a list of these symbolic designs is said to have been in the Book of Wings by Regile one of the curious treatises composed about the 13th century under the influence of Hebrew and Greco-Roman tradition although it owes its origin to the Hebrew Book of Riziel it bears little if any likeness to that work as will be seen in the following items the fact that the design is on its appropriate stone is always insistent on the beautiful and terrible figure of a dragon if this is found on a ruby or any other stone of similar nature and virtue it has the power to augment the goods of this world to be joyous and healthy the figure of a falcon if on a topaz helps to acquire the goodwill of kings princes and magnets the image of an astrolabe if on a sapphire has power to increase wealth and enables the wearer to predict the future the well formed image of a lion if engraved on a garnet will protect and preserve honors and health cures the wearer of all diseases honors and guards him from all perils in traveling and asks if represented on a chrysalite will give power to prognosticate and predict the future the figure of a ram or of a bearded man on a sapphire has the power to cure and preserve from many infirmities as well as to free from poison and from all demons this is a royal image it confers dignities and honors and exalts the wearer a frog engraved on a barrel will have the power to reconcile enemies and produce friendship where there was discord a camel's head or two goats among myrtles if on an onyx has the power to convoke assemble and constrain demons if anyone wears it he will see terrible visions in sleep a vulture if on a chrysalite has the power to constrain demons and the winds it controls demons and prevents them from coming together in the place where the gem may be it also guards against their importunities the demons obey the wearer a bat represented on a heliotrope or bloodstone gives the wearer power over demons and helps incantations a griffin imaged on a crystal produces abundance of milk a man richly dressed with a beautiful object in his hand engraved on a carnelian checks the flow of blood and confers honors a lion or an archer on a jasper gives help against poison and cures from fever a man in armor with bow and arrow on an iris stone protects from evil both the wearer and the place where it may be a man with a sword in his hand on a carnelian preserves the place where it may be from being and tempest and guards the wearer from vices and enchantments a bull engraved on a praise is said to give aid against evil spells and to procure the favor of magistrates a hoopoo with a tarragon herb before it represented on a barrel confers the power to invoke water spirits and to converse with them as well as to call up the mighty dead and to obtain answers to the questions addressed to them a swallow on a selenite establishes and preserves peace and concord among men a man with his right hand raised aloft if engraved on a chel Sydney gives success in lawsuits renders the rare or healthy gives him safety in his travels and preserves him from all evil chances the names of God on a sarania stone have the power to preserve the place where the stone may be from tempest they also give to the wearer victory over his enemies a bear if engraved on an amethyst has the virtue of putting demons to flight and defends and preserves the wearer from drunkenness a man in armor craven on a magnet or lodestone has the power to aid in incantations and makes the wearer victorious in war an Italian new script dating from the 14th century gives the following talismanic gyms if thou findest a stone on which is craven or figured a man with a goat's head whoever wears the stone with God's help will have great riches and the love of all men and animals if a stone be found on which is craven or figured an armed man or the drape figure of a virgin bound with laurel branch in her hand this stone is sacred and frees the wearer from all changes and haps of fortune when thou findest a stone on which is craven the figure of a man holding a scythe in his hand a stone like this imparts strength and power to the wearer every day adds to his strength courage and boldness hold dear that stone on which thou shalt find figured or cut the moon or the sun both together for it makes the wearer chased and guards him from lust a jewel to be prized is that stone on which is craven or figured a man with wings having beneath his feet a serpent whose head he holds in his hand a stone of this kind gives the wearer by God's help abundant wealth of knowledge as well as good health and favor shouldst thou findest a stone on which is the figure of a man holding a palm branch this stone with God's help renders the wearer victorious in disputes and in battles and brings him the favor of the great finding the stone called Jasper bearing craven or figured a huntsman a dog or a stag the wearer with God's help will have the power to heal one possessed of a devil or who is insane a good stone is that one shouldst thou find craven or figured a serpent with a raven on its tail whoever wears the stone will enjoy high station and be much honored it also protects from the ill effects of the heat the original meaning of the swastika emblem has been variously explained as a symbol of fire of the four cardinal points of water, of the lightning etc still another explanation is given by who inclines to the belief that it is simply a conventionalized representation of the human form the lower shaft being the two legs joined together the two horizontal shafts the outstretched arms and the upper shaft the trunk of the body the four projections would stand for the feet the two hands and the head the Egyptian crux and sata the hieroglyphic symbol for life the Phoenician Tau symbol the mark that was to be stamped upon the foreheads of the faithful in Jerusalem, Ezekiel 9 4 and which in early Christian art was frequently substituted for the usual cross are both explained by Oranese in a similar way and he notes the fact that the swastika symbol does not appear in Egyptian or Phoenician art drawing the inference that all three symbols originated in the same form or figure to all these symbols were attributed talismanic virtues and they were frequently engraved on precious stones the so-called monogrammatic cross was freely used in the work of the fifth century this is simply a modification of the monogram formed of the first two letters of the name Christ is written in Greek a device which first appeared after the time of Constantine the great 8337 AD this monogram usually assumed the following form px and the monochromatic cross was made by changing the position of the Greek x chi and making one of its arms serve as the straight stroke of the p r thus giving the following form p a curious amulet to avert the spell of the evil eye as an engraved sword showing an eye in the center around which are grouped the attributes of the divinities presiding over the days of the week Sunday the deus solus is represented by a lion Monday the deus lunae by a stag Tuesday the dais martis by a scorpion Wednesday the dais mercury by a dog Thursday the dais by a thunderbolt Friday the dais venerus by a snake and Saturday the dais saturnae by an owl in this way the wearer was protected at all times from the evil influence because of its peculiar markings some of which suggest the form of an eye malachite was worn in some parts of Italy for example in Betonia as an amulet to protect the wearer from the spell of the evil eye such stones were called peacock stones from their resemblance in color and marking to the peacock's tail the form of these malachite amulets is usually triangular and they were mounted in silver it is curious to note as a proof of the persistence of superstitions that in an Etruscan tomb at Ciusi there was found a triangular perforated piece of glass a triangle terminating in an eye formed of glass of various colors on many of the amulets fabricated in Italy for protection against the dreaded genitura or a spell of the evil eye the cock is figured his image was supposed in ancient times to assure the protection of the sun god and his growing was regarded as an inarticulate hymn of praise to this deity he was also a type of courage all this contributed to make him a defender of the weak especially of women and children against the wiles of the spirits of darkness Rostand in his chant to clear has enlarged this conception and endows the cock with the proud conviction that it is to his matudinal chant alone that the world owes the daily recurrent phenomenon of the sunrise in Palestine the evil eye is supposed to be the baleful gift of men who have light blue eyes more especially if they are beardless possibly this is the power in which some of our blond and beardless mashers repose their trust as an antidote to the awful influence of these blue eyed monsters the Syrian women decorated themselves with blue beads on the principle similea similebus coran tour a maiden with beautiful hair will tie a blue ribbon about it or wear a blue bead in it so as to ward off any evil spell cast by the blue eye that might rob her of her fair dour it is a well known fact that many amulets were made in form suggesting objects offensive to our sense of propriety these were thought to protect the wearers by denoting the contempt they felt for the evil spirits leagued against them some such fancy may have induced particular designs of certain of the jewels alleged to have been pawned in Paris by the ex-sultan Abdul Hamid for the sum of one million two hundred thousand francs two hundred and forty thousand dollars according to rumor these pledges must be sold as the Sultan has failed to redeem them but the designs are so risqué that they cannot be offered at public sale therefore the stones and pearls are to be removed the gold settings are to be melted and sold as metal it is not exclusively characteristic of our commercial and industrial age that the price paid for a work of art should influence the popular estimation of the merits of the work as appears in an anecdote related by Pliny an emerald smarred upon which was engraved a figure of amimony one of the Denea die having been offered for sale in the Isle of Cyprus at the price of six gold in Denari as many as a food player gave orders to purchase it the dealer however reduced the price and returned to Denari upon which as many as remarked by Hercules he has done me but a bad turn in this for the merit of the stone has been greatly impaired by this reduction in price a variant of the design directed by Demiduron to be placed on the emerald is recommended in a 13th century manuscript where we read that to fit the stone for use as a talisman it should be engraved with the form of a scarab beneath which there should appear a crested paracet according to the same manuscript a jasper should bear this figure of Mars fully armed or else that of a virgin wearing a flowing robe and bearing a pearl branch it should then be consecrated with perpetual consecration the mythical author Settle asserts that the owner of a jasper engraved with the sacred symbol of the cross would be preserved from drowning a curious quid pro quo appears in a 15th century treatise on gems written in French here in a list of engraved gems suitable for use as amulets we read if you find a dromedary engraved on a stone with hair flowing over its shoulders this stone will bring peace and concord between man and life the original Latin text read if you find andromeda on a stone with hair flowing over her shoulders etc the translators art which could turn andromeda into a dromedary almost equaled that of the enchantress Cerse a few even of the early writers were disposed to be skeptical as to the virtues ascribed to these engraved gems and did not hesitate to assert that the Greek and Roman engravers executed their designs for ornamental purposes rather than to fit the gems for use as talismans this was undoubtedly true in a large number of cases but nevertheless as we have seen many engraved talismans were really cut in the early centuries as the art of gem engraving was not practiced in the middle ages some medieval writers supposed that the engraved talismanic gems current in their time were not works of art but of nature and Conrad von Meganburg accepting this view gave it as his opinion that God granted these stones their beauty and virtue for the help and comfort of the human race adding that when he hoped to receive help from them he in no wise denied the grace of God Demidgeron writes of the Sard that if worn by a woman it is a good and fortunate stone it should be engraved with the design showing a grapevine and ivy intertwined a celebrated topaz was that noted by George Agricola as being in the possession of a Neapolitan Adriannus Galeomas it bore in ancient Roman characters the terse and pregnant inscription natura deficit fortuna mutator deus omnia cernet this was freely rendered by Thomas Nichols as follows nature by frailty death daily waste away fortune is turned and changed every day in all there is an eye, nose no decay for an eye there is in the Imperial Academy at Moscow a turquoise two inches in diameter inscribed with a text from the Koran in letters of gold this turquoise was formally worn by the Shah of Persia as an amulet and it was valued at 5000 rupals by the jeweler from whose hands it came it is well known that Napoleon III was inclined to be superstitious and there is not, therefore anything inherently improbable in the report that he left the seal he wore on his watch chain to his son the unfortunate Prince Imperial as a talisman this seal is said to have borne an inscription in Arabic characters signifying the slave Abraham relying on the merciful one god the talisman lost its virtue on that unlucky day when in far off Zulu land the air to so many hopes was cut off in the first flesh of early manhood see page 64 end of chapter 4 part 2 chapter 5 part 1 of the curious lore of precious stones this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit the curious lore of precious stones by George Frederick Kuntz chapter 5 on ominous and luminous stones part 1 the opal mother come let me place a charm upon thy brow and may good spirits grant that never care approach to Tracy single furrow there daughter thy love my mother better far than charm shall shield thy child and yet this wonder is gem looks as though some strange influence it had won from the bright skies for every rainbow you shoots quivering through its depths and changeful gleams like the mild lightnings of a summer eve mother even so doth love pervade up mother's heart thus ever active looks through her fond eyes there can be little doubt that much of the modern superstition regarding the supposed unlucky quality of the opal owes its origin to a careless reading of Sir Walter Scott's novel and of Geierstein the wonderful tale therein related of the lady Hermione a sort of enchanted princess who came no one knew whence and always were a dazzling opal in her hair contains nothing to indicate that Scott really meant to represent the opal as unlucky lady Hermione's gem was an enchanted stone just as its owner was a product of enchantment and its peculiarities depended entirely upon its mysterious character which might equally well have been attributed to a diamond, a ruby or a sapphire the life of the stone was bound up with the life of Hermione it sparkled when she was gay, it shot out red gleams when she was angry and when a few drops of holy water were sprinkled over it they quenched its radiance Hermione fell into a swoon was carried to her chamber and the next day nothing but a small heap of ashes remained on the bed whereon she had been laid the spell was broken and the enchantment dissolved all that can have determined the selection of the opal rather than any other precious stone is the fact of its wonderful play of color and its sensitiveness to moisture hence we are perfectly justified in returning to the older belief of the manifold virtues of the opal only remembering that this gem is a little more fragile than many others and should be more carefully handled and guarded the opal, October's gem recalls in its wonderful and varied play of color the glories of a bright October day in the country when earth and sky vie with each other in brilliancy and the eye is fairly dazzled with the bewildering variety of color it rarely happens that Pliny used any information to particular jewels almost all his notices of precious stones being confined to descriptions of their form and color and data regarding what was popularly believed as to their talismanic or therapeutic power in the case of the opalis however he writes as follows there exists today a gem of this kind on account of which the senator Nonius was proscribed by Anthony seeking safety and flight he took with him of all his possessions this ring alone which it is certain was valued at two million cisterces eighty thousand dollars the stone was as large as a hazelnut this opal of Nonius would be the great historic opal if we had any assurance that it really was the stone to which we now give this name as however the principle European source of supply in Hungary does not appear to have been available in classic times to the Romans and as opals are not found in the places whence according to Pliny the opalis was derived we are almost forced to the conclusion that he had some other stone in mind when he gave his eloquent description of the opalis and yet in spite of all of this Pliny's words so well described the beauties of a fine opal that is difficult to determine what other stone he could have meant for it can well be said of opals that there is in them a softer fire than in the carbuncle there is the brilliant purple of the amethyst there is the sea green of the emerald all shining together incredible union some by their refugent splendor rival the colors of the painters others the flame of burning sulfur or of fire quickened by oil possibly some brilliant varieties of iridescent quartz iris quartz possessing an internal fracture displays with great brilliance all the colors of the rainbow and with wonderful clearness in its field of transparent mineral might excite the admiration of one who had never seen an opal referring again to these quartz crystals they are often cut so as to form a dome of quartz and are even used as distinct jewels the fact that Pliny could praise the indian imitations of the opalis and glass and could state that this stone was more successfully imitated is an almost decisive argument against identifying the opalis with an opal for it is well known that no stone is more difficult to imitate about the middle of the 18th century a peasant found a brilliant precious stone in some old ruins in alexandria egypt the stone was set in a ring it was as large as a hazelnut and it is said to have been an opal cut on kabushan according to the report it was eventually taken to Constantinople where it was estimated to be worth several thousand ducats the description given of this gem it's apparent antiquity and the high value set upon it have contributed to induce many to conjecture that it was the celebrated opal of nonius of course this was nothing but a romantic fancy it is also quite certain opal would scarcely hold its play of color or compactness for twenty centuries for most opals lose their water slowly perhaps but surely within a lesser space of time even the finest hungarian opals show some loss of life and color within a century or even less and some transparent mexican opals lose their color and are filled with flaws within a few years time the edda tells of a secret stone called the yarchestine which the clever smith volander the scandinavian vulcan formed from the eyes of children grim conjectures that this name designates around milk white opal certainly the opal was often called aphthalmios or eyestone in the middle ages and it was a common idea that the image of a boy or a girl could be seen in the pupil of the eye albertus magnus describes under the name orphanus a stone which was set in the imperial crown of the holy roman empire this gem is believed to have been a splendid opal and albertus describes it as follows the orphanus is a stone which is in the crown of the roman emperor and none like it has ever been seen for this very reason it is called orphanus it is of a subtle venus tinge and its you is as though pure white snow flashed and sparkled with the color of a bright ruddy wine and was overcome by this radiance it is a translucent stone and there is a tradition that formerly it's shown in the night time but now in our age it is not sparkle in the dark it is said to guard the regal honor evidently this imperial gem was regarded as a sui generis for albertus has just described the aphthalmus lapis a name frequently bestowed upon the opal in the evil times reciting the virtues usually ascribed to the opal for the cure of diseases of the eye and the magic power of the stone to render it's wearer invisible wherefore it was denominated patronus forum or patron of thieves in the middle ages the opal minds of sui generis in hungary were very actively exploited and at the opening of the 15th century more than 300 men are said to have been employed here in the search for opals at that time and for many centuries after no breath of suspicion ever tarnished the fame of the opal it's not only a thing of rarer beauty but also a talisman of the first rank we are told that blonde maidens valued nothing more highly than necklaces of opals for while they wore these ornaments their hair was sure to guard its beautiful color the latter superstitions probably arose from the frangibility of the stone and its occasional loss of fire from the earliest times the baleful influence of the evil eye has struck terror into the souls of the ignorant and superstitious it is believed by some that the name opal written opfal in the time of queen elizabeth was derived from ophthalmos the eye or ophthalmius pertaining to the eye and that hence the foolish superstition regarding the ill luck of the opal had some connection with the belief in the evil eye however this is altogether incorrect since the stone called ophthalmius by early writers and which seems to have been the opalus of the ancients the opal was believed to have a wonderfully beneficial effect upon the sight and if it was thought to render the wearer invisible this was only an added virtue of the stone the eye agates were sometimes used to form the eyes of idols at a later period some of these agate eyes were removed from the statues and cut with ecliptic subject on the side some of the most interesting antique gems are of this kind in aleppo and elsewhere in the east there is a certain type of sore known as the aleppo button or aleppo boil the boil frequently does not appear for a long period after infection has taken place it often appears as a swelling surrounded by a white ring and there is a belief among the natives that there are aleppo stones these being the so called eye agates frequently produced by cutting a three layer naturally pale yellow or pale grey agate with intervening white zones in such a way that it looks like an eye or a double eye and such stones are used in alleviation of the aleppo sore what beneficial influence they may have is due to the fact that the agate is cold and furnishes a little relief for the time this aleppo boil or oriental sore so prevalent in many parts of western Asia is produced, according to the best authorities, by a pathogenic organism Lycemenia tropica from Wright 1903 as to the means by which this organism is introduced into the human subject nothing very definite is known but mosquitoes or phlebotomous have been suggested as possible transmitting agents the eye of some invisible monster the eye of the dragon the eye of the serpent were all regarded as possessed of malign power it is well known that in the East Indies a peacock's feather is thought to bring ill luck the eye in the feather being the baleful point even in our own time and among those for whom this primitive superstition has no terrors the humorous use of the idea as shown for instance in the dick dead eye of Gilbert and Sullivan's pinafore proves that the evil eye is familiar to our thoughts for this reason stones such as those which have been named the cat's eye the tiger's eye or the oculus bell eye always possess a certain strange interest one of the earliest descriptions of the opal in English is that written in the reign of Queen Elizabeth by Dr. Stephen batman who died in 1584 while the passage is essentially a translation from the deep propria tatebus in the rearum of Bartolomeus Anglicus the English version is interesting in itself as showing what was accepted by English readers of the time regarding the virtues of the opal there is of course no trace of the foolish modern superstition touching the ominous quality of this beautiful gem batman writes uptaleo is called opalis also this stone distinguished with colors of divers precious stones as isid seph the stone breedeth only in indy and is deemed to have as many virtues as use and colors of this uptaleo isid is said in lapidario that this uptaleus keepeth and saveth his eye in that bareth it clear and sharp and without grief and dimeth other men's eye in that be about it with a manner cloud and smitheth them with a manner blindness that is called amencia so that they may not see neither take heed what is done before their eye in therefore it is said that it is the most pure patron of thieves the opal seems to have appealed to Shakespeare as a fit emblem of inconstancy for in the twelfth night he makes the clown say to the Duke now the melancholy God protect thee and the tailor make with thy garment of changeable taffeta for thy mind is very opal that the beauty of the opal was fully appreciated in the sixteenth century is shown by the words of cardano states that he once brought one of these stones for fifteen gold crowns and found as much pleasure in its possession as he did in that of a diamond that had cost him five hundred crowns although superstitious beliefs were rather the rule than the exception in cardano's time none of the silly fancies regarding the ominous quality of the opal were then current it was reserved for the nineteenth century to develop these altogether unreasonable and indeed almost inexplicable superstitions the ownership of so fair an object as a fine opal must certainly be a source of pleasure and hence add to the good fortune of the owner although opal has been considered by some a stone of misfortune black opal is regarded as an exceptionally lucky stone formerly black opals were artificially made by dipping the light colored stone into ink or by allowing burnt oil to enter cracks in the stone produced by heating about the year nineteen hundred however a number of deposits of natural black opals were found in the white cliff region in new south whales whence exceedingly beautiful gems have been secured with wonderful flames of green, red, and blue in a black field some of these have sold for a thousand dollars and even for a higher price for smaller ones bringing from a few dollars upward each it has been claimed that two million dollars worth have been sold from new south whales a remarkable example is figured on the frontispiece of this volume the late f. Marion Crawford was a great admirer of this strangely beautiful variety of opal that ill luck and good luck are relative terms is shown us published of an opal by Paris newspapers a shop girl plainly clad in crossing the plaza de la opera when the street traffic was at its greatest stopped at one of the refuges halfway across the street to the girl's great surprise an elegant and tired lady standing there slipped an opal ring from her finger and gave it to the girl who took it to a jeweler's shop to sell it here she was arrested on suspicion of having stolen it the magistrate before whom she appeared was inclined to believe her story and ordered a personal in a widely read journal asking the lady to clear the girl of the charge a titled lady presented herself substantiating the girl's statement she feared ill luck would befall her and kept the ring which was returned to the shop girl a possible explanation of the superstitious dread the opal used to excite some time ago may be found in the fact that lapidaries and gem setters to whom opals were entrusted were sometimes so unfortunate as to fracture them in the process of cutting or setting this was frequently due to no fault on the part of the cutters or setters but was owing to the natural brittleness of the opal as such workmen are responsible to the owners for any injury to the gems they would soon acquire a prejudice against opals and would come to regard them as unlucky stones very widespread superstitions have no better foundation than this for the original cause sometimes a quite rational one who soon lost sight of and popular fantasy suggests something entirely different and better calculated to appeal to the imagination the belief that the diamond fractured the teeth if it were put in the mouth and ruptured the intestines if it were swallowed already appears in pseudo Aristotle and can therefore be dated back to the ninth and perhaps to the seventh century this fancy evidently owes its origin to the fact that the diamond because of its hardness was used to cut all other stones and the idea of its destructive quality was strengthened by the old legends regarding the venomous serpents which guarded the place where it was found hence the firm conviction that it would bring death to anyone who swallowed it according to Garcia Aborta 1563 the diamond was not used for medicinal purposes in the india of his time except when injected into the bladder to break up vesicle calculi he notes however the prevalent belief that diamonds or diamond dust when taken internally worked as a poison as a proof of the falsity of this belief Cius adduces the fact that the slaves who worked in the diamond mines often swallowed diamonds to conceal them and never experienced any ill effects the stones being recovered in a natural way the same author notes the case of a man who suffered from chronic dysentery and whose wife had for a long time administered to him doses of diamond dust this did not help him neither did it injure him finally by the advice of the doctors this strange treatment was abandoned the man eventually died of his disease but many days after the doses of diamond dust had been discontinued end of part 1 end of section 13 chapter 5 part 2 of the curious lore of precious stones by george frederick kunz chapter 5 on ominous and luminous stones part 2 the hindus believed that a flawed diamond or one containing specks or spots was so unlucky that it could even be used in the public domain or in the public domain or in the public domain or in the public domain was so unlucky that it could even deprive indra of his highest heaven the original shape of the stone was also considered of great importance more especially in early times when but few if any diamonds were cut a triangular stone was said to cause corals a square diamond inspired the wearer with vague terrors a five cornered stone had the most effect of all for it brought death only the six cornered diamond was productive of good the turkish sultan bayezid the second 1447 to 1512 is said to have been done to death by a dose of pulverized diamond administered to him by his son selim who mixed the diamond dust with the sultan's food it is also related that the disciples of paracelsus 1493 to 1541 spread the report that he died from the effects of a dose of diamond dust ambrosious conjectures that this was only an excuse to explain the demise of the master in the prime of life he was but 48 years old at the time of his death long life to all who made use of his medicaments while benvenuto cellini 1500 to 1571 the unrivaled goldsmith was imprisoned in Rome in 1538 he strongly suspected that his enemies were seeking to poison him by tampering with his food cellini shared the belief that there was no more deadly poison than diamond dust one day while eating his noonday meal he felt something great between his teeth he paid no particular attention to this but when he had finished eating his eye was caught by some bright particles on the plate picking up one of these and examining it carefully he was terrified to find what he supposed to be a diamond splinter straight away gave himself up for lost thinking that he had swallowed a quantity of diamond dust he prayed to god for an hour and finally became reconciled to the thought of dying but suddenly it occurred to him that he had not tested the hardness of the fragment he had found in his food he immediately took the splinter and tried to crush it between his knife and the stone window cell to his joy the attempt succeeded and he became convinced that what he had swallowed was not diamond dust later after his release cellini learned that an enemy had given a diamond to a certain leoni aratino a gem cutter instructing him to grind it up so that the dust could be placed in cellini's food the gem cutter was very poor and the diamond was worth a hundred scooty the man yielded to temptation and substituted a citrine for the diamond to this circumstance alone did cellini attribute his escape from death in england more than seventy years after cellini's experience diamond dust was selected as a poison to do away with a luckless prisoner sir thomas overberry had incurred the bitter animosity of the countess of essyx because he opposed her marriage with the favorite of james the first robert car this count of summerset whom he had befriended and whose career he had furthered the marriage took place however and in sixteen thirteen overberry was imprisoned in the tower through the machinations of the countess she then sought the aid of one james franklin an apothecary directing him to concoct a slow and deadly poison which should be mixed with overberry's food in the minutes of franklin's confession he is said to have stated that the countess asked him what he thought of white arsenic his reply was that this poison would prove too violent what say you quote she to powder of diamonds he answered i know not the nature of that she said that he was a fool and gave him pieces of gold and beat him by some of that powder for her it appears however from the testimony that a number of ingredients were employed quite probably small doses of mercury, cantherides et cetera as well as the bale of old diamond dust poor overberry lingered on for more than three months but was finally put out of his misery by a clister of corrosive sublimate as a proof of the deadly effects caused by the diamond the portuquis Zacutus relates the case of a merchant's servant who surreptitiously swallowed three rough diamonds belonging to his master on the following day this man was seized with violent abdominal pains and the remedies administered to him were without effect and he soon died from the extensive internal ulceration produced by the sharp edges of the diamonds this old fancy that diamonds or diamond dust had deadly effects when swallowed is pretty well exploded by this time little or no confirmation being afforded by the instances cited in the matter quite recently it has been shown that swallowing the diamond can prove fatal to a fowl while a prize-winning cockerel was being fondled by his proud owner it spied a flashing diamond set in a ring on his hand and immediately pecked out the stone and swallowed it not long after the fowl died not however because it was poisoned by the diamond but because it was formed to ensure the speedy recovery of the stone an old English ballad treating of the loves of Hinhorn and Maid Rimnild recounts that when Hinhorn who loved and was beloved by the king's daughter went to sea to escape the wrath of the king the princess gave him a ring set with seven diamonds we are told that when far from home he looked his ring upon he saw the diamond pale and long hereupon he hastened back for the paleness of the stone was a sign the loved one was unfaithful to him on his return he succeeded in preventing her marriage to another and everything ended happily in a fourteenth century manuscript of the old English romance upon which the ballad is founded the stone in the ring is not named in giving it Rimnild says look thou forsake it for no thing the stone it is well true when the stone Wexith won then changes the thought of thy lemon take then anew when the stone Wexith read then have ye long me maiden head or gains the untrue in this older form of the pale the stone either grows pale or red as a sign of misfortune it is interesting to note that epiphanius writing a thousand years earlier states that the Adamus of the high priest grew red as a presage of bloodshed and defeat for the Jews regarding the old fancy that a serpent could not look upon an emerald without losing its sight the Arabian gem dealer Ahmed Taifashi in 1242 writes his follows after having read in learned books of this peculiarity of the emerald I tested it by my own experiment and found the statements exact it's chance that I had in my possession a fine emerald of the Zabibi variety and with this I decided to make the experiment on the eyes of a viper therefore having made a bargain with a snake trauma to procure me some vipers as soon as I received them I selected one and placed it in a vessel this being done I took a stick of wood attached to the end of a piece of wax and embedded my emerald in this I then brought the emerald near to the vipers eyes the reptile was strong and vigorous and even raised its head out of the vessel as soon as I approached the emerald to its eyes I heard a slight grepitation saw that the eyes were protruding and dissolving into a humor after this the viper was dazed and confused I had expected that it would spring from the vessel but it moved uneasily hither and thither without knowing which way to turn all its agility was lost and its restless movements soon seized Wolfgang Gabelkofer in his commentary on the sixth book of the treatise De Gemis by Andrea Baccio gives the following account of a strange and tragic experience in regard to a ruby it is worthy of note that the true oriental ruby by frequent changes of color and by growing obscurity announces to the wearer some impending misfortune or calamity and the obscurity and opacity is greater or less according to the extent of the coming ill-fortune alas, that what I had often heard proclaimed by learned men I should myself experience for as on the fifth of December 1600 I was traveling from Stuttgart to Kalva with my beloved wife Catherine of Pius memory I plainly observed in the course of the journey that a very beautiful ruby which she had given me and which I wore on my hand set in a gold ring once and again lost its splendid coloring and became obscure changing its brightness for a dark hue this dark hue continued not for one or two days only but so long that I was greatly terrified and removing the ring from my finger concealed it in a case wherefore I repeatedly warned my wife that some great calamity was impending either for her or for myself the witch I inferred from the changed variation of the ruby nor was I deceived for within a few days she was seized with a dangerous illness which resulted in her death a story explaining one at least of these supposedly ominous changes of color in precious stones is given by Johann Jakob Spena who states that it was told him by a trustworthy informant there was a jeweler expert, prudent, and rich three essential qualities in a jeweler one day after having washed his hands this man sat at a table when glancing at a ruby ring he wore in his finger he remarked that the stone which usually delighted the eye with its splendor had lost its brilliancy and become dull since he believed what others had related to him he was firmly persuaded that some misfortune threatened him and having removed the ring from his finger he placed it in its case a fortnight later one of this man's sons died of varialoid reminded by this event the phenomenon observed in the ruby the jeweler took it from the case and found on examination that it had regained its pristine brilliancy this fact confirmed in his belief in the ominous quality of the stone once more shortly after washing his hands he remarked anew that the splendor of the ruby was dimmed and again he felt prey to anxiety lest some fresh misfortune was impending since however his apprehensions proved vain and no untoward event happened he investigated the matter carefully and discovered that the obscuration of the color was due to a drop of water which had penetrated between the ruby and the foil as the jewelers call it and that the former brilliancy returned when the water had evaporated the ominous character of the onyx is especially noted in arabic tradition as is shown by the arabic name for the stone el-jaza sadness the following passage from pseudo-aristotle offers an illustration of the strength of this prejudice against the onyx which was set to come from china and the maghreb those who are in the land of china fear this stone so much that they dread to go into the mines where it occurs hence none but slaves and menials who have no other means of gaining a livelihood take the stone from the mines when it has been extracted it is carried out of the country and sold in other lands those men of the maghreb also who are gifted with any wisdom will not wear an onyx or place it in their treasuries indeed no one is willing to wear it unless he be bereft of his senses or whosoever wears it either set in a ring or in any other way will have fearful dreams and be tormented by a multitude of doubts and apprehensions he will also have many disputes and lawsuits lastly whoever keeps an onyx in his house or places it in a vessel or puts it in food or drink will suffer loss of energy and capacity an ominous character was attributed to the red coral with more highly colored varieties if worn so that the substance came in direct contact with the skin it was asserted that the color would pale the coral also losing its brightness if the wearer became ill or even if he were only threatened with severe illness the same effect was said to be induced if some deadly poison had been taken Cardano writes that he more than once observed this phenomenon and he thinks that in these cases where the wearer was not yet attacked by a disease its threatening vapor though not strong enough to provoke decided symptoms in the human body was sufficiently powerful to offset the more delicate and subtle essence of the mineral substance of course for us the mineral would be much less sensitive than flesh and blood but the 16th century writers and to a still greater degree those of an earlier time attributed to stones not only life in a general way but old age disease and death in a very positive sense rabbinical tradition tells of a wonderful luminous stone placed by Noah in the Ark this stone shown more brilliantly day than by night and served to distinguish the day from the night when during the flood neither sun nor moon could be seen according to another Jewish legend Abraham is said to have built a city for the six sons Hagar bore to him the wall with which this city was surrounded was so lofty that the light of the sun was cut off and to offset this Abraham gave to his sons enormous precious stones and pearls these exceeded the sun in brightness and will be used in the time of the Messiah Ilion relates the following tale of a luminous stone a woman of Tarentum named Heracles who was a pattern of the domestic virtues lost her husband and mourned serially for him her grief made her compassionate for when a young stork just learning to fly lost its strength and fell to the ground before her Heracles picked up the helpless bird and tended to it carefully until its strength returned and it was able to fly away a year later when the woman was outside the house enjoying the bright warm sunshine she saw a stork flying toward her as the bird passed overhead it let fall a precious stone into her lap Heracles took the stone with her into the house feeling by an infallible instinct that the stork which had dropped it was the one she had cared for in the previous year during the night she woke up and was astonished to see that the room was lighted up as though by many torches the radiance proceeding from the stone bestowed by the stork as a proof of its gratitude in German the stone called Donnerkial Thunderbolt has several synonyms among these is Storchstein or Storkstone it is evident that the stone of Heracles was identical with the precious and brilliant variety of Sarah Unier mentioned by Pliny which drew to themselves the radiance of the stars the flashing and ruddy light of the ruby suggested in igneous origin and induced the belief that rubies were generated by a fire from heaven in other words by the lightning flash the analogy between the flame of a lamp or the glow of a burning coal and the radiance of a ruby suggested some of the names given to this stone or those resembling it in color as for instance the Greek anthrax and the Latin carbunculus and leitschness probably the fancy that such stones were luminous in the dark was nothing more than the logical result of the quasi identification of them with fire in some of its manifestations still it is a well-known fact that some stones possess a high degree of phosphorescence this circumstance must have been observed by chance and may have had something to do with the legends of luminous stones although this peculiarity is not characteristic of the ruby according to Pliny the leitschness perhaps a spinal was so called a leuconarum excensu from the lighting or the light of lamps the author of the poem Lithica says that the diamond ademos, like the crystal when placed on an altar set forth a flame without the aid of fire if this did not refer to the use of rock crystal as a burning glass we might see in the passage an indication that the phosphorescence of the diamond had already been noted before the second or third century from the Lydian river Tmolus a marvelous stone was taken which was said to change color four times a day this surpasses the properties of the sapphire Mervilu which changed its you at night only innocent young girls could find the Lydian stone and while they wore it they were defended from outrage is it possible that the ancient writer intended to hint at the proverbial fickleness of woman when stating that this changeable stone could only be discovered by one of the fair sex the temple of the Syrian goddess Astarta contained an image of this divinity crowned with a diadem in which was set a luminous stone such was the splendor of the light emitted by this gem that the whole sanctuary was lighted up as though with a myriad of lamps indeed this stone itself bore the name Lyknos lamp in the daytime this light was fainter but was still very noticeable as a fiery glow End of Part 2 End of Section 14 Chapter 5 Part 3 of the Curious War of Precious Stones This is a LibriVox recording while LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The Curious War of Precious Stones by George Friedrich Kuntz Chapter 5 On Aminus and Luminus Stones Part 3 Two fabulous stones are noted by Pseudo Aristotle and one of these the sleeping stone must have possessed marvellous soporific power It was a luminous stone of a bright ruddy you and shown in the darkness with a bright light If a small quantity of this stone were hung about a person's neck he would sleep uninterruptedly for three days and nights and when he awakened on the fourth day he would still be almost overcome by sleep The other stone of a greenish you had the opposite quality and induced prolonged wakefulness so long it was worn sleep was banished Our author gravely states that some men who must watch at night suffer greatly from lack of sleep If however they were the waking stone they suffered no inconvenience from their struggles Evidently this stone would be a precious possession for night watchmen and a more satisfactory guarantee for their employers than time clocks or other tests of wakefulness In his commentary on marbodus a larges of Amsterdam relates the history of a wonderful luminous stone a chrysalampus which with many other precious stones was set on this golden tablet dedicated to Saint Aldebert apostle of the Frisians and patron of the town of Egmund died between 720 and 730 by Hildegard wife of Theodoric Count of Holland The gift was made to the Abbey of Egmund where the saint's body reposed A larges tells us that the chrysalampus shown so brightly that when the monks were called at nighttime they could read the hours without any other light This wonderful stone was stolen by one of the monks whom Alard disterms the most rapacious creature who ever went on two legs but fearing to keep so valuable a gem with him he cast it into the sea and it was never recovered Strange tales were told of a luminous carbuncle died 1231 at Marburg This stone was set above the statuette of the virgin and it was said to admit fiery rays at night however Kreuzer informs us that it was only a very brilliant rock crystal of a yellowish white hue The shrine was an elaborate work of art in silver guilt and was literally covered with precious stones to the number 824 besides two large pearls and a great many smaller ones All these gems were stripped from their settings when the shrine was taken from Marburg to Kassel in 1810 At the Düsseldorf exhibition of 1891 the writer saw what was called the Reign of Saint Elizabeth perting to be set with her miraculous luminous ruby The stone in the setting proved however to be a large almost flat carbuncle garnet of no great brilliancy set in a narrow rim of gold After noting the reports of medieval travelers regarding the wonderful luminous rubies of the sovereigns of Pegu and repeating the tale that the night was illumined by their splendor Cleandro Arnobio adds that it did not appear that any such rubies were to be found in his day Nevertheless he had heard from an ecclesiastic of a certain jewel that shone brightly at night This stone however was not a ruby but was of a pale citron hue and hence Arnobio inclines to believe that it was either a topaz or a yellow diamond This probably refers to the Marburg carbuncle The luminous ruby of the king of Ceylon is noted by Chao Zhukua a Chinese writer of about the middle of the 13th century and hence a contemporary of the Arab Taifashi He says the king holds in his hand a jewel 5 inches in diameter which cannot be burned by fire and which shines in the night like a torch This gigantic luminous gem was also believed to possess the virtues of an elixir of youth for we are told that the king rubbed his face with it daily and by this means would retain his youthful looks even should he live more than 90 years The glories of emperor Manuel's throne circa 1120 to 1180 are celebrated by the Hebrew traveler Benjamin of Tudela who visited Constantinople in 1161 AD This splendid throne was of gold studded with precious stones and suspended from the canopy by gold chains hung a magnificent golden crown set with jewels of incalculable value and so bright and sparkling that their glitter rendered needless any other illumination at night When Henry II of France 1519 to 1559 made his solemn entry into the city of Bologna a stranger from India presented to the sovereign a luminous stone it was rather soft had a fiery brilliance and could not be touched with impunity According to Ditao this story was vouched for by Jay Pippin who saw the stone himself and described it in a letter to Antoine Miseauld a writer on occult themes well known in his day although Garcius Aburta did not believe in the tales current in his time regarding luminous rubies he relates a story of such a stone told to him by a gem dealer this man stated that he had purchased a number of fine but small rubies from Ceylon and had spread them out over a table when he gathered them up again one of the stones remained hidden in the fold of the tablecloth in the night he remarked something like a flame emanating from the table lighting a candle he approached the table and found there the small ruby when this was removed and the candle extinguished the light was no longer visible Garcius admits that the gem dealers were fond of telling good stories but he concludes with the dictum we must trust in them nevertheless not only the ruby but the emerald also had the reputation of being a luminous stone for besides the shining emerald pillar in the temple of Melchart at Tyre Pliny records the tale of a marble lion with eyes of gleaming emeralds which was set over the tomb of a petty king called Hermias the tomb was on the coast and the flashing light from the emerald eyes frightened away the toony fish to the great loss of the fisherman whether the eyes of the magnificent Christ Elephantine statue of Athena by Phidias were supposed to be luminous we do not know but they were encrusted with precious stones the collection of works by the English alchemists published by Elias Ashmoly contains the tale of a worthy parson who lived in a little town near London and who wished to immortalize himself by building across the Thames a bridge which would always be lighted at night after relating several expedience which suggested themselves to him the poet continues at the last he thought to make the light for the bridge to shine by night with carbuncle stones to make men wonder with double reflection above and under then new thought troubled his mind carbuncle stones how he might find and where to find wise men and true which would for his interest pursue in seeking all the world about plenty of carbuncles to find out for this he took so Mikkel thought that his fat flesh wasted night to not it is scarcely necessary to add that the poor parson never realized his dream but the story shows how popular was the belief that carbuncles or rubies shone with their own light luminous or phosphorescent stone which has been named the Bologna stone is the subject of a treatise published by the physician Menzel in 1675 the writer describes various experiments made to test the peculiar qualities of this mineral which is partly a radiated or crystalline sulfate of barites and phosphoresses when calcined it was sometimes called the lunar stone Lapis Lunaris because like the moon it gave out in the darkness the light it received from the sun Menzel also relates that the stone was first discovered in 1604 by Vincenzo Cacioroli an adept in alchemy who believed that it would be a great aid in the transmutation of the baser metals into gold on account of its solar quality the place of its occurrence was Montipaterno near Bologna where it appeared in the fissures of the mountain after torrential rains the various phenomena of fluorescence and phosphorescence undoubtedly explained some at least of the legends regarding gloominous stones superstition or fantasy having here as in most other cases a certain substratum of fact this class of physical phenomena has been made the subject of a special investigation by the author as many as 13,000 specimens of various minerals having been subjected to the most searching tests in order to determine their qualities in this respect his interest in this field of research was greatly stimulated by a fortuitous happening in 1891 his wife while hanging up a gown in a closet one evening saw that the diamond in the ring she was wearing gave off a faint streak of light which was very noticeable in the dark and this fact led to a long series of experiments on the fluorescence phosphorescence and triboluminescence of the diamond more than two centuries before Robert Boyle made a similar set of experiments at night with a diamond which must have been an Indian stone and which he describes as table cut about one third of an inch long and somewhat less in width he remarks that it was a dull stone of very bad water having a blemish with a whitish cloud covering nearly a third of the stone the Jaune des Chavants for 1739 gives certain tests of the luminous quality of diamonds made by Montseur du Fait in order successfully to observe this phenomenon he prescribes that the experimenter shall remain in a darkened room for 15 minutes taking the additional precaution of closing one or both of his eyes the diamond to be tested should be exposed to the sun's rays or to strong daylight for less than a minute and when taken into darkness the luminosity, if observable lasts 12 or 13 minutes at longest not all diamonds show this quality and nothing in their form or appearance serves to determine their possession of it however, Montseur du Fait observed that the yellow diamonds of which tried a considerable number were luminous a single emerald out of 20 that were tested proved to be luminous Boyle's experiments led to the discovery that some diamonds when rubbed against wood or other hard substances and even against cloth or silk will emit array of light which seems to follow them this is what is called tribal luminescence the power of absorbing sunlight or artificial light and then giving it off in the dark is only possessed by certain diamonds these are Brazilian stones slightly milky intent or blue-white as they are often termed and it is an included substance and not the diamond itself that possesses the power of storing up light and then giving it out willomite, quinzite sphalerite which is sulfide of zinc and some other minerals possess the same power their peculiar property may be due to the presence of a slight quantity of magnies or to that of some of the uranium salts that it is only the ultraviolet rays that are thus absorbed by these diamonds is proved by the fact that the phenomenon is not observable when a thin plate of glass is interposed between the sunlight or artificial light and the diamond as glass is not traversed by these rays a still undetermined substance to whose presence in diamonds of this type a special class of phenomena must be due was named by the author Tiffanyite in honor of the late Charles L. Tiffany 1812 to 1902 founder of the firm of Tiffany & Company on the other hand all diamonds phosphorescent exposed to the rays of radium polonium or actinium even when glass is interposed treating of some of the aspects of phosphorescence in diamonds, Sir William Crooks says in a vacuum exposed to a high tension current of electricity diamonds phosphorescent of different colors most South African diamonds shining with a blueish light diamonds from other localities emit bright blue apricot pale blue red yellowish green orange and pale green light the most phosphorescent diamonds which are fluorescent in the sun one beautiful green diamond in my collection when phosphorescing in a good vacuum gives almost as much light as a candle and you can easily read by its rays but the time has hardly come when diamonds can be used as domestic illuminance by permission of Mrs. Quintz wife of the well known New York mineralologist I will show you perhaps the most remarkable of all phosphorescing diamonds this prodigy diamond will phosphoresce in the dark for some minutes after being exposed to a small pocket electric light and if rubbed on a piece of cloth a long streak of phosphorescence appears the luminescence produced by heat is wonderfully marked in the case of chlorophane a variety of fluorite a Siberian specimen of a pale violet color emitted a white light merely from the heat of the hand boiling water caused it to give out a green light which was so greatly intensified when the specimen rested on a live coal that the radiance could be discerned from a considerable distance similar phenomena were observable in the case of chlorophane from Amelia Courthouse Virginia a writer found that specimens from this source also exhibited strong triboluminescence resulting either from contact with one another or with any other hard substance as the terms fluorescence and phosphorescence are sometimes rather carelessly employed it may be well to note here that while both terms are used to denote the luminescence of a non-luminous body resulting from the action of light rays of the electric current or of the radiant energy of any kind as well as from heat fluorescence signifies a luminosity which only continues so long as the exciting cause is present while phosphorescence means a luminosity persisting for a longer or shorter period after the exciting cause has seized to operate directly the latter term therefore denotes a luminous energy stored up in the formally non-luminous body and emitted by it for a certain time at the expiration of which it again becomes non-luminous other special designations of induced luminosity and minerals are the emission of light as a result of friction and thermoluminescence a term used to denote light emission excited by moderate heating even by the warmth of the hand an old treatise in greek said in its title to come from the sanctuary of the temple and containing material partly of egyptian origin may help us to understand something of the process employed by a temple priest to impress the common people by the sight of luminous gems the writer of the treatise declares that for the production of the carbuncle that shines in the night use was made of certain parts he says the bile of marine animals whose entrails, scales and bones exhibited the phenomenon of phosphorescence if properly treated precious stones preferably carbuncles would glow so brightly at night that anyone owning such a stone could read or write by its light as well as he could by daylight in the analysis at physique the great french chemist monsieur Bertillo discusses this matter and expresses the following opinion the texts leave no room for doubt as to the employment by the ancients of precious stones rendered phosphorescent in the dark by the superficial application of tinctures composed of materials whose phosphorescent quality is known to us although this luminescence due to an application of organic oxidisable materials could not well be durable still it might be made to last several hours perhaps several days and it could always be renewed by repeating the application the use of jeweled ornaments to heighten by their luminosity in obscurity or in darkness the effect produced by a sacred image and to stimulate religious awe in the beholder is testified to by the ultra Protestant traveler finds Morrison Gent who went to Italy in 1594 of his visit to the Santa Casa in Loretto he says that he himself and two Dutchmen his companions were permitted to enter the inner chapel of the sanctuary where he proceeds we did see the virgin's picture adorned with precious jewels and the place to increase religious horror being dark and the light of the jewels shined by the light of wax candles although there is no question here of naturally luminous gems this might have been the impression produced upon a more sympathetic pilgrim writing of the traditions in regard to luminous stones Sir Richard F. Burton says there may be a basis of fact to this fancy the abnormal effect of precious stones upon numeric sensitives however while some instances are recorded of psychic impression produced by precious stones on the minds of persons possessing a highly sensitive nervous system it seems likely that some legends of luminous stones had their origin in the refractive powers of cut gems by means of which a dim and distant light reflected from the surface of the stones and would seem to spring from them quite possibly in other instances there was a disposition to cater to the popular belief by placing a light so that the hidden beams traversed the stone and appeared to emanate from it End of Chapter 5 End of Section 15