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Title: The magic of jewels and charms

Author: George Frederick Kunz

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The Magic of Jewels and Charms

“A Volume of Absorbing Interest.”—N. Y. Sun.

THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES
BY GEORGE FREDERICK KUNZ,
A.M., Ph.D., D.Sc.
BEING A DESCRIPTION OF THEIR SENTIMENTS AND FOLKLORE,
SUPERSTITIONS, SYMBOLISM, MYSTICISM, USE IN PROTECTION,
PREVENTION, RELIGION AND DIVINATION, CRYSTAL GAZING,
BIRTH-STONES, LUCKY STONES AND TALISMANS, ASTRAL,
ZODIACAL, AND PLANETARY
With 86 illustrations in color, doubletone and line. Octavo. Handsome cloth binding, gilt top, in
a box. $5.00 net. Carriage charges extra.
This work represents the observations and discoveries during twenty-five
years of collecting on the part of Dr. Kunz, and will be found a rarely
interesting galaxy of anecdote, research, and information upon a fascinating
subject.

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
PUBLISHERS PHILADELPHIA

By courtesy of W.
Griggs and Sons,
Ltd., London.

MODEL OF A HINDU LADY,
ILLUSTRATING THE MODE OF
WEARING JEWELRY IN NORTH
INDIA

From the Journal of Indian Art.

The Magic of Jewels and Charms
BY
GEORGE FREDERICK KUNZ
A.M., Ph.D., D.Sc.
WITH 90 ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOR, DOUBLETONE AND LINE

PHILADELPHIA & LONDON

J. B. Lippincott Company

COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

PRINTED IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

To the Memory of
THE LATE

PROFESSOR THOMAS EGLESTON, Ph.D., LL. D.

OFFICIER DE LA LÉGION D’HONNEUR AND FOUNDER OF
THE SCHOOL OF MINES, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, AN
ARDENT LOVER OF MINERALS, KEENLY APPRECIATIVE
OF PRECIOUS STONES, AND A KINDLY FRIEND OF THE
AUTHOR, THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED

Preface

Jewels, gems, stones, superstitions and astrological lore are all so
interwoven in history that to treat of either of them alone would mean to
break the chain of association linking them one with the other.
Beauty of color or lustre in a stone or some quaint form attracts the eye
of the savage, and his choice of material for ornament or adornment is also
conditioned by the toughness of some stones as compared with the facility
with which others can be chipped or polished.
Whereas a gem might be prized for its beauty by a single individual
owner, a stone of curious and suggestive form sometimes claimed the
reverence of an entire tribe, since it was thought to be the abode or the
chosen instrument of some spirit or genius.
Just as the appeal to higher powers for present help in pressing
emergencies preceded the development of a formal religious faith, so this
never-failing need of protectors or healers eventually led to the attribution
of powers of protection to the spirits of men and women who had led holy
lives and about whose history legend had woven a web of pious
imaginations at a time when poetic fancy reigned instead of historic record.
The writer still holds that true sentiment, the antithesis of superstitious
dread, is good for all mankind—sentiment meaning optimism as truly as
superstition stands for pessimism—and that even the fancies generated by
sentiment are helpful to us and make us happier; and surely happiness often
means health, and happiness and health combined aid to evolve that other
member of the triumvirate, wealth. Do we not often wish for the union of
these three supreme blessings?
At all times and in all periods there have been optimists and pessimists,
the former animated by the life-bringing sentiment of hope, and the latter
oppressed by the death-dealing sense of fear. Let us always choose a happy

medium between a foolish excess of hope and an unreasonable
apprehension of future troubles. The world’s history and our own
experience show us that it is the optimist who has caused the world to
progress, and we should trust and believe that the sentiment of hope and
faith will always animate humanity.
We know that for centuries it has been believed that amber necklaces
protect children from cold. May we not also now add that to pearls the same
qualities are attributed? There must be a reason for this. May not this belief
be ascribed to the circumstance that in the wearing of either of these gems
their virtue consists in the fact that the necklaces do not cover the neck? In
other words, they are worn on the bare throat and the opinion prevails that
an exposed neck means less liability to cold. For, where the neck is never
overheated and then suddenly chilled, a normal temperature being
maintained, there should be protection from colds and from the many ills
resulting from them. As to pearls, this might serve to illustrate the poetic
fancy that these sea-gems are tears by angels shed to bring mortals joy.
Having collected a large mass of material, ethnological, historical and
legendary, in the course of personal observations and study, it was decided
that the companion volume, the twin sister of “The Curious Lore of
Precious Stones,” need not treat of gems alone.
For courtesies, information and illustrations I am indebted to the
following to whom my sincere thanks are due: Prof. T. Wada, of Tokyo,
Japan; Dr. G. O. Clerc, President of the Societe Curalienne des Amis des
Sciences Naturelles, Ekaterineburg, Russia; Dr. Charles Braddock, late
Medical Inspector to the King of Siam; Sir Charles Hercules Reed, Curator
of Archæology, British Museum, London; A. W. Feavearyear, London; Dr.
Peter Jessen, Librarian of the Kunstegewerbe Museum of Berlin; Miss Belle
DaCosta Green; Dr. Berthold Laufer, Oriental Archæologist, Field Museum
of Natural History, Chicago; Dr. Oliver P. Farrington, Field Museum of
Natural History, Chicago; Hereward Carrington, Psychist, New York; Dr.
W. Hayes Ward, Archæologist and Babylonian Scholar; Mrs. Henry Draper,
New York; W. W. Blake, Mexico City, who has done so much to encourage
Mexican archæological investigation; Dr. Edward Forrester Sutton, New
York; Dr. W. H. Holmes of the United States Bureau of Ethnology,
Washington; Mr. McNeil M. Judd, Archæologist, United States National
Museum; Dr. Arthur Fairbanks, Director of the Boston Museum of Fine

Arts; Tan Sien Ko, Government Archæologist of Burma; Dr. Charles C.
Abbott, Archæologist, Trenton, N. J.; Edgar T. Willson, of the Jewelers’
Circular Publishing Co.; Dr. Edward H. Thompson, Archæologist, of
Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico, and Cambridge, Mass.; Rev. Charles Sadleir of
Aurcaria, Chile; Mrs. Nona Lebour of Corbridge-on-Tyne, England; and Dr.
Charles P. Fagnani, Union Theological Seminary, New York City.
G. F. K.

September, 1915

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE
I. Magic Stones and Electric Gems 1

II. On Meteorites, or Celestial Stones 72

III. Stones of Healing 118

IV. On the Virtues of Fabulous Stones, Concretions and Fossils 160

V. Snake-Stones and Bezoars 201

VI. Angels and Ministers of Grace 241

VII. On the Religious Use of Various Stones 277

VIII. Amulets: Ancient, Medieval, and Oriental 313

IX. Amulets of Primitive Peoples and of Modern Times 348

X. Facts and Fancies about Precious Stones 377

Illustrations

COLOR PLATES
PAGE
Model of a Hindu Lady, Illustrating the Mode of Wearing Jewelry
in North India Frontispiece.
Jade Bell of the K’ien-lung Period (1731–1795) 143
1, 1½. Emerald that Belonged to the Deposed Sultan of Turkey. 2.
Almandite Garnet. 3. Sardonyx Idol-eye of a Babylonian Bull. 4.
Aquamarine Seal 159
Illustrating Precious Stones and Minerals Used for Seals in Ancient
Assyria and Babylonia 242
Perforated Jade Disk Called Ts’ang Pi, a Chinese Symbol of the
Deity Heaven (T’ien) 302
Turquoise Incrusted Objects, Probably Amulets, Found at Pueblo
Bonito, New Mexico 353
Hilt of Jewelled Sword Given by the Greeks of the United States on
Easter Day, 1913, to the Crown Prince of Greece, Later King
Constantine XII 370

DOUBLETONES
Indian Medicine-men 18
Chalcedony and Agate Pebbles from Pescadero Beach, San Mateo
County, California 30
Pebble Beach, Redondo, Los Angeles County, California 30
Hindu Wearing a Collection of Ancestral Pebbles as Amulets 37
Killing a Dragon to Extract Its Precious Stone 45
Naturally Marked Stone 45
A Simple Apparatus for Illustrating the Electric Properties of the
Tourmaline 54
Necklace of Faceted Amber Beads 63
Vignette from the “Lapidario de Alfonso X, Codice Original” 69
The “Madonna Di Foligno,” by Raphael 73
The Kaaba at Mecca 84
“Ahnighito,” the Great Cape York Meteorite, Weighing More than
36½ Tons 96
“The Woman,” Cape York Meteorite 97
“The Dog,” Cape York Meteorite 98
Two Views of the Willamette Meteorite Now in the American
Museum of Natural History, New York City 99
Flint Amulets of the Predynastic Period, Egypt 108
The “Ortus Sanitatis” of Johannis De Cuba, Published at Strassburg
in 1483 122

Famous Pearl Necklace of the Unfortunate Empress Carlotta,
Widow of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico 126
Jade Tongue Amulets for the Dead. Chinese 139
Frontispiece of Museum Wormianum 141
Ancient Persian Relic Known as the “Cup of Chosroes” 154
Bezoars of Emperor Rudolph II, Now in the Hofmuseum, Vienna 216
Frontispiece and Title-page of Francesco Redi’s “Experimenta
Naturalia,” Amsterdam 1675, and Two Specimen Pages of This
Treatise 232
Forms of Tabasheer 233
Specimens of Tabasheer 235
Zodiac Mohurs, Coined by the Mogul Sovereign Shah Jehan, about
1628 246
The Medieval Conception of the Cosmos, the Successive Spheres of
the Planets, Including the Sun, and Beyond These the Crystalline
Heaven and the Empyrean 248
The Angel Raphael Refusing the Gifts Offered by Tobit 250
Santa Barbara 258
Bloodstone Medallion, Showing the Santa Casa of Loreto Carried
by Angels to Dalmatia from Galilee 267
Chinese Jade Amulets for the Dead 283
La Madonna Della Salute, by Ottaviano Nelli 287
Ceremony Annually Observed in the Mogul Empire of Weighing the
Sovereign Against Precious Metals, Jewels and Other Valuable
Objects, Which Were Distributed as Gifts 301
The Sacred Well of Chichen Itzá 307
Carved and Worked Stones from the Sacred Well at Chichen Itzá,
Yucatan, Mexico 308
Eye-Agates 315
Types of Egyptian Seals and Scarabs in the Murch Collection,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 316
Colossal Scarab in Black Granite, British Museum 320
A Medieval Spell 328
From a Portrait of Queen Elizabeth 337
Complete View of the Ancient Jade Girdle-Pendant (From Ku Yü T’u
P’u) 341
Tibetan Woman with Complete Jewelry 343
“The Light of the East” 345
Indian Medicine-man 354
Hei-Tiki Amulets of New Zealand 362
Jewelled Sword Given by the Greeks of the United States, on Easter
Day, 1913, to Crown Prince Constantine, Later King Constantine
XII of Greece. Top of Scabbard, Showing Didrachm of Alexander
the Great 373

Side View of Hilt 373
“The Legend of the Moonstone,” Autographed for This Work by the
Author of the Poem, Dr. Edward Forrester Sutton 386
Cleopatra Dissolving Her Priceless Pearl at the Banquet to Mark
Antony 394

LINE CUTS
Title-page of One of the Earliest Treatises on Meteorites 91
Types of Ceraunia or “Thunder-stones” 111
Interior of Fifteenth Century Pharmacy 122
Extracting Toad-stone 162
Toad-stones. Natural Concretions of Claystone and Limonite 163
Types of Cheloniæ (Tortoise-stones). Natural Concretions 171
Chelidonius, or “Swallow-stones” 172
Ætites 175
Extracting an Alectorius 179
Alectorius 180
Lapis Manati 182
Lapis Malacensis, Stone of the Hedgehog or Porcupine 183
Lapis Judaicus. Pentremite Heads 187
Glossopetræ. Fossil Shark’s Teeth 188
Belemnites. Fossilized Bony End of Extinct Cuttle-fish 191
Brontia. Fossil Sea-urchins 193
Trochites } Fossil
} Crinoid
Enastros } Stems 194
Bucardites Triplex 195
Types of Ombria (Fossil Sea-urchins) 196
Cornu Ammonis (Fossil Nautilus) 197
Specimens of Astroites (Asteria), or Fossil Coral 199
Application of a Bezoar to Cure a Victim of Poisoning 202
Monkey Bezoar 204
1. Hedge-hogstone from Malacca. 2, 3. Spurious Stones of this Type
Manufactured in Ceylon. 205
Calculi Taken from Bladder of Pope Pius V 220
Types of the Ovum Anguinum. Echinites (Sea-urchins) 222
Cobra de Capello 236
Canadian Indian Medicine-man 357
The Birth of the Opal 374
East Indian Baroque Pearl 392

The Magic of Jewels and Charms

I
Magic Stones and Electric Gems

While the precious and semi-precious stones were often worn as amulets or
talismans, the belief in the magic quality of mineral substances was not
confined to them, but was also held in regard to large stone masses of
peculiar form, or having strange markings or indentations; moreover, many
small stones, possessing neither worth nor beauty, were thought to exert a
certain magical influence upon natural phenomena. An occult power of this
sort was also attributed by tradition to some mythical stones, the origin of
this fancy being frequently explicable by the quality really inherent in some
known mineral bearing a designation closely similar to that bestowed upon
the imaginary stone.
To certain stones has been attributed the power to produce musical tones,
the most famous example being the so-called “Vocal Memnon” of Thebes.
This colossal statue was said to emit a melodious sound when the sun rose,
and according to Greek legend this sound was a greeting given by Memnon
to his mother, the Dawn. It appears, however, that the statue was a respecter
of persons, for when the Emperor Hadrian presented himself before it, he is
said to have heard the sound three times, whereas common mortals heard it
but once, or at most twice, while occasionally the statue withheld its

greeting altogether. A modern traveller relates a personal experience that
may cast a side-light upon this matter. His visit to Thebes was made in the
evening, but a fellah who was standing near the statue asked him whether
he wished to hear the musical sound. Of course the reply was in the
affirmative. Thereupon the man climbed up the side of the colossal figure
and hid himself behind the elbow. In a moment sharp metallic sounds
became audible; not a single sound, but several in succession. Knowing
from their quality that they could not proceed from the stone, the traveller
asked his donkey-boy for an explanation and was told that the man was
striking an iron bar. In ancient times the priests probably performed this or a
similar trick in a much more skilful way than did the poor fellah, so that the
mystery of the statue was carefully guarded.[1]
The river Hydaspes was said to furnish a “musical stone.” When the
moon was waxing, this stone gave forth a melodious sound.[2] This should
be understood in the sense that when the stone was struck at that season the
sound was different from what it was at other times—a fanciful idea based
on some supposed sympathy between the stone and the moon. As
moonstones are rarely larger than a silver dollar, they would not emit a
sound upon being struck, and it is probably a rock known as “chinkstone”
(phonolite) that is referred to, an igneous rock, very hard and resonant, that
has been found in elongated and flat pebbles of large size; they ring with the
resonance of bells when struck. A sonorous stone at Megara is reported by
Pausanias[3]; when struck, it emitted the sound of the chord of a lyre. This
was explained by the tale that, while helping Alcathous to build the walls of
his city, the god Apollo had rested his lyre on the stone.
The term sarcophagus is to us so clear and precise in its significance, that
we do not stop to think that its etymology reveals it as literally meaning
body-devourer. Tradition taught that a stone of this type was to be found
near Assos in Lycia, Asia Minor, and also in some parts of the Orient. If
attached to the body of a living person it would eat away the flesh. Another
type, already noted by Theophrastus in the third century B.C., had the power
of petrifying any object placed within receptacles made from it. If a dead
person were buried in a “sarcophagus” of this material the body would not
be consumed, but would, on the contrary, be turned to stone, even the shoes
of the corpse and any utensils buried with it, would undergo a like
wonderful change. Possibly actual observations of changes in the bodies of
those long buried, their partial disintegration in some cases, and their

hardening in others, may have given rise to the fancy that the stone
receptacle in which they had reposed was directly the cause of this, whether
it implied destruction or petrifaction.[4]
Of the substance named galactite, Pliny gives some details. He states that
it came from the Nile, was of the color and had the odor of milk, and when
moistened and scraped produced a juice resembling milk. The liquid
derived from the galactite when taken as a potion by nurses was said to
increase the flow of milk. If a galactite were bound to a child’s arm the
effect was to promote the secretion of saliva. To these favorable effects
must be added an unfavorable one, namely, loss of memory, which was said
to befall occasionally those who wore the stone. A kind of “emerald with
white veinings” was sometimes called galactite, and another variety had
alternate red and white stripes or veins.[5] Perhaps this “emerald” was a
variety of jade, or a banded jasper.
This so-called galactite, which enjoyed such an extraordinary reputation
in ancient and medieval times, is not, properly speaking, a stone, but a
nitrate of lime. The strange and famous relics of the Virgin preserved in
many old churches and called “the Virgin’s milk,” were merely solutions of
this nitrate. Possibly pieces of this so-called galactite were sometimes found
by pilgrims in the grotto of Bethlehem, and were supposed to be petrified
milk.[6] As everything in this sacred spot was regarded as connected in some
way with the miraculous birth of Christ, it is easy to understand why the
devout pilgrims came to believe that the milky-hued substance represented
the milk of the Virgin, which had been preserved for future ages in this
extraordinary way.
A kind of galactite, evidently a finely deposited form of carbonate of lime
and perhaps absorbent, is mentioned by Conrad Gesner.[7] This was found
on the Pilatus Mountain, Lake Lucerne, and is described by Gesner as being
a “fungous and friable” substance, white and exceedingly light in weight.
The natives called it Mondmilch (moonmilk) and it was sold in the
pharmacies of Lucerne. The powder was used by physicians in the
treatment of ulcers, and, like all the other galactites, it was supposed to
increase the flow of milk and to develop the breasts. Besides this it was
credited with somniferous virtues.
An old Mohammedan tradition, cited by Ibn Kadho Shobah in his Tarik
al-Jafthi, relates that Noah, after the deluge, on setting out with the

members of his family to settle and populate the regions to the eastward and
northward of Mt. Ararat, confided to their care a miraculous stone known to
the Turks as jiude-tash, to the Persians as senkideh and to the Arabs as hajer
al-mathar, or the “rain-stone.” On it was impressed the word Aadhem or
Aazem, the great name of God, by virtue of which whosoever possessed
this stone could cause rain to fall whenever he pleased. In the long lapse of
time this particular “precious” stone was lost, but some of the Turks were
said to have certain stones endowed with a like power, and the more
superstitious among these Turks solemnly asseverated that their “rain-
stones” could beget progeny by a mysterious kind of generation.[8]
Among the many stones or concretions endowed by medieval belief with
wonderful powers, may be reckoned the “rain-making” stones. Some of
these were to be found in Karmania, south of Khorassan. The miraculous
effect was produced by rubbing one against another. The Arabic author who
reports this declares that this rain-making power was a well-known fact. He
adds that similar stones might be secured from near Toledo in Spain and
also in the “land of Kimar,” inhabited by Turkish tribes.[9]
The Oriental rain-stones noted by pseudo-Aristotle and by many other
Arabic writers of medieval times, can be paralleled by similar rain-making
or rain-inducing stones in many other parts of the world and among many
primitive peoples even in modern times. The rain-makers of the African
tribe of Wahumas, dwelling in the region bordering on the great Albert
Nyanza Lake in Central Africa, use a black stone in the course of their
magic rites. This is put into a vessel and water poured over it; the
pulverized roots of certain herbs and some blood drawn from the veins of a
black goat are then mixed with the water, and the resulting liquid mixture is
thrown up into the air by the rain-maker.[10] The sorcerers among the Dieri
in Central Australia place such trust in the efficacy of these conjurations as
to believe that all rainfalls are produced thereby, generally through the
intermediate action of ancestral spirits. If rain falls in a locality where no
proceedings of the kind have taken place, then it is supposed that they have
been initiated in some contiguous territory, a merely spontaneous and
natural rainfall being out of the question. The clouds indeed generate the
rain, but it will not be brought to the earth except by magic art. In the
complicated magic ceremonies of these Dieri rain-makers, two large stones
are employed; after a ceremonial, in the course of which the blood drawn
from the two chief sorcerers is smeared over the bodies of the others, the

stones are borne away by these two sorcerers for a distance of about twenty
miles, and there put far up on the highest tree that can be found, the object
evidently being to bring them as near to the clouds as possible.[11]
Rock-crystal as a rain-compeller finds honor among the wizards of the
Ta-ta-thi tribe in New South Wales, Australia. To bring down rain from the
sky one of them will break off a fragment from a crystal and cast it
heavenward, enwrapping the rest of the crystal in feathers. After immersing
these with their enclosure in water, and leaving them to soak for a while, the
whole is removed and buried in the earth, or hidden away in some safe
place.[12] The widely spread fancy that rock-crystal is simply congealed
water may have something to do with the choosing of this stone as a rain-
maker.
Sumatrans of Kota Gadanz use a stone whose form roughly resembles
that of a cat in their invocations of rain, a live black cat being supposed in
some parts of this island to have certain rain-producing virtues.[13] Perhaps
the electric fur of the animal may have suggested a connection with
thunder-storms. Stones of this type, indeed a great many of those to which
magic properties are attributed, are in many cases smeared with the blood of
fowls, or have incense offered to them, this treatment of such stones being
observed by the peasants in Scandinavia and other parts of Europe as well
as in the Far East.
Stone crosses have sometimes been utilized as rain-bringers, as in the
case of one belonging to St. Mary’s Church in the Island of Uist, one of the
outer Hebrides, off the Scottish coast. When drought prevailed here the
peasants would set up this cross which usually lay flat on the ground, in the
confident belief that rain would ensue. Of course, sooner or later, it was
sure to come, and then the cross, having done its duty, was quietly replaced
in its former horizontal position.[14]
A mysterious stone mentioned in Rabbinical legend is called the shamir.
This word occurs three times in the Old Testament (Jer. xvii, 1; Ezek. iii, 9;
Zech. vii, 12), and in each signifies a material noted for its hardness. In the
first of these passages there is express indication that the shamir was a
pointed object used for engraving, and the word is translated “diamond” in
our Bible; in the two other cases it is rendered “adamant” and “adamantine
stone,” respectively, thus leaving the determination of the substance an
open question. However, as it is almost certain that the Hebrews were not

familiar with the diamond, shamir most probably signifies one of the
varieties of corundum, the next hardest mineral to the diamond, and
extensively used in classic times for engraving on softer stones.
In the luxuriant growth of legend that sprang up in Rabbinical times, the
shamir is not forgotten. It is said to have been the seventh of the ten marvels
created at the end of the sixth day of creation. In size, it is described as
being not larger than a barley-corn, but it had the power to split up the
hardest substances, if brought in contact with them, or even in their
neighborhood. Some of the legends ascribe to it even more wonderful
magic powers, so that, like Aladdin’s lamp, great buildings could be
constructed by its help, Solomon having used it in the erection of the temple
and other buildings. The etymology of the word indicates a pointed object,
similar to our diamond-point, but in legend it is almost invariably described
as a small worm, probably because of a fancied connection between this
word and another designating a species of worm. Many have associated the
Hebrew shamir with the Greek σμίρις, or emery.
The Hebrew shamir and the Greek ἀδάμας were both used
metaphorically of hardness of heart and implacability. The Hebrew prophet
Zechariah (vii, 12) says of the disobedient Jews that “they made their hearts
as an adamant stone” (shamir), and the Greek poet Theocritus (fl. 228 B.C.)
calls Pluto, the god of the infernal regions, “the adamas in Hades.” This
clearly shows that invincible hardness was the common characteristic of the
material designated by these words. However, it appears probable that while
shamir signifies a form of corundum, the word adamas, as used by the early
Greek writers, denoted a hard, metallic substance. Possibly, when iron first
became known to the Greeks, the adjective ἀδαμάντινος, “indomitable,”
was applied to it, and later the noun adamas was formed from this adjective
and was used by the poets to signify an imaginary substance even harder
than iron; hence, when the diamond became known in Greek lands, its
extreme hardness suggested the application to it of this name.[15]
An Arab legend concerning the fabled shamir stone is related by Cazwini
in his cosmography. When King Solomon set about building the temple in
Jerusalem, he commanded Satan to dress the stones that were to be used,
but the work was performed with such demoniac energy that the people
round about complained bitterly of the dreadful noise. To remedy this
trouble, Solomon sought the council of the leading scribes and also that of

the evil spirits known as Ifrites and Jinns. None of them, however, was able
to help him in this difficulty, but one of them advised him to question an
apostate named Sahr, who sometimes had special knowledge of such things.
When called upon for his opinion, Sahr declared that he knew of a stone
that would do the work required, but did not know where it could be found;
nevertheless he believed that, by a stratagem, he could secure possession of
it. He thereupon ordered that an eagle’s nest with its eggs should be brought
to him, and also a bottle-shaped vessel made of very strong glass. Into this
he slipped the eggs, put them back into the nest, and had nest and eggs
replaced where they had been found. When the eagle returned to the nest it
encountered this obstacle. In vain it struck at the vessel with claws and
beak; after repeated efforts it flew away, but came back on the second day
holding a piece of stone in its beak, which it let fall upon the vessel,
breaking the latter into two halves without producing any sound. Upon this,
Solomon, who knew the language of beasts and birds, asked the eagle
where it had secured the stone. The bird answered: “O Prophet of God, in a
mountain in the West called the Samur Mountain.” This was indication
enough to the wise king who, summoning the Jinns to his aid, soon had in
Jerusalem a plentiful supply of these samûr, or shamir stones, with which
the work of shaping and polishing the blocks for the temple was noiselessly
performed.[16]
Full and precise directions are given by the old authorities as to the
proper way to secure possession of the stone called corvia. On the Calends,
or first day of April, eggs are to be taken out of a crow’s nest and boiled
until they are quite hard; they are then to be allowed to cool off and are
replaced in the nest. The female bird notes that the eggs have been tampered
with and flies away in search of the corvia-stone. When she has found it,
she bears it to the nest, and as soon as it touches the eggs they become fresh
and fertile again. This is the auspicious moment for securing the stone,
which must be quickly taken from the nest else it would lose its virtue.[17]
The lucky owner of the stone is promised increase of wealth and honors,
and the power to read the future.
The fabled gem-bearing dragons of India were said to have sometimes
fallen victims to the enchanter’s art. Certain mystic characters were woven
in thread of gold upon a scarlet cloth, and this cloth was spread by the
hunters before the dragon’s den. When the creature emerged, his eyes were
fascinated by the strange letters in which the enchanter had infused a

wonderful soporific power. Hypnotized by the sight, the dragon would fall
into a deep slumber and the hunters would rush upon him and sever his
head from his body. Within the head were found gems of brilliant hue, some
of these possessing the power of rendering the wearer invisible.[18]
The “Gem of Sovranty,” or the “Gem of the King of Kings,” may have
been a purely poetic Hindu fancy, or possibly may have been the diamond.
Its surpassing quality is emphasized by the declaration that though the earth
produced the sapphire, the cat’s-eye, the topaz, the ruby, and the two mystic
gems, the favorite of the sun, and the favorite of the moon, the Gem of the
King of Kings was acknowledged to be the chief of all “for the sheen of that
jewel spreads round about for a league on every side.” To King Milinda the
following question was put: “Suppose that on the disappearance of a sovran
overlord, the mystic Gem of Sovranty lay concealed in a cleft on the
mountain peak, and that on another sovran overlord arriving at the supreme
dignity it should appear to him, would you say, O King, that the gem was
produced by him?” “Certainly not, sir,” replied the monarch, “the gem
would be in its original condition. But it had received, as it were, a new
birth through him.”[19]
The Arabian author, Ibn Al-Beithar (b. ca. 1197 A.D.), describes a stone
called in Arabic hajer al-kelb, or “dog-stone.” These stones had such
attraction for dogs of a certain breed that when cast before them they would
snap them up, bite them, and hold them in their jaws. The magicians saw in
this a proof that the stones would produce enmity and ill-will among men.
Having selected seven such stones they marked them with the names of any
persons between whom they wished to stir up strife. The seven stones were
then thrown one by one before a dog of the requisite species, and, after he
had bitten them, two were chosen and were placed in water of which the
persons who were to be set at variance were sure to drink. We are assured
that the experiment had the desired evil result.[20]
In ancient times there was found in the river Meander a stone satirically
named sophron, “temperate.” If it were placed upon the breast of any one,
he immediately became enraged and killed one of his parents; however,
after having appeased the Mother of the Gods, he was cured of his
temporary madness.[21]
A most singular stone is described by Thomas de Cantimpré under the
name of “piropholos.” This substance, according to Konrad von

Megenberg’s version, was taken from the heart of a man who had been
poisoned, “because the heart of such a man cannot be burned in fire.” If the
heart were kept for nine years in fire this wonderful stone was produced. It
gave protection from lightning, but its principal virtue was to guard the
wearer from sudden death; indeed, we are told that a man could not die so
long as he held this stone in his hand. However, it did not preserve him
from disease, but only prolonged his life. The stone was said to be of a light
and bright red color.[22]
After enumerating all the well-known precious stones, Volmar, in his
“Steinbuch,” proceeds to relate that there is one which produces blindness,
another that enables the wearer to understand the language of birds, still
another that saves people from drowning, and, finally, one of such
sovereign power that it brings back the dead to life. However, we are told
that because of the miraculous virtues of these stones God hides them so
well that no man can obtain them.[23] About a century earlier Saint
Hildegard of Bingen wrote that “just as a poisonous herb placed on a man’s
skin will produce ulceration,” by an analogous though contrary effect
“certain precious stones will, if placed on the skin, confer health and sanity
by their virtue.”[24]
Persian records tell of a “royal stone” found in the head of the ouren bad,
a kind of eagle; this preserved the wearer from the attacks of venomous
reptiles. If a deadly poison had been administered to a person, he would be
immediately cured by taking one drachm’s weight of the stone. It thus
appears that its virtues were those of the far-famed bezoar.[25] Persia
evidently had good store of “wonderworkers” of this kind, for the Persian
romance entitled “Hatim Tai and the Benevolent Lady,” written about the
beginning of the eighteenth century, recites the marvellous virtue of a stone
called the Shah-muhra. If this were fastened on the arm the wearer became
endowed with miraculous vision and all the gold and precious stones
beneath the earth’s surface were revealed to him.[26]
For ten centuries or more, countless thousands, although feeling assured
of spiritual immortality, were none the less eager to have eternal youth and
vigor and the power to peer into the future. Hence Ponce de Leon’s quest
for the “Fountain of Youth” in our Florida. But in addition to this, there has
ever been an intense desire to find something by means of which gold could
be made out of the baser metals, for youth and vigor, if coupled with

poverty, are only half-blessings. The search for the “Philosopher’s Stone”
appears to have been a more or less aimless pursuit of this end; but there
can be no doubt that this search led to the discovery of many new
substances and reactions, and helped to lay the foundation of our modern
chemistry. Whether the conscious aim of the alchemist was the discovery of
an actual stone, or merely the discovery of some process for turning a
valueless substance into one of great value, is not clearly ascertainable from
the purposely vague and obscure treatises on alchemy.
The “Philosopher’s Stone,” the fond dream of so many who delved into
nature’s mysteries in the past, does not seem so improbable to-day as it did
twenty years ago. The recent discovery of the element radium, which is
produced from the element uranium, and the story of the strange and
protean changes of radium into helium, neon and argon, according to the
environment in which it is placed, have given the death-blow to the old idea
of the immutability of the elements. Still, while we have been allowed this
peep into the storehouse of nature’s secrets, and are growing to believe that
in eons of time the various different elements may have been evolved,
successively, from one another, the power to provoke this change at will
and in a brief space of time is as yet withheld from us, and may never be
given to us, just as little as the power to send messages to the distant
spheres, whose bulk, density and composition we can estimate with a
considerable degree of accuracy.
Numerous specimens still exist of what is alleged to be artificial gold
made by the alchemists of a past age. Of all these the most striking is a
large medallion, bearing in relief the heads of Emperor Leopold and his
ancestors of the House of Hapsburg. It is related that on the name day of the
emperor in 1677, this medallion, originally of silver and weighing 7250
grains, was transmuted into gold by Wenzel Seiler, a noted alchemist of that
time. This wonder was performed in full view of the emperor and his
courtiers, by dipping the medallion in a solution. As there are four notches
on the edge, it has been conjectured that these were made to secure material
for testing the quality of the transformed metal. However, the simple test of
specific gravity shows that the metal cannot be gold, for according to
Bauer’s calculation made in 1883, the medallion has a specific gravity of
12.67, between that of silver (10.5) and that of gold (19.27). This might
indicate that in some unexplained way the alchemist had succeeded in
precipitating a coating of gold upon the face of the object. It seems probable

that the deception was soon discovered, for Seiler, who had been knighted
on September 16, 1676, was exiled by order of Emperor Leopold, not long
after the date on which the supposed transmutation is said to have taken
place.
An exceedingly rare medal, and one of great interest to students of
alchemy, was struck in 1647 by order of Emperor Ferdinand III from gold
produced in his presence by Johann Peter Hofmann, a master of the
alchemical art. A specimen of this medal is in the Imperial Cabinet of Coins
in Vienna.[27] On the obverse, around two shields, one bearing eight fleurs-
de-lis and the other the figure of a lion, are two hermetic inscriptions: Lilia
Cum Niveo Copulantur Fulva Leone (yellow lilies lie down with the snow-
white lion), and Sic Leo Mansuescet Sic Lilia Fulva Virescent (thus will
the lion be tamed and thus will the yellow lilies flourish). Around a crown
surmounting the two shields appear the initial letters I. P. H. V. N. F.,
indicating Latin words the sense of which is “Johannes Petrus Hofmann a
Nurembergian subject made it,” and also the letters T G V L, intended to
signify tinturæ guttæ v. libram, or “five drops of the tincture [transmuted] a
pound.” The reverse has Latin words denoting that iron was the base of this
tincture, the symbols used for lead, tin, copper, mercury, silver and gold
being each accompanied by a cryptic declaration that Mars (iron) had
controlled the respective metal.[28]
Besides the “Philosopher’s Stone,” the chief object of their quest, the
alchemists believed that several other stones possessing magic virtues could
be produced. Among these was the “angelical stone,” which gave power to
see the angels in dreams and visions, and also the “mineral stone,” a
substance by means of which common flints could be transmuted into
diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, etc.[29] Possibly some alchemists
were glass-makers, and fused the quartz with various mineral salts into
imitations of the gems, having the colors, but not the hardness or other
properties.
One of the strangest fancies as to the medicinal efficacy of stones is that
held by the native Australians, who believe that “crystals” are embedded in
the bodies of their medicine-men. This belief is encouraged by the
medicine-men themselves; indeed, they are supposed only to retain their
power so long as these atnongara or ultunda stones remain in their bodies,
and a share of their might can be transmitted by transferring certain of the

stones from their own bodies to that of another. The ceremony proceeds as
follows:[30]
The Nung-gara [medicine-men] then withdrew from their bodies a number of small clear crystals
called Ultunda which were placed one by one, as they were extracted, in the hollow of a spear-
thrower. When a sufficient number had been withdrawn, the Nung-gara directed the man who had
come with them to clasp the candidate from behind and to hold him tightly. Then each of them picked
up some crystals, and taking hold of a leg, gripped the stones firmly and pressed them slowly and
strongly along the front of the leg and then up the body as high as the breast-bone. This was repeated
three times, the skin being scored at intervals with scratches, from which blood flowed. By this
means the magic crystals are supposed to be forced into the body of the man.... After which each of
them pressed a crystal on the head of the novice and struck it hard, the idea being to drive it into the
skull, the scalp being made to bleed during the process....
One of the Nung-gara then withdrew from his skull just behind his ear (that is, he told the novice
that he kept it there) a thin and sharp Ultunda, and taking up some dust from the ground, dried the
man’s tongue with it, and then, pulling it out as far as possible, he made with the stone an incision
almost half an inch in length.
The mesticas of the Malays represent a class of stones differing in
important respects from the various types of bezoars. A principal distinction
is that the mesticas are not supposed to owe their origin to pathological
conditions in the organism wherein they occur, but rather to a
superabundance of the normal and healthy constituents of the animal or
plant. It is probably due to this that the virtues of these particular
concretions are rather talismanic than therapeutic, and that they are believed
to endow the finder, or one who receives them by gift, with courage,
immunity from injury, and also with cunning and shrewdness in the affairs
of life. Especially by warriors are these stones highly valued, for they are
supposed to protect the wearer from wounds; indeed, this belief sometimes
went so far as to lead the Malays to think that absolute invulnerability was
conferred on one who carried several of them bound so closely to the skin
that in some cases they even penetrated the flesh. The typical mestica is
described as a hard stone, brilliant but seldom transparent; it is found in the
flesh or fat, in the heart or on the legs of animals, and also sometimes in
plants.[31]
Rumphius declares that many extraordinary cases were related of
warriors who could not be injured by any weapons until the mestica had
been cut out of their flesh, wherein it had become embedded. Indeed, he
states that Dutch officers of proved veracity had confidently asserted that
they had encountered such men among their native antagonists. While
Rumphius feels himself therefore forced to admit the truth of the
invulnerability of these men, he hastens to add that such powers could not

be inherent in any piece of stone, but must owe their origin to diabolical
agencies.[32] The fact that the Mohammedans had their mesticas blessed by
the priests of their faith, and burned incense beneath them on Fridays, the
Mohammedan equivalent of the Christian Sunday, did not probably shake
the belief of Rumphius that the Devil had something to do with these
substances.
The medicine-men of the Kainugá Indians of Paraguay mutter
incantations over the bodies of the sick, and then, after many struggles and
contortions, proceed to extract stones from their mouths, claiming that they
have taken the patient’s disease into their own bodies, the stones being
regarded as the seat of the ailment. In one case, the medicine-man produced
five of these stones before the patient admitted that his pain was relieved.
After the cure was completed the sorcerer was clever enough to feign
extreme exhaustion, as though his vital forces had been subjected to a
tremendous strain.[33]

INDIAN MEDICINE-MEN

From “Histoire Générale des Cérémonies Religieuses de tous les Peuples du
Monde,” by Abbé Banier and Abbé Mascrier, Paris, 1741.

In British New Guinea similar tactics are resorted to by the native
doctors. A native who was suffering from lumbago fully believed the tale
that his disease was caused by a stone embedded in his flesh. When the
sorcerer made passes over this man’s back and then exhibited a stone which
he pretended to have taken thence, the sufferer was convinced that the
disease had left his body, and he began to feel relief. When examined, his
back showed some superficial cuts at the spot where the stone was said to
have been extracted. In another case, however, when a child was to be
operated upon in a like way, the child’s father became suspicious and seized
the operator’s hands before they came into contact with the little one’s
body; the result being that the disease-laden stone was found concealed in
the operator’s hand.[34]
Pebble-mania or lithomania is an inherent trait in all mankind. From the
most primitive man to the most modern, especially those of optimistic and
investigating tendencies, this trait is present in a greater or lesser degree.
That is, curious people would collect pebbles for their bright colors, or
markings, for their transparency or translucence, and those of an
investigating turn of mind, under the impression that the find was perhaps a
diamond or a gem of some kind. In modern times this kind of collecting has
developed into a regular industry, pebbles found on the shores of the United
States and which are either pure white, transparent or translucent quartz,
being cut and offered for sale. These pebbles are gathered, and are valuable
to those who make a business of selling them, because the white opaque
pebbles become translucent after cutting, or rather, during the process of
cutting, and they are then passed off for moonstones, which are worth from
one-third to one-half more than the cost of cutting the quartz pebbles, the
purchaser being led to believe that he is getting a moonstone, although this
could not be possible, since moonstones have never been found on either
the eastern or the western coast of the United States. As for the cut
moonstones which are brought back by the tourist, under the impression
that he is getting native material and workmanship, these all come from
Europe.
Pebble-mania is not confined to mankind alone. Birds and animals
possess it. The magpie picks up and hides away bright objects, including
odd pebbles, or carries them to its nest. The stones known as ætites were
said to be found in eagles’ nests, although they may have been swallowed
by the birds for digestive purposes, just as the hen’s crop is full of stones,

many of them being transparent, a proof that the fowl had been attracted by
them, and had swallowed these in preference to other, duller ones. Notable
instances of transparent pebbles are the alectorii, or “cock-stones.”
The great Italian goldsmith and sculptor, Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1574),
relates that when a youth he often shot cranes with his arquebuse, and that
in several instances he found in their entrails not only fine turquoises, but
also fragments of the so-called plasma-emerald and even occasionally small
pearls. This serves to indicate that the pretty exterior of such objects exerted
an influence upon these birds in some degree analogous to the impressions
aroused in mankind on viewing them.[35]
In seventeenth century Denmark there seems to have been no lack of
“magic stones,” for it is related that one day as King Christian II was
strolling along the beach, he picked up a shining pebble by the aid of which
he could render himself invisible at will. Similar power was said to exist in
stones that could be found in ant-hills if hot water were thrown onto them
on St. Walpurgis Day, or St. Hans’ Day. The Danes of the time also shared
in the belief that the stone from the lapwing preserved from illness and
sorrow as did the “swallow’s-stone” as well.[36]
It has frequently been maintained that the source of pebbles could be
broadly determined by their form and surface; for example, well-rounded
specimens of fairly uniform size would be classed as marine pebbles, while
river-pebbles would be subangular and usually flat; pebbles of glacial
origin, on the other hand, would have faceted, rounded edges, their surfaces
being polished and striated. However, although these rules might hold good
in many cases, careful observation has demonstrated that pebbles of all
these supposedly distinct types can be found among those of marine,
fluviatile, or lacustrine origin. This is explicable by the fact that while the
constant, unhindered action of sea or river would probably produce pebbles
of distinct type, the local conditions often interfere with this. For instance,
on a low sea-coast, with weak wave-action, pebbles frequently became
buried in the sands, thus retaining their form practically unchanged, and
even where the waves are stronger, so that the pebbles are more or less
constantly exposed to their force, it must be borne in mind that some of
these coast pebbles have been swept down by rivers, or have already been
affected by glacial action. In these cases the force of the waves will indeed
modify the form, but along the lines of that already produced by the earlier

agencies. Broadly stated, those that were round or oval would generally
remain so, rectangular fragments might have their angles worn away and
become elliptical, while flat fragments would not exhibit any notable
change in shape.[37]
When a group of pebbles have been long exposed to attrition by the
waters of a powerful stream, especially where the current is intermittent,
and where a large quantity of sand has been worked or blown into the
stream by freshet or wind storm, they may become rounded by the erosive
action of the water or by the abrasive power of the sand, as well as by the
attrition consequent upon their sharp contact with one another. This is
exemplified in the case of boulders in a river bed, it having been noted in
certain streams on the Navajo Reservation that while the upstream sides of
the boulders were polished and rounded, and even sometimes faceted and
etched, but little change was observable on the downstream sides. This has
been tested experimentally, holes an inch in depth having been drilled in
opposite sides of sandstone boulders, and on examination five years later in
five different localities where this had been done, the deepest hole
remaining on the upstream sides measured but four-tenths of an inch, while
in one locality the holes had entirely disappeared, and yet so trifling was the
effect of the water on the downstream side that a blue-pencil mark had not
been washed away. Of course, the erosion of quartzite and limestone
boulders tested in this way proved to be a much slower process, amounting
to less than one-hundredth of an inch annually. Another important
consideration in the shaping of pebbles by river-water is the swiftness of the
current, it having been noted, for instance, that those which have been
washed down the steep slopes of the Navajo Mountain and the edge of the
Black Mesa are somewhat better rounded than those that have been borne
along for a much greater distance by less swift-flowing water.
That striated, faceted, or polished pebbles are always of glacial origin, or
that those of glacial origin usually offer these characteristics is far from the
fact; indeed, it may rather be said that they are generally missing. The
fluvio-glacial drift is much more widespread than ground moraine, and the
pebbles found in the former rarely present these aspects; indeed, it has been
noted that in an hour’s search through the glacial drift of Connecticut, only
a single such specimen may be met with. On the other hand, many pebbles
of this type have been found under conditions plainly showing that the

striation was due to other causes, in some instances, as with those occurring
in conglomerates, to pressure and differential movement.[38]
The burying of white stones or lumps of quartz with the dead was not
infrequent in early times in Ireland. The peasants of the north of Ireland call
these Godstones. A cist found at Barnasraghy, County Sligo, was nearly
filled with quartz pebbles, and not long since a white stone was found in a
primitive burial place near Larne, County Antrim. That this was a usage
confined to the earlier period of Irish history is generally admitted, and the
discovery of such white stones in a grave is accepted as an indication that it
belongs to an early date.[39]
It has been suggested that these white stones were used for burials
because of the symbolic meaning of the color, which to the minds of many
primitive peoples was that of purity, as indeed it is still among most modern
peoples, although the symbolism may not always be consciously accepted.
White marble seems to most of us the most appropriate and beautiful stone
for monuments, and if to a very considerable degree granite is now used as
a substitute, this is principally because of its greater resistance to the
deteriorating effect of atmospheric changes. Already in prehistoric times,
the cave-dwellers showed a fondness for gathering quartz crystals and
fragments, and specimens of those taken from the Auvergne Mountains
have been found in the cave-dwellings of Les Eyzies; they may have been
used as amulets or talismans.[40]
A legend of the great Irish saint, Columba, gives an instance of the
curative use of white pebbles. After this saint had vainly entreated Broichan
the Druid to free a Christian bond-maiden, as a last resort he menaced the
druid with approaching death. The prediction or curse was speedily on the
way to fulfilment, Broichan sickened unto death, and in his terror consented
to free the maiden. Hereupon St. Columba went to the river Ness and
picked up out of its shallows several white pebbles, announcing that they
would, by the Lord’s power, work the cure of heathen people. One of the
stones was blessed by the saint and placed in a vessel filled with water, on
the surface of which it floated, and as soon as Broichan had taken a draught
of the liquid he was restored to perfect health.[41]
A famous Scotch amulet was a polished globular mass of white quartz, an
inch and three-quarters in diameter, owned by the chiefs of Clan
Donnachaidh and known as the “Stone of the Banner.” It had been

accidentally found by a chief of this clan, who, on his way to join Robert
Bruce in 1315, before the battle of Bannockburn, noted a glittering stone
embedded in a clod of earth that had become attached to his flagstaff. It was
looked upon as a powerful talisman in battle, and water in which it had been
dipped was said to cure diseases. Tradition asserted that this white stone of
Clan Donnachaidh was identical with that used long before by St. Columba.
[42]
As such white stones were often deposited in graves, sometimes even
being placed in the mouth of a deceased person, it has been suggested that
perhaps the sparks emitted by the quartz on percussion were believed to
shed some faint gleams along the dark pathway of the departed in his
journey to the underworld. In Christian times there can be little doubt in
regard to the influence exercised by the text in Revelation: “To him that
overcometh ... I will give a white stone, and in the stone a new name
written, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it.”[43]
Crystal balls are not only valued for the visions to be seen, or supposed to
be seen in them, but are sometimes worn as amulets against illness. In some
parts of Japan they are thought to ward off dropsy, and their wear is also
recommended to guard from all wasting diseases.[44] The likeness of rock-
crystal to congealed water may well be credited, in the doctrine of
sympathy, with its putative power of preventing the watery infiltration from
which a dropsical patient suffers. As the Japanese make many choice crystal
balls, these objects are generally more or less familiar in that land and have
thus appealed as well to those who were superstitious as to those who
appreciated things beautiful in themselves.
In Yucatan quartz crystals were not only used for divining, but also to
ensure the success of the crops. The fact that such crystals have been found
in the Indian mounds of Arkansas, North Carolina, and elsewhere, may
warrant the supposition that they had been worn as talismans and then
interred with the deceased persons as a most intimate part of their property.
The writer’s personal observation in Garland and Montgomery counties,
Arkansas, demonstrated that quartz crystals were to be found in mounds
together with chipped arrow-points of chalcedony, although the crystals did
not appear to have been worked in any way. The region about Hot Springs,
Arkansas, has furnished some of the finest rock-crystal found in the United
States. From North Carolina also have come many remarkable specimens,
the largest of which, found in 1886, was unluckily broken up by the person
who discovered it. In its crystal state it must have weighed about 300

pounds, and if cut would have furnished a crystal ball 4½ or 5 inches in
diameter. This splendid crystal came from Phœnix Mountain, Chestnut Hill
township, in Ashe County, North Carolina, and from the largest fragment
recovered, weighing 51 pounds, several slabs 8 inches square and from half
inch to one inch in thickness were cut. Nearby a crystal weighing 285
pounds was found, and another weighing 188 pounds. Some of the crystals
from this locality had on one side a green coating of chlorite, and when this
was not removed, the effect was as though one saw a green moss growing
beneath a pool of water. The rock-crystal slabs have an advantage over
glass when used for mirrors, as they more truly reflect the tints of a fine
complexion. Brilliant crystals from Lake George and its neighborhood have
been called “Lake George Diamonds.” In marked contrast with the large
examples we have noted, many crystals of quartz are so small that 200,000
would have an aggregate weight of but one ounce and yet many are perfect
crystals and doubly terminated.
The presence of white quartz pebbles in some graves of the Indian
Moundbuilders, appears to be indicated to a satisfactory extent in the case
of certain specimens from the Etowah Mound in Georgia; these pebbles,
which form part of the Steiner collections in the United States National
Museum, were not, however, worked or polished in any way, nor are there
any traces of use for ornament or decoration. On the other hand, white
quartz pebbles from the Pueblo region of the Southwest offer undeniable
signs of having been long used and are of frequent occurrence; some of
these have been found in graves. In connection with the probable reasons
determining their presence the designations “fire stones” or “charms” have
been given them; some specimens of this worked quartz had evidently been
worn as pendants, while others had probably been regarded as fetishes.[45]
It is most interesting to note that the superstitious use of these objects in
burials was so widespread as to prove that it must have been due to some
inherent property or properties in white stones, and especially in pebbles of
white quartz, which appealed very strongly to the mind of primitive man.
That, as has been noted above, the conception of purity should be
associated with whiteness, in its contrast to any obscure color, is natural
enough, and rests upon the association of spotless cleanliness with moral
purity, and very probably the sparkles of light emitted by a bright piece of
quartz, normally or on percussion, brought this material into some

connection with the worship of fire, or of fire-gods. To another possible
conception along the same lines we have already alluded.
An instance is reported where a very curious quartz pebble, one-half
white and the other black, was found within the hand bones of the skeleton
of an Indian; the finder carried it about with him for many years as a “lucky
stone,” but it appears that his personal experience of its effects, if these can
be judged from what happened to the bearer of such a talisman, has been of
a kind to shatter the most robust faith in the protective power of his Indian
charm. Possibly the strange relic may have symbolized night and day for
the Indians, and thus have been believed to guard the wearer or the person
with whom it was buried, at all times and seasons. That pebbles of this sort
were sometimes buried in the ground, disposed in circles and squares, is
vouched for by some who claim to have unearthed them in ploughing, but
our informant was not able to confirm these statements, as the arrangements
had always been effectually disturbed before he reached the spot.[46]
In many graves of the primitive Red-paint People of Maine, small
pebbles have been found. As they were not large enough to have served as
paint-grinders, and as but one such pebble occurs in any single grave, the
presumption is quite strong that they were considered as talismans for the
dead. The fact that the practical laborers of our day who dug out these
graves instinctively named the pebbles “lucky stones” goes to prove that
this supposition is not too far-fetched, although there is no positive evidence
to support it. The pebbles were yellow, bright red, or gray in color, the
graves explored being at Orland, Maine, as well as at the outlet of Lake
Alamoosook, on the south side of this lake and at Passadumkeag; indeed
such graves have been met with all the way from the Kennebec Valley
eastward to Bar Harbor.[47]
The respective symbolic meanings of white and black are illustrated in
the designations “white magic” and “black magic,” the latter denoting
conjurations or spells in which the aid of the powers of darkness, of the
Devil and his demons, was sought by the sorcerer, while “white magic” was
to be performed by harmless and innocent means, sometimes even by
religious rites. In this way it sometimes so closely approached the domain
of religious miracle, that it becomes difficult to distinguish between these
two conceptions of supernatural action in the material world.

Quartz of a different type with needle-like inclusions is called “Thetis’s
hair stone.” This is a transparent or translucent quartz, but so completely
filled with acicular crystals of green actinolite, or occasionally altered
actinolite of a yellow-brown or brown color, as to appear almost opaque;
seals and charms have been made to a small extent of this variety. Of other
inclusions in quartz we may note those of a very brilliant stibnite projecting
in all directions, some of the intruded crystals being very curiously bent.
Exceedingly beautiful gems have been cut from this material.[48] When this
quartz is cut en cabochon across the ravalette inclusions, a cat’s-eye effect
is produced. The yellow quartz cat’s-eye of Ceylon and the green of Haff,
Bavaria, are of this type. So densely set were the green actinolite inclusions
in the case of a specimen found at Gibsonville, North Carolina, that it was
believed by the finder to be an emerald.
An extremely beautiful effect in quartz is produced by enclosed, acicular
crystals, or hair-like particles of some other mineral, such as rutile, for
instance, and sometimes even of gold. To specimens of this latter type may
be referred the Greek name “chrysothrix,” used in the Orphic poem
“Lithica” and signifying literally “golden hair”; of this the verses tell us
there were two varieties, that which may be identified with quartz, having a
resemblance to “crystal,” while the other, said to have the appearance of
chrysoberyl, may have been a yellower variety. To the quartz traversed by
filaments of rutile, or the red oxide of titanium, has been given the taking
name of “Venus’s hair stone”; a pretty French name is Flèches d’Amour or
“Cupid’s Arrows.”[49]
The California beaches have furnished some of the most interesting
ornamental pebbles, the greater number being of chalcedony or agate
weathered from an amygdaloidal rock, while a few are of jasper or fossil
coral. Their variegated color-markings made them very attractive
ornamental objects in themselves, and there is reason to believe that
centuries ago the Indians of this region valued them as talismans or amulets.
At present the finest specimens are gathered from Pescadero Beach in San
Mateo County, about twenty-four miles west of San José, Redondo Beach,
fifteen miles south of Los Angeles, and also from Crescent City Beach, in
the northern part of California. On Moonstone Beach, Santa Catalina Island,
many beautiful quartz and chalcedony nodules have been picked up, which
have weathered out of ryolite rock of sanidine feldspar and quartz. It has
been quite a custom for guests of the hotels to go down to Redondo Beach

and gather these pebbles, and some of those collected by enterprising
natives are placed in a bottle of water to bring out the beauty of their colors.
Sometimes they are drilled and strung on flexible wire to form long chains
or necklaces. Several pebbles presumably from Redondo Beach were found,
in 1901, in an Indian grave, where they were probably placed as amulets for
the dead.[50]

By courtesy of
California State
Mining Bureau.

1. Chalcedony and agate pebbles from
Pescadero Beach, San Mateo County,
California.

2. Pebble Beach, Redondo, Los Angeles
County, California.

From George Frederick Kunz’s “Semi-
precious Stones of California,”
Sacramento, 1905.
Bulletin No. 37 of the State Mining
Bureau.

The occurrence of fluid cavities in quartz, chalcedony, sapphire, and
other minerals, is due at times to cavernous structures formed during the
growth of these minerals, when the crystalline substances, for some reason,
instead of filling these up solid, will avoid the caverns and enclose the
liquid of crystallization. In agate inclusions this is found with silicious
content, possibly due to the fact that it is to an extent carbonic acid gas, or
water containing salt or some other foreign substance. In agate chalcedony,
whether in pebbles as minute as a pinhead, or in amygdules several feet
across, the liquid is enclosed because the walls of the gas-pores in the rock,
which are frequently almond-shaped, are gradually becoming smaller, or
rather the walls thicken by the deposition of the silica forming agate,
chalcedony, or any impenetrable layers, or else an impenetrable form of
quartz; then again, frequently toward the centre or when the liquid forms
less rapidly, or through some change, the quartz becomes crystalline, either
colorless, smoky, or amethystine, and this is due to various inclusions. This
gradual thickening of the walls means that the aperture into which the liquid
penetrates becomes smaller and smaller until at last it is entirely sealed, so
that it becomes enclosed in a kind of nature’s water-bottle, these being
sometimes as large as in the chalcedony specimens from Uruguay; this is
also the case with the hydrolites and the enhydros, when they can be shaken
and the water rattles as in a bottle.
An occasional small Redondo Beach, California, or Medford, Oregon
pebble contains a moving bubble of air in liquid.
Most wonderful specimens of rutilated quartz are the great, rich brown,
possibly titanium-colored masses in the Morgan Collection at the American
Museum of Natural History, that in the Vaux Collection at the Philadelphia
Academy of Natural Sciences, and a smaller mass in the British Museum;
these were all obtained near Middlesex, Vermont. The rutile is a rich
transparent or translucent red, varying in thinness from that of an ordinary
needle to that of a knitting-needle, and even to that of a thin lead-pencil.
Wonderful specimens are also found in the Alps of St. Gotthard, in
Madagascar, and in Alexander County, North Carolina, where they are
found in quantity as minute crystals of a rich red or golden yellow.
Other curious and interesting rock-crystals with inclusions are those
showing enclosed drops of water, the kind termed enhydros by Pliny[51] and
many old writers; in some of the rarer specimens the enclosed water is

present in considerable quantity. Quartz with inclusions of this type was
highly appreciated in the Greco-Roman world, and one of the best poets of
the Decadence, Claudian (fl. about 400 A.D.), composed a series of poetic
epigrams upon them, seven of these being in Latin and two in Greek. An
example of the best in each tongue, the first in the former and the second in
the latter, must be of interest, although the literal prose version cannot have
the charm of the original verse.[52]
The Alpine ice, already precious in its frigidity, acquires an intense hardness through the action of
the solar rays, but unable to transform itself entirely into a gem, it betrays its original source by the
water that still remains within it. This adds at once to the beauty of this liquid stone and to its value.
In its changeful aspect, this crystal born from snow and fashioned by the hand of man is an image
of the world, of the heavens enclosing cruel ocean in their wide embrace.
An old superstition among the Laplanders of Sweden is that in order to
avert or cure disease which may be or has been caused by sleeping in the
open air on the exposed moorland, three pebbles should be gathered, one
from the water, one out of the earth, and the third from the surface of the
ground or “from the air.” These are placed on a fire until they become red-
hot, and are then thrown into water; the stone which sizzles most is that
belonging to the element which has caused the illness. The whole body, or
sometimes only the afflicted part, is to be moistened with the water in
which the pebbles have been immersed, and each separate stone is to be
carefully returned to the spot whence it was taken.[53]
Near Middleville, in Herkimer County, New York, in a calciferous
limestone, gray and brownish-gray in color, there are numerous cavities
varying in size from that of a pinhead to that of a man’s head. In these
cavities are found carbonaceous substances such as asphaltum and other
hard, black hydrocarbons. These cavities also frequently show mud or sand
adhering to the sides, or mud and sand mixed with the petroleum, in which
are often found brilliant and transparent rock-crystals, the purest of any
found in the world. They are unusually perfect hexagonal prisms with both
sets of six pyramid faces; that is, with same slight modification, eighteen
brilliantly polished faces. These are especially sought after on account of
their great purity, and because it is considered that he who wears one will
have fair weather and secure the blessing of fair sailing on the sea of life.
Some of these crystals are so small, though of absolute perfection, that it
would require 250,000 of them to weigh an ounce; others again are
sometimes as large as from one to two inches in length. When not entirely
transparent they frequently contain inclusions of black asphaltum or other

hydrocarbons and also contain hollow cavities which are filled with fluid,
sometimes salt water and sometimes liquid carbonic acid gas. In these are
moving bubbles and occasionally a heavy hydrocarbon; that is, a bubble
will ascend and the hydrocarbon will sink; or else the bubble will rise and
take with it a small speck of hydrocarbon, and another will sink. In a
wonderful specimen now at the American Museum of Natural History there
is an object like a small spider of hydrocarbon which sinks while a minute
water-bubble rises. They are called fair-weather stones.
Tasmanian rain-makers use white stones in their magical rites; however,
the stone by itself is not considered an effective talisman, for it must be
dipped in the blood of a young girl to give it added power. After a number
of white pebbles have been steeped for a time in this blood, the rain-maker
ties them up in strips of bark and sinks them in some deep water-hole in
which a diabolical spirit is supposed to dwell. The natives confidently assert
that this ceremony is soon followed by the desired rainfall. As the belief
prevails here as elsewhere, that these white stones or pebbles to retain their
power must not be looked upon by a woman, it seems a little strange that
the rain-bringing stone is dipped in a young girl’s blood.[54]
However, white stones have not always and everywhere been regarded as
lucky, for it is stated that among the fishermen of the Isle of Man the
presence of a white stone in a fishing-smack is confidently believed to
portend poor fishing. Indeed it has been reported by a Scotchman, who
went out in a fishing boat for several consecutive days with a party of Manx
fishermen, that after a succession of days marked by poor fishing they
began to nickname him “White Stone.”[55]
An oath taken on sacred stones was regarded by the ancient
Scandinavians as peculiarly binding upon him who took such an oath; in the
old Norse annals it is stated that Gudrun Gjukesdatter offered King Atle that
he would take an oath on the “pure white stone.” The hero Duthmaruno is
said to have sworn by “Loda’s Stone of Power,” which represented the
almighty divinity of the Norsemen.[56]
A sacred well on the north side of Lough Neagh, Ireland, lends peculiar
sanctity to the yellow crystals found in great quantity near by. The belief in
their miraculous quality finds expression in the legend that they grow up
out of the ground on Midsummer Night, and whosoever wishes to possess
them as talismans must pronounce certain magic rhymes in the act of

collecting them. They then become luck-bringers of potent virtue and
ensure the prosperity of the household in which they are guarded.[57]
The stone, or rather rock, named catlinite, and popularly known as “pipe-
stone,” was regarded by certain tribes as one of their most valuable
materials,[58] and was extensively used for pipe-bowls. In color it ranges
from a deep red to an ashy tint; the chief quarry is situated some three
hundred miles west of the Falls of St. Anthony, on the dividing ridge
between the Saint Peter’s and Missouri rivers. This region was visited in
1836 by George Catlin, to whom we are indebted for the preservation of so
much regarding Indian folk-lore and customs, and after whom the substance
is named. While it is impossible to determine with any degree of certainty
for how long a time the Indians were familiar with this material, there are
those who believe that the quarries were worked and the material used for
pipe-bowls by native sculptors long before the earliest notice we have to
that effect.[59] Great skill and patience were displayed by the Indians in the
making of these pipe-bowls, which were sometimes carved with various
symbolical figures. We have an early record of such pipes from the pen of
Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit missionary to the Indians, who saw one when
visiting the Illinois Indians in 1673. He reports it as being of polished red
stone, like marble, so pierced that one orifice served to hold the tobacco,
while the other was fastened on the stem, which was a stick two feet long,
as thick as a common cane and pierced in the middle. The whole was
covered with large feathers of red, green, and other colors.
Catlin states that at the time of his visit the “pipe-stone” quarry was
guarded with a certain religious reverence from the visit of the white man,
the Indians declaring that this red stone was “a part of their flesh,” and that
to take it from them would be to tear out their flesh and spill their blood.
This highly poetic language may or may not have signified a superstitious
reverence for the substance; indeed, it may simply have voiced the fear of
these Indians that they might be despoiled of what for them was an
especially valuable material, which they asserted had been bestowed upon
them by the Great Spirit for the making of pipes exclusively. In our day an
old Ojibway Indian, especially skilled in the work, has a name signifying
“he who makes pipes,” and carved pipe-bowls of catlinite are usually sold
for from $1 to $10 apiece; as much as $20, however, is occasionally paid
for a particularly large and finely carved specimen. This substance is also
worked up into charms and other small ornaments which are sold to

tourists, the annual sales of all descriptions amounting to some $10,000
annually. Catlinite takes a fine polish and is easily worked; a peculiarly
attractive variety is red with white and gray spots.

HINDU WEARING A COLLECTION
OF ANCESTRAL PEBBLES AS
AMULETS

The popular fancy for the “Fairy Stones” from a peak of the Blue Ridge
Mountains, Patrick County, Virginia, is said to be directly traceable to the
tale, “Trail of the Lonesome Pine,” by John Fox, Jr., who makes one of
these pretty staurolite crystals exercise an important influence over the
destinies of his hero and heroine. This was cleverly utilized by the manager
of a New York theatre, when he gave a souvenir performance of a
dramatized version of the story, by presenting one of these “Fairy Stones”
to each lady in the audience, a gift not only in perfect rapport with the play,
but one highly appreciated by the recipients, few of whom were not
unconsciously influenced by the symbolic half-religious, half-mythical
quality ascribed to this attractive little gem.
Collections of stones and pebbles, often of little or no intrinsic value but
supposed to possess occult powers, are handed down from father to son in

many Hindu families of the poorer class. The accompanying illustration
shows an aged Hindu, as he appeared to a recent traveller, decorated with
such stones to the number of about three hundred on a ceremonial occasion.
In this case they were all pierced and threaded on cords, so as to be attached
to the person, and the old man proudly declared that, thousands of years
ago, one of his ancestors was a playmate of the god Krishna, who had
bestowed the stones upon him as a special mark of divine favor.
The presence of erratic boulders was accounted for by popular legend in
a variety of ways. Sometimes it was declared that the Virgin or a saint,
while bearing an enormous stone through the air to be used in the
construction of a church, had learned on the way that the church was
completed and the stone no longer needed, and immediately let it drop to
the earth.[60]
A stone having the rude form of a chair or seat, and known as Canna’s
Stone, enjoyed repute in Wales for its curative powers. It was in a field in
close proximity to the church of Llangan, Carmarthenshire, which owed its
foundation to St. Canna. Near this stone is a well called Flynon Canna, the
waters of which were believed to be a cure for ague. To make the cure
effective, however, the patient, after imbibing the sacred water, had to sit
for a time in Canna’s Stone, and if he dozed while sitting there this was
considered to promise a speedy recovery. The combined treatment by well
and stone was often repeated for several successive days and was
occasionally prolonged for two or three weeks.[61]
That a child could be cured of disease by being passed through an
aperture in one of the sacred stones that had formed part of a dolmen is
shown in the case of a stone of this kind preserved in the church of Villers-
Saint-Sépulcre, dept. Oise, France. There is another such stone in the same
department, at Trie, used in a like way for the cure of feeble children or
those suffering from rachitis. This reveals in a striking way the persistence
of superstitious beliefs which were already condemned in 567 A.D. by the
council of Tours, which prescribed that the eucharist should be refused to
those who venerated these so-called sacred stones, and at a still earlier date,
in 443 A.D., a council decree pronounced those bishops guilty of sacrilege
who permitted the making of vows over these stones or the deposition of
offerings thereon.[62]

Some of the stones of the druidic dolmens were called by the French
peasants of a later age pierres tourniresses, or “whirling stones,” for it was
solemnly asseverated that at midnight on Christmas Eve these stones
gyrated on their base. A still stranger fancy was that some other stones of
this class became fearfully thirsty at times, once every hundred days, or
perhaps only once in a century, and then rolled off to the nearest stream to
slake their thirst. Under others, again, it was believed that a hidden treasure
reposed, watchfully guarded by a terrible dragon. However, on one night in
the year, while the clock was striking twelve, he snatched a moment’s sleep,
and whoever was clever enough and quick enough to make use of this
chance could acquire untold riches.[63]
A strange belief prevails in and about Dourges (dept. Aube), France. On
the top of a hill near this place is a chapel built in honor of St. Estapin, and
in close proximity to this chapel are rocks with many irregular hollows of
such varying shapes and forms that almost any part of the human body can
be thrust into the openings. On the 6th of August in each year, those from
the neighborhood suffering from illness or disability of any kind come
hither, and, after having made their way as best they can nine times around
the chapel, proceed to the platform whereon are the wonder-working stones,
and introduce the afflicted part of their body into the appropriate opening in
one of the rocks. The result is said to be an immediate cure of the trouble,
however serious this may be, one experiment being sufficient.[64]
Stones of peculiar shape or marked color are those to which popular
fancy has most often attributed a certain sanctity or power. Instances of this
may be found in the Scottish isles. Thus, on the island of Arran in the Firth
of Clyde, a green stone of approximately spherical form had acquired great
repute for its healing virtue, especially for those having pains in the side.
When this stone was laid upon the seat of the trouble, the pain would
disappear. This, however, was not the only use to which it was put, for oaths
were taken upon it, proving the presence of a certain animistic belief in the
islanders’ minds, as though some spirit dwelt in or animated the stone and
would take vengeance on a perjuror. A still better proof of this was the idea
that the green stone of Arran would bring victory to a leader if he bore it
with him and cast it into the enemies’ ranks at the decisive moment of a
conflict, as is said to have been done by the Lord of the Isles. Alongside of
this green stone may be placed a blue stone credited in the Scotch island of

Fladda with the possession of like healing power, and on which also oaths
were taken.[65]
A large, flat stone in St. Andrew’s on the isle of Guernsey is stated to
have borne a somewhat humorously misleading French inscription. This
ran: “Celui qui me tournera, Son temps point ne perdra,” which has been
freely rendered:
To him who turns me up I say
His labor won’t be thrown away.

This tempting promise, interpreted as a sign that some buried treasure was
hidden in the ground beneath the stone, finally induced some one to devote
much toil and time to the difficult task of turning the stone over. What,
however, was his chagrin and disgust when the under side presented the
words: “Tourner je voulais, Car lassée j’étais” (I longed to turn, because I
was so tired). Whether the practical joker who originated the inscription
was present to enjoy the success of his joke is not revealed.[66]
To a mass of quartz at Jerbourg, Guernsey Island, local fancy has
attached a wild legend, which finds expression in the strange designation of
the stone as “The Devil’s Claw.” The old Chronique de Normandie, which,
although written much earlier, was first printed in 1576 at Rouen, recounts
under date of 797 A.D. that Duke Richard, when on his way from one of his
strongholds to a manor where dwelt a damsel of surpassing beauty, was
assailed by the Evil One; but, like a second St. Michael, Duke Richard
overcame his dangerous antagonist. Seeing that he could not prevail by
force, the Devil had recourse to one of his most perilous wiles, and changed
himself into a beautiful, richly attired maiden. In this disguise he lured
Duke Richard to the seashore and induced him to enter a boat and put out to
sea. He thus spirited the duke away to the lonely isle of Guernsey, and at the
landing spot, where the Devil finally seized his too-confiding prey, stands
this mass of quartz, a deep black splash running right across, indicating in
popular fancy the mark left by the devil’s claws.[67]
A solitary boulder standing on a heath in North Germany is the subject of
a curious legend illustrating the superstitious reverence inspired by the
thunder. Once upon a time a bridal procession was traversing the heath
when a violent thunder-storm broke out. Taking no heed of this, the
musicians who accompanied the procession continued to play their gay and

festive music, and as a punishment for this lack of respect the God of
Thunder changed the whole party into an immense rock.[68]
An erratic boulder lying in midstream in the River Ferse, in West Prussia,
at a bend it makes between Peplin and Eichwald, is known in legend as the
Teuffelsstein (Devil’s Stone). It can only be reached by swimming to it, the
part above the surface of the water measuring 26¼ feet in circumference,
the height from the bed of the stream being 8¼ feet. A thick growth of
alders on the banks of the Ferse at this point casts strange and sharp
shadows over the gleaming surface of the block which is a biotitic gneiss.
Legend tells that the Devil once tried to wreck the tower of the church at
Peplin by hurling this mass of rock at it, but just as he had it poised in the
air and was about to cast it forth the church bells began to ring the call for
early mass, and he was forced to let the boulder drop. Another version is
that he really threw it, but that it fell short of its mark.[69]
Near Hasselager in Denmark there is an immense boulder about 150 feet
in circumference and 32 feet in height. Of this stone legend tells that a
witch became so enraged at the fact that the steeple of the church at
Svinninge was used by sailors as a landmark, that she picked up the stone
and hurled it at the church, but missed her aim. As the boulder is estimated
to weigh 1000 tons, this “witch” must have been regarded as a superhuman
personality. The legend seems to indicate that she profited by the
shipwrecks which were only too frequent on this rocky coast, and grudged
the poor sailors the good service rendered them by the prominent steeple.
A rock in Ardmore Bay, Ireland, is known as the St. Declan Stone, after
the first bishop of Ardmore, who came to Ireland even before the arrival of
the great St. Patrick. This rock is believed by the peasants to be endowed
with great and occult powers, and the legend tells that it was carried
through the air from Rome to its present resting place in the bay, at the time
St. Declan was erecting his church at Ardmore. The fact that the stone rests
upon a number of smaller ones renders it possible for people to squeeze
their way under it at low tide, and those who pass beneath it three times are
believed to have earned the special favor of St. Declan.[70]
A mass of calcareous stone in a village called Piada de Roland, situated
in the commune of Toufailles (dept. Tarn et Garonne), France, shares with
some other similar stones in this region the curious name of Roland’s Foot
(Piada de Roland). The one preserved in Toufailles measures 70 cm. × 47

cm. × 50 cm., and bears a natural imprint having the form of a foot. Legend
accounts for this by the tale that the hero Roland once jumped from this
stone to another at Sept Albres and in taking this tremendous leap thrust his
foot down so strongly upon its support as to leave an imprint on the solid
rock. For a time the “Piada de Roland” was kept in a cow-house—not a
remarkably honorable place of deposit—but after the death of one of the
cows a sorcerer advised the stone should be broken and removed, as a
precautionary measure; this is said to have happened but thirty years ago,
showing how deeply rooted such superstitious ideas are among the
peasantry in out-of-the-way parts of France.[71]
Another rock-imprint, this time simulating that made by the hoof of a
horse, is to be seen toward the edge of the abyss of Padirac (dept. Lot).
Here again a local legend has been evolved to explain the imprint. We are
told that the attention of both Satan and St. Martin had been powerfully
attracted to the region, each strenuously seeking to gain possession of the
souls of those who died, Satan of course wishing to bear them off with him
to the depths of the infernal regions, while St. Martin cherished the fond
hope of bringing them to Heaven. Unhappily the sins of the inhabitants of
the region so much outweighed their merits that the Devil was almost
invariably successful. Once upon a time, when he was riding off to his lurid
realm, bearing with him a sackful of lost souls, he met St. Martin, who was
full of grief at the fact that he himself had not a single soul to carry
heavenward. Knowing, however, that Satan was passionately fond of
gaming, he proposed that they should play a game the stake of which
should be the sackful of souls. Satan consented, trusting to his powers of
trickery, but all his deceptions proved vain, and the precious souls became
the property of the saint. Enraged at losing the stakes, the Devil stamped on
the ground, and an immense abyss opened up, threatening to engulf St.
Martin; however, the latter put up a prayer to God, and spurred on his steed
to a supreme and successful effort at escape, but one of the hoofs struck the
rock with such force that it made an indentation therein figuring the clear
outlines of a horse’s hoof.[72]

KILLING A DRAGON TO EXTRACT
ITS PRECIOUS STONE

From Johannis de Cuba’s “Ortus
Sanitatis,” Strassburg, 1483. See page
16.

NATURALLY MARKED STONE

From Valentini, “Museum museorum,”
Frankfurt am Mayn, 1714. Collection
of James I, of England; now in
Copenhagen. See page 45.

The Kiowa have a sacred stone whose form suggests the head and bust of
a man. This image, called taimé, has long been considered a kind of
palladium of the tribe. It is preserved in a box made of stiff dressed rawhide
(parflèche) and was only shown once a year, at the annual Sun Dance. As
this sacred dance has not been performed since 1887, the taimé of the
Kiowa has not been viewed by mortal eye since that time, not even the
custodian of the treasure having the privilege of opening the box, except on
the occasion of the ceremonial dance above mentioned.[73] Whether this
stone has been rudely fashioned into its present shape, or whether its natural
form suggested its use as a simulacrum of some deity, has not been
determined; it is evidently not of meteoric origin as were many of the
curiously shaped stones venerated as images of the gods in ancient times, in
both Europe and Asia.
In the rock of St. Gowan’s chapel in Wales was a natural cavity upon
which the name of the Expanding Stone was bestowed by popular tradition,
because the strange fancy prevailed that this stone automatically adapted
itself to the size of anyone who entered the cavity. The legend ran that once,

during the Pagan persecutions, when a fugitive Christian, hotly pursued,
reached this rock it opened up of its own accord so that he could slip into it,
and then closed about him so as to hide him effectually from his enemies.
This Expanding Stone was believed to manifest its magic power by
bringing to pass the wish expressed by anyone who entered it, provided he
did not change his wish while he turned around within it.[74]
The natives of the French colony of New Caledonia in the southern
Pacific, attach special importance to the fortuitous shape of stones in using
them for talismans or amulets. According to their form such stones are
considered to procure favorable effects against famine, madness, or death;
to induce sunshine or rain, or else to bring good luck in fishing or in sailing,
each special use being suggested by some different form, the color also
being in some cases a determining factor. For the purpose of securing a
better yield from fruit-trees a stone having the approximate shape of the
fruit or with markings similar to those on fruit or tree is the one indicated by
nature as the appropriate talisman, as in the case of the cocoanut palm,
where a stone marked with black lines is the one chosen. Sometimes two
different talismanic stones are used in this practice, a smaller one figuring
the unripe fruit; when the tree begins to bear, the small stone is buried at its
foot, and as soon as the fruit begins to mature, the small stone is removed
and the larger one, representing the ripe fruit, is buried in its place.[75]
The Scotch of a century or more ago are said to have considered that an
isolated stone or boulder, firmly fixed in the earth, possessed powers of a
peculiar sort, and some such stones were used to cure bruises and strains
and reduce swellings.[76] As it was also thought that a blow from a stone of
this type was especially hurtful, this would be another case of homœopathic
treatment of which so many and various examples are afforded by the
superstitious use of stones and gems, as well as of other objects to which
certain advantageous qualities were attributed.
Small stone boulders have been made use of by ejected peasants in
Fermanagh, Ireland, in a magical incantation designed to draw down a curse
upon a merciless landlord. For this purpose the peasant would collect a
number of such stones, pile them up on his hearth as he would have piled
turf sods, and then put up a petition that all manner of bad luck and
misfortune might befall the landlord and his descendants to remote
generations. Hereupon he would gather up the stones again, and, carrying

them off, would scatter them about in bog-holes, pools or streams, so that
they should never be brought together again.[77] This was evidently done in
the belief that the curse could only be raised if a counter-invocation were
pronounced over the same collection of stones. An allusion to a custom of
turning stones about while reciting a formula of malediction is contained in
the following lines by Dr. Samuel Ferguson:
They hurled their curse against the King,
They cursed him in his flesh and bones,
And even in the mystic ring,
They turn’d the malediction stones.

Of all “magic stones” none seem better to deserve this designation than
those mysterious and fascinating mineral specimens, veritable lusus
Naturæ, bearing imprinted upon them by nature’s hand some likeness of the
human face or form. The grandeur and the overwhelming power of the
material world are probably as much or even more felt in our prosaic age
than they were in the earliest times, but this sentiment is sometimes coupled
with a sense of distrust—happily neither general nor permanent—as to the
presence in this tremendous and inspiring aggregate of forces of any distinct
and definite evidence of the working of an intelligence closely similar to
our own. It seems not unlikely that to this half-distrust is in great part due
the fascination exercised by these naturally designed stones. We know,
indeed, that when examined critically by the mineralogist, their strange
markings become explicable as the results of fortuitous stratifications and
juxtapositions, but to our instinctive appreciation they offer so close and
startling an analogy to the artistic reproductions consciously made by the
hand of man, guided by his experience and intelligence, that we are almost
invariably impressed with a keener sense of our kinship with nature.
Some very characteristic and interesting specimens of these natural
designs were at one time in the possession of Queen Victoria, many of them
having been formerly among the treasures in the valuable and extensive
collection of pearls and precious stones carefully gathered together by the
famous banker and connoisseur, Henry Philip Hope. Quite recently (April
20, 21, 1914) these objects, which had passed into the J. E. Hodgkin
Collection, were sold at Christie’s in London. Perhaps the most remarkable
is thus described by B. Hertz in the Hope Catalogue:[78]

No. 62. A very beautiful lusus, in white and brown agate, representing a
miniature face and neck, with light brown hair and white chaplet,
surrounded by a dark brown ground colour.
So singularly natural and artistic is this strange gem, that it is difficult to
banish the conviction that we are not gazing upon a fine example of a
miniature done by an impressionist.[79] Another interesting, though
somewhat less notable example, was a polished flint, of a brownish-gray
hue, bearing a half-front miniature of an aged head and face marked in a
light brownish-white;[80] still another offered the representation of a human
head, the face half turned away; this was also a flint, the groundwork of a
light horn-color, the design being of a still lighter shade of the same color.
[81]

While nearly all these natural designs are in the flat, occasional examples
of relief or intaglio are recorded. As an instance may be noted a remarkable
double gem or medallion said to have been revealed on splitting open a
clump of copper ore from the Bottendorf copper mines. On each of the two
halves was marked the image of a male human head, dressed with a peruke,
but while on one side the representation was in relief, on the opposite half it
was in intaglio.[82]
A remarkable find of three of these naturally marked stones is stated to
have been made in the river Theiss, near the town of Winterhut, in 1556,
“on a Monday after the festival of St. Gall.” On one of these flint pebbles
was depicted a cross, a sword and a rod; the two others bore respectively a
cross and the Burgundian arms, all being as clearly defined as though the
work of the human hand.[83]
These smaller natural pictures were, however, greatly surpassed in
effectiveness by some most extraordinary representations on slabs of stone,
frequently on marble slabs, the strange arrangement of the veinings
constituting veritable pictures of considerable extent and marvellously
deceptive quality. Thus in the church of San Lorenzo in Florence was to be
seen a natural marble on which were depicted two men bearing a bunch of
grapes on a rod.[84] Another marble slab, preserved in the Danish Collection
in Copenhagen and originally owned by James I of England, presented in
most beautiful colors an image of a crucifix.[85]
To the natural image found in a specimen of copper ore may be added a
much more remarkable picture discovered in a piece of iron ore. This was

found on October 8, 1669, by a miner of the Innesberg mines. The clump of
ore weighed about two pounds and when the miner split it open with a blow
of his hammer, he was startled to see on the upper half a strange and
marvellous design. Calling up a companion, he exclaimed: “Look here!
Here is the Blessed Virgin on this stone!” On examining the other half, the
same design appeared there also. This remarkable find is said to have been
recorded in the book of the mine, the stone itself having been delivered to
the German imperial inspectors.[86]
It is well to bear in mind that the number of these lusus naturæ seemed
very much larger in the eyes of writers of a few centuries ago than to us to-
day, for the numerous petrifactions, showing a great variety of animal and
vegetable forms, were for a long period included in the same category with
the stones bearing curiously deceptive markings or veinings. Much
ingenuity was expended by early observers in the attempt to explain the
cause of these phenomena. The learned Jesuit, Athanasius Kircher, for
example, after having proved experimentally that designs treated with
certain chemical agents could be made to impress figures upon stones, took
refuge in the strange hypothesis that pictures made on wood or some soft
material by primitive miners had been left in the mine and with the lapse of
time had slipped down into crevices in the rock, and, becoming tightly
wedged in, had impressed the design on the contact-rock; or else he
suggested that the original material on which the design had been made
might in process of time have, by some unknown means, been converted
into marble.[87] As a striking example of a picture of this class, Kircher notes
and figures an image naturally designed on a stone slab in St. Peter’s in
Rome and bearing a remarkable likeness to the Blessed Virgin of Loreto.[88]
The electric or magnetic gems, tourmaline, amber, and loadstone, possess
not only great scientific interest, but demonstrate the fact that a certain
energy really does proceed from some of these fair, ornamental objects, an
energy that produces a positive action from without upon the human body.
This may well serve to make us less resolutely sceptical as to the possible
presence in gem-stones of some other forms of emanation not as yet
susceptible of scientific determination.
The supersensitiveness of the innocent child-soul to the most delicate
impressions, and hence to the radiations or emanations from precious
stones, is well brought out in the pretty tale by Saxe Holme (Helen Hunt

Jackson), entitled “My Tourmaline.”[89] The particular specimen here
immortalized was one of the finest from the famous Mount Mica deposits in
the State of Maine. One day, while on a country ramble, the little heroine’s
eye is caught by the color and sparkle of a brilliant crystal lodged in the
gnarled roots of an old tree. In springing forward to secure this pretty
treasure the girl trips on the outstanding roots, falls, and sprains her leg very
seriously, so that she is laid up for six weeks. However, the beautiful crystal
is her great consolation through the long, dreary weeks, and, strange to say,
she comes to feel that it has a kind of life in it. This is manifested to her and
also to some others, on touching the stone, by a pricking or tingling
sensation in the hand; but to the child the sensations excited by the
wonderful crystal, as perfectly formed as though cut by a lapidary, red at
one end, green at the other, with a separating band of white, are much more
pronounced. When it is placed in the little silken bag that has been made to
hold it, and is laid against her cheek, her feverish restlessness gradually
disappears and gives place to tranquil sleep. More than this, she is aware of
a species of subconscious sympathy with the tourmaline. So intense is this
sympathy that although the child consented to part with her crystal that it
might be offered as a unique specimen to a foreign museum, and was heart-
broken to learn that through some carelessness it had been lost while being
taken thither, she recognized its presence long years after, when, travelling
in Europe as a young bride, she entered the cabinet of an enthusiastic
collector to view his specimens, and was in no wise surprised when she
really found her “Stonie” there among his prized tourmalines.
In connection with this pretty recital it is interesting to note that the first
chance observation of the attractive qualities of tourmalines is said to have
been made in Amsterdam by a group of Dutch children whose attention had
been attracted by a number of tourmaline crystals brought from the Orient,
and who were puzzled to see bits of ash and straw attracted to the stones.
This came to the knowledge of some Dutch lapidaries, who for a time
called the stone Aschentrekker, or “Ash-Attractor.”[90] Our name tourmaline
is derived from turmali, the name given the stone by the natives of Ceylon.
There seems some little likelihood that certain examples of the gem
called lychnis and noted by Pliny may have been varieties of the tourmaline.
As the first tourmalines brought to modern Europe came to Holland from
Ceylon, we might conjecture that those kinds of lychnis said by Pliny to
have been brought from India had a like origin. Of these Indian specimens,

the finest examples of this gem, one kind resembled the carbuncle or ruby,
while another bore the designation Ionia because its color was like that of
the violet (in Greek ion). The most striking peculiarity of the lychnis was its
power to attract straws or bits of paper, when it had been heated by the
sun’s rays or by hand-friction.[91]
Such is the confusion in the statements made by the early Greek and
Latin writers as to the emerald, under which generic name they seem to
have included almost all green stones of any ornamental or other value, that
we cannot absolutely reject the conjecture[92] that Theophrastus (third
century B.C.), the earliest of these writers on precious stones, might have
referred to specimens of green tourmaline, when he states that the true
emerald appeared to have been produced from jasper, as one of the Cyprian
specimens was said to have consisted of one-half jasper and the other half
emerald, the metamorphosis as yet being incomplete.[93] We admit that if
Theophrastus uses the word jasper here to signify the reddish variety, we
would have the combination of green and red zones in a single crystal
sometimes observable in tourmaline. How this can be reconciled with the
previous statement of the same author that the Cyprian “emeralds” which
came from the copper mines of that island were chiefly used for soldering
gold, and hence seem to have been of the class of mineral called
chrysocolla by ancient writers, is, however, not easy to suggest.[94]
The so-called Brazilian emeralds mentioned by the Dutch mineralogist,
Johann de Laet, as having been found shortly before 1647 in mines near
Spiritus Sanctus, may perhaps have been green tourmalines. These crystals
were described by Gesner as of cylindrical form, striated, and of a vitreous
lustre; their color was like that of the prase and they were transparent.
Although De Laet adds the assertion that the Oriental emerald (green
corundum) was as hard as the sapphire, the Brazilian emeralds approached
more closely to the Oriental in point of hardness than did emeralds from
any other source of supply;[95] and green sapphires have never been found in
Brazil, while green tourmalines have been.
The earliest published work in which the electric properties of tourmaline
are noted appears to be an anonymous or quasi anonymous treatise
published in 1707, certain initial letters of the quaint title being italicized to
indicate the initials of the author’s name.[96] The first scientist to derive the
action of the so-called Aschentrekker or “Ash-Attractor” from electric

energy is said to have been the great Linnæus, who bestowed upon the
tourmaline the name of the “Electrical Stone.”[97]
The attractive properties of the tourmaline are said to have been first
brought to scientific notice by M. Louis Lémery, in a report made during
1717 to the French Academy of Sciences; however, Lémery was inclined to
attribute them to magnetic influence. That these phenomena of attraction
and repulsion were really due to the electric properties of the stone was first
clearly brought out by the German physicist, Franz Ulrich Theodor
Aepinus, and his conclusions were communicated to the Berlin Academy of
Sciences in 1756.[98] Aepinus made his experiments upon two specimens of
tourmaline from Ceylon, which had been furnished him by Lehmann, a
fellow-member of the Berlin Academy, who, as Aepinus frankly admits,
first drew his attention to the electric action of the stone. That not only
friction but heat also should develop the electric energy, both positive and
negative, of the tourmaline, serves to differentiate it from many other
potentially electric substances, in the case of which friction alone is
effective.

A SIMPLE APPARATUS FOR
ILLUSTRATING THE ELECTRIC
PROPERTIES OF THE
TOURMALINE

The stone is suspended from a hollow
rod and will be attracted by the finger, if
the latter be brought within a short
distance of the tourmaline. When the
stone has been slightly heated, its
positive electricity will draw toward it
the heart-shaped piece of paper, just as
amber attracts paper, or magnetic iron
does iron filings.

The specimen shown by M. Lémery to the French Academy of Sciences
in 1717 is stated to have come from “a river in the Island of Ceylon,” and is
described as being of small size, flat, orbicular, quite thin, of a brown color,
and smooth brilliant surface.[99] Its peculiar property of attracting and then
repelling ashes or iron filings as well as bits of paper, was duly noted. This
specimen had cost M. Lémery 15 livres. After reciting the constant

repulsion and attraction exercised by a magnet upon the needle, the
attraction by the opposite pole, and repulsion by the same pole, he proceeds
to remark that this Cinghalese stone acted quite differently, since it first
attracted and then repulsed the same object presented in the same way. This
intermittent or irregular action was in his opinion to be explained by the
theory that a vortex was intermittently developed in the substance. As it
begins the small bodies are attracted, when it ceases they remain stationary,
but when it is renewed “and there emanates from the stone a material
analogous to the magnetic emanation” then the bodies are repulsed. Another
peculiarity was that the body which had been repulsed could not again be
attracted, whence the conclusion was arrived at that the stone’s repellent
force was superior to its attractive power. These necessarily somewhat
inexact observations are interesting as marking one of the earliest attempts
to explain these phenomena, even although the explanation is faulty.
The great French crystallographer, Abbé Haüy, relates his experiments on
a tourmaline crystal.[100] He set this crystal in steel clamps, with a long stem
which was inserted in a wooden handle, and then subjected the tourmaline
to the heat of a brasier. As the heat augmented and penetrated the stone, its
natural electric force became decomposed, the two component fluids being
forced to separate from each other. It was now necessary to cool the
tourmaline off a little; when too much heated the electrical phenomena were
interrupted; they were also diminished in intensity when the stone became
cool again. The perfect crystal chosen for experiment clearly showed the
negative and positive electrical poles; even the smallest pieces showed this,
and, indeed, if a very small piece were broken off the positively electric
side of a crystal, it would preserve this positive electricity and soon develop
a negative electricity also.
We may be somewhat loath to doubt the tale that little Dutch children
were the first to note what to them was the queer action of some bits of
tourmaline, but preference should probably be given to the statement that
the discovery of the electric phenomena induced by heating in these stones
was due to the fact that some Dutch jewellers put specimens of tourmaline
in the fire to test their hardness, and then found that the stones attracted or
repelled the ashes of the fire.[101]
Toward the middle of the eighteenth century Dr. Haberden, of London,
confirmed the deductions of Lémery and the somewhat later experiments of

the German physicist Aepinus, and the gay world of London took up the
idea, causing the new stone to become a great favorite with the fashionable.
One of Hogarth’s inimitable designs depicts a spendthrift fop who has just
been arrested while his attention was riveted on the strange phenomena
shown by the tourmaline.
In view of the important experiments made by Benjamin Franklin in the
then almost unexplored field of electricity, it is easy to understand that the
accounts of the newly-discovered electric properties of the tourmaline
should have possessed considerable interest for him. This is testified to by a
letter he addressed to Dr. William Haberden, June 7, 1759.[102] Herein he
expresses his thanks for two tourmalines his correspondent had sent him,
and states that he is returning the smaller one. Of the electric phenomena he
writes that he had heard some “ingenious gentlemen abroad” had denied the
negative electricity displayed by one side of a tourmaline, but he believes
the failure to observe could be explained by defective cutting of the
specimens used, the positive and negative planes having perhaps been
obliquely placed; to obviate this he suggests that the positive and negative
sides should be accurately determined before the operation of cutting
begins. The larger of the specimens sent by Dr. Haberden was retained by
Franklin, who had it mounted on a pivot in a ring, so that either side could
be turned outward at will. He notes as a curious circumstance that when he
wore this ring, the natural heat of the finger sufficed to charge the stone,
causing it to attract light bodies. Several of his experiments were made with
a cork ball suspended by a thread, and he claims that the attractive force of
the positive face was increased by coating it with gold-leaf attached to the
stone by white of egg. This greater effect he supposed “to be occasioned by
the united force of the different parts of the face collected and acting
together through the metal.”
While the various corundum gems, ruby, sapphire, Oriental topaz,
Oriental amethyst, etc., offer a remarkable instance of the many varieties of
beautiful coloration observable in a practically identical substance, no
single gem-mineral can be said to equal tourmaline in this respect, more
especially, however, in the combination of several colors sometimes
disposed in bands, at other times in concentric circles in the same crystal.
When to this we add its peculiar electric qualities, we may truly say that a
fine tourmaline answers our idea of what a talismanic gem or a gem-amulet
should be better than any other of the beautiful crystals with which

bountiful nature has provided us. These most attractive stones are to be
found in widely separated regions on the earth’s surface, as fine examples
have been discovered in the State of Minas Geraes, Brazil, and in our own
land, in Maine and California especially. Where the color is homogeneous
we may have the splendid red or rose-colored variety called rubellite, from
its resemblance to the ruby, or the blue tourmaline gem named indicolite.
In times of old there was a belief that stones of various kinds would
guard against the assaults of evil in the form of witchcraft, disease, and
other disagreeable visitations. It was a warlike period in which peace was
an unheard-of doctrine, and now that the idea of peace has become one of
the ideals of present-day conditions, it is interesting to know that nature has
furnished us with a stone at once beautiful, interesting, and illustrating the
great fundamental principle of unity and peace.
The Peace Stone is formed by the union in one crystal of the green and
the red tourmaline, with an intervening band or zone of white, the latter
strikingly beautiful effect being due to the combination at this point of the
red coloring matter, manganese, and the iron constituent, the source of the
green hue; these two materials, by their union, neutralize each other,
furnishing the transparent, colorless vein or zone. A slightly different
combination of colors appears in a fine crystal, found some years ago at
Mount Mica, Oxford County, Maine; this even offers a kind of “triple
alliance,” as it shows blue in its lower half, passing through white and pink
to a grass-green at the upper end.[103]
These three hues combined in one body, in indissoluble union in spite of
the differences of quality and color, yet represent one principle. This action
of manganese in neutralizing the iron is well known to glass-makers;
otherwise white glass could not be made. It would all be greenish in tint
were it not for the use of oxide of manganese, or “glass-maker’s soap,” as it
is termed, which neutralizes the production of a green tint by the iron and
makes the white hue.
This beautifully symbolic stone is found in Paris, Maine, in San Diego
County, California, and in Brazil. At times the outer edge of the stone is
green, a transparent white zone surrounding the interior red zone, the whole
looking for all the world like a section of watermelon, and hence it is
sometimes called the “Watermelon Stone.” Then again, the colors are joined
in longitudinal strips, showing them side by side. This variety of

tourmaline, although rare, is not especially costly, and is one more addition
to the stones of sentiment, and more especially to those appropriate as
symbols of our fair ideal, universal peace.
We can see symbolized in them the great and consoling fact that,
however marked may be the differences between any two peoples, they
need not be cause for enmity, but may instead become true and enduring
sources of peace and bonds of union. The characteristic talents of each one
will supplement and complete those of the other, so that working together in
harmony they may accomplish far more for each other and for humanity in
general than either could do singly.
At an early date amber was brought from the Baltic coast to Rome, and
Tacitus states that those who collected it called it glæsum, a name later
applied to the glass introduced into that region by Roman traders. The
natives knew nothing of the nature or growth of amber, and had no use for
the material, only collecting it for export to Rome, where it commanded
such a high price as to excite their astonishment. Tacitus gives in the
following words his theory of the origin and character of amber—his chief
error being due to his belief that the substance was of very recent formation.
[104]

Now you must know that amber is a juice of trees, since various creatures, some of them winged,
are often found in it. They have become entangled in the liquid and then inclosed when the matter
hardened. Therefore I believe that, as incense and balsam are exuded in the remote East, so in the
luxuriant groves and islands of the West are juices which are forced out by the sun close to them.
These flow into the neighboring sea and are washed up by the tempestuous waves on the opposite
shore. If you test the quality of amber with fire, it may be lighted like a torch and burns with a small,
well-nourished flame; then it is resolved into a glutinous mass resembling pitch or resin.
Both Juvenal[105] and Martial[106] relate that effeminate Romans used to
hold balls of amber in their hands to cool them during the summer heat. If
any such agreeable sensation was really experienced, it must have been due
to the well-known electric properties of this substance. It is stated that the
Chinese often place pieces of amber on or in their pillows,[107] a use that
may have been suggested by the same considerations.
As a proof of the extravagant value set upon amber by the Romans of the
first century, Pliny notes that a very diminutive figure of a man, cut out of
this substance, sold for a higher figure than did a healthy, vigorous slave.
The popularity of this material was also attested by the fact that in the gay
world of Rome the term “amber hair” was used to designate a rare and
peculiar shade that became fashionable in this period.[108] It seems probable

that this modish shade was somewhat lighter than the “Titian hair” once so
much favored, although the difference may not have been very great.
A change of hue in amber was thought to portend a waning of love on the
part of the giver, as is shown by the following not especially melodious
lines from “The Fruits of Jealousy” published by Richard Tofte in 1615:[109]
Thy tokens which to me thou sent
In time may make thee to repent;
Thy gifts do groan (bestow’d on me)
For grief that they thee guilty see.
The amber bracelet thou me gave
(For fear thou shouldst shortly wave[110])
From yellow turned is to pale,
A sign thou shortly will be stale.

Not only for curative purposes and for general use as an amulet was
amber prized, but an amber necklace was sometimes regarded as an
especially auspicious decoration for a bride at her wedding, as is shown by
an exceptionally fine necklace of facetted amber beads from Brunswick,
Germany, made in the eighteenth century.
Our earliest authority on the curative use of amber, the great
encyclopædist Pliny, states that in his day the female peasants of the valley
of the Po, in northern Italy, might be seen wearing amber necklaces,
principally as ornaments, but also because of their remedial powers; for
even at this early period it was generally believed that amber had most
excellent effects in diseases of the throat and tonsils. The peasants of this
region were especially subject to such disorders, and Pliny conjectures that
they were caused by the different sorts of water in the neighborhood of the
Alps.[111] He probably refers not only to diseases of the throat, properly so
called, but also to a swelling of the glands of the neck, the goître with
which so many of the peasants living on the slopes of the Alps, and in other
mountainous regions of central Europe, are afflicted.
The golden-hued amber was called chryselectrum by Callistratus, as cited
by Pliny. This was said to attract the flame and to ignite if it came in contact
with the fire. If worn on the neck it was a cure for fevers; if powdered and
mixed with honey and oil of roses it was beneficial for dimness of vision,
and its powder, whether taken by itself or in water with gum mastic,
remedied diseases of the stomach.[112] In ancient and medieval times the fear
of poison being administered in food or drink was very great, and any

substance that was credited with the power to show the presence of poison,
by some change in clearness or color, was highly valued. An amber cup was
said to reveal the admixture of any of the various kinds of poison with the
liquid it contained.[113]
The use of amber as a preventive of erysipelas finds a defender in Rev. C.
W. King, who writes as follows:

NECKLACE OF FACETED AMBER
BEADS

German. Eighteenth century.

That the wearing an amber necklace will keep off the attacks of erysipelas in a person subject to
them has been proved by repeated experiments beyond the possibility of doubt. Its action here cannot
be explained; but its efficacy in defence of the throat against chills is evidently due to its extreme
warmth when in contact with the skin and the circle of electricity so maintained.[114]
The electrical property of amber was remarked as early as 600 B.C. by the
Ionic philosopher Thales, and from this observation may be dated the
beginnings of the study of electric phenomena.
That faith in the magic powers of amber beads still exists is illustrated in
the case of an old Russian Jewess who recently died in one of our charitable

institutions. This woman is said to have reached the age of one hundred and
six years, and she ascribed her extraordinary longevity to the possession of
a necklace of very large amber beads, which had been given her by her
mother, who also lived more than a hundred years. The daughter, a few days
before her death, bestowed this treasured heirloom upon her daughter, for it
is generally believed that the virtues of gems largely depend upon their
being received as gifts.
In northern Germany, also, for more than a century a string of amber
beads was looked upon as a favorite and necessary gift. The writer has seen
hundreds of these strings, many of which have been worn for one, two, and
sometimes more generations. The beads are round and usually facetted;
however, they have been abraded against each other for so long that they
are often flat disks, and a string originally fifteen or sixteen inches long will
be twelve, and often only nine inches in length, so much of the original
spheres having worn away.
A well-known physician of the sixteenth century, Johann Meckenbach,
claimed, in 1548, to have discovered the process of producing oil of amber.
Although Meckenbach was not entitled to the credit he claimed, as the
experiment had already been successfully made, he gained great repute by
this means, and when he communicated to Duke Albrecht of Prussia the
secret of his process, the rulers of other lands overwhelmed the duke with
requests for a supply of the precious remedy. Ferdinand, Archduke of
Austria, sent a special messenger the long journey to Berlin, twice in a year,
for a few flasks of the oil, which was regarded as a cure for many diseases.
[115]
The oil of amber—oleum succini of the Pharmacopœia—has maintained
its repute as a cure for various affections up to the present day. In some
forms of gout and rheumatism it relieves the inflammation and pain in the
joints; and its antispasmodic action makes it a valuable remedy in cases of
asthma, whooping-cough, hysteria, bronchitis, and infantile convulsions.[116]
An early version of the strange tale that ships were attracted by masses of
rocks, or even mountains of loadstone, is given by Palladius (c. 367–c. 431
A.D.). He relates that the loadstone was produced on a group of islands
called the Maniolæ, which were on the route to Taprobane (Ceylon), and
continues, “if any ship constructed with iron nails approached these islands
they were drawn by the power of the loadstone and their course was
arrested. For this reason those voyaging to Taprobane use ships especially

put together with wooden pegs.” Probably the legend arose from the fact
that wood was often used in the case of vessels trading in this region,
because iron was scarce and expensive. This is the view of Procopius, who
found the same story still current in the sixth century.[117]
It has been noted as a curious fact that none of the ancient writers who
treat of the loadstone recognized that the attractive energy exerted by this
substance on iron was also exerted by iron upon the loadstone; on the
contrary, they constructed many ingenious hypotheses to explain why this
was not the case.[118] The strange fancy that in the presence of a diamond a
piece of loadstone was robbed of its attractive force, must have arisen from
an observation of the well-known electric properties of the first-named
stone, and from the idea that the much more valuable stone should have the
greater power. Here, as in many other cases, we see how little interest was
taken in actual experiment by ancient writers, a pre-conceived idea of the
eternal fitness of things being the main criterion.
Spaniards of the thirteenth century believed that the magnetic power of
the loadstone would depart from it if it were steeped in the juice of leek or
onion for three days; but the virtue would return to the stone if it were
bathed in goat’s blood. This recalls the queer notion that the diamond could
only be broken when moistened with goat’s blood, both fancies having their
origin in the idea that goat’s, or rather ram’s blood, was endowed with
warmth and vitality to a higher degree than other blood.
An ingenious magnetic oracle is described by De Boot.[119] This consisted
of a round board, about the edge of which were marked the letters of the
alphabet, while in the centre there stood a small wooden figure, set on a
pivot, and holding extended in one hand a little wand. One foot of this
figure was slightly advanced and within it was concealed a small iron ball.
The experimenter held in his hand a wooden sceptre, with a powerful
loadstone at its top, and as he touched with his sceptre the lower side of the
board, beneath the spot on which any one of the letters was marked, the
attraction exercised by the loadstone on the iron made the figure revolve on
its pivot so that the little wand pointed toward the letter indicated. In this
way any word could be spelled out and appropriate answers given to any
question. The device would be too obvious at present, but in De Boot’s time
it would have served well enough to mystify the spectators.

That the loadstone was highly esteemed in the sixteenth century was well
versified by Robert Norman in “The Newe Attractive.”

THE MAGNES OR LOADSTONES CHALLENGE

Give place ye glittering sparkes, ye glimmering Diamonds bright,
Ye Rubies red, and Saphires brave, wherein ye most delight.
In breefe yee stones enricht, and burnisht all with gold,
Set forth in Lapidaries shops, for Jewels to be sold.
Give place, give place I say, your beautie, gleame, and glee,
Is all the vertue for the which, accepted so you bee.
Magnes, the Loadstone I, your painted sheaths defie,
Without my helpe, in Indian Seas the best of you might lye.
I guide the Pilots course, his helping hand I am,
The Mariner delights in me, so doth the Marchant man.
My vertue lies unknowne, my secrets hidden are,
By me the Court and Common-weale, are pleasured very farre.
No ship could sayle on seas, her course to runne aright,
Nor compasse shew the ready way, were Magnes not of might.
Blush then, and blemish all, bequeathe to mee thats due,
Your seates in golde, your price in plate, which Jewellers doo rewe.
Its I, its I alone, whom you usurpe upon,
Magnes my name, the Loadstone cald, the prince of stones alone.
If this you can denie, then seeme to make reply,
And let the Painefull sea-man judge, the which of us doth lye.

THE MARINER’S JUDGMENT

The Loadstone is the stone, the only stone alone,
Deserving praise above the rest, whose vertues are unknowne.

THE MARCHANT’S VERDICT

The diamond bright, the Saphire brave, are stones that beare the name,
But flatter not, and tell the troath, Magnes deserves the same.[120]

It was reported in the seventeenth century that ruptures were cured in
Belgium by the help of the loadstone. The patient was first given a dose of
iron filings, reduced to a very fine powder; thereupon a plaster made of
crushed loadstone was applied externally to the affected part. This was said
to produce a cure in the space of eight days.[121] Probably the plaster was
believed to draw the iron filings or some emanation from them through the
affected parts toward the surface.

In medieval Europe this mineral was greatly valued for its therapeutic
virtues. Trotula, the first of the female physicians connected with the
celebrated School of Salerno, the centre of medical culture in Europe in the
Middle Ages, and who wrote a treatise on female diseases, recommended
the use of the loadstone in childbirth. The stone was to be held in the right
hand, and the learned lady asserted that the wearing of a coral necklace
would aid its beneficent effect. Both these substances are prescribed for this
use by the Oxford teacher, John Gadesden (1300), in his “Rosa Anglica.”
Francisco Piemontese, who taught in Naples about 1340, also recommends
the loadstone, but he directs that it be strewn with the ashes obtained by
burning the hoof of an ass or a horse; according to this last authority, the
stone should be held in the left hand.[122]
That wounds caused by burning could be healed if powdered loadstone
were sprinkled over them was confidently taught even in the seventeenth
century. However, some ill effects were occasionally remarked when the
substance was used medicinally, for it sometimes produced melancholia. In
this case an antidote was found in the emerald, and we are assured that if a
solution made from this stone were taken thrice a day for nine consecutive
days, the melancholia would pass away.[123]
In the sixteenth century in India, it was believed that a small quantity of
loadstone taken internally preserved the vigor of youth, and Garcias ab Orta
relates that a king of Ceylon, when an old man, ordered that cooking
utensils of this material should be made for him, and had all his food
cooked in these. Garcias claims to have this information direct from a Jew,
Isaac of Cairo, who was ordered to make the vessels.[124]
A loadstone amulet for the cure of gout is stated to have been worn by a
native of the English county of Essex. The stone was sewed up in a flannel
covering to which was attached a black ribbon for suspension from the
neck. Of course it was worn beneath the clothing, although the encasing
flannel must have prevented direct contact with the skin. This piece of
magnetic iron ore measured about an inch and a half in width, and was two-
tenths of an inch thick. The patient, a Mr. Pelly, was an elderly man, who
had suffered for some time from annually recurring attacks of gout which
prostrated him for from three to four months. Learning of the reputed
virtues of loadstones, more especially of those of Golconda, he sent to India
for one and he is said to have been thereby relieved of his disease.[125]

Vignette from the “Lapidario de Alfonso X, Codice Original” (fol. 12). Published
in Madrid, 1881. This design shows the finding of the “Stone of Sterility.”
Author’s library.

In Persia a certain stone received the name of Shahkevheren or “King of
Jewels,” for it was reputed to attract all other precious stones, as the
loadstone did iron. The greatest of the Sassanian monarchs, Khusrau II
(590–628), had occasion to test the power of this wonderful stone. He had
lost a ring of great price in the river Tigris, near the spot where some time
later the Mohammedans founded the city of Bagdad. Taking a shahkevheren
the monarch attached it to a line and literally fished for his ring, using the
magic stone as a bait. We are told that the ring was recovered, and this must
have greatly added to the reputation of the “King of Jewels.”[126]
In the ninth century Arabic treatise, translated from an earlier Syriac text
and falsely attributed to Aristotle, a number of fabulous stones are noted.
All of these were said to have attractive properties, and as the loadstone
attracted iron, they attracted various substances, each having its special
affinity. First, we are told of the stone that attracted gold, then, in turn, of
stones that attracted silver, copper, and other metals.[127] Probably the legend
of the finding of these stones is based upon the employment of certain
mineral substances in the purifying of gold, silver, etc. Among other

fabulous or almost fabulous stones was one called askab, which, although
of mean appearance, was able to break the diamond just as the diamond
broke all other stones.[128] Have we here an allusion to the polishing of the
diamond by its own dust? It is not improbable that this art, in an incomplete
form, was known to the Hindus long before it was practised and perfected
in Europe.
The stone that attracted hair was the lightest of all stones and very
fragile; a piece as large as a man’s fist weighed but a drachm. It looked like
a piece of fur, but when touched was found to be a stone. The strange
powers of this extraordinary substance could easily be demonstrated, for if
placed on a hairy spot of man or beast the hair was extracted, while if it
were rubbed over a bald spot the hair was made to grow.[129] Probably the
appearance of certain minerals covered with fine, hair-like spines,
suggested the idea that the body of the stone had attracted hair to itself, and
thus gave rise to this strange belief in the depilatory power of the stone, or it
may have been a form of amber that, owing to its opacity, was not
recognized as being the same as the transparent variety.
The Arabic Aristotle relates many wonderful tales of stones found by
Alexander the Great during his Asiatic campaigns (327–323 B.C.). While
these are all apocryphal, there can be no doubt that it was subsequent to
these campaigns that western Europe was first made familiar with many of
the precious stones of Persia and India. One of the stones reported by
“Aristotle” bore the name el behacte or baddare, rendered in a Hebrew
version dar (pearl?). This was the stone that attracted men, as the loadstone
attracted iron. A quantity of these stones were found on the seashore by the
soldiers of Alexander’s army, but the men were so fascinated by their aspect
as to be unable to gather them up. Therefore Alexander ordered that the
soldiers should veil their faces, or close their eyes, and, after covering the
marvellous stones with a cloth, should take them away without once
looking at them. Hereupon Alexander gave commands that a wall should be
built around “a certain city.”[130] Possibly we have here a distant echo of the
pearl gates of the New Jerusalem.
Two other strange stones are described, one of these appearing on the
surface of the water only during the night, while the other shows itself
during the daytime and sinks beneath the surface as soon as the sun sets.
The “daystones,” according to the legend, were quite useful to Alexander in

his campaigns, for if they were attached to the necks of horses or beasts of
burden, the horses would not neigh, and the other animals would be equally
mute as long as they bore the stones, so that the passage of the army would
not be revealed to the enemy. The “night-stones,” on the other hand,
produced an entirely opposite effect, for when wearing them the animals
uttered their respective cries unceasingly. We are not told that Alexander
ever used them to provide an animal symphony as martial music for his
soldiers.
Referring again to the subject of amber, as the objects placed in Roman
sepulchral urns were always chosen because of some supposed religious or
talismanic quality, there is considerable significance in the fact that an urn
of this type, preserved by Cardinal Farnese, contained a piece of amber
carved into the figure of an elephant. Coming down to modern times, there
is record that the Macdonalds of Glencoe handed down as heirlooms four
amber beads said to cure blindness, and there seems reason to conjecture
that this substance was sometimes credited with being an antidote for the
poison of snake bites, as a small perforated stone used as late as 1874 in the
Island of Lewis for this purpose appears to be a semi-transparent amber.[131]
Indeed, amber set as a jewel to cure rheumatism is said to be offered for
sale in London to-day, and the writer has learned that the late Rev. Henry
Ward Beecher long carried amber beads with him to ward off this malady.

II
On Meteorites, or Celestial Stones

It is somewhat difficult to obtain trustworthy accounts regarding the
occurrence of meteorites in medieval and ancient times, as there was a
strong tendency to confuse the real meteorites with flint arrow-heads and
hatchets derived from the stone age. A number of interesting facts bearing
on the history of certain real or supposed aerolites were given in a recent
lecture delivered by Prof. Hubert A. Newton in New Haven, Conn.[132] Some
of the more striking instances are here presented.
As an illustration of the way in which meteorites may have come to be
reverenced in former times, we have the modern instance of a stone that fell
in the region north of Zanzibar, on the East African coast, and was seen and
picked up by some shepherd boys. At first all the efforts of the German
missionaries to buy this stone were fruitless, because the neighboring
Wanikas looked upon it as a god, and, after securing possession of it,
proceeded to anoint it with oil, clothe it with apparel and decorate it with
pearls. They also built a temple wherein the stone received divine honors.
This worship endured for some time, but when, three years later, the nomad
tribes of the Masai swooped down on the Wanikas and burned their villages
and massacred many of the inhabitants, the Wanikas lost all respect for the
stone and were glad to part with it. This conduct was, after all, not entirely
unreasonable, since the fetish had failed to prove its divine power.

By Courtesy Soule
Photo Co.

THE “MADONNA DI FOLIGNO,” BY
RAPHAEL

In the Vatican Collection, Rome. The
white curve in the middle of the
background shows the passage of the
meteor to the earth.

This occurrence in the nineteenth century may well be typical of what
must have happened in past times. A case from the fifteenth century,
narrated by Professor Newton, is very interesting, since the treatises on
precious stones of that period and somewhat later contain many notices of
supposed meteorites. We are told that, on November 16, 1492, a stone
weighing 300 pounds fell at Ensisheim, in Alsace. Emperor Maximilian,
who was then in Basel, caused the stone to be brought to the neighboring
castle and summoned a state council to determine the character of the
divine message associated with its fall. The council decided that the event
signified some important occurrence in the approaching conflict between
the French and the Turks, and the stone, with an appropriate inscription,
was suspended in the church, the strictest injunctions being given that it

should not be removed. Conrad Gesner, in his treatise, “De figuris
lapidum,”[133] states that a fragment of this stone was given to him by a
friend and that it resembled ordinary sandstone.
We are told that nineteen years later a shower of stones fell near Crema,
east of Milan; these stones fell in French territory and at that time the Pope
was engaged in hostilities with the French. During the following year, the
French, who had long threatened the States of the Church from their
possessions in Lombardy, were forced to withdraw from Italy. In the
celebrated painting by Raphael, known as the Madonna di Foligno, one of
the greatest treasures of the Vatican, this Crema fire-ball is depicted.
Naturally the recitals from ancient times are not as easily controlled as
the more modern accounts and it is always possible that stones other than
meteorites were given a celestial origin by superstitious zeal. The black
stone of the Kaabah, which is probably noted by early Greek writers and
was an object of adoration for the Arabian tribes before the time of
Mohammed, was believed to have dropped from heaven together with
Adam, and in many Greek legends images were said to have fallen from
heaven. Of course in the case of real statues this is simply a vague
superstition, but the stone venerated in Phrygia as an image of Cybele may
possibly have been a genuine meteorite.
The following facts in relation to this stone are presented by Professor
Newton:
It was a conical mass bearing a rude resemblance to a human head, and was said to have fallen
near Pessinus. It was placed in the Temple of Cybele and worshipped as her image. During the
second Punic war, in 205 B.C., because of Hannibal’s prolonged invasion of Italy, the downfall of the
Roman state was feared, and the Romans were terrified by a shower of stones from the sky. On
consulting the Sibylline books, some verses were found to the effect that a foreign enemy could be
driven from Italy if the Idæan mother (Cybele) was brought from Pessinus in Phrygia to Rome. An
embassy was sent to King Attalus of Pergamos to request his consent to the transfer of the stone, and
although he even refused obedience to the commands of the Delphic oracle, which required him to
surrender the stone as an act of hospitality, he at last yielded when a violent earthquake shook the
country, and the voice of the goddess was heard, enunciating these words: “It is my will. Rome is a
worthy place for any god; delay not.”[134]
Herodian, who relates this story, proceeds to narrate the arrival of the
stone at Rome, where Scipio Africanus was chosen to bear it to the Temple
of Victory. A silver image of the goddess was made, the conical stone
serving as the head. For five hundred years this image, later transferred to
the Temple of the Great Mother of the Gods, was an object of Roman
worship. It has been described very fully by Arnobius (fl. 300 A.D.).[135] He

states that it was a small stone which could be easily and lightly carried in
the hand; it was of a black hue and of rough surface, and had many irregular
projecting angles. As it was naturally marked with the form of a mouth, it
was inserted in the face of an image of the goddess to figure that feature.
As the stone was valueless, modern explorers long hoped that it might
not have been carried off from Rome by the spoilers, but the search for it
has been in vain. In a rare volume describing excavations made in the
Palatine hill in 1730, Professor Lanciani is stated to have found a stone that
had been unearthed at that time in a chapel, lacking any inscription to
indicate the divinity to whom it was dedicated. This stone was said to be “of
a deep brown color, looking very much like a piece of lava, and ending in a
sharp point.” The similarity of this description to that of Arnobius indicates
that the Cybele stone may really have been found in 1730, but it has since
disappeared. It would have been extremely interesting for mineralogists if
they could have been enabled to examine this supposed meteorite, perhaps
the very earliest regarding which we have such definite information.
To throw it into greater relief it was surrounded by a silver rim. When
first brought to land from the ship on which it had been transported to
Rome, the sacred stone was confided to the care of a company of Roman
matrons who passed it on from one to another as it was solemnly borne to
the Temple of Victory.[136]
Whether this stone was really a meteorite, as tradition taught, or whether
it was a fossil of the type later known as hysteriolithus, as was conjectured
by M. Falconnet, in 1770,[137] remains doubtful. Its light weight, upon which
quality Arnobius lays stress, and its peculiar form seem to favor somewhat
the latter supposition. A similar stone to which divine honors were paid was
in a temple on Mount Ida.
In prehistoric times meteorites were quite naturally supposed to possess a
special sanctity, and were indeed regarded as animated by the very essence
of some divinity. The name bætylus, given to these stones by Greeks and
Romans, is derived from the Hebrew ‫(ֵּב ית־ֵא ל‬bethel) or “house of God,” a
term indicating clearly enough the belief held by the ancient Hebrews in
regard to meteorites, or supposed meteorites. However, long before this
designation had reached the Greeks, certain meteorites had been accorded a
peculiar reverence, and even worship. One of these was a black stone,
called the Omphalos of Delphi. This was said to be the stone given by Rhea

to Kronos when she substituted a stone for her offspring Zeus, to save him
from being devoured by his father, Kronos. Zeus himself (or Kronos) threw
it down to the Earth and the spot where it struck was supposed to be the
centre of the Earth, hence the name Omphalos, or “navel-stone.” Meteorites
probably played an important part in the development of civilization, for it
is believed that the earliest iron tools and weapons were made from
meteoric iron, apparently the only supply available before the art of treating
iron ores had been evolved.[138]
While there is admittedly but scant evidence of the existence of a Stone
Age in China, and still less to indicate that Chinese civilization passed
through such a period, a certain number of stone artefacts, all polished, have
been found within the limits of China. However, curiously enough in view
of this state of things, we find that here, as almost everywhere else, these
objects were popularly regarded as “thunderbolts.” Thus Chien Tsang-Ki,
the author of a Materia Medica, composed in the first half of the eighth
century of our era, states that objects of this kind “have been found by
people who explored a locality over which a thunder-storm had swept and
dug three feet in the ground”; and he adds that some of these stone
implements have two perforations. They were named pi-li-chen, “stones
originating from the crash of thunder,” and a still earlier writer, Chang
(232–300 A.D.) applies a similar designation to stone axes and wedges
“frequently seen among the people.” Several centuries later Shen Kun
(1030–1093 A.D.) testifies that the people of his time found many stone
“thunder-wedges,” in all cases after a thunder-storm; these were
unperforated. It is generally believed that most of these stone implements
had been made by a Tungusian tribe, akin to the Manchus.[139]
This is partly due to the fact that it was natural, after a thunder-shower,
for a search to be made. Then again, as thunder-showers are usually heavy
rains, they were apt to loosen the soil and leave on the surface heavy
objects, more especially such materials as jade, of the density of 2.9, or
jadeite, of the density of 3.3. These are much heavier than the quartz,
feldspar and other ingredients of the soil, which vary from 2.6 to 2.7 and are
washed away. Finally, there is the natural disinclination on the part of the
Chinese to dig, from their belief that it is wrong to explore the soil, and this
disinclination on their part has done much to prevent a better knowledge of
the Stone Age, and our knowledge of the races which must have preceded
the civilization of China; many facts of mining interest have been

neglected, as well, on account of this prejudice. Perhaps within the next
twenty years we may learn something about a prehistoric race in China, for
as traces of the existence of such races have been found in every other
country of the world, there can be little or no doubt that such a race existed
in China, although as yet we have no distinct evidences of it.
The Babylonian royal astrologers taught that the mere fact of the passage
of a meteor across the heavens, whether its course were from east to west,
or from north to south, was a good omen, portending victory and the
successful issue of the royal projects. Especially favorable was the augury
when the meteor was very brilliant and left behind it a trail that might be
likened to the tail of a scorpion. This not only foretold joy for the ruler and
his house, but for the entire country; evil would be overcome, righteousness
would reign supreme, and prosperity would prevail. A meteor of this type is
recorded as having appeared at the time Nebuchadnezzar laid waste Elam
about 1150 B.C. This refers to the elder Nebuchadnezzar.[140]
A curious series of cuneiform texts treats of the prognostics to be drawn
from the transformations of stars into various animals, metals, stones, etc.
This is explained as referring to the apparent form or hue of the meteor
itself, or of the trail it left behind. The transformations into stones concern
the dushu-stone, porphyry (or some other dark red or purple stone) and lapis
lazuli. This omen is invariably a favorable one.[141]
The Old Testament offers abundant testimony of the ancient belief that
certain stones were animated by a divine spirit. In regard to this, Benzinger
writes:[142] “It was not Yahweh who found Jacob at Bethel but rather Jacob
who found Yahweh there. He anoints the stone; that is, he sacrifices to it,
for the divinity residing in the stone has caused his dream.” According to
Benzinger’s opinion the Ark of the Covenant originally served as receptacle
for a stone of this type, and was hence regarded as sheltering a divinity.
One of the very earliest references to meteorites appears in the Book of
Joshua (chap, x, verse 11), where we read, in the account of the battle
fought by the Israelites against the Amorites and their allies, that “the Lord
cast down great stones from heaven” upon the Amorites, so that more of the
latter were killed by these stones than by the weapons of the Israelites.
Admitting the historical character of the account, this fall of meteorites
probably took place in the twelfth century B.C. In an Assyrian cuneiform
inscription, there is mention of the seven black stones of the city of Urka in

Chaldea. These were bætyli and were regarded as representations of the
seven planets.[143]
The fall of meteors is noted frequently in Chinese records, the first
instance dating from 644 B.C. Of a meteor that fell in 213 B.C., we are told
that it descended as “a star which turned to a stone as it fell.”[144] A meteorite
that fell in China in 211 B.C. is said to have been the indirect cause of many
deaths. The event took place during the reign of the tyrannical emperor Chi
Hoang-ti, who had incurred the resentment of all the Chinese litterati by his
wholesale burning of books. Some believer in the power of sorcery caused
an inscription to be cut on this stone predicting the death of the hated
emperor within a year, and when news of the fact came to the monarch’s
ears he gave orders to have the stone split up, and to put to death all the
inhabitants of the place where it was found, this being no doubt looked
upon as a most effective conjuration of the spell.[145]
In 405 B.C., Lysander won his great victory over the Athenian fleet at
Ægospotami in Thrace, and Plutarch writes, in his life of Lysander,[146] that a
stone which fell from the heavens a short time before the battle was
regarded by many as a portent predicting the dreadful slaughter that was to
ensue. At the time Plutarch wrote (circa 150 A.D.) this stone could still be
seen at Ægospotami, where it was regarded with great veneration by the
Chersonites. The Greek philosopher Anaxagoras is said to have predicted
the fall of this meteorite, as he had observed certain perturbations in the
movements of the heavenly bodies. As Anaxagoras died in 428 B.C., his
prediction must have long antedated the fall of the meteorite.
A detail given in one of the early recitals might possibly have constituted
the basis of a prediction by some contemporary physicist. In the latter part
of his account of the phenomenon Plutarch quotes from a Treatise on
Religion, by a certain Daimachus, to the effect that, for seventy-five days
before the fall of the meteorite, a vast fiery body was seen in the heavens, in
appearance “like a flaming cloud.” This well describes the appearance of a
great comet, and might be regarded as significant when we consider the
latest modern theory of the origin of meteors, according to which these
bodies are detached particles of a cometary aggregation. Of this meteoric
mass said to have fallen at Ægospotami, Pliny states that it was as large as a
wagon and of a dusky hue, adding that a brilliant comet was visible at the
time of its fall. Regarding the assertion that Anaxagoras predicted the

occurrence, Pliny declares that this prediction, if true, was a greater miracle
than the fall of the meteor. A portion of the stone was preserved as a
venerated relic in the town of Potidæa.[147]
The site of the city of Seleucia is said to have been determined by the fall
of an aerolite, and this stone is figured on some of the coins of the
Seleucidæ, a thunderbolt appearing in its stead on other coins.
In the Temple of Diana, at Ephesus, there was a stone partly fashioned
into the conventional form of the Ephesian Diana. This, it was asserted, had
fallen down from the heavens. The stone is mentioned in the Acts of the
Apostles (xix. 35), where we read that the city of the Ephesians was “a
worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down
from Jupiter.” In this text the word “image” has been supplied by the
translators, a more literal rendering being “that which fell down from the
sky.” This clearly shows that the stone only faintly indicated the human
form.
Tacitus says of the stone sacred to the Astarte (or Aphrodite) of Paphos,
that it was a symbol of the goddess, not a human effigy, since it was an
obscurely formed cone.[148] In his life of Apollonius of Tyana, Philostratus,
also, mentions this stone and tells us that when Apollonius visited Paphos,
he admired there “the famous symbolic figure of Aphrodite.”[149] These
“living stones” λιθοι εμψυχοι were often covered with ornaments and
vestments, and it has been conjectured that these adornments were, in some
cases, changed so as to accord with the garments appropriate to certain
special festivals of the respective gods.[150]
The colossal emerald of the temple of Melkarth at Tyre is designated in
the fragments of Sanchoniathon as an αεροπετῆ ἀστέρα, or star fallen from
heaven. It was said to have been raised up by Astarte, and this last myth is
represented on the silver coins of Marium in Cyprus. Here the radiance and
splendor of the object suggested a stellar or celestial origin, and we see the
same tendency at work in the application of the name ceraunia (thunder-
stones) to certain brilliant gems by Pliny.[151]
Virgil[152] seems to confound with thunder the detonation of a bolide,
followed by a train of light, and he seems also to confound the bolide itself
with a lightning flash, for he says that its fall diffused a sulphurous vapor
far and wide. Seneca was more critical, for he regarded the fact of thunder
sometimes accompanying the fall of a meteorite as merely a coincidence.

Although, in the absence of exact and trustworthy contemporaneous
accounts of the fall of these sacred stones, we cannot be absolutely certain
that they were meteorites, the testimony in several cases is sufficient to
render this almost certain, while in many other cases there is no reason to
doubt the substantial accuracy of the tradition. The choice of some of the
bætyli, however, was determined by their form alone, to which was ascribed
a religious significance, not exactly compatible with our religious ideas of
to-day, but quite easily understood when we remember that the divine
creative energy was concretely represented in ancient times by many
symbols offensive to our sense of propriety.
In the treatise “On Rivers,” attributed to Plutarch, a stone is said to have
been found on Mount Cronius, which bore the name of “cylinder.” When
Jupiter thundered, this stone, terrified by the noise, rolled down from the
top of the mountain.[153] This passage is interesting as suggesting one of the
reasons which caused the name “thunderbolt” to be given to certain stones,
for stones adapted to ornamental use might easily be exposed by the
weathering of the rocks, and then detached by the concussion produced by
heavy thunder. Of course, the cylinder-stone here mentioned must have
more especially signified one of the prehistoric celts, but it is not unlikely
that the name was also given to other, unworked stones, having a similar
form.
Before Galba was chosen emperor, and when he was acting as governor
of the Basque provinces in Spain, a thunderbolt descended upon the shore
of a lake in that region. Search was made for the stones which were
supposed to have fallen, and Suetonius tells us that twelve axes were found.
This was regarded as a sure augury of Galba’s elevation to the imperial
dignity,[154] but for the archaeologist the presence of the axes merely
signifies that this was the site of a lake dwellers’ village.
In some cases, the stone which was held to be a dwelling-place of the
divinity was also regarded as a representation, or epitome, of some sacred
mountain. In the earliest stage of this belief, the god was supposed to have
his abode in the mountain, and later he was thought to animate the stone
which had a fancied likeness in shape to the mountain. A coin of the Roman
emperor Elagabalus (204–222 A.D.)[155] bears on its reverse a representation
of one of the sacred stones of Astarte, namely, that worshipped at Sidon.
This is shown resting upon a car, and it seems probable that it was

transported from place to place, so that large numbers of people could have
the privilege of paying reverence to it.
There seems to be fairly strong reasons for the belief that the Black Stone
of the Kaaba at Mecca is an aerolite.[156] If the conjecture be correct, this
stone occupies a unique place among meteoric masses, for it was an object
of worship for many centuries before the advent of Mohammed, and is to-
day regarded with the highest reverence by one hundred and twenty
millions of Mohammedans. One of the most solemn acts performed by the
pilgrims at Mecca is the kissing of the Black Stone, and should any one
doubt that true religious enthusiasm is aroused by this act, he should read
the following words of Ibn Batoutah:[157]
The eyes perceive in it a wonderful beauty, similar to that of a young bride; in kissing it one feels a
pleasure that delights the mouth, and whoever kisses it wishes he might never cease to do so; for this
is an inherent quality in it and a divine grace in its favor. Let us only cite the words of the Prophet in
this connection: “Certainly it is the right hand of God on earth.”
For centuries before Mohammed’s time the Kaaba at Mecca had been a
famous sanctuary and a religious centre for the nomadic Arabs. It is stated
that there were 360 idols in the temple, a number which suggests a
connection with the year of 360 days in use among the Arabs. The most
celebrated of these idols bore the name of Hobal, and was the figure of a
man cut out of red agate. There was a tradition to the effect that this idol
had been brought from Belka in Syria. As one of the hands was broken off,
the Koreish, the Arab tribe having charge of the Kaaba, repaired this defect
by attaching a golden hand, in which were held seven arrows, plain shafts
without heads or feathers, similar to the arrows used for divination by the
Arabs. For some occult reason the agate was supposed to exercise a certain
control over meteorological phenomena, for in Persia it was believed to
ward off tempests, while prayers for rain in time of drought were made to
this agate image of the Kaaba.[158]

LE TEMPLE DE LA MECQUE

THE KAABA AT MECCA

The letter A indicates the place where
the Black Stone is inserted in the wall of
the building. From “Histoire générale
des cérémonies religieuses de tous les
peuples du monde,” by Abbé Banier and
Abbé Mascrier, Paris, 1741.

Much has been written regarding the Black Stone, but perhaps the most
satisfactory description is that given by Burckhardt, who writes:[159]
At the Northeast corner of the Kaabah, near the door, is the famous “Black Stone”; it forms part of
the sharp angle of the building at from four to five feet above the ground. It is an irregular oval, about
seven inches in diameter, with an undulated surface, composed of about a dozen smaller stones of
different sizes and shapes, well joined together with a small quantity of cement, and perfectly
smooth; it looks as if the whole had been broken into many pieces by a violent blow, and then united
again. It is very difficult to determine accurately the quality of this stone, which has been worn to its
present surface by the millions of touches and kisses it has received. It appears to me like lava,
containing several small extraneous particles of a whitish and of a yellowish substance. Its color is
now a deep reddish-brown, approaching to black.
This description seems to support the conjecture that the stone is a
meteorite. The injuries it has sustained are attributed to various accidental
or intentional causes. In the early part of the Mohammedan era the Kaaba
was damaged by fire, and the intense heat caused the stone to break into
three pieces. This injury was repaired, but some years later (926 A.D.) the
heretic sect of the Carmates captured and sacked Mecca. Hoping to divert to
another place the tide of pilgrims, and the riches they brought with them,
the leader of the sect caused the stone to be wrenched from its place and

borne away to Hedjez. During the sack of Mecca, or possibly in its violent
removal, the stone was broken into two pieces,—perhaps along the line of
one of the old fractures. At first an offer of 50,000 dinars ($125,000) was
made for the return of the stone, but before many years had passed the
Carmates restored it voluntarily, having been disappointed in their hope of
attracting the pilgrims. The Black Stone was destined to suffer still greater
injury. In 1022 A.D., Hakem, the ruler of Egypt, who suffered from
megalomania and was disposed to claim divine honors for himself,
dispatched an emissary to Mecca to destroy the stone. Mixing with the
crowd of pilgrims, this man approached the revered relic, and crying out
“How long shall this stone be adored and kissed?” struck it a tremendous
blow with a club. The story runs that only three small pieces were broken
from the stone, but as it is also stated that these pieces were pulverized and
the powder made into a cement to fill up the cracks, the injury was probably
much greater than the pious Mohammedans were willing to admit.[160]
Mohammedan tradition teaches that the Black Stone was sent from
heaven and was once pure and brilliant; it only grew black because of the
sins of men. Legend relates that Abraham stood on this stone during the
construction of the Kaaba. This edifice was erected in a miraculous way, for
the stones came of themselves, all cut and polished, from the Mountain of
Arafat. However, no place was found for the Black Stone, and it was
afflicted and said to Abraham: “Why have not I also been used for the
House of God?” “Be comforted,” replied the Prophet; “for I will see that
you are more honored than any other stone of the edifice. I will command
all men, in the name of God, that they shall kiss you when they pass in the
procession.”[161]
A fragment of the Black Stone of Mecca was brought to Bagdad in 951
A.D. by order of the Khalif Moti Lillah, and was inserted in the threshold of
the main entrance to the royal palace there. From a balcony directly above
the entrance was suspended a piece of tapestry taken from that in the
Kaaba, and it was so hung that its lower border was about on a level with
the face of anyone entering the portal. All who passed in were strictly
enjoined to touch their eyes with this tapestry and also to kiss the piece of
the Black Stone, upon which no one was permitted to tread. These details
are given in Khondemir’s life of Abu Jafer Al Mostasem, the last of the
Khalifs, who died in 1258 A.D.[162]

The Kaaba at Mecca offers to the adoration of faithful Mohammedan
pilgrims to the shrine, not only the famous Black Stone, which is set in the
eastern corner of the building, but also another sacred stone inserted in the
southern corner at a height of five feet from the ground. This is designated
as the “Southern Stone.” The Kaaba itself is a small rectangular structure,
built of stone from the surrounding hills, and having a length of 12 metres
(39.4 feet), a width of 10 metres (32.8 feet) and a height of 15 metres (49.2
feet). One of the few Europeans who have been permitted to enter the
sacred enclosure, Dr. Snouck-Hurgronje, does not believe that the Kaaba
owes its origin and sanctity to the Black Stone, but that its foundation was
rather due to the presence of the well Zemzem, whose waters were already
reported to have a therapeutic quality in the early days of Islam, and which
may have earned its repute on this account. If, however, we admit that the
medical properties (of a purgative nature) are due to contamination or
percolation posterior to the primitive time when the well Zemzem first
attracted the reverence of the Arabs of this region, then the purity of the
water may account for its high place in the esteem of the Arabs. Of the
Black Stone, a native of Mecca who saw the stone when it had been taken
out of the wall of the building, in the course of the latest restoration of the
structure, states that its inner surface is of a grayish hue.[163]
The Kaaba also contained the Maquam Ibrahim, a sacred stone preserved
from pre-Islamite times, and brought into connection with the history of
Abraham by the Mohammedan legends. This stone, enclosed in a receptacle
of like material, was at one time buried in the ground underneath the
building, but receptacle and enclosed stone are now set within the iron
gratings which partition off a part of the space inside the cupola over the
pulpit of the Mosque of Mecca.[164]
An Oriental poem by Assmai detailing the wonderful exploits of the hero
Antar, describes the way in which he became possessed of a matchless
sword. One day he came upon two knights in desperate encounter; on
seeing him they paused in their strife and to his question as to its cause one
of the combatants told him that they were brothers, sons of a great Arab
emir, recently deceased. Their father had once found a black stone, in
appearance like a common pebble, but possessed of such penetrative power
that when a herdsman threw it at a camel it traversed the animal’s body,
inflicting a gaping wound. The emir immediately recognized that the stone
must be a “thunder-stone,” as meteorites were called; he therefore secured

possession of it and commanded his most skilful smiths to forge a sword
from it. When this task had been successfully performed the emir clothed
the smith in a robe of honor, and then, drawing the new sword from its
sheath, cut off his head with a single stroke. This served at once as a test of
the weapon’s quality and as an assurance that it would not soon be
duplicated. On his death-bed the emir called to him his youngest son and
said to him: “My son, take the sword and hide it from your brother, and
when you shall see that he has seized my goods and is squandering them in
riotous living, and sends you away, without reverence for the Lord of
Heaven and Earth, take the sword away with you. If you bring it to the court
of the Persian King, Khusrau Nushirwan, he will heap gifts and honors
upon you, or if you elect to go instead to the court of the Byzantine Cæsar,
monarch of the Servants of the Cross, he will give you as much gold and
silver as you may ask for.” This was the tale told by the younger knight,
who added that when, after the father’s death, the brother had sought in vain
for the famous sword, he had resorted to torture to extract from the favored
son the secret of its hiding-place, and had brought the latter to this spot
commanding him to find it and give it up, and when he refused so to do,
had attacked him. The hero Antar, like a veritable knight-errant, took up the
quarrel of the oppressed brother and slew his opponent, securing as a free-
will offering of gratitude the magic sword.[165]
The forging of swords from meteoric iron was, in the opinion of the
Orientalist Hammer-Purgstall, the origin of the characteristic surface given
to the famous Damascus blades. A most interesting modern example of a
meteoric-iron weapon is a dagger made by Von Widmanstädt for Emperor
Francis I of Austria, out of the famous Bohemian siderite long preserved in
the Rathaus at Elbogen and known as the “Verwünschte Burggraf.” On the
surface of this blade, however, the lines were angular, while on the true
Damascus blade the lines are wavy.[166] An unsuccessful attempt to forge a
sword from a piece of meteoric iron is reported by Avicenna in the case of a
siderite that fell at Jurgan in 1009 A.D., from which swords that were
ordered to be made by the Sultan of Khorassan could not be executed.[167]
In an Arabic work bearing the name of Avicenna and entitled “The Cure,”
the writer mentions a meteorite which fell in the Jordan, and of which
Sultan Mohammed Ghazni wished to have a sword made for him, thus
proving that the Sultan believed that meteorites possessed marvellous
properties.[168]

A number of Greek and Roman coins bearing representations of these
sacred meteorites have come down to us, and more than two hundred
specimens may be seen in the section of meteorites in the Natural History
Museum (Königlich-kaiserliches naturhistoriches Hofmuseum) in Vienna.
These coins are of great value in determining the history of those aerolites
which were preserved in the temples of certain divinities.
The Viennese collection of meteorites is the finest in the world, and this
is largely due to the zeal and intelligence of the late Dr. Aristides Brezina,
while superintendent of the department of mineralogy and meteorites in the
Museum. In regard to the impression made upon the mind of man in ancient
times by the fall of meteorites, Dr. Brezina writes:[169]
The ancients supposed the stars to be the domiciles of the gods; falling stars and falling meteorites
signified the descending of a god or the sending of its image to the earth. These envoys were received
with divine honor, embalmed and draped, and worshipped in temples built for them.
The coins to which we have alluded
were usually struck in honor of the
sanctuaries wherein the aerolites were
objects of adoration, and the temple is often
rudely figured with the stone set up in the
centre. In many cases the meteorite was
preserved in its original form, which, if
conical, was regarded as a phallic symbol;
in other cases, the mass was rudely shaped
into the conventional form of some
divinity.
It is stated in Spangenberg’s Chron.
Saxon. that in 998 A.D. two immense stones
fell at Magdeburg during a thunder-storm.
One of these is said to have fallen in the
town itself and the other in the open
country, near the river Elbe. The
description of a meteoric fall given in an Title-page of one of the earliest treatises
on meteorites.
eighteenth century treatise on meteors,
presents a vivid picture of the phenomena
attending—or believed to have attended—such a fall. We are told that on
June 16, 1794, at about seven o’clock in the evening a thunder cloud was
seen in Tuscany, near the city of Siena and the town of Radacofani. This

cloud came from the north, and shot forth sparks like rockets, smoke rising
from it like a furnace; at the same time a series of explosions was heard, not
so much resembling the sound of thunder as that produced by the firing of
cannon or the discharge of many muskets. The cloud remained suspended in
the air for some time, during which many stones fell to the earth, some of
which were found. One of them is described as being of irregular form, with
a point like a diamond; it weighed about five pounds and gave out a
“vitriolic smell.” Another weighed three and a half pounds, was very hard,
of the color of iron, and “smelled like brimstone.”[170]
The following passage written in the fourteenth, or perhaps in the
thirteenth century, shows considerable accuracy of observation:[171]
There are some who fancy that the thunder is a stone, for the reason that a stone often falls when it
thunders in stormy weather. This is not true, for if the thunder were a stone, it would wound the
people and animals it strikes, just as any other falling stone does. However, this is not the case, for
we see that the people who have been struck by thunder (sic) show no wounds, but they are black
from the stroke, and this is because the hot vapor burns the blood in their hearts. Therefore, they
perish without wounds.
The fall of a siderite twenty miles east of Lahore in India, on April 17,
1621, is reported in contemporary records. From this iron, which weighed
about 3¼ pounds, the Mogul Emperor Jehangir ordered two sabres to be
made, as well as a knife and a dagger, and commanded that the fact should
be properly registered. Here, as in other similar cases, the weapons were
believed to possess a quasi-magic power because of the celestial origin of
the material employed.[172]
Michele Mercato[173] (d. 1593) gives a vivid description of the fall of a
meteor which was observed near Castrovilarii, in Calabria, January 10,
1583. Some men in a meadow observed a black, whirling cloud rushing
through the air, and saw it descend to the earth not far from where they
were standing. The noise accompanying the descent of the meteorite was so
deafening that it was heard far and wide, and the poor men fell to the
ground almost unconscious from terror. People from the neighborhood
hastened to the spot and, after restoring the terrified witnesses of the
phenomena, discovered a mass of iron weighing thirty-three pounds at the
spot where the black cloud had touched the earth.
The startling phenomenon of a rain of stones from the sky which took
place under rather queer circumstances is reported by the Jesuit priest
Alvarus as having occurred in China in 1622. The Taoist priests of that land
enjoyed the repute of being able to bring down rain from the sky by their

magic or religious rites, and when, during the year mentioned, China was
visited by a drought of unexampled severity, the aid of these rain-makers
was invoked. Yielding, perhaps not unwillingly, to the popular entreaty, a
group of priests ascended a hill and proceeded to pronounce their
invocations. To the joy of the onlookers the sky became darkened and a
rushing sound was heard, at first mistaken for an oncoming rainstorm, but
to the dismay of all an immense shower of stones of all sizes fell upon the
earth, destroying what remained of the parched fruits and grain crops, and
killing or maiming many persons. So terrifying was the sight that the Jesuits
who were watching the result of the affair half-believed that the Last Day
had come. When the panic had finally subsided, the people fell upon the
unlucky Taoist priests and beat them soundly.[174]
In the “Annals of the Ottoman Empire,” by Subhi Mohammed Effendi,
there is an account of the fall of a meteor at Hasergrad, on the banks of the
Danube, on the fourth of Saban, A. H. 1153 (October 25, 1740). The
weather was fine, not a cloud was to be seen in the sky, and not a breath of
air was stirring. Suddenly there arose a whirlwind, the air became obscured
with clouds of dust, rain fell in torrents, and it became dark as night. While
all who were out of doors were hastening to seek shelter from the storm,
three terrific peals of thunder were heard, as loud as the sound of many
cannon. After the storm had passed several strange masses partly of stone
and partly of iron were discovered in a nearby field. The Vizier bore two of
these as great rarities to the Sultan in Constantinople.[175]
The influence exerted by popular beliefs, even upon the learned, is well
illustrated by the opinion given by some of the leading French physicists of
the eighteenth century as to the character of meteorites. When a meteoric
stone fell at Luce, Dept. Marne, France, September 13, 1768, three French
scientists, among them the celebrated Lavoisier, were sent to investigate the
matter. In their report to the Academy of Sciences, they state that there must
have been some error in the accounts given of the event, for it was an
assured fact that no such things as pierres de foudre, or thunder-stones,
existed. This was, of course, perfectly true, but Lavoisier and his
companions did not stop to think that stones might fall to the earth in some
other way. The result of the investigation was summed up as follows:
If the existence of thunder-stones was regarded as doubtful at a time when physicists had scarcely
any idea of the nature of thunder, it is even less admissible to-day, when modern physicists have

discovered the effects of this natural phenomenon are the same as those of electricity. There is no
record that the fulgarite, the fused sand or rock struck by the lightning, has ever been used.
The opinion which seems the most probable to us, and that which is most in accord with the
accepted principles of physics as well as with the facts reported by Abbé Bacheley, and our own
investigation, is that the stone was originally covered with a slight crust of earth and turf, and was
struck by lightning and so made visible.
Chladni reports in a pamphlet published in 1794 that the mass of
meteoric iron discovered by Dr. Pallas in Siberia, and known as the Pallas
or Krasnojarsk iron meteorite, was regarded by the Tartars as a sacred
object which had fallen from heaven.[176] As it is somewhat unlikely that this
belief could be accounted for by an ancient tradition, we must seek an
explanation in the conviction among primitive peoples that any mass of
rock or metal of unusual appearance and differing notably from the
surrounding formations must have come from the sky. In this way primitive
instinct often anticipates the results of modern scientific investigation. This
siderite, of irregular form and weighing some 1500 pounds, was seen by Dr.
Pallas in 1772, and deposited by him in 1776; he learned that it had been
found in 1749 at the summit of a mountain situated between Krasnojarsk
and Abakansk, by a Cossack. Most of this famous siderite is preserved in
the St. Petersburg Museum.
A singular circumstance in regard to the fall of a meteor, and one that in
ancient times would have been explained in a miraculous way, is that during
the desperate and bloody battle of Borodino, won by Napoleon over the
Russians, September 6, 1812, a meteorite is said to have fallen near the
headquarters of the Russian general. This would certainly have been
regarded—after the event—as a manifestation of divine wrath, and hence a
prognostic of the Russian defeat. However, had the French been defeated,
the meteorite would have been looked upon as a sign of divine favor, and it
would have been honored and reverenced. In modern times the natural
phenomenon is taken for what it is worth, and the only interest excited is a
purely scientific one.
Of all the meteorites that have been discovered, the most remarkable are
undoubtedly those found at Melville Bay, about 35 miles east of Cape York,
West Greenland, in 1894, by Admiral, then Lieutenant, Robert E. Peary, and
brought by him to the United States in 1895 and 1897.[177] They are now to
be seen in the American Museum of Natural History, New York. The first
report of the existence of meteoric iron in the vicinity came from Captain
Ross, who in 1818 was given two iron knives, or lance-heads, by some

Eskimo of Regent’s Bay. An analysis of the metal revealed the presence of
nickel and immediately suggested a meteoric origin of the material; nothing
more definite could be learned at the time from the Eskimo than that the
metal had been taken from an “iron mountain” not far away. In 1840, the
King of Denmark, whose interest had been aroused in the matter, authorized
the sending out of an expedition to seek for the suspected siderites, but the
search proved unsuccessful; a later attempt made by the officers of the
North Star, a Franklin relief ship, in 1849–50, also failed. For a time the
determination of the telluric origin of the supposed siderites discovered at
Ovifak, Disko Island, West Greenland, by Baron N. A. E. Nordenskiold in
1870, cast some doubt upon the true meteoric character of the iron of which
the Cape York knives had been made, and rather discouraged further
searches. It was not until 1894 that these extraordinary masses of meteoric
iron were at last seen and located by a European, one of the hunters of the
Tellikontinah tribe of Smith Sound Eskimos serving as Lieutenant Peary’s
guide. The siderites were three in number, the two smaller having been
named by the Eskimo “The Dog” and “The Woman,” respectively, while the
largest was known as “The Tent.” It now bears the name of Ahnighito, that
of the daughter of the explorer.

By courtesy of the American Museum
of Natural History, New York.

“AHNIGHITO,” THE GREAT CAPE YORK METEORITE, WEIGHING
MORE THAN 36½ TONS

In the American Museum of Natural History, New York City. Obtained by
Admiral Peary.

By courtesy of the
American Museum
of Natural History,
New York.

“THE WOMAN,” CAPE YORK
METEORITE

In the American Museum of Natural
History, New York City. Weight 3 tons.
Obtained by Admiral Peary.

The two smaller ones reposed loosely upon gneissic rocks, but Ahnighito,
found on a small island some six miles away, on a terrace 80 feet above
tide-water and about 100 feet from the shore, lay almost buried in rocks and
sand.
Eskimo legend had woven its web about these enigmatic meteorites and
the natives saw in them an Innuit woman, who with her dog and tent had
been hurled from the sky in a bygone age by Tornarsuk, the Evil One.
Originally the mass called “The Woman” was said to have closely
resembled the figure of a woman, seated and engaged in sewing, but by the
gradual chipping away of fragments of the iron this form had almost
disappeared. Peary was told that not long before, the “head” had fallen off
and that a party of Eskimo had tried to carry it away, lashed to a sledge;
however, as they were passing over the ice, it suddenly broke up, so that

sledge, iron and dogs sank in the water and the Eskimo themselves barely
escaped with their lives.
The dimensions of Ahnighito, the largest siderite ever discovered, are
given as follows: length, 10 feet 11 inches; height, 6 feet 9 inches;
thickness, 5 feet 2 inches. It weighs something over 36½ tons. The weight
of “The Woman” is 3 tons, and that of “The Dog” 1100 pounds. The
chemical compositions of these three siderites, which are regarded as
having originally constituted a single mass, have been determined by J. E.
Whitfield. In addition to small quantities of copper, sulphur, phosphorus
and carbon, the following proportions of the main constituents were
ascertained:[178]

The Dog The Woman Ahnighito
Iron 90.99 91.47 91.48
Nickel 8.27 7.78 7.79
Cobalt .53 .53 .53

Though smaller and less imposing by its mass than the greatest of the
Cape York meteorites, that called “Willamette” from having been found two
miles northwest of the town of that name in Clackamas County, Oregon,
ranks as the fourth, or possibly the third largest iron meteorite in the world,
and is the largest discovered within the territory of the United States;
remarkable peculiarities of form make it an especially interesting object.[179]
It was a chance find, made in 1902 by two prospectors in their search for
gold or silver. Noting what appeared to be a very slight rock projection they
tapped this with their hammers and the sound of the blow revealed the
presence of metal; digging down here and there, they ascertained the
existence of a considerable mass of iron. Although at first no one supposed
that it was a meteorite, before long this fact became known, and the finder,
by very primitive methods and by dint of tireless efforts, succeeded in
transporting the iron to his own land. His courageous attempt to acquire
possession of it was not, however, crowned with success, as the courts
decided that the company owning the land whereon it had been found
possessed the right to reclaim it from the finder.

By courtesy of the
American Museum
of Natural History,
New York.

“THE DOG,” CAPE YORK
METEORITE

In the American Museum of Natural
History, New York City. Weight 1100
pounds. Obtained by Admiral Peary.

By courtesy of
Rochester (N. Y.)
Academy of
Sciences.

TWO VIEWS OF THE WILLAMETTE
METEORITE NOW IN THE
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF
NATURAL HISTORY, NEW YORK
CITY

Found in Clackamas County, Oregon,
near the town of Willamette. Weight
31,107 pounds.

When weighed on the railroad scales in Portland, Oregon, the net weight
of this siderite was shown to be 31,107 pounds. The most striking
peculiarity is the abundance of pittings and hollows and their unusual size.
That these resulted in part from the effects of the enormous heat generated
by the swift flight of this weighty mass through the earth’s atmosphere, is
generally admitted; but some of the deepest pits are believed to owe their
origin to the decomposition of spheroidal nodules of troilite, and the
cylindrical holes to the decomposition of rod-like masses of the same
substance. Willamette, which was donated to the American Museum of
Natural History, by Mrs. William E. Dodge, is 10 feet long, 6 feet 6 inches
high, and has a thickness of 4 feet 3 inches.[180] Chemical analyses have

been made by Mr. J. M. Davison of the University of Rochester and by J. E.
Whitfield of Philadelphia. Their respective determinations are here given:

Davison Whitfield
Iron 91.65 91.46
Nickel 7.88 8.30
Cobalt .21 ?
Phosphorus .09 ?

99.83 99.76

The famous Cañon Diablo meteorite possesses a surpassing
mineralogical interest.[181] In 1891, at the Tenth International Geologic
Congress, Washington, D. C., the mineralogist Koenig announced that he
had discovered some microscopic diamonds in this meteorite, and later
investigations by Prof. Henri Moissan confirmed this discovery and
enlarged its scope. A mass of the iron weighing about 400 pounds was used
by Professor Moissan; this was cut by means of a steel ribbon saw. As had
been the case in Koenig’s investigations, the saw soon encountered
excessively hard portions that obstructed its operation, so that twenty days’
labor was requisite to separate the iron into two parts, each with a section
area of nearly 100 square inches. On close examination it became evident
that the obstacles to the cutting consisted of round or elliptical nodules, of a
dark gray to black hue, and enclosed in the bright iron. These nodules were
mainly composed of troilite (iron protosulphide). After chemical treatment
an insoluble residue remained, consisting of silica, amorphous carbon,
graphite and diamond. Many of these very minute diamonds were black, but
a few were transparent crystals, octahedrons with rounded edges.[182] The
presence of this diamond material in the interior of the iron mass of the
meteorite indicates their formation from carbon by the combined agencies
of high temperature and great pressure, as in the case of the artificial
diamonds experimentally produced by Moissan in an iron mass first
subjected to intense heat in the electric furnace and then rapidly contracted
in volume by sudden chilling. The fervid imagination of early writers would
certainly have attributed wonderful talismanic powers to stones like these,
probably generated in some lost planet and reaching our earth through the

wastes of celestial space, could they have been able to observe and
distinguish them with the incomplete optical resources of their time.
The first announcement of the discovery of these diamonds from the
Cañon Diablo meteorite was made by Dr. A. E. Foote, and not long after
Professor Koenig’s determination of their character, the present writer
suggested an experiment that would afford absolute proof that the material
was really diamond. This was to charge a new skaif, or diamond-polishing
wheel, with the supposed diamond dust obtained from the meteorite; should
the material polish a diamond there could be no doubt as to its character. On
September 11, 1893, this experiment was tried at the Mining Building of the
World’s Columbian Exposition. After the skaif had been charged with the
residuum separated from the meteorite by Dr. O. W. Huntington, it was
given a speed of 2500 revolutions to the minute, and in less than fifteen
minutes a small flat surface had been ground down and polished on a
cleavage-piece of rough diamond held against the wheel. The experiment
was then repeated several times on other diamonds and always successfully.
This showed conclusively that the residuum of the meteorite contained
many minute diamond fragments.[183]
A most important group of meteorites were found in 1886 in Brenham
township, Kiowa County, Kansas, by some of the farmers of this district in
the course of their farming operations.[184] Entirely unaware of their
scientific value, the finders used these objects to weight down haystacks, or
for similar uses to which they would put small boulders. In all some twenty
of these specimens have been recovered, varying in weight all the way from
466 pounds down to a single ounce. Most of them were taken from an area
of about sixty acres, although some were scattered over a wider tract. The
largest piece of the group, that on which the farmers had bestowed the
fanciful name of the “moon meteorite,” had lain only three inches beneath
the surface of the ground and broke a ploughshare when it was first struck;
none of the masses appear to have been buried deeper down than from five
to six inches. The largest mass measures twenty-four inches across the
widest part and fourteen and a half at the thickest part. These Kiowa
meteorites are in a sense gem-meteorites, for a number of beautiful and
brilliant olivine crystals occur in them; many are in two distinct zones, the
inner one being a bright transparent yellow, while the outer one is of a dark
brown iron olivine, in reality a mixture of troilite and olivine. The character
and composition of the worked iron of meteoric origin found in some of the

Turner group of Indian mounds, in the Little Miami Valley, Ohio, indicate
that the latter may perhaps be brought into connection with this group of
meteorites. For here, as in the Frozen North among the Esquimo, and in a
number of other cases, the iron available for primitive man was mainly that
of meteorite origin.
In view of the relatively small number of meteorites that have fallen in
historical times, and of the small part of the earth’s surface actually
occupied by human settlements, we need scarcely be surprised at the
statement that there is but one credibly recorded instance of the killing of a
human being by a meteorite. This unique disaster is said to have happened
at Mhow in India, and fragments of the meteorite which fell then are to be
seen in museum collections. The great weight of some meteorites would
have rendered them very destructive had they not fallen in the open
country; the heaviest single mass actually known to have fallen, came to the
ground at Knyahinya, Hungary, in 1866, and weighed 547 pounds; it buried
itself 11 feet in the ground. Of course much heavier aerolites and siderites,
satisfactorily recognizable as such, have been found, the heaviest being
perhaps that at Bacubrit, Mexico, 13 feet in length with a width of 6 feet
and a thickness of 5 feet; the weight of this mass is estimated to be some 50
tons. Of meteorites which have fallen in more or less close proximity to
human beings, may be noted one at Tourinnes-la-Grosse, which broke the
street pavement; another at Angers, which fell into a garden, near to where a
lady was standing; and still another at Brunau, which passed through a
cottage roof.[185]
Many other accidents caused by meteorites or what were believed to be
meteorites are recorded, the credibility of some of the statements not being
very convincing; others, however, appear to be quite worthy of credence.
Thus the Chronicle of Ibn Alathir relates that several persons were killed by
a rain of stones that fell to the earth in Africa in August, 1020 A.D.[186] In the
middle of the seventeenth century the tower of a prison building in Warsaw
is said to have been destroyed by a meteorite.[187] A hundred years or so
before, on May 19, 1552, there was a great fall of stones, not far from
Eisleben, one of which killed the favorite steed of Count Schwarzenburg,
while another wounded the count’s body-physician, Dr. Mitthobius, in the
foot. This was witnessed by Spangenberg, who reports it in his Saxon
Chronicle; he carried off some of the stones with him to Eisleben.[188] An
eight-pound stone (probably a siderite) is stated by a certain Olaf Erikson to

have fallen on shipboard and killed two persons, at some time about the
middle of the seventeenth century; this is rather indefinite information.[189]
The most remarkable happening, however, is reported from Milan from the
end of the seventeenth or the beginning of the eighteenth century, when a
very small meteorite, weighing not quite an ounce, fell into the cloister of
Santa Maria della Pace (now a cotton factory) and killed a Franciscan
monk. Such was the velocity of this little stone that it penetrated deep into
the monk’s body, whence it was extracted and preserved for a long time in
the Collection of Count Settála. The greater part of this collection went later
to the Ambrosian Library at Milan, but Chladni sought in vain there for any
trace of the death-dealing meteorite.[190]
Among the Welsh peasants there is a belief that when a meteor falls to
the earth it becomes reduced to a mass of jelly. This they name pwdre ser.
The most plausible explanation offered for this fancy is that the autumn, the
season when the largest number of meteors may be observed, is also the
time of the year when the jelly-like masses of the plasmodium of
Myxomycetes most frequently appear in the fields. A peasant who, after
noting the apparent fall of a meteor, should go in search of it, might easily
come across one of these lumps of plasma, and might well be induced to
think that he had found all that was left of the meteor after its violent fall to
the earth. Of course we have here to do with the apparent, not with the real,
fall of a meteorite. In this connection it is interesting to note that the
medusa, or jelly-fish, has been called a “fallen star” by sailors.[191]
This Welsh fancy that meteors or “falling-stars” turned to a jelly when
they struck the earth appears to have been quite general in Great Britain,
and the jelly-like substance was variously named “star-slough,” “star-
shoot,” “star-gelly” or “jelly,” “star-fall’n.” The Welsh pwdre ser literally
means “star-rot.” As early as 1641 Sir John Suckling (1609–1642) wrote the
following lines which well describe the way in which these gelatinous
substances came to be regarded as the remains of a “fallen star”:
As he whose quicker eye doth trace
A false star shot to a mark’d place
Do’s run apace,
And, thinking it to catch,
A jelly up do snatch.

Sir Walter Scott also, whose familiarity with superstitions was very great,
has not failed to note this one in his “Talisman,” where the hermit says:

“Seek a fallen star and thou shalt only light on some foul jelly, which in
shooting through the horizon has assumed an appearance of splendour.”
Here the star itself is supposed to have had this gelatinous form.
An early writer,[192] noting this curious belief that “a white and gelatinous
substance” was all that remained of a fallen star, declares that he had clearly
demonstrated to the Royal Society that the mass was composed of the
intestines of frogs, and had been vomited by crows, adding that his opinion
had been confirmed by the testimony of other scientific men. Huxley, from
a description, conjectured that the substance was nostoc, a gelatinous
vegetable mass, but this seems to be somewhat doubtful. In 1744 Robert
Boyle states that some of this “star-shoot” was given to a physician of his
acquaintance, who “digested it in a well-stopt glass for a long time,” and
then sold the liquor for a specific in the removal of wens.[193]
A jelly-like mass believed by him to be the remains of a “fallen star” was
found by Mr. Rufus Graves at Amherst, Mass., on August 14, 1819, and
duly reported in the American Journal of Science.[194] As this gentleman was
at one time lecturer on chemistry at Dartmouth College, his testimony is
worth heeding, but there can be no doubt that while he accurately describes
what he found, he was altogether mistaken in supposing that the meteor fell
precisely on the spot where he discovered the gelatinous substance. As we
have noted, it has recently been suggested that these “jellies” are plasmodia
of forms of Myxomycetes which do not appear to have any connection with
the spot whereon they rest, but seem to have fallen from the air.[195]
Falling stars are explained by the natives of Labrador and of Baffin’s Bay
as being souls of the departed bound on an excursion to Hades in order to
see what is going on there, while the phenomena of thunder and lightning
are caused by a party of old women, who quarrel so violently over the
possession of a seal that they bring the house down over their heads and
shatter the lamps. These “old women” must, of course, be spirits of the
upper air, not human beings.[196]
In some Australian tribes the sorcerers, or “medicine-men,” taking
advantage of the superstitious dread of falling stars common among the
aborigines, pretend to have marked the spot where such a star has fallen and
to have dug it up and preserved it in their medicine-bag. These
supposititious “fallen stars” are sometimes quartz pebbles, and in one
instance the curiosity of a European investigator was satisfied by the

display of a piece of thick glass, which the sorcerer strictly maintained he
had dug out of the ground wherein the star had fallen.[197]
Arrow-heads encased in silver were looked upon as the solid contents of
the lightning flash, and were not only thought to protect the house in which
they were kept from being struck by lightning, but their protective power
was believed to extend to seven houses in the immediate neighborhood. An
interesting example is a neolithic silex arrow-head figured by Bellucci. This
has been elegantly set in silver in modern times, and comes from Pesca
Costanzo, in the province of Aquila, Italy.
The Italians are convinced that if the arrow-head, or similar object, come
in contact with a piece of iron, the “essence of the lightning” departs from
it, revealing itself in a spark; hence they wrap it up, carefully, in skin, cloth,
or paper so as to guard it from harm. Sometimes these objects are anointed
with oil, a survival of the custom of making propitiatory offerings of oil.
This usage in the case of sacred stones is very general, and is met with in
places as remote from each other as Sweden, India and the Society Islands.
[198]

In an Iroquois myth and legend, He-no, the god of thunder, is an object of
great veneration because of the powerful aid he renders to those whom he
favors. He is believed to direct the rain which shall fertilize the seed in the
earth, and also to give aid to the harvesters when the fruits of the earth have
ripened. While traversing the celestial vault, in his journeyings hither and
thither above the surface of the globe, he bears with him an enormous
basket filled with huge boulders of chert rock. These he casts at any evil
spirit he may encounter, and when on occasion a spirit succeeds in avoiding
such a boulder, it will fall down to the earth surrounded by fire. We have
here another version of the almost universal myth of thunder-stones.[199]
In treating of the flint arrow-heads of the American Indians, Adair notes
that in form and material they closely resembled the “elf-stones” with
which European peasants were wont to rub any of their cattle believed to
have been “shot” by fairies or elves. A village in which one of these magic
objects existed was considered to be particularly favored by fortune, as they
not only served to protect the cattle from bewitchment but were equally
efficacious in preserving human beings from the spells of witches.[200]
In East Prussia, when cows are believed to have been bewitched so that
their milk is under a spell, resort is had to the powers of a perforated

“thunder-stone.” Such stones were ancient stone hammers with a central
perforation for a handle. The stone is held beneath the cow at milking-time,
and the milk is allowed to pass through the perforation.[201] By this means
the spell is broken and the milk becomes harmless.
Such perforated stones are also used to protect a house from being struck
by lightning. When a storm approaches nearer and nearer, the owner of one
of these magic stones will thrust his finger through the hole, twirl the stone
around three times, and then hurl it against the door of the room. When this
has been done, the house is believed to be proof against lightning.[202]
In Westphalia the stone is laid upon a table alongside of a consecrated
candle, the shrewd peasants thus assuring for their houses the protection of
the church as well as that of the ancient God of Thunder.[203]
Another phase of the superstition in regard to the stone axes known in
many different parts of the world as thunder-stones, because they are
believed to have fallen during a thunder-storm, is given by Dr. Lund in a
letter written from Logoa Santa in Brazil. He states that the inhabitants
rather look askance at these stones, believing that wherever they are found
the lightning is apt to strike, “in order to seek its brother!”[204]

By courtesy of the
British Museum,
London.

FLINT AMULETS OF THE
PREDYNASTIC PERIOD, EGYPT

The stone implements of various forms found in the shell-heaps of Brazil
are called by the natives Curiscos or “lightning-stones.” The Guaranis name
them “stars fallen from heaven”; the Cajuas, “stones hurled by the thunder”;
and the Coarados, “axe-stones.” A high price is paid for these by the gold-
seekers in Brazil, who believe that, by attraction, they show the presence of
gold beneath the surface, just as the divining-rod is supposed to be affected
by the presence of water or by hidden treasures.[205]
The peasants of Slavonic descent in Moravia have great faith in the
virtues of the “thunder-stone.” During Passion Week the stone has the
power to reveal the location of hidden treasures, and it is also believed that
warts on man and horse will disappear if they be rubbed with such a stone
before sunset. However, not only healing virtues are attributed, for if the
stone be hurled at anyone and strikes him, it inflicts a mortal wound.[206]

A poetic and appropriate name has been applied to the earliest of the
chipped stone artefacts of primitive man by archæologists. They are called
“Dawn Stones” (eoliths), and the name characterizes these interesting relics,
the first steps in the development of sculptural art, as products of the dawn
of human civilization.
A curious survival of the adoration of stones is reported by the Earl of
Roden in his “Progress of the Reformation in Ireland.”[207] A correspondent
informed Lord Roden that in Inniskea, an island off the coast of Mayo,
there was, in 1851, a stone idol called in the Irish tongue Neevougi. This
was said to have been preserved and worshipped from time immemorial.
The stone is described as having been wrapped in so many folds of
homespun flannel that it looked like a mass of that material. This is
explained by the custom of dedicating a dress of this flannel to the stone
whenever its aid was sought, the garment being sewed on by an old woman
who officiated as the priestess of the stone. Prayers were offered to this
strange idol for the cure of diseases, as it was supposed to be endowed with
extraordinary powers. A stranger petition sometimes made was that a storm
might arise and wreck a ship upon the coast so that the thrifty islanders
might profit by its misfortune; on the other hand, with charming
inconsistency, when they wished to go a-fishing or pay a visit to the
mainland, the trusty stone was expected to assure them fair weather and a
calm sea.
In Tavernier’s time (about 1650) many poor families living in the woods
and on the hillsides in India, far from any village where there was a temple,
would take a stone, probably one of a peculiar shape, and would roughly
paint on it a nose and eyes in red or green color. This being done, the whole
family would gather about this stone and reverently adore it as their idol.[208]
In certain districts in Norway, up to the end of the eighteenth century,
superstitious peasants used to preserve round stones, and set them up in a
conspicuous place in their houses. At Yule-tide these stones were sprinkled
with fresh ale. Some of them were worshipped as divinities, and every
Thursday, or oftener, they were smeared with butter, or some similar
substance, before the fire. This ointment was allowed to dry on the stone,
which was then returned to its place of honor. These ceremonies were
supposed to insure the health and happiness of the household.[209]

The fact that special ceremonies were
performed in connection with these stones
on Thursday, as well as the name “Thor-
stones” applied to many of them, indicates
that in early times they were associated
with the worship of the god Thor. The so-
called thunderbolts—usually flint axe-
heads—are believed to have been hurled at
the trolls or elves by the thunder, so that
these evil-disposed spirits might be
subdued and prevented from fulfilling an
old saying, according to which they would
desolate the earth. Originally it was Thor
himself who was believed to hurl the
thunderbolt. Types of ceraunia or “Thunder-stones.”
From “Museum Wormianum.” Lugduni
These stones were supposed to be Batavorum, 1655.
endowed with wonder-working powers.
When a woman was in labor, ale was
allowed to drip over a stone of this kind, and was then given to the woman
to drink. All through the Scandinavian countries the peasants believed that
if such a stone were hung up in a house or on cattle, the trolls and other
malevolent spirits would be driven away, and all spells and witchcraft
would be rendered harmless.[210]
In Sir William Brereton’s account of his travels (1634–1635)[211] we read
that he saw in the School of Anatomy at Leyden a stone called “Fulminis
Sagitta, or the dart of the thunderbolt, about the size of your little finger.”
This was either a belemnite[212] or a stone arrow-head of somewhat similar
form. It bore a Latin inscription to the following effect: “Many believe that
nursing children can be cured of rupture if this stone be attached to their
thighs, or if they do not suffer from this complaint, they will be preserved
from it.”
On the ridge-beam of an Irish cottage at Portrush was found a neolithic
celt of the kind believed by the peasantry to be “thunderbolts.” This celt had
been placed on the roof of the cottage to protect it from being struck by
lightning, a notion thoroughly in accord with the theory of sympathetic
magic. In Surrey, England, a like belief is held as to the fossil belemnites,

and nodules of iron pyrites such as have been found in Cretaceous
formations near Cragdon are also thought to have fallen from the sky during
a thunder-storm, and to possess peculiar powers in reference to the
lightning.[213]
In Ireland the prehistoric stone arrow-head is believed to have been shot
at man or beast by the fairies. Should an old woman be so lucky as to find
one she will become highly honored in her village, and it is used as a cure
for diseases produced by the wiles of evil spirits. To effect a cure, the
saigead (“arrow”) must be placed in water, which is then given to the sick
person to drink.[214] Cows which have been wounded by the “fairy-darts” are
also made to drink of this water. The Irish peasants wore the stone arrow-
heads, set in silver, as amulets for protection against injury from like
weapons at the hands of the fairies. Similar superstitions exist in the North
of England.[215] Nilsson believes that the “elf-shots” (the arrow-points or
axe-points) of the Irish peasantry are identical with the “Lap-shots” of the
Swedish peasantry. These stones were thought to have belonged to the
Laplanders, the “black elves” of the Edda, and were therefore used as a
protection against the witcheries of these elves. The idea that the substance
or thing that has caused an injury can effect a cure of this injury, appears in
the Edda.[216]
The shepherds in the French Alps value the “thunder-stones” (peyros de
tron) very highly. They are handed down from father to son as precious
heirlooms, and when the flocks are driven to the pasturage, one of these
wonder-working stones is embedded in a tuft of wool on the back of the
bell-wether; this is supposed to serve as a protection for the whole flock.[217]
In Spain the peasants call these stones piedros del rayo, or “lightning-
stones.”[218]
The names bestowed on such prehistoric stone implements by the
inhabitants of the Malay Archipelago, of Java and Sumatra, all indicate that
they are believed to have fallen from the sky. In Malacca they are called
batu gontur, “lightning-stones,” and in Sumatra we have the name
anakpitas, “child of the lightning.” In the island of Nias, near Sumatra, they
are worn as amulets on the head or attached to the sword. The Watubela
islanders denominate them “teeth of the thunder,” a name which suggests
the appellation glossopetra (“stone-tongue”), and like this is evidently
derived from the form of certain of these prehistoric celts.[219]

The Burmans have given the highly poetic name of “rainbow-disease” to
the disorder known to us as appendicitis, and they use the axe-heads and
other pointed or sharpened arrow-heads of the Stone Age for the cure of this
malady, stroking the region affected with one of these implements. The
natives share in the delusion almost universal among primitive peoples, that
these stone implements have fallen from the sky during thunder-storms, and
that they partake of the nature of thunderbolts; hence they are supposed to
destroy the rainbow-disease, as the approach of heavy storm clouds,
charged with lightning, darken the sun and put an end to the beautiful
natural phenomenon.
In the island of Mindanao, one of the Philippine group, the heathen
Manobos called the thunder the “speech of the lightning,” and regarded the
latter as a kind of wild animal, so that whenever the lightning struck the
earth or a tree they believed that the animal had buried its teeth in the spot.
They therefore looked upon any stone implement found there as one of
these teeth.[220]
The ancient stone hammers found in Japan are called rai fu seki,
“thunderbolts,” or tengu no masakari, “battle-axes of Tengu,” the warder of
the heavens. Other stone implements bear the name “fox-axes,” or “fox-
planes.” These peculiar designations are employed because the fox is a
symbol of the devil, and the stone axes are regarded as weapons of the
devil. Of course this in no wise prevents their use as amulets or
medicinally; indeed, their powder is thought to be an especially effective
remedy for boils and ulcers. Many such stones may be seen in the temples,
where they are carefully preserved and shown to the pilgrims who visit the
different shrines.[221]
Even at the present day, the superstitious belief in the magic properties of
the prehistoric stone implements still survives among some of the
Scandinavian peasants. They believe that these offer protection against
lightning, and they are very unwilling to part with them. In some regions
the stone axes or arrow-heads are supposed to afford protection against
lightning, and they are occasionally used to relieve the pangs of childbirth.
In the latter case they are placed in the bed of the suffering woman. Another
curious use to which they are put is as a cure for an eruptive disease of
children. Here the flint is struck sharply with a piece of steel, so that the

sparks fall upon the child’s head.[222] This gives us an added proof of the
association of these stone axes, etc., with fire and with the lightning flash.
The Burmese celts or stone hatchets are frequently of jade and differ
from those usually met with in Europe and India, in that they are provided
with a chisel-edge instead of a double-sloped cutting edge. An interesting
account of the superstitions connected with these implements is given by
Mr. Theobald,[223] from whom we quote the following passage. It will be
noted that the Burmese ideas are in almost exact accord with those current
in Europe.
The Burmese call these implements mo-jio, thunder-chain or thunderbolt, and believe that they
descend with the lightning flash, and, after penetrating the earth, work their way back by degrees to
the surface, where they are found scattered about the fields among the lower hills, usually after rain,
or on removing the crops. The true mo-jio is supposed to possess many occult virtues, and it is not
common to find one which does not show signs of having been chipped or scraped for medicinal
purposes.
One of the chief virtues of the mo-jio is to render the person of the wearer invulnerable; and many
an unlucky mo-jio has succumbed to the popular test, which is to wrap it in a cloth and fire a bullet at
it at short range. If the man misses the cloth, the authenticity and power of the charm is at once
established; if the stone is fractured it is held not to be a real mo-jio.
Fire will not consume a house which contains one, though I never heard of this ordeal being
attempted. Last but not least is the known fact that the owner of a real mo-jio can cut a rainbow in
half with it.
Certain recent happenings have suggested that the name “aviator-stone”
would be a peculiarly appropriate designation for meteorites, and indeed
this new name would only serve to emphasize the legendary belief, that he
who bore with him a meteorite when he was in deadly peril would escape
all injury. By a strange coincidence those who are willing to take great risks
and chances are generally more or less superstitious regarding small things,
and a daring aviator recently remarked that on one occasion, when his
machine had suddenly fallen fifty feet, he felt for his tie and said to himself:
“This accident has happened because I forgot to put on my opal pin, but I
have been saved from injury because I carried a meteorite.” This aviator,
having mentioned the incident to Harmon, a few minutes before the latter
made his successful attempt to win the Doubleday-Page aviation prize,
Harmon immediately took the meteorite which had been shown to him,
saying: “Let me have it.” He accomplished his task, and although both the
competing machines were injured, the aviators themselves were saved.
A meteorite, of course, cannot be claimed to be a preventive of danger on
all occasions, but several who have always carried them have seemed to

escape all sorts of harm. Some years ago a meteorite was given to Edward
Heron Allen, the famous writer on palmistry and the violin, and this gifted
man always wore it about him. One morning he awakened to find that the
entire roof above him had fallen in, except just that portion over his bed. He
told the story to one of the best known ladies in Boston; one who is known
for her public spirit, her love of art and her faultless manner of entertaining.
This lady successfully urged Allen to give her the meteorite. A few days
later, while out driving, a great truck with two runaway horses attached to it
struck her carriage. Instinctively she raised her muff to protect her face; the
muff was almost cut in two, but the lady was not hurt. A few days later,
while she was walking under some scaffolding, it fell, and the open part
where the hoists went up proved to be just where she stood. Although
surrounded by ruin, she remained unharmed.

III
Stones of Healing

In his commentary on Theophrastus, Sir John Hill touches upon the
question of the medicinal virtues of precious stones. His researches
regarding the causes and conditions determining color in stones, led him to
the conjecture that the active principle, if it really existed, was to be sought
in the coloring matter. As the opinion of a very clever student in his day, his
words will bear quotation:[224]
The greatest part of these [medicinal virtues] cannot but be seen at first view to be altogether
imaginary; and as to the virtues of the Gems in general, it is now the reigning Opinion, that they are
nearly all so, their greatest Friends allowing them no other than those of the common alkaline
Absorbents. However, whether the metalline Particles, to which they owe their Colours, are, in either
Quantity or Quality, in Condition to have any effect in the Body, is a Matter worthy of a strict and
regular Tryal; and that would at once decide the Question between us and the Antients, and shew
whether we have been too rash, or they too superstitious.
The so-called “doctrine of signatures” treated of the marks set by nature
upon certain objects to denote their usefulness in the cure of diseases
affecting different parts of the body, or their power to neutralize the effects
of the bites of certain animals or reptiles. Of this theory Martius says that
the “signatures” are not to be sought in a fanciful resemblance to the form
of the objects with the diseased parts of the human body, but rather in the
color, odor, taste, composition, etc., of the objects.[225]
Medieval medical literature has no more interesting example than the
treatise entitled “Thesaurus Pauperum,” or the “Poor-man’s Treasury,”
written by Petrus Hispanus, who later reigned for a brief period as pope
under the name of John XXI (1276–1277). The birthplace of the author was
Lisbon in Portugal, and he studied for some time at the University of Paris,
where his learning earned him high praise. Prior to his election as pope, he
served for a time as first physician to Pope Gregory X (1271–1276). Most

of the remedies prescribed in this little treatise are naturally such as had
long been popular among the peasantry, and the ingredients of which could
easily be secured; vegetable growths, plants, herbs and flowers, and certain
parts of the more common animals, served here, as in Pliny’s day and
earlier still, as those most highly favored. Of the comparatively few mineral
substances whose use is recommended may be noted the red variety of
chelidonius or “swallow-stone,” for the cure of epilepsy; the powder of the
“iris” (probably an iridescent variety of quartz) was also a cure for
epileptics. Then we find, strange to say, a recommendation of such costly
remedial agencies as emerald and sapphire, either of which if touched on
the eye would heal diseases of that organ. Cold stones placed on the temples
and tightly bound on were said to arrest bleeding from the nose, and coral
was a great help in syncope. For stone in the bladder two mineral
substances, “humus” and “songie,” are warmly recommended (the former
can scarcely be held to signify mere “soil”), as are also “stones found in the
gizzards of cocks” (the alectorius) and those from the bladders of hogs. All
these were to be reduced to powder, dissolved in liquid, and taken in the
form of potions. The use of stones and coral rather as amulets or talismans
than as remedies is occasionally mentioned. Thus the loadstone, if worn, is
said to remove discord between man and woman; coral, if kept in the house,
destroyed all evil influences, and if a woman wore touching her skin a
concretion taken from the stomach of a she-goat that had not had young,
this woman would never bear a child.[226]
The curious old medical treatise in verse called the “Schola Salernitana,”
was translated into English by Sir James Harington in 1607. The following
lines give advice that is as appropriate to the conditions of our own age as
to those of any other:[227]
Use three physitians still, first doctor Quiet,
Next doctor Merry-man and doctor Dyet.

Whether with or without intention, the translator has omitted to render the
qualification given in the original: “Si tibi deficiant medici” (if other
doctors are lacking).
The terrible plague known as the Black Death is said to have claimed
13,000,000 victims in Europe in the years 1347 and 1348. A contemporary,
Olivier de la Haye, in a poem describing this fearful visitation, gives a
number of recipes used, or to be used as remedies. In one of these there

appear as ingredients pearls, jargoons, emeralds and coral, one-sixth of a
drachm of each of these materials entering into the composition of the
prescription.[228] The symptoms of this form of the plague, as described by
the old writers, are said to resemble closely those of the disease that was
prevalent not long ago in some parts of Asia, especially in northern China
and Manchuria.
A famous class of medical remedies used in medieval times bore the
generic name theriaca, or theriac, this designation being derived from the
Greek therion, signifying a beast, more specifically a poisonous animal and
hence also a serpent. These preparations were primarily antidotes for
poison, but were also freely administered for any form of “blood-
poisoning,” for malarial infection, malignant fevers and the like. Principal
ingredients were the “Armenian stone” (a friable, blue carbonate of copper),
pearls, charred stag’s-horn, and coral. The Veronese physician, Francesco
India, confidently affirms that this remedy not only cured the plague, but
also protected those who had partaken of it from contracting the disease;
this was said to be more especially true of the theriaca Andromachi, or
Venice treacle as it was popularly called, which purported to be the
invention of a Roman or Greek physician, Andromachus, who composed
some medical poems dedicated to Cæsar.[229]
In medieval Bohemia the knowledge of precious stones and their
employment for curative purposes is well attested. There exists a Bohemian
manuscript list of precious stones dated in 1391, in which no less than 55
different gems are noted. Their medicinal use in Bohemia at this time is
vouched for by the Synonima Apothecariorum where precious stones are
listed among the materials of the apothecaries’ art.[230]
In the testaments of royal and princely personages, medical stones are
often bestowed as precious legacies. Thus in the will of the Hessian prince,
Henry VIII of Fürstenberg, the following stones are mentioned as especially
costly objects: a “crabstone” (Krebstein), a bloodstone, and a gravel-stone,
the latter being a piece of jade or nephrite.[231] The crabstone, sometimes
called crab’s-eye, is a chalky concretion which forms on either side of the
stomach of a crab or other crustacean during the moulting period, and this
was and is still used as an eye-stone for the removing of foreign bodies that
have entered the eye, the eye-stone being introduced under the eyelid. This
results in a rapid flow from the tear-ducts which often washes away the

foreign bodies, the passage of the stone across the eyeball occasionally
aiding in the work by rubbing off the body.

Interior of fifteenth century pharmacy.
From Johannis de Cuba’s “Ortus
Sanitatis”, Strassburg, 1483.

THE “ORTUS SANITATIS” OF JOHANNIS DE CUBA, PUBLISHED AT
STRASSBURG IN 1483.

The woodcut depicts Adam and Eve beneath the “Tree of Knowledge.”

In the sixteenth century sapphires, emeralds, rubies, garnets, jacinths,
coral and sardonyxes were used in all tonics prescribed to protect the heart
against the effects of poison and of the plague. As it was noted that these
remedies were frequently ineffectual, an explanation was sought in the fact
that spurious stones were often used, the apothecaries either not having the
knowledge to recognize the genuine stones, or being moved by a desire to
profit by the substitution of some inferior substance. Hence physicians were
warned to be on their guard against such deceptions, and only to employ
thoroughly trustworthy apothecaries for the compounding of their
prescriptions. A substitution frequently made was that of the so-called
yellow chrysoprase (cerogate), a stained chalcedony, for the jacinth,
although the true jacinth of the ancients was of the color of the amethyst.
The grinding of coral in a brass mortar, instead of in one of marble, was
also regarded as a very dangerous proceeding, which would have the worst
possible results for the unlucky patient who took the powder, for some
particles of the brass might be rubbed away and mix with the coral. This
was said to have often produced very serious illness.[232]

In a price-list of a firm of German druggists, printed in 1757, all the
precious stones still appear. Here the cost of a pound of rock-crystal is six
groschen ($.18); the same quantity of emerald was priced at eight groschen
($.25), while the pound of sapphire was quoted at sixteen groschen ($.50),
of ruby at one thaler ($.75), and of lapis lazuli at five thalers ($3.75). This
indicates quite clearly the quality of the emerald, sapphire and ruby offered
for sale. A pound of Oriental bezoar commanded the highest price, sixteen
thalers ($12).[233]
Regarding the length of time during which various preparations retained
their strength, Braunfels[234] states that, according to the opinion of the
Arabian physicians, the solution of lapis Armenus lasted for ten years, while
that of lapis lazuli could be preserved only about three years. A list of the
indispensable materials which should be in every good pharmacy included
the following precious stones:
Jacinth
Sapphire
Emerald
Topaz
Margaritha (pearl)
Magnes
Coral
Hematite
Ætites
Jasper

The supposed medicinal properties of precious stones are subjected to a
searching criticism by the Veronese physician, Francesco India, writing in
1593.[235] After establishing the distinction between alimentary and
medicinal substances, he proceeds to exclude from the latter category the
jacinth, emerald, sapphire, etc., because although they could be reduced to a
powder, they could not be dissolved, so that when taken in a potion they
could be absorbed in the human system.[236] Hence no such effects could
properly be ascribed to them as were to be expected from the regular and
normal medicinal agencies. This writer ascribes the original use of such
stones as remedies for malignant fevers and other dangerous diseases to the
Arabs, adding that “had they not made this mistake and thus led many
physicians into error, they would have been better worthy of praise.”[234] In
fact he does not hesitate to pronounce the emphatic opinion that these
stones are not remedial agents fit to be administered or used by any rational

physician.[237] That powdered hematite (red oxide of iron) possesses an
astringent quality and may really be looked upon as a medicine, he fully
recognizes, more particularly its efficacy for the cure of diseases of the eye,
but neither these nor similar qualities can be credited to sapphires,
emeralds, or jacinths. At the same time he is not disposed to deny that these
stones may have some subtle effect upon the body when worn, or when held
in the mouth for a time. Thus he agrees with Avicenna (Ben Sina) that a
jacinth worn over the heart may strengthen that organ, for he knows of the
power inherent in jasper to check a hemorrhage. In a word his argument is
principally directed against the internal use of powders made from these
hard and unassimilable stones.[238]
Robert Boyle, writing in 1663, attempts to show that the theory of the
therapeutic action of precious stones is not incompatible with observed
facts. In this connection he says:[239]
I am not altogether of their mind, that absolutely reject the internal use of Leaf-Gold, Rubies,
Saphyrs, Emeralds, and other Gems, as things that are unconquerable by the heat of the stomach. For
as there are rich Patients that may, without much inconvenience, goe to the price of the dearest
Medicines; so I think the Stomach acts not on Medicines barely upon the account of its heat, but is
endowed with a subtle dissolvent (whence never it hath it) by which it may perform divers things not
to be done by so languid a heat. And I have, with Liquors of differing sorts, easily drawn from
Vegetable Substances, and perhaps unrectified, sometimes dissolved, and sometimes drawn Tinctures
from Gems, and that in the cold.... But that which I chiefly consider on this occasion is, that ’tis one
thing to make it probable, that is, possible, Gold, Rubies, Saphyrs, etc., may be wrought upon by
humane Stomach; and another thing to shew both that they are wont to be so, and that they are
actually endowed with those particular and specifick Virtues that are ascribed to them; nay and (over
and above) that these Virtues are such and so eminent, that they considerably surpass those of
cheaper Simples. And I think, that in Prescriptions made for the poorer sort of Patients, a Physician
may well substitute cheaper Ingredients in the place of these precious ones, whose Virtues are no half
so unquestionable as their Dearnesse.
Whether the somewhat mysterious illness and death of the popes Leo IV
and Paul II could have been caused by the great quantity of pearls and
precious stones they were in the habit of wearing was a question seriously
discussed by Johann Wolff, the supposed lethal effect being attributed to the
coldness of such objects.[240] Indeed, the frigidity of precious stones was
adduced by certain writers as one of the chief reasons for their remedial use
in fevers.[241]
Not only to King Frederick III of Denmark himself, to whom on his
death-bed in 1670, a dose of pulverized bezoar was administered, but to his
queen and their children such remedies were given, there being record that
on September 19, 1663, a prescription containing red coral and pearl-

powder was compounded by the Court Pharmacy for the queen, while a few
years earlier the inevitable bezoar and also a tonic pearl-milk were
administered to some of the royal offspring.[242]

FAMOUS PEARL NECKLACE OF
THE UNFORTUNATE EMPRESS
CARLOTTA, WIDOW OF EMPEROR
MAXIMILIAN OF MEXICO.

Some interesting details as to the use of precious stone remedies for the
cure of illness appear in the manuscript notes of lectures given at the
Leyden Hospital by the seventeenth century physician, Lucas Schacht, in
1674 and 1675.[243] This shows that these remedial agents were there and at
that time only used as a last resort, when the patient’s condition had become
desperate, and the physician is usually obliged to record the fact that death
ensued shortly afterwards. Thus we are told of the case of a certain
Ludovicus Carels who was suffering from difficulty of breathing and
purulent expectoration; his body was so distended that he could scarcely
move his limbs, and he also had a severe diarrhœa. This was his condition
on November 12, 1674, and the symptoms steadily grew worse under a
treatment of herb decoctions, until a few days later, on November 21, it is
noted that “he only thinks of death.” Still the doctors waited until
November 24 before they decided to administer a compound remedy
consisting in part of the elixirs of jacinth and pearl; three days later the
patient died. In general the chief symptoms which justified the use of such
remedies were those of high fever or great weakness.

Although by the middle of the eighteenth century the belief in the special
curative powers of precious-stone material had almost entirely disappeared,
giving place to a more scientific conception of the chemical composition of
these bodies, still, we find, even in so capable a writer as the German
mineralogist, U. F. B. Brückmann, a lingering trace of the old idea, for
while he declares that all intelligent physicians have abandoned their use,
he adds, “if, however, any stone of this kind has more effect than an
ordinary earthy substance, it is the lapis lazuli, but we have a hundred other
remedies equally efficacious and much cheaper.” He also testifies to the fact
that very little genuine material was to be had from the apothecaries, he
himself having often seen a yellow feldspar offered instead of a jacinth, and
poor garnets as substitutes for rubies.[244]
Toward the end of the eighteenth century, a famous cordial medicine,
called “Gascoign’s Powder,” after the physician who compounded it, had an
immense vogue in England. This man is said to have got more than £50,000
($250,000) from the sale of this single remedy. It is stated to have contained
Oriental bezoar (the most important ingredient), white amber, red coral,
crab’s eyes, powdered hartshorn, pearl and black crab’s claws; certainly a
most incongruous mixture and one well calculated to test the resisting
powers of the person to whom it was administered.[245]
A modern writer finds in the homeopathic theory of medicine an
explanation of the apparent therapeutic effects of precious stones.[246] For if
the smaller the dose the greater the effect, then such super-subtle
emanations as are thought to proceed from precious stones must have
effects still more powerful than those of the most highly diluted tinctures
administered by homeopathists of the old school. Christian Science,
however, with its bold denial of the existence of disease, and with its purely
spiritual treatment of the “mental error” that is supposed to be at the root of
all morbid symptoms, could even more easily account for the apparent
cures wrought by merely wearing precious stones. The belief in their
remedial virtue would serve to remove the morbid impression, and would
restore the mind to its normal and healthy state.
An instance from our own day of the application of a mineral substance
externally for the cure of disease, appears in the use of the uranium
pitchblende occurring in Joachimsthal, Bohemia. This is enclosed in leather
bags and applied to the head for the cure of headache. The most violent

pains are said to be relieved in a short time by this treatment, the effect
being produced by the radium contained in the pitchblende.[247]

Agate

Treating of the medicinal virtues of agates, Pliny distinguishes between
the Indian agates, which were a remedy for diseases of the eyes, and those
from Egypt and Crete, which were especially adapted for curing the bites of
spiders or scorpions.[248] This latter quality was probably attributed to the
agate because it was believed to have a cooling influence upon the body.
Damigeron directs that when used to cure the bites of venomous creatures
the stone should be reduced to a powder, which was to be strewn over the
wound; sometimes, however, this powder was dissolved in wine and
administered internally.[249] As an agate, if held in the mouth, was supposed
to quench thirst, it was recommended at an early period for the cure of
fevers and inflammatory diseases.[250]
In Byzantine times the use of agate for inflamed eyes and for headaches
is still advised by Psellus (eleventh century), who adds that it checks
menstruation and prevents the accumulation of water in cases of dropsy.
This he attributes to the wonderful absorbent power of the stone.[251] It
seems most probable that here some kind of hydrophane has been
confounded with the agate. The other use, that of checking hemorrhages,
presupposes the use of a red variety of agate.

Beryl
Thomas de Cantimpré[252] tells us that the beryl cures quinsy and swollen
glands in the neck if the affected part be rubbed with the stone. It is also
useful as a remedy for diseases of the eye, and if water in which it has been
steeped be given to anyone suffering from an attack of hiccoughs, relief will
be afforded.
The beryl was warmly recommended as a cure for injuries to the eyeball,
even of the most serious kind. For use in such cases the stone was to be
pulverized in a mortar, and this powder then passed through a fine sieve. Of
the minute particles thus secured, a small quantity was to be introduced
each morning into the injured eye, the patient being in a recumbent posture.
He was then to keep properly quiet with his eyes shut for a considerable
length of time after this operation. Although it was not indeed claimed that
where the power of sight had been destroyed it could thus be restored, still
even in case of such severe injury the eyeball was healed sooner and
assumed a better appearance. In less serious cases a cure was considered to
be assured.[253]

Carbuncle

Many virtues are attributed to carbuncles. It is related that those who
wear them can resist poisons and are preserved from the pest. They
dissipate sadness, control incontinence, avert evil thoughts and dreams,
exhilarate the soul and foretell misfortunes to man by losing their native
splendor.[254]

Chalcedony
Perforated, spherical beads of milky white chalcedony are worn at the
present day by Italian peasant women to increase the supply of milk. Hence
the Italian name for such a bead, pietra lattea. Perforated beads of white
steatite, belonging to the early Iron Age, have been found near Perugia,
where the chalcedony beads are worn, and it is believed that these steatite
beads were borne for the same purpose.[255]

Coral

Coral and safran, if wrapped in the skin of a cat, were believed to have
marvellous powers; and when emeralds were added to the coral the talisman
would drive off a mortal fever. To have the proper effect, however, it must
be attached to the neck of the patient.[256] As a cure for hydrophobia, dog-
collars set with flint and Maltese coral were recommended in Roman times;
“sacred shells” and herbs over which magic incantations had been
pronounced were also attached to, or enclosed in these collars. The use of
coral in this case appears to have been due to the belief in its power to
dissolve the spell cast by the Evil Eye, for Gratius, who flourished in the
first century A.D. and was a contemporary of the poet Ovid, asserts that if
such collars were put on dogs suffering from hydrophobia, the gods were
appeased, and the charm cast by “an envious eye” was broken.[257]
The Hindu physicians found that coral tasted both sweet and sour, and
they asserted that its principal action was on the secretions of the mucous
membrane, on the bile and on certain morbid secretions.[258] Although the
chemical constituents of coral have but slight medicinal value, it is quite
possible that some effects upon the secretions may have been observed
experimentally after the administration of a dose of powdered coral.
An old pharmacopœia gives elaborate directions for the preparation of
the “Tincture of Coral.” A branch of very red coral was to be buried in
melted wax, and allowed to remain over a fire for the space of two days,
“after which time you will see that the coral has become white, while the
wax has assumed a red hue.” A fresh branch of coral is then to be put into
the partially colored wax, and the above operation repeated; the wax will
then be “redder than before.” It is now to be broken into crusts, which are to
be steeped in alcohol until the liquid has extracted the coloring matter from
the wax and has become reddish. In this way, after the removal of the wax
by filtration, etc., a tincture was obtained which is represented to have been
an excellent tonic, and to have had the power to expel “bad humors,” by
inducing perspiration, or by its diuretic action.[259] We strongly suspect that
in this, as in many modern “tonics,” the contents of spirit was the active
principle.

An apparent confirmation of the widespread belief of former centuries
that red coral changed its hue in sympathy with the state of the wearer’s
health, caused perhaps by the exudations or sweats arising from fevers or
other ailments, is given from personal experience by the German physician,
Johann Wittich. Writing toward the end of the sixteenth century, this author
relates that he was called in to attend a youth named Bernard Erasmus, son
of the burgomaster of Arnstadt. As the youth sickened unto death a red coral
which he was wearing turned first whitish, then of a dirty yellow, and
finally became covered with black spots. To the anxious questions of the
youth’s sister, Wittich could only give a mournful answer, telling her to take
away the coral, for death was surely approaching, and this prognostication
proved to be only too true, as in a few hours young Erasmus was dead.[260]
A rosary of coral beads was sometimes called in France a pater de sang,
or “blood-rosary,” since it was believed to check hemorrhages. An
anonymous author of an eighteenth century treatise on superstitions,
assuming that this effect could be produced only by thickening the blood,
asserts that such a rosary might do more harm than good, for if it possessed
this power at one time, it must possess it constantly, and its action would be
very injurious.[261] Pearls and corals were still freely used as therapeutic
agents in the last half of the seventeenth century, for we are told that Louis
XIV (1638–1715), in 1655, took tablets containing gold and pearls, which
had been prescribed for him by his physician Vallot, and, in 1664, a remedy
composed of pearls and corals was recommended by the same authority.[262]

Corundum

A stone, which from the description seems to have been an almost
colorless variety of corundum with a faint reddish tint, is recommended in
the Syrian Aristotle for the alleviation of diseases of the breast. To have the
proper effect this stone was to be worn on the region affected by the
malady.[263]

Diamond

The Hindu physicians claimed that they had found that the diamond had
six flavors; it was sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and acrid. Since the
stone united all these apparently contradictory qualities, we have no reason
to be surprised that it should be supposed to cure all diseases and lessen all
ills. An elixir of great potency, stimulating and strengthening all the bodily
functions, was made from the diamond.[264]
The author of the Jawâhir-nâmeh (Book of Jewels), written about a
century ago, gives some of the prevalent Hindu ideas regarding the
diamond. He asserts that the similarity of this stone and rock-crystal led to
the belief that the latter was only an incomplete or “unripe” form of the
diamond. For this reason rock-crystal was called kacha, “unripe,” and the
diamond, pakka, “ripe.” The same writer, after noting the general belief that
if a diamond were put in the mouth it caused the teeth to fall out, states that
some were not disposed to admit this, as diamond dust had been used as a
tooth-powder without any bad effects.[265] It might certainly serve to whiten
the teeth, but any one who trusted to this very drastic dentifrice would soon
be sadly in need of the dentist’s help.
As a proof that the diamond was not much prized as an ornamental stone
in the Middle Ages, although some of the praise bestowed upon it by Pliny
and other classical writers was copied and recopied in a more or less
perfunctory way, we may cite the few lines devoted to the stone by Psellus,
who lived in Constantinople in the eleventh century A.D. This writer simply
remarks of the diamond that it is hard and difficult to pierce, adding, as its
chief virtue, that it would quench the heat of the “semi-tertian” fever.[266]
The belief in this cooling quality of the diamond was suggested by its lack
of color coupled with its extreme hardness, the latter quality being thought
to augment the refrigerant power supposed to be inherent in colorless
crystals which resembled ice.

Emerald

The emerald is especially commended for amulets to be suspended from
the necks of children; it is believed to preserve them from epileptic
convulsions and to prevent the falling sickness; but if the violence of the
disease is such that it cannot be overcome by the stone, the latter breaks up.
Bound to a woman’s thigh it is said to hasten parturition; hanging from the
neck it drives off vain fears and evil spirits. It strengthens the memory,
restores the sight, reveals adultery and gives a knowledge of the future,
produces eloquence and increases wealth.[267]
Besides the usual designation marakata which Garbe believes to be
derived from the Greek σμάραγδος, the Sanskrit has several distinguishing
names for the emerald. One of these, açmagarbhaja, signifies “sprung from
the rock,” and well describes the emerald in its matrix. Another name is
garalari, “enemy of poison,” indicating the great repute enjoyed by this
stone in India as an antidote for all animal, mineral and vegetable poisons.
[268]
In Mexico the emerald[269] bore the name Quetzalitzli, “stone of the
quetzal,” because its color resembled the brilliant green of the plumes of the
bird called in the Mexican tongue quetzal. These plumes were worn as
insignia of royalty by the sovereigns of Mexico and Central America, and
hence the emerald was regarded as an essentially regal gem, although its
use was not confined to royalty.
The tincture of emerald is recommended by the Arab physician Abenzoar
as an internal remedy for the cure of dysentery, the dose prescribed being
six grains. He also claims to have cured one of his patients suffering from
this disease by making him wear an emerald.[270] This illustrates the use of
the stone in Moorish Spain in the early part of the eleventh century, the
period of the highest development of Moorish civilization, for Abenzoar, or
Abû Meruân, as he is sometimes called, was born in Seville about 1091 A.D.
and died in 1161 or 1162.

Hematite

The curative properties of the hematite were generally recognized by the
early writers, and in this case they were not so much at fault, as this
substance possesses considerable astringent properties. Galen recommends
its use for inflamed eyelids, following in this the teachings of the Egyptian
schools of medicine. If there were tumors on the eyelids, the hematite was
to be dissolved in white of egg, and if the tumors were very large it was to
be boiled with fenugreek (fœnum græcum); if, however, there were no
tumors, but simply a general inflammation of the eyelids, a solution in
water sufficed. At the outset a few drops of a weak solution were to be
poured into the eye through a glass tube; should this treatment not prove
effective, the solution was to be made thicker and thicker, until at last it had
to be dipped out on the point of the tube. If ground to a fine powder in a
mortar, hematite cured spitting of blood and all ulcers. Galen advises great
care in judging of the quality and strength of the powder, which was to be
poured on or spread over the sore, but in his own case he admits that he
trusted to his sense of taste to determine its quality.[271]
Sotacus as quoted by Pliny distinguishes five kinds of hematite, each one
of which possessed special medicinal virtues. The best was the Ethiopic,
which was a valuable ingredient in lotions for the eyes, and for burns. The
second kind was called androdamus and came from Africa; this was very
black, and was exceedingly hard and heavy, whence its name “conqueror of
man”; it was reputed to attract silver, brass and iron. If rubbed with a
moistened whetstone it gave forth a red juice, and was considered to be a
specific for bilious disorders. The third kind was brought by the Arabs; this
gave scarcely any juice when rubbed with the whetstone, but occasionally a
little of a yellowish hue, and was useful for burns and for all bilious
disorders. The fourth kind was called elatite in its natural state and melitite
when burned; and the fifth appears to have contained an admixture of
schist. These shared in the general virtues of the hematite, three grains of
whose powder, when taken in oil, would cure all blood diseases.[272]
That the cause of the friendship between Hector and Dolon was the
latter’s ownership of a hematite is asserted in the Greek Orphic poem
“Lithica.” This statement must be derived from some annotation to the Iliad

made in the Alexandrine schools, for Homer himself knows nothing of it. In
the fateful encounter of Hector with Achilles, the form and aspect of Dolon
are assumed by Athena to deceive Hector into the belief that his friend was
at his side to aid him in the unequal struggle. The blood of Uranus when
wounded by Kronos is stated in “Lithica” as the generating cause of
hematite, and the stone is recommended as a cure for eye-diseases.[273]

Jacinth

A peculiarly stimulant and tonic effect exercised by the jacinth was noted
by Ben Sina (Avicenna), and to this is attributed its value as an antidote for
poisons. Not, however, to the material composition of the stone was this
effect to be attributed, for it proceeded from the mass in the same way as
did the virtue of the magnet. Hence Ben Sina is opposed to the theory that
the natural warmth of the body acted upon the jacinth, when taken
internally, producing a transmutation, dissolution and mingling of its
substance with the volatile spiritual essence.[274]
In Constantinople, at a time when the plague was exceptionally
prevalent, the citizens used to wear jacinths, because of the special virtues
these stones were supposed to possess as guardians against the plague. That
jacinth amulets intended for therapeutic use were occasionally to be found
in pharmacies, is attested by Ambrosianus, who states that a jacinth the size
of a human nail, and set in silver, was kept in a “pharmacy in Poland.” This
stone, if held to a wound, was said to prevent mortification.[275]

JADE TONGUE AMULETS FOR THE
DEAD. CHINESE

Figs. 1–4, plain types; Fig. 5, carved in
shape of realistic cicada (a. upper, b.
lower face); Figs. 6–9, conventionalized
forms of cicada. From “Jade,” by
Berthold Laufer.

By courtesy of the author and Field
Museum of National History, Chicago.

Jade
The first mention of this material is made by Monardes, who says:[276]
The so-called nephritic stone is a species of stone, the finest of which resemble the emerald crystal,
and are green with a milky hue. It is worn in various forms, made in ancient times, such as the
Indians had; some like fish, some like the heads of birds, others like the beaks of parrots and others
again round as balls; all, however, are perforated, since the Indians used to wear them attached for
nephritic or gastric pains, for they had marvellous efficacy in both these infirmities. Their principal
virtue regards the nephritic pain, and the passing of gravel and stone, in such sort that a gentleman
who owns one, the best I have ever seen, wearing it bound on his arm, passed so much gravel that he
often takes it off, thinking that it may be injurious for him to pass such a quantity; and, indeed, when
he removes the stone he passes much less.... This stone has an occult property, by means of which it
exercises a wonderful prophylactic effect, preventing the occurrence of nephritic pain, and should it
nevertheless ensue, removing or alleviating it. The duchess my lady, having suffered three attacks of
this malady during a short period, had one of these stones set in a bracelet and wore it on her arm,
and from the time she put it on, she has never felt any pain, although ten years have past. In the same
way it has served many, who have realized the same benefit. Therefore, it is highly prized and it
cannot now be worn so easily as in former times, as only caciques and noblemen own it, and rightly,
since it has such wonderful effects.
The Chinese Taoist adept T’ao Hung Ching, who flourished A.D. 500,
directs that when powdered jade is prescribed by a physician, carved jade
must not be used, nor unwrought jade that has been buried in tombs. While
sometimes a very fine powder was recommended, the usual plan was to
reduce the jade by pounding it into pieces the size of small pulse. When
administered in this form the Chinese physicians asserted that the powder
passed unchanged through the system, but that the essential principle, the
innate virtue, was absorbed by the patient. It relieved heart-burn and asthma
and stilled thirst. Taken regularly for a long period it acted as a powerful
general tonic, and had the special effects of strengthening the voice and
rendering the hair glossy; but all these good effects could only be secured
by the use of unwrought jade.[277]
The lapis nephriticus (jade) was held to be a remedy for œdematous
affections of the feet. As this stone was so highly in favor in Europe for a
century or two after it had first been brought from America by the
Spaniards, many were of the opinion that it should be constantly worn to
exert its full curative power. There were some, however, who argued that
with this as with other remedies, constant and unremitting use weakened the
effect, so that when the wearer was suddenly attacked by some disorder for

which jade was a cure, his system would have become so habituated to its
action that it would no longer work as a remedy.[278]
Of the lapis nephriticus the old Danish writer, Caspar Bertholin, relates
in 1628 that four prominent citizens of Copenhagen, whom he had
recommended to wear it to break up the calculi with which they were
afflicted, could testify to its worth, adding, somewhat naïvely, “at least two
of them can, for the two others are dead—but not of the stone.” He himself,
however, although he had sent for specimens at great expense, to Venice,
Nuremberg and Batavia, could not gain any relief from his trouble, but
nevertheless, firm in his conviction of the special curative power of jade, he
asserts that the calculi which tormented him must have been exceptionally
hard and flint-like, so that they could not be broken up. The vogue enjoyed
by this supposed remedy in the Denmark of the time is illustrated in the
case of the reigning sovereign, Christian IV, who wore on his person a
green nephrite until the day of his death. This stone is still preserved in the
Rosenborg Museum collection among the relics of this king.[279]

FRONTISPIECE OF MUSEUM WORMIANUM

Printed in Leyden in 1655, showing a part of the remarkable collection of
specimens illustrating natural history owned
by Olaus Wormius of Copenhagen.

Johannes de Laet was much impressed with the virtues of the lapis
nephriticus as were most of his learned contemporaries, since he assures his
readers that an oblong, smooth, moderately thick stone in his possession,
having the color of honey and a very oily surface, had given his wife great
relief from the severe pains caused by renal calculus, when the stone was
bound upon her wrist. This particular specimen he sent a few years later to
his Danish friend, Ole Worms, for the latter’s cabinet of natural history. De
Laet writes that all the virtues claimed for nephrite by Monardes in 1574,
were observable in his specimen.[280]
As late as 1726, there were some who retained faith in the curative power
of jade, for a record of that date informs us that the traveller Paul Lucas had
just come back to Paris from the Orient, and had brought with him a
specimen of the lapis nephriticus which he intended to have cut up into thin
slabs to bestow upon such of his friends as were suffering from gravel or
calculus, or similar troubles.[281]

After relating that a specimen of American jadeite had been sent to him
prior to 1602, Cleandro Arnobio states that when he showed it to a Signor
Michele Mercato, “a man well versed in medicine and in the knowledge of
minerals and herbs,” the latter immediately recognized it and called it
“nephite,” from its virtues, saying also that he had found it useful in aiding
parturition. A pharmacist, to whom it was shown in turn, declared that he
had used the stone in this way but did not know its name. This is perhaps
the earliest use of the name nephrite, the form occurring in the Italian text
being either due to a typographical error, or to Arnobio’s ignorance of the
correct spelling.
Proceeding to dilate upon the many virtues of this stone, Cleandro quotes
Aldobrando, “a physician, physicist and philosopher of Bologna,” who
described it as having usually a purple shade, almost like porphyry, with
various figures of herbs, flowers, knots and Arabic characters in a yellow
color. There were, however, according to the same authority, some of a
darker hue, with protuberances and bands of yellow and also black spots, as
though the stone were a section of the spleen. This kind was recommended
and used in diseases of the spleen. In another variety, in the midst of the
purple color might be seen a yellow stain with pittings and hollows; this
was thought to figure a section of the liver, spattered with bile, and such
stones were employed with good effect to cure those suffering from bilious
disorders. To discharge the bile a dose of four grains was administered, the
powdered stone being thoroughly dissolved in wine. Still another kind, of a
reddish hue, “like coagulated blood,” full of pittings and veinings, was
thought to be more especially valuable as a remedy for disorders of the
blood and for checking hemorrhages.[282]
The learned Ko Kei asserts that the body of a man who had taken nearly
five pounds of jade did not change color after his death and states that the
body having been exhumed several years later did not show the slightest
alteration. Besides this, it was observed that there were gold and jade
around the tomb. Since then (in China), in the Kan period, the custom was
followed of embalming the dead bodies of the emperors, and of preserving
them in a garment ornamented with pearls and enclosed in a case of jade.[283]

JADE BELL OF THE KIEN-LUNG
PERIOD: 1731–1795.

Carved out of a single piece of jade.
Dimensions: height, 20 cm.; width 14.6
cm.; thickness, from 1 cm. to
3.8 cm. From Berthold Lauter, “Jade, a
Study in Chinese Archæology and
Religion,” Chicago, 1912.

By courtesy of the author and Field
Museum of Natural History, Chicago.

The Indians of Brazil prize the so-called Amazon stones (jade) more
highly than any other of the ornaments they wear. This is not chiefly
because of their ornamental quality, but rather because these ita ybymbae
(green stones) have in many cases been handed down from generation to
generation for many centuries. They are of cylindrical, tabular or other
regular form and polished, and are believed to be amulets affording
protection against many diseases as well as against snake bites. They are
worn suspended from the neck and are regarded as valuable aids in difficult
parturition. Because of their remedial virtues they are sometimes called ita
poçanga, or “medicine stones.” They are also found with the natives of the

Caribbean islands and are there called “the smooth stones from the far-off
continent.”[284]
As in all superstitions, so in those concerning jade in China, the fact that
ill luck instead of good luck fortuitously resulted from the use of the
material was explained in a way that did not do violence to the fundamental
idea. We are told that on the road near Kneha, in Turkestan, there lies a
block of jade from the quarries of Raskam-Darya, in Eastern Turkestan.
This block was on its way to Peking, when orders came from the imperial
court not to forward any more jade from this quarry. The reason was that
the heir apparent had been taken ill after having slept on a couch made of
Raskam jade.[285]

Jasper
In the collection of the Biblioteca di Ravenna there is a red jasper amulet
engraved with a device representing Hercules strangling the Nemæan Lion.
Amulets of this type are recommended for the cure of the colic by the
Greek physician Alexander Trallianus, who flourished in the first half of the
sixth century A.D. He directs that this design be engraved on a “Median
stone,” which is then to be set in a gold ring and worn by the patient.[286]
The fact that the constellation Leo was believed to rule over the stomach,
and possibly over the liver also, probably determined the selection of the
design. On the reverse of the Ravenna amulet are inscribed the letters
K K K, which are believed to stand for Κωλική, “colic.”[287]
After noting the power of the jasper (probably the red variety) to check
hemorrhages from any part, and its general effect upon the circulation of the
blood in reducing the pulse, thus calming desire and quieting the restless
mind, Cardano turns to another of the reputed virtues of this stone, that of
rendering the wearer victorious in battle. The true reason for this he finds in
the stone’s tendency to diminish passion, and hence to render the wearer
timid and cautious, for “the timid usually conquer, since they avoid a
doubtful contest if possible.” Gesner states that he saw “in the possession of
a writer of Lausanne,” a green jasper, bearing the image of a dragon with
rays, similar to the gem described by Galen.[288]
Of the jasper, De Boot relates,[289] from his own experience, that for
checking hemorrhages the red variety is the most effective, and, in this
connection, he describes the case of a young woman in Prague, who had
suffered for six years from hemorrhages. Many different remedies had been
tried without avail, and when De Boot was called in to attend the case, he
advised the woman to wear a red jasper. As soon as this stone was attached
to her person the hemorrhage ceased. After wearing the jasper for some
time, the woman thought she could safely lay it aside, but whenever she did
so the hemorrhage returned after a longer or shorter interval, while it always
ceased immediately she resumed wearing the stone. This seemed to prove
conclusively that it checked the flow of blood. Eventually the woman was
so effectively cured that she was able to give up wearing the stone. Green
jasper, if worn attached to the neck so as to touch the gastric region, was,

according to De Boot, a cure for all diseases of the stomach. The same
writer alludes to the belief that the virtue of this stone was enhanced if it
were engraved with the image of a scorpion while the sun was entering the
constellation Scorpio, but he rejects this belief as entirely superstitious and
futile, while admitting that, to obtain the best results, the jasper should
always be set in silver.
Pear-shaped pieces of red jasper seem to have been more especially
favored for use as amulets. Italian amulets of to-day show this, and Bellucci
finds that the form is chosen as representing a drop of blood, and thus
aiding, by sympathetic magic, in the cure of hemorrhages or wounds, and
preventing the infliction of the latter. Sometimes such amulets of red jasper
are attached to the bed-post by a red ribbon. In the case of a particularly
valued amulet of this type, Bellucci was informed by the peasant owner that
it owed its great virtue to having been blessed by the parish priest. Thus the
traditional power of a pagan amulet received the sanction of the church and
the object was associated with purely Christian amulets.[290]

Jet
Jet, the gagates of the ancients, was said to have been first found in the
river Gagates in Lycia, whence its name was derived. Galen, the greatest
physician of ancient times, reports, however, that he searched in vain for
this river, although he sailed in a small vessel along the whole coast of
Lycia, so that he might closely observe it. Still, he did not give up his search
for the material, even when he failed to find its reputed source, and in
Cælo-Syria, on a hill on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, he came across
certain black, crustaceous stones, which emitted a slender flame when
placed in the fire. These must have been small masses of bitumen, and,
according to Galen, they were used for chronic swellings of the knee-joint
“which are difficult to cure.”[291]
The fumes of jet are mentioned as a remedy for the pest in one of the
earliest Greek medical treatises, written by Nicander, who flourished in the
second century B.C. He declares that the most virulent pestilence could be
driven away if the bedrooms were fumigated with the smoke of the slow-
burning jet.[292] The plague was called the black plague and naturally the aid
of a black substance was sought to cure it.
For Pliny, jet was endowed with many medicinal virtues. Its fumes were
a cure for hysteria and were said to reveal the presence of a latent tendency
to epilepsy; connected with this in some way was the curious belief,
repeated by later authors with certain variations, that these fumes could also
be used as a test of virginity. When powdered and mixed with wine, jet
relieved the pains of those suffering from toothache, and if the powder were
combined with wax, a salve was produced that gave very beneficial results
in cases of scrofula.[293] Even as a toilet preparation jet was recommended
for use, and a most excellent dentifrice is said to have been made from it. In
this connection jet was credited with tonic as well as cleansing properties,
as is shown by the words of Bartholomæus Anglicus, who declares that this
material was especially beneficial for “feeble teeth and waggyng,” since it
strengthened them and made them firm.[294]
The delusions and hallucinations of melancholic subjects were believed
to be put to flight by the power of jet, either in its solid form or when

reduced to a solution. The fact that this material was often used for the
beads of rosaries was thought to have some connection with its supposed
virtues, since the bad dreams or dreadful hallucinations sometimes
accompanying melancholia were designated as “demons,” and thus the
prayers counted off on jet beads might be supposed to have the greater
power to banish the devil and his black angels. The old writer who cites
these particulars about jet, adds that there was to be found in the river Nile a
black stone the size of a bean, at sight of which dogs would stop barking,
and which also drove away evil spirits. Here we have another among many
instances of the curious blending of the doctrines of sympathy and
antipathy, the black stone repelling the imps of darkness and nullifying the
spells of the Black Art.[295]

Lapis Armenus

The lapis Armenus was well known to the Arabs under the name hajer
Armeny, and their medical writers describe it quite accurately and
distinguish it from the somewhat similar lapis lazuli, with which it was
often confused in ancient times. Ibn Beithar states that if properly prepared
it would not provoke nausea, as was otherwise the case. It was said to cause
a very abundant evacuation of bile and must have been regarded as an
efficient remedy for the bilious disorders so general in warm climates.[296]
A “blue amulet” against vertigo, melancholia and epilepsy could be made
up of the following ingredients: shavings from an elk’s horn and from a
human skull, to be reduced to a fine powder, the excrement of a peacock,
white agate, lapis lazuli or lapis Armenus, of which enough was to be used
to give the required sky-blue tint. The whole mass was then to be softened
by the addition of gum tragacanth, and formed into heart-shaped tablets,
which were to be dried out in the air, and then smoothed on a turning-lathe.
These amulets were to be worn attached to the neck or the arm, sometimes
they were enclosed in a little receptacle of silver or of red sandal-wood and
suspended from the neck.[297]

Lapis Lazuli

In Papyrus 3027 of the Berlin Museum, a record that dates from about
the fifteenth century B.C., and appears to be contemporaneous with the
celebrated Papyrus Ebers, we have directions for the curative use of three
stones as amulets; namely, lapis lazuli, malachite (Amazon stone?) and,
probably, red jasper. The interpretation of the text offers considerable
difficulty, but it seems that the stones were worked into the form of beads
and then strung on a cord and suspended from a sick child’s neck.
Thereupon a formula was recited, calling upon the disease to pass through
the beads and disperse itself through water and air, or, more literally, to
attach itself to the denizens of water and air. The translation of Dr. Adolph
Erman is as follows:[298]
[A red bead? of lapis lazuli thereon.]
... a green bead? of malachite is thereon.
a red bead of jasper? is thereon

O, ye beads! fall upon the haunches [of the ...] in the flood; on the scales? of the fish in the stream;
on the feathers of the birds in the heavens. Hasten forth! nšw, fall upon the earth
Let this text be recited over the beads?, one of lapis lazuli, the other of jasper?, the other malachite,
which are drawn on a string of ... and hung upon the neck of a child.
Erman does not venture to translate the name of the disease (nšw), but
says that another word derived from the same root signifies a discharge
from the nose. Possibly we have to do with croup or some similar disease of
the respiratory organs.
A curious prescription for the cure of cataract is given in the Ebers
Papyrus,[299] dating from about 1600 B.C. The six ingredients are as follows:
genuine lapis lazuli, verdigris salve, a resinous substance perhaps similar to
what is to-day called tabasheer, milk, stibium, and “crocodile-earth,” the
slime of the Nile. It is possible that the word chesbet, which usually
signifies lapis lazuli, was understood in this case as indicating some other
stone, such as that known by the name of lapis Armenus—this latter is a
carbonate of copper and really possesses astringent properties.
For remedial use a lapis lazuli (cyanus) of deep hue is recommended by
Dioscorides. This stone was to be burned thoroughly and the resultant
powder moistened so that a kind of paste was obtained. This was claimed to

have an astringent and caustic effect, and was freely used as a counter-
irritant.[300] Probably here as in other cases a sulphate of copper has been
confused with the lapis lazuli. The ancients did not favor the administration
of lapis lazuli internally, and Braunfels[301] therefore regarded the free use of
pills of lapis lazuli which was common in his time as a source of grave
danger. The lapis Armenus, however, if well prepared and properly washed,
was less to be feared; but, unfortunately, the genuine stone was rarely to be
found in the apothecaries’ shops.

Malachite

Many medicinal virtues were ascribed to malachite. Worn as an amulet, it
averted attacks of faintness, prevented hernia, and saved the wearer from
danger in falling. In this latter respect similar powers seem to have been
admitted in the case of the green malachite as were attributed to the light
blue or greenish-blue turquoise. If malachite were reduced to a powder,
dissolved in milk and taken as a potion, it cured cardiac pains and colic;
mixed with honey, and applied with a linen cloth to a wound, it stanched the
flow of blood, and cramps were relieved if this solution were applied to the
affected part; lastly, if mixed with wine, it was a cure for virulent ulcers.[302]
Powdered malachite was sometimes administered medicinally, with what
results we have little definite information; certainly, if not very carefully
used, the effect would have been anything but favorable. A friend of De
Boot once told the latter that a dose of six grains of powdered malachite
acted as a purgative, but the wary doctor confesses that he never ventured to
test the efficacy of this prescription.[303] In Bavaria, at the present time,
mothers and midwives are fond of wearing pieces of malachite set in rings
or strung for use as necklaces. These are believed to help the dentition of
children and are also thought to bring more clients to the midwives.
Amulets of this and other kinds were sold in Bavaria, in the seventeenth
century, by wandering students and by gypsies.[304]

Median Stone

Of the so-called Median stone we read, in Konrad von Megenberg’s
“Buch der Natur,”[305] that it had powers of good and evil; “for when
dissolved in the milk of a woman who has borne a son, it restores sight to
the blind.” It also cured gout and insanity. If, however, anyone were so ill-
advised as to dissolve the stone in water and partake of the solution, he
would die of hasty consumption; or if he simply bathed his forehead with
the liquid, he would be robbed of his sight.

Onyx

A famous medicinal stone was at one time in the Abbey of St. Alban,
founded in 793 A.D. by Offa, King of Mercia, in honor of the British
protomartyr. In 1010, under Abbot Geoffrey de Gorham, a sumptuous
shrine was erected to receive St. Alban’s body; this shrine was principally
of silver, and was richly adorned with precious stones, chosen from among
those in the treasury of the monastery. The records state that one of these
stones “was so large that a man could not grasp it in his hand.” It was
believed to give great help to women in childbirth. Hence, it was not set in
the shrine, but was left free, so that it might be taken from house to house as
required. The size of this stone and the fact that it was not used for
ornamentation might have induced the belief that it was one of the singular
“eagle-stones,” so celebrated in ancient and medieval times, but it is
expressly described as an onyx-gem, the gift of King Ethelred II (968–
1016) to the monastery. From the description we learn that on one side of
this onyx was cut an image of Esculapius, the god of healing, and on the
other that of “a boy bearing a buckler.” As the art of gem-cutting was
practically unknown in Europe in the tenth century, this must have been an
antique gem, and may have served as a pagan amulet many centuries before
it was placed upon the shrine of a Christian saint and used as a Christian
amulet.[306]
An old manuscript of Matthew Paris[307] gives a sketch of the gem from
this author’s own hand. As the special power exerted by this talisman was to
aid women in their confinements, it was loaned out from time to time to
such as were considered worthy of the honor. In one case, however, it came
into untrustworthy hands, for the favored lady failed to return the gem when
her immediate need of its help had passed, retaining it in her possession
until her death, when she bequeathed it to her daughter. During her lifetime
the latter appears to have had no prickings of conscience, but on her death-
bed, possibly through the exhortations of her confessor, she made provision
that the long-lost sardonyx should be returned to the Abbey. It is said to
have borne the name Kaadman, which Mr. Thomas Wright regarded as a
corruption of cadmeus or cameus, early forms of our “cameo.”[308]

Pyrite

In Geneva and in the neighboring regions great virtues are ascribed to a
cut and facetted iron (pyrite), very hard, susceptible of a high polish and of
resplendent lustre. This is cut to resemble the rose or brilliant form of
diamond, and is set in rings, buckles, and other ornaments. In appearance it
resembles polished steel and is called pierre de santé, or “health-stone,” for
it is believed to grow pale when the health of the wearer is about to fail.[309]
This substance is known as marcasite and is a bisulphide of iron. In the time
of Louis XVI it was largely used for ornamental purposes; at present steel
has almost entirely taken its place, although it is still utilized to a limited
extent. Many believe that this is the material to which Victor Hugo alludes
in his great romance, “Les Miserables,” as having been manufactured by
Jean Valjean.

Rock-crystal

Medical men in Rome, in the first century, attested that no better cautery
for the human body could be used than a crystal ball acted upon by the
sun’s rays,[310] and this use of the material seems to have been very general
at that time.
In his commentary on Andrea Bacci’s gem-treatise, Wolfgang
Gabelchover, the German translator, says that a German name of rock-
crystal in his time, the early sixteenth century, was Schwindelstein
(“vertigo-stone”), because it was believed to preserve the wearer from
attacks of dizziness. Other remedial or physical effects of rock-crystal are
also noted. Taken as a powder in dry wine, it was a cure for dysentery, and
the physician, Christopher Barzizius, taught that if its powder were mixed
with honey and administered to mothers, they would be the better able to
nurse their offspring.[311]
The following lines by Robert Wilson (d. 1600), a popular sixteenth-
century comedy writer, credit amber and rock-crystal with qualities not
commonly ascribed to them, although the fancied growth of rock-crystal
from a piece of ice probably explains its supposed styptic virtue:[312]
Lucre: And if they demand wherefore your
wares and merchandise agree,
You must say, jet will take up a straw;
amber will make one fat;
Coral will look pale when you be sick,
and crystal stanch blood.

That a remedial tincture of rock-crystal could be made was firmly
believed by the Danish chemist, Ole Borch (Olaus Borrichius, 1626–1690),
and in his chemical lectures he gives the following directions as to the
processes to be employed. A rock-crystal was to be heated to a high
temperature and then cast, while still warm, into cold water; it would
thereupon break up into small fragments. By heating these particles together
with tartaric salts, the whole mass would be reduced to a liquid solution.
Half of the quantity, after cooling off, was to be put into a distilling glass
with the best “spirit of wine” and was to be digested in a bath of lukewarm
water. It would then be seen that the solution became red. This process is

repeated several times, and finally the tincture is concentrated by distilling
off the spirit of wine, leaving the pure rock-crystal tincture. Its remedial
quality is stated to have been applicable to dropsy, scrofula, or
hypochondriac melancholia, if it were taken in doses up to forty drops in a
proper medium.[313]

ANCIENT PERSIAN RELIC KNOWN
AS THE “CUP OF CHOSROES”

The engraved rock-crystal medallion in
the centre depicts Khusrau II, Parwiz (A.
D. 591–628), in the peculiar and
characteristic garb of the Sassanian
monarchs. The strange wing-like
adornments rising from each shoulder,
and the moon crescent and sun-disk
above the head, are especially
noteworthy. In the Royal Museum,
Bucharest, Roumania.

To make the magisterium of rock-crystal, a pound of the substance was to
be heated to a high temperature and then dipped into spirits of vitriol. After
this operation had been repeated ten times, the rock-crystal was to be
ground, on a marble slab, to a very fine powder, which was a sure remedy
for gout and for calculi formed in any of the bodily organs. The spirits of
vitriol in which the rock-crystal had been dipped was sometimes filtered
through blotting-paper and sold as crystal spirits of vitriol; this was asserted
to be a powerful diuretic, from seven to ten drops being given at a dose in a
cup of meat broth.[314]

As late as the last half of the eighteenth century a Dr. Bourgeois
recommended the use of rock-crystal, calcined and ground, as a very
excellent astringent in the most obstinate cases of diarrhœa. In reporting
this, Valmont de Bomare (1731–1807) adds that it would be desirable to
know the nature of the acid in rock-crystal and its state of combination.[315]
Here, as in all cases where some of the constituents of precious stones may
really possess certain curative powers, a better result can be attained by
using these constituents in other forms or combinations.
The wonderful therapeutic virtues of a Scotch lake named Loch-mo-naire
are explained by a local legend as having arisen from certain magic crystals
which had been cast into its waters. These crystals, if placed in water,
rendered the liquid a potion of great curative power. They were the property
of a woman who had gained by their possession a great reputation as a
healer, but her success attracted the envy of a neighbor who determined to
secure for himself the woman’s wonder-working stones. In pursuance of
this design he came to her, feigning illness. She saw through his deception
and sought safety in flight, but he pursued her and was gaining rapidly on
her, when she threw the stones into the waters of the lake, crying out the
Gaelic word noire, “shame,” and uttering the wish that its waters should be
rendered powerful to cure the sick, all except those of the clan Gordon to
which the would-be thief belonged. As the correct translation of the name of
the lake is said to be not “Lake of Shame” but “Serpent Lake,” the legend
appears to have no good foundation, but is perhaps as true as any of the
popular tales purporting to explain the origin of the virtues of healing
springs or waters.[316]
To many stones was attributed the power of transmitting a certain
remedial virtue to water or other liquid in which they were immersed. This,
as we have related, was the case with the white stone that St. Columba sent
to King Brude at Inverness when the king’s druid priest Broichan was
suffering from disease. A peculiarity of this stone was that if it were
required in the case of a person about to die, it would disappear from view.
Thus its remedial powers could never be put to test unless success were
assured.[317]
There can be no reasonable doubt that some remarkable cures have been
effected by means of relics, or by drinking the waters of a spring believed to
have been pointed out by some divine vision. From a purely scientific

standpoint this can be explained as the result of an extraordinary stimulation
of the nerve-centres, caused by the rapt enthusiasm of religious faith. The
relics, or the pure water, simply serve as an object about which this faith
crystallizes, so to speak, and gains a concrete and external form, which in
turn reacts upon the mind of the believer. It is a well-known fact that a great
shock, or imminent peril, has sometimes suddenly restored the power of
motion to those who have long been paralyzed. This view does not,
however, necessarily exclude a religious interpretation of these phenomena
when they are produced by religious impressions, for the divine will
manifests itself by natural means, and a true understanding of the regular
and normal working of these means should give us a deeper, truer, and
purer faith.

Sapphire

As a substance for medicinal use, the Hindus declared the sapphire to be
bitter to the taste and lukewarm. It had a remedial action against phlegm,
bile and flatulence.[318] A similar action is ascribed to several other precious
stones, the medicinal qualities attributed to them being less differentiated
among the Hindus than they were with the Greeks and Romans, or in
medieval times.
To drink of a potion made from the sapphire was said to be helpful for
those who had been bitten by a scorpion, and for those suffering from
intestinal ulcerations, or from growths in the eye; it also prevented boils and
pustules, and healed ruptured membranes.[319] Here we see that the sapphire
shared with the emerald the power of strengthening the sight, and one
authority asserts that if anyone looked long and intently at a sapphire, his
eyes would be protected from all injury, and nothing harmful could befall
them.[320]
A medieval test of the antitoxin quality of the sapphire was to place a
spider in a vessel to whose mouth a sapphire was so suspended that it would
swing backwards and forwards just above the spider. The supposedly
venomous insect was not long able to resist the power of the stone and fell a
victim to its virtues. Wolfgang Gabelchover gravely asserts that this
experiment had often been successful.[321]
The removal of particles of sand or dust from the eye was said to be
successfully accomplished by “warming” a sapphire over the eye, the virtue
of the stone thus passing into the eye and giving the organ the strength
necessary for the ejection of the troublesome foreign body.[322] This
attribution of a chemical action to the sapphire in eye-trouble may be added
to the many statements of its general curative powers in eye-diseases.

Topaz

The thirteenth century Hindu physician Naharari states that the topaz
tastes sour and is cold. It is a remedy for flatulence and is a most excellent
appetizer. Any man who wears this stone will be assured of long life, beauty
and intelligence.[323] Many a curious legend has been woven about the old
belief that the topaz quenched thirst. However, popular fancy does not
endow any and every topaz with this power. One of these thirst-removing
topazes is said to have been in the possession of a celebrated Hindu
necromancer, whose services had been sought by one of the petty rajahs of
India on the day of a decisive battle. Either this necromancer’s art must
have failed him at the critical moment, or else a more powerful enchanter
guided the fortunes of the enemy, for the latter prevailed and the owner of
the potent topaz was left dying upon the field of battle. Alongside him was a
poor wounded soldier who was clamoring for a drop of water to quench his
burning thirst. Hearkening to this prayer, the dying necromancer threw his
topaz to the soldier, telling him to place it upon his heart. No sooner did he
do so than his thirst passed away, and we must suppose that his wounds
were also healed, for we are told that on the morrow he sought everywhere
on the battle-field for the corpse of his benefactor but could find no trace of
it.

1. Emerald that belonged to the deposed
Sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid; weight
45.33 carats. Auctioned December 11,
1911, Paris.

1½. Side view of the emerald.

2. Almandite garnet (transparent)
fashioned into a knuckle bone; on the
upper surface is engraved an eagle with
outspread wings, above which are the
Greek characters κακγ. Charm seal of
some early knuckle-bone player.

3. Sardonyx idol-eye of a Babylonian
bull, pierced for suspension. Engraved
at a later period with the head of a
Parthian king.

4. Aquamarine seal (transparent).
Sassanian Pahlavi. Found in ruins of
Babylonia.

Tavernier, the great French Seventeenth Century jeweler-traveler, the first
European to visit the ruby mines, took with him a number of emeralds,
generally large. These were often cut from the top of the crystal, usually
darker in color, and simply domed off, preserving the original hexagonal
shape. Remarkable specimens are in the Indian Museum and the South

Kensington Museum, part of the jewels of Thebaud, King of Burma. The
finest emeralds of this type belonged to the late Sultan of Turkey; one of the
finest, a remarkable gem, cut rounded en cabochon, was with the Bijoux du
Sultan, S. M. Abd-Ul-Hamid II, sold at the Galerie Georges Petit,
November 28, 1914. It weighed 44³⁄₁₆ carats (old system) or 45.29 carats
(metric system). (See color plate.)
A remarkable charm is a hemispherical, transparent aquamarine, with
figure of hump bull, found in ancient Babylonia. (See color plate.)
A quaint, ancient amulet is carved out of fine knuckle bone, an eagle with
spread wings engraved on one side; portrait of a Parthian King. (See color
plate.)
A Babylonian idol’s eye, of sardonyx, was pierced and worn as charm
against the Evil Eye; later engraved with portrait of a Parthian King. (See
color plate.)

IV
On the Virtues of Fabulous Stones, Concretions and Fossils

Not only precious or semi-precious stones were used as charms or talismans
and for curative purposes; a large number of animal concretions also were
and are still somewhat in favor. These concretions, variously composed but
usually containing a quantity of carbonate of lime, are found in different
parts of animals’ bodies, and they were believed to contain a sort of
quintessence of the nature of the animal in which they occurred. For this
reason the alectorius, from the body of the cock, one of the most widely
known of the animal stones in ancient times, was thought to confer valor
upon the wearer, and is said to have been worn by athletes in their contests.
In the case of venomous, or supposedly venomous, creatures, such as the
toad and certain snakes, the stone was used as an antidote for poisons. This
virtue was thought to be notably present in the so-called bezoar stone, taken
from the stomach of a species of goat, as well as from some other animals.
As we shall see, legend sought to account for the peculiar qualities of the
bezoar by the tale that the animals in whose bodies the stones were formed
had been bitten by serpents. Indeed, it seems not unlikely that the belief in
the curative properties of the bezoar stone originally owed its existence to
the finding of some such concretion in the body of an animal that had died
from the effects of snake-bite.
As is well known, certain pathological conditions induce the formation of
stones of various kinds and shapes in the human body also. Here the
tendency has been to use these stones to counteract the disease which
produced them. Renal or vesical calculi, for instance, were recommended
for diseases of the kidneys and bladder, a treatment quite in accord with the
popular idea of the homeopathic theory.

Another class of animal substances, namely, the fossil teeth of the shark,
enjoyed a tremendous vogue at one time, and were known by the name of
glossopetræ. These were usually regarded as stones, and because of their
peculiar form were frequently assimilated to the belemnites and even to the
flint arrow-heads and other prehistoric flint instruments, which were dug up
in many places. All these flint artefacts were believed to have been
precipitated to the earth by the discharge of electricity during a thunder-
storm; in other words, they were “thunderbolts.”[324] The same idea was
frequently held as to the origin of the glossopetræ, and those found on the
island of Malta were brought into connection with an incident of St. Paul’s
visit to that island.
In many different countries, especially in the north of Europe, these flint
arrow-heads and the fossil remains of similar form, were called fairy-darts
or elf-shots, and were believed to be the enchanted weapons of the elves
and fairies, who, in the old folk-lore, are represented as beings of a very
different quality from the fairies and elves of the tales of our childhood. In
some parts of Europe at the present day, for example in Ireland, the
peasantry talk with bated breath of the doings of the “good people,” for they
shrink from using the word “fairy” lest it might offend these mysterious and
generally malevolent beings. The designation “good people” is therefore
used to placate and flatter them.
Various shell fossils were also used as talismans. Here the form generally
determined the virtues they were supposed to possess. Some of these
strange forms lent themselves to an interpretation in line with the primitive
adoration of the life-giving forces of nature, and suggested the use of such
fossils to cure certain special diseases. Other of these petrifactions retaining
the form of the enclosing shell, especially those of circular shape, and with
concentric rings, were believed to be of meteoric origin and to have fallen
during thunder or rain; hence the names of brontia and ombria. A certain
class of these fossils, with convolutions on the surface resembling the form
of a snake, were called snake-eggs (ova anguina), and, very naturally,
enjoyed the repute of preserving the wearer from poisons. All these
varieties will be described in this and the following chapters.
While some believed that the toad-stone was vomited by the animal,
others held that it constituted a part of the toad’s head. That this was the

popular belief in Shakespeare’s time is
shown by the well-known lines in his “As
You Like It” (Act II, sc. 1):

Extracting toad-stone. From Johannis de
Cuba’s “Ortus Sanitatis,” Strassburg,
1483.

Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.

De Boot, whose treatise was published about the time that Shakespeare
wrote these lines, gives the following account of the result of his efforts to
obtain a toad-stone according to the prescribed method:[325]
I remember that, when a boy, I took an old toad and set it upon a red cloth that I might secure a
toad-stone; for they say that it will not give up its stone unless it sits upon a red cloth. However,
although I watched the toad for a whole night, it did not eject anything, and from this time I became
convinced all the tales concerning this stone were merely fond imaginings.
A stone called simply the “Indian Stone,” and said to be light and porous,
is noted by pseudo-Aristotle, and to it is attributed the power to relieve
those suffering from dropsy, by drawing the water to itself. If weighed after
having been applied to the patient, the stone was found to have increased in
weight in proportion to the amount of water absorbed, and when it was
placed in the sun, water of a yellowish hue exuded, until, finally, the stone
resumed its original appearance and weight.[326] Another and perhaps earlier
authority gives the name “toad-stone” to this material.[327]

BVFONITES

Toad-stones. Natural concretions of claystone and limonite. From Mercati’s
“Metallotheca
Vaticana,” Romæ, 1719.

The toad-stone was not only an antidote for poisons, but was also thought
to give warning of their presence by becoming very hot. To fully profit by
this strange quality, the wearer of such a stone was advised to have it so set
in a ring that it would touch the skin; in this way he would be sure to have
timely notice, if any poisoned food or drink were offered to him.[328] The
writer who mentions this adds the following tale of the discovery of a toad-
stone:
A clerk once found a toad which had a round knob on its head, wherefore he thought that there
must be a toad-stone. So he took up the toad and tied it firmly in the sleeve of his coat. When he
returned from the fields and searched for the toad he found it not, although the sleeve of his coat was
tightly bound below and he could not discover any opening through which the creature could have
passed. This shows us that it is a great help to prisoners in jail.
Another early authority, Thomas de Cantimpré, says of the toad-stone:
If one take the stone from a living and still quivering toad a little eye can be seen in the substance;
but if it be taken from a toad that has been some time dead, the poison of the creature will have
already destroyed this little eye and spoiled the stone.
If the toad-stone be swallowed at meal-time it passes through the system
and carries off all impurities.[329] Here the substance may have been one of
many concretionary materials,—bauxite, impure pearls, concretionary
limestone, stalagmite, or even the eye-stones from the crawfish; indeed, any
material, white or gray, that had a semblance to a toad color, and was then
sold by the vendor of charm stones as coming from a toad’s head.
The great Erasmus (1465–1536) made a pilgrimage to the famous shrine
of the Virgin in the church at Walsingham, in Kent. In his description of

what he saw there he expressly notes a wonderful toad-stone:
At the feet of the Virgin is a gem for which there is as yet no Latin or Greek name. The French
have named it after the toad [crapaudine], because it represents so perfectly the figure of a toad that
no art could do this so well. The miracle is all the greater that the stone is so small, and that the
exterior surface has not the form of a toad, the image showing through it as though inclosed within.
[330]

As we see, the stone of Erasmus contained the form or image of a toad.
This was not usually the case with the concretions that bore this name, and
it appears probable that the “crapaudine” of the shrine at Walsingham owed
its peculiarity rather to art than to nature. A rather far-fetched explanation of
the origin of these substances is given by Ambrosianus, who relates that, in
order to investigate the quality and character of toad-stones, he killed a
number of toads and took out their brains. Although these were not hard
when extracted, they became, in time, as hard as stones.[331]
A toad-stone which appeared to represent the form of this animal was
preserved as an heirloom in the Lemnian family. It exceeded the size of a
walnut and was often seen to dissipate the swelling caused by the bite of a
venomous creature in any part of the body, if it were rubbed quickly over
the swelling. It, therefore, seemed to possess the same quality as was
attributed to the animal from which it was taken, namely, to draw out and
annul all poisons. If any neighbor of the Lemnian family were bitten by a
mouse, a spider, a dormouse, a wasp, a beetle, or any such creature, he soon
sought the aid of this stone.[332]
We have noted De Boot’s unsuccessful attempt to secure a toad-stone, but
he does not seem to have used the orthodox method for obtaining it.
According to one authority,[333] the creature should be placed in a cage
covered with a red cloth and then set in the hot sunshine for several days,
until thirst forced the poor toad to eject his precious stone, which was to be
removed as soon as possible lest it should be swallowed again. Another
method proposed is so cruel that it is a comfort to know that the whole
matter is little more than a fanciful conceit. In this case, the toad was to be
enclosed in a pot with many perforations, and the vessel with its unlucky
inmate was then to be placed in an ant-hill and left there until nothing
remained of the toad except his bones and the coveted stone. It is quite
probable that any stone found in an ant-hill after this procedure would be
termed a “toad-stone,” since the toad was put away in order to find one. In
some instances they may have been bony concretions from the head of the
toad, or even pebbles that the toad had swallowed.

While it is quite possible that some of the so-called toad-stones may
really have been concretions found in the head of the toad, by far the greater
part were probably small pebbles sold as “toad-stones” to those who
believed in the magic virtues of such a stone and were ready to pay a good
price for one. Where there is a demand there will always be a supply, and
the rarer the genuine article is, the greater is the incentive to imitation or
substitution. In the case of some of these “toad-stones” set in rings to serve
as amulets, the material has been found to be the fossil palatal tooth of the
ray, a species of fish.[334]
The small share of material prosperity that fell to the lot of wits and
literary men in the England of the sixteenth century, even in the age of
Elizabeth, induced Thomas Nash (1567–1601) to liken the fate of the wit to
that of the toad-stone, or, as he writes, of “the pearl,” which was said to be
in the head of the toad, this “being of exceeding virtue, is enclosed with
poison; the other, of no less value, compassed about with poverty.”[335] A
writer of the same period affirms that if the toad-stone were touched to any
part, “envenomed, hurt, or stung with rat, spider, wasp, or any other
venomous beast,” the swelling and pain were diminished.[336]
The bones of the lizard were supposed to have medicinal virtues similar
to those attributed to various “stones” found in animals. The following
directions are given by Encelius for securing these bones: “Put a green
lizard, while still alive, in a closed vessel filled with the best quality of salt.
In a few days the salt will have consumed the flesh and the intestines, and
you can easily gather up the bones.”[337] These were used as remedies for
epilepsy and were considered to be as efficacious as the hoofs of the elk, a
recommendation which seems to have been regarded as sufficient to
convince the most sceptical of the remedial virtues of the lizard’s bones.
The crab furnished the stone called the crab’s-eye, because in form it
resembled an eye. Like almost all the animal concretions, it was principally
used as a remedy for those suffering from vesical calculi, and no other
concretion was believed to be so efficacious in breaking up or dissolving
the calculi in the case of those who had long been afflicted with them.
Those referred to by Encelius were from the crawfish and are often used as
eye-stones.[338]
In the last joint of a crab’s claw was sometimes found a small concretion
closely resembling in size and appearance a grain of millet-seed; it was in

no wise like the “lapillus” found in crab’s eyes. We have the testimony of
Cardanus that he had preserved two such concretions, one of which he had
himself come across, while the other had been found by a colleague. They
were smooth and light, and of a reddish-white color. Because they were
very rarely met with, the circumstance was regarded as of good augury for
the finder.[339]
A round concretion (a calculus) from the liver of the ox is described by
Ibn Al-Beithar as being of a yellowish color and composed of successive
superimposed layers. If secured at the time of the full moon it was believed
to promote embonpoint, and was much prized by the Egyptian women for
this virtue. The effect was to be attained by taking two grains of the
pulverized concretion, either with the bath or directly after bathing, and
thereupon a “fat hen” was to be eaten.[340] The latter prescription, if
regularly and frequently administered, might be thought to suffice without
the powdered calculus.
From the second stomach of heifers was sometimes obtained a dark
brown or blackish concretion of very light weight and as round as a ball.
This was credited with great remedial virtues provided it had not fallen to
the ground.[341] There seems to have been a belief that the curative or
talismanic properties of animal concretions, or of the teeth of animals, were
weakened, or destroyed, if these objects came in contact with the earth. This
belief was perhaps due to the idea that the mysterious power of the
substance was originally derived from earth currents, or emanations, and
that the active principle would return to the earth if the object came in
contact with it.
The lapis carpionis or carp-stone, a triangular mass, was taken from the
jaws of the carp. It was smaller or larger according to the size of the fish.
The principal remedial use was against calculi, or for the cure of bilious
diseases and colic.[342] These are bony plates from the upper part of the
mouth of the carp. Such so-called “stones” were also said to check bleeding
of the nose, a quality they owed to their astringent properties, quite
noticeable if anyone tasted the powder made from them.[343]
The cinædias, a white and oblong concretion, had in Pliny’s time the
reputation of possessing extraordinary powers, announcing beforehand
whether the sea would be clear or stormy.[344] In what way this weather
prediction was manifested we are not told; perhaps the surface of the

concretion may have become dull or grayish when there was much
humidity in the air. The cinædia were said to be found in pairs in the fish of
that name; one pair being taken from the head of the fish and another pair
from the two dorsal fins. Power to cure diseases of the eye was conferred
upon these concretions by putting nine of them, duly numbered, in an
earthen jar together with a green lizard. Each day one of the “stones” was
taken from the vessel in the numerical order, and on the ninth day the lizard
was liberated. Evidently it was thought that to kill the animal would
interfere with the transmission of its virtue to the concretions.[345]
The eye of the hyena was supposed to furnish a stone called hyænia and
Pliny writes that these animals were hunted to secure possession of it. Like
rock-crystal and many other decorative stones, this hyænia was thought to
give the power to foretell the future, if it were placed beneath the tongue.[346]
Because of the hyena’s uncanny habit of feeding on carrion, and unearthing
dead bodies from graves, it has often been associated with necromancy and
with evil spirits.
The lacrima cervi, or “stag’s tear,” is not to be confounded with the
bezoar stone according to Scaliger, who maintains that it was a bony
concretion that formed in the corner of a stag’s eye only after the animal
had passed its hundredth year; as the stag never attains this age he might as
well have said that the existence of this “tear” was a fable. However, he
describes it as though he had carefully inspected a specimen, saying that it
was so smooth and light that it would almost slip through the fingers of
anyone who held it in his hand. It had similar powers to those of the bezoar,
being a powerful antidote to poisons and a cure for the plague if powdered
and given with wine; these good effects resulting from the excessively
profuse perspiration that followed the administration of the dose.[347]
These fabled stag’s tears, though often praised as substitutes for the
bezoar, were not believed in by all the early writers, one of them,
Rollenhagen, giving expression to a caustic opinion that might do credit to a
writer of our own day. Alluding to the many reports of the existence of such
“tears,” shed by the animals because of the pains they suffered after
indulging in a diet of serpents, he notes that all those who make these
statements are careful to place the habitat of these eccentric stags as far
away from their own land as possible, always “somewhere in the Orient,”
probably at “Nowheretown,” as he adds.[348]

The chelonia is said by Pliny to have
been the eye of the Indian tortoise. The
magicians asserted that this was the most
marvellous of all “stones”; for if bathed in
honey and then placed in the mouth, when
the moon was either full or new, it
conferred the power of divination, and this
power lasted for one entire day.[349] This
virtue was not, however, altogether peculiar
to the chelonia, for it was shared by several
other substances; in each case the stone
was to be placed in the mouth, thus coming
into more immediate contact with the
Types of cheloniæ (tortoise-stones).
organs of speech, and stimulating to Natural concretions. From Aldrovandi’s
prophetic utterance. A later writer states “Museum metallicum,” Bononiæ, 1648.
that it was the uterine stone from the
tortoise that gave the gift of prophecy. That from the head cured headaches
and averted lightning, while the stone taken from the liver, if administered
in solution, was a remedy for ague.[350]
The wild ass was another of the animals that furnished concretions prized
for their talismanic and medicinal powers. That taken from the animal’s
head cured headache and epilepsy; that from the jaw made the owner
indefatigable, so that he yielded to none in battle. It was also a remedy for
ague and for the bites of venomous creatures, as well as a marvellously
efficacious vermifuge for children.[351] Very likely the story of Samson, who
wrought such slaughter among the Philistines when armed with the jawbone
of an ass, may have suggested the fancy that the concretion from the ass’s
jaw would give victory to the wearer.
Pliny notes the opinion that a stone taken from the body of a young
swallow, if worn attached to the human body, helps to strengthen the brain,
and he adds that the stone is said to be found in the young bird even when it
has just broken the shell.[352] According to Thomas de Cantimpré the
swallow-stone is a talisman for merchants and tradesmen.[353] The merits of
the chelidonius, as this stone was called, were fully recognized in Saxon
England and are given due prominence in an Anglo-Saxon medical treatise,
dating from the first half of the tenth century. When these “swallow-stones”
had been obtained they were to be carefully protected from contact with

water, earth, or other stones. To secure the
best results three of them were to be
applied to the person who stood in need of
their remedial effects. Not only did they
cure headache and eye-smart, but they
banished the dreaded nightmare, rendered
futile the wiles of goblin visitors, and
dissolved all fascinations and
enchantments. The seekers after these
wonderful stones are stoutly assured that
they can only be found in “big
nestlings.”[354]
The ætites (eagle-stone) is first
mentioned by Pliny who states that it was
found in the nests of eagles of a certain
species, and adds that some called this
Chelidonius, or “Swallow-stones.” stone gangites. Fire had no power over it
From “Museum Wormianum,” Lugduni and it was a useful remedy for many
Batavorum, 1655.
diseases. Its special virtue, however, was to
prevent abortion, this use being suggested
by the character of the stone itself, which “was as though pregnant, for
when it was shaken another stone rattled within it, as though in a womb.”
The curative virtues of the ætites, like that of the swallow-stone, only
existed when the stone was taken from the bird’s nest. This was probably a
story told by the vendors of such geodes to enhance the value of their
wares, although there may have been some foundation for it in folk-lore.
They are really hollow concretions of an iron stone, containing a piece of
loose iron or hardened sand, or a concretion of some kind that rattles, and is
called by the Italians bambino or “babe.” Such concretions are found at
many places on every continent, many fine ones having been found in
Delaware. They vary in size from one to six inches across. The small ones
of a hard, smooth exterior that have become polished from wear, are
especially valued as charms.[355]
A passage in the treatise on stones by Theophrastus, pupil of Aristotle,
might seem to indicate that the ætites was already known in the third
century B.C. The words he employs are as follows: “The most astounding

and greatest power of stones (if indeed this be true) is that of bearing
progeny.” As both Pliny and Dioscorides name this stone or geode and fully
describe its character, laying especial stress upon the loose, rattling material
enclosed in its hollow interior, this fact giving rise in later time to the half-
poetic name of “the pregnant stone,” there is every reason to believe that it
was already known of three or four, or even more centuries before their
time.[356]
Marbodus of Rennes calls this stone “the guardian and defender of
nests.”[357] Enclosing as it did one or more smaller stones, it was thought to
be symbolically designated as an aid to parturition. According as it was
attached to the left arm or to the left thigh, it either retarded or accelerated
the natural processes. This, however, by no means exhausted the virtues of
the stone, for when worn on the left arm of man or woman, it conferred
sobriety, increased riches, and moved the wearer to love; it also brought
victory and popularity, and preserved children from harm. In addition to all
its other powers this stone seems to have possessed a certain detective
quality, to judge from the following words of Ætius, who wrote in the sixth
century A.D.:[358]
The ætites serves to discover thieves, if anyone places it in the bread which they eat; for whoever
has committed a theft is unable to consume the bread. It has also been stated that, if cooked with any
kind of food, the ætites unmasks thieves, since they cannot eat such food. If taken with wax from
Cyprus, with fresh olive oil, or with any other calefacient, this stone greatly helps those suffering
from rheumatism and paralysis.
The loose, enclosed concretion was named in Latin callimus, and we
have a detailed description from the sixteenth century of one of these,
which belonged to Georgius Fabricius. Because of its curious markings he
had it set on a pivot in a ring, so that both sides of the stone could be easily
seen. The material was in part as clear as a rock-crystal, evidently a very
translucent chalcedony, but the chief interest centred in the images or
figures traced by nature upon the stone. These showed what seemed to be
two forms, one of a cowled monk, and the other that of a tall, beardless
man; there was also a third, showing an undefined form. On the under side
of this callimus was marked the outline of a crescent moon.[359]
A seventeenth century writer, not otherwise uncritical, does not hesitate
to declare that he had himself witnessed, in the case of a fig-tree, an
instance of the special power exercised by the ætites. One of these stones
having been attached to this tree, all the fruit dropped off in, the space of

ten hours, although tree had apparently lost
nothing of its vigor, its foliage remaining as
luxuriant as before.[360]
An old treatise on the ætites gives the
following names as applied to it in various
languages:[361]

Ætites. From Johannis de Cuba’s “Ortus
Sanitatis,” Strassburg, 1483.

Italian: Aquilina, pietra d’aquila, pietra aquilina, ethite.
French: Pierre de l’aigle.
Spanish: Piedra de l’aguila.
Polish: Orlovi Kamyen.
Swedish: Oernarsteen.
English: Eagle-stone.
German: Adlerstein.
Flemish: Adelersteen, arensteen.
Arabic: Hager achtamach.
Syriac: Abno dneshre.
Chaldaic: Abno dineshar, or abno denishra.
Hebrew: ’Eben ha-nosher.

Some said that this stone might be found not only in the eagle’s nest, but
also in that of the stork. This idea was, however, entirely erroneous in
Bausch’s opinion, for though he had caused diligent search to be made by
all those who encountered such nests, no “eagle-stone” could ever be found.
To the supposed “stork-stones” had been given the name lychnites, as they
were believed to be luminous, their light serving to frighten off any snakes
which might be seeking the new-laid eggs.[362]
Bausch enumerates and rejects a number of explanations to account for
the supposed presence of the ætites in the nests of eagles. One theory was
that these stones served to give stability to the nest, and enabled it better to
resist the assaults of the wind; others asserted that the coolness of the stones

lowered the unduly high temperature of the eggs and of the parent bird’s
body; others again were inclined to attribute to them a mysterious formative
and vivifying power exerted on the eggs, or else a talismanic power
protecting these from injury. While rejecting all these notions, as we have
stated, and indeed denying the truth of the assertion that such stones were
ever found in eagles’ nests, Bausch cites the authority of St. Jerome, in his
commentary on Isaiah, chap. lxvi, that the amethyst had been found with
the young of the eagle, being placed with them in the nest to protect them
from venomous creatures.[363]
That the “eagle-stones” were not always hollow is shown by a specimen
owned in the eighteenth century by the English family Postlethwayte. This
was solid, and had been cut into the shape of a heart, a hole being pierced at
the upper end so that the stone could be worn suspended. In a curious letter
written April 25, 1742, by Martha Postlethwayte, sister of Sir Thomas
Gooch, who successively presided over the episcopal sees of Bristol,
Norwich and Ely, to her daughter Barbara Kerrick, the writer advises her
correspondent, in order to avoid a repetition of former misadventures, to
“wear the eagle-stone and take Mrs. Stone’s receit,” and adds: “I hope it
may have good effect and make me a good grandmother.” The result was
favorable, and must naturally have affirmed the faith in the powers of the
stone.[364]
An inventory of the furniture, plate, jewels, etc., of Charles V of France,
made in 1379,[365] describes two stones preserved in a case of cypress-wood
which the king always carried about with him. One of these was called the
“holy stone” and aided women in childbirth. This was probably an “eagle-
stone.” It was set in gold and the setting was adorned with four pearls, six
emeralds and two balas-rubies. The other stone, which cured the gout, was
an engraved gem bearing the figure of a king and an inscription in Hebrew
characters. This description suggests one of the Gnostic gems so common in
the early Christian centuries. The gem was suspended from a silver cord, so
that it could be worn on the neck, or perhaps attached to some other part of
the body. We find in the comptes royaux of 1420 an electuary composed of
powdered precious stones, for the cure of the infirmities of Isabel of
Bavaria, who was fifty years old and had been for several years obese and a
valetudinarian.[366]

In some parts of the Orient the superstitious notion exists that the ætites
occasionally emits a wailing sound during the night, and this is said to be
either an expression of the birth-pangs of the mother stone, or else the cry
of its new-born offspring, the small stones enclosed within the geode, for
the story goes that each night some of these are generated.[367]
These “eagle-stones” still retain their repute in Italy, where they are
called pietre gravide, or “pregnant stones,” and are considered by many of
the peasants as almost indispensable aids to parturition. They are in such
demand that the lucky owners rent them for the nine months during which
they are worn. As soon as one case has been happily concluded, the amulet
is passed on to some other woman who is in need of it. A fee of five lire, or
one dollar, is paid in each case, and a pledge worth a hundred lire ($20) is
required before the stone is handed over. Some amulets of this class bear
Christian symbols.[368]
Geodes of this description consisting of limonite are to be found in many
places. Some of them are of relatively recent formation, and one of these
shows curiously enough that in addition to its other virtues the ætites can on
occasion perform the functions of a savings-bank. This strange specimen
was found in 1846, at Périgueux, department Dordogne, France. On
opening the geode there appeared within some 200 silver coins dated in the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; all of these were encrusted with the
material forming the enclosing mass.[369]
Long, white, rough stones, calcareous shell growths, were sometimes
taken from snails and cockles. These were believed to have a marked
diuretic action, and were therefore strongly recommended for certain
diseases of the kidneys and the bladder. They were also believed to be
helpful in cases of difficult parturition. Although no details are given, it
seems most probable that the stones were reduced to a powder from which
some sort of potion was concocted,[370] this having no more action than so
much ground shell or marble dust.
The alectorius or “cock-stone” is one of the most famous of those real or
supposed animal concretions that were known in ancient times. From the
age of Pliny—and unquestionably long before his time—there was a
popular belief that this stone was only to be found in the gizzard of a cock
which had been caponed when three years old, and had lived seven years
longer. This was believed to allow the substance to acquire its boasted

virtue, for the longer it remained in the
body of the capon, the greater its power.
Such a “cock-stone” never exceeded the
size of a bean. From its association with the
pugnacious fowl, the alectorius became a
favorite stone with wrestlers, and the great
and invincible Milo of Croton is said to
have owed many of his victories to the
possession of one, for if held in the mouth,
it quenched the thirst and thus refreshed the
combatant.
Many other virtues of this stone are
recorded; it rendered wives agreeable to
their husbands, dissolved enchantments,
brought new honors and powers in addition de Extracting an alectorius. From Johannis
Cuba’s “Ortus Sanitatis,” Strassburg,
to those already enjoyed, and helped kings 1483.
to acquire new dominions. How persistent
was the faith in the virtue of the alectorius
is shown by the fact that the great astronomer Tycho Brahe greatly valued a
stone of this kind, not larger than a bean, and believed that it brought him
luck in gambling and in love. Thomas de Cantimpré[371] says that the name
signifies an allurer or enticer, because the stone excites the love of husbands
for their wives.[372] In order to secure the due effect it should be held in the
mouth, possibly because this would render the wife less eloquent.

ALECTORIVS

Alectorius. From Mercati’s “Metallotheca Vaticana,” Romæ, 1719.

A specimen of the alectorius is listed in the inventories of Jean Duc de
Berry (1401–1416). It is called there a “capon-stone” and is described as
having red and white spots. Several other objects to which talismanic
virtues were ascribed are also noted, such, for instance, as the “molar of a

giant,” set in leather; probably the tooth of a hippopotamus, or the fossil
tooth of some antediluvian creature. There is also what is termed a “tester,”
composed of several “serpent’s teeth” (glossopetræ?), horns of the
“unicorn” (narwhal’s teeth) and stones regarded as antidotes to poison.
These were all suspended by golden chains, and were valued at seventy-five
livres tournois.[373]
As a companion piece to the “cock-stone,” the hen furnished a concretion
possessing special virtues. This came from the fowl’s gizzard and was of a
sky-blue color; its Arabic name was hajar al-ḥattaf. If it were worn by an
epileptic, the attacks of his malady would cease; it favored procreation and
also nullified the effects of the Evil Eye, and it kept children from having
bad dreams if placed beneath their heads when they were sleeping. Thus the
effects it was fancied to produce differed from those ascribed to the
alectorius.[374]
In medieval times bunches of dried “serpent’s tongues” were sometimes
hung around salt-cellars or attached to spits; but frequently, for royal or
princely use, such tongues, or the jawbones of snakes, were set with
valuable precious stones and constituted a peculiar jewel termed in old
French a languier, or épreuve (tester); for these utensils, often very rich and
tasteful specimens of the goldsmith’s art, were believed to show in some
way the presence of the much-dreaded poison in any viands with which
they were brought in contact.[375]
The Indians and Spaniards in South America made remedial use of a
stone said to be obtained from the cayman or alligator, at Nombre de Dios,
Cartagena, etc. This was employed as a cure for various intermittent fevers.
Monardes writes that he applied two of these lapides caymanum to the
temples of a young girl suffering from an attack of fever, and found that the
fever was alleviated thereby; but he doubts that fevers could be entirely
cured by this treatment.[376]
From New Spain was also brought the lapis manati, taken from the
manatee, or sea-cow. This does not appear to have been a stone, but rather
the cochleæ of the animal, the small bones in the head which transmit the
auditory vibrations to the sensorium. They were highly valued by the
Indians for their remedial action in cramps and colic, and the Spaniards
collected them and brought them to Spain to enrich their very miscellaneous
pharmacopœia. Sometimes they were taken internally, but often they were

set in rings or worn suspended from the neck as amulets. This stone, or
bone, is described as oval in shape and of a hue resembling that of ivory.
When pulverized and dissolved, the solution was odorless and tasteless.
They are in size often as large as a woman’s clinched fist.[377]

Lapis manati. From Valentini’s “Museum Museorum, oder Vollständige Schau-
Bühne,” Frankfurt am Main, 1714.

The ear-bones of fish, almost invariably in pairs, are still used as amulets
in Spain and Italy. One of their chief virtues is to protect children from the
Evil Eye, as well as from accidents of any kind. They are also believed to
preserve the wearer from deafness or diseases of the ear.[378] This is quite in
accord with the primitive fancy that the different parts of the animal body
had prophylactic or curative powers in relation to any disease of that
portion of the human body.
Even the spider was supposed to produce a stone having remedial power,
especially that variety called by the Germans Kreuzspinne (“cross-spider”).
The belief was general in Germany, in the sixteenth century, that it was very

unlucky to injure one of these spiders;
indeed, Encelius writes that although he
had never seen a “spider-stone,” he had
never dared to dissect one of the spiders to
seek for the stone. He also remarks that it
was in no wise strange this should have
such power, since spider-webs were used as
remedies for many diseases. Naturally
enough the “spider-stone” was an antidote
against poisons, and a belief was current
that in a year when the plague was raging
no Kreuzspinne was to be seen.[379] Lapis malacensis, stone of the hedgehog
An attempt to induce one of these or porcupine. From Mercati’s
“Metallotheca Vaticana,” Romæ, 1719.
spiders to secrete or produce its stone or
calculus is told by Simon Paulli. On his
return from France in 1630, he stopped for the summer with his revered
master, Sennart, at Wittenberg, in order to pursue his studies. One day they
found by chance that an enormous spider had wandered into the rain-water
holder, and the extraordinary size of the creature—it was as big as a muscat
nut—suggested the idea of making it the subject of experiment. It was
therefore put into a glass jar with a quantity of powdered valerian root, this
material (or salt) being reputed to have a favorable influence in the
production of the stone. However, the experimenters were doomed to
disappointment, for the poor spider was unable to live up to its reputation.
Tired of waiting for nothing, recourse was finally had to the drastic measure
of dissection, but no stone of any kind could be found. This convinced the
observers that all the talk about spiders’ stones was mere foolishness or
deception. In a note in the Miscellanea Curiosa, under date of 1686, the
statement is made that such stones could indeed be found, but only in the
autumn season and in no other part of the year.[380]
A small golden amulet, having the form of a heart and set with various
stones, was strongly recommended to ward off the plague by Oswald Croll,
a writer of the early part of the seventeenth century. On the upper side of the
heart-amulet should be set a fair blue sapphire; above, beneath, and at either
side of this should be put a toad-stone, or a “spider-stone,” so as to give a
cross effect. The “spider-stones” were asserted to be powerful enemies of
the plague. On the under side of the heart a good-sized jacinth was to be set,

the jacinth also being credited with great virtue against plague or pestilence.
The gold heart was to be hollow within. To give a finishing touch to the
efficacy of the amulet it was necessary to take a living toad and keep the
creature suspended by its hind-legs until it died and dried up so that the
body could be reduced to a powder. This powder was then to be kneaded
into a sort of paste with a little very sharp vinegar and introduced into the
hollow interior of the gold heart.[381]
The “fretful porcupine” also contributed its stone to the series of
concretions; this was usually found in the animal’s head, and was
considered to be even superior to the bezoar as an antidote against poison.
If steeped in water for a quarter of an hour, the water became so bitter that
“there was nothing in the world more bitter.” Another stone supposed to be
found in the animal’s entrails possessed like properties, but was said to lose
none of its weight when placed in water, while the first-mentioned stone
became lighter. Tavernier bought three of these stones, paying as much as
five hundred crowns for one of them.[382]
A jewel made of ambergris, in the J. Pierpont Morgan collection, is said
to be the only specimen of its kind that has been preserved for us from
medieval times. The perfumed material has been skilfully carved into the
symbolic figures of a woman and three children. At one time believed to
symbolize Charity, the later theory is that these figures have a less pure
significance and rather denote the reproductive energies, for ornaments of
this material were credited with aphrodisiac powers; however, they were
also believed to cure stomachic disorders. The delicate perfume they
exhaled was one of their chief titles to admiration, and after the lapse of
more than three centuries, this particular jewel still emits a fragrant
aromatic odor when it has been held for some time in a warm hand. The
style of the workmanship indicates that this is a piece of cinquecento Italian
work. It was at one time in the Wencke Collection, in Hamburg, and later
formed part of the Spitzer Collection, until the sale of the latter in 1893.[383]
While many of the reports of the finding of immense masses of ambergris
(in one the weight of the mass is given as three thousand pounds) may be
classed as at least highly improbable, still there is abundant unmistakable
evidence that very large pieces have really occasionally been found. In
Rome and in the Santa Casa of Loreto costly and artistically shaped pieces
of ambergris were to be seen, which clearly indicated that the weight of the

original unworked mass must have greatly exceeded that of the ornamental
object. There can be no doubt of the authenticity of the details regarding a
great piece of ambergris weighing 182 pounds bought in the year 1693 from
King Fidori by the Dutch East India Company for 11,000 rigsdalers or
nearly $12,000 at the current valuation of the coin of that time. In form it
resembled a tortoise-shell, was 5 feet 8 inches thick, and 2 feet 2 inches
long. After being long kept in Amsterdam as a curiosity, and having been
viewed there by thousands of persons, it was finally broken up and sold at
auction.[384] A lump extracted from a whale in the Windward Islands
weighed 130 pounds and was sold for $3500, or nearly $27 a pound.
The livers of certain animals provided concretions called haraczi by the
Arabs; these were much used as remedies for epilepsy. The Turkish
butchers, when slaughtering animals, always examined the livers carefully
so as to secure these stones. As the Jews were said to suffer much from
melancholia and epileptic disorders they valued the liver-stones very highly.
[385]

The use of fossils as talismans and for the cure of diseases was mainly
due to their strange and various forms. As color played the most important
part in the case of precious stones, each color being looked upon as
possessing a certain symbolic significance fitting the stone for some special
use or uses, so in the case of fossils the form was the determining factor.
Sometimes it was as the form of some creature held by the superstitious to
be particularly endowed with mysterious qualities beneficial to mankind, at
other times the fossil form suggested some part of the human body, and was
therefore believed to afford protection to this part, or to cure any disease
affecting it. This will be made clearer by a brief notice of some of the
principal fossils which were favored in ancient and medieval times, either
by popular superstition or by those who from interested motives made use
of these superstitions for the purpose of gain, although they may have only
half believed in the real virtue of the objects they sold.
The remedial quality of fossils, which were believed to have been formed
from shells and marine animals deposited during the deluge, is ascribed by
Mentzel to the fact that they had been produced by the action of fire, and
hence had the same quality as though prepared and calcined by the
chemist’s art. They were therefore believed to have great medicinal virtues
in the cure of diseases.[386]

The lapis Judaicus[387] is described as of
oval form, in shape like an olive, and
sometimes provided with a stem at the
upper part as though it had grown on a tree.
The stone was soft and friable and in color
either white or grayish. The “male” variety
had several rows of equidistant spines,
while the “female” was quite smooth. The
description and the figured representations
of the lapis Judaicus show that it was a Lapis Judaicus. Pentremite heads. From
form of pentremite—that is, a form of “Museum Wormianum,” Lugduni
Batavorum, 1655.
crinoid. This fossil, which was said to come
from Syria and Palestine, was taken in
solution as a remedy for calculus. The larger, male stones, were regarded as
the better for renal calculus and the smaller, female stones, for vesical
calculus. Hence this fossil was sometimes called tecolithos, from τήκειν, to
dissolve, and λίθος, stone.[388] Pliny also states that this name was applied to
certain concretions found in sponges and supposed to possess similar
virtues.[389] Of the remedial use of this stone, or fossil, Galen states that
when prescribed for vesical calculi, it was pulverized in a mortar, and the
powder being mixed with water, three glasses of the solution were given.
He adds, however: “I must say that as far as I have seen they have no effect,
but they are efficient in the case of renal calculi.”[390]

Glossopetræ. Fossil shark’s teeth. From “Museum Wormianum,” Lugduni
Batavorum, 1655.

No fossils were more prized than the so-called glossopetræ or “tongue-
stones.” Although these were really the fossilized or petrified teeth of a
species of shark, Pliny and his sources believed them to be meteorites,
which “fell from the sky when the moon was waning.” This was, indeed, a
prevalent fancy regarding all dart-shaped, pointed or sharpened fossils, or
flints. Because of this celestial origin, the glossopetræ were said to control
the winds and even to affect the motions of the moon. At a later time the
chief source of supply for these petrified teeth was the island of Malta, and
they were therefore sometimes called lingues Melitenses, or Maltese
tongues; the Germans named them Steinzungen, or “stone-tongues.”
According to popular belief these so-called Maltese tongues were petrified
snakes’ tongues and they were brought into connection with the miraculous
adventure of St. Paul on the island of Malta, when he shook off a viper that
had fastened on his hand, and sustained no injury from the bite (Acts,
xxviii, 3–5). This was taken to signify that the poison had been taken from
all the snakes on the island.[391]

The material called “St. Paul’s Earth,” said to be derived from “St. Paul’s
Cave,” in the island of Malta, was reduced to a fine powder and made into
tablets. These were stamped with the Maltese cross; sometimes on the
opposite side some other figure was impressed. As there was temptation to
sell other material for the genuine, the purchaser was warned to be on his
guard. The virtues of this powder—which was dissolved in wine or water—
were numerous, and were the same as those ascribed to the “tongues”
(glossopetræ) and to the “eyes”; for it was believed to be an antidote for
poisons, cured the bites of venomous creatures, and remedied many other
ills. The “eyes” were set in rings so that the material touched the wearer’s
skin; the “tongues” were worn attached to the arm or suspended from the
neck. Sometimes vessels were made from the earth. These were filled with
wine or water, the liquid being allowed to stand until it had absorbed the
virtues of the earth; it was then taken as a potion with good effects. The
“tongues” and “eyes” were often dipped in wine or water and were
supposed to transmit their curative powers to the liquid.[392]
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries a strange belief was prevalent
among the ignorant to the effect that the fossil sharks’-teeth, the “tongue-
stones,” were the teeth of witches who sucked the blood of infants; these
“vampires” were called lamiæ in ancient times.[393] Probably the fact that a
certain species of shark bore the name lamiæ gave rise to this idea, which
was therefore merely due to a confusion of names. Nevertheless we can
easily understand that this popular belief added to the repute of the
glossopetræ, for the more dreaded the object the greater the power it was
credited with possessing. In the seventeenth century De Laet (d. 1649), the
Dutch naturalist and geographer, received in Leyden certain glossopetræ
sent him by a friend in Bordeaux, who wrote that they would cure any one
suffering from soreness of the mouth, whether this were the result of having
eaten impure food, or were produced by some derangement of the
secretions. The “tongues” were to be dipped in spring water and would
cause bubbles to form therein; as soon as these disappeared, the water was
to be used as a gargle, and the mouth was to be washed with it two or three
times. De Laet’s friend assured him that this treatment would cure the
disorder in twenty-four hours.[394]
A seventeenth century amulet of a fossil shark’s tooth, mounted in silver
and found in an excavation at Salzburg, Austria, was among the objects
exhibited by the writer for the New York branch of the American Folk-Lore

Society, in the Department of Ethnology of the Columbian Exposition held
in Chicago, in 1893. They are frequently found at Lake Constance but are
from the ancient fossiliferous formations and not from the lake. They are
often sold as amulets.
Fossils whose form suggested that of a
more or less acutely pointed shaft, were
thought to possess special powers,
sometimes offensive as against enemies,
and again defensive for the protection of
the wearer. Thus the belemnites,[395]
considered to represent the form of a dart,
when dissolved and taken as a potion, were
said to prevent nightmare and to guard
against enchantments. They are often either
ash-colored or whitish, and sometimes
reddish-black. All these varieties were
frequently found during the sixteenth
century in Hildesheim, and in the marble
grotto near the castle of Marienburg, called
the “Dwarf’s Grotto.”[396]
The umbilicus marinus, a fossil shell,
which in form bore a great likeness to the
human navel, was called “sea-bean” by
sailors. Usually of a pale saffron hue, some
specimens have a reddish or blackish tinge.
Belemnites. Fossilized bony end of
In the sixteenth century it was believed to extinct cuttlefish. From Aldrovandi’s
have astringent properties. We are also told “Museum metallicum,” Bononiæ, 1648.
that women used it as one of the
ingredients of a cosmetic for whitening the
complexion.[397]
Certain echinites (fossil sea-urchins) found on the Baltic coast are called
by the peasants Adlersteine and Krallensteine (“eagle-stones” and “claw-
stones”), since they believe that while the substance was soft eagles had
seized them with their talons, thus producing the peculiar forms and
markings. Whoever had a fossil of this description on his table while a
thunder-storm was raging ran no risk of being struck by lightning.[398]

Reich describes another variety of echinite, which was popularly known
as a “toad-stone,” the specimen he figures having been given him by a
certain Johannis Krauss. In this appeared some large cavities, whose
presence Reich found it very difficult to explain, until Krauss informed him
that they had been made by a former owner of the fossil who had scraped
out a few grains of the substance each year for medicinal use. He was
persuaded that his long life—he attained the age of eighty—was entirely
owing to his employment of this remedy.[399]
The trochites and entrochus, named Räderstein, or “wheel-stone,” by the
Germans, are other fossils to which remedial or talismanic virtue was
accorded in popular fancy. These “wheel-stones,” while detachable, fitted as
closely together in the original formation as though they had been skilfully
adjusted by a clever artisan.[400] De Laet states that when immersed in oil
they gave forth bubbles and moved about spontaneously. Still another of
these fossils believed to be amulets was the enastros, which De Boot terms
the asteria vera, or genuine asteria, since it not merely showed a star-
shaped marking as did the fossil coral bearing the name astroites, but was
shaped like a five-pointed star. As with the trochites, chains of these little
stars were found, closely joined together but separable from one another.
Some called them “star-seals,” because the stellar imprint was sharp and
clearly defined as though the work of an engraver or gem-cutter.[401] These
fossils are types of encrinites.

Brontia. Fossil sea-urchins. From Mercati’s “Metallotheca Vaticana,” Romæ,
1719.

Trochites Fossil
Crinoid From Mercati, “Metallotheca Vaticana,” Romæ, 1719.
Enastros Stems.
The sections of the stem-like fossils called entrochus by the older writers
have been named St. Cuthbert’s beads in later times, while the fossil called
lapis Judaicus has borne the name of “stone-lily,” because in form it
resembles the lily. Ages ago the stem and flower-like head united
constituted a crinoid (a marine zoophyte). These aquatic creatures—half-
plant and half-animal—usually twine their roots about some shell in the
depths of the waters, but sometimes they become detached and then,
moving their delicate tentacles, they creep along the bottom of the sea.
In olden times parts, or segments, of an animal were worn as a protection
against harm from that particular creature, or else to endow the wearer with
some of its real or fancied qualities. In modern times this tendency finds
expression in the wearing of jewels of animal form, wherein precious stones
are grouped and arranged so as to constitute different parts of the creature’s
body. Such jewels are often looked upon as “mascots.”
A peculiar fossil was known to the Germans by the name of Mutterstein,
and is called hysterolithus in the Latin treatises of Agricola, De Boot, etc., a
word of Greek derivation signifying the resemblance of the object to an
organ of the body. These fossils are formed from the contents of certain
shells, and retain the shape of the enclosing shell, which has broken away.
Some of these formations were called enorchi from a fancied resemblance
to another organ and were regarded as phallic emblems, while others were
thought to figure the heart, especially large specimens being named
bucardites, or “ox-hearts.” This name is already employed by Pliny. The
hysterolithus was used to cure various female diseases, and to the

bucardites was accorded among other
virtues that of increasing the wearer’s
courage.[402] The hysterolithus is believed to
be the same as the autoglyphus mentioned
by pseudo-Plutarch as having been found in
the river Sagaris, in Asia Minor. Its peculiar
shape was regarded as symbolizing Cybele,
the mother of the gods, and the story ran
that if one of the unfortunate male victims
of Eastern jealousy should obtain a stone of
this kind he would become reconciled to
his sad lot and would cease to regret his
lost manhood.

Bucardites triplex. From Aldrovandi’s
“Museum metallicum,” Bononiæ, 1648.

Types of Ombria (Fossil Sea Urchins). From Mercati’s “Metallotheca Vaticana,”
Romæ, 1719.

If we were inclined to accord the title of precious stones to stones greatly
esteemed for their talismanic virtues, a high place in this category would be
assigned to the sâlagrâma-stone of the Hindus.[403] Among the aboriginal
inhabitants of India this was regarded as a symbol of the female principle in
nature, and of its representative the goddess Prakrti, and in the later Hindu
belief the stone was looked upon as the special emblem of the god Vishnu,
the “Preserver,” the second personage of the Hindu Trimurti. It is therefore
ardently revered by those who are more especially devoted to the worship
of Vishnu. These stones are fossil formations, either of ammonites or

univalve mollusks of a spiral order, and consist of a number of spirals
surrounding a circular, central perforation. They are generally the hardened
filling of the shell itself, which has entirely weathered away. For the stone
to be an effectual talisman, the diameter of the perforation should not
exceed one-eighth of the total diameter of the sâlagrâma. The best
specimens are said to be found in Nepal, on the upper course of the
Gandakî, which flows into the Ganges from the north, and is called the
Salagrama River, because the sacred stone is found in it.
There can be little doubt that we have
here a substance similar to the fossils
described by Pliny and his successors under
the names brontia, ombria, ovum
anguinum, and cornu ammonis, and it is
most probable that in India, as in Europe,
these fossils were believed to have fallen
from heaven, and were associated with the
thunderbolt. Hence they would be regarded Cornu ammonis (Fossil Nautilus.) From
“Museum Wormianum,” Lugduni
by the Hindus as more especially sacred to Batavorum, 1655.
Vishnu, who was originally a divinity
representing the various forms of light, one
of his manifestations being the lightning.
The sâlagrâmas must be carefully chosen, for not all of them are luck-
bringing, some being bearers of ill-fortune. A black sâlagrâma brings fame
to the owner, and a red one, a crown; but one with an unduly large
perforation would cause dissension and strife in a family, one with
irregularly formed spirals portends misfortune, and a brown one would
bring to pass the death of its owner’s wife. Each faithful worshipper of
Vishnu has one of these stones, but two may not be in the same house. To
give away a sâlagrâma would be equivalent to casting away every prospect
of good fortune. However, only one who belongs to the three highest castes
is entitled to become an owner of the sacred stone, in which the very spirit
of Vishnu is supposed to dwell; neither a Sudra nor a Pariah enjoys this
privilege, which is also denied to women.
The sâlagrâma is carefully wrapped in linen cloths, and must be often
washed and perfumed. The water with which it has been washed becomes a
consecrated drink. The master of the house must adore the stone once each

day, either in the morning or in the evening. As the sâlagrâma not only
brings happiness in this world but also insures felicity in the future world, it
is held over the dying Hindu while water is allowed to trickle through the
orifice. This ceremony appears to have a certain analogy to the rite of
extreme unction administered in the Catholic Church.
It is stated by Finn Magnusen that in Iceland, toward the beginning of the
last century, he saw superstitious peasants carefully guard small stones of
peculiar appearance in pretty bags filled with fine flour. They treated these
stones with great reverence and either wore them on their persons or placed
them in their beds or other furniture.[404]
The fossils known as brontiæ, ombriæ and chelonites were all believed to
be antidotes for poison and also to make the wearer victorious over his
enemies. Hence they were sometimes set in the pommels of swords. That
these objects were equally potent in peace, is shown by the fact that Danish
peasant women placed them in their milk pails to ward off the effects of any
spell that might have been cast over the cow’s milk by a malevolent witch.
[405]

David Reich notes the four kinds of astroites, or “victory stones,” given
by De Boot; the first, marked with small stars; the second, with rose-like
figures; the third, with wavy lines, like the convolutions of a worm; the
fourth, with obscure and indefinite markings. To these varieties Reich adds
a fifth, the convex side of which was marked with black crosses, while the
other, flat side, showed larger crosses surrounded by circles; all these
markings were so perfect that an artist could scarcely imitate them; this
specimen he had set, with other precious gems, in a silver cross, the flat side
of the fossil, at the back of the cross, being covered by a heart-shaped topaz.
[406]
These were all specimens of fossil coral.

.ASTROITES.

Specimens of Astroites (asteria), or fossil coral. From Mercati’s “Metallotheca
Vaticana,”
Romæ, 1719.

The saga of Dietrich of Bern relates of King Nidung that on the eve of a
battle in which his forces were much inferior to those of the enemy, he was
filled with despair to find that he had left his “victory stone” in his castle,
miles away from where he had pitched his tent. Overmastered by his desire
to regain possession of his stone at this critical time, Nidung offered a large
sum of money and his daughter’s hand to anyone who would bring it to him
before the battle began. The distance was so great and the time so short that
the task seemed utterly impossible, and a young esquire, Velint by name,
was the only one willing to risk the enterprise. He was favored in his quest
by having a horse of wonderful strength and endurance, by whose help he
barely succeeded in making the long journey to the castle and returning in
time. King Nidung, wearing his invincible stone, was the victor in the
battle, and he did not fail to carry out his rather rash promise.[407]
Amulets of fossil coral are freely used in Italy, especially in the province
of Aquila, and are called “witch-stones” (pietre stregonie). These are similar
to one type of the “asterias” worn as amulets in ancient and medieval times.
Many of the Italian amulets are incised or engraved with Christian subjects,
one figured by Bellucci bearing the head of Christ on the obverse, and

Christ on the cross on the reverse side; on others appears the image of the
Virgin Mary.[408]
Crystalline quartz will sometimes show a star either at base or apex, if
cut en cabochon. This is due to the presence of acicular crystals of rutile or
to air spaces. Those specimens from Albany, Maine and other places present
this phenomenon, and Starolite and Astrolite or “star stone” has been
suggested as an appropriate name for this variety.

V
Snake-Stones and Bezoars

The bezoar stone, according to the usual belief, was taken from the
intestines or the liver either of the goat or of the deer. The Arabs told a
strange tale as to the generation of this stone.[409] They said that at certain
seasons the deer were wont to devour snakes and other venomous creatures,
whereupon they would straightway hasten to the nearest pool and plunge
into it until only their nostrils were above the water. Here they remained
until the feverish heat caused by the poison they had swallowed was
alleviated. During this time stones were formed in the corners of their eyes;
these dropped as the deer left the pool, and were found on its banks. The
stones were a sovereign antidote for poisons of all kinds. When reduced to a
powder and taken internally, or when simply bound to the injured part, they
effected a cure by inducing a profuse perspiration. It is curious to note that
this tale foreshadows, in a fanciful way, the latest progress of medical
science; namely, the use of a substance generated in the body of a diseased
animal as an antidote for the disease from which the animal suffered.
We are also told that Abdallah Narach narrates the case of the Moorish
king of Cordoba, Miramamolin, as Monardes gives the name, to whom a
violent poison had been administered and who was cured by means of a
bezoar stone. The king, overcome with gratitude for the preservation of his
life, gave his royal palace to the man who had brought him the stone.
Monardes remarks: “This certainly was a royal gift, since we see that at this
day the castle of Cordova is something rare and of great value and the stone
must have been highly prized when such a price was paid for it.”[410]
The first mention of the bezoar stone is by the Arabic and Persian writers.
In the Arabic work attributed to Aristotle, and which was certainly written
as early as the ninth and possibly in the seventh century, it is even described

among the precious stones. The same is
true of the oldest Persian work on
medicine, namely, that of Abu Mansur
Muwaffak, composed about the middle of
the tenth century. A valuable monograph on
the bezoar was written in 1625 by Caspar
Bauhin, a learned professor and physician
of Basel; this work contains all that was
then known of the various qualities
ascribed to this substance by the older
authors.
The bezoar does not appear to have been
used medicinally in Europe before the
twelfth century, when the so-called
Application of a besoar to cure a victim
of poisoning. From Johannis de Cuba’s
pestilential fevers became very prevalent.
“Ortus Sanitatis,” Strassburg, 1483. In their distress people turned to the lapis
bezoar, which was so highly recommended
by the Arabic physicians whose works
were, at that time, becoming more widely known through the intercourse
between the Spaniards and the Moors. Caspar Bauhin writes:[411] “Even to-
day princes and nobles prize it very highly and guard it in their treasures
among their most precious gems; so that the physicians are forced,
sometimes against their better judgment, to employ it as a remedy. So great
are its virtues that many imitations are made.”
The name bezoar, derived from the Persian padzahr (pad, expelling;
zahr, poison), or some of its many variants, was often used to designate any
antidote for poison, so that the Arabs would say that such or such a
substance was the bezoar for a particular poison. This should be understood
to signify that the stone received its name because it was regarded as a
specially powerful antidote.
The various authors give many different sources for the bezoar. We have
already cited Monardes and repeated his account; other writers asserted that
this concretion came from the heads of certain animals, others again said
that it was taken from their livers, and still others stated that it was formed
in the eye of the stag. Naturally, concretions of a similar form and quality
may well have been obtained from any of these sources. Indeed, one of the

most potent bezoars was that taken from the monkey. A specimen of this
kind is described and figured in the Museum Brittanicum[412] with the
following description:
A Monkey’s Bezoar, very much resembling one from the goat, of an oblong shape broke in two,
with a long straw, or some such like substance in its centre; its colour brown, pink, or deep yellow. I
found it set as generally they are for preservation in a little chest, or case, of what is called Lignum
Læevisiunum; the pith or medula of which appears to resemble the common elder, and may, for what
I know, be as curious as the stone itself.
Toll quotes[413] Jacob Bontius to the effect that these monkey bezoars,
which were rounded and a little longer than the finger, were considered the
best of all.
As the chief quality claimed for the bezoar was that it induced a profuse
perspiration, we might understand that it could have a beneficial effect in
some cases. It was also remarked that the solution of the stone blackened
the teeth and those who used it were therefore obliged to take great care that
the medicine should not touch their teeth.
We learn that a genuine stone was valued
at 50 gold crowns (about $125) in Calcutta;
another is said to have brought 130 crowns
($325). De Boot states that a drachm of the
powdered stone was worth two ducats ($5)
in Lower Germany and four ($10) in Upper
Germany; why, he does not say.
Garcias ab Horto, a Portuguese physician
of Goa, in India, describes a variety of the
bezoar called the Lapis Malacensis, used as
an antidote for poisons in Malacca. This
Monkey bezoar. From Valentini’s
was found in the liver of the hedgehog, and
“Museum Museorum oder Vollständige the substance was held in such esteem that
Schau-Bühne,” Frankfurt am Main, of two found in the fifteenth Century, one
1714.
was sent as a very valuable gift to the
Portuguese Viceroy at Goa. Garcias
describes this as being of a light purple hue, bitter to the taste and smooth as
the skin of a toad. The custom was to steep the stone in water for some time
and then to give this water to the patient as a medicinal draught. A specimen
was brought to Rome from Portugal by Cardinal Alexandrinus, and Mercato
states that he had seen a test of its virtues as an antidote for poisons. In the

opinion of De Boot: “As an antidote for any poison which may have been
administered, nothing more excellent than the bezoar stone can be had.”[414]
It was even asserted that if a bezoar set in a ring were frequently placed in
the mouth and sucked, this would afford a cure for poison by inducing a
profuse perspiration.[415] Besides its exceptional quality as an antidote for
poisons, this stone was regarded as a panacea for all chronic and painful
diseases, especially if taken each morning for several days, after the use of a
cathartic.

1. Hedge-hogstone from Malacca. 2, 3. Spurious stones of this type
manufactured in Ceylon. From Kaempfer’s “Amœnitatum exoticarum fasciculi
V,” Lemgoviæ, 1712.

Besides this use as a remedy or antidote, the bezoar was credited with the
powers of an elixir of life, for some of the Hindus employed it as a
preservative of youth and vigor. Twice a year, after dosing themselves with
a strong cathartic medicine, they would take ten grains of powdered bezoar
daily for fifteen days, and they are said to have derived great benefit from
this treatment.[416]
The celebrated practical test of the bezoar’s power as an antidote to
poison, recorded by the famous French surgeon, Ambroise Paré (1510–
1590), was performed in Paris with one which had been brought from Spain

to Charles IX of France. Clearly the only perfectly satisfactory means of
ascertaining whether the reputed virtues of this curious concretion were
really present was to make an experiment therewith upon a living human
being. Now it chanced that just at this time there was in the royal prison a
cook who had stolen two silver dishes from his master, and who, in accord
with the pitiless laws of that period, had been condemned to death for this
offence. Here was an excellent opportunity, therefore, to make a trial of the
bezoar, but as the adjudged legal penalty could not well be arbitrarily
changed to some other form of death, the matter was first laid before the
condemned man himself, with the promise that should he not succumb to
the poison he would be given his liberty. As at the worst this was taking a
chance of life in exchange for certain death, the cook readily consented. The
necessary preparations having been made, the poison was administered and
immediately thereafter the man was given a dose composed of a part of the
bezoar reduced to powder and dissolved in liquid. The effects of the poison
were soon manifested by violent retching and purging, and when Paré was
called in an hour later, he found the man in great agony, with blood issuing
from his nose, ears and mouth, and from the other bodily apertures. He
piteously complained that he felt as though consumed by an inward flame,
and before another hour had passed he expired, crying out that it would
have been much better to have died by hanging. From his report, Paré
seems not to have been present when the poison was given and not to have
been informed of its character, as he merely states that from the results of
his autopsy and from the symptoms he had observed, he concluded that it
was corrosive sublimate. Probably, conscientious and truly religious as he
was, he was unwilling to take an active part in such an affair. The king
ordered that his discredited bezoar should be cast into the fire and
destroyed. As an illustration of Ambroise Paré’s humility and piety we may
cite his remark on the recovery of one of his patients: “I treated him and
God cured him.”[417] It was Paré who operated upon Admiral Coligny after
the unsuccessful attempt on the latter’s life made a few days before his
assassination on St. Bartholomew’s Day, August 24, 1572, at the outset of
the dreadful massacre.
Alluding to the ill-success attending the experiment performed by
Ambroise Paré, in order to test effectively the supposed virtues of the
substance as an antidote for poisons, Engelbert Kaempfer remarks that
Paré’s bezoar may have been of inferior quality, and, moreover, bezoars

could not be successfully used to counteract mineral poisons, but were only
useful when vegetable poisons had been taken. This opinion was probably
due to the fact that the bezoar itself is largely or in the main a vegetable
substance. That the interior layers of a specimen should be inferior in
quality to the external layers was not for Kaempfer a proof of its spurious
character, but might easily be accounted for by a change of pasturage in the
case of the creature in whose body the concretion had formed.
This writer asserts that he considered those bezoars to be genuine which
were of a partly resinous and partly mineral composition, so that when
pulverized they could be dissolved in nitric acid, the solution having a
reddish hue. The Persians not only attributed to bezoars the same virtues as
did the Europeans, but also recommended the administration of the bezoar
elixir to persons in health, that they might avoid contracting disease and
prolong their lives, more especially if the dose were taken at the beginning
of the year. In general, however, he found that where Europeans used the
bezoar as a remedy, the Persians gave a dose of pearl tincture instead; but as
rarities, or perhaps as talismans, bezoars were even more highly prized in
Persia than in Europe, for there was hardly a Persian of note who did not
preserve one of these concretions among his treasures. The price depended
upon perfection of form and color, as well as upon size, one weighing a
mishkel (about 75 grains Troy) was commonly valued at one toman, the
equivalent of 15 ounces of silver (about $20), according to Kaempfer’s
computation, but the price rose rapidly with the size of the bezoar in a
proportion similar to that observable in the case of pearls. As Persian
bezoars were so costly in Persia, and the home demand for them so great,
those sold by this name in Europe must have had another origin.[418]
Of several experiments made with criminals to whom poison was
administered and then a dose of bezoar to test its virtues as an antidote, one
of the most interesting has to do with a criminal incarcerated in the prison at
Prague, in the reign of Emperor Rudolph II. To this man a drachm of the
deadly poison aconitum napellus was administered. Five hours were
allowed to elapse before the bezoar was given, so that the poison should
have full time to be absorbed by the system. During this time the effects
were fully manifested, oppression at the chest, pain in the gastric region,
dimness of vision and dizziness. When the five hours had expired five
grains of bezoar were given to the man in a little wine. After taking the dose
he felt some relief and vomited, but the bad symptoms soon returned and

even became aggravated, as though a supreme conflict for the mastery
between poison and antidote were in progress. There was delirium, extreme
tension of the abdomen, repeated vomiting, and an irregular, feverish pulse;
finally an acute inflammation of the eyes supervened, causing such intense
pain that the man declared he would rather die than endure it longer.
However, at the end of eight hours’ time from the administration of the
poison—three hours after the dose of bezoar had been given—all the
morbid conditions passed off, the patient was able to eat food with relish
and he slept quietly. In the morning he was perfectly well, and never
realized any subsequent bad effects. The emperor released him from prison
and even bestowed a handsome reward upon him.[419]
A strange experiment to determine the character and quality of bezoars is
related by Kaempfer on the authority of Jager. The latter asserted that while
in Golconda he had the opportunity of examining recently captured gazelles
for the presence of bezoars, and that by compressing their abdomens he
could distinctly feel two such concretions in the case of one of the animals
and five or six in the case of the other. They were kept some days for
further observation, but as they absolutely refused all food, it was decided
to kill them rather than have them starve to death. This was done, but when
the bodies were opened no trace of any bezoar could be found, and Jager
conjectures that the substance of these concretions had been absorbed into
the system of the animal for lack of any other nourishment.[420]
In his memoirs, Jehangir Shah relates that an Afghan once brought from
the Carnetic two goats said to have bezoar stones [pâzahar] in their bodies.
Jehangir was much surprised to note that these animals were fat and healthy
looking, as he had always been told that those having bezoars were
invariably thin and wretched in appearance. However, the Afghan was
shown to be correct in his conjecture, for when one of the goats was killed
and the body opened four fine bezoars were brought to light.[421]
About the beginning of the eighteenth century, Charles Jacques Poncet, a
French physician, was called to the court of the Abyssinian monarch of that
time. One of the favorite remedies of this Frenchman was a kind of artificial
bezoar, which he claims to have used with great success in cases of
intermittent fever. This so-called bezoar he administered to the sovereign
and to two of his children, and he also revealed to the Abyssinian king the
secret of its composition. He tells us that this “Emperor of Ethiopia,” as he

terms him, showed great interest in medical science, and listened eagerly to
explanations of the character and operation of the various remedies.[422]
The Indians of Peru had their own theory as to the genesis of the bezoar
stone. In relation to this Joseph de Acosta writes:[423]
The Indians relate from the traditions and teachings of their ancestors, that in the province of
Xaura, and in other provinces of Peru there are various poisonous herbs and animals which empoison
the waters and pastures where they [the vicuñas, etc.] drink and eat. Of these poisonous herbs, one is
right well known by a natural instinct to the vicuña and to the other animals which engender the
bezoar, and they eat of this herb and thus preserve themselves from the poison of the waters and
pastures. The Indians also say that the stone is formed in the stomachs of these animals from this
herb, whence comes the virtue it possesses as an antidote for poisons, as well as its other marvellous
properties.
Of the mineral bezoar, which was also regarded as an antidote against
poisons, Mohammed ben Mançur relates that various ornamental figures
were formed from it, such as small images of the Shah or little female
figures; these were perhaps regarded as talismans. Knife-handles were also
made of this material,[424] and here the use may have been connected with
the belief in the curative power of the bezoar, if brought into direct contact
with the skin, as would be the case when the knife-handle was grasped in
the hand.
A mineral bezoar bearing a close likeness to the animal concretion was
found in Sicily. This stone was usually round, sometimes oblong like an
egg, and sometimes compressed; its usual size was about that of a pigeon’s
egg, the largest stone not surpassing the size of a hen’s egg. It was
commonly white, occasionally of a somewhat ashy hue, and the surface was
generally smooth, though now and then it was rough with small
protuberances. Its taste resembled that of the white bolus armenus. The
composition of this stone was similar to that of the Oriental bezoar of
animal origin, having the same layers, and in the centre a small mass of
sand over which nature had imposed from eight to ten layers, just as in the
animal bezoar.[425]
A peculiar bezoar is reported from Indrapura, India. This was said to have
been found in the skull of a rhinoceros, and was of light weight and of a
black hue, varying to pale red when held against the light; it was hard
enough to cut glass. The owner believed it to be a panacea for all ills. For
blood-spitting it was held in the mouth; for rheumatism, bruises, or burns, it
was rubbed over the affected part; and for the bites of venomous creatures it

was simply laid upon the wound; even those at the point of death were
revived by it.[426]
An amulet set with a bezoar stone is said to have possessed such a power
to prevent bleeding that when a Malacca prince was killed in a battle with
his rebellious subjects, no blood was flowing from any of his numerous
wounds. On stripping the body a golden armlet set with a bezoar came to
view, and the moment this was removed blood began to flow freely from
the wounds.[427]
Mercato writes of a marvellous Occidental bezoar, sent from Peru to
Rome in 1534, as a gift to Pope Gregory XIII. It weighed no less than fifty-
six ounces, although it was defective, since a large portion of the exterior
crust was missing, the second layer was partly broken away, and even the
third layer was damaged in some places. This wonderful concretion had
been dedicated to one of the Peruvian gods, as a rare and precious object,
and it was taken away by the Spaniards when they spoiled the temple.
Mercato says that this bezoar was “of a truly monstrous size, unheard of in
all previous centuries, and it is still the largest in the whole realm of
nature.”[428]
The bezoars of the New World seem to have differed considerably from
those of India. They had a rough surface, were usually of a gray color, of
various sizes and forms, and composed of a number of superimposed,
coalescing layers, much thicker than those of the Oriental, or Indian, bezoar.
They were usually of considerable size, either hollow within or containing
seeds, needles and similar substances. They came from the West Indies,
especially from Peru, and were brought thence by the Spaniards and
Portuguese. The greater number were found in a kind of chamois; however,
we are told that the bezoar was not found in all these animals, “but only in
the old ones.”[429]
A letter written in the sixteenth century by one who had travelled
extensively in India and in Peru, illustrates the ideas of that time regarding
both Oriental and Occidental bezoars:
A gentleman living about twenty-eight years in these Countries, writes to his Friend, that he saw
those Animals out of which comes the Bezoar, and saith, they are very like Goats, only they have no
Horns; and are so swift, that they are forc’d to shoot them with guns. He tells us, that he and some
Friends, on the 10th of June 1568, hunted some of these Creatures, and in five Days kill’d many of
them; and that in one of the oldest of them, they made diligent Search for the stone, but found it not,
neither in the Ventricle, nor in any other Part of the Animal. They ask’d the Indians that attended
upon them, where the Stones lay; they denied they knew anything of them, being very envious and

unwilling to disclose such a Secret. At length (he saith) a Boy about twelve years old perceiving us to
be very inquisitive, and to be very desirous of Satisfaction in that Particular, shew’d us a certain
Receptacle and (as it were) a Purse, into which they receive their eaten herbs, which afterwards when
churned, they convey into the Ventricle.[430]
The same circumstances were observed by this informant in regard to the
Peruvian bezoars, and from the “pouch” of one of these animals were taken
no less than nine stones, “which, by the help of nature, seemed to be made
of the Juice of those salutiferous Herbs, which were crammed up into this
little Pouch.”[431]
While the Occidental bezoar from South America enjoyed a special
repute in Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when bezoars
were so freely used as poison-antidotes, and for the cure of fevers and other
diseases, it has been doubted whether the aborigines of South America ever
valued them in any way before the time of the Spanish Conquest. What
seems, however, to be a proof that they sometimes did so, is afforded by the
discovery of a bezoar, probably taken from the body of a llama, in a tomb at
Cojitambo, in the Cañari region of Ecuador. In spite of the contrary opinion
expressed by Garcilasso de la Vega, there is reason to believe that such
animal concretions were used by these Indians in magic practices. The
Quichua name is illa, and Holquin in his Quichua dictionary says that the
natives believed that bezoars were luck-bringing stones. Another name,
quicu, is vouched for by Arriaga, who states that the Spaniards found some
bezoars stained with the blood of sacrificial victims, thus showing that they
were thought to possess a certain religious or mystic significance. Another
author, Don Vasco de Contreros y Vievedo, writing in 1650, states that the
most highly valued of these concretions among the natives of South
America were those taken from the American tapir, which they called
danta.[432]
The comparative value of Oriental and Occidental bezoars was still an
open question toward the end of the sixteenth century. In a letter written by
Sir George Carew to Sir Robert Cecil, on October 10, 1594, the former
states that he had submitted a bezoar from the West Indies to a London
jeweler named Josepho, who had told him that had the substance come from
the East Indies he would value it as high as £100, but that never having
made trial of West Indian bezoars, he would not venture on an estimate,
although he did not doubt but that they were quite as good. Nevertheless he

would not care to buy this one before having tested its virtues
experimentally.[433]
That good Queen Bess shared the beliefs of her age as to the virtues of
stones is well known, and she appears to have regarded her bezoars as
worthy of a place among the treasures of the Crown, for in the inventory of
the jewels made at the accession of James I we read:
Also one greate Bezar stone, sett in goulde that was Queene Elizabeth’s, with some Unicorne’s
Horne, in a paper; and one other large Bezar stone, broken in peeces, delivered to our owne handes,
by the Lord Brooke, the two and twentith day of Januarie, one thousand sixe hundred and twenty and
two.[434]
After the death of Rudolph II, in 1612, the Venetian envoy, Girolamo
Soranzo, wrote to the Doge, “No other monarch has ever accumulated so
many jewels.” He also communicates the fact that some at least of these
gems were to follow him to the grave, for when interred, his head was
covered with a cap adorned with many valuable precious stones. However,
Rudolph’s fondness for the more splendid gems and jewels was
accompanied by a very particular taste for the collection of Oriental
bezoars, of which a large number are noted as in his possession at the time
of his death. These ranged in weight from 1 loth (½ oz. Troy) to 25½ loth (a
little more than one pound Troy); most of them were provided with a rich
gold setting, and one especially prized bezoar, weighing about 8 ounces,
reposed in a silver box decorated with 32 diamonds and 26 rubies. Another
of very singular shape, resembling “four toes,” is also entered on the list.
Besides these the imperial collection included several other curious animal
concretions, probably regarded as having therapeutic virtues, such, for
instance, as a “stone” from the body of a doe; this had been found by a
certain Helmhardt Jörger and by him presented to the emperor; another of
these treasured concretions came from the stomach of a stag. A specimen of
the famed “eagle-stone” is also listed; this had a double gold setting, and on
it were inscribed the words “Piedra Geodas,” showing that the real
character of this stone as a geode was then well understood.[435]
Some of the gold mounted bezoars of Rudolph II are still to be seen in
the Hofmuseum, at Vienna. One is surrounded by a gold band with a scroll
pattern; another has a capping of gold and stands upon a golden base, and
still another, capped and belted with gold, is attached by a chain to a golden
bowl. This was probably to be used as a test of the freedom from poison of
any beverage in the vessel. A bezoar of the eighteenth century is mounted

upon a tree of gold, against the trunk of which a wild boar is leaning. This
may be only a decorative adjunct, or it might be an indication of the
particular animal source of this special bezoar.[436]
The bezoars of Borneo are taken either from monkeys or porcupines. For
medicinal use, the gratings are dissolved in water and the solution is
administered as required. Skeats relates that he was once asked $200 by a
native for a small stone, erroneously asserted to be a bezoar. This stone was
carefully wrapped up in cotton and preserved in a tin box with some grains
of rice, the owner firmly believing that the stone fed on the rice. A red
monkey (semnopithecus) furnishes many of these bezoars, but those from
the porcupine are supposed to be so much the more efficacious that the
Sultan of Saik claims all bezoars of this kind found in his dominions as his
personal property; nevertheless, many are said to be surreptitiously taken
out of the country by Malayan or Chinese traders. A remarkably fine
specimen in the possession of the Sultan is valued at $900; small ones may
be worth no more than $40, but the value increases very rapidly with the
size of the concretion. Though it is confidently believed that the bezoars
work wonderful cures in diseases of the bowels and of the respiratory
organs, the natives value them chiefly as aphrodisiacs, this action being
secured either by wearing them or by taking them in solution.[437]

BEZOARS OF EMPEROR RUDOLPH II, NOW IN THE HOFMUSEUM,
VIENNA

The Chinese work entitled P’ing-chou-k’o-t’an, by Chu Yü, written in the
first quarter of the twelfth century, mentions the mo-so stone (the bezoar)
and states that it was worn in finger rings. Should anyone have reason to
suppose that he had taken poison, all he had to do in order to escape any
bad effects was to lick the bezoar stone set in his ring. The Chinese writer
adds that it might thus be justly called “a life preserver.”[438]
The Dayaks of Borneo have a method for producing bezoars which they
call guligas. This is to shoot an animal with an unpoisoned arrow. When the
wound heals, there is often a hardening of the skin, which finally results in
the formation of a guliga. In some of these concretions the point of the
arrow still remains. The guligas of natural formation are frequently found
between the flesh and the skin of apes and porcupines.[439]
In the eighteenth century Valmont de Bomare reports that the bezoars of
the hedgehog commanded the highest price. These were greasy and soapy,
both to the eye and to the touch, and of a greenish or yellowish color; a few
were reddish or blackish. They were so highly valued in Holland that a Jew
in Amsterdam asked 6000 livres ($1200) for a specimen in his possession as
large as a pigeon’s egg; and such bezoars were even rented in Holland and
Portugal, at the rate of one ducat ($2.50) a day, to those who were exposed
to contagion, and believed that the bezoars, if worn as amulets, would
protect them from the danger.[440]
In a letter to the Macon, Georgia, Journal and Messenger of August,
1854, Major J. D. Wilkes, of Dooley County, relates that while hunting he
shot down a fine buck. He states that on cutting up the animal he found a
stone of a dark greenish color, about where the windpipe joins the lights. It
was from an inch and a half to two inches long, and quite heavy for its size,
although it appeared to be porous. Major Wilkes says that he had heard of
similar stones from old hunters, and had been told that they possessed the
power of extracting poison, but that they were rarely found. The
communication proceeds to relate a case where this stone was successfully
applied to a dog which had been bitten by a rattlesnake. We have here one
of the few notices extant regarding an American bezoar stone.[441]
An American bezoar taken from the stomach of a deer killed in the
Chilhowee Mountains, in Tennessee, was reported in 1866 by Prof. David
Christy. In extracting this concretion the hunter had damaged the outer
layer, but when this was removed there remained a perfectly smooth, round

body, about the size and shape of a hen’s egg, and of a light brown color.
When Professor Christy obtained it, this bezoar had already acquired the
reputation of possessing great though somewhat undefined virtues; he
presented it to Professor Wood of the Ohio Medical College in Cincinnati.
[442]

Writing of bezoars in the year 1876, Dr. Learned states that Signor
Korkos, of Morocco, showed him one for which he had paid twelve dollars.
It was as large as a small walnut, the surface being smooth and cream-
colored; a section revealed the presence of the concentric circular layers
characterizing the formation of this concretion. For remedial use it was
rubbed on a stone until a sufficient quantity of its powder was obtained,
which was then diluted in liquid and administered as a potion. Strict dieting
and absolute rest in the house for seven days were an essential part of the
treatment, the bezoar powder being more especially recommended in
diseases of the heart, liver or other internal organs, but for sore eyes and for
rheumatism its virtues were praised. This illustrates a modern employment
of the concretion in Mohammedan Morocco.[443]
Some medical authorities of the sixteenth century were disposed to
regard the calculus produced by the human subject as superior in medicinal
efficacy to the far-famed bezoar. One of their arguments was that as man
was the highest type of organized being a human product must exceed in
value one from an animal source; then again, his food was of the best,
superior in quality to that taken by the animals furnishing the bezoars. For
every theory a proof can be found if one is on the lookout for it, and
therefore we need not be surprised if the virtues of calculi or gravel were
also supported by evidence. In 1624 or 1625 the Dutch city of Leyden was
visited by the plague, and to the great regret of the physicians there was no
supply of bezoars on hand. Hereupon they were driven to make use of
human gravel, and found to their astonishment that this was an even more
excellent sudorific than the bezoar itself.[444]

Calculi taken from the bladder of Pope Pius V. From Mercati’s “Metallotheca
Vaticana.” Romæ, 1719.

Although there is no direct relation between bezoars and the hair-balls
sometimes found in the stomach or intestines of human beings, there is
some slight analogy, as the animal bezoar concretions seem to have been
formed about a nucleus consisting of some indigestible material that has
been swallowed by an animal. From the report of hospital surgeons, it
appears that these hair-balls, which result from a long-continued habit of
swallowing hair, are almost exclusively found in the bodies of women,
generally of very young girls. The large size which they sometimes attain is
very surprising; in several instances they have so filled up the stomach that
they are moulded by it into its exact shape. Although when a hair-ball has
reached this size, and indeed long before, the most alarming symptoms set
in, frequently recurrent vomiting being the most characteristic, we cannot
but wonder how it is possible for any food to enter and pass through the
stomach under such conditions, the only explanation being the great power
of dilation this organ possesses. Its disposition to patiently tolerate foreign
bodies where it cannot expel them, renders it often a poor guide in a

diagnosis based upon the patient’s personal experience. These hair-balls
accumulate and lodge not only in the stomach but also in the intestines, and
in either case the eventual result is almost certain to be fatal unless the
obstacle is removed by operation. Very occasionally only does nature react
sufficiently to expel the impediment without surgical aid. Of course all
treatment is vain unless the morbid habit of hair-swallowing can be
overcome. This does not seem to be an accompaniment of a distinctly
diseased mental condition, although that is sometimes coincident, but must
assuredly result from some derangement or abnormality of the nervous
centres, inducing a morbid and unnatural craving.[445]

Types of the Ovum Anguinum.
Echinites (sea-urchins). From
Aldrovandi’s “Museum metallicum,”
Bononiæ, 1648.

The serpent-stone, called by Pliny ovum anguinum, or “serpent’s egg,” is
said to have been worn by the Druid priests as a badge of distinction. Pliny

relates that he had seen one of them which was as large as a moderate-sized
apple, its shell being a cartilaginous substance. It was supposed to be
generated in midsummer out of the saliva and slime exuding from a knot of
intertwined serpents. When the moisture had coagulated and formed into a
sphere, this was tossed in the air by the hissing snakes, and, in order to
preserve its efficacy as a talisman, the finder had to catch it in a linen cloth
before it fell to the ground. Such “serpent’s eggs” were in high favor with
the Romans, who believed they procured for the wearers success in all
disputes and the protection of kings. So great was the faith reposed in their
magical virtues that Claudius is said to have condemned to death a Roman
knight, one of the Vecontii, simply because he had an ovum anguinum
concealed in his bosom when he appeared in court during the trial of a
lawsuit in which he was involved. In order to enhance the value of this
amulet, the story was circulated that great dangers were incurred in securing
it; for the snakes pursued any one who seized the egg and he could only
escape by fording a river, across which they could not swim.[446] In later
accounts of this amulet it is described as a ring, sometimes composed of a
blue stone with an undulating streak or stripe of yellow, thought to represent
a snake.
Certain so-called floating-stones have been found in a branch of Mann
Creek, a tributary of the Weiser River, which flows into the latter near its
confluence with the Snake River in Idaho.[447] These are hollow quartz
globes, with a shell so thin that the air in the cavity more than makes up for
the specific gravity of the quartz. Some formation similar to this may
possibly have been intended by Pliny in his description of the ovum
anguinum or serpent’s egg of the Druids, which floated if thrown into a
stream, although it is perhaps more probable that these “serpent’s eggs”
were shells of the sea-urchin, as they are figured by De Boot and other
writers.
The snake-stone, legends regarding which are met with in so many
different parts of the world, is known to the Lapps of northern Europe, and
strange to say, some of the elements of Pliny’s old recital touching the
“serpent’s egg” come out in the account given of it by this primitive race, in
general so far removed from any notion of classical tradition. Anyone in
search of this stone must resort, according to the Lapps, to the pairing place
of snakes, for here they throw the stone, which is small and white, back and
forth to one another; he must steal along quietly until he is quite near to the

snakes and then snatch the stone as it flies through the air, and run away
with it as fast as he can to the nearest piece of water. Should he reach the
water before the snake does—for the reptile pursues him—he gains the
ownership of the stone; if, however, the snake first reaches the water, this is
very dangerous for the man. Hence he should carefully search out the
nearest water before snatching the stone, and as the snake will not
immediately know what has become of it, and will hunt for it awhile before
starting in pursuit of the thief, the latter will have time to come first to the
water.[448]
Tertullian writes that the wearing of stones taken from the head of a
dragon or of a serpent was especially reprehensible in the case of a
Christian; for how could a Christian be said to “bruise the head” of the Old
Serpent (Gen. iii, 15) while wearing such a stone about his neck or on his
head, and thus testifying to a kind of serpent worship![449]
The Greek poem “Lithica,” belonging to the fourth century B.C., also
celebrates the virtues of a “snake-stone,” which is to be pressed closely on
the bitten spot; but besides this application, the drinking of undiluted wine
in which the stone ostrites had been pulverized, is recommended. This
shows that the therapeutic value of alcohol as a stimulant to revive the
nerve-centres, paralyzed by the animal poison, was recognized at this time.
An unusually precise description is given of the ostrites; it was round, hard,
black and rough, and was marked by many wavy lines or veins. Some one
of the many varieties of banded agate seems to answer best to this
description.[450]
The legend that St. Patrick drove out all snakes from Ireland sometimes
took the form that the saint had transformed them into stones. This belief is
noted by Andrew Borde, physician and ecclesiastic, who, writing in 1542,
mentions some strange stones he had been shown on that island:
I have sene stones the whiche have had the forme and shape of a snake and other venimous
wormes. And the people of the countrie sayth that such stones were wormes, and they were turned
into stones by the power of God and the prayers of saynt Patrick. And English merchauntes of
England do fetch of the erth of Irlonde to caste in their garden’s, to keepe out and to kyll venimous
wormes.[451]
The legendary serpent-stone is usually one taken from the reptile’s head,
but Welsh tradition tells of one extracted from the tail of a serpent by the
hero Peredur, and having the magic property that anyone holding it in one
hand would grasp a handful of gold in the other. This stone was generously

bestowed upon Etlym by the finder, who only secured it after vanquishing
the serpent in a dangerous conflict.[452]
The snake-stone (or “madstone”), in Arabic ḥajar alḥayyat, is described
by the Arab writer Kazwini, as being of the size of a small nut. It was found
in the heads of certain snakes. To cure the bite of a venomous creature the
injured part was to be immersed in sour milk, or in hot water, and when the
stone was thrown into the liquid it would immediately attract itself to the
bitten part and draw out the poison.[453] The homeopathic idea plays a
considerable rôle in the superstitions of the Arabs of northern Africa. To
cure the bite or sting of the scorpion, the creature is to be crushed over the
wound it has inflicted. If anyone is bitten by a dog, he should cut off some
of the animal’s hair and lay this on the bitten part; if, however, the dog was
mad, it must be killed, its body opened and the heart removed. This is then
to be broiled and eaten by the person who has been bitten.[454]
Many beautiful glass beads of Roman, or perhaps of British fabrication,
have been found in Great Britain and Ireland. Upon some of these are
bosses composed of white spirals, the body of the bead being blue, red,
yellow, or some other brilliant color. These have been called “holy snake
beads.” Probably most of them are merely ornamental productions and were
not intended to represent serpent-stones. The curious test of the genuineness
of an ovum anguinum mentioned by Pliny, namely, that even if set in gold,
it would float up a stream against the current, indicates a very porous
structure; perhaps some of these serpent’s eggs were hollow, vitrified clay
balls with wavy lines on the surface.
De Boot, in his treatise on stones and gems,[455] figures the ovum
anguinum, and says that its form was either hemispherical or lenticular. In
his opinion the name “serpent’s egg” was given to the stone because on its
surface there appeared five ridges, starting from the base and tapering off
toward the top. These bore a certain resemblance to a serpent’s or adder’s
tail. The stone was believed to protect the wearer from pestilential vapors
and from poisons.
The so-called “snake-stones,” many specimens of which have been found
in British barrows, bear in the Scottish Lowlands the designation “Adder
Stanes.” They are also sometimes called adder-beads or serpent-stones. For
the Welsh they were gleini na droedh and for the Irish glaine nan druidhe,
the meaning being the same, “Druid’s glass.” Many interesting examples

were added to the collection of the Museum of Scotch Antiquaries, one of
these being of red glass, spotted with white; another of blue glass, streaked
with yellow; other types were of pale green and blue glass, some of these
being ribbed while others again were of smooth and plain surface. That the
glass “snake-stones” were objects of considerable care and attention is
indicated by the mending of a broken specimen shown by Lord
Landesborough at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries in 1850. This
broken bead had been repaired and strengthened by the application of a
bronze hoop.[456]
The supposed snake-stones are also to be found among the Cornishmen,
who sometimes call these objects milprey or “thousand worms,” and they
even lay claim to the power of forcing a snake to fabricate the “stone” by
thrusting a hazel-wand into the spirals of a sleeping reptile. In another
version it is not a bead that is formed but a ring which grows around a
hazel-wand when a snake breathes on it. If water in which this ring has been
dipped be given to a human being or an animal that has been bitten by a
venomous creature, all ill effects of the bite will be warded off, the water
acting as a powerful antidote to the poison.[457]
The belief that the snake-stone of Welsh legend—in reality either a fossil
or a bead—was evolved from the venom or saliva ejected by a concourse of
hissing snakes, gave rise to a peculiar popular saying among the Welsh to
the effect that people who are whispering together mysteriously, and
apparently gossiping, or perhaps hatching some mischief, are “blowing the
gem.”[458]
Many of the glass beads known as “snake-stones” or “Druid’s glass” are
perforated, and this is fancifully explained as being the work of one of the
group of snakes which forms the bead. This particular snake thrusts its tail
through the viscous mass before it has become hardened into a glass sphere.
In various parts of Scotland such beads are treasured up by the peasants;
according to the testimony of an English visitor of 1699, who reports that
they were hung on children’s necks as protection from whooping-cough and
other children’s diseases, and were also valued as talismans productive of
good fortune and protective against the onslaught of malevolent spirits. To
guard one of these precious beads from the depredations of the dreaded
fairies the peasant would keep it enclosed in an iron box, this metal being
much feared by the fairies.[459]

A type of snake-stone used in Asia Minor is described as being of a
pearly white hue, rounded on one side, and flat on the other. Toward the
edge of the flat side runs a fine, wavy, bluish line, the undulations of which
are fancied to figure a serpent. The victim of a snake-bite first had the spot
rubbed with some kind of sirup; then the stone was applied to the bitten
spot, and it would adhere to the inflamed surface for eight days; at the
expiration of this time it would fall off. The bite would be entirely healed
and would not be followed by ill effects of any kind.[460]
A novel theory in regard to the formation of a type of snake-stones is
given by an old Chinese writer. This is that snakes, before they begin to
hibernate, swallow some yellow earth and retain this in the gullet until they
come forth again in the springtime, when they cast it forth. By this time the
earth has acquired the consistency of a stone, the surface remaining yellow,
while the interior is black. If picked up during the second phase of the moon
this concretion was thought to be a cure for children’s convulsions, and for
gravel, and was powdered and given in infusion. The infusion could also be
applied with advantage externally to envenomed swellings.[461]
An old manuscript found in a manor house in Essex, England, contains a
translation, made in 1732 by an Oxford student, E. Swinton, of some details
on the snake-stone, taken from a work published in the same year at
Bologna by Nicolo Campitelli. After noting that these stones came from the
province of Kwang-shi in China and from different places in India, their
appearance and qualities are described. In color they were almost black,
some having pale gray or ash-color spots. The test of the genuineness of
such a stone was to apply it to the lips; if not a spurious one, it would cling
so closely to the membrane that considerable force must be exerted to
separate it therefrom. The usual directions are given for its employment in
the cure of snake bites, but its usefulness by no means ended here; its
curative power was also exhibited in the case of “Scrophulous Eruptions
and Pestilential Bubos,” and it could be used in the treatment of malignant
tremors, venereal disorders, etc. With the manuscript was found a specimen
snake-stone. This was described as being a thin oval body, about an inch in
length and three-quarters of an inch broad; the color was gray with light
streaks, and the surface was bright and polished. It was of the consistency
of horn, and the writer of the note in the “Lancet” believes that it was part
of a stag’s antler or some similar substance, from which the animal matter
had been removed by the action of heat; many of the Oriental snake-stones

are of this type, but, as we have already seen, a great variety of more or less
porous materials have been and are still used in this way in different parts of
the world. A practical experiment was made in 1867 by Dr. John Schrott,
who excited six cobras to bite a number of pariah dogs. Without delay the
snake-stones were applied to the wounds, but they proved absolute failures,
death resulting as speedily as though nothing had been done.[462]
Jean Baptiste Tavernier, the great Oriental traveller of the seventeenth
century, gives the following description of the “snake-stones” found in
India:[463]
Finally, I will mention the snake-stone, which is about the size of a doubloon, some approximating
to an oval form, being thicker in the middle and tapering toward the edges. The Indians say that it
forms on the head of certain snakes, but I rather believe that the priests of these idolators make them
think this, and that this stone is a composition of certain drugs. However this may be, it has great
virtue to draw out all the poison, when anyone has been bitten by a venomous creature. If the part
that has been bitten has not been punctured, an incision must be made, so that the blood can flow out,
and when the stone has been applied, it does not fall off until it has absorbed all the poison which
gathers about it. To clean it, woman’s milk is used, or should this be lacking, cow’s milk, and after
ten or twelve hours steeping, the milk which has drawn out all the poison takes on the color of pus.
Having dined one day with the Archbishop of Goa, he took me into his museum, where he had
several curious objects. Among other things he showed me one of these stones, and having told me of
its properties, he assured me that but three days before he had seen them tested, and presented the
stone to me. As he was traversing a marsh on the Island of Salsate, whereon Goa is situated, to go to
a country house, one of those who bore his palanquin, and who was almost entirely naked, was bitten
by a snake and was immediately cured by this stone. I have bought several of them, and they are sold
only by the brahmins, which makes me think the brahmins themselves make the stones. There are
two methods of testing whether the stone is good or the product of some deception. The first of these
tests is to place it in one’s mouth, for then, if it be good, it springs up and cleaves to the palate; the
second test is to place it in a glass full of water; if it is not sophisticated, the water begins to seethe,
small bubbles rising from the stone at the bottom to the surface of the water.
Thevenot, a French traveller who visited India in 1666, about the time
Tavernier was there, asserts that the famous “Stones of the Cobra” were
manufactured in the town of Diu, in Guzerat, and that they were made “of
the ashes of burnt roots, mingled with a kind of Earth they have, and were
again burnt with that Earth, which afterwards is made up into a Paste, of
which these Stones are formed.” After describing the process employed for
cleaning the stones after they had been used, Thevenot adds that if not freed
from the absorbed venom the stones would burst.[464]
Dr. J. Davy examined and analyzed some of these “stones,” and found
one of them to be a piece of bone partially calcined. When applied to the
tongue or to any other moist surface it adhered firmly. Another, which
lacked all absorbent or adhesive power, was said to have saved the life of

four men. It therefore appears that while some of the “snake-stones” really
possessed some possible curative virtues, others were esteemed only
because of a superstitious belief in their magical properties. Kaempfer,
writing in 1712, informs us that these stones should always be used in pairs,
and applied successively to the wound.[465] The belief in the efficacy of such
stones is still general in India, and one of the varieties is supposed to be
found in the head of the adjutant bird.[466]
Francisco Redi[467] describes the extraordinary healing power attributed to
stones obtained from the heads of certain serpents, called by the Portuguese
“cobras de capello,” found throughout Hindostan and Farther India. These
stones are claimed to be an infallible remedy for the bites and stings of all
kinds of venomous reptiles or animals, and likewise for wounds made by
poisoned arrows, etc. He repeats the usual tales of their adhering powerfully
when applied to the bite or wound, and clinging to it like a cupping-glass
until they had absorbed all the poison, when they would fall off
spontaneously, leaving the man or animal sound and free. Then follows the
account of steeping the stones in milk to remove the poison, the milk
assuming a color between yellow and green. These wonderful stones and
the narrations concerning them had been brought to Italy by Catholic
missionaries, who seemed to have entire faith in their powers; so that Redi
says they offered to prove the accounts by any number of experiments, such
as would satisfy the most incredulous, and prove to medical men that Galen
was correct when he wrote (Chapter XIV, Book I) that certain medicines
attract poison as the magnet does iron. For this purpose a search for vipers,
etc., was recommended; but, owing to the season being later and colder than
usual, none could at that time be obtained, as they had not emerged from
their winter quarters. An experiment was therefore substituted, after much
consultation among the learned men of the Academy of Pisa, whereby oil of
tobacco was introduced into the leg of a rooster. This was regarded as one
of the most fatal of such substances, and was administered by impregnating
a thread with it to the width of four fingers and drawing it through the
punctured wound. One of the monks forthwith applied the stone, which
behaved in the regular manner described. The bird did not recover, but it
survived eight hours, to the admiration of the monks and other spectators of
the experiment.

Frontispiece and title-page of Francesco
Redi’s “Experimenta naturalia,”
Amsterdam, 1675, and two specimen
pages of this treatise, referring to the
snake-stones believed to be taken from
the Indian Cobras de Capello, or
hooded snakes.

FORMS OF TABASHEER

Bought at Fair at Calcutta, 1888, by Dr.
Valentine Ball.

Redi states that he himself possessed some of these stones, as did also
Vincent Sandrinus, one of the most learned herbalists of Pisa. Redi
describes them as “always lenticular in form, varying somewhat in size, but
in general about as large as a farthing, more or less. In color some are black,
others white, others black, with an ashy hue on one side or both,” etc.
Up to the present time no one has apparently identified what Tavernier
referred to in speaking of snake-stones. It, however, occurred to the writer,
after receiving a quantity of tabasheer from Dr. F. H. Mallet of the
Geological Survey of India, who obtained it at the bazaar of the Calcutta
Fair in November of 1888, that many, if not most of the Hindu snake-stones
must have been tabasheer. Tabasheer is a variety of opal that is found in the
joints of certain species of bamboo in Hindostan, Burma, and South
America; it is originally a juice, which by evaporation changes into a
mucilaginous state, then becomes a solid substance. It ranges from
translucent to opaque in color, and is either white or bluish-white by
reflected light, and pale yellow or slight sherry red by transmitted light.
Upon fracture it breaks into irregular pieces like starch. As in Tavernier’s
account of its clinging to the palate and causing water to boil when

immersed, it actually has the property of strongly adhering to the tongue,
and when put into water emits rapid streams of minute bubbles of air. It has
a strong siliceous odor, but after absorbing an equal bulk of water becomes
transparent like a Colorado hydrophane described by the writer several
years ago before the New York Academy of Sciences.
Although tabasheer is mentioned in nearly all the textbooks, very little of
it has reached the United States. It is highly interesting, since we have here
an organic product scarcely to be distinguished from a similar opal-like
body found by Mr. Arnold Hague in the geysers of the Yellowstone Park.
Both tabasheer and the hydrophane were probably what was called “Oculus
Beli,” “Oculus Mundi,” and “Lapis mutabilis” by Thomas Nicol, Robert
Boyle, and other writers of the seventeenth century, and “Weltauge” by the
Germans.
The great capacity of this substance for absorbing a fluid would
undoubtedly render it as efficacious for the purpose of absorbing poison as
any other known stone, providing the wound were open enough; and its
internal use to-day as a medicine is possibly also due to this property.
Tabasheer, as known among mineralogists, is a corruption of the word
tabixir, a name which was used even in the time of Avicenna, the Grand
Vizier and body surgeon of the Sultan of Persia in the tenth century. It
played a very important part in medicine during the Middle Ages. As to its
origin, Sir David Brewster[468] says that tabasheer is only formed in diseased
or injured bamboo joints or stalks.

SPECIMENS OF TABASHEER

At the upper right-hand corner is figured
a hydrophane, or “Magic Stone,” at the
upper left-hand corner is a floating stone
from Oregon. The tabasheer was bought
at the Fair held in Calcutta in 1888.

Guibourt[469] differs from Brewster, inasmuch as he attributes the different
rates of growth to the fact that when there is a superabundance of sap the
tabasheer is formed from the residuum. More recently, Henry Cecil[470] says,
“In the onrush of tropical growth in the young shoot, nature, after flooring
the knot, has poured in, as it were, sap and silica sufficient for a normal
length and width of stem to the knot next above it. But by some check to the
impulse, or by irregularity of conditions, the portion of stem thus provided
for is shorter or narrower than intended, and the unused silica is left behind
as a sediment, compacted by the drying residuum sap.”
This latter view is sustained by Dr. Ernst Huth, who discusses the name,
history, origin, and reputed virtues of this substance with much fulness.[471]
In regard to its use in medicine during the Middle Ages, he quotes a
remarkable list of applications to the ills that flesh is heir to.

Here it is cited as a remedy for affections of the eyes, the chest, and of
the stomach, for coughs, fevers, and biliary complaints, and especially for
melancholia arising from solitude, dread of the past, and fears for the future.
Other writers speak of its use in bilious fevers and dysentery, internal and
external heat, and injuries and maladies.
The writer has examined a large number of so-called madstones, and they
have all proved to be an aluminous shale or other absorptive substance. But
tabasheer possesses absorptive properties to a greater degree than any other
of the mineral substances examined, and it is strange that it has never been
mentioned as being used as an antidote. It may be confidently
recommended to the credence of any person who may desire to believe in a
madstone.

Cobra de Capello. From Tavernier’s
Travels, English translation by John
Philips, London, 1684.

The writer believes that Tavernier’s snake-stones may all have been
tabasheer, or again, while some of them were of this substance, others may
have been artificially compounded by the authorized dealers of the Brahmin
caste. The instance he gives of the successful use of such a stone is not
altogether incredible, as, should one of the less active poisons be sucked out
of a wound shortly after this were inflicted, a cure might well be effected. In
view of the great difference in the virulence of poisons and the varying

degrees of the sensibility to toxic effects, it is not strange that the snake-
stones should sometimes seem to give good results. Tavernier states that
these stones were brought to India by Portuguese soldiers returning from
service in Mozambique.[472] For successful use a pair of them were needed,
so that, when applied to a snake-bite, as soon as one became saturated with
the venom the other could be immediately substituted. To have them always
at hand, those natives fortunate enough to own a pair of pedras de cobra
carried them about in a little bag.[473]
A curious traditional belief is current in some parts of India, notably in
Ceylon, to the effect that the male cobra, during the night, uses a certain
luminous stone to lure its prey and to attract the female. This is probably the
chlorophane, a variety of fluorite, a substance which shines with a
phosphorescent light in the darkness, and this quality, quite mysterious in
the eyes of the natives, may have induced them to associate the stone with
the snake, the epitome of all subtlety and cunning. Serpent-stones were
supposed to exist in both ancient and medieval times, and the belief in their
existence is widespread among many races of mankind.
A chlorophane is also found in the microlite localities of Amelia Court
House, Virginia. The writer made a series of experiments and noted that
some of these specimens emit a phosphorescent light at a low temperature.
The material occurs in Siberia, and Pallas describes a specimen from this
locality. When subjected to the heat of the hand, it gave out a white light, in
boiling water a green light, and when placed on a burning coal a brilliant
emerald-green light, visible at a considerable distance. Similar phenomena
have been observed by the writer, who has found that very slight attrition,
even the rubbing of one specimen against another in the dark, will produce
phosphorescence.[474]
The real or supposed virtues of the “snake-stones” of Ceylon are detailed
at considerable length by the great Dutch naturalist, Rumphius. After noting
the old tale that the “natural” snake-stones came from the cobra de capello
(Serpens pilosus), he proceeds to relate the information he had been able to
gather regarding the “spurious” stones of this type. These were fabricated
by the Brahmins, the process being kept a profound secret; indeed, there
were those who asserted that the Brahmins themselves had lost the art, as
this had been possessed by but a single family which had died out, leaving
the secret unrevealed. Rumphius describes these artificial stones as usually

round and flat, the size varying from that of a half-shilling piece to that of a
two-shilling piece. Some were of lenticular form and a few were oblong; all
had a white spot in the middle. In making the application, the bitten spot
was first pricked until it bled, whereupon the stone was immediately laid on
and allowed to remain until it dropped off of itself “just as a leech would
do.” So intense was its absorbent activity that it would sometimes break, in
which case a substitute had to be quickly applied. The saturated stone was
placed in milk and the absorbed venom was thus drawn out, turning the
milk blue.[475]
One of the tales of the Gesta Romanorum treats of a serpent-stone of
singular medicinal virtue. According to the story—which is, of course, a
mere legend—a certain Theodosius, who “reigned in a Roman city,” was a
most prudent ruler, but was afflicted with blindness. In his care for the
welfare of his subjects he had decreed that when anyone who desired justice
rang the bell at the palace gate, a judge must forthwith appear and try his
case. Now it happened that a serpent had its nest near the bell-rope, and one
day, while the reptile was absent, a toad took possession of the nest.
Returning and finding the nest occupied, the serpent,—evidently a worthy
descendant of the original serpent of Paradise, “more subtle than any beast
of the field,”—wound its tail about the bell-rope and pulled the bell. When
the judge appeared, as in duty bound, he was struck by this strange
spectacle, and reported it to the emperor, who told him to right the wrong
which had been done, directing him to expel and kill the toad. Not long
after, the serpent made its way into the palace and entered the emperor’s
room, bearing in its mouth a small stone. Proceeding to the emperor’s
couch, it crawled up, raised its head above the emperor’s face and dropped
the stone upon his eyes. As soon as the stone touched the eyes, the
emperor’s sight was restored. The serpent disappeared and was never seen
again.[476]
A representative type of “madstone” is a concretionary calculus
occasionally, but very rarely, found in the gullet of male deer. In form it
bears a resemblance to a water-worn pebble and is usually of oblong shape,
the largest specimens being 3 inches in length and 1½ inches in width. The
chemical analysis of Dr. H. C. White showed that the chief component was
tricalcic phosphate. His experiments demonstrated that while such a
concretion would absorb water to the amount of 5 per cent. of its own
weight, the quantity of blood or other fluid it was able to absorb only

amounted to 2.3 per cent. of its weight. When immersed in water, after
having been placed on a wound caused by the bite of a venomous creature,
the liquid absorbed was given out so as to discolor the water, and the
material exuded was found to be of toxic quality. However, experiments
with animals that had been bitten by snakes or other reptiles, failed to show
that the stone exercised any curative effect. Dr. White states that he has in
his possession a “madstone” dating from 1654, but this is of a different
type, being a porous sandstone.[477]
Even in South Africa snake-stones are known, but it appears that the few
specimens reported had been brought thither from the Dutch East Indies;
one such stone had been handed down for generations in a Dutch settler’s
family. From their appearance some of these snake-stones were judged to
be pieces of burnt hartshorn. A Boer farmer owned an amulet of this kind
that he would loan from time to time to neighbors who might have need of
it. On one occasion, when the daughter of an English hunter had been bitten
by a snake, the father sent off a man on horseback to borrow this snake-
stone. Owing to the unavoidable delay, some hours elapsed before it could
be applied to the wound. The girl recovered after its use but the wound did
not heal satisfactorily, and this was attributed to the length of time that had
intervened between the attack of the snake and the use of the remedial
stone.[478]
In December, 1887,[479] the writer described a white opaque variety of
hydrophane with a white, chalky or glazed coating, which had recently been
brought from a Colorado locality. The absorbent quality of this stone is
quite remarkable, and when water is allowed to drop on it, it first becomes
very white and chalky, and then gradually perfectly transparent. This
property is developed so strikingly that the finder proposed the name
“Magic Stone” for the mineral and suggested its use in rings, lockets,
charms, etc., to conceal photographs, hair, and other objects, which the
wearer wishes to reveal only as caprice dictates.

VI
Angels and Ministers of Grace

The veneration of angels and the attribution to them of especial days or
months, as well as the idea that they were guardians of those born on those
days or during those months, was the result of many factors. The belief in
the existence of angels is present in all parts of the Bible, but in the earlier
portions they are not individualized in any way. The angel of God, or of the
Lord (malach Elohim or malach Yahveh) was simply a messenger of God,
employed to communicate his will or else to accomplish some act of divine
justice.
It is quite possible that the greater prominence given to angels among the
Jews after the Babylonian Captivity was not solely dependent upon
Babylonian or Persian influence. We learn from the historical and
prophetical books of the Old Testament that the Jews had, from the earliest
times, worshipped other gods besides the God of Israel, and were ever
ready to assimilate the religious superstitions of the heathen world. Several
of the divinities that were worshipped in Babylonia and Assyria were also
objects of adoration in Israel, not indeed by the chosen spirits of the nation
from whom we receive our records, but by the masses of the people. This
very fact, however, served in a certain sense to maintain the purity of the
national religion. As the superstitious inclinations of the populace were so
fully satisfied from without, there was no necessity to develop or distort the
national religion in this direction. The Babylonian Captivity changed all
this. It was the élite of the Jewish nation that was deported, and the
sufferings and humiliations to which they were subjected in a foreign land
only served to strengthen their faith in Yahveh and in his Law. Hence it is,
that when this tried and purified remnant returned to Judæa, rebuilt the
fallen temple and reorganized the state, the latter became a theocracy in a

much stricter sense than ever before, and from this time we can really speak
of Judaism as the religion of the whole people.
But the inevitable tendency to split up the unity of the divine force, a
tendency that makes itself felt in all religions and among all peoples, soon
asserted itself anew and in a different direction. As the people were no
longer allowed, we may even say were no longer inclined, to go after
foreign gods, they proceeded to develop the idea of divine messengers or
intermediaries which had always formed part of the national faith, but had
never been fully evolved. While Isaiah and Ezekiel both knew of a division
of the angels into certain categories as, for example, cherubim, seraphim,
hayyot (living creatures), ofanim (wheels) and arelim, there is no attempt at
individualization, and the first mention of an angel’s name occurs in the
Book of Daniel, which later critics are disposed to assign to the second
century B.C. It is most natural to suppose that such names were known and
were familiar to the people long before that time. When we read in the
Book of Daniel, xii, 1: “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great
prince which standeth for the children of Israel,” it is easy to see that the
idea that certain special qualities were attributed to this angel was deeply
rooted in the popular mind. In a previous verse, x, 13, we read: “Michael,
one of the chief princes, came to help me,”—a conclusive proof that a
hierarchy of angels had already been thought out.

Fossil Amethystine Lapis Anhydrite Banded Hematite
Coral of Quartz Lazuli About Agate About
the About 2500 About 2500 B.C. About 2000
Devonian B.C. 2000 2800 B.C.
Period B.C. B.C.
1000 B.C.

Amethystine Lapis Aragonite- Amazon Black
Quartz Lazuli banded Stone Serpentine,
Probably 2000 3000 B.C. About 1500 hard and
Assyrian of B.C. or B.C. compact.
700 B.C. earlier Seals of
this type
are
generally
as old as
2500 B.C.

Marble, Jaspery Aragonite Rock- Serpentine
discolored Agate Probably Crystal (banded)
by fire As late as old as About 1200 Probably
About 2500 as 800 3000 B.C. B.C. as early as
B.C. B.C. 2500 B.C.

Ferruginous Shell Jasper, Chalcedony, Agate
Agate About 3000 banded Blue (banded)
800 B.C. B.C. or red and Saphirine Assyrian
earlier black About 700 of about
About B.C. 700 B.C.
1200 B.C.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF ACTUAL PRECIOUS STONES AND
MINERALS USED FOR SEALS IN ANCIENT ASSYRIA AND
BABYLONIA

Mostly from the collection in the American Museum of Natural
History, New York City.

The great source of information in regard to angelology is the Rabbinical
literature which had its rise about the first century B.C. and culminated in the
Talmuds of Babylon and Jerusalem in the fifth century A.D. As these
compilations, although nominally commentaries on the books of the Old
Testament, are almost encyclopedic in their character, they throw much
light on this subject. In a monograph of Kohut, entitled “Jüdische
Angelologie,”[480] many extracts, belonging to an early period, are given.
Seven princes of heaven were recognized and among these four were
especially favored. They occupied a place near to the Throne of Light and
were bathed in its radiance. We are told that “God surrounded his Throne of
Light with four angels: Michael, ‘Who is like God?’ at the right; Gabriel,

‘Might of God,’ at the left; Uriel, ‘Splendor of God,’ before it; and Raphael,
‘Salvation of God,’ at the west” (Numeri Rabba, c. 2).[481] They represented
various attributes of the divine: Michael, goodness and mercy; Gabriel,
punitive justice; Uriel, the majesty of God, and Raphael, his providence.
Michael and Gabriel are particularly prominent and are called Royal Angels
(‫ ;)מלכיהון דמלאכיא‬they have especial care of Israel. As we have seen,
Michael was singled out by Daniel and he was commonly regarded as chief
prince. Gabriel was looked upon as the avenger and the executor of divine
judgments and occupied the next place, while Uriel and Raphael are less
frequently alluded to, although the latter appears prominently in the Book
of Tobit.
In the New Testament, also, Michael and Gabriel are evidently regarded
as the chief angels, and Revelation places Michael at the head of the hosts
of the good angels in their conflict with Satan and his followers. We can see
in the Gospels how widespread was the belief in demoniacal possession,
and in the existence of evil spirits; it was almost inevitable that the aid of
good spirits should be invoked to counteract them, and although both
Christianity and Judaism sternly rebuked any direct worship of angels, they
were regarded as ministering spirits, and it was only natural that the masses
should be led to use their names on amulets and talismans, and little by little
to arrive at the belief that a particular angel was entrusted with the welfare
of each individual. The same tendencies were at work in both religions, but
a new development was initiated for the Christian church by the growing
veneration of the early martyrs and of their relics. When this became more
pronounced, the saints to a great extent took the place of the angels; a
passage from the writings of St. Ambrose composed in 377 A.D. shows us
that this transformation of belief had already begun to make itself felt at that
time. St. Ambrose writes: “We should address our supplications to the
angels who are appointed to guard us; we should also address them to the
martyrs, whose patronage seems assured to us by a physical pledge” (their
relics).
The danger that the worshipping of angels might lead Christians away
from the Church into magic practices and beliefs was clearly recognized in
the early centuries, and at the Council of Laodicea, in 363 A.D., it was
proclaimed that Christians should not render worship to angels outside the
church, or in private assemblies or associations. Whoever was found guilty
of such practices (of such idolatry, as it was called) was pronounced

anathema, as he was considered to have turned away from the Lord Jesus
Christ and worshipped idols. The first Council of Rome, held in 492 A.D.,
expressly forbids the wearing of talismans inscribed with the names “not of
angels as they pretend, but rather with those of demons.” Indeed, there is
abundant evidence that in this age, and even earlier, those addicted to
angelolatry were not satisfied with the few angels named in the Holy
Scriptures, but addressed their petitions to a multitude of angels evolved
from the fervid imagination of the superstitious among the Jews. Of these
angels not recognized by the Church, the following prayer of a certain
Aldebert, condemned by the second Council of Rome, 745 A.D., gives us a
few names: “I pray and supplicate the angel Uriel, angel Raguel, angel
Michael, angel Adimis, angel Tubuas, angel Sabaoth and angel Simihel.” In
the judgment of the Church fathers, all these names, with the exception of
Michael, designated demons.[482]
A manuscript of the ninth or tenth century in the Library of Cologne
gives the following “nomina angelorum”, and instructs the reader as to their
special virtues:
If when it thunders you think of the Archangel Gabriel, no harm will befall you. If on awakening
you think of Michael you will have a happy day. Have Orihel (Uriel) in mind against your adversary
and you will prevail. When eating and drinking think of Raphael and abundance will be yours. On a
journey think of Raguhel and everything will prosper. Should you have to lay your case before a
judge, think of Barachahel and all will be explained. When you take part in a banquet, think of
Pantasaron and all the guests will delight in you.[483]
On some medieval gems appear angel figures, one very curious specimen
of this class being an onyx, engraved in intaglio. On this gem, which is in
the British Museum, the engraver depicts the Annunciation, but the figure
of the Angel Gabriel is precisely that of a nude Cupid; hand and foot are
raised as though the little god (or angel) were dancing. It has been
conjectured that this strange attempt at adapting a classic form is due to the
fact that the gem was cut in Constantinople during one of the violent
iconoclastic persecutions, and that the engraver thus sought to veil the true
significance of his work. In this case, however, we must believe that the
accompanying inscription was added at a later date, for it expressly names
the Annunciation, the Angel Gabriel, and the Virgin (“Mother of God”).[484]
Another interesting gem, from about the same period, is a square
amethyst, measuring about 3 cm. in each direction. This bears, engraved in
intaglio, a standing figure of Christ, without a halo; behind his head is the
monogram , and in his left hand he holds a scroll with the words (in

Greek): “In the beginning was the Word”; his right hand is stretched forth in
benediction, and alongside the figure are the following angels’ names in
Greek characters: Raphaêl, Penel, Ouriêl, Ichthys, Michaêl, Gabriêl, Azaêl.
The fourth and middle name, Ichthys (fish) is the well-known anagram of
the Greek words signifying “Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour,” and
the use of this as the name of an angel is thought to have been suggested by
a passage in Isaiah (ix, 6).[485]
A “prime émeraude” among the Gorlæus gems is engraved with a design
showing two souls brought before God by the two guardian angels.[486]
Somewhat the same belief in the guiding or conducting of souls after death
is found in Plato’s “Phædon,” where it is said that the daimon which had
guided a person during life led his spirit to the place in Hades where
judgment was to be rendered.
The following list from Lodge’s “Wit’s Miserie,” printed in 1596, gives
the seven good angels and sets over against them the seven bad angels, each
of whom represents one of the seven deadly sins:

By courtesy of the American
Numismatic Society, New York.

ZODIAC MOHURS, COINED BY
THE MOGUL SOVEREIGN SHAH
JEHAN, ABOUT 1628.

Good Angels Bad Angels
Michael Leviathan, pride
Gabriel Mammon, avarice
Raphael Asmodeus, lechery
Uriel Beelzebub, envy
Euchudiel Baalberith, ire
Barchiel Belphagor, gluttony
Salathiel Ashtaroth, sloth

The curious book called in Hebrew “Sepher de-Adam Kadmah” and
attributed to the angel Raziel, is supposed to belong to the twelfth or the
thirteenth century, or at the earliest to the eleventh century,[487] although the
redactor may have used some earlier materials. Legend states that it was
engraved upon a sapphire and was given by the angel Raziel to Adam when
the latter was driven from Paradise. Handed down from generation to

generation, it finally came into the possession of Solomon. The name Raziel
signifies “secret of God,” in allusion to the revelations contained in the
book, which was supposed to protect the house wherein it was from all
danger of fire.
In this book there is an interesting list of angels, denominated the twelve
princes, set over the twelve months of the year. The text of the first printed
edition appears to be corrupt in some places, but the names may be
transliterated as follows:[488]

Sh’efiel, “Balm of God” Presiding over Nisan (April)
Ragael, “Balance of God” Presiding over Ayyar (May)
Didanor, “Our Light” Presiding over Sivan (June)
Ta’anbanu, “Answer for us” Presiding over Tammuz (July)
Tohargar, “Whirlwind” Presiding over Ab (August)
Morael, “Fear of God” Presiding over Elul (September)
Hahedan, “The Brilliant” Presiding over Tishri (October)
Uleranen, “To chant, celebrate” Presiding over Marchesvan (November)
Anatganor, “Thou art the Guardian” Presiding over Kislev (December)
Mephniel, “Before God” Presiding over Tebah (January)
Tashnadernis, “Saturnus” Presiding over Shebat (February)
Abarchiel, “Fire of God” Presiding over Adar (March)

The following list, while probably of later date than the one we have just
given, is more frequently cited as authoritative:[489]

Orders Angels Tribes Signs
Seraphim Malchidiel Dan Aries
Cherubim Asmodel Reuben Taurus
Thrones Ambriel Judah Gemini
Dominations Muriel Manasseh Cancer
Powers Verchiel Asher Leo
Virtues Hamaliel Simeon Virgo
Principalities Zuriel Issachar Libra
Archangels Barbiel Benjamin Scorpio
Angels Adnachiel Naphtali Sagittarius
Innocents Hanael Gad Capricornus
Martyrs Gabriel Zabulun Aquarius
Confessors Borichiel Ephraim Pisces

In Rabbinical writings we are told that if a man fulfilled one of the
commandments, one angel was bestowed upon him; if he fulfilled two
commandments, he received two angels; if, however, he fulfilled all the
commandments, many angels were given him. This was a literal
construction of the text Ps. xci, 11: “For he shall give his angels charge over
thee.” These angels were believed to shield the believer from the attacks of
evil spirits.[490]

The medieval conception of the cosmos,
the successive spheres of the planets,
including the sun, and beyond these the
crystalline heaven and the empyrean. In
an outermost circle are named the great
celestial powers, as recapitulated above
the spheres. From a XIV century Italian
MS. in the author’s library.

The Mohammedan Atlas, the angel appointed by God to bear the earth on
his shoulders, was given a rock of ruby to stand upon. Beneath this ruby-
rock, were, successively a huge bull, an immense fish, a mass of water, and
lastly darkness.[491] Thus the grand vision of “the face of the deep” over
which hovered the Spirit of God, before the creative words were spoken,
giving form to the earth, is not altogether lost sight of in this Mohammedan
fancy.

Luther was a firm believer in the existence of guardian angels, and he
even goes so far as to assert that the angels assigned to men differed in rank
and ability as did the men themselves. Of this he says:
Just as among men, one is large and another small, and one is strong and another weak, so one
angel is larger, stronger, and wiser than another. Therefore, a prince has a much larger and stronger
angel, one who is also shrewder and wiser, than that of a count, and the angel of a count is larger and
stronger than that of a common man. The higher the rank and the more important the vocation of a
man, the larger and stronger is the angel who guards him and holds the Devil aloof.[492]
Our idea of a guardian angel is so spiritual and so pure that it is difficult
for us to understand the curious results this belief has occasionally produced
among the primitive peoples. A weird tale is told of a Congo negro who
killed his mother so as to gain an especially powerful guardian spirit.[493]
The dreadful deed was perpetrated in the full conviction that the mother’s
love would remain unshaken, while her power for good would be increased.
Such ferocious egoism does not find an exact parallel among civilized
peoples, but the underlying principle is unfortunately too often illustrated in
our midst at the present day.
The belief in guardian angels has the best of Scripture warrant as offered
by the text Matthew, chapter xviii, v. 10, where Christ speaking of little
children says: “Their angels do always behold the face of my Father who is
in Heaven.” Another New Testament passage testifying distinctly to the
existence of this belief in the Apostolic Age, is in the Acts of the Apostles
(xii, 15), where we read that after the miraculous rescue of Peter from his
imprisonment, his friends could not believe the report that he had been seen
standing at the door of their dwelling, and exclaimed: “It is his angel.”
That not only individuals but nations also had special guardian angels
was, as we have already noted, a belief held to a certain extent among the
Jews after the Babylonian Captivity. To the trace of this in the tenth chapter
of Daniel (vs. 13, 21), where Michael stands for Israel, may be added the
evidence afforded by the Greek Septuagint version of Deuteronomy xxxii,
8, part of the “Song of Moses.” Here the Revised version based on our
Hebrew text reads:
He set the bounds of the peoples,
According to the number of the children of Israel.

The Septuagint translators, however, must have had a slightly different
text before them for they render the last words: “According to the number
of God’s angels.” It therefore seems probable that they read in Hebrew benê

Elohim instead of benê Yisrael. Of the benê Elohim or “Sons of God” we
read in Genesis, chapter vi, verse 2, that they wedded with the “Daughters
of Men.” This has been given a poetic form by Thomas Moore in his
“Loves of the Angels.” The Book of Job also, in its Prologue in Heaven (i,
6–12), introduces the “Sons of God” among whom appeared Satan, the
“Adversary.” Of angel names, as has been noted, there is Biblical warrant
only for Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael, the last-mentioned, in the
Apocryphal Book of Tobit; to these IV Esdras (not a canonical book) adds
Jeremiel and Uriel, names not admitted by the Church.

THE ANGEL RAPHAEL REFUSING
THE GIFTS OFFERED BY TOBIT

By Giovanni Biliverti. Pitti Palace,
Florence.

There has been preserved for us a most interesting calendar for the city of
Rome, written by Furius Dionysius Filocalus in 354 A.D., and containing a
series of drawings by his hand showing the symbolical figures of the
months of the year. Though the original manuscript is lost, several
apparently faithful copies exist, one of which is in the Imperial Library in
Vienna. Much of this work deals with matters referring to the Roman
calendar, but perhaps its most valuable part is a list of the early Christian
saints and martyrs. As this is the earliest list of the kind, of even earlier date

than the rest of the work, we give it here unabridged, as a most interesting
documentary proof of the veneration in which the saints were held in the
fourth, or, we should probably say, in the third century.

ITEM DEPOSITIO MARTIRUM[494]

VIII kal. Jan. natus Christum in Betleem Judeæ. mense Januario.
XIII kal. Feb. Fabiani in Callisti et Sebastiani in Catacumbas.
XII kal. Feb. Agnetis in Nomentana. mense Februario.
VIII kal. Martias natale Petri de cathedra. mense Martio. non. Martias.
Perpetuæ et Felicitatis, Africæ. mense Maio.
XIIII kal. Jun. Partheni et Caloceri in Callisti, Diocletiano VIIII et
Maximiano VIII [304]. mense Junio.
III kal. Jul. Petri in Catacumbas et Pauli Ostense, Tusco et Basso
cons. [258]. mense Julio.
VI idus Felicis et Filippi in Priscillæ et in Jordanorum, Martialis
Vitalis Alexandri et in Maximi Silani. hunc Silanum
martirem Nouati furati sunt. et in Praetextatæ, Januari.
III kal. Aug. Abdos et Semnes in Pontiani, quod est ad ursum
piliatum. mense Augusto.
VIII idus Aug. Xysti in Callisti et in Praetextati Agapiti et Felicissimi.
VI idus Aug. Secundi Carpofori Victorini, et Seueriani Albano. et
Ostense VII ballisteria Cyriaci Largi Crescentiani
Memmiæ Julianetis et Ixmaracdi.
IIII idus Aug. Laurenti in Tiburtina.
idus Aug. Ypoliti in Tiburtina. et Pontiani in Callisti.
XI kal. Septemb. Timotei, Ostense
V kal. Sept. Hermetis in Basillæ Salaria uetere. mense Septembre.
non. Sept. Aconti, in Porto, et Nonni et Herculani et Taurini.
V idus Sept. Gorgoni in Lauicana.
III idus Sept. Proti et Jacinti, in Basillæ.

XVIII kal. Octob. Cypriani, Africæ. Romæ celebratur in Callisti.
X kal. Octob. Basillæ, Salaria uetere, Diocletiano IX et Maximiano
VIII consul. (304) mense Octobre.
pri. idus Octob. Callisti in via Aurelia. miliario III. mense Nouembre.
V idus Nou. Clementis Semproniani Claui Nicostrati in comitatum.
III kal. Dec. Saturnini in Trasonis. mense Decembre.
idus Decem. Ariston in pontum.
This list, which begins with the great Christian festival of Christmas,
enumerates the days on which Roman martyrs died and were buried. The
months are given in their order and below their names appears a very brief
record, giving the day and place of burial and the name of each of the
martyrs. The first entry, for instance, reads: “January 20, interment of
Fabianus in the cemetery of Callistus.” The earliest martyrs mentioned are
SS. Perpetua and Felicitas who died in 202 A.D.; thus all definite memory of
the many martyrs of the first and second centuries seems to have been lost.
Even heretics do not appear to have been excluded, for as it is stated that
the Novatians carried away the body of Silanus, it seems more than
probable that he himself belonged to this heretical sect. As martyrs, all are
regarded as equally entitled to the highest veneration, regardless of what
they may have passed through on earth. Other communities than the Roman
one possessed similar lists, as is clearly indicated by the words of Cyprian,
in his thirty-ninth epistle, where he says: “As you remember, we offered the
sacrifice for them, just as we celebrated a commemoration of the sufferings
of the martyrs and of their anniversary days.”
To many of the saints curative powers are attributed, and these powers
are usually specialized so that each of these saints is invoked for aid against
a different disease or defect. With very few exceptions it will be found that
some circumstance in the history or legend of the saint is the origin of these
beliefs. An exception may perhaps be made in the case of the two saints to
whom recourse is most frequent at the present day, namely, St. Anthony of
Padua (June 13) and St. Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary (July 26).
Relics of the latter saint, preserved in many parts of Europe and also in
America, are regarded as endowed with wonderful therapeutic powers.
Recently, in New York City, at the church of St. Jean Baptiste, a relic of St.

Anne was shown to many thousands of the faithful, and some wonderful
cures are said to have been accomplished by its aid. Sceptics will be
inclined to attribute such cures to the influence of suggestion, while
Catholics will see in them a proof of the power of the saint’s intercession on
behalf of those who repose their trust in her. St. Anthony is usually appealed
to for success in difficult enterprises, and more particularly for the
discovery of lost articles. Here the belief in the successful intervention of
the respective saints is more generalized and appears to have grown up
independently of any event chronicled in the legends, but these instances
are quite exceptional.
An exceedingly beautiful jewelled medallion said to have been given by
Pope Paul V, in 1614, to the Archbishop of Lisbon, Don Miguel de Castro,
shows in the centre the figures of the Virgin and Child, surrounded by a
setting of old Indian, table-cut diamonds. The archbishop donated this to the
Church of St. Antonia da Se, sometimes called the “Royal House of St.
Antonio,” for this church was built on the site of the house in which dwelt
the parents of St. Anthony, Don Martin de Bulhoes and Dona Teresa de
Azavedo, and in which the saint was born on February 6, 1195. At his
baptism he was given the name Fernando, but later he changed this to
Antonio. The great Lisbon earthquake of 1755 completely wrecked this
church, but the high altar wherein the medallion had been placed escaped
comparatively unharmed, and the jewel was found by some peasants, who
later sold it to the family of Machados e Silvas, in whose private chapel it
reposed until within a few years.
The shrine of St. Anne de Beaupré may be seen in the Basilica of
Beaupré, about 20 miles distant from Quebec. It stands on the site of a
small wooden sanctuary erected about the middle of the seventeenth
century by some Breton mariners who, when in imminent danger of
shipwreck while navigating the St. Lawrence, made a vow to build a chapel
to St. Anne, the dearly-loved patron saint of their native province, at the
spot where they should first come to land. St. Anne was regarded in French
Canada as the patroness of seafarers and hence a large number of those who
frequented her shrine were seafaring people. However, even more were
attracted by the report of the marvellous cures of all kinds of diseases which
were said to have taken place there. Pilgrimages to this shrine continue to
be made at the present time; indeed, the number of those who thus testify to
their belief in the power of the saint has increased rapidly during the past

thirty years. In 1880 the pilgrims numbered 36,000; in 1900 the record
showed 135,000, and in 1910 the number had increased to 188,266, a proof
that the devotees are more and more convinced that St. Anne’s relics are the
sources of great healing virtue.
All of the numerous relics of St. Anne exhibited in Canada and elsewhere
are said to have come originally from the town of Apt in France, where,
according to Catholic tradition, her body was found by the Emperor
Charlemagne in 792, and it is related that when the reliquary covering the
holy body was opened a fragrance as of balsam emanated from the interior.
How the body was transferred to Apt from its resting place in Palestine is a
mystery not solved even in tradition, although some believe that it was
brought thither by St. Auspicius, known as the Apostle of Apt. The Basilica
of Beaupré contains five of these precious relics; one of them was brought
to Canada from the Cathedral of Carcasonne, in France, about the year
1662, at the instance of Monseigneur de Laval, first bishop of Quebec, and
founder of Laval University. This is the first joint of the middle finger of the
saint. The devotees at the shrine first saw this precious gift March 12, 1670;
it is adorned with two intersecting rows of pearls, forming a cross. Another
relic of peculiar importance is that given in 1892 by the late Cardinal
Taschereau. This is a bone from St. Anne’s wrist measuring four inches in
length. It is enclosed in a reliquary made of massive gold and studded with
precious stones, the gifts of those whose prayers to the saint had been
answered. In the ornamentation appear eight diamonds, four amethysts, a
fire opal, etc. At the bottom of the reliquary there is a gold plate with the
inscription: “Ex brachio S. Annae,” and a gold ring set with twenty-eight
diamonds. This jealously-guarded treasure is exhibited in the shrine but
once a year, from July 26 to August 2, a period comprising St. Anne’s Day
and the week following it; at other times the reliquary is kept in the
Sacristy, but may be seen on special request.
A remarkable jewel in the treasury of the Basilica is the seal of Santa
Anna, elected president of Mexico in 1832. A golden eagle, with eyes
formed of two rubies, stands on a rock of lapis lazuli and bears the stamp of
the seal; resting on his spread wings is a sphere of lapis lazuli in which the
words “Diaz, Mexico,” are inlaid in letters of gold. The seal is engraved
with the initials of the president’s name, surrounded by a design embodying
the insignia of his office.

At the feast of St. Blaise, Bishop of Sebaste, in Armenia (d. circa 316),
which occurs on February 3d in the Roman Church, the wick of a candle is
sometimes dipped in a vessel containing consecrated oil, the throats of the
faithful being then touched with this wick, to preserve them from diseases
of the throat. At other times the ceremony is performed in a different way.
The priest holds two candles, adjusted so as to form a cross, above the
heads of those who come to seek the saint’s aid, and the following prayer is
recited: “Through the intercession of St. Blaise may God free thee from
diseases of the throat, and from every other disease. (Per intercessionem S.
Blasii liberet te Deus a malo gutteris et a quovis alio malo.)”
It is related that this saint in his travels, once meeting a poor woman
whose only child had swallowed a fish-bone, relieved the child of its
trouble by offering up a prayer and laying his hand upon its throat. In the
prayer he adjures all who may suffer from a like trouble to seek his
intercession with God.
St. Apollonia of Alexandria (February 9) is said to cure toothache and all
diseases of the teeth, the reason for this being that at her martyrdom all her
beautiful teeth were pulled out. In a similar way St. Agatha, of Catania or
Palermo, in Sicily, is endowed with the power to cure diseases of the breast,
because it is related that before her martyrdom her breasts were cruelly torn
and mutilated.
To recite the formula of St. Apollonia was considered by the Spaniards of
three centuries ago to be a cure for toothache. This fact is brought out by a
passage in Don Quixote, when the knight’s housekeeper is urged to recite it
for her master’s benefit when he is ailing. To this request the woman
quickly answers: “That might do something if my master’s distemper lay in
his teeth, but, alas! it lies in his brain.” This formula was probably used
before the age of Cervantes, and has persisted to our own time. It is in verse
and has been literally translated into English as follows:[495]
Apollonia was at the gate of Heaven and the Virgin Mary passed that way. “Say, Apollonia, what
are you about?” “My Lady, I neither sleep nor watch, I am dying with a pain in my teeth.” “By the
star of Venus and the setting sun, by the Most Holy Sacrament, which I bore in my womb, may no
pain in your tooth, neither front nor back, afflict you from this time henceforward.”
Of Santa Lucia (December 13), born in Syracuse on the island of Sicily, a
strange legend is told. A young man fell passionately in love with her, and
wrote to her that her wonderful eyes pursued him even in his dreams.
Moved by the Scripture text, “If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out,” and

longing to save the youth from sensual passion, Lucia cut out her beautiful
eyes, placed them on a dish, and sent them to her lover with the following
message: “Here thou hast what thou so ardently desirest; I beseech thee
leave me in peace.” Very naturally, this saint is believed to cure all diseases
of the eye.
For protection against highway robbers and thieves, St. Nicholas
(December 6), Bishop of Myra, in Lycia, was invoked. Legend relates of
this saint that he restored to life three boys who had been murdered at an
inn by the wicked innkeeper, a wretch who was in the habit of making away
with his guests and then utilizing their bodies to enrich his menu. This tale
accounts for the fact that, under the familiar name of Santa Claus, St.
Nicholas is the patron saint of children.
St. Barbara (December 4), born in Heliopolis, is appealed to for
protection against lightning and injury by firearms. For this reason the gun-
room on a ship is called in French the sainte-barbe. The legend, as usual,
gives us the origin of the belief in the saint’s special powers, for her heathen
father is said to have been killed by a stroke of lightning, because of his
having denounced his daughter, as a Christian, to the Roman authorities,
and then executed judgment upon her with his own hands. Of St. Barbara
the legend says: “She was a fair fruit from an evil tree.”[496]
Beneath portraits or images of St. Christopher (July 25) there often
appears a Latin verse to the effect that whoever gazes on the image will not
suffer from faintness or exhaustion on that day. As the saint is said to have
been of great size and strength, the worshipper at his shrine was believed to
acquire some of his physical power.

SANTA BARBARA

French school, 1520. Leaf of a triptych
in the Museum of Budapest.

The cure of diseases of the tongue was the province of St. Catherine of
Alexandria (November 25), who was famed for her eloquence as well as for
her devotion to the study of the Scriptures.
St. Roch, who was born in Montpelier toward the end of the thirteenth
century (d. August 16, 1327), is regarded as the special guardian of those
afflicted with plague or pestilence. In his lifetime he went from place to
place ministering to those who suffered from the plague until finally he
himself succumbed to this malady. So great was the repute of St. Roch’s
curative powers that the Venetians are said to have stolen his body from
Montpelier, where it was interred, and transported it to Venice, that they
might have ever-present help in the numerous pestilences from which this
city suffered, because of the constant commercial intercourse with the East.
Another saint who was invoked for help in plague and pestilence was St.
Sebastian (January 20), born in Narbonne in Gaul. In this case the story of

the saint’s martyrdom gave rise to the belief in his curative powers, for the
legend tells us that he was transfixed with arrows, and these missiles were
regarded as symbols of the plague. We have an illustration of this old belief
in the first book of Homer’s Iliad, where the pestilence that visited the army
of the Greeks is represented as due to the shafts sped from Apollo’s silver
bow.
Although no curative powers are attributed to them, no one of English
speech should forget SS. Crispin and Crispian, on whose day the battle of
Agincourt was fought, in 1415. The old feud between France and England
has been long forgotten, the rivalry between these nations has given place to
a close friendship, and there is no trace of animosity in the glow that warms
an Englishman’s heart when he reads the ringing words put by Shakespeare
into the mouth of Henry V:
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered.

It is related by Metaphrastus that when St. George was condemned to
death by burning, his executioners (fearing that the flames of the pyre might
be extinguished because of his virtue) covered his body with a garment of
amiantos (asbestos); for it was believed that when this material began to
burn the flame could not be extinguished. But all precautions were vain, for
as soon as the saint was placed in the flames the fire went out, contrary to
the laws of nature, and not a hair of his head was injured. This tale
illustrates a curious but not unnatural misunderstanding of the name
asbestos, which really signifies inextinguishable, but was intended to mean
that the substance would not burn, and hence that no flame could be
extinguished in it.[497]
In an unpublished manuscript written by Aubrey are quoted the following
curious lines on the legend of St. George and the Dragon:[498]
To save a mayd, St. George the Dragon slew,
A pretty tale if all is told be true;
Most say there are no Dragons, and ’tis sayd,
There was no George; pray God there was a mayd.

The St. George thalers, coined by the counts of Mansfeld (Thüringen),
enjoyed in bygone times a reputation as amulets for soldiers. This belief is
said to have originated from the actual preservation of a soldier’s life by

one of these coins, which he had sewed up in the lining of his coat just over
his heart for safe-keeping. A bullet which struck him here and would
otherwise have killed him, was diverted by coming in contact with the
thaler. Hungarian St. George thalers were regarded as amulets for sailors as
well as soldiers. These coins derived their name from bearing the design of
St. George and the Dragon.
Among the wonder-working saints none enjoyed greater repute in
medieval times than Sainte Foy, the virgin martyr whose remains were
taken from Agen to the abbey-church at Conques, a village on the hills of
Aveyron. Pilgrims came from far and near to the shrine of Sainte Foy, for
she worked marvellous cures upon those who appealed to her for help, even
giving sight to the blind. Her grace appears to have been bestowed upon
animals as well as upon human beings, a fantastic legend relating that she
had raised donkeys from the grave! Naturally the pilgrims must bring rich
gifts, as otherwise the saint might turn a deaf ear to their prayers.
Many of these treasures may still be seen in this out-of-the-way church,
wherein no one would suspect the existence of the rich specimens of early
goldsmiths’ work that are carefully preserved in the treasury. The most
interesting of these treasures is a statuette supposed to represent the saint.
This is a seated figure, about 33 inches high and encrusted with an immense
number of precious stones, uncut emeralds, sapphires and amethysts, as
well as with many cameos and pearls; all these having been offered at
various times to the saint.
The figure—probably the representation of some ecclesiastic—is seated
on an elaborate chair, originally surmounted by two golden doves. The saint
is said to have appeared in a vision to the Bishop of Beaulieu and expressly
directed this adornment; these doves have disappeared and have been
replaced by crystal balls. The execution of the statuette—constructed of
wood covered with gold plates—is stiff and conventional, but it is not
unimpressive and gives evidence of considerable skill on the part of the
artist. Nevertheless, it certainly has nothing of the youthful grace we would
associate with a virgin martyr.[499]
The offering of precious stones to attract the favor of gods or saints is
really a talismanic use of such gems and is intimately connected with the
wearing of gems for their talismanic or therapeutic effect. The gift
established a sort of relation between the being whose help was desired and

the petitioner, and the gem was the medium through which the favor was
bestowed.
The legend of the royal princess who was canonized by the Church as St.
Enimie (d. 628 or 630 A.D.) contains an account of a miraculous spring and
also enshrines the popular view of the cause of the strange outlines of an
extensive mass of heaped-up boulders. This saint was a daughter of the
French king Clotaire II (d. 628). Her most ardent wish was to devote herself
exclusively to the service of Christ, but her royal parent insisted upon a
marriage with one of the great nobles. The princess, who was the fairest of
the fair, put up an earnest prayer that the Lord would destroy her beauty,
even at the expense of some dreadful malady, so that she might cease to be
an object of desire for men. Her prayer was heard and she was stricken with
leprosy which entirely blotted out her charms. Not long after this an angel
appeared to her in a dream and directed her to bathe in the Fountain of
Boule, in the region of Gévaudan. On doing so she was immediately cured
of her leprosy, but as soon as she went away from the spring to return to the
royal residence, the malady returned. A second attempt had the same
favorable and unfavorable results, and she now recognized that she must
remain near the spring. So after bathing there a third time and being again
completely cured, she erected a monastery on the spot and became the
prioress. The institution flourished, but a few years later the saintly prioress
was horrified to see that the Devil was busy with her nuns. Once more she
sought for divine aid, and she was given authority to imprison the Evil One
should she catch him in the monastery. This she did, but the Devil was
crafty enough to make his escape. Near the spot where the monastery stood
was a mass of heaped-up boulders, through which led a way called the
Chasm Road which led to a rocky aperture of unknown depth. This was
fabled to afford egress and ingress to the Devil in his passage out of and
back to the infernal regions. Along this road he fled when he escaped from
the monastery; St. Enimie fearlessly pursued, but the agile demon was on
the point of slipping back again into his own realm, when the saint made a
supreme appeal and called upon the rocks to help her. As she raised her
arms in supplication, one of the largest boulders, called “La Sourde,”
moved of its own accord and fell upon the Devil, pinning him fast to the
ground beneath its ponderous weight. In his rage and despair he made
frantic efforts to free himself and his bloody claws left an imprint on the
rock. This mark, still observable a half-century ago, though it has now

disappeared, was prosaically explained by scientists as a stain of iron-oxide.
The other boulders were in motion to assist in the good work, but when the
Devil had been caught they stopped short in their downward course, and
this is supposed to account for the strange angles at which they stand.[500] It
would be pleasant to fancy that His Satanic Majesty eventually failed to
make his escape, but unfortunately the ever-recurring instances of his
activity from the age of St. Enimie down to our own time preclude this
belief.
An heirloom in the family of Dom Pedro of Brazil is said to have been
loaned to one of the pioneer aviators, Santos-Dumont, by Dom Pedro’s
daughter, the Comtesse d’Eu. This was a medal of St. Benedict and had
been long regarded as a powerful talisman in the Braganza family. One of
its princely members had a striking proof of this virtue in 1705, when, after
having worn the medal but two weeks, he was saved from deadly peril by
the timely discovery and consequent defeat of a plot. Santos-Dumont had
just experienced a terrible fall while experimenting with his new airship in
the Rothschild park near Paris, and this it was that induced the Comtesse
d’Eu to loan him the talismanic medal, with the injunction that he should
always wear it on his person, and the assurance that if he did so no further
harm could befall him. The talisman seemed to do its work well, for
although the aviator had many narrow escapes, he was always saved from
serious injury. Unfortunately, however, a thief picked it from the pocket of
his coat while he was busily engaged in work on an airship in a Paris
machine-shop.[501]
While it was customary to close the shops of the goldsmiths on Sundays
and feast-days, a special exception permitted the “Confrérie de St. Eloi,”
the goldsmiths’ guild, to open a single shop (not always the same one) on
each Sunday and feast-day, the profits of the sales being devoted to
providing a dinner on Easter Day for the poor of the Hôtel Dieu.[502] This
combination of commercialism and philanthropy has illustrations in our
own day, and, whatever may be the ulterior motives, some good results are
certainly attained.
The Well of St. Cuthbert, near Cranstock, Newquay, England, long
enjoyed the repute of miraculously curing the ailments of infants. Not only
were curative powers attributed to the waters of the well, but also to a
perforated stone alongside of it. As recently as 1868 a puny infant is said to

have been passed through the orifice of this stone with the firm expectation
that this act would strengthen the infant and bring good luck to it.[503]
In the region of the Abruzzi, in Italy, more especially in the province of
Teramo, wonderful virtues are attributed to the intercession of St. Donato.
So great is thought to be his power to cure those afflicted with epilepsy that
in this region the disease is called the malady of St. Donato. This saint,
however, is credited with much more extensive powers, for he is believed to
cure hydrophobia, to prevent the ill effects of the Evil Eye, and in general to
bring to naught the enchantments of witches. Such being his powers, it is
not surprising that his image was added to many amulets, those figuring the
lunar crescent being frequently surmounted with the bust of the saint. This
type of amulet owes its supposed efficacy to the horn-like shape of the
crescent, horns or substances having a likeness to a horn, like certain
branches of coral, being regarded as a sure protection against the Evil Eye.
A curious amulet bears the bust of St. Donato surmounting a crescent moon
within which is the dreaded number thirteen. This fateful number is
considered to be a source of misfortune for those who do not wear it
inscribed on an amulet; but it becomes a source of good fortune and a
happy life for those who possess such an amulet.[504]
A notable instance of the use of a saint’s name to facilitate the
perpetration of a crime is afforded in the case of the poison known as Aqua
Tofana. This appears to have been a preparation of arsenic and was
concocted by a woman named Tofana, a native of Palermo, in Sicily, who
eventually took up her abode in Naples and devoted herself to the
preparation and sale of her poison in Naples, Rome and elsewhere. To
divert suspicion she used vials marked “Manna of St. Nicholas of Bari,”
and bearing the image of this saint. Most of her clients are said to have been
women who were anxious to rid themselves of their husbands, and she must
have had a large practice in this specialty, for so many husbands died in
Rome in a mysterious manner that in 1659 the authorities finally took
cognizance of the matter and instituted a searching investigation. This
revealed the fact that there existed in Rome a secret society entirely
composed of women who wished to “remove” their husbands by poison.
The leader of this society and many of the members were duly executed,
but Tofana does not seem to have been molested.

Many strange superstitions as to the saints prevail among the Spanish-
speaking inhabitants of New Mexico. If a saint whose aid has been invoked
fails to respond to the appeal, his image is shut up in some receptacle until
he vouchsafes to render the service desired. On the other hand, if the image
of a saint falls to the ground, this is interpreted as a sign that the saint has
performed a miracle. One means of forcing a saint to perform a miracle was
to hang the image head downward; this was especially recommended in the
case of St. Anthony. All strangers who presented themselves on St.
Anthony’s day or St. Joseph’s day were to be hospitably received and
entertained, for one of them might be the saint himself. Those who wished
to read the future were instructed to put the white of an egg in a glass of
water on the eve of St. John’s day; on examining the contents of the glass
the next morning they would see written in black characters on the white
background a prophecy of what was to happen. On this saint’s day women
were assured that if they cut the tip of their hair with an axe, or merely
washed it, they would be blessed with an abundant growth of hair.

BLOODSTONE MEDALLION, SHOWING THE SANTA CASA OF LORETO
CARRIED BY ANGELS TO DALMATIA FROM GALILEE

A strange legend of angelic activity is that touching the miraculous
transportation through the air (from Galilee to Dalmatia) of the “Santa
Casa,” the house wherein the Virgin Mary dwelt. This event is placed in
1295, and the reverse of an Italian medallion engraved in 1508, during the
pontificate of Julius II, gives a representation of the journey to Dalmatia,

two angels sufficing to bear the little edifice. The sea, over which the house
is being borne, is conventionally indicated by waves, but the fact that the
medallist has seen fit to show a relatively large figure of the Virgin seated
on the roof of the little structure and holding the Infant Jesus in her arms,
scarcely adds to the realism of the effect.
Quite naturally Catholicism could not be satisfied with the pagan idea
that the constellations held sway over the different parts of the human body,
and the saints were substituted for the stars.
The saints of the Romanists have usurped the place of the zodiacal constellations in their
government of the parts of man’s body, and so for every limbe they have a saint. Thus, St. Otilia
keepes the head instead of Aries; St. Blasius is appointed to govern the necke instead of Taurus; St.
Lawrence keepes the backe and shoulders instead of Gemini, Cancer and Leo; St. Erasmus rules the
belly with the entrayls, in the place of Libra and Scorpius; in the stead of Sagittarius, Capricornus,
Aquarius and Pisces, the holy church of Rome hath elected St. Burgarde, St. Rochus, St. Quirinius,
St. John, and many others, which govern the thighes, feet, shinnes and knees.[505]
When we consider how many beautiful and symbolic rites and
observances have marked the celebration of saint’s days and holidays in the
Old World, and how few of these have been preserved by the inhabitants of
our own country, we must find this most regrettable. Of late years there has
been a marked tendency to increase the number of holidays, and in a few
cases to revive the celebration of old holidays, but the popular idea of the
best way to celebrate these occasions seems to be confined to making them
carnivals of noise and disorder. This is largely owing to a lack of intelligent
guidance, for it is too much to expect that any people, above all those so
practical as our American people, can spontaneously evolve, at short notice,
an emblematic expression of the idea underlying the festival. If, however, a
beautiful and adequate symbolism were presented in a concrete form, the
masses of the people would grasp its significance quickly enough, and
would thus gain a higher and better conception of the historic anniversary
or the time-honored festival they were called upon to celebrate.
The saint’s days on which the summer and winter solstices fell were
memorized by distichs. For instance:
St. Barnaby bright! St. Barnaby bright!
The longest day and the shortest night.

St. Thomas gray! St. Thomas gray!
The longest night and the shortest day.

The former of the verses is probably the earlier, as St. Barnabas’ Day is
June 11, the day on which the summer solstice fell in England for some
time before the reform of the “Old Style” calendar, in 1752, replaced this
date; while St. Thomas’ Day is December 21, the date of the winter solstice
in our modern calendar.[506]
Writing of the origin of the rural superstitions in regard to the weather on
certain saint’s days, Wehrenfels quotes the distich:
If Paul’s Day be fair and clear
It foreshows an happy Year.

and continues:
The contrary has happened a thousand Times, but however this cannot destroy the Rule. It once
happened; certainly, say they, these Rules of the Husbandmen are not to be despised; see how exactly
they are made good by Experience. Thus a great Part of Mankind reasons; which if one consider, he
will neither depend much upon the Content of the common People in these Things, nor wonder at so
great a Number of most silly Opinions.[507]

VERSES ON SAINTS’ DAYS AT VARIOUS SEASONS OF
THE YEAR.[508]
January 25. Saint Paul’s Day:

If the clouds make dark the sky,
Great store of people then will die;
If there be either snow or rain,
Then will be dear all kinds of grain.
(Robin Forby, “Vocabulary of East Anglia,” London, 1830.)

Somewhat different in a Latin form:

Clara dies Pauli multas segetes nitant amni,
Si fuerint nebulæ, aut venti, erunt proelia genti.

February 2. Candlemas Day:

If Candlemas day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight;
If on Candlemas day it be shower and rain,
Winter is gone and will not come again.
(John Ray, “A Collection of English Proverbs,” 2d ed., Cambridge, 1678.)

February 12. St. Eulalia’s Day:

If the sun shines on St. Eulalie’s day,
It is good for apples and cider they say.

February 14. St. Valentine’s Day:

On St. Valentine’s day
Cast beans in clay
But on St. Chad
Sow good or bad.
(Seed time of this Lenten crop limited between February 14 and March 2.)

February 24. St. Matthias’ Day:

Saint Matthew (Sept. 21)
Get candlesticks new;
St. Mattheg
Lay candlesticks by.

March 1. St. David’s Day:

Quoth Saint David, “I’ll have a flood.”
Saith our Lady [Mch. 25] “I’ll have as good.”

(Referring to spring tides in Wales, from Poor Robin’s Almanack, 1684.)
June 15. St. Vitus’ Day:

If Saint Vitus’ day be rainy weather,
It will rain for thirty days together.
(M. A. Denham, “Proverbs and Popular Sayings Relating to the Seasons,” Percy Soc., 1846.)

July 15. St. Swithin’s Day:

St. Swithin’s day, if thou dost rain,
For forty days it will remain;
St. Swithin’s day, if thou be fair,
For forty days t’will rain nae mair.
(M. A. Denham, “Proverbs and Popular Sayings Relating to the Seasons,” Percy Soc., 1846.)

July 15: All the tears that St. Swithin can cry
Aug. 24: Saint Bartholomew’s dusty mantle wipes dry.
(R. Inwards, “Weather Lore,” London, 1893.)

July 20. St. Margaret’s Day:

“Margaret’s floods” (heavy rains).

July 25. St. James’ Day:

“Whoever eats oysters on St. James’ day will never want money.”
(M. A. Denham, “Proverbs and Popular Sayings Relating to the Seasons,” Percy Soc., 1846.)

August 24. St. Bartholomew’s Day:

St. Bartholomew
Brings cold dew.
(John Ray, “A Collection of English Proverbs,” 2d ed., Cambridge, 1678.)

October 28. St. Simon and St. Jude:

Simon and Jude
All the ships on the sea home they do crowd.

Dost thou know her then?
Trap. As well as I know ’twill rain upon
Simon and Jude’s day next.
(Middleton, “The Roaring Girl,” Act 5, Sc. 1.)

Now a continual Simon and Jude’s rain beat all your feathers as flat down as pancakes!
(Idem, Act II, Sc. 1.)

November 11. St. Martin’s Day:

Expect St. Martin’s summer, halcyon days.
(Shakespeare, “I Henry VI,” Act 1, Sc. 2.)

December 13. St. Lucy’s Day:

Lucy [bright] light
The shortest day and the longest night
(For a long time, before the change of the calendar, St. Lucy’s Day corresponded to our 21st of
December.)

December 21. St. Thomas’ Day:

St. Thomas gray, St. Thomas gray
The longest night and the shortest day.

December 27. St. John the Evangelist’s Day:

Never rued the man
That lead in his fuel before St. John.
(Robin Forby, “Vocabulary of East Anglia,” London, 1830.)

Additional verses on Candlemas Day (Purification of the Blessed Virgin):

If the sun shines bright on Candlemas Day,
The half of the winter’s not yet away.

In Latin:

Si sol splendescat Maria purificante,
Major erit glacies post festum quam ante.

SAINTS’ DAYS

Adrian. September 8. As also of his wife, Natalia. Anniversary of
translation of his relics to Rome; anciently his festival on day of his
martyrdom, March 4, 306. Patron of soldiers in Flanders, Germany,
and northern France; also against the plague. Relics in Abbey of St.
Adrian, Gearsburg, Belgium; and elsewhere.
Afra. August 5. Especially celebrated in Augsburg, of which city (her
native one) she is patroness. Martyred Aug. 7, 304.
Agatha. February 5. Patroness of Malta, and Catania, Sicily. Died
February 5, 251.
Agnes. January 21. Supposed anniversary of martyrdom in 304.
Alban. June 22. First English saint and martyr, died June 22, 303.
Present town of St. Albans upon site of martyrdom.
Amable. June 11. Patron of Riom, France. Died 475.
Ambrose. December 7. Patron of Milan. Died April 4, 397. Founder of
church, now Sant’ Ambrogio basilica Maggiore, Milan, in 387. One
of four Latin Fathers.
Andrew. November 30. Apostle, patron of Scotland and Russia.
Anne. July 26. Supposed anniversary of her death. Mother of the Virgin
Mary. Patroness of Canada.
Anselm. April 21. Archbishop of Canterbury (1033–1109).
Anthony. January 17. Hermit (251–356).
Anthony of Padua. June 13. Died June 13, 1231.
Apollonia. February 9. Martyred February 9, 250. Patroness of those
suffering from toothache.
Athanasius. May 2. One of four Greek Fathers. Died May 2, 373.
Augustine. August 28. Died 430. Patron of theologians and learning.
Bishop of Hippo in Africa. One of four Latin Fathers.

Augustine. May 26. Apostle to England in 596. Died May 26, 604.
Babylas. September 1 (14) in Eastern Church; January 24 in Western
Church (237–250). Bishop of Antioch. Relics said to have silenced
the revived oracle of Apollo at Delphi, during reign of Julian the
Apostate.
Barbara. December 4. Patroness of Ferrara, Mantua and Guastalla, Italy,
and of armourers and gunsmiths. Died December 4, 235 (?).
Barnabas. June 11. His birthday. One of the patrons of Milan. Apostle.
Bartholomew. August 24. Apostle.
Basil the Great. January 1, Eastern Church; June 14, Western Church
(328–380).
Bathilda. January 30 in France; January 26 in Roman Martyrology (died
ca. 680).
Bayo or Bavon. October 1. Patron of Ghent (589–653).
Benedict. March 21. Founder of Benedictine Order (480–543).
Bernard of Clairvaux. August 20. Founder of Abbey of Clairvaux, one
of the Fathers of the Church (1091–1153).
Bernard of Menthon. June 15. Founder of hospices in the Alps, “Great
St. Bernard” and “Little St. Bernard” (923–1008?).
Blaise. February 3. Patron of Ragusa, and of those afflicted with throat
diseases. Bishop of Sebaste, Cappadocia (died 316).
Boniface. June 5. Apostle of Germany (680–755).
Bridget or Bride. February 1. Patroness of Ireland (450–521).
Bruno. October 6. Founder of Carthusian Order (1035–1101).
Catherine. November 25. Patroness of Venice and appealed to against
diseases of the tongue.
Catherine of Siena. Patroness of Siena; lived in fourteenth century.
Cecilia. November 22. Patroness of sacred music (died 100).
Clement. November 23. Patron of farriers and blacksmiths (died 100).

Columban. November 21. Irish saint (543–615).
Crispin and Crispinian. October 25. Patrons of shoemakers (died 284).
Cuthbert. March 20. Patron saint of Durham, England (died 687).
David. March 1. Patron saint of Wales (446–549).
Declan. July 24. First bishop of Ardmore, Ireland.
Denis. October 9. Patron of France. Living in 250.
Domenic. August 4. Founder of Dominican Order (1170–1221).
Edmund. November 20. King of East Anglia and martyr (died 870).
Edward. March 18. King of England and martyr (962–978).
Edward the Confessor. October 13. King of England (1004–1066).
Elizabeth of Hungary. November 19. Daughter of Alexander II, King of
Hungary (1207–1231).
Elmo (Erasmus). June 2 (died 304).
Eloy (Eligius). December 1. Patron of goldsmiths (588–659).
Emeric. November 4. Eldest son of St. Stephen of Hungary.
Engracia.
Eric (or Henry). May 18. Patron of Sweden (died 1151).
Ethelreda (Audrey). October 17. Princess of East Anglia (died 679).
Euphemia. September 16. Patroness of Chalcedon (died ca. 307).
Felicitas. November 23. Patroness of male heirs (died 173).
Fillan. January 9. Scotch saint (died ca. 649).
Filomena (Filumina, Philomena). August 10. Supposititious saint.
Francis of Assisi. October 4. Founder of Franciscan Order (1182–1226).
Francis Xavier. December 3. Patron and Apostle of India (1506–1552).
Frideswide. October 19. Patroness of city and university of Oxford,
daughter of Sidan, Prince of Oxford (died ca. 740).
Genevieve. January 3. Patroness of Paris.

George. April 23. Patron of England, of Germany and Venice, of soldiers
and armourers (born third century).
Giles. September 1. Patron of Edinburgh (ca. 640–).
Gregory the Great. March 12 (born 540).
Gudula. January 8. Patron of Brussels (born middle of seventh century).
Helena. August 18. Wife of Constantius, mother of Constantine the Great
(died 328).
Henry of Bavaria. July 15. Patron of Bavaria. Emperor (Henry II) of
Germany (972–1024).
Hilary. January 14 (died 368).
Honoratus. Bishop of Arles. Died January 6, 429.
Honoratus (Honoré). May 16. Patron of bakers. Bishop of Amiens.
(Died 690.)
Hubert of Liege. November 3. Patron of the chase and of dogs (died
727).
Ignatius Loyola. July 3. Founder of Jesuit Order (1491–1556).
Isidore the Ploughman (Isidro el Labrador). May 15. Patron of Madrid
and of farmers (born ca. 1110–1170).
James the Great. July 25. Apostle; patron of Spain and of pilgrims to
Jerusalem (died 42).
Januarius. September 19. Patron of Naples (died 305).
Jerome. September 30. Patron of scholars. One of the four Latin Fathers
(342–420).
John the Baptist. June 24, or Midsummer Day.
John the Evangelist. December 27 (died 101).
Joseph. March 19.
Julian Hospitator. January 9. Patron of hospitals (died 313).
Justina of Padua. October 7. One of the patrons of Padua and Venice
(died 303).

Kenelm. December 13 and July 17. Son of Kenulph, King of Murcia
(812–820).
Keyne (Keyna). Cornish saint (died 689).
Kilian. July 8. Irish saint (died 689).
Lawrence. August 10. Patron of Nuremberg, Genoa, and of the Escorial.
Leonhardt. November 6. Patron of prisoners and slaves; in Bavaria, of
cattle (died ca. 560).
Lucy (Lucia). December 13. Patron of Syracuse, and against eye-
diseases.
Ludmilla. September 16. Patron of Bohemia. Queen of that country (died
ca. 920).
Luke. October 18. Patron of painters.
Macaire the Elder. January 15. (Fourth century.)
Macaire the Younger. January 2. (Fourth century.)
Malo (Maclou). November 15. Patron of St. Malo, France (died 627).
Margaret. July 20. One of the patrons of Cremona and of women in
childbirth (died fourth century).
Mark. April 25. Evangelist (died 68).
Martha of Bethany. July 29. Patroness of cooks and housewives (died
84).
Martin of Tours. November 11, Martinmas. Patron of Tours and of
beggars, tavern-keepers and wine-growers (316–397).
Mary Magdalene. July 22. Patroness of Provence and of Marseilles as
well as of penitent fallen women.
Matthias. February 24.
Maurice. September 22. Patron of Austria, Savoy, Mantua, and of foot-
soldiers (fourth century).
Michael. September 29. Archangel.

Nicholas. December 6. Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, patron of Russia,
and especially of serfs and serfdom (died 342).
Olaf. July 29. Patron of Norway. Not canonized but informally accepted.
Ouen (Ouine). August 24. Patron of Rouen (595–683).
Pantaleone. June 27. Patron of physicians (fourth century).
Patrick. March 17. Patron of Ireland (born ca. 386).
Paul. June 29 (with St. Peter), and January 25.
Peter. June 29; also August 1, St. Peter’s Chains, and January 18, Chair
of St. Peter.
Philip. May 1. Patron of Brabant and Luxemburg.
Philip Neri. May 26. Founder of Oratorian Order (1515–1595).
Polycarp. January 26. Bishop of Smyrna (died 167).
Quietus. (No day.) Bones in church of Our Lady of Grau, Hoboken,
enshrined June 1, 1856, Archbishop Bailey officiating.
Roche (Roch, Roque). August 16. Patron of prisoners and the sick,
especially the plague-stricken (born ca. 1280–1327).
Romain. October 23. Patron of Rouen (died 639).
Romuald. February 7 (956–1027).
Rosalia. September 4. Patroness of Palermo (died 1160).
Rumald (Rumbald). November 3. Patron of Brackley and Buckingham,
England. Son of King of Northumbria.
Scholastica. February 10. Sister of St. Benedict (died ca. 543).
Sebald. Son of a Danish king (eighth century).
Sebastian. January 20. Patron of Chiemsee, Mannheim, Oetting, Palma,
Rome, Soissons, and of archers (fourth century).
Secundus. March 30. Patron of Asti (died 119).
Stephen. December 26. Patron of horses.
Swithin (Swithun). July 15. Patron of Winchester (died 862).