Chapter XI: On the Therapeutic Use of Precious and Semi-Precious (2)

Yellow worn by a man denoted secrecy, and was appropriate for the silent lover; worn by a woman it indicated generosity. Golden yellow was, of course, the symbol of the sun and of Sunday. The precious stone was the chrysolite or the yellow jacinth. The animal connected with the color was the lion, doubtless, from the association of the zodiacal sign Leo with the midsummer sun. Of the seven ages of man yellow typified adolescence. Roman matrons covered their heads with a yellow veil to show their hope of offspring and happiness. Because garments of this color were a sign of grandeur and nobility, a golden vestment is assigned to the Queen of Heaven as a sign of her pre-eminence, as we read in Psalm xlv, 9: “Upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.” Gimma’s explanation of this as referring to the Virgin Mary is in accord with the Catholic exegesis of his time.

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

Red garments on a man indicated command, nobility, lordship, and vengeance; on a woman, pride, obstinacy, and haughtiness. This was the color of the planet Mars and of Tuesday; it was represented by the ruby. Why the lynx should have been selected as the animal for red is rather difficult to understand, but, as the most vivid color, the choice of red as a type of full manhood need not surprise us. Its number was the potent nine, three multiplied by itself. The ancients covered with a red cloth the biers of those who had died valiantly in battle, as Homer[14] shows when he relates that the brothers and companions of Hector covered the urn containing the hero’s ashes with soft purple (scarlet) robes. Plutarch asserts that the Lacedemonians clothed their soldiers in red to strike terror into the hearts of their enemies and to manifest a thirst for blood. We might perhaps say much the same of the English “red-coats” to-day. The Italian code of criminal laws known as the “Digesto Nuovo” was bound in red, to signify that a bloody death awaited thieves and murderers.

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

Green signified for men joyousness, transitory hope, and the decline of friendship; for women, unfounded ambition, childish delight, and change. The early verdure of spring might be regarded as at once a symbol of hope and of eventual disappointment, for it must soon pass away. Mercury, and Wednesday, the day of Mercury, were both typified by green, the sly fox being selected as the animal is sympathy with the wily god. The typical green stone is the emerald, youth is the age of man represented by the color, and five the magic number expressing it. In ancient times green was used in the case of those who died in the flower of youth, an emerald being sometimes placed on the index-finger of the corpse, as a sign that the light of hope was spent, for the lower part of the torches used in religious ceremonies was marked with green. Fulvius Pellegrinus relates that, in the tomb of Tullia, the dearly-beloved daughter of Cicero, there was found an emerald, the most beautiful that had ever been seen. This passed into the hands of the Marchesana di Mantova, Isabella Gonzaga da Este. In Italy the graves of young virgins and of children were covered with green branches. When the Codex Justinianus was rediscovered and added to the other Pandects, it was bound in green to signify that these laws were rejuvenated.

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

Violet for a man denoted sober judgment, industry, and gravity; for a woman, high thoughts and religious love. It was the color of the planet Jupiter and of Thursday. As with blue, the sapphire was conceived to present violet most attractively. That the bull should be selected as the animal represented by this color probably arose from some mythological connection with Jupiter, possibly the myth of Europa and the bull. Violet was the color of old age and was associated with the number three.

The influence of color upon the nerves has been noted by some of the leading authorities on hypnotism. For example, Dr. Paul Ferez, finding that red light is stimulating and blue-violet calming, suggests that those who treat patients by means of hypnotism should have two rooms for their reception. In one of these rooms the curtains, wall-paper, chair-coverings, etc., would be red, while in the other they would be of a violet-blue hue. Those suffering from a lack of will-power or from lassitude and depression are to be received in the red room, and those who are a prey to over-excitability are introduced into the blue room. Moreover, according to Dr. Ferez, the sedative qualities of the violet-blue can be utilized in inducing the hypnotic state. For this purpose he recommends a violet-blue disk, which is to be rotated rapidly before the eyes of the patient, the movement serving to attract and hold his gaze better than any immovable object would do.[15]

Red stones such as rubies, carbuncles, and garnets, whose color suggested that of blood, were not only believed to confer invulnerability from wounds, but some Asiatic tribes have used garnets as bullets, upon the contrary principle that this blood-colored stone would inflict a more deadly wound than would a leaden bullet. Such bullets were used by the rebellious Hanzas, in 1892, during their hostilities with the British troops on the Kashmir frontier, and many of these precious missiles were preserved as curiosities.

In his “Colloquy on Pilgrimages,” Erasmus makes one of the speakers ask, “Dost thou not see how the artificer Nature delights to represent all things by colors and forms, but more especially in gems?” He then proceeds to enumerate the various images of natural objects in stones. In the ceraunia appeared the thunder-bolt; in the pyrope, living fire; the chalazia (rock-crystal) preserved the form and coldness of the hailstone even if cast into the fire. In the emerald were shown the deep and translucent waves of the sea; the carcinia imitated the form of crabs; the echites, of vipers; the hieracites, of hawks; the geranites, of cranes. The ætites offered the image of an eagle with a white tail; the taos had the form of a peacock; the chelonites, of an asp; while the myrmecites bore within the figure of an ant.[16] The stones bearing this latter name were probably specimens of amber containing ants.

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

The oldest magic formulas that have been preserved for us are those of the Sumerians, the founders of the ancient civilization of Babylonia. Some of them contain references to the use of precious stones as amulets, as appears in the following specimen:

Cords of light-colored wool,
Offered (?) with a pure hand,
For jaundice of the eye,
Bind on the right side (of the patient).
A lululti ring, with sparkling stones
Brought from his own land,
For inflammation of the eye,
On the little finger
Of his left (hand), place.[17]

A curious Babylonian mythological text represents the solar deity Ninib, the son of Bel, as determining the fate of various stones by pronouncing a blessing or a curse upon them. For instance, the dolomite was blessed and declared to be fit material for the statues of kings, while a substance called the _elu_ stone was cursed, proclaimed to be unfit for working, and doomed to disintegration. Alabaster was favored by the god, but chalcedony aroused his anger and was condemned.[18]

In these Sumero-Assyrian inscriptions, there is also mention of two stones, the _aban râme_ and the _aban la râme_, the “Stone of Love” and the “Stone of Hate” (lit. “non-love”).[19] Evidently these stones were believed to excite one or other of these contradictory passions in the hearts of the wearers, and they may be compared with the stones of memory and forgetfulness in the “Gesta Romanorum.”

In an ancient Egyptian burial-place at Shêch Abd el-Qurna, excavated by Passalaqua, was found the mummy of a young woman. Not only was it evident from the rich ornaments adorning the body that she had been of noble birth, but it was also apparent that she must have been exceedingly beautiful in form and feature, and must have died in the flower of her age. The hair was artistically braided and adorned with twenty bronze hairpins. About her neck was a remarkably beautiful necklace composed of four rows of beads with numerous pendants representing divinities and sacred symbols. There were also two smaller necklaces with beads of gold, lapis-lazuli, and carnelian; two large jewelled ear-rings hung from her ears, and on the index-finger of her right hand was a ring set with a scarab; a gold belt garnished with lapis-lazuli and carnelians was bound about her waist and a gold bracelet adorned with semi-precious stones encircled her left wrist. In the sarcophagus was a beautiful mirror of golden-yellow bronze, and three alabaster vases, one still containing some balm or perfume, and another some galena (native lead sulphide) to be used as a cosmetic for the eyes, as well as a little ebony pencil for its application. All these objects are now in the Egyptian collection of the Berlin Museum, and they probably belong to the period of the XVIII Dynasty, about 1500 B.C.

2. A necklace of onyx and gold beads with the “Lucky Eye” agates; from Egypt. Carnelian, sard; blue and white, and black and white glass beads.]

The principal necklace was undoubtedly regarded by the fair Egyptian as an amulet of great power, but it failed to protect her from an untimely end; perhaps, however, its virtues may have aided her soul in its passage through the trials and tests imposed in the underworld. Of the numerous pendants which lent to the necklace its peculiar quality as an amulet, three, in carnelian, figure the god Bes; seven, also in carnelian, the hippopotamus-goddess Toeris, of whom there are besides two representations in lapis-lazuli; then we have a heart of lapis-lazuli; a cat of lapis-lazuli; four falcons of carnelian; one crocodile of carnelian and two of lapis-lazuli; four fish of carnelian, as well as two others of a blackish-white and of a green stone, respectively, and two scorpions of carnelian, and seven flower-forms of the same stone. The greater part of the beads in this necklace are of annular form, of gold, electrum, ivory, or lapis-lazuli; there are a few larger annular or spherical beads of carnelian, chrysoprase, and malachite, and measuring up to 3.5 cm. in diameter.[20]

A necklace, from the time of the Old Empire (c. 3500 B.C.), and having for its chief adornment a turquoise pendant rudely fashioned into the form of an ibex, was found by the German Orient-Gesellschaft at Abusîr el-Meleq in 1905. This necklace, the parts of which were found about the neck of a body, presumably that of a young man, was composed of rounded and annular beads of carnelian and shell, as well as of flat, perforated fragments of turquoise and almandine garnet and an approximately lozenge-shaped bead of amethyst 1.7 cm. long and 1.4 cm. broad. The chief ornament was the turquoise ibex 1.7 cm. in length and 0.9 cm. high.[21] This figure suggests a comparison with the animal and bird forms fashioned out of turquoise that have been found in Indian graves in Arizona and New Mexico, and it probably had the quality of a fetich, or at least of a talisman, intended to guard the wearer of the necklace from harm.

That there was in Egypt a strong inclination to use a certain particular stone for a given amulet, will be noted in the case of those inscribed with special chapters of the Book of the Dead. This is also true of amulets of certain forms. For instance, the head-rest amulet is usually of hematite as is also the carpenter’s square. Of the heart amulets, numbering 47 in the rich collections of the Cairo Museum, nine are of carnelian, four of hematite, two of lapis-lazuli, and two each of green porphyry and green jasper, carnelian being thus the most favored among the more precious materials. Amulets of animal form are plentifully represented in this collection, figuring a large variety of members of the animal kingdom such as the hippopotamus, crocodile, lion, bull, cow, hare, dog-headed ape, cat, dog (somewhat doubtful), jackal, hedgehog, frog, hawk, cobra and fishes, to which list may be added a four-headed ram and a ram-headed sphinx.[22]

One of the special uses of amulets was for seafaring people, for, in ancient times especially, all who went down to the sea in ships were greatly in need of protection from the fury of the elements when they embarked in their small sailing-vessels. A fragment of a Greek Lapidary,[23] probably written in the third or fourth century of our era, gives a list of seven amulets peculiarly adapted for this purpose. The number might suggest a connection with the days of the week, and the amulets were perhaps regarded as most efficacious when used on the respective days.

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

The ancient treatises on the magic art show that the use of amulets was considered to be indispensable for those who dared to evoke the dark spirits of the nether-world, for without the protection afforded by his amulet the magician ran the risk of being attacked by these spirits. One of these texts gives directions for preparing an amulet, or _phylacterion_, for the “undertaking”; for this a “sweet-smelling” loadstone should be chosen, and should be cut heart-shaped and engraved with the figure of Hecate.[24]

A costly Chinese amulet consists of the diamond, the ruby, and the emerald, to which are added the pearl and coral; Oriental sapphire and topaz are classed with the ruby. An amulet containing these five substances is thought to combine the protecting influences of the different deities presiding over them, and is supposed to lengthen the wearer’s life. Sometimes these five princely gems are wrapped up in a paper bearing the names of the respective divinities, to which is added the name of the moon, and those of the twenty-seven constellations, or houses of the moon. Such an amulet, suspended at the entrance of a house, is believed to afford protection to the inmates.[25]

In the language of the ancient Mexicans blood was called _chalchiuhatl_, or “water of precious stones,” as the quintessence of what were regarded as the most costly things.[26] Although such poetic designations are in modern times mere figures of speech, among primitive peoples they are more significant, and it is highly probable that with the Aztecs, as with other peoples, the wearing of precious stones was believed to enrich the blood and thus to promote health and vigor, for “the blood is the life.”

That gems had sex is asserted by the earliest writers as well as by many of those of a later date. While this must usually be understood as a poetic way of indicating a difference in shade, the darker varieties being regarded as male and the lighter ones as female, Theophrastus, the earliest Greek writer on precious stones, clearly shows that this sexual distinction was sometimes seriously made, for he declares that, wonderful as it might seem, certain gems were capable of producing offspring.

This strange idea was still prevalent in the sixteenth century, and ingenious explanations were sometimes given of the cause of this phenomenon, as appears in the following account by Rueus of germinating diamonds:[27]

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

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

Talismanic influences are taken into account in the wearing of jewelry by Orientals, two bracelets being frequently worn lest one member should become jealous of the other, thus disturbing the equilibrium of the whole organism. The piercing of the ears for ear-rings has been attributed to a desire to chastise the ear for its indiscretion in hearing secrets not intended to be heard, while costly and ornamental ear-rings are set in the ears to console those parts of our anatomy for the suffering caused by the operation of piercing. In the case of necklaces of brilliant metal, adorned with pendants of glittering stones, the talismanic purpose is to attract the beholder’s gaze and thus ward off the mysterious and dangerous emanations set forth by the Evil Eye; the necklace, or its ornaments, are supposed to perform a similar service to that rendered by the lightning-rod in diverting the electric discharge.

From the “Hortus Sanitatis” of Johannis de Cuba [Strassburg, Jean Pryss, ca. 1483]: De lapidibus, cap. lxxviii. Author’s library.]

At an early date the Christian Church registered its opposition to the practice of wearing amulets. At the Council of Laodicea, held in 355 A.D., it was decreed, in the thirty-fourth canon, that priests and clerks must be neither enchanters, mathematicians, nor astrologers, and that they must not make “what are called amulets,” for these were fetters of the soul, and all who wore them should be cast out of the church.[28] This emphatic condemnation of the prevailing usage was not so much a protest against superstition _per se_ as against pagan superstition, for almost if not all the amulets in use in the early centuries of our era bore heathen or heretical symbols or inscriptions. In later times the invincible tendency to wear objects of this character found expression in the use of those associated with Christian belief, such, for instance, as relics of the saints, medallions blessed by the priest, etc.

MAHARAJA RUNJIT SINGH, RULER OF THE PUNJAB, 1791 TO 1839.

He holds a “rosary” of emeralds, stones prized in the Orient as antidotes to poison. From a portrait by Jiwan Ram, taken at Rupar in 1831. From the Journal of Indian Art and Industry.]

The amulets of the Jews differed in many respects from those used by Christians. The Mosaic prohibition of representations of human or animal forms imposed great restrictions upon the employment of engraved gems, and the Jew was only permitted to wear or carry those bearing merely characters of mystic or symbolic significance. In talmudic times amulets were sometimes hidden in a hollow staff, and they were believed to have more power when concealed from view in this way. They were like concealed weapons, and it was said that, as a father might give such an amulet to a son, so God had given the Law to Israel for its protection.[29]

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

Richesse a girdle hadde upon
The bokel of it was of a stoon
Of Vertue greet, and mochel of might.

That stoon was greetly for to love,
And til a riche mannes bihove
Worth al the gold in Rome and Fryse.

The mordaunt[30] wrought in noble wyse,
Was of a stoon full precious,
That was so fyn and vertuous,
That hool a man it coude make
Of palasye and of tooth-ake.[31]

At the trial, in 1232, of Hubert de Burgh, chief justiciar, one of the charges brought against him was that he had surreptitiously removed from the English treasury an exceedingly valuable stone, possessing the virtue of rendering the wearer invincible in battle, and had given it to Llewellyn, King of Wales, the enemy of his own sovereign, Henry III of England (1207-1272).[32] This must have taken place about 1228, when Henry was engaged in a war with the Welsh.

That precious stones could, under certain circumstances, lose the powers inherent in them was firmly believed in medieval times. If handled or even gazed upon by impure persons and sinners, some of the virtues of the stones departed from them. Indeed, there were those who held that precious stones, in common with all created things, were corrupted by the sin of Adam. Therefore, in order to restore their pristine virtue it might become necessary to sanctify and consecrate them, and a kind of ritual serving this purpose has been preserved in several old treatises. The subject is sufficiently curious to warrant here the repetition of one of these forms. The stones which required consecration were to be wrapped in a perfectly clean linen cloth and placed on the altar. Then three masses were to be said over them, and the priest who celebrated the third mass, clad in his sacred vestments, was to pronounce the following benediction:[33]

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

Konrad of Megenburg also gives this benediction in his “Buch der Natur.”

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

There is sorcery among the Jews and their sorcerers think: “If we succeed, it is well for us; if we fail, a Christian is the sufferer; what care we for that?” ... But Duke Albert of Saxony acted shrewdly. When a Jew offered him a button, inscribed with curious characters and signs, and asserted that this button gave protection from cuts, thrusts, and shots, the Duke answered: “I will test that upon thyself, O Jew.” Hereupon he led the man to the gate, hung the button at his neck, drew his own sword, and thrust the fellow through the body. “The same fate would have happened to me,” said the Duke, “as has happened to thee.”[34]

Ruskin, with his keen poetic insight into the working of natural laws, saw in the formation of crystals the action of both “force of heart” and “steadiness of purpose.” He thus found himself, consciously or unconsciously, in agreement with the old fancies which attributed a species of personality to precious stones. Just as the Hindu regarded an imperfectly shaped crystal as a bringer of ill luck to the owner, so Ruskin sees in such a crystal the signs of an innate “immorality,” if we may use this expression. Of a crystal aggregation of this type he writes as follows:[35]

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

There is established a very pretty custom of assigning to the various masculine and feminine Christian names a particular gem, and such name-gems are often set together with natal and talismanic gems and with gems of one’s patron saint. It is considered an exceedingly good omen when it happens that all three gems are of the same sort.

GEMS FOR FEMININE NAMES.

Adelaide Andalusite
Agnes Agate
Alice Alexandrite
Anne Amber

Beatrice Basalt
Belle Bloodstone
Bertha Beryl

Caroline Chalcedony
Catherine Cat’s-eye
Charlotte Carbuncle
Clara Carnelian
Constance Crystal

Dorcas Diamond
Dorothy Diaspore

Edith Eye-agate
Eleanor Elæolite
Elizabeth Emerald
Ellen Essonite
Emily Euclase
Emma Epidote

Florence Fluorite
Frances Fire-opal

Gertrude Garnet
Gladys Golden Beryl
Grace Grossularite

Hannah Heliotrope
Helen Hyacinth

Irene Iolite

Jane Jacinth
Jessie Jasper
Josephine Jadeite
Julia Jade

Louise Lapis-lazuli
Lucy Lepidolite

Margaret Moss-agate
Martha Malachite
Marie Moldavite
Mary Moonstone

Olive Olivine

Pauline Pearl

Rose Ruby

Sarah Spodumene
Susan Sapphire

Therese Turquoise

GEMS FOR MASCULINE NAMES.

Abraham Aragonite
Adolphus Albite
Adrian Andalusite
Albert Agate
Alexander Alexandrite
Alfred Almandine
Ambrose Amber
Andrew Aventurine
Archibald Axinite
Arnold Aquamarine
Arthur Amethyst
Augustus Agalmatolite

Benjamin Bloodstone
Bernard Beryl

Charles Chalcedony
Christian Crystal
Claude Cyanite
Clement Chrysolite
Conrad Crocidolite
Constantine Chrysoberyl
Cornelius Cat’s-eye

Dennis Demantoid
Dorian Diamond

Edmund Emerald
Edward Epidote
Ernest Euclase
Eugene Essonite

Ferdinand Feldspar
Francis Fire-opal
Frederick Fluorite

George Garnet
Gilbert Gadolinite
Godfrey Gagates
Gregory Grossularite
Gustavus Galactides
Guy Gold quartz

Henry Heliolite
Herbert Hyacinth
Horace Harlequin opal
Hubert Heliotrope
Hugh Heliodor
Humphrey Hypersthene

James Jade
Jasper Jasper
Jerome Jadeite
John Jacinth
Joseph Jargoon
Julius Jet

Lambert Labradorite
Lawrence Lapis-lazuli
Leo Lepidolite
Leonard Loadstone

Mark Malachite
Matthew Moonstone
Maurice Moss-agate
Michael Microcline

Nathan Natrolite
Nicholas Nephrite

Oliver Onyx
Osborne Orthoclase
Osmond Opal
Oswald Obsidian

Patrick Pyrope
Paul Pearl
Peter Porphyry
Philip Prase

Ralph Rubellite
Raymond Rose-quartz
Richard Rutile
Robert Rock-crystal
Roger Rhodonite
Roland Ruby

Stephen Sapphire

Theodore Tourmaline
Thomas Topaz

Valentine Vesuvianite
Vincent Verd-antique

Walter Wood-opal
William Willemite

III

On the Talismanic Use of Special Stones[36]

Agate

The author of “Lithica” celebrates the merits of the agate in the following lines:[37]

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

This idea is elaborated by Marbodus, Bishop of Rennes, in the eleventh century, who declares that agates make the wearers agreeable and persuasive and also give them the favor of God.[38] Still other virtues are recounted by Camillo Leonardo, who claims that these stones give victory and strength to their owners and avert tempests and lightning.[39]

The agate possessed some wonderful virtues, for its wearer was guarded from all dangers, was enabled to vanquish all terrestrial obstacles and was endowed with a bold heart; this latter prerogative was presumably the secret of his success. Some of these wonder-working agates were black with white veins, while others again were entirely white.[40]

The wearing of agate ornaments was even believed to be a cure for insomnia and was thought to insure pleasant dreams. In spite of these supposed advantages, Cardano asserts that while wearing this stone he had many misfortunes which he could not trace to any fault or error of his own. He, therefore, abandoned its use; although he states that it made the wearer more prudent in his actions.[41] Indeed, Cardano appears to have tested the talismanic worth of gems according to a plan of his own,—namely, by wearing them in turn and noting the degree of good or ill fortune he experienced. By this method he apparently arrived at positive results based on actual experience; but he quite failed to appreciate the fact that no real connection of any kind existed between the stones and their supposed effects. In another treatise this author takes a somewhat more favorable view of the agate, and proclaims that all varieties render those who wear them “temperate, continent, and cautious; therefore they are all useful for acquiring riches.”[42]

According to the text accompanying a curious print published in Vienna in 1709, the attractive qualities of the so-called coral-agate were to be utilized in an air-ship, the invention of a Brazilian priest. Over the head of the aviator, as he sat in the air-ship, there was a network of iron to which large coral-agates were attached. These were expected to help in drawing up the ship, when, through the heat of the sun’s rays, the stones had acquired magnetic power. The main lifting force was provided by powerful magnets enclosed in two metal spheres; how the magnets themselves were to be raised is not explained.[43]

In the network above the figure were to be set coral-agates, supposed to possess such magnetic powers as to keep the craft aloft. From Valentini, “Museum Museorum,” Pt. III, Franckfurt am Mayn, 1714, p.35. Author’s library.]

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

Made of Brazilian agate at Oberstein, Germany, for African trade. Field Museum, Chicago.]

Alexandrite

There are a few talismanic stones which have gained their repute in our time, notably the alexandrite, a variety of chrysoberyl found in Russia, in the emerald mines on the Takowaya, in the Ural region. The discovery of this variety is stated to have been made in 1831 on the day Alexander II (then heir-apparent) reached his majority, and it was therefore named alexandrite, by Nordenskjöld, the mineralogist. The stone as found in gem form rarely weighs over from one to three carats, and is characterized by a marked pleochroism of a splendid green changing to a beautiful columbine red. But in Ceylon much larger gems are found, some few weighing 60 carats each, although rarely of more than one or two carats. The color is of a darker and more bottle-like green, and the change by night renders them darker and more granitized than the Russian stones, which are extremely rare. As red and green are the Russian national colors, the alexandrite has become a great favorite with the Russians, and is looked upon as a stone of good omen in that country. Such, however, is its beauty as a gem that its fame is by no means confined to Russia, and it is eagerly sought in other lands as well.

Amber

Amber was one of the first substances used by man for decoration, and it was also employed at a very early period for amulets and for medicinal purposes. More or less shapeless pieces of rough amber, marked with circular depressions, have been found in Prussia, Schleswig-Holstein, and Denmark, in deposits of the Stone Age. These depressions are sometimes regularly disposed and at other times irregularly, and seem intended to imitate similar depressions found in large stones and rocks, often the work of man’s hand, but occasionally the result of natural causes. In Hoernes’ opinion they marked the resting place of the spirit or spirits believed to animate the stone, and hence it is probable that the amber fragments were used as talismans or amulets.[44]

For the ancient Greek poets, the grains of amber were the tears annually shed over the death of their brother Phaëthon by the Heliades after grief had metamorphosed them into poplars growing on the banks of the Eridanus (the modern river Po).[45] In a lost tragedy of Sophocles, he saw the origin of amber in the tears shed over the death of Meleager by certain Indian birds. For Nicias it was the “juice” or essence of the brilliant rays of the setting sun, congealed in the sea and then cast up upon the shore. A more prosaic explanation likened amber to resin, and regarded it as being an exudation from the trunks of certain trees. Indeed, the poetic fancy we have just noted is the same idea clothed in a metaphorical or mythological form. Another fancy represented amber to be the solidified urine of the lynx, hence one of its names, _lyncurius_.[46]

From the “Hortus Sanitatis,” of Johannis de Cuba [Strassburg, Jean Pryss, ca. 1483]; De lapidibus, cap. lxx. Author’s library.]

The brilliant and beautiful yellow of certain ambers and the fact that this material was very easily worked served to make its use more general, and it soon became a favorite object of trade and barter between the peoples of the Baltic Coast and the more civilized peoples to the south. Schliemann found considerable amber from the Baltic in the graves of Mycenæ, and the frequent allusions to it in the works of Latin authors of the first and succeeding centuries testify to its popularity in the Roman world.

Probably the very earliest allusion in literature to the ornamental use of amber appears in Homer’s Odyssey,[47] where we read:

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

Amber ingeniously carved into animal forms has been discovered in tumuli at Indersoen, Norway.[48] These curious objects were worn as amulets, and the peculiar forms were supposed to enhance the power of the material, giving it special virtues and rendering it of greater value and efficacy.

Pieces of amber with singular natural markings were greatly esteemed, especially when these markings suggested the initials of the name of some prominent person. Thus, we are told that Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia paid to a dealer a high price for a piece of amber on which appeared his initials. The same dealer had another piece on which he read the initials of Charles XII of Sweden. When he received the news of this king’s death, he bitterly lamented having lost the opportunity of selling him amber for a high price. But he was cleverly consoled by Nathaniel Sendal, the relator of the story, who easily persuaded the dealer that the markings could just as well signify the initials of some other name. Sendal adduces this as a proof that the letters read on such pieces of amber were as much the product of the observer’s imagination as of the markings on the material.[49] Those who secured amber so mysteriously marked by Nature’s hand probably felt that they had obtained a talisman of great power, especially destined for their use.

2. Amber ring ornament from Pompeii.

3. Large annular bead of amber from Mexico. Aztec work.

4. Amber wedding necklace. Eighteenth century. Baltic Provinces.

5. Amber beads. Worn by African natives.]

Amethyst

While the special and traditional virtue of the amethyst was the cure of drunkenness, many other qualities were attributed to this stone in the fifteenth century. For Leonardo,[50] it had the power to control evil thoughts, to quicken the intelligence, and to render men shrewd in business matters. An amethyst worn on the person had a sobering effect, not only upon those who had partaken too freely of the cup that intoxicates, but also upon those over-excited by the love-passion. Lastly, it preserved soldiers from harm and gave them victory over their enemies, and was of great assistance to hunters in the capture of wild animals. The amethyst shared with many other stones the power to preserve the wearer from contagion.[51]

A pretty legend in regard to the amethyst has been happily treated in French verse. The god Bacchus, offended at some neglect that he had suffered, was determined to avenge himself, and declared that the first person he should meet, when he and his train passed along, should be devoured by his tigers. Fate willed it that this luckless mortal was a beautiful and pure maiden named Amethyst, who was on her way to worship at the shrine of Diana. As the ferocious beasts sprang toward her, she sought the protection of the goddess, and was saved from a worse fate by being turned into a pure white stone. Recognizing the miracle and repenting of his cruelty, Bacchus poured the juice of the grape as a libation over the petrified body of the maiden, thus giving to the stone the beautiful violet hue that so charms the beholder’s eye.[52]

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

Beryl

Arnoldus Saxo, writing about 1220, after reciting the virtues of the beryl as given by Marbodus, after Evax and Isidorus, reports in addition that the stone gave help against foes in battle or in litigation; the wearer was rendered unconquerable and at the same time amiable, while his intellect was quickened and he was cured of laziness.[53] In the old German translation of Thomas de Cantimpré’s “De Proprietatibus Rerum,” we read that the beryl reawakens the love of married people (er hat auch die art daz er der elaut lieb wiederpringt).[54]

Bloodstone

From the “Hortus Sanitatis” of Johannis de Cuba [Strassburg, Jean Pryss, ca. 1483]; De lapidibus, cap. xc. Author’s library.]

The heliotrope or bloodstone was supposed to impart a reddish hue to the water in which it was placed, so that when the rays of the sun fell upon the water they gave forth red reflections. From this fancy was developed the strange exaggeration that this stone had the power to turn the sun itself a blood-red, and to cause thunder, lightning, rain, and tempest. The old treatise of Damigeron relates this of the bloodstone, adding that it announced future events by producing rain and by “audible oracles.” Probably the conjurors, before proceeding to use the stone for their incantations, watched the heavens and waited until they noticed the signs of an approaching storm. They then interpreted the sounds of the wind and thunder in various ways, so as to give apt answers to the questions addressed to them touching future events. It is well known that the sighing of the wind, and, indeed, all those natural sounds which constitute the grand symphony of Nature, were interpreted by prophets and seers into articulate speech. Damigeron also declares that the bloodstone preserved the faculties and bodily health of the wearer, brought him consideration and respect, and guarded him from deception.[55]

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

The world has no greater thing; if any one have this with him he will be given whatever he asks for; it also assuages the wrath of kings and despots, and whatever the wearer says will be believed. Whoever bears this stone, which is a gem, and pronounces the name engraved upon it, will find all doors open, while bonds and stone walls will be rent asunder.[56]

Carbuncle

The carbuncle was recommended as a heart stimulant; indeed, so powerful was its action, that the wearers were rendered angry and passionate and were even warned to be on their guard against attacks of apoplexy.[57] The blood-red hue of the stone also suggested its use as a symbol of the divine sacrifice of Christ on the cross. However, not only in Christianity was this stone used to illustrate religious conceptions, for the Koran affirms that the Fourth Heaven is composed of carbuncle. In mythical fancies too this stone played its part, for dragon’s eyes were said to be carbuncles.

Rumphius[58] states that in 1687 he was told by a chirurgeon that the latter had seen in the possession of one of the rulers in the island of Amboin a carbuncle said to have been brought by a serpent. The story ran that this ruler, when a child, had been placed by his mother in a hammock attached to two branches of a tree. While there a serpent crept up to him and dropped a stone upon his body. In gratitude for this gift the parents of the child fed and cared for the serpent. The stone is described as having been of a warm yellow hue, verging on red; it shone so brightly at night that a room could be illuminated by it. It eventually passed into the possession of a King of Siam.

Carnelian

Talisman ist Karneol
Gläubigen bringt er Glück und Wohl;
Steht er gar auf Onyx’ Grunde,
Küss’ ihm mit geweihtem Munde!
Alles Übel treibt er fort,
Schützet dich und schützt den Ort;
Wenn das eingegrabene Wort
Allah’s Namen rein verkündet;
Dich zu Lieb’ und Tat entzündet;
Und besonders werden Frauen
Sich am Talisman erbauen![59]

Carnelian is a talisman,
It brings good luck to child and man;
If resting on an onyx ground,
A sacred kiss imprint when found.
It drives away all evil things;
To thee and thine protection brings.
The name of Allah, king of kings,
If graven on this stone, indeed,
Will move to love and doughty deed.
From such a gem a woman gains
Sweet hope and comfort in her pains.

The wearing of carnelians is recommended by the Lapidario of Alfonso X[60] to those who have a weak voice or are timid in speech, for the warm-colored stone will give them the courage they lack, so that they will speak both boldly and well. This is in accord with the general belief in the stimulating and animating effects produced by red stones.

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

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

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

The popularity of the carnelian as a talismanic stone among Mohammedan peoples is said to be due to the fact that the Prophet himself wore, on the little finger of his right hand, a silver ring set with a carnelian engraved for use as a seal. One of the most famous of the imâms, Jafar, lent the weight of his authority to the belief in the virtue of the carnelian, for he declared that all the desires of any man who wore this stone would be gratified. Hence in Persia the name of one of the twelve imâms, comprising Ali and his successors, is frequently engraved on this stone.[61]

This most interesting seal is described by the Rev. C. W. King, the writer on Antique Gems. It is carnelian, octagonal-shaped, and upon it is engraved the legend: “The slave Abraham relying upon the Merciful (God).” Napoleon III wore it on his watch-chain. He said about it: “The First Consul picked it up with his own hands during the campaign in Egypt and always carried it about him, as his nephew did later.” The Prince Imperial received it with the following message: “As regards my son, I desire that he will keep, as a talisman, the Seal which I used to wear attached to my watch.” He carried the seal upon a string fastened about his neck in obedience to the injunction of his father. At the time of his lamentable death it must have been carried off in South Africa by the Zulus, when they stripped his body, and it has never been recovered.]

An Armenian writer of the seventeenth century reports that in India the _lâl_ or balas-ruby, if powdered and taken in a potion was believed to banish all dark forebodings and to excite joyous emotions. To the carnelian was attributed a virtue somewhat analogous to that ascribed to the turquoise, as anyone wearing a carnelian was proof against injury from falling houses or walls; the writer emphasizes this by stating that “no man who wore a carnelian was ever found in a collapsed house or beneath a fallen wall.”[62]

Chalcedony

Aztec. Field Museum, Chicago.]

The ceremonial objects are grouped around a crystal of rock-crystal in the centre. (See page 254.)]

An ingenious though far-fetched explanation of the power attributed to chalcedony of driving away phantoms and visions of the night is supplied by Gonelli, writing in 1702. For him the source of this asserted power was to be found in what has been erroneously termed the alkaline quality of the stone. This dissipated the evil humors of the eye, thus removing the diseased condition of that organ which caused the apparitions to be seen.[63] However absurd this explanation may be, it nevertheless shows that the author put little faith in visible ghosts, and rightly enough recognized the purely subjective character of such phenomena.

Chrysoberyl

The cat’s-eye variety of chrysoberyl, or precious cat’s-eye, is used by the natives of Ceylon as a charm against evil spirits. As a proof of the high value set upon the gem in India, De Boot states that a cat’s-eye estimated as worth ninety gold pieces in Lusitania was sold for six hundred in India.[64] Some of the finest specimens come from Ceylon.

Chrysolite

The “Serpent Isle,” in the Red Sea, was stated by Agatharcides to be the source whence came the topaz (chrysolite); here, by the mandate of the Egyptian kings, the inhabitants collected specimens of this stone and delivered them to the gem-cutters for polishing.[65] These simple details are elaborated by Diodorus Siculus into the legend that the island was guarded by jealous watchers who had orders to put to death any unauthorized persons who approached it. Even those who had the right to seek the gem could not see the chrysolite in daytime; only after nightfall was it revealed by its radiance; the seekers then marked well the spot and were able to find the stone on the following day.[66]

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

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