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).
Symphorosa. July 18. Only in Greek Church. A Jewish martyr, the mother of the Maccabees (second century B.C.).
Theresa. October 15. Patron of Spain (1515–1582).
Thomas à Becket. July 7 (1117–1170).
Thomas Didymus. December 21. Apostle, patron of Portugal and Palma.
Urban. May 25. Pope and martyr (died 236).
Ursula. October 21. Patroness of young girls, and of educational institutions (died 383).
Valentine. February 14 (first century).
Veronica. Shrove Tuesday (first century).
Victor. Patron of Marseilles (fourth century).
Vincent. January 22. Patron of Lisbon, Valencia, Saragossa, Milan, and Châlons.
Vincent de Paul. July 19. Founder of Order of the Sisters of Charity.
Vitus. June 15. Patron of Bohemia, Saxony, Sicily, and of dancers and actors (third century).
Walburga. February 25 (died ca. 778).
William. January 10. Patron of Bruges (died 1209).
Winifred. November 3. British maiden of seventh century.
VII
On the Religious Use of Various Stones
The precious stone mentioned in the earliest biblical reference, Gen. ii, 12, and there translated onyx, is rendered chrysoprase in the Septuagint version, and is by others referred to the emerald on the ground that the land of Havilah, where it is there said to occur, is thought to have been a part of what was later called Scythia, and as such would include the emerald region of the Urals. But the ancient emeralds are now known to have come largely from Upper Egypt, and such vague conjectures are of little use in determining what stone was really meant in this most ancient allusion. Professor Haupt has even suggested that we might translate the Hebrew word shoham used in this passage by “pearl,” since he conjectures that one of the four “rivers” surrounding the land of Havilah was the Persian Gulf.
For all attempted identifications of the stones mentioned in the Old Testament, we are principally dependent upon the Greek version of the Seventy. As this was made in the Alexandrian period, not far from the time of Theophrastus, whose work on gems we shall presently mention, the names at that time adopted by the Greek translators may be regarded as fairly correct equivalents of the Hebrew. The difficulty lies more in the translation of the classical names into the English, and arises largely from the unscientific nomenclature of the ancients; the same name being employed for stones that resemble each other to the eye, but which are now well distinguished by chemical and physical differences formerly unknown.
There are some traces in the Bible of the use of precious stones as amulets. In Proverbs xvii, 8, we read that “a gift is like a precious stone in the eyes of the owner; whithersoever he turneth he prospereth.” This passage is rendered somewhat differently in the Authorized Version, but the above translation is evidently more correct. The stones of the breastplate were of course amulets in a certain sense, and possibly oracles also, and it is therefore quite probable that the Hebrews shared in the belief common to all the peoples around them, although opposition of the orthodox to all magical practices prevented them from going into particulars in regard to such superstitious fancies.
In support of his theory that the Urim and Thummim of the Hebrew high-priest signified the stones of the breastplate worn on the sacred ephod, and should be rendered “perfectly brilliant,” Bellermann cites the passage in Ezekiel (chap, xxviii, verse 14), where he writes of “fiery stones” in treating of the royal splendors of the ruler of the great commercial city of Tyre. As to the oracular utterances of the high-priest when, clad in the ephod and wearing the glittering breastplate, he sought for the counsel of the Almighty, this author rejects the idea that the divine will was revealed by changes in the brilliancy of the stones, by casting of lots, or by a mysterious use of the ineffable name, the Tetragrammaton, J h w h (Jahweh), but believes that the answer to the questions was communicated to the high-priest by an inner voice, an inspiration similar to that vouchsafed to the great prophets of Israel.[[509]]
A curious analogy to the use by Christians of fragments supposed to have come from the True Cross as amulets, was the employment by the Talmudic Jews of chips from an idol or from something that had been offered to an idol, for the same purpose. It is needless to say that this was severely condemned by the Rabbis.
It is interesting to note the statements of Arab historians that the mummy of Cheops, the Pharaoh of the Great Pyramid, was decorated with a pectoral of precious stones. As the regal and priestly functions were united in the monarch, we may have here the first form of the high-priest’s breastplate.
The Arab historian Abd er-Rahmân, writing in 829 A.D., states that Al Mamoun(813–833), son of Haroun-al-Raschid, entered the great pyramid and found the body of Cheops:
In a stone sarcophagus was a green stone statue of a man, like an emerald, containing a human body, covered with a sheet of fine gold ornamented with a great quantity of precious stones; on the breast was a priceless sword, on the head a ruby as large as a hen’s egg, brilliant as a flame. I have seen the statue which contained the body; it was near the palace of Fôstat.
Essentially the same account is given by Ebub Abd el-Holem, another Arab, who says:
One saw beneath the summit of the pyramid a chamber with a hollow prison, in which was a statue of stone enclosing the body of a man, who had on the breast a pectoral of gold enriched by fine stones, and a sword of inestimable price, on the head a carbuncle the size of an egg, brilliant as the sun, on which were characters no man could read.
In the opinion of Mariette Bey these details are so circumstantial as to leave little doubt that the mummy of Cheops was found by Mamoun, but he believes that the body was covered with a gilt wrapper and that the stones were paste imitations. The ruby was probably the “uræus,” the sacred asp, emblem of royalty, and the wonderful sword may have been a sceptre or a poniard similar to those found in tombs of the eleventh dynasty and in that of Queen Aah-Hotep; the statue of green serpentine often occurs in later tombs. Should this view be correct, precious stones were imitated in glass at a very remote period.[[510]]
An exceedingly fine specimen of ancient Egyptian goldsmith’s work, now in the Louvre Museum, Paris, is a pendant terminating in a bull’s head, each of the horns being tipped with a little ball. Above the double reins are four rondelles, one of gold, two of a material still undetermined, and one of lapis lazuli; the different parts of the pendant are connected by gold wire. Its most interesting and attractive feature, however, is a polished hexagonal amethyst, engraved on both faces. In each case the form of a priest is figured; in one he appears with his official staff or wand, and in the other he is represented as bearing an incense-burner and offering the mineral and vegetable sacrifices; an Oriental pearl is set above the engraved amethyst. The religious and sacrificial significance of this ornament, coupled with the costliness of the materials and the superior excellence of the workmanship, make it likely that we have here an amulet or talisman made for some Egyptian of very high rank.[[511]]
St. Jerome (346?–420 A.D.), in his commentary on Isaiah (liv, 11, 12), alludes to the verses of Ezekiel describing the glories of the King of Tyre and the precious stones with which he was adorned. Evidently Jerome believed that this passage was to be taken symbolically, for he asks:
Who could have so little judgment and intelligence as to think that any Prince of Tyre whatever should be set in the Paradise of God, and have his place among the Cherubim, or could fancy that he dwelt with the glowing stones, which we should without doubt understand as the angels and the celestial virtues.[[512]]
It would be both curious and interesting if we could trace a connection between the significance of the names of the Hebrew tribes and those of the breastplate gems assigned to the tribes. In ancient times names were much more significant than they are to-day, and the tribal names in particular possessed for the Hebrews a symbolic meaning, but this does not appear to have induced any marked tendency to connect the colors or the symbolic meanings of the different stones with the fame, or with the characteristics or fortunes of the several tribes. On the other hand, the foundation stones, as symbols of the Apostles, became a favorite theme with the early Christian writers. Possibly the neglect of ancient Hebrew writers to perform a similar task in connection with the breastplate stones might still be made good, even at this late date, and an effort in this direction might result in giving a wider range to the symbolic value of certain well-known gems.
The name Reuben signifies “Behold a Son,” and this has been given a Messianic meaning by some commentators. In Jacob’s enigmatic blessing, “excellency of dignity” and “excellency of power” are attributed to Reuben, but this birthright is taken from him because of a heinous sin he has committed. Still we might see in the carnelian, the gem of Reuben, a symbol of “dignity” and “power.”
Simeon has been variously rendered “Hearing” or “Hearkener.” The blessing accuses him of an act of cruelty in which he was aided by his brother Levi. To the peridot, or chrysolite, dedicated to Simeon, could be appropriately assigned the meaning “good tidings.”
The priestly functions of the tribe of Levi are expressed by the name itself which means “attached” or “joined,” that is, to the altar. Hence in the emerald we should see the symbol of “dedication” or “ministration,” in addition to its other and better known meanings, such as “hope,” “faith,” and “resurrection.”
For the tribe of Judah we have the ruby, and here the meaning of the name, “praised,” fits in well with the dignity of the rare and glowing ruby. This noble gem has always been a favorite adornment for royal crowns and from Judah sprang the royalty of Israel. The blessing given to this tribe declares that “the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come.” This is often taken to signify the consummation of the Kingdom of Israel in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Issachar, signifying “reward,” or “the rewarded,” suggests as symbolic meanings of the tribal stone lapis lazuli, “success” and “fruition.” This stone, the sapphire of the ancients, was typical of heaven, probably owing to the appearance of the specimens most highly valued in olden times, those in which a number of golden spots are scattered over the blue surface of the stone, which thus figure both the blue of heaven and the hosts of the stars.
The tribal name Zebulon signifies “exaltation,” and to this tribe is assigned a dwelling-place by the sea bordering on the domains of the rich Phenician seaport, Sidon. We could thus see in the gem of Zebulon, the onyx, a symbol of dominion and authority. This could serve to offset some of the old superstitions regarding the onyx, which was sometimes charged with bringing discord and dissension.
Of the tribe Joseph, we are told that it was to be increased, and this meaning is contained in the name itself, which is rendered: “May God add.” To Joseph were promised “blessings of heaven above,” and “blessings of the deep that lieth under.” The sapphire, probably the tribal stone of Joseph, was known in ancient times by the name hyacinth and was a stone of good omen, bringing increase of health and wealth; therefore its significance as a tribal gem does not differ essentially from the traditional one.
CHINESE JADE AMULETS FOR THE DEAD
Figs. 1a and b, pair of eye-protecting amulets; Fig. 2, presumably eye-amulets; Fig. 3, eye-amulet with design of fish; Figs 4–7, lip amulets, 4 and 7 in shape of fish; Figs. 8–9, amulets in the shape of monsters. From “Jade,” by Berthold Laufer.
By courtesy of the author and Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.
Benjamin signifies “son of the right hand,” hence this name denotes strength and power. This meaning accords well with what is said in Jacob’s blessing: “Benjamin shall raven as a wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey and at night he shall divide the spoil.” The banded agate symbolizing this tribe would have the meaning “strength” and “mastery”; indeed, according to other sources the agate was reputed to bring victory to the wearer.
Dan is the “judge” among the tribes, according to the meaning of the name. In Jacob’s blessing Dan is said to be “a serpent by the way,” and “an adder in the path.” These metaphors, which may not strike us as commendatory of the tribe, probably indicated the craft and courage of the tribesmen in attacking and defeating their foes, and enriching themselves with the spoils of war. The amethyst, as the tribal stone of Dan, could thus signify both “judgment” and “craft.”
To the tribe of Gad was given the beryl, and the fact that spheres made from this stone were believed to be best adapted for use in crystal-gazing makes it an especially appropriate gem for the tribe of “good fortune,” this being the most probable signification of the name “Gad,” although in the Bible the interpretation “a troop,” is given. The beryl would therefore signify “good luck” and perhaps also “coöperation.”
The twelfth and last tribe, Asher, has the jasper for its gem. This would also gain an auspicious significance from its association with Asher, which means “happy.” To the other meanings assigned to jasper might be added that of “happiness.” As we have elsewhere remarked, there seems good reason to suppose that jade was frequently designated jasper in ancient times, and this stone was everywhere believed to possess wonderful magic powers.
The jasper[[513]] as an emblem of strength and fortitude is noted by St. Jerome in his commentary on Isaiah (liv, 11, 12), where he writes that the bulwarks or walls of the Holy City were strengthened by jasper. These bulwarks served “to overthrow and refute every proud attack against the knowledge of God, and to subject falsehood to truth. Whoever, therefore, is most convincing in debate and best fortified with texts of Holy Scripture is a bulwark of the Church.”[[514]] Jerome also alludes to the variety of jasper called grammatias, because of the peculiar markings, suggesting letters of the alphabet. This was believed to possess great talismanic virtue, especially in putting to flight phantoms and apparitions, since the markings were thought to signify some potent spell, written on the stone by nature’s hand. Of another kind of jasper, “white as snow or sea-foam,”[[515]] and having reddish stains, we are told that it symbolizes the spiritual graces, which preserve those endowed with them from vain terrors; and the learned Father quotes as descriptive of this stone the words of Solomon’s Song (v, 10): “My beloved is white and ruddy.”[[516]]
Writing of the sapphire (lapis lazuli), one of the foundation stones of the Holy City, St. Jerome likens it to heaven and to the air above us, adding, somewhat fancifully, that we might apply to the sapphire the words of Socrates in the “Clouds” of Aristophanes: “I walk upon air and look down upon the Sun.” Turning then to Holy Scripture, Jerome notes the well-known passage in Ezekiel (i, 26) where the Throne of God is said to have “the appearance of a sapphire stone,” and finds in this text a proof that blue denoted the glory of God.[[517]] The ingenuity of the ancient commentators in finding hidden meanings in the simplest things is well shown by the assertion of Thomas de Cantimpré that St. John placed the emerald fourth in the list of foundation stones, because the four evangelists are constant in their praise of chastity.[[518]]
Certain gems and stones have a definite relation and appropriateness to the various religious holidays and festivals. Notable among these is the rhodonite, a silicate of magnesia, named from the Greek word rhodon, “a rose,” because of its beautiful rose-pink hue. This is found more especially in the Ural Mountains, and in Massachusetts, but in a number of other places as well. In the Ural Mountains one single mass was so immense that ninety horses were needed to move the 22–ton weight a distance of thirty miles to the Imperial Lapidary Works at Ekaterineburg; here the material was cut up into smaller masses to be finally worked up in the Imperial Lapidary Works at Peterhof into a sarcophagus and tomb for the Emperor Nicholas I.
This stone is a great favorite in Russia, and is frequently cut into egg-shaped ornaments, either in the form of a simple egg, or of one with a halo and a moonstone effect at one end. It may well be termed the “Easter Stone.” For those unable to afford such an egg-shaped piece of rhodonite, a yellow fibrous gypsum or satinspar cut into a similar form may be substituted. Jade cut in the same way is also sometimes favored, as well as many varieties of rock-crystal.
In marked contrast with the joyful festival of Easter stands the most solemn day of the Christian year, Good Friday, and for this day also we have a singularly appropriate stone, the variety of jasper known as the bloodstone. Here the red markings can be regarded as symbolical of the blood of Our Lord, shed for the salvation of mankind in the supreme sacrifice of the Passion. When the head of the Christ is cut in this stone it is often possible to utilize the red spots to figure the drops of blood flowing from the wounds inflicted by the Crown of Thorns.
With the glad tidings of Christmas Day is intimately associated the memory of the Star of Bethlehem, which served as a beacon light to guide the three wise men of the East to the humble manger wherein reposed the newly-born Saviour of the World. Hence for this great Christian festival no gem can equal the star-sapphire, combining as it does the pure sapphire-hue, always looked upon as symbolic of the highest moral, spiritual, and religious sentiments, and the mysterious moving star, which, shifting its apparent place with the slightest movement of the stone, seems endowed with a wonderful independent life, just as the phenomenal star of Bethlehem, unlike the fixed and changeless stars of the firmament, glided through the heavenly expanse, by a miraculous motion, due indeed to some supernatural law, but differing in kind and degree from all the usual, every-day aspects of nature.
The symbolism of precious stones presented in so many different ways by the early ecclesiastical writers appears in the prayer offered by the Archbishop of Canterbury at the coronation of the kings and queens of England. While the king kneels upon a footstool, the archbishop takes St. Edward’s Crown and lays it upon the altar; whereupon he pronounces the following words:
LA MADONNA DELLA SALUTE, BY OTTAVIANO NELLI
In the Basilica of S. Francesco at Assisi.
O, God, the crown of the faithful, who on the heads of Thy saints placed crowns of glory, bless and sanctify this crown, that as the same is adorned with divers precious stones, so this Thy servant, wearing it, may be replenished of Thy grace, with the manifold gifts of all precious virtues, through the King eternal, Thy Son our Lord. Amen.”[[519]]
In a tractate “Of the Crown of the Virgin,” ascribed to Saint Ildefonso (607–669), the writer describes this wondrous gold crown as adorned with twelve precious stones, six splendid stars, and six beautiful and fragrant flowers, thus uniting the fairest treasures of earth and sky in honor of the Queen of Heaven.[[520]]
The gems, stars and flowers are given in the following order: Topaz, Sirius, sard, lily, chalcedony, Arcturus, sapphire, crocus, agate, the evening star, jasper, the rose, carbuncle, the Sun, emerald, the violet, amethyst, the Moon, chrysolite, sun-flower, chrysoprase, Orion, beryl, camomile. “That thus,” the writer concludes, “with precious stones, radiant luminaries, and fair flowers, a splendid crown may be ennobled, beautified and adorned, and may be the more willingly and gladly accepted by Our Lady.”
In a private collection in Smyrna there is a black hematite engraved somewhat in the style of an Abraxas gem; and certainly not Christian. On it is represented a galloping horseman, beneath whose steed is a crouching man; above the rider’s head appears a star. The reverse bears the inscription: σφραγίς θεοῦ, “seal of God.” In contrast with this is an intaglio carnelian of the Munich Royal Collection, with the figures of the Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus, and the Greek words ἡ ἐικὼν τῆς ἁγίας Μαρίας, “the image of the Holy Mary.” This is one of the best examples of Byzantine work in gem-cutting.[[521]]
One of the very curious cases of the employment of a purely secular Roman gem for ecclesiastical uses is offered by the exceedingly beautiful convex blue aquamarine engraved with the head of Julia, daughter of Titus, a fine work of the Augustan Age, now in the French Cabinet des Médailles in Paris. This was donated in the ninth century by the Carolingian emperor, Charles the Bald, to the Treasury of St. Denis, after it had been given a setting of pearls and precious stones. In St. Denis it was placed at the apex of a reliquary, which became known as the Oratorium of Charlemagne, and the head of the vain and worldly princess is said to have been venerated by the pious monks and priests as that of the Virgin Mary. As a work of portrait art this gem is one of the finest examples from classic times.[[522]]
The strange decadence and the conventionalized but profoundly earnest quality of Early Christian art is shown in an intaglio gem of the Royal Numismatic Museum in Munich. This is a dark-hued sardonyx of two layers, and the engraving depicts a bearded Christ, enthroned and accompanied by the twelve apostles, six on either side, four of them beardless while the remainder are represented with beards; they are all gazing reverently upon the central figure, behind whose head appear the arms of the cross and above them the letters I̅C̅ X̅C̅ Ἰησοῦς Χριστός.[[523]] Another somewhat similar Early Christian gem is a cameo cut in a sardonyx of three layers, the groundwork being a brownish-black, and the figures of a light-bluish hue, the upper parts yellowish-brown. Here also we have an enshrined Christ; above his head two angels hold a diadem. This is of superior workmanship to the intaglio gem just described.[[524]] There is a sardonyx cameo showing a rude figure of the Prophet Daniel, a lion on either side of him, and inscribed with his name in Greek letters. This is of Byzantine workmanship.[[525]]
The reliquarium of Wittekind, now in the Kunstgewerbe Museum at Berlin, is considered to be probably the most important specimen of early Frankish goldsmith-work that has been preserved, and is richly set with precious stones, some of these being ancient gems. This is one of a number of cases where engraved stones of Pagan times were used in the adornment of ornamental objects destined for Christian religious use. The upper edge shows a row of entwined animal figures, and the front side has medallions with primitive bird forms in cloisonné enamel; on the reverse side are very rudely executed repoussé figures of saints. This work is assigned to the latter part of the eighth century A.D., and is conjectured to have been a gift from Charlemagne to the Saxon King Wittekind, on the occasion of the latter’s conversion to Christianity in the year 807. It was long preserved in Wittekind’s foundation at Enger near Herford, to which he had bequeathed his treasures; in 1414 it was removed for safe-keeping to the Johanniskirche at Herford, where it remained until 1888, when it came into the possession of the Berlin Kunstgewerbe Museum. This precious example of the earliest German work has the form of a small portable satchel, in which could be placed those sacred relics the owner might wish to bear around with him because of the protection they were assumed to afford.[[526]]
One of the most notable and valuable objects in the famous Guelph treasure that has recently been brought back to the city of Brunswick as a result of the marriage of the Duke of Cumberland’s son, Ernest Augustus, with the daughter of Emperor William II, is an elaborately designed cross, a very fine specimen of the goldsmith’s art of the twelfth century. This with the other treasures was taken by the Duke of Cumberland to Vienna for safe-keeping, at the time he gave up, in 1884, his title as Duke of Brunswick, rather than acknowledge Prussian supremacy. The cross, which has the form of a so-called “crutch-cross,” with rectangular projecting plates at the ends of the arms, was designed to serve as a reliquary, the relic shrine being in a cruciform capsule behind a small, round-edged golden cross set in the midst of the cross proper. The precious relics reposing here were said to be bones of John the Baptist, St. Peter, St. Mark the Evangelist, and St. Sebastian. On the reverse side of the cross are set four large and beautiful sapphires and in the centre is a remarkably brilliant topaz.
While nothing definite is known as to the goldsmith who executed this work, its style and general character suggest the conjecture that it may have been produced by the artist who made the “Crown of Charlemagne” in Vienna, really a crown executed for Conrad III, King of the Germans (1093–1152), the first Hohenstaufen, and also several regal ornaments for the latter’s consort, Queen Gisela. In addition to the jewelled decoration of its reverse, the front of the cross is set with many pearls, and the form of these settings is one of the chief arguments adduced in favor of attributing it to the maker of the so-called “Crown of Charlemagne.”[[527]]
An ecclesiastical jewel of great beauty and remarkable historic interest is known as the Cross of Zaccaria. It was secured in 1308 by Ticino Zaccaria at the capture of the ancient Greek colonial city Phocæa, in Asia Minor, and was donated to the Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Genoa. This cross is of silver gilt, measuring 64 cm. in height and 40 cm. in width, and within it behind a crystal is set a piece of the Holy Cross. It is profusely adorned with precious and semi-precious stones, there being 57 good-sized rubies, emeralds, sapphires, carnelians, malachites and amethysts, besides 44 smaller stones and 299 of still lesser size. The jewel is now preserved in the Palazzo Bianco, Genoa.
The greatest treasure in the Cathedral of Chartres was the “Sacred Shrine.” It was made of cedar-wood covered with gold plates and was adorned with an immense number of precious stones including diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, jacinths, agates, turquoises, opals, topazes, onyxes, chrysolites, amethysts, garnets, girasols, sardonyxes, asterias, chalcedonies, heliotropes, etc. These had been presented by many different donors during a long period of time. In front of this shrine was a cross composed entirely of precious stones, comprising 56 rubies and garnets, 18 sapphires, 22 pearls, 8 emeralds, 8 onyxes and 4 jacinths. When this was first placed in the cathedral is not known, but it was there in 1353, as it is noted in an inventory made at that time. An uncut diamond weighing about 45 carats, and constituting one of the adornments of the shrine in 1682, was said to have been the gift of a marshal of France; another ornament, an oval agate engraved with the Virgin and Child, may now be seen in the Louvre where it forms part of the Sauvageot Collection.[[528]]
That all trace has been lost of an emerald engraved with the head of Christ and given to Pope Innocent VIII by Sultan Bajazet II about the year 1488, is greatly to be deplored, even though there be no truth in the legend or report that it had been engraved in the time of Christ by the order of Tiberius Cæsar. The evidence of two medals with Latin legends and of certain old paintings with English inscriptions of the sixteenth century seems to prove the existence of the gem in the Vatican treasury about the time specified, and it has been conjectured, with some probability, that the emerald had been engraved by a Byzantine artist at some time before 1453, when Constantinople fell into the hands of the Turks, and that this gem formed part of the booty they then secured. A print, often copied photographically and otherwise, purporting to be a representation of this emerald portrait of Christ, has no evidential value, and has either been freely worked up from the details of the spurious letter of Lentulus to Tiberius, giving a personal description of the Saviour, or still more probably from a Rafaelesque type of Christ’s head.[[529]]
The beads of rosaries, when blessed by the Supreme Pontiff, or by one of the dignitaries of the Church, are considered to be endowed with a certain special virtue in favor of the individual for whom the blessing is imparted. However, should this person loan the beads to another with the intention of making him a partaker of this special blessing, or indulgencing, they lose their virtue. It is prescribed that these beads should be made of stone, glass, or some other durable material not easily broken, in order that the effects of the blessing should not be lost, or perhaps that the object so blessed should be less liable to injury. Various precious stones as well as pearls are used for this purpose, there being generally groups of ten small spheres, each group separated from the other by a larger sphere, the ten smaller beads serving to numerate the paternosters while the large bead is passed through the fingers when a credo has been recited.
A legend very popular in the Middle Ages has been conjectured to be the source of the word “rosary” as applied to a chaplet of beads for counting prayers. This legend tells of a pious youth, who on each and every day wove a garland of roses for the statue of the Virgin in the parish church. His religious zeal soon induced him to become a monk, and as the restrictions and duties of monastic life forced him to discontinue his floral offerings, he was much troubled in conscience, and was only relieved when the abbot told him that by reciting 150 aves at the close of each day, he would please the Virgin as much as by the gift of flowers. The prayers were faithfully said and they eventually became the occasion of a miracle. One evening, as the young monk was traversing a dense forest, it suddenly occurred to him that he had forgotten to recite his aves. He knelt down quickly and began to pray; all at once he saw a radiant and beautiful figure standing before him, and he immediately recognized in it the Blessed Virgin. Graciously she bent over him and drew from his lips one rose after the other, until fifty roses of supernatural beauty lay upon the ground. Of these she then made a garland and placed it upon the head of her faithful servant.[[530]]
The first literary allusion to rosaries in India is in a Jain treatise written about the beginning of our era. The Prakrit name here employed, ganettiya, is equivalent to the sanscrit ganayitrika, or “counter,” and it is enumerated among the ten utensils of a Brahman ascetic. The other nine are the tridanda-stick, the water jar, the Bramanical thread, the earthen vessel named karotikâ, the bundle of straw used as a seat, the clout, the six-knotted wood, the hook, and the finger-ring. It is said that no mention of rosaries has been found in Indian Buddhist literature.[[531]]
A splendid ecclesiastical ornament is described in the inventory of the royal treasures in the Château de Fontainebleau made in 1560, on the accession of Charles IX. This was of gold and composed of a crucifix with the figures of the Virgin Mary and St. John. It was “enriched with 41 sapphires, 3 pointed diamonds and 12 balas-rubies,” which served to mark the nails in the cross. The weight of the gold was 25 marks 5 ounces, and the value of the entire object, gold and precious stones, is given as 2720 écus, or about $6120. The intrinsic value of the gold alone would be about $4240.[[532]]
The most impressive of the ecclesiastical ornaments in the Spanish churches was the custodia, or monstrance, in which the Holy Eucharist was borne through the streets on Corpus Christi day; indeed, only at this time was the custodia publicly shown. It was in fact a large shrine, generally affecting the form of a church tower. The most ancient example now in existence is in the Cathedral of Gerona. It is of gold, is 1.85 m. (over 6 feet) high, and weighs nearly 66 pounds. This work, in which the architectural style is an ornate Gothic, was completed in 1458 by the goldsmith Francisco de Asís Artau. One of the finest specimens, however, was executed by Enrique d’Arphe for Charles V and is in the Cathedral of Toledo. This custodia measures no less than nine feet in height and is three feet wide. Here also the form is that of a Gothic tower; the cross at the apex was made by the goldsmith Lainez, and is adorned with 86 pearls and 4 large emeralds.
The shrine itself contains 795 marks’ weight of silver (about 600 pounds), the gold in its composition weighing 57 marks, or about 38 pounds. The Venetian Navagero estimated its worth to be 30,000 ducats.[[533]]
The wife of Marshal Junot, the celebrated Duchesse d’Abrantès, seeks to exonerate her husband and to refute the many charges of spoliation brought against him during and after the French occupation of Spain in 1808 and the succeeding years. For her, Marshal Lannes was a much worse offender, and she asserts that after the siege of Saragossa in 1809, Lannes secured possession of the immensely valuable treasures of the church of Nuestra Señora del Pilar, treasures valued at nearly $1,000,000. On his arrival in Paris, Lannes informed Napoleon that he had brought with him from Spain “a few colored stones of little value,” and was graciously told that he could keep them for himself. The finest jewel of this collection contained 1300 diamonds, nine of which were of great magnitude and value; the jewel was heart-shaped, and had in the centre a dove, typifying the Holy Spirit, with wings extended. It had been given to the church by Doña Barbara de Portugal, Queen of Spain.[[534]]
About the year 1630 there could be seen in Paris a crucifix a foot and a half high, all of a single piece of yellow amber; on either side were the figures of the Virgin Mary and of St. John respectively, each carved in most excellent style. The writer who gives this information, a lineal descendant of Lodowyk van Berghem, commonly regarded as the first diamond-cutter, tells from hearsay evidence of a marvellous emerald which six hundred years before his time, or about 1060, hung suspended from the top of the nave of the Cathedral of Mainz. It was “as large as half-a-melon,” and was of exceeding brilliance.[[535]]
The writer of a Bohemian poem on the legend of St. Catherine’s betrothal to Christ, written about 1355, appears to have been, in one part, inspired by the glowing adornment of the Wenceslaus chapel in the cathedral of St. Veit. The poet gives an enthusiastic description of the gorgeous ornamentation of the mystic, imaginary temple in which the betrothal takes place. The pavement is of aquamarine beryl, the walls are studded with diamonds in golden settings, the framework of the windows is alternately of emerald or of sapphire, and the window-panes are not of stained glass, but of precious or semi-precious stones. Some of these are not ill fitted for this use, the transparency of rubies, amethysts, spinels, jacinths, garnets, and similar stones, admitting quite sufficient light; but others mentioned here, such as turquoises, chalcedonys and jaspers, would permit but a dim ray of light to traverse their opaque or semi-opaque substance. It has been conjectured by some that the poet drew his material from the account of the temple of the Holy Grail in the old German legend, probably through a Bohemian version; but as he omits in his enumeration twelve of the stones given in the Grail legend, and adds a number of others, diamond, turquoise, chalcedony, garnet, etc., this literary source is not fully satisfactory. Rather might it be believed that the splendid decoration of the Wenceslaus chapel and of the Karlstein Castle suggested the vision wrought out by the Bohemian poet, especially as among the stones he mentions which are not in the Grail legend, we have the garnet, so eminently a product of Bohemia.[[536]]
A peculiar and very interesting facetted diamond of 6³⁄₃₂ carats displays alternate black and white facets and presents the appearance of a clearly defined Greek cross in black outline when viewed by transmitted light. The original crystal, which came from Brazil and weighed 10½ carats, was an octahedron and was of a jet black hue. The expectation was that the result of its cutting would be the production of a black brilliant, but when one of the points of the octahedron had been removed to form the table, it became evident that the black tint was only superficial, the body of the crystal being white. This peculiarity was then utilized by leaving some of the natural black faces of the crystal. This diamond was found to be of excessive hardness, rendering the task of cutting it an exceedingly arduous one. It is now in the possession of one of the Royal Household of Siam.[[537]]
Among the Buddhist legends current in India in the seventh century A.D. is one referring to the vases offered by the “four kings of heaven” to the Buddha. They first brought four gold vases, but the Buddha declared that one who had renounced the world could not use such costly vases. Silver vessels were then substituted, and were also refused, as were successively vases made of rock-crystal, lapis lazuli, carnelian, amber, ruby and other precious materials. Finally, four stone vases were proffered. These were of violet color and transparent, but the fact that they were not of precious material rendered them acceptable to the Buddha.[[538]]
The images of Buddha usually bear as adornment a small gem. This is most frequently a moonstone, but occasionally a ruby or some other gem will be used. The reason for this religious use of gems must not be sought only in the idea that precious and costly objects are most fitting as decorations of the sacred images, but it also implies a certain belief in the magic or quasi-sacred character of the gem itself.
The Saddharma-Pundarîka, one of the nine most sacred books of the Buddhists, composed perhaps as early as the beginning of our era, gives the following description of a celestial stûpra, a sort of shrine containing a celestial being:[[539]]
It [the stûpra] consisted of seven precious substances, viz., gold, silver, lapis lazuli, musaragalva, emerald, red coral, and Karketana stone.
This stûpra of precious substances once formed, the gods of paradise strewed and covered it with mandârava and great mandâra flowers. And from that stûpra of precious substances there issued the voice: “Excellent, excellent, Lord Sâkyamuni! thou hast well expounded the Dharmapayârya of the Lotus of the True Law. So is it, Lord; so is it, sugata.”
Some of the most valuable temple treasures in the Island of Ceylon were preserved in a pagoda near the frontiers of the realm of Saula. The report of the gold and jewels accumulated here excited the avidity of the Portuguese, then in control of a considerable part of the island, and finally an energetic attempt was made to gain possession of them. Although the existence of the pagoda was well attested, the Portuguese were ignorant of its exact location in the tract of forest land wherein it stood. The expeditionary force consisted of 150 Portuguese and 2000 Lascars. On nearing the forest they placed themselves under the guidance of a native captured in the neighborhood. He led them through the woodland, traversing it hither and thither, but no pagoda appeared. Suddenly the native exhibited signs of madness, which were at first believed to be simulated, but were later regarded as genuine, on which he was made away with and another native substituted, however, with the same result. One after another five natives showed the same symptoms and were successively put to death, and at last the Portuguese were compelled to abandon this unsuccessful quest. We have here either a remarkable example of fidelity to the temple, or else an instance of the psychic influence of the terror inspired by the risk of violating it. Undoubtedly the priests represented the result as due to supernatural influence, and perhaps really felt justified in doing so.[[540]]
An official account of the embassy of the Cinghalese monarch Kirti Sri to Siam, in 1750, offers a description of the magnificent pagoda erected over the Sacred Footprint of Buddha, at Swarna Panchatha Maha Pahath. The free use of sapphires and rubies is quite natural, when we consider that some of the finest specimens of these stones are still found in this region:[[541]]
Above the sacred footstep and made of solid gold was a pagoda supported on suitable pillars, forming a shrine. At the four corners were placed four golden sésat, and from above hung four bunches of precious stones like bunches of ripe areca-nuts in size. On the edge of the roof hung ropes of pearls, and on the point of the spire was set a sapphire the size of a lime fruit. Within and overshadowing the footprint like a canopy, there hung from the middle of the spire a full-blown lotus of gold, in the middle of which was set a ruby of similar size. Chariots, ships, elephants, and horses with their riders, all made of gold, and of a suitable size, were placed on a golden support above the silver pavement. This was hung on wires of gold, to which were hung ornaments set with pearls the size of the nelli fruit, as well as other jewelled ornaments, rings and chains. By some skilful device all this could be moved along the silver pavement.
Recent excavations made by Dr. J. H. Marshall in the Punjab, India, on the site of the ancient city of Taxila, captured by Alexander the Great during his Indian campaign, have brought to light many valuable Buddhist remains, dating from about 2000 years ago. One of the most striking of these is a relic casket taken from a tope of the type called dagoba, this name designating that class of those Buddhist structures designed especially for the reception of relics. This relic casket is of steatite, and contained a golden box within which was a fragment of bone, presumably regarded as a relic of the Buddha; around it were many pearls as well as engraved carnelians and also a number of other precious stones.
A carved sapphire, once in the collection of the Marquess of Northampton, shows a representation of the Hindu divinity, Siva. It is of Indian workmanship and the stone measures 1½ inches in length, 1½ inches in width and ¾ inch in thickness.[[542]]
One of the writers most familiar with Indian gem-lore recognizes that while the rich and educated Hindus of our day wear diamonds and other gems chiefly as ornaments, in ancient times these brilliant objects were more largely employed in India to enrich the images of the gods, thus rendering the idols more impressive and causing them to be worshipped with more intense fervor. In ancient India gemmed ornaments were believed to bring to the wearer “respect, fame, longevity, wealth, happiness, strength, and fruition”; a list of benefits long enough to satisfy the most exigent. However, as though this were not enough, we are further assured that these gems “ward off evil astral influences, make the body healthy, remove misery and ill-fortune, and wash away sin.”[[543]]
Ceremony annually observed in the Mogul Empire of weighing the sovereign against precious metals, jewels and other valuable objects, which were distributed as gifts. From “Histoire générale des cérémonies religieuses de tous les peuples du monde,” by Abbé Banier and Abbé Mascrier, Paris, 1741.
The oldest jewel offered to a shrine by an Indian potentate, of which we have certain knowledge, was a magnificent pendant containing a number of precious stones, the gift of Sundara Pandiyan, at a date prior to 1310 A.D. Another magnificent gift was a gorgeous jewelled turban adorned with diamonds, rubies, emeralds and pearls, bestowed in 1623 by Trimal Nayakkan.[[544]] These gifts or dedications show the prevailing tendency to propitiate the higher powers and insure success in royal enterprises.
The English ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe, sent to the court of Shah Jehangir by King James I, saw the Shah on the day of his great birthday festival when he was weighed against a great variety of objects, jewels, gold, silver, stuffs of gold and silver, silk, butter, rice, fruits, etc. All these things, heaped up on the scale balancing the one in which stood the Shah, were distributed as imperial gifts after the conclusion of the ceremony. Sir Thomas Roe declares that on this occasion (he missed seeing the actual weighing) the monarch was adorned with a great array of jewels, and he adds: “I must confess I never saw at one time such unspeakable wealth,” a testimony of considerable value, for the English Court in the time of James I was one by no means poor in jewels, that sovereign having a great fondness for them. After the ceremony of weighing had been completed, Jehangir enjoyed the spectacle of a procession of twelve troupes of his choicest elephants, each troupe led by a “lord elephant of exceptional stature.” The finest of these had all the plates on his head and breast set with rubies and emeralds, and all the elephants as they neared the Shah saluted him with their trunks.[[545]]
In Persia the pink and red coral was believed to have acquired its beautiful color after removal from the water, and the odor of the material was said to be a trustworthy means of discriminating between genuine and imitation coral; genuine coral had the smell of sea-water. The Chinese and the Hindus prized this substance very highly, because among them it was used to adorn the images of the gods.[[546]]
The perforated jade disk called ts’ang pi is still used as the symbol of the deity Heaven (T’ien) in the temple of that divinity at Peking. By a regulation of Emperor K’ien-lung, the proper dimensions of this ceremonial disk were rigidly established; the diameter of the disk proper was set at 6.1 inches, and its thickness at ⁷⁄₁₀ of an inch; the perforation was to have a diameter of ⁴⁄₁₀ of an inch. While the quality of the jade to be employed is not especially determined, the name ts’ang implies jade of a bluish shade. The veined type of stone is regarded as peculiarly adapted for this purpose.[[547]]
PERFORATED JADE DISK CALLED TS’ANG PI, A CHINESE SYMBOL OF THE DEITY HEAVEN (T’IEN)
From Berthold Laufer, “Jade, a Study in Chinese Archæology and Religion,” Chicago, 1912, p. 157.
By courtesy of the Author and Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.
We are apt to regard Tibet as the land least accessible to modern influence of any kind, and that least in touch with any aspect of European civilization. It seems, therefore, not a little strange that at the chief altar of the Royal Chapel in the Dalai Lama’s palace on Potala Hill, Lhasa, the elaborate tse-boum (incense vase or vessel), used by the Buddhist priests in their services, is a product of modern Parisian art, having been made in Paris about ten years ago. The vessel proper, which is carved from several exceptionally large pieces of coral, rests upon a flat, silver-gilt base, ornamented with two dragons, and is crowned with an oval framework of lapis lazuli leaves; upon this framework is a coral statuette of Amitabha, the “Lord of Boundless Light,” revered as the emanation of Adi-Buddha, supported by a lotus flower of white chalcedony. At the apex of the leafy oval rests a representation in white chalcedony of a crescent moon, above is a sun in yellow stone from which springs a coral flame, symbolizing the radiance of wisdom (nada). Although the Dalai Lama was anxious to avail himself of the aid of French art for the embellishment of his altar, he took due precautions that the religious character of the vessel should be properly conceived and maintained, and therefore sent one of his high-priests to Europe to choose the artists best fitted for the execution of the vessel, and this priest took the pains to make a special trip to Leghorn in order to select the coral appropriate for the sacred utensil. As will be noted, this material, so greatly prized by the Tibetans, is that most prominent in this temple incense vase. The dragons attached to the silver-gilt platter have been placed there to honor the Chinese, and are so affixed that they can be removed when no Chinese representatives are present at the ceremonies. In the older tse-boum, to take the place of which this Paris product was executed, the red-tinted ivory was used where coral appears in the newer vessel. The employment of this color is due to the fact that it is the sacred color of Amitabha.[[548]]
Within the sacred precincts of the temple of Cho Kang, in Tibet, is a splendid, life-size image of the Buddha formed of solid gold. The priests teach that it is of supernatural origin, and ascribe its execution to the creative energy of Visvakarma, a personification of the formative energy in the cosmos. The gold in this image is, however, not absolutely pure, but is alloyed with silver, copper, zinc and iron, the choice of these four metal alloys being dictated by the significance of the five metals in union as symbols of the world. The precious-stone adornment of this wonderful idol consists of magnificent diamonds, rubies, emeralds and indranila or Indian sapphires. Pearl, turquoise and coral necklaces are twined around the figure’s neck and crossed over its breast; on its head rests a golden coronet with a setting of turquoises, and rising from the rim of this coronet are five upright leaves within each of which is a small golden image of the Buddha; from one of these hangs as a pendant a remarkably fine, large and flawless piece of turquoise, measuring six inches in length and four inches in width. All these splendors lavished upon the image of the great apostle of the simple life show but a poor comprehension of the deep meanings and tendencies of his early career.
Treating of the religious associations of turquoise among the Tibetans, Dr. Berthold Laufer writes:[[549]]
Turquoises, usually in connection with gold, belong to the most ancient propitiatory offerings to the gods and demons; in the enumeration, gold always precedes turquois as the more valuable gift. They also figure among the presents bestowed on saints and Lamas by kings and wealthy laymen. The thrones on which kings and Lamas take their place are usually described as adorned with gold and turquoises, and they wear cloaks ornamented with these stones. It may be inferred from traditions and epic stories that in ancient times arrow-heads were made not only of common flint, but also occasionally of turquois to which a high value was attached. A powerful saint, by touching the bow and arrow of a blacksmith, transforms the bow into gold, and the arrow-head into turquois.
In the native languages of Mexico and Central America the name chalchiḥuitl most frequently designates jadeite, but it appears sometimes to have been applied to other stones of a green or greenish-blue color, such as the so-called amazon-stone from the region of the Amazon River, and even occasionally to the turquoise. Thus the talismanic value of the chalchihuitl seems to have depended rather upon its hue and its rarity, than upon its mineralogical character; indeed, among primitive peoples, stones of the same, or closely similar color, although of different composition, often bore the same name, and were conceived to have the same virtues whether talismanic or therapeutic. Writing of the rich gifts sent by Montezuma to Cortés upon the latter’s arrival at San Juan de Ulúa (1519), Bernal Diaz de Castillo mentions[[550]] “four chalchiuites, a kind of green stone of great value, and much esteemed by them [the Indians], more highly, indeed, than we esteem the emerald. They are of a green color.” And he proceeds to state that each one of these stones was said to be worth a great weight of gold.
The statue of the earth-goddess Couatlicue, found in the village of Cozcatlan, Mexico, and now preserved in the National Museum of Mexico, shows, inserted in the cheek, a disk of jadeite.[[551]] Green seems thus to have been the color sacred to this goddess, which may remind us of the attribution of the green emerald to Venus. Indeed, green as the color of foliage and plants must naturally have suggested itself as eminently appropriate for an earth-goddess, just as its significance as a symbol of life and generation connected it with the Goddess of Love.
The story of the emeralds brought from the New World by Hernan Cortés must have been quite familiar to sixteenth century writers, for we find Brantôme applying some details of this story to “a beautiful and incomparable pearl” said to have been brought from Mexico by Cortés on his return to Spain. This he later allowed to slip from his fingers into the sea while showing it to a friend on board the ship that was bearing him toward Algiers; it was lost in the sea, and in the words of Brantôme “vanished from the sight of mankind, unworthy to possess such a miracle of nature.” The loss of this pearl is looked upon by the French writer as a punishment for the “inscription” Cortés had caused to be placed upon it: Inter natos mulierum non surrexit major;[[552]] this refers to John the Baptist and was, as we have seen, engraved upon one of the famous emeralds of Cortés. Brantôme believes that its application to a simple product of nature was sacrilegious and the cause of the object’s loss; he also sees in this loss an omen of the death of the Emperor Charles which occurred shortly afterward, and he draws attention to the fact that the “Africans” called their kings “precious stones.”[[553]]
The Aztec art-workers of the period immediately antedating the Spanish Conquest had attained a high order of skill in the difficult work of inlaying carefully cut and shaped bits of precious material so as to produce some form or design of symbolic or religious meaning. In judging the artistic merit of such work, we must always remember that the Aztec inlayers were only provided with rude and primitive tools and implements for the execution of their task, and extraordinary patience and application must have been necessary to complete some of the objects that have been preserved for us. This art seems only to have been cultivated in ancient Mexico and Central America, and perhaps Peru also; of the Mexican work some twenty-five examples have been saved. The Spaniards, shortly after their first landing, were given an opportunity to judge of the quality of this Aztec inlaying, for among the gifts sent by Montezuma to Cortés, were five such objects, a mask with incrustations of turquoise, so disposed as to figure two intertwined serpents; a crozier, also with turquoise mosaic and ending in a serpent’s head; a pair of large ear-rings of serpentine form decorated with the chalchihuitl stone (perhaps nephrite or jadeite); a mitre of ocelot skin, surmounted by a large chalchihuitl, and also decorated with turquoise mosaic, and a staff of office with similar inlays. A serpent-mask answering to the description of one of Montezuma’s gifts is now in the British Museum and is in a fairly good state of preservation, although unfortunately the two serpent-heads have been lost. Evidently this mask was used in connection with the worship of Quetzalcoatl, the serpent-god, an incarnation of which deity the poor Aztecs at first believed Cortés to be.[[554]]
By courtesy of Dr. Edward H. Thompson.
THE SACRED WELL OF CHICHEN ITZA
Wherein, according to tradition, human victims and votive offerings of great value were cast.
Surpassing this mask in a certain strange and weird interest, and equalling it in artistic workmanship, is another most remarkable Aztec ceremonial mask, also in the British Museum Collection. The foundation of this is the front part of a human skull, and its outer surface has been covered with an incrustation of turquoise and jet mosaic in five alternate bands, the upper, middle and lower ones being of jet, while the two intermediate ones are of shaped pieces of turquoise; part of the nose has been removed and the space covered over by tablets of pink shell; protruding eyeballs are figured by convex disks of polished iron pyrites with a bordering of white shell; a number of the teeth have been broken out. Straps attached at the temples rendered it possible to bind this mask to the face of an idol, or for a priest of high rank to wear it on solemn ceremonial occasions.
Some three hundred yards or more from the great temple pyramid at Chichen Itzá, Yucatan, Mexico, at the termination of the Sacred Way traversed in times of tribulation, of pestilence or famine, by processions of priests conveying sacrifices to be offered to the offended divinities, was the Sacred Well. Into this the priests would throw the ornaments and trinkets dedicated to the gods as peace-offerings. But such inanimate objects were regarded as insufficient, and even animal sacrifices were deemed to be inadequate, and hence it often happened that prisoners of war and fair maidens were cast into the deep, still waters of the Sacred Well.[[555]]
Many fragments of the carved stone ornaments have been recovered from the depths of this Sacred Well, and even in their present imperfect state, they testify to a considerable development of the lapidarian art among the ancient Mayas, and a high degree of artistic skill in the fashioning of such objects of adornment. Undoubtedly those used in this way as sacred offerings were considered to be amulets and therefore to be the more acceptable in the sight of the gods.
That lapis lazuli was as much favored for religious use by the aborigines of the New World as it was in ancient Egypt and in other parts of the Old World, is shown by the recent discovery of twenty-eight carefully formed cylindrical beads of lapis lazuli among some very ancient deposits in the island of La Plata, Ecuador. From the general character of these deposits it is evident that they did not belong to permanent dwellers on the island, and there is every reason to believe that they were left by visitors from the mainland, who came to the island for the performance of certain sacred rites and ceremonies.[[556]]
By courtesy of Dr. Edward H. Thompson.
CARVED AND WORKED STONES FROM THE SACRED WELL AT CHICHEN ITZA, YUCATAN, MEXICO
The ancient Mexicans held the turquoise in high esteem, and that Los Cerrillos and other mines in Arizona and New Mexico were extensively worked prior to the discovery of America is proved by fragments of Aztec pottery-vases; by drinking, eating, and cooking utensils; by stone hammers, wedges, mauls, and idols which have been discovered in the debris found in many different localities.
While Major Hyde was exploring this neighborhood in 1880, he was visited by several Pueblo Indians from San Domingo, who stated that the turquoise he was taking from the old mine was sacred, and must not go into the hands of those whose Saviour was not a Montezuma, and these Indians offered, at the same time, to purchase all that might come from the mine in the future.
About ten miles from Tempe, Arizona, in ruins designated as Los Muertos, there was found enclosed in asbestos, in a decorated Zuñi jar, a sea-shell coated with black pitch, in which were incrusted turquoise and garnets, in the form of a toad, the sacred emblem of the Zuñi. Incrusted clam shells, representing toads, may be seen in the Brunswick Collection, the Christie Collection in the British Museum, and in the Pitorini Museum, Rome.
At the annual Fiesta which is attended by the San Felipe, the Navajo, the Isleta, the Acoma, the Jicorrilla, Apache and other Indians at the Pueblo of Santo Domingo, a place situated about three miles west by south of Wallace Station on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad, a carved wooden image of the saint, about four feet in height, and said to date from the time of the conquest in 1692, is carried in procession through the principal streets to a small tent made of the finest Navajo blankets, where it is placed on an improvised altar. Here various offerings are made. Among them strings of turquoise beads, both round and flat, of the choicest color, are suspended from the ears of the figure, and from a string which encircles its neck. On the centre of the breast is one of the curious turquoise-encrusted marine clam-shells similar to the one found by Lieutenant F. H. Cushing in the excavations near Tempe, Arizona. The writer saw a fine example of this ornamental object suspended from the neck of the Virgin of Santo Domingo, at the Annual Fiesta, August 4, 1890. With the exception of a black band of obsidian running across the centre, the entire exterior of the shell is covered with a sort of miniature pavement of little squares of turquoise which are cemented to it with a black shellac-like substance obtained from “the grease-wood” plant common in New Mexico.[[557]]
It has been suggested that the types of ornamentation used by the aborigines of Central America may become fashionable at the time of the opening of the Panama Canal. In jewelry the crawfish model, as shown in a gold-plated ornament discovered in the Chiriqui district of Panama, offers a striking and peculiar form which might win favor; a curious frog pattern could also be used. If the local usage in ancient times is to be considered, the emerald and other green stones would be given the preference for decoration, as stones of this color were the most in favor among the primitive inhabitants of Central America because it symbolized the verdure of field and forest, and hence youth and vigor. When set in gold these stones gained in symbolic value, for gold, having the color of the sun, was regarded as typical of force, courage, and vitality.
The mystic lake of Guatavita, high up on the Andean plateau of Colombia, South America, was the chief holy place of the native Indians of this locality hundreds of years ago, at a time when gold and emeralds were plentiful among them, luxuries unknown to their impoverished descendants of our day. Legend had taught them to regard this lake as the abiding place of a powerful divinity or demon, whose good will must be secured at any price if dire disease were to be held aloof from the people. Four other sacred lakes on the plateau, Guasca, Siecha, Teusaca, and Ubaque, shared in a lesser degree with the principal one in the attribution of mysterious power. As early as 1534 word was brought to Sebastian de Belalcazar, founder of Quito, that in the course of the religious ceremonies held by the Indians at the Lake of Guatavita, they were wont to cast into its waters immense quantities of gold-dust, emeralds and other precious stones. It was also related that at these semi-annual festivals the Caciques and the principal chiefs, bearing valuable gifts of gold-dust and emeralds, were paddled out in canoes (or on rafts) to the exact middle of the lake, this point being determined by the intersection of two ropes stretching from four temples erected at four equidistant points on its banks. Arrived at this spot the offerings were cast into the lake, and the Cacique of Guatavita, whose naked body had been coated with an adhesive clay, over which gold-dust was sprinkled in profusion, sprang into the water, and after washing off the gold-dust, swam to the shore. This resplendent living golden figure strongly appealed to the Spaniards’ imagination, and the name they bestowed upon the Cacique, El Dorado (“The Golden,” or “Gilded”), is used to our day as a designation of a region or a spot exceptionally rich in gold. At the moment the “Golden Cacique” made his plunge into the lake, the assembled people scattered along its banks turned their backs toward the water, shouted loudly, and threw their propitiatory offerings over their shoulders into the lake.
Attempts have often been made to secure the treasures by drawing off the waters of the lake, but only with very partial success so far. The first serious effort is said to have been made by Antonio de Sepulveda, a merchant of Santa Fé, in United States of Colombia, who obtained a Spanish concession. In or about 1823 we have record of another unsuccessful venture on the part of José Ignacio Paris, in an account of Colombia written in 1824 by Captain Charles Stuart Cochrane, of the Royal Navy, who aided Paris in his efforts. The report that at the time of the Spanish Conquest, the Cacique of Guatavita caused gold-dust constituting the burdens of fifty men to be cast into the lake, greatly contributed to the zeal of the treasure-seekers in the vicinity. One of the early attempts at least resulted in the recovery of so much treasure that the Government’s 3 per cent. share is said to have amounted to $170,000.
In none of these essays, however, was the lake really and effectually drained off, and that of Paris in 1823 or 1824 failed in the same way, because of inadequate capital. He had succeeded in persuading sixteen shareholders to club together, each one contributing $500 to a common fund, but after not only this $8,000, but $12,000 more supplied by himself had been expended, there still remained 33 feet of water in the lake.
Recently an English company has recognized that the treasure must be sought at or even beneath the true bottom, as this existed at the time of the Spanish Conquest, and thus at levels considerably lower than those of the bottom at the present time. The project is, after 30 feet of the present bottom has been removed, to set up a steam shovel and sink down 40 or 50 feet in search of the gold-dust, golden ornaments and emeralds believed to exist here.
VIII
Amulets: Ancient, Medieval, and Oriental
The present and the following chapter are devoted to a study of the talismanic virtues attributed to precious stones and gems, as distinguished from the curative powers with which they were credited. It is sometimes difficult to establish a hard and fast dividing line between the two classes, as everything that conduces to the happiness and well-being of man also affects his bodily health, but a distinction, correct in the main, may be made by regarding the talismanic use as covering all cases except those in which the stone was used where to-day some really medicinal substance would be administered.
A modern German writer on amulets has proposed to apply the term “emanism” (Emanismus) to the virtue existing or supposed to exist in amulets and talismans, and gives as his opinion that their virtue is neither a spiritual nor a personal one, but the operation of forces, the latter not being special, mysterious vital forces, but impersonal physical components and qualities, and that these exercise their influence by means of emanation. Wundt has held that the very earliest amulets were parts of the human body, and almost always such parts as were believed to be the bearers of the soul.[[558]]
Radiation or emanation of energy, without observable loss of substance, is a fact familiar enough to us to-day, but this phenomenon was not so generally accepted centuries ago. Still the lodestone always offered a striking example with which all writers on such subjects were acquainted. A stranger argument in support of the truth of this property was adduced by the seventeenth century physician, Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682), who writes:[[559]]
If amulets do work by emanation from their bodies upon those parts whereunto they are appended and are not yet observed to abate their weight; if they produce visible and reall effects by imponderous and invisible emissions, it may be unjust to deny all efficacy to gold, in the non-emission of weight or deperdition of any ponderous articles.
While the learned doctor does not expressly state his belief in these “imponderous and invisible emissions” from amulets, he certainly does not attempt to deny their existence.
The Bolivian natives believe that the so-called mountain-sickness, the affection from which some travellers suffer at high altitudes, probably originates in subtle emanations from certain mineral veins. A confirmation of the fact that such a belief exists, though not of the truth of the theory, is found in the native name for this illness, veta, which signifies at once “mountain-sickness” and a vein or lode. The fact that at the pass of Livichuco, on the trail from Challapata to Sucre, there are considerable deposits of antimony, is regarded as substantiating this strange fancy.[[560]]
Among the Babylonians one of the most dreaded of the malign spiritual powers was the terrible female demon Labastu, and a long series of amulets are recommended, one or more of which should be worn to ward off her pernicious influence. For some of these amulets precious stones were used, and the effect of color, probably a determining circumstance in the selection of the particular stone, was to be strengthened by the color of the wrapping about the stone and of the cord by means of which it was to be hung from the neck, or attached to the right or left hand or foot, or to other parts of the body. As this dreadful spirit was chiefly feared as the inducer of disease, the location of the amulet was perhaps in some cases determined by the presence of local pain or disorder; in this case it would be expected to act as a cure of disease rather than a mere preventive. The following passages refer to such stone amulets:[[561]]
EYE AGATES
Used as charms against the Evil Eye. East Indian.
Thou shalt wrap up a shubu-stone in white wool, and hang it on a white woollen cord, with four eye-stones (enâti) and four parê, and bind it to thy right hand.
A black ka-stone shalt thou enwrap in black wool, hang it on a black woollen cord, provide it with three eye-stones and three parê, and bind it to thy left hand.
Thou shalt wrap a white ka-stone in red wool, hang it on a red woollen cord, with four eye-stones and four parê, and bind it to the right foot.
An appu-stone shalt thou wrap up in blue wool, hang it on a blue woollen cord, furnish it with three eye-stones and three parê, and bind it to the left foot.
Seven eye-stones and seven parê shalt thou string on a black cord.
The enâti (eye-stones) here mentioned were most probably eye-agates similar to those still prized in the Mesapotamian region for their supposed magical virtues, and more especially for protection against the Evil Eye. There is, indeed, a bare possibility that some form of the cat’s-eye (known by that name to the Arabs) or one of the star-stones may occasionally be signified by this Assyrian name. The word parê, as it is not preceded by the determinative character signifying stone, may refer to some other material.
An immediate association of an animal eye with a turquoise, an example of the sympathetic magic to which we have frequently alluded, comes from Persia. During the celebration of the imposing ceremonies attending the great annual assemblage of pilgrims at the shrine of Mecca, it is customary to slaughter an immense number of sheep, and certain of the Persian pilgrims will secure possession of some of the eyes of their sacrificial victims, and will embed turquoises in them, firmly believing that in this way they have composed an infallible amulet against the Evil Eye.[[562]]
A Persian manuscript of a work entitled “Nozhat Namah Ellaiy,” written in the eleventh century by Schem Eddin, the transcription being dated 1304, asserts that the turquoise (piruzeh), though lacking in brilliancy, was esteemed to be a stone of good omen, and one that would bring good luck, since this was indicated by its name, signifying in Persian, “the Victorious.”[[563]]
One of the Egyptian tales from the time of the early dynasties shows the value placed upon the turquoise in Egypt at that time. This recital occurs in Baufra’s Tale. The reigning Pharaoh, to relieve a fit of mental depression, took a pleasure trip on the palace lake in a boat rowed by twenty beautiful and richly attired maidens. While bending over her oar, one of the maidens let fall into the water from her hair-adornment a fine turquoise (Egypt mafkat, thus rendered by Petrie) and was deeply chagrined at the loss. However, the court magician Zazamankh, who accompanied the sovereign, by his magic arts was able to provide a remedy, for on his reciting a charm of great power the turquoise rose up through the water so that it could be picked up from the surface and returned to its disconsolate owner.[[564]]
TYPES OF EGYPTIAN SEALS AND SCARABS IN THE MURCH COLLECTION, METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK
Royal names: Fig. 1, XII Dynasty (2000–1788 B.C.), Usertasen III; Fig. 2, XIII Dyn. (1788–1680, B.C.), Sebekhetep III; Fig. 3, Hyksos
Kings (1680–1580 B.C.), Aamu; Fig. 4, XVIII Dyn. (1580–1350 B.C.), Amenhetep I; Fig. 5, XIX Dyn. (1350–1205 B.C.), Rameses II; Fig. 8,
XXII Dyn. (945–745 B.C.), Sheshonk I; Fig. 9, XXV Dyn. (712–663 B.C.), Taharka; Fig. 10, XXVI Dyn. (663–525 B.C.), Psamtek I; Private
names; Fig. 11, Shemses, “Attendant”; Fig 12, Rera, “Superintendent of the Storehouse of Offerings”; Fig. 13, Ankh, “Attendant”; Figs.
14–16, scroll designs and ornamental groupings of hieroglyphs; Fig. 17, Goodluck amulet “May your name be established, may you have a son!”
Figs. 18–24, animal-back seals.
The Egyptians believed that the different kinds of precious stones were endowed with certain special talismanic properties, and these stones were combined in their necklaces in a way supposed to afford protection from all manner of malign influences. The beads were of various forms, sometimes round or oval, and at others, rectangular or oblong; besides the stones in general use, such as the emerald, carnelian, agate, lapis lazuli, amethyst, rock-crystal, beryl, jasper and garnet, beads of gold, silver, glass, faience, and even of clay and straw, were employed. To complete the efficacy of the necklace, small images of the gods and of the sacred animals were added as pendants. Even on the mummies and mummy cases such ornaments are painted in imitation of necklaces or collars of precious stones, with flowers, etc., as pendants.[[565]]
One of the most artistic and beautiful specimens of ancient Egyptian goldsmiths’ work was recently sent by Dr. Flinders Petrie, on behalf of the Egyptian Research Account Society, to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. It is adorned with amethysts set in gold, the stones with their symbolic settings constituting a charm of powerful amulets for the protection of the wearer, who is believed to have been the Princess Sat-Hathor-Ant, of the Twelfth Dynasty, the wife of the heir to the throne. Dr. Petrie pronounces this to be one of the finest ancient Egyptian necklaces he has ever seen.
This splendid ornament came from tomb No. 154 at Haragh. It measures 26.3 inches in length and is composed of 88 amethyst beads varying in length from nearly a quarter-inch to about four-tenths of an inch (0.6 cm. to 1 cm.) and in diameter from a little over a quarter-inch to over four-tenths of an inch (0.7 cm. to 1.1 cm.). The beads are slightly flattened and the borings were made from both ends, meeting accurately in the centre in the majority of cases. In spite of small surface scars, they are generally of very clear and even color.[[566]]
Special chapters from the great Egyptian collection of hymns and invocations known as the “Book of the Dead” were inscribed on certain particular stones, as in the following instances:
Chapter XXVI of the Book of the Dead to be inscribed on, or recited over, a figure in lapis lazuli.[[567]]
Chapter whereby the Heart is given to a person in the Netherworld.
He saith: Heart mine to me, in the place of Hearts! Whole Heart mine to me, in the place of Whole Hearts!
Let me have my Heart that it may rest within me; but I shall feed upon the food of Osiris, on the eastern side of the mead of amaranthine flowers.
Be mine a bark for descending the stream and another for ascending.
I go down into the bark where thou art.
Be there given to me my mouth wherewith to speak, and my feet for walking; and let me have my arms wherewith to overthrow my adversaries.
Let two hands from the Earth open my mouth: Let Seb, the Erpâ of the gods, part my two jaws; let him open my two eyes which are closed, and give motion to my two hands which are powerless; and let Anubis give vigor to my legs that I may raise myself upon them.
And may Sechit the divine one lift me up, so that I may arise in Heaven and issue my behest in Memphis.
I am in possession of my Heart, I am in possession of my Whole Heart, I am in possession of my arms and I have possession of my legs.
[I do whatsoever my Genius willeth, and my Soul is not bound to my body at the gates of Amenta.]
Chapter XXVII of the Book of the Dead to be inscribed on, or recited over, a figure in green feldspar.[[568]]
Chapter whereby the Heart of a person is not taken from him in the Netherworld.
O ye gods who seize upon Hearts, and who pluck out the Whole Heart; and whose hands fashion anew the Heart of a person according to what he hath done; lo now, let that be forgiven to him by you.
Hail to you, O ye Lords of Everlasting Time and Eternity!
Let not my Heart be torn from me by your fingers.
Let not my Heart be fashioned anew according to all the evil things said against me.
For this Heart of mine is the Heart of the god of mighty names [Thoth], of the great god whose words are in his members, and who giveth free course to his Heart which is within him.
And most keen of insight is his heart among the gods. Ho to me! Heart of mine: I am in possession of thee, I am thy master, and thou art by me; fall not away from me; I am the dictator to whom thou shalt obey in the Netherworld.
Were there sufficient evidence as to the use of jade by the ancient Egyptians, we might be justified in finding an allusion to this substance in the 160th chapter of the Book of the Dead. This chapter was to be inscribed upon a small column made of a green stone (Renouf translates “green feldspar”), as appears in the text, which reads, in part, as follows:
I am the column of green feldspar which cannot be crushed, and which is raised by the hand of Thoth.
Injury is an abomination for it. If it is safe, I am safe; if it is not injured, I am not injured; if it receives no cut, I receive no cut.
Said by Thoth: arise, come in peace, lord of Heliopolis, lord who resides at Pu.
The text is accompanied by a vignette in which Thoth is represented bringing the column enclosed in a box or casket. This is one of the forms of the neshem-stone, a name used in Egyptian as widely and vaguely as was smaragdus in Latin. One thing is, however, quite evident, the material designated here must have been of exceptional hardness and toughness, for the special virtue of the column-amulet was to make the body as hard and indestructible as itself. Incidentally we may recall that the hermetic work of Thoth, named by the later Greeks Trismegistos, the Thrice Mighty One, which was said to have been unearthed in a tomb, was inscribed upon smaragdus.
The larger part of the amulets used in ancient Egypt represented some living creature. The most usual type is the bull’s head, which was cut from carnelian, hematite, amazon stone, lapis lazuli, or quartz. Prehistoric Egyptian amulets representing the fly have been found; these were of slate, lapis lazuli and serpentine. In historic times gold was employed as the material. Other types occurring in prehistoric times are the hawk, of quartz or limestone; the serpent, of lapis lazuli or limestone; the crocodile and the frog. Carnelian was freely used as the material for amulets in the earlier historic times, among the prevailing forms were the hand, the fist, and the eye; amulets figuring the lion, the jackal-head, the frog, and the bee, also appear. Silver or electrum was substituted for carnelian in the Middle Kingdom. At a later period amulets were used less and less frequently.[[569]]
The mysterious virtues of the scarab are not yet forgotten in the East, in Syria at least, for we are told that this beetle is an object of much veneration among the Syrian peasants as an amulet. One use of it in this way is to enclose a specimen in a box and lay this upon the breast of a babe in its cradle as a sure protection against the greatly-dreaded Evil Eye. There is also a superstition in this region that if a “scarab” is found lying helplessly on its back, anyone who charitably relieves it of its embarrassment by setting it on its feet, will be relieved of the guilt of a number of sins.[[570]]
By courtesy of Herbert J. Ward and John Murray, Publisher.
COLOSSAL SCARAB IN BLACK GRANITE, BRITISH MUSEUM
Length 60 in., by 33 in. high. From “The Sacred Beetle” by John Ward, F.S.A.
It is difficult to see any other origin for the scaraboid, or imperfect scarab form, than that afforded by the Egyptian scarabs, some of which date back to about 4000 B.C. Whether we can literally say that the scaraboid was introduced into Babylon by the Egyptians may be open to question, as the form itself appears to have been evolved by Etruscans and Greeks. Unquestionably the scaraboid was much more easily shaped than the scarab proper, and for those traders who wished large supplies for commercial purposes at a low cost, this was by no means a negligible quality.
The evolution of the ring from the cylindrical seal is of course purely a matter of conjecture. Here, as is often the case in a chain or series of fossil remains, we have a succession of types which may be connected with one another genetically, but which must not be so connected. That is to say, we cannot prove the affirmative and can only point to a probability.
Many cut and engraved stones, some of which had evidently been used as talismans, have been washed up on the shore at Alexandria, Egypt. Not all of these are completed, some being only half worked, as though the engraver had become dissatisfied with his design, or had found a flaw in the material, or that they had been lost from boats or ships. It has been conjectured that these half-completed gems were the work of household jewellers employed in the palaces of Alexandria.[[571]] In Mas’ûdi’s “Meadows of Gold” we read that in his time, in the tenth century A.D., there was what he terms “a fishery for precious stones” on the sea-coast near Alexandria, Egypt. To account for this he relates two bits of legend. One of them represents these fragments of precious stones as having originally adorned the richly decorated vases and vessels of Alexander the Great, which were broken up and cast into the sea by Alexander’s mother after his death. The other tale was to the effect that Alexander himself had gathered together a mass of jewels and ordered them to be thrown into the sea near the Pharos, so that its neighborhood should never be deserted; for, Mas’ûdi remarks, wherever precious stones are to be found, whether in mines or in the depths of the sea, men are sure to assemble to seek for them.[[572]]
The prophet Isaiah in his third chapter, where he scores the wantonness and vanity of the Daughters of Zion (vs. 16–26), enumerates in detail the various adornments of a Hebrew mondaine toward the end of the eighth century before Christ. Among the jewels and trinkets, amulets (lehâshîm; v. 20) are expressly mentioned, and also “crescents,” these being probably of gold. While it is not possible to determine the material of the amulets, the fact that they are named together with rich ornaments of various kinds, rings, nose-jewels, bracelets, anklets, etc., indicates that they were of precious material, and were possibly engraved precious stones or seals of some sort.[[573]] In the Song of Songs, which can scarcely be assigned to a later date than Isaiah, and may have been written earlier, the seal is named in what is perhaps the most beautiful passage of this unique poem, Chapter VII, verse 6:
Set me as a seal upon thine heart;
as a seal upon thine arm.
For love is strong as death;
passion is unyielding as Hades,
The flashes thereof are flashes of fire;
an all-consuming flame.
The golden “crescents” were used as amulets by the Midianites for suspension on the necks of their camels, at the period of the Hebrew conquest of Canaan, as appears from the eighth chapter of Judges (v. 21).
The burying in a grave of valuable gems and ornaments worn by the deceased during life must have been originally due to a belief that they served as talismans to guard the remains from the malign influence of evil spirits, or perhaps even to afford protection and aid, by some strange occult power, to the soul of the departed in the under or upper world whither it had journeyed. In the New World, among the more highly civilized and wealthy Indian tribes of the south, this custom was very general, and rich spoils have been taken from their graves by the unsentimental settlers from Europe. In the Old World also this usage was quite common; Egyptian tombs have afforded jewels of gold and gems worth large sums intrinsically, apart from their archæological value, and only to note one among many instances, we may recall the treasures unearthed by the indefatigable Schliemann in the old Greek tombs of Mycenæ. However, of all these finds none surpasses in interest that made by M. Henry de Morgan near Susa on February 10, 1901, when there was brought to light, from a depth of some six metres below the surface, a bronze sarcophagus containing the skeleton of a woman. Heaped upon the breast of the skeleton and strewn about the head and neck was a mass of finely-wrought and artistic gems and jewels, including several detached amulets. From coins found in the burial and also from the general character of these relics, M. de Morgan believes that the interment must have been made at some date between 350 and 330 B.C., just before Alexander’s invasion of Persia.[[574]]
The jewels embrace a beautiful gold torque weighing 385 grams (something over one pound Troy). The hoop terminates in two lions’ heads having cheeks of turquoise, while on the muzzle is a lapis lazuli flanked by two turquoises; on the top of the head is a plate of mother-of-pearl. Bracelets similar in design and decoration to the torque go to complete the parure. Of even greater interest than the gold torque was a three-row pearl necklace, 238 of the pearls being still more or less well preserved; originally there must have been from 400 to 500 of them. Still another valuable necklace consists of 400 beads of precious or ornamental stone material and 400 gold beads. The stones represented are turquoise, lapis lazuli, emerald, agate, various jaspers, red and blond carnelian, feldspar, jade (?), hyaline and milky quartz, amethyst of a pale violet hue, hematite, several marbles and breccia. A fourth necklace had a row of beads and pendants incrusted with carnelian, lapis lazuli and turquoise; here the sharp contrast of the bright red carnelian disturbs the harmonious effect produced by the combination of the dark blue lapis lazuli and the light blue turquoise.
The detached amulets are of various forms, one figuring a sphinx with a ram’s head; this was in white paste with green enamel. Another, of gold, was rudely fashioned in the form of a lion or a cat, and there was also a dove of lapis lazuli, poorly executed, the amulets (mainly of Egyptian type) being of very inferior workmanship as compared with the jewels. Still they serve to confirm the belief that this heaping up in the tomb of all the dearest treasures cherished in life, was intended to exert a post-mortem influence upon the after-life of the dead woman.
That some of the Hebrew patriots who fought under the banner of Judas Maccabæus toward the middle of the second century B.C. were tinged with the prevailing superstition regarding amulets, appears in a passage of the second book of Maccabees, where it is stated that when Judas collected together for burial the bodies of those patriots who had fallen in battle before Odolla, they were found to have worn beneath their tunics certain idolatrous amulets, a custom strictly forbidden to the Jews. Their death was then looked upon as a signal instance of divine justice, which “had made hidden things manifest,” and Judas exhorted the people to take this lesson to heart and guard themselves from sin.
The wealth of books on magic and divination produced in the ancient city of Ephesus, in Asia Minor, was so great that the designation “Ephesian writings” was quite generally given to writings of this kind, more especially to denote short texts that could be worn as amulets or charms. We read in the Acts of the Apostles (xix, 19) that after hearing the fervent discourses of St. Paul, in which he eloquently attacked the superstitions of the Ephesians, many of those who owned books of this description were so deeply moved that they burned up all such books in their possession, to the value of 50,000 pieces of silver, that is to say $9000, equivalent perhaps to $90,000, if we make due allowance for the greater purchasing power of money nearly two thousand years ago. The small literary value of the writings of this sort that have been preserved for us indicates that the loss to posterity by this auto-da-fé was not very considerable, and yet many queer superstitions and strange usages of which we now lack information must have been noted in these magic rolls and sheets.
The following lines may serve to show how highly the jasper was esteemed in ancient times, this designation covering jade as well:[[575]]
Auro, quid melius? Jaspis. Quid Jaspite? Virtus. Quid virtute? Deus. Quid deitate? Nihil.
What is better than Gold? Jasper.
What is better than Jasper? Virtue.
What is better than Virtue? God.
What is better than the deity? Nothing.
The first mention of the famous charm Abracadabra, which so often appears engraved on Gnostic gems, occurs in a Latin medical poem written by Serenus Sammonicus who lived in the third century and is said to have bequeathed his library consisting of sixty-two thousand volumes to the Emperor Gordian the Younger. The poem recommends this mystic word, or name, as a sovereign remedy for the “demitertian” fever, if it were written on a piece of paper and suspended by a linen thread from the neck of the patient. To have its full efficacy the word should be written as many times as there are letters in it, but taking away one letter each time, so that the inscription assumed the form of an inverted cone.[[576]]
It is interesting to note that De Foe, writing in the seventeenth century of the Great Plague in London (1665), alludes to this strange talisman as still in use.[[577]] Treating of the curious prophylactics employed at that time, he reproaches those who employed such methods, and acted “as if the plague was not the hand of God, but a kind of possession of an evil spirit, and that it was to be kept off with crossings, signs of the zodiac, papers tied up with so many knots, and certain words or figures, as particularly the word Abracadabra formed in triangle or pyramid, thus:
A B R A C A D A B R A
A B R A C A D A B R
A B R A C A D A B
A B R A C A D A
A B R A C A D
A B R A C A
A B R A C
A B R A
A B R
A B
A”
A curious charm which was extensively used as an amulet in medieval times consists of five Latin words so arranged that they can be read backwards or forwards and also upwards or downwards. The disposition of the letters is as follows:
s a t o r
a r e p o
t e n e t
o p e r a
r o t a s
This charm has been preserved for us in Greek and Coptic as well as in Roman characters, and examples of it have been found cut in a marble slab above the chapel of St. Laurent at Rochemaur (Ardèche), France, and also in the plaster wall of an old Roman house at Cirncester, Gloucestershire, England. In a Greek manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale, in Paris,[[578]] the Latin words are transliterated and translated as follows:
σάτορ, the sower
ἀρεπο, the plough
τένετ, holds
ὀπερα, works
ρότας, wheels
Another and more ingenious explanation of this puzzle has, however, been given.[[579]] Beginning with the last word “rotas,” and taking the other words in their order, it is proposed to read as follows: “The plough-wheels (rotas), the laborer (opera), holds (tenet), creep after him (arepo), I, the sower (sator).” The chief defect in this version appears to be the assumption that “opera” can be rendered “laborer,” an interpretation which is, at best, supported by a doubtful use of the word in that sense by Horace. This charm appears in an Italian manuscript of the fourteenth century,[[580]] where it is recommended to be used for the assurance of a speedy delivery.
Touching the wonderful and mystic power attributed to the seven vowels of the Greek alphabet by the Gnostics, C. W. King cites the following words from the Pistis Sophia of Valentinus:[[581]]
Nothing therefore is more excellent than the mysteries which ye seek after, saving only the mystery of the Seven Vowels and their forty and nine Powers, and the Numbers thereof. And no name is more excellent than all these [Vowels], a Name wherein be contained all Names and all Lights and all Powers.
The last sentence probably refers to the arrangement of these vowels often met with in inscribed Gnostic talismans, the so-called Abraxas gems. Here we often find them in the following order Ι Ε Η Θ Ο Υ Α, and the sound of these vowels really suggests the conventional pronunciation of the Hebrew name Jehovah (yehowah). The words quoted from the Pistis Sophia are placed in the mouth of Jesus, and King calls attention to the fact that in Greek the same word is used for voice and vowel (φώνη). He therefore believes that the passage in Revelations (x, 3–4): “The seven thunders uttered their voices,” signifies that the sound of the seven vowels “echoed through the vault of heaven, and composed that mystic utterance which the sainted seer was forbidden to reveal unto mortals.”
A MEDIEVAL SPELL
From a XIV century Italian MS. in the author’s library. The efficacy of the spell is to be insured by reciting the accompanying invocation thrice.
Certain talismans were supposed to afford protection not only to individuals but even to entire cities. Of this class were two talismans described by Gregory of Tours. He relates that Paris had enjoyed from ancient times a surprising immunity from serpents and rats, as well as from fires. However, in clearing out the channel beneath a bridge across the Seine, the workmen found, embedded in the mud, two brazen images, one of a serpent and the other of a rat; after these had been removed from their resting place, serpents and rats appeared, and conflagrations became common.[[582]]
Of the many memorials of the Age of Charlemagne preserved in the Cathedral Treasury at Aachen, that popularly known as the Talisman of Charlemagne always exerted a peculiar fascination over the minds of those visiting the shrine, both because of its sacred character and on account of the mystic power ascribed to it.
The “Talisman” is composed of two large sapphires, cut en cabochon, one being of oval form and the other square, these constituting respectively the front and back of the relic; enclosed between them is a cross made from wood of the Holy Cross said to have been found in Palestine by St. Helena, mother of Constantine the Great. This is only visible when looking through the oval sapphire set in front of the medallion. The two sapphires are joined and framed by a band studded with precious stones, and various other gems are set above and below them. The oval sapphire is of a pale blue, and is furnished with a gold openwork bordering. At the top of the medallion, in a square space is set a lozenge-shaped garnet, and around the oval sapphire forming the front are placed successively, (1) an emerald, (2) a pearl, (3) a garnet, (4) a pearl, (5) an emerald, (6) a pearl, (7) a garnet, (8) a pearl, (9) an emerald, (10) a pearl, (11) a garnet, (12) a pearl, (13) an emerald, (14) a pearl, (15) a garnet, (16) a pearl.
The square sapphire at the back of the medallion is of poor quality and imperfect color; about it are sixteen settings, containing respectively, (1) (lacking), (2) a pearl, (3) a garnet, (4) a pearl, (5) an emerald, (6) a pearl, (7) a garnet, (8) a pearl, (9) an emerald, (10) a pearl, (11) a garnet, (12) a pearl, (13) an emerald, (14) a pearl, (15) a garnet, (16) a pearl.
On the band are set the following stones: (1) a pearl, (2) a sapphire, (3) a pearl, (4) an amethyst, (5) a pearl, (6) a sapphire, (7) a pearl, (8) an amethyst, (9) a pearl, (10) an almost white sapphire, (11) a pearl, (12) an amethyst, (13) a pearl, (14) a white sapphire.
In the summer of 1804, Empress Josephine went to Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) to take the waters there, and during her stay, on August 1, she visited the tomb of Charlemagne in the Cathedral. We are told that Napoleon, who joined Josephine at Aix-le-Chapelle on September 3, had already authorized the Cathedral chapter to part with certain of the relics and bestow them upon Josephine at the time of her visit to the tomb. This authorization, of course, was only a polite equivalent for a command, and was duly carried out, the most prized object secured by Josephine being precisely this famed talisman. It eventually came into the hands of Hortense, Josephine’s daughter, the mother of Napoleon III, and was inherited by him. It is said to be now in a private collection in Paris.[[583]] Empress Eugénie is stated to have worn it at the time of the birth of the Prince Imperial, and to have further shown her belief in the mystic, or magic, virtues of the talisman by sending it several years later to Biarritz, that it might be kept for a time in the sick-room of M. Bacciochi, when he was prostrated by illness in that city.[[584]]
An Anglo-Saxon treatise on the medical art, from the beginning of the tenth century, the original manuscript of which was owned by an Anglo-Saxon leech named Bald, as testified to by an entry on the title-leaf, gives the agate a prominent place as a talismanic and curative agent. More especially is its power over the demon-world emphasized. Indeed it is asserted to serve as a sort of diagnostic of demoniacal possession, the words being: “The man who hath in him secretly the loathly fiend, if he taketh in liquid any portion of the shavings of this stone, then soon is exhibited manifestly in him that which before secretly lay hid.” Less unfamiliar to those acquainted with the early literature on the subject are the statements that the wearers of agates were guarded against danger from lightning, and from venom. The liquid “extract of agate,” taken internally, also produced smooth skin and rendered the partaker immune from the bites of snakes.[[585]]
An extremely strange type of amulets found occasionally in Gallic sepulchres are disks made from human skulls. It appears to be a well-ascertained fact that the operation of trephining was performed at this early date, almost if not quite exclusively in the case of infants, and it is believed principally for the cure of epilepsy. If the child survived the operation its skull was thought to have acquired a certain magic power. This idea had its rise in the belief that epilepsy was the result of an indwelling evil spirit, so that if the disease disappeared as a result or sequence of the operation, this evil spirit was believed to have made his way out through the aperture. On the eventual death of one whose skull had been successfully trephined, disks were sometimes cut just on the edge of the opening through which the possessing spirit had slipped out, leaving as a trace of his passage some of his diabolic but still potent virtue.[[586]] That the superstition regarding these cranial disks lasted well into the sixteenth century, even among some of the educated, is proven by the fact that on a bracelet which belonged to and was worn by Catherine de’ Medici, one of the talismans was a piece of a human skull.
Attention was first called to the strange amulets taken from the human skull by the operation of trephining, by M. Prunetière, at a meeting of the French Association for the Advancement of Science, held in Lyons in 1873.[[587]] The specimen he then exhibited came from a sepulture in the department of Lozère. This particular example showed a break on the edge, and M. Paul Broca has conjectured that a small piece may have been chipped off, so that it might be pulverized and administered as a powder to persons suffering from disease of the brain, a treatment favored by those who doubted the generally-believed supernatural origin of epilepsy, and suspected its source in some lesion of the brain or of the meninges. For this, of course, no more efficient remedy could suggest itself, according to the old sympathetic theory of medicines, than a powder made from the skull of one who had been an epileptic. These skull-amulets have been unearthed in neolithic burials in various parts of France, a considerable number having been found by M. de Baye and others in the department of Marne; a specimen was also found in an Algerian sepulture by General Faidherbe.
The great Greek physician Hippocrates of Cos, a contemporary of Plato, advised that resort should be had to the operation of trephining in many cases of injury to the head, and that the ancient Hindus were to a certain extent familiar with it as a method of treating diseases of the brain appears in one of the Buddhist recitals from a Tibetan source. Here it is related that Atreya, master of the King of Physicians, Jîvaka, when appealed to for help by a man suffering from a distressful cerebral disorder, directed the man to dig a pit and fill it up with dung; he then thrust the man into this soft and savory mass until nothing but his head and neck protruded, and opened his skull. From it was drawn out a reptile whose presence had caused the malady. Jîvaka seems to have been in consultation with his master in this interesting operation, and is said to have later extracted a centipede from a man’s skull after making an aperture therein with a golden knife.[[588]] In neither of these cases, however, do we have any hint that disks or fragments from the human skull were used as amulets.
A ghastly object much favored in France in the Middle Ages, as it was believed to give the owner the power to discover hidden treasures, was the so-called main-de-gloire, or “hand of glory,” which was the desiccated hand of one who had met his death by hanging.[[589]]
A remarkable talismanic bracelet owned by Catherine de’ Medici was set with a skull-fragment and with a representation of a “main-de-gloire.” This is described in the catalogue made in 1786 of M. d’Ennery’s collection. The settings of the bracelet, ten in number, comprised the following objects, to each of which was probably ascribed some special significance and virtue.[[590]]
An oval “eagle-stone” (ætites), on which was graven in intaglio a winged dragon; above this figure was the date 1559, the year in which the bracelet was composed and that of the death of Catherine’s husband, Henri II.
An octagonal agate, traversed by a number of tubular apertures, the orifices of which could be seen on either side of the stone.
A very fine oval onyx of three colors, bearing graven on its edge the following names of angels: Gabriel, Raphael, Michael, Uriel.
A large oval turquoise with a gold band.
A piece of black and white marble.
An oval brown agate, with a caduceus, a star and a crescent engraved in intaglio on one of its faces, and on its edge the name Jehovah and certain talismanic characters; on the other face were figured the constellation Serpens, the zodiacal sign Scorpio and the Sun, around which were the six planets.
An oblong section of a human skull.
A rounded piece of gold on the convex side of which was graven in relief the “hand of glory” (main-de-gloire); on the concave side appeared the Sun and Moon done in repoussé work.
A perfectly round onyx, bearing graven in the centre the name or word “Publeni”; this possibly designated the original Roman owner of the stone.
In the opinion of a German writer of the eleventh or twelfth century, the amethyst, if worn by a man, attracted to him the love of noble women, and also protected him from the attacks of thieves.[[591]] This stone was always prized because of its beautiful color, even though it was never so rare or costly as some others. Some authorities assert that the amethyst induces sleep.[[592]] Perhaps this was one of the means by which the stone cured inebriety, as it enabled its votaries to sleep off the effects of their potations.
As testimony of the belief in the efficiency, remedial or talismanic, of precious stones prevalent at the opening of the fifteenth century, may be noted the presence among the manuscript books of Marguerite de Flandres, Duchesse de Bourgogne, of a work listed as follows: “The book of the properties of certain stones.” It was carefully enclosed in a crimson velvet covering.[[593]] Incidentally it is a rather interesting fact that at this early date, 1405, we find in Duchess Margaret’s little library two Bibles in French and a separate copy of the Gospels also in that language. This serves to disprove the popular idea that translations of the Bible into the vernacular were in distinct disfavor with Roman Catholics before the era of the Reformation. Of course until the invention and use of the art of printing there could be no wide diffusion of such translations.
The jacinth is described by Thomas de Cantimpré as being a stone of a yellow color. “It is very hard and difficult to cleave, or cut; it can, however, be worked with diamond dust. It is very cold, especially when held in the mouth.” Among many other virtues, it protects from melancholia and poison, and makes the wearer beloved of God and men. It also acts as a sort of barometer, since it grows dark and dull in bad weather and becomes clear and bright in fine weather.[[594]] Cardano says that when the weather was fine the stone became obscure and dull, but when a tempest was impending, it assumed the ruddy hue of a burning coal. It also lost its color when in contact with any one suffering from disease, more especially from the plague.[[595]]
As a result of his study of precious stones, Cardano was induced to affirm that they had life, but he gravely states that he had never noted that they possessed sex (a common belief in his day), although “as nature delights as much in miracle as we do, some may be so constituted that they are almost distinguished by sex.”[[596]]
The beautiful sapphire has always been a great favorite with lovers of precious stones and to it has been attributed a chastening, purifying influence upon the soul. Even Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy, wherein precious stones are rarely mentioned, takes occasion to write as follows of the sapphire: “It is the fairest of all precious stones of sky colour, and a great enemy to black choler, frees the mind, mends manners.”[[597]]
FROM A PORTRAIT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH
In the possession of the Duke of Devonshire, K. G., Hardwick Hall. The queen has jewels in her hair, a pearl eardrop, and two necklaces, one fitting close to the neck, the other falling over the breast. The stiff brocade skirt is embroidered with a wonderful array of aquatic birds and animals. On the left, the cushion of the chair of state is embroidered with the queen’s monogram. Surmounting the chair is a crystal ball. The original canvas measures 90 × 66 inches.
The poets have sung the praises of the turquoise. In Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, when the “amorous Jessica” made off with her father’s jewels, Shylock particularly bewails the disappearance of his turquoise, crying out that he would not have lost it for “a wilderness of monkeys.” The poet Donne, also, writes of this stone and draws attention to its sympathetic quality in these words:
As a compassionate turquoise that doth tell,
By looking pale, the wearer is not well.
That Queen Elizabeth clung fondly to life is well known, and it is said that she trusted much in the virtues of a talisman which she wore round her neck. This was a piece of gold engraved with certain mystic characters. The statement has also been made that at the bottom of a chair in which she often sat, was the queen of hearts from a pack of cards, having a nail driven through the forehead of the figure.[[598]] Could this have been a spell of witchcraft used against her hated rival, Mary of Scotland?
The belief that turquoise changes its hue with the changing health of the wearer leads an early seventeenth century author to offer it as a symbol of wifely devotion, saying that “a true wife should be like a turquoise stone, clear in heart in her husband’s health, and cloudy in his sickness.” Although a more prosaic explanation than that of occult sympathy has been proposed for this asserted change of hue, we need not therefore reject the more poetic fancy.[[599]]
Among the believers in the virtue of amulets must be counted the French religious philosopher, Pascal. After his death in 1662 there was found, sewed up in his pourpoint, a piece of paper bearing a long and very strange inscription. At the top was a cross with rays, a similar cross being drawn at the bottom of the text. This began with the following words:
Monday, November 23, the day of St. Clement, pope and martyr, and of others in the martyrology.
The Eve of St. Chrysogone, martyr, and of others. From about half-past ten in the evening until about a half-hour after midnight,
FIRE
Then follow a series of ejaculations and short religious sentences, and toward the end, after the name of Christ, thrice repeated, the words:
I have separated myself from Him, I have fled from Him, denied Him.
and finally the prayer that this separation might henceforth cease. The original text is said to be in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris with the MS. of the “Pensées.”
Pascal is stated to have always kept this amulet on his person, removing it carefully from the lining of an old garment and putting in a new one, when this was assumed. The strange introduction referred to a vision of fire which he had had on the night in question, and this has been explained as resulting from a severe nervous shock he had experienced six months before, when driving along the banks of the Seine. As the vehicle neared Neuilly the horses took fright and ran away, dashing toward the edge of the bank; just on the brink the reins broke and the horses plunged down into the river, leaving the carriage in which Pascal was sitting on the edge of the precipice. This shock impressed him so vividly that he would often see the precipice before him as distinctly as though it were a reality. In any case the matter is of interest as showing that one of the most gifted men of the seventeenth century was a believer in amulets.[[600]]
The giving of corals to new-born infants was expressly forbidden in 1708 in the bishopric of Bamberg, because of the superstition connected therewith, although Christian painters of the fourteenth century often represented the child Jesus as holding corals in his hand. The persistence of the superstition as to the Evil Eye and the belief that coral safeguarded the wearer therefrom, have impressed many cultured Italians of our day, and even so able and clear-headed a statesman as prime minister Crispi is said never to have gone to a parliamentary sitting without having with him a coral amulet.[[601]]
Some characteristic Hindu amulets figure the god Jagannath (Lord of the World), or associated divinities, and also symbols related to the worship of this form of Krishna.[[602]] In the month Joyestha (May-June) his world-renowned temple at Puri in Orissa is thronged with pilgrims from all parts of India, and on the great festival day his image and those of his brother Balarana and of his sister Subhadra are taken out of the sanctuary and placed in an elaborately decorated car, which is drawn through the streets of the city. The readiness of fanatical believers to sacrifice their lives by casting themselves beneath the wheels of this ponderous car, has made the expression “Car of Jagannath” almost a household word, freely used by those who know little or nothing about Hindu religion. The English Government has long since put a stop to these reckless and useless martyrdoms.
Many of these amulets are made of a black steatite. One represents Krishna (Jagannath) standing and playing on a flute, another figures this avatar of Vishnu with his wife Radha. A curious series presents Jagannath, Balarana and Subhadra; the unnaturally large heads of the figures and the truncated crowns and legs are explained by the fact that the group was carved from the trisala of a tope of a Buddhist temple erected at Puri in the third century B.C., the Hindus of a later time having utilized this relic of a former faith for gods of their ethnic religion. There are also a number of stamps, incised with emblematic figures such as a shell, a sankha wheel, a serpent, two footprints, etc., so that the corresponding seal may be impressed in colored clay upon the arms of the faithful in the sanctuary of Jagannath. Many of the amulets bearing the double footprint, emblematic of Vishnu (Krishna-Jagannath), are arranged in groups of five, all being perforated so that a group can be suspended on the person.
The footprints are explained by a curious legend to the effect that when a dispute as to superiority arose between the gods of the Trimurti, Brahma, Siva and Vishnu, the selection of a test to decide this was left to Bhrigu, one of the ten patriarchs. He approached Brahma without saluting him; this infuriated the god, but he restrained himself. Approaching Siva in turn, Bhrigu failed to return the god’s salutation, which so enraged him that he raised his trident to slay the insulter, and was only prevented from doing this by the timely intervention of the goddess Parvati. Nothing daunted Bhrigu pursued his test, and, finding Vishnu reposing with his head in Lakshmi’s lap, he kicked the divinity to arouse him. Vishnu, however, instead of losing his temper, quietly arose; saluted the rash patriarch, and even thanked him for the reminder, and craved his pardon that he had not immediately greeted him, asserting that the kick (which must have been most vigorously administered if it left two footprints) had left on his breast a mark of good augury.
COMPLETE VIEW OF THE ANCIENT JADE GIRDLE-PENDANT (FROM, KU YÜ T’U P’U)
From “Jade,” by Berthold Laufer.
By courtesy of the author and Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.
A fine presentation of the style of jewels worn by the Mahârânî of Sikkim, a full-blooded Tibetan by birth, is offered by a portrait of this queen done in oil by Damodar Dutt, a Bengali artist, in 1908, while the Mahârânî was sharing the captivity of her husband at Darjeeling, where they had been sequestrated by the British authorities for many years. The elaborate and rather oppressive headdress is a typical adornment of the queens of Sikkim; the broad bandeaux are composed of pearls, and a brilliant color effect is produced by the rows of alternating corals and turquoises. The gold ear-rings have a turquoise-inlay, in concentric rings, and from the queen’s neck hangs a long necklace of coral beads, separated at intervals by large spheres of amber; a coral bracelet and two rings, with coral and turquoise setting respectively, complete the very effective, if not especially costly, jewelry.[[603]]
Jade girdle pendants having a talismanic quality were in great favor during the period of the Chou dynasty (1122–249 B.C.). The typical girdle pendant of that time was a seven-jewelled one, each of the combined ornaments being made of some one of the choice varieties of jade. These adornments consisted of a top-piece or brooch, whence depended a circular central plaque (yü), flanked by two square ornaments (kü); below followed a centre-ornament of segment form, on either side of which was a bow-shaped jewel. The girdle ornaments were rich in symbolic significance, the rhythmic swinging of the jades caused a musical note whenever they came in contact with one another, or with any metallic object; as love-trinkets they had the most fortunate meaning; as indications of office they gained consideration and respect for the wearers of high rank, while for those of less distinction they were so differentiated as to become marks of the respective craft or vocation.[[604]]
In Siam the girls’ heads are shaved, with the exception of the top of the head, where a knot of hair is allowed to grow. On the fourteenth anniversary of the girl’s birthday this “top-knot” is cut off, the operation being accompanied by a solemn religious ceremony, to mark and consecrate the event, which denotes the passing of the girl into womanhood. On this occasion, the members of the family gather together all the jewels they can secure for the adornment of the “new woman,” and where they are not wealthy enough to provide brilliant and rich ornaments from their own possessions kind friends will always be found ready to supply the deficiency. In the case of the Siamese girl figured in our plate, and of a girl companion, the Queen of Siam herself acted as fairy godmother to the extent of furnishing from her own private treasures a costly and suitable decoration. The gems and ornaments worn were worth $20,000 and are said to have filled a small steamer-trunk.[[605]]
In a favorite form of white jade amulet, the stone is cut flat and is then inlaid with rubies in gold settings, so disposed as to indicate a flower-form. Jade amulets of this type are found in China and in various parts of northern Asia, and are believed to guard or free the wearer from palpitation of the heart.[[606]]
TIBETAN WOMAN WITH COMPLETE JEWELRY
From “Notes on Turquois in the East,” by Berthold Laufer.
By courtesy of the author and Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.
Flowers fashioned from precious stones make most attractive ornaments, and by their variety of coloring can be worn with almost any costume. A celebrated beauty of London society has a number of pansies of different colors, one made of rubies, another of sapphires, still another of emeralds, and so on through the range of colors. In this way she always had a pansy according in color with that of her gown. As bridal gifts these jewel-flowers are most appropriate, more especially when the lady-love bears a “floral name” such as Violet or Rose.
Coral ornaments of all sorts are in great demand in Tibet, and a fine piece of this material will bring about $20 an ounce, and is therefore literally worth its weight in gold. The Venetian traveller, Marco Polo, who visited Tibet in the latter half of the thirteenth century, already noted that coral was in high favor there and that coral necklaces adorned the necks of the women and also those of the idols in their temples. The love of personal adornment is very strong among the Tibetan women, and those in any way well-to-do load themselves with a mass of jewelled ornaments, great pieces of amber, coral and turquoise constituting the principal gem-material. The favor extended to coral, apart from the religious significance of red as symbolical of one of the incarnations of Buddha, may perhaps have an esthetic basis as well, for red or pink affords a pleasant contrast to the dark complexions and hair of the Tibetans.[[607]]
Much more prized, however, than coral is the beautiful blue turquoise, which not only serves for purely ornamental use but is freely employed in the decoration of religious objects, such as the curious “prayer wheels” so indispensable a part of Tibetan ritual.
The talismanic quality of this stone is an important element in its popularity, as it is supposed to bring good fortune and physical well-being to the wearer and to afford protection against contagion. The Tibetans share in the quite general belief that the turquoise will grow pale in sympathy with the present or prospective fortune and health of the person wearing it, and as a loss of color is considered portentous of coming evil, such stones are gotten rid of as soon as possible to be replaced by those of a brighter hue. The dealers who buy up for a trifling sum these discolored turquoises often treat them with a dose of blue dyestuff which superficially restores the color, and it is stated that many of the soldiers of the British expeditionary force to Tibet in 1904 were at first deceived into buying these vamped-up stones, but they soon discovered the deception and were more careful later on. Turquoises are also believed to guard against the Evil Eye, and a quasi-sacred character is lent to some especially fine specimens by setting them in the foreheads of statues of the Buddha or other religious images.[[608]]
The women of Tibet are said to prize most highly as amulets pieces of cloth adorned with turquoise or coral, which they have acquired from the Lamas, who by the imposition of their priestly blessing have endowed these objects with a peculiar sanctity in the eyes of the Tibetan devotees. Another amulet favored in this far-off land is a small metal box of gold, silver, or copper, and encrusted with turquoise. Within are enclosed little scrolls inscribed with mystic characters to conjure evil spirits and thwart their malevolent schemes for the tribulation of mankind.
An ingenious, if rather far-fetched explanation of the supposed power of coral to avert lightning and hail is given by Fortunio Liceti. In his opinion, coral, being of a warm quality, overcomes the coldness of the atmosphere, which produces lightning by the attraction of contraries, and hail by its own quality. This is a specimen of the attempts to find a plausible physiological reason for the powers of gems, the writers never for a moment hesitating to accept the popular beliefs in this respect.[[609]]
“THE LIGHT OF THE EAST”
Mural fresco painting by Albert Herter, in the Hotel St. Francis, San Francisco, California. The crystal ball upheld by the female figure is more highly esteemed in Japan than any other jewel. Note the fine contrast afforded by the black armor of the Japanese warrior to the white arm and pure crystal sphere.
By Courtesy of the Artist and Hotel St. Francis, San Francisco.
Among the Bhots of Landakh in the western part of Tibet, a large piece of amber or agate is often worn by the men suspended from the neck as an amulet. Here as in so many other parts of the world, the amulet is believed to acquire especial efficacy when worn in this way, as it comes in immediate contact with the person of the wearer.[[610]]
A very singular manner of using precious stones as talismans is noted in Burma.[[611]] There are certain talismans called hkoung-beht-set, which are inserted in the flesh beneath the skin. They are usually of gold, silver, or lead, or else of tortoise-shell, horn, etc., but sometimes they are rolled pebbles and occasionally precious stones. We are told that when a prisoner is found to have such talismans on, or rather in his person, the jailer cuts them out lest they should be used to bribe the guards. The talismans owe much of their supposed power to inscriptions in mystic characters, and they are so highly favored that some of the natives wear one or more rows of them across the chest.
For the Japanese, rock-crystal is the “perfect jewel,” tama; it is at once a symbol of purity and of the infinity of space, and also of patience and perseverance. This latter significance probably originated from an observation of the patience and skill required for the production of the splendid crystal balls made by the accurate and painstaking Japanese cutters and polishers.
The belief of Mohammedans in the Evil Eye claims the authority of the Prophet to the effect that “the áïn (eye) is a reality.” The Arabs also designate the Evil Eye as nuzra, “the look,” and nafs, “breath or spirit.” It is not commonly regarded as the result of a definite malevolent intention, but rather as an effect engendered by envy at the sight of anything especially beautiful or attractive. Indeed, sometimes the bare expression of great admiration is supposed to produce evil results, as is illustrated by the assertion that when a man, on seeing an exceptionally large and fine stone, exclaimed, “What a large stone!” it immediately broke into three pieces.
In the Sahara, the horns of oxen, and sometimes their skulls with the horns attached, are set over the entrances of dwellings to protect the residents from this dreaded influence; in Tunis and Algiers, boars’ tusks are also used in this way. However, the most favored weapons of defence are the outstretched fingers of the hand, sometimes but two fingers, but more often all five. The gesture of holding out the fingers toward the envious person is frequently accompanied by the utterance of the words: Khamsa fi ȧïnek, “five (fingers) in your eye!” The number five has thus acquired such a special significance that Thursday, as the fifth day of the week, is looked upon as the appropriate day for pilgrimages to the shrines of those saints whose protection against the Evil Eye is believed to be most potent.[[612]]
The Arabs of Arabia Petraæ believe that when anyone casts longing and covetous eyes upon any animal belonging to another, part of his soul enters the animal and the latter is doomed to destruction if it remains in the possession of the rightful owner. The same idea prevails in the case of a child whose possession is envied, or who is unduly admired. Where the identity of the one who has cast the spell is known, there is a fair chance of rendering it harmless if a piece of the guilty one’s garment can be stolen and the animal or child rubbed with it. The virtue of coral as a protection from such dangers is generally believed, and almost every woman, child, mare and camel, wears or bears a coral amulet of some kind. A special variety of amulets against the Evil Eye, worn by equestrians, are small, smooth flint-stones, gathered at a spot where two valleys unite; and, for horses, protection is believed to be afforded by a ring of blue glass or blue porcelain, suspended from the neck. Another queer superstition among these Arabs regarding the Evil Eye is that if a child yawns, this is supposed to be a sign that he has been smitten by the evil spell, and the mother is advised to place glowing coals on a plate, strew alum over the coals, and bear the plate around the child.[[613]]
Over the entrance gate of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, may be seen the representation of a hand, and this is regarded as having been figured there to serve for a talisman against the Evil Eye,[[614]] just as some of the Arabs are still wont to paint or figure a so-called “Fatima’s Hand” on doors or door-posts for a similar purpose. The idea which has been advanced that the “horse-shoe arch” had some connection with the belief in the luck-bringing quality of the horse-shoe, is, however, scarcely to be admitted as an explanation of this most characteristic feature of Moorish architecture.
IX
Amulets of Primitive Peoples and of Modern Times
The folk-lore tales of the settlement called Milpa Alta, in the Federal District, Mexico, not far from Mexico City, have preserved many legends from old Aztec times, as this community was originally settled by some noble Aztec families fortunate enough to escape with their goods from the Spaniards at the time of the conquest by Cortés. In several of these legends the chalchihuitl (a green stone, often nephrite or jadeite) is mentioned. Thus it is said that when some minor divinity sees fit to confer upon a man or woman the endowments of a tlamátque or “sage,” he gave warning of this in a dream, and the truth of the vision was confirmed when, during the ensuing day, the dreamer found on the ground within his enclosure idols of chalchihuitl, or fragments of obsidian, which were believed to have fallen from the sky, this usually occurring during a rainstorm. Evidently the rain had washed them out of the earth or volcanic ash in which they had been buried. These objects were immediately picked up and preserved, as they signified that the person whose dream had thus been verified was admitted to the companionship of the gods. There appears to have followed some initiation ceremony to render definite the consecration of the chosen tlamátque, and this was to be connected with a fiery ordeal, the traces of which in scars or severe burns, and sometimes even in the loss of eyesight, served to recommend the “sage” to those seeking his aid. This was called for in cases of illness and also for the finding of hidden treasure and for predictions of the weather. In attempting to effect cures, the tlamátque made use of pieces of jade as talismans, fortified by elaborate exorcisms and prayers.[[615]]
Among the lower classes of the Mexican Indian population of Milpa Alta, to cure diseases the aid of a tepo pohque (one who purifies the disease) is sometimes called in. This once very general custom is, however, gradually falling into disuse. The progress of popular scepticism is illustrated by the half-apologetic tone in which this is explained in the words: “If he does no good, he will do no harm, and besides he is so cheap.” The healer may be either a man or a woman. One of the most important helps is a chain of chalchihuitl beads. After invocations of the various appearances of Christ and of the Virgin chronicled in local tradition, and of the patron saints (for these Indians are devout Roman Catholics), the healer chooses out a chalchihuitl bead with which he pretends to extract the “air” from the sick person. He successively touches with it the patient’s temples, the sides and top of the head, the stomach, and lastly the affected part, at the same time forcibly drawing in his own breath, producing thereby a peculiar noise. The use of the stone is sometimes supplemented by that of two eggs, one being held in each of the healer’s hands. A different type or form of chalchihuitl is used for each different disease, and as a final operation the affected part is moistened with alcohol, and then “massaged” with the stone, bathing with a hot decoction of herbs being also resorted to in some cases.[[616]]
A characteristic object secured in the Province of Chiriqui, Republic of Panama, is a singular amulet of a fine quality of green translucent jade (jadeite). This is fashioned into a conventional representation of a parrot with a disproportionately long beak. The details of the bird-form are but roughly indicated, what is supposed to represent the head and body being but a trifle larger than the beak. In the region of the neck, marked by a peripheral incision, there is a hole through which a cord for suspension was probably passed. The type resembles that of the Chiriquian gold parrots, and differs from that of the amulets of Las Guacas, Costa Rica. As a much larger number of jade objects have been found at this latter place than occur at Chiriqui, it has been conjectured that the common source was a deposit of jade somewhere in Costa Rica.[[617]] Chiriqui has also yielded a plain, highly-polished amulet of pale green jade; the front is convex and is traversed by a groove; a small hole has been pierced near the top to facilitate suspension.
The South American Indians had a class of stone love-amulets, representing more or less clearly two embracing figures. It was claimed by their magicians that these had not been cut or fashioned in any way, but were so formed by nature, and were endowed with the power of attracting to the wearer the love of the chosen object of affection. These special amulets bore in the native language the names of huacanqui and cuyancarumi. They were said to be found buried in the earth where a thunderbolt had descended, and were thus a particular class of the so-called “thunder-stones,” and a high price could be obtained for one, more especially if the owner had to deal with a woman. A characteristic specimen, presumably from Ecuador, is of black serpentine.[[618]]
The Araucarian Indians of Chili and Argentina, who occupied a region 1000 miles in length, bordering on the Pacific Ocean, according to facts communicated by the Rev. Charles Sadleir, had their medicine women, instead of medicine-men. These women carried with them a quartz crystal (as did many of the medicine-men of the Indian tribes) or a rolled fragment of quartz found in the river beds. They affirmed that this crystal had been entered by a mighty spirit who dwelt in one of the great volcanoes which existed in that region (called pillan in the native tongue). This spirit inspired the medicine-woman with a knowledge of what she should tell those who came to her for advice or for forecasts of the future.
A medicine-woman will never show the crystal, because, as the abode of a spirit, it must not be seen. While it is to be supposed that the services of these “doctoresses” are not altogether gratuitous, the Araucarians as a general rule detest gold, although they willingly accept silver. This preference for the less valuable metal is due to the traditions handed down to them from the time the Spaniards persecuted their ancestors for the gold they owned, or were thought to own.
These Indians have a peculiar belief in regard to the nature of the soul, which they regard as a dual being formed of a superior essence, or spirit, which they call pullu, and an inferior essence, or soul, to which they give the name am.
An agate charm in the shape of a dog’s head was found in the Valley of Mexico. The material used here was a banded agate with a rich stain in the centre. The great variety of markings presented by these stones rendered them especially attractive for use as amulets, since fancy could easily trace designs and figures of symbolic significance calculated to secure success or protection.
Of all quaint ideas in amulet making and naming, none is stranger than that of employing for this purpose artificial eyes from Peruvian mummies. Originally eyes of the giant cuttlefish (loligo gigas), they were used by the ancient Peruvians to replace the natural eyes of the dead because these substitutes were more durable. Of course the rather grewsome source whence these mummy-eye amulets were secured, bringing them measurably in touch with a sort of necromancy, made them all the more sought after by the superstitious natives. An example from a mummy found at Cuzco, Peru, was exhibited by the writer in the Folk-Lore Collection at the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893.[[619]]
A strange animal figure from the Pueblo Bonito ruins, rudely carved out of stone and having a band composed of pieces of turquoise set about the neck, was undoubtedly an amulet. Two depressions in the stone where the eyes should be indicate that these were of inlaid turquoise. In spite of the imperfect form of this object, it gives evidence in some of its details to the skill of the native artist who executed it, especially in the care he has taken to protect the soft stone from the attrition of the cord used for its suspension, a piece of bird-bone having been introduced into the perforation near the neck, and the ends of the hole countersunk and filled with gum into which a piece of turquoise was set; one of these caps still remains in place. Frog forms, entirely of turquoise, also appear in Pueblo Bonito, several tadpoles and frogs of this material having been found in the burialroom explored by Mr. Pepper. Sometimes the form is barely indicated by the protuberant eyes and a slight incising which marks the place of the neck.[[620]]
TURQUOISE INCRUSTED OBJECTS, PROBABLY AMULETS, FOUND AT PUEBLO BONITO, NEW MEXICO
The work of ancient Indian dwellers in this region. From George H. Pepper, American Anthropologist, vol. vii, Pl. xvii. 1. Turquoise incrusted bone. 2. Jet frog with turquoise eyes. 3. Jet plaque with turquoise setting.
The Pueblo Bonito ruins in New Mexico have furnished some very effective examples of turquoise inlaying by the Indians of an earlier time who dwelt in this region. The symbolic forms, the precious material used for the inlays, and the labor and skill expended in the execution of certain of these works, indicate that they must have been regarded as amulets. Perhaps the finest inlaying-work is shown in the turquoise decoration of a fragment of bone of peculiar shape, having alternate bands of jet with a chevron-decoration of interlaced triangular pieces of jet and turquoise. Another of these jet and turquoise amulets is a frog, the body being of jet and the protruding eyes of turquoise; about the creature’s neck runs a band of turquoise mosaic. Still another of these relics is a square plaque of jet with an inlaid turquoise at each of the four corners; two of these inlays have fallen out.[[621]]
The history of the turquoise, a stone which has been mined in Persia for thousands of years, and has long been prized as one of the most beautiful and attractive of the semi-precious stones, has been very fully and ably treated in an exceedingly comprehensive monograph recently published by Dr. Joseph E. Pogue.[[622]] This valuable and interesting work contains extracts from all the older and more modern writers on the subject, and also describes the stone fully from a mineralogical point of view, besides discussing it from the historic standpoints.
So highly was the turquoise esteemed among the Pima Indians of southern Arizona, that the loss of one was looked upon as a most ominous event, portending for the owner a serious illness or physical disability, which could only be cured by the magic rites of a medicine-man. When one of those worthies is called in to avert the impending misfortune, his favorite remedy consists in placing a piece of slate, a turquoise and a crystal in a vessel filled with water, the liquid being administered in regular doses to the threatened victim. The threefold remedy, comprising a specimen of the lost stone, is supposed to outweigh and counteract the probable evil influences of the lost turquoise alone.[[623]]
The magic power that dwelt in these Indian fetishes was named oyaron in the Iroquoian tongue, and each person or kindred was believed to have a special oyaron which exerted a controlling power over their good or evil fortune. The material object in which this entity would take up its abode was determined in a peculiar way. When a youth had attained maturity, he was entrusted to the charge of an old man who took him to a far-away lodge in the wilderness. Here he had his face, shoulders and breast blackened to symbolize his lack of spiritual or occult enlightenment. He was then compelled to fast for a considerable time and was instructed to carefully note his dreams, and if he should have an exceptionally vivid dream regarding any specific object, to tell his guardian of it. The fact was then duly reported to the wise men of the tribe, who decided whether the object was the chosen abiding place of his oyaron. This having been satisfactorily determined, an object of the kind was sought out and was preserved and treasured by the one to whom it had been assigned in the vision. Perhaps the familiar spirit might have elected to dwell in a calumet, a pipe or a knife, or else in some animal, plant, or mineral form.[[624]]
INDIAN MEDICINE-MAN
From “Histoire Générale des Cérémonies Religieuses du tous les Peuples du Monde,” by Abbé Banier and
Abbé Mascrier, Paris, 1741.
The Midêwiwin, or, as it is sometimes erroneously called, the “Grand Medicine Society” of the Ojibway Indians, is an association composed of shamans, whose supposed powers are much in request among these Indians of the northwest. Two other classes of medicine-men exist among them to a very limited extent, the Wâbeno, “Men of the Dawn,” and the Jessakid or “revealers of hidden things.” The members of this latter class, who operate singly, are regarded as very dangerous and generally malevolent sorcerers, having the power to call evil spirits to their aid, and are even believed to practise the fearful art of drawing a man’s soul out of his body, so that he either becomes insane or dies. The turtle is regarded by the Jessakids as the abode or symbol of the mightiest spirit. However, the Midês, members of the Midêwiwin, are far the most numerous, and it is to them that the Indian looks for help and health. While they usually “treat” their patients in their own abodes, when the disease fails to yield to the might of ordinary incantations and spells, the assistance of the great magic stone in the Medicine Lodge or Midêwigen must be resorted to. For this purpose the sick person is carried thither and is laid on the ground constituting the floor of the lodge, so that the diseased part of his body may touch the stone. In addition to this magic stone, which is set in the ground near the entrance, three magic wooden posts rise up, one behind the other, and at the end opposite the entrance is set a painted wooden cross, the base of which is cut four-square, each side having a different coloring, namely, white, for the East, the source of light; green, for the South, the source of rain which brings the verdure; red, for the West, where the red glow of the sunset appears and whither the spirits of the departed wend their way after death, and, lastly, black, for the cold and pitiless North, the origin of disease, famine and death.[[625]]
The various adjuncts of the sorcerer’s trade are carefully preserved by the Midê or Jessakid in his medicine-bag. A good specimen of this was made out of the skin of a mink, Putorius vison, Gapp., and adorned at one end with two fluffy white feathers.[[626]] Often a flat, black, water-worn pebble will be one of the great treasures in this sack. The virtues of a stone of this type are said to have been put to a curious test on the person of a Jessakid at Leech Lake, Minn., in 1858. The man offered to wager $100 that if he were securely tied up, hand and foot, with stout rope, but having his stone resting on his thigh, he could remove the bonds without assistance. The wager was taken up and the test duly applied; the Jessakid being left alone in his tent tightly and firmly bound. Before long he called out to those on the watch outside the tent that search should be made for the rope at a certain spot nearby. This was done and the rope was found with the knots undisturbed, while the Jessakid was to be seen calmly seated on the ground, smoking a pipe and still bearing his magic black stone on his thigh.[[627]]
French missionaries of the early part of the eighteenth century reported that the Indian wizards of some of the northwestern tribes would take a pebble the size of a pigeon’s egg, and mutter over it certain conjurations. This, they assert, caused the formation of a like stone within the body of the person who was to be bewitched.[[628]] The medicine-men of certain Canadian tribes of this time were not content with muttered conjurations in treating their patients, but would not infrequently resort to the charm supposed to be exerted by dancing and howling before the sick person. The nervous shock produced by a combination of such grotesque movements and discordant cries might well “rouse” the patient, and perhaps had sometimes good effects in restoring vitality.
Canadian Indian Medicine-man. From “Histoire générale des cérémonies, mœurs, et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde,” by Abbé Banier and Abbé Mascrier. Vol. VII. Paris. 1741.
An interesting use of the Röntgen rays to detect hidden amulets is noted by Stewart Culin. It was conjectured by Mr. Cushing that some pieces of turquoise, conceived to be the hearts of fetichistic birds, were concealed beneath the heavy wrapping of brown yarn that binds the finger-loops of the prehistoric throwing stick in the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. This object was too valuable and too fragile to permit of its examination, and therefore the Röntgen rays were used, disclosing the presence of four stone beads, presumably of turquoise, as Mr. Cushing had indicated.[[629]]
As the Point Barrow Eskimos are so largely dependent on fishing, they especially favor amulets or talismans referring to this, and in many cases the peculiar power of the talisman is accentuated by giving it a specially significant form. Thus, from Utkiavwin was brought a piece of dark crimson jasper two inches long, rudely fashioned by chipping into the form of a whale, and also a similar figure made from a water-worn quartz pebble.[[630]] Another Point Barrow amulet consisted of three small fragments of amber, carefully wrapped up and placed in a cottonwood box 1½ inches in length. This box was cleverly made of two semicircular pieces of the wood, the flat faces having been hollowed out so as to leave space for the amber. They were then bound together by loosely knotted sinew braid.[[631]]
A black jade, adze-shaped, that may have served as a fisherman’s talisman for the Point Barrow Eskimo, was brought from Utkiavwin. It measured 5.1 inches in length, and was slung with a thong and whalebone, so that it could be suspended. Its weight is so considerable as to make it somewhat burdensome for wear on the person, but as one of these Eskimo wore a stone weighing two pounds suspended from a belt, the jade artefact may really have been worn in this way. The form suggests that of a sinker, as was also the case with the two-pound stone, and it may have earned its repute as a talisman from having been used in former times by some exceptionally fortunate or skilful fisherman, in the belief that it would transmit his good luck to anyone wearing it.[[632]] An artefact of somewhat similar form, 1.4 inches in length, and made of red jasper, came from the same locality; this was slung in a sinew band for suspension.[[633]]
The native Greenlanders of a couple of centuries ago had a great variety of amulets, and Hans Egede, in his Description of Greenland, notes these “Amulets or Pomanders” which the natives wore about the neck or arms, the materials being of the most heterogeneous kind, pieces of old wood, old fragments of stone, bones of various animals, the bill and claws of certain birds, and many other objects whose form or associations had suggested the possession of a magic potency.[[634]] A similar account of old Greenland amulets is given by David Crantz, another early author, who even asserts that some of the amulets were so grotesque that the natives themselves occasionally laughed at them. In the absence of any more definite talisman, recourse was sometimes had to the expedient of binding a leather strap over the forehead or around the arm.[[635]] Possibly, however, some talisman was hidden beneath this strap, or else it may have been designed to serve as a point of support for an amulet that had been taken off at the time the traveller saw the strap.
Animal amulets, that is to say, amulets for animals, are in use in the Arctic regions, one class of these being stones that have fallen from a bird-rock. These the Eskimo attach to their dogs, proceeding upon the theory that as these pieces of rock in falling from a great height have traversed the air with tremendous rapidity, they will communicate the quality of fleetness to the dogs.[[636]] This transmission of an acquired quality of the stone to the person wearing it is shown in other instances, a favorite amulet with the Eskimos being a piece of an old hearth-stone. This is believed to give strength to the wearer, because the stone has so long endured the attacks of fire, the strongest and fiercest element. Such fragments of stone are often worn by Eskimo women, who wrap them up in pieces of seal-skin, making in this way a decoration to be worn on the neck.[[637]]
Not only does the medicine-bag of an Eskimo medicine-man serve to guard his trusted amulets and talismans, but some of these wonder-doctors claim to be able to draw within it the soul of a sick child, so as to keep this soul hidden away from all harm and danger. In fact, the opinion has been expressed that many personal amulets have owed their repute to their supposed power as soul-guardians, the owners’ souls having been transferred to the material body of the amulet, which is more easily concealed and kept out-of-the way of injury than is the human body, the tabernacle of the spirit. A trace of this belief has been found by some in the term battê ha-nephesh, used by Isaiah (chap, iii, ver. 20). These feminine adornments are called “perfume boxes” in the Revised Version, but the literal meaning is “houses of the soul (or life).”[[638]]
The natives of southwestern Australia regard shining stones with so much veneration that only sorcerers or priests are believed to be worthy to handle them, and so great is the faith in the innate power of such objects that any ordinary native does not dare to touch them and cannot even be bribed so to do. For the preservation of the virtue of these stones it is considered essential that no woman shall be permitted to touch them, or even to look upon them. A particular form of talisman is made by winding lengths of opossum yarn about a fragment of quartz, of carnelian, of chalcedony, or some other attractive stone, and thus forming a round ball about the size of a crochet-ball; these are worn suspended from the girdle. Talismans of this type are very highly prized for their supposed power to cure diseases, and in case of illness a tribe which is not provided with one will borrow it from a more fortunate tribe.[[639]] White quartz is used by the natives in New South Wales, Australia, for the manufacture of a charm to cast a spell over an enemy. This charm is called muli, and consists of a fragment of white quartz to which a piece of opossum-fur has been gummed; it must then be smeared with the fat of a dead body and placed in a slow-burning fire. It is confidently believed that the person over whom the spell is cast wastes slowly away and dies.[[640]]
Jade carvings of an exceedingly peculiar type are the hei-tikis (neck-ornaments) greatly prized among the Maoris of New Zealand. The grotesque representation of the human form here realized by the native carvers, the association of these objects, treasured up as heirlooms, with the personality of some renowned ancestor, the story that the special portraiture to be made was sometimes communicated in a dream or vision, all this induces the belief that in former times, though perhaps not at the present time, the Maoris looked upon their hei-tikis as amulets, or possibly even as fetiches.[[641]]
The Dowager Queen Alexandra is said to greatly value as a talisman a pendant consisting of a nugget of massive gold surmounted by a figure of a hunchback, executed in green enamel. The nugget is hollowed out and opens when a secret spring is touched; within appears a heart-shaped ornament made of New Zealand jade. The story runs that this jewel was given to his mother by the late Duke of Clarence, the elder brother of the present King George V.[[642]]
The popularity in England of these queer hei-tiki amulets, made from the punamu or “green-stone” (nephrite) of New Zealand, has been ascribed by many to the wearing by Queen Alexandra of ornaments made of New Zealand jade, and to the report that every member of the “All Blacks,” an almost invincible English foot-ball team, carried some little trinket made from this material while he was engaged in play. The popular faith in “lucky jade” was further corroborated by the story that Lord Rosebery had on his person a jade amulet when his horse Cicero won the Derby and that Lord Rothschild was wearing such an amulet as his horse St. Amand carried his colors to victory.[[643]] When we consider to how great an extent popular enthusiasm is excited in England by her great and classic horse-races, we need not hesitate to believe that these reports did much to render jade amulets generally fashionable.
HEI-TIKI AMULETS OF NEW ZEALAND
Made of the jade found on the island, the punamu, or “green-stone.” Illustrates the two types of this “neck-ornament,”
one with the eyes slanted to the left, the other to the right.
An old Polynesian legend recounts that jade was brought to New Zealand from a distant land by a certain Ngahue, who sought by this means to save the precious material from an enemy who coveted it. He settled at Arahua, on the west coast of the middle island, and in this region he found an eternal and safe resting place for his jade, which he valued above all things.[[644]] This legend has often been adduced as a proof that the New Zealand jade was brought from other countries, but as it proceeds to state that Ngahue made neck and ear ornaments of this material, there is at least as great probability that we have here the supposed origin of the hei-tiki ornaments, and that the legend testifies to the popular belief that the art of making these objects came to New Zealand from without.
The quasi-magic character of New Zealand jade (nephrite) in the eyes of Maoris of the olden time is proved by the fact that certain superstitious restrictions were established in regard to the cutting of nephrite, one of these being that no woman should be allowed to approach the jade-cutters while they were engaged in their task. For the drilling of holes in jade implements or amulets the cord-drill was employed, and the surface of the object received its polish by rubbing it with a piece of sandstone, after it had been roughly fashioned, by chipping, to the desired form. The toughness of jade is such that infinite patience and long-continued effort must have been necessary to complete any ornament or implement under these primitive conditions.[[645]]
A curious and characteristic jade artefact, known as nbouet or koindien, is found among the natives of New Caledonia. This is a more or less circular disk of jade, with a cutting edge. In most cases this disk is attached through two perforations to a straight cylindrical handle, having a slit at the upper extremity into which the jade disk is introduced. The lower extremity has an ovoid termination, or else it is set in a cocoanut shell, usually covered with the integument of a pteropod. Attached are pendants of beautiful marine shells, and sometimes the cocoanut shell is filled with small pebbles so that it can be used as a rattle. These nbouet were originally used as cleavers to cut up the dead bodies for the cannibalistic orgies, and this use seems to have been thought to impart a kind of talismanic virtue to the objects, for they eventually became insignia of the chiefs of the native tribes.[[646]]
The ornament most highly prized by the natives of New Caledonia is a necklace of perforated jade beads. One of these necklaces, in the rich collection of Signor Giglioli, contains 122 jade beads, somewhat larger than peas; another necklace comprises eight beads alternating with small shells of the oliva, a species of mussel. As a pendant hangs an oudip, or slung-shot, of steatite.[[647]] Necklaces of this kind are called peigha by the natives, and the high esteem in which they are held probably arises from their supposed talismanic powers. The jade ornaments or artefacts found in the neighboring Loyalty Islands have all been brought from New Caledonia, and we are told that so great was the value placed upon them that the natives of the Loyalty Islands often traded their young girls in exchange for objects made from the greatly coveted jade.
From a Fijian mission teacher at Goodenough Island comes a tale of a magic crystal. Many years ago some Europeans embarked in a boat manned by two Fijians to visit one of the smaller islands of the group. After they had landed and gone off to explore the island, one of the Fijians said to the other: “You look after the boat while I take a look around.” He had not gone far when he saw two strange men, one of whom fled at his approach; the other he seized, holding on to him fast, although dragged along for a considerable distance until after scrambling up a hill the strange man finally loosed himself and disappeared in the hollow of a tree-trunk. For some time the Fijian lay in a trance, but awakening from this he found his way back to the boat. In the course of the afternoon the strange being appeared to him suddenly and told him “to go back to the tree, where he would find a small stone wrapped up in a piece of calico.” This he duly sought and found; it proved to be a crystal, like glass. In the night time the man or spirit again appeared and strictly enjoined the Fijian not to let anyone see his crystal but told him that if he wished for anything he only had to look into the stone. The possession of this treasure earned a wonderful repute for the Fijian as a medicine-man, as when any sick person sought for help one look into the stone revealed the proper remedy for the disease. All this time, however, no one had been allowed to see his crystal, or to suspect the source of his wisdom. At last his fame reached the ears of some European doctors, who called him in to help them in their hospital work, and while he was at the hospital two young men came in and asked him to prescribe for a sick friend. The Fijian consented, but, unluckily for him, the men saw him take out his crystal and look into it before prescribing the treatment. They told this to the doctors and the man was locked up for two years, his crystal being taken away from him. The mission teacher who related the story believed that Sir J. Thurston, at this time governor of the islands, had secured possession of the confiscated crystal.[[648]] It is rather difficult to determine in what proportions truth and fiction are represented in this tale.
The doctrine of sympathy finds an echo among the natives of Melanesia. In the Banks Islands, for instance, if a native comes across a piece of coral to which the action of the waves has imparted the form of a loaf of bread, this will be taken to signify that such a coral has an affinity with the bread-fruit tree, and the native will bury it under such a tree in the confident expectation that its fruit-bearing quality will be enhanced thereby. Chance may perhaps seem to prove the truth of his belief, and in this case he will permit his neighbors to bury stones near his own, so that somewhat of its virtue may pass into them.[[649]]
To have one’s life depend upon the safe preservation of a talisman may not always be a blessing, as appears in a Kalmuck story. A Khan who owned such a talisman thought that he had concealed it so effectively that no one could find it, and hence he did not hesitate to make the discovery of its hiding-place a crucial test of the skill of a wise man who came to visit his court. The sage proved equal to the emergency and found the talisman while its owner was asleep, but was so rejoiced at the successful accomplishment of the task that he very irreverently clapped a bladder on the sleeping Khan’s head, who was so much enraged at the indignity that he ordered the wise man’s immediate execution. However, the latter quickly made use of the magic power over the Khan’s life that the possession of the talisman gave him, and cast it down so violently as to break it. No sooner had this happened than blood spurted from the Khan’s nostrils and death overtook him.[[650]]
Agate amulets still find favor in Spain, a number of interesting examples having recently been acquired in that country by Mr. W. L. Hildburgh, many of them being offered for sale in small stalls, both in the capital, Madrid, and in other of the Spanish cities.[[651]] In a number of cases these amulets are milky white agates, this hue recommending their use as lactation amulets. In one specimen, however, secured in Seville, the agate showed seven concentric white stripes, probably indicating that it had been used as a charm against the Evil Eye as well as to favor the secretion of milk.
For the latter purpose, in lieu of agate, white glass beads are often sold, a dealer in a small stall in Madrid having in his stock a string of fifty such beads which he sold one by one to the women who had faith in their efficacy; agate beads of combined grayish, reddish and white coloration are also to be found.
Quite an ambitious type of these popular amulets is figured by Mr. Hildburgh (Pl. i, p. 64, fig. 7). This is a triple pendant, with chain attached for suspension, the upper part being an agate grayish-white and reddish, probably rendering it at once a lactation amulet and one serving still another use as a woman’s amulet. The middle of this pendant was of blue glass banded with other colors, and the terminal was of black glass, spotted blue, yellow and red; both of these glass objects are supposed to have served against the Evil Eye. Thus this particular amulet combined a number of virtues.
Coral is a favorite material for amulets in Spain as in many other lands, being shaped for this purpose as a “fig-hand” or into some other of the diverse forms to which a certain symbolic significance has been given. One amulet of rock-crystal is reported, which may have been taken from some old reliquary; this was used against the Evil Eye. Amber also, in its way as generally popular as coral, is freely used in Spain by the makers of amulets; being generally given the form of beads. The wearing of these is regarded as very effective in the case of teething children. For some reason or other, a preference is given to facetted beads, in spite of the risk that the sharp edges may irritate the sensitive and delicate skin of an infant.[[652]]
Some of the “fig-hand” amulets made and sold in Madrid are of jet, the peculiar hand form being in many cases so highly conventionalized as to be barely indicated. These are believed to be efficacious not only against the Evil Eye, as the other amulets of this form, but also for the preservation of the hair. When worn for this purpose the women of Madrid are said to carry them upon any part of the person, but those of Toledo place them in the hair itself, so that the desired effect may be more immediate.[[653]]
In southern Russia amulets enjoy high power both among Jews and Christians. Especially are they valued for the protection of children and for the cure of their diseases. An imitation wolf’s-tooth, made of bone, set in a ring, is one of these amulets; however, while such imitation teeth are used, the natural teeth are greatly preferred. As an amulet against the Evil Eye the wing-bones of a cock will be used. This malign influence is held in such awe by the common people that they do not even dare to use the word “evil” of it and call it “the good eye.” Carnelian beads purporting to have been brought from Palestine command what is regarded as a good price, three roubles being paid for a single one; these are great favorites with the Jews more especially, one of their supposed virtues being to prevent abortion.[[654]]
The religious fervor of the Russians is illustrated by the character of the amulet said to be constantly worn by the Czar as a protection against the dangers which hourly threaten him. This is a ring in which is set a piece of the True Cross, the sacred material which was believed to lend a mighty potency to the famous “Talisman of Charlemagne.” A less venerable belief is said to render the Czar superstitiously careful to see that an ancestral watch in his possession is always kept wound up, for a family legend tells that should this watch ever stop the glory of the reigning house would pass away.[[655]]
Of bone amulets there is a great variety. Among those used in the British Isles may be noted a hammer-shaped type, fashioned out of a sheep’s bone, worn by Whelby fishermen as protection from drowning; similarly shaped bone amulets find favor with some London laborers as preventives of rheumatism. This is the type of Thor’s Hammer, still popular with the Manxmen. The strange resemblance of the os sacrum of the rabbit to a fox’s head has recommended its use as a talisman, or luck-bringer, and a London solicitor is stated to have owned an example which he had mounted as a gold scarf-pin, the likeness to an animal head being brought out still more by the insertion of onyx eyes.[[656]]
The talismanic power of the turquoise is still credited in provincial England, for in the counties of Hampshire and Sussex it is believed that when two persons station themselves on opposite banks of a frozen stream or pond, on a Christmas Day, and each one slides a turquoise to the other over the ice, both of them will be blessed with good fortune for the following year and will prosper in all their undertakings. If the stream or pond were at all wide, the fact of having accomplished this feat successfully might indeed be taken as proof of considerable dexterity, and might perhaps indicate that one who could succeed in this little exploit had a chance of making his way in more important matters.
The natural markings on agate pebbles often present designs having some special symbolical significance, and could then be looked upon by the superstitious as amulets of notable power, much exceeding in efficacy those artificially formed. A strange instance in illustration of this is an agate pebble picked up not long since on Newport Beach, Rhode Island. This stone is clearly and definitely marked with the mystic Chinese monad, a device that is widely known in the United States from its adoption as a symbol by the Northern Pacific Railroad.
A limestone pebble with peculiar markings is in a private collection in New York. This somewhat resembles in shape the famous magatama jewel of the Japanese, and the markings suggest that, like the latter, it may have had a phallic significance, or at least one connected with the worship of the reproductive powers. The markings indicate an attempt to figure an undeveloped being, and possibly the object was intended for use as an amulet to facilitate parturition.
The prevailing reaction against the purely materialistic beliefs so generally accepted a score or more of years ago, finds expression in a marked tendency toward a renewal—in a greatly modified form, of course—of the old fancies or instinctive ideas touching the virtues of gems. Thus one modern writer at least was bold enough to suggest not long since that “the efficacy of charms and precious stones may be recognized and placed on a scientific basis before many years are passed.”[[657]]
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. See page 373
View from above, showing the splendid star-sapphire, a symbol of success, set at the apex.
The belief in the hidden powers of precious stones was used as the theme of one of Hoffman’s novels, “Das Fräulein von Scudéry.” Here the hero, René Cardillac, is represented as a man for whom the possession of precious stones has become indispensable, and who is happy only when he can handle them and watch the play of light and color emanating from them. They exert a kind of hypnotic influence over him, and so intense and absorbing is his devotion to them that he even resorts to murder rather than part with one of his darling stones.
In the course of a meeting of the English Folk-Lore Society, one of the members expressed the opinion that the revival of interest in amulets and talismans and in all sorts and kinds of “mascots” was largely due to the articles printed about such things in certain of the daily and weekly papers. These items, put in a taking way and read with avidity, more especially by those who were already predisposed to a belief in the mythical or magical, served to spread these fancies far and wide throughout the land. The president of the society, Dr. Gaster, in closing the discussion, said that “from his experience the modern belief in amulets as aids to luck was genuine and widely spread.”[[658]]
One of the latest Parisian oracles on mystic subjects, the Baroness d’Orchamps, says that emeralds should not be worn by women before their fiftieth year, although men may wear this gem without danger at any age. Sapphires, on the other hand, may be worn by both sexes at all times, since they have a potent influence for good luck. Hence speculators, and indeed all who hope for a favorable turn of Fortune’s wheel, should look with favor on this stone. As medicinal gems, the ruby and the moonstone are especially recommended; the former for chronic headaches and the latter for the manifold forms of nervousness. Lastly, the diamond, if worn on the left side, wards off evil influences and attracts good fortune. The unjustly maligned opal is asserted to be robbed of all power to harm if it be associated with diamonds and rubies.
Many of the members of the French nobility are the owners and wearers of talismanic ornaments of one kind or another. A powerful combination of such “life-preservers” is credited to the Duc de Guiche. On his right hand he wears three curiously chased rings, one on the first finger, the second on the middle finger, and the third on the “ring-finger.” One of the rings is set with a sardonyx engraved with the figure of an eagle, the second ring bears a topaz on which has been graven a falcon, and the third ring shows a beautiful coral bearing the design of a man holding a drawn sword in his right hand. Both the stones and the special designs engraved on each one are in accord with the oldest traditional lore in regard to talismans, and the stones themselves are those indicated by the date of the duke’s birth and by his baptismal name. While such an array of finger rings would hardly appeal to the taste of an American man, the fashion of wearing an appropriate series of rings has met with considerable favor among our American mondaines, and certainly has the merit of lending an individual significance to the rings selected for wear.[[659]]
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.
JEWELLED SWORD GIVEN BY THE GREEKS OF THE UNITED STATES, ON EASTER DAY, 1913, TO CROWN PRINCE CONSTANTINE, LATER KING CONSTANTINE XII OF GREECE
Side view of hilt.
The magnificent star-sapphire set in the hilt of the richly chased and ornamented sword given by the Greeks of America to King Constantine of Greece, on Easter Day, 1913, just before the recipient succeeded to the royal dignity, may be looked upon as a talisman designed to assure good fortune and long life to the sovereign, as well as prosperity to the state over which he rules. This sword, which was made by Tiffany & Company, is even more noteworthy because of its artistic merit than on account of its intrinsic value. Another talismanic embellishment of the sword is an inlaid didrachm of Alexander the Great (356–323 B.C.); it is a well-known fact and one frequently recorded by ancient and medieval writers, that the coins of this monarch were often treasured up as amulets or talismans.[[660]] In the present instance, indeed, the charm, if charm there be, should work most effectively, as we can imagine no more appropriate guardian of the present ruler of Greece than the greatest hero and the mightiest conqueror the Greek race ever produced.
This sword was presented to His Majesty Constantine XII, King of the Hellenes, by the Greek residents of the United States, to commemorate his defeat of the Turks at Salonika and Janina. By these victories of the Greek armies under King Constantine, who was at that time the Crown Prince of Greece, the Greek people of Macedonia and Epirus were liberated from the Turkish yoke, and these rich provinces were added to the Greek crown. The Committee of Presentation consisted of Mr. Caftanzoglu, Chargé d’Affaires of Greece in Washington; Mr. D. Vlasto, editor of “Atlantis”; Dr. Breck Trowbridge, president, and Dr. T. Tileston Wells, vice-president of the Society of American Philhellenes, with the coöperation of Dr. George F. Kunz, a member of the council of the above society.
The green variety of microcline, a potash-feldspar, is known as the “amazon-stone.” It is found at Amelia Court House, Virginia, at Pike’s Peak, Colorado, at Rockport, Cape Ann, and in the Ural Mountains in Russia. It has recently been proposed as the stone for the Suffrage party. This amazon-stone could be cut in little beads of a beautiful pale green and after appropriate mounting they could be worn suspended by a ribbon from the button-hole. As the stone is inexpensive it ought to meet with favor among the hundreds of thousands who are aggressive in their advocacy of this cause.
Among the many persons of our day who still have or had a lingering faith in the efficacy of amulets, may be mentioned the late actress, Mrs. Annie Yeamans, who left special directions in her will that a little amulet attached to a gold chain which she constantly wore, should be left on her body and buried with her. We may call this superstition or sentiment, as we will, but there seems to be an almost invincible tendency to associate something of those dear to us and lost to us with inanimate objects that may have been theirs, and the memories called up by some simple trinket show that psychologically a certain power really does exist in such objects. The sentiment they awaken is only in ourselves, and the impression that awakes it as well, but the presence of the inanimate object actually conditions the awakening of the feeling. Thus we can scarcely deny to amulets a certain inherent quality in this respect.
Often some strange, quaint, or bizarre design seen in the shop of a dealer in antiques will make a peculiar and individual appeal to the observer, and will be chosen by him as his personal amulet, as though fate had destined the object for his special use. So we are told that Mr. Augustin Osman, the artist, secured possession of a singular gold ornament representing a human skull; upon it was figured in opals the word “Ave.” On the first night after the acquisition of this object, the artist had a vivid dream, in which the impression was conveyed to him that he would always enjoy good fortune as long as the golden skull remained in his possession. Evidently the opals took nothing in his opinion from the luck-producing quality of this grewsome ornament; indeed, it seems more probable that they added to it.
THE BIRTH OF THE OPAL
Autographed for this work by the authoress, Ella Wheeler Wilcox
A curious modern talisman is the work of M. Charles Rivaud, who has frequently exhibited splendid specimens of artistic jewelry at the Paris Salon; this talisman cleverly combines artistic merit with a dash of African magic. It is a slender bracelet composed of interlaced spirals of oxidized silver and gold; around the circlet is twined a hair taken from an elephant. Among the tribesmen of the Soudan the hairs of this animal are believed to be endowed with great talismanic virtue; indeed, they enjoyed a similar repute among the ancient Romans. Whether this belief was due to the idea that the wearer of the hair was assured a mighty protection, typified by the enormous strength of the elephant, or whether to the fact that the elephant was with some peoples a divine symbol, we cannot easily determine.
The opal has long since emerged from the slight cloud of disfavor due to a most erroneous fancy that it was in some way associated with ill-luck. This idea, possibly in its origin explainable by the comparative fragility of the gem, found a consistent and earnest opponent in the late Queen Victoria, whose influence did much to make opals fashionable. Of late years they have become favorite bridal gifts, the exceptional variety of color in the beautiful examples from the White Cliff mines in New South Wales, having also contributed to the renewed popularity of the stone. A parure of these opals was not long since bestowed upon the Empress Augusta by Emperor William of Germany, and one of the finest Australian opals is a treasured possession of the Duchess of Marlborough.
A very attractive example of symbolic jewelry has lately been made by a jeweler’s firm of Besançon, France. This ornament is composed of three keys, to which are given the respective names, Key of Love, Key of Good Fortune, and Key of Heaven. They are to open up for the wearer the treasures of true love, of wedded bliss, and, finally, of paradise. A legend from the time of the Crusades suggested the form of this pretty jewel. Mourning the departure of a knight on the long and perilous journey to Palestine, a Provençal maiden wandered through the woodland, seeking peace and consolation in its quiet recesses. As she passed along the leafy pathways, she all unconsciously gave utterance to her longings and fears in softly spoken words. All at once a bright light beamed about her, and a radiant fairy advanced toward her and gave her an ivory casket in which lay three jewelled keys, masterpieces of the goldsmith’s art. The first of these, the fairy assured her, would open the young knight’s heart to receive her image; the second would open the church door to admit her, a happy bride; and the third, when life’s journey was o’er, would unlock for her the gates of Paradise.
On the deservedly popular watch bracelets, things of beauty as well as utility, the precious stones used for decoration are sometimes selected for the significance of the first letters of their names when read in sequence. The following example may be noted:
D iamond
E merald
A methyst
R uby
S apphire
A gate
R uby
A methyst
In this way any name or endearing epithet can be prettily expressed.
X
Facts and Fancies about Precious Stones
Many interesting facts about precious stones do not properly refer either to their talismanic or curative powers, and yet serve in not a few cases to indicate more or less clearly the reasons which have determined popular fancy or superstition in attributing particular virtues to a given stone.
As an instance of the strange vagaries of belief in the influence exerted by certain of these stones, we may take the statement that powdered agate dissolved in beer was used by the Bretons as a test of virginity. If a young girl were unable to retain this delectable mixture on her stomach, she was supposed to be impure.[[661]] The ability to stand this test seems rather to prove the possession of a strong stomach than a clear conscience.
Rainbow Agate is a name appropriately applied to agates showing a beautiful prismatic effect. These are composed of quartz and chalcedony in very fine layers. The writer secured a splendid specimen of this type of agate set in a jewel which had formed part of an old Saxon collection; it may possibly have come from India. The prismatic play of color differs from that observed in quartz iris, in that the iridescence is due to the minute interference lines and not, as with the iris, to internal fractures.
The greatest interest was manifested in the eighteenth century in these agates, one of which was described in a special pamphlet under the title, “Regenbogen Achat,” and illustrated with a colored plate. The effect was that of a spectrum rather than the iris effect of the crystalline quartz. This iris was also highly valued, and great favor was set upon brilliant examples of what was in reality rock-crystal fractured, the small fracture-planes causing the breaking up of the light and producing the rainbow or iris effect. In fact it was a spectrum produced by the mixture of quartz between the chalcedonic layers.
Cellini has a marvellous story to tell of a luminous carbuncle. A certain Jacopo Cola, a vine-grower, going into his vineyard one night noticed what appeared to be a bit of glowing coal at the foot of one of the vines, but on reaching the spot he was unable to locate the source of this radiance. Very wisely he retraced his steps to the spot whence he had first observed the light, which became again apparent, and when he now very carefully approached the vine he found that the gleam proceeded from a rough little stone, which he joyfully picked up and carried off with him. He showed it to a number of his friends and among them chanced to be a Venetian envoy, an expert on precious stones, who immediately recognized that the find was a carbuncle. Thereupon taking a base advantage of the finder’s ignorance, he succeeded in buying the stone for only ten scudi, and then hastened away from Rome, lest his deception should be discovered. Not long afterwards this same Venetian went to Constantinople and sold the stone to the Sultan of the time for 100,000 scudi, a profit of 10,000 per cent.[[662]] The fact that the vintner could only see the gleam from a given spot is in itself sufficient proof that what he noted was merely the reflection of some distant light striking a smooth surface of the stone at a certain angle.
Among the many virtues credited to carnelian by the Mohammedans may be noted its power to preserve the equanimity and gravity of the wearer in the midst of disputes or inordinate laughter. A special and peculiar utilization of this material was to employ splinters of it as toothpicks. Their use not only whitened the teeth but also prevented bleeding of the gums. The Prophet, according to tradition, asserted that the wearer of a carnelian ring would never cease to be happy and blessed.[[663]]
The chrysolite is now regarded as a semi-precious stone only, yet Shakespeare presented this gem as the type of excellence in its kind when he wrote (“Othello,” Act V, Scene 2):
Nay, had she been true,
If heaven would make me such another world
Of one entire and perfect chrysolite,
I’d not have sold her for it.
It is interesting to note that this appreciation of the beauty of the chrysolite is also shown in an old Greek glossary of alchemical terms, where occur the words: Ιερὸς λίθος ἐστὶ Χρυσόλιθος, “Sacred stone means the chrysolite.”[[664]]
Such was the sacred quality ascribed to strings of coral beads in some parts of Africa, not long since, that they were regarded as the most precious gifts a ruler could bestow. If the favored recipient were so unfortunate as to lose this royal donation—which was a mark of high rank—he himself, as well as all involved in the theft, incurred the penalty of death. A writer of the seventeenth century, Palisot de Beauvais, relates that in Benin human victims were sacrificed at a “coral festival,” when the corals of the king and royal family were dipped in the victim’s blood, so as to placate the coral fetish and ensure a further supply of the precious material.[[665]] Possibly human blood was believed to strengthen the special virtue supposed to be inherent in this red substance.
There is a note of republican simplicity in the reported wearing of coral ornaments on ceremonial occasions by the present Queen of Italy. Indeed, the assertion that this is done to stimulate the coral industry in Italy may be true, as nothing would better tend to do this than such an example of royal favor for coral. Certainly this is in marked contrast with the almost exclusive use of pearl ornaments of all kinds so characteristic of Queen Margarita, whose devotion to the pearl, now perhaps the most costly of gems, had a poetic appropriateness for one bearing her name, and we can scarcely imagine the Pearl of Savoy without her splendid parures and necklaces of pearls. Still, undoubtedly this new departure renders it possible for all Italian women, rich or poor, to loyally follow the example set by their Queen Helena, and there is little danger that the rich will ever neglect to avail themselves of the exclusive privilege they possess of owning and wearing diamonds, pearls, rubies, sapphires and emeralds, which surpass coral as much in beauty as they do in price.
A comparatively recent attempt to use diamond dust as a poison is said to have been made in 1874 on Colonel Phayre, British Resident at the court of the then reigning Gaikwar of Baroda. The colonel was in the habit of refreshing himself after his morning walk with a glass of sugared water flavored with a little lime-juice. One day, on taking a sip of his customary beverage, he noted that it had a strange taste, and instead of drinking it he saved it up and had it analyzed. The analysis revealed the presence of arsenic in quantity sufficient to cause death, and of diamond dust as well. Here, as in the case of Sir Thomas Overbury, the really innocuous diamond material was accompanied by an actual poison. The current belief in the poisonous quality of the diamond is reflected in the words “mortal as diamond dust,” used by Horace Walpole in one of his letters to the Countess of Ossory.[[666]]
A German writer of the seventeenth century quotes with admiration a wonderful tale told by Johannes Bustamantius to the effect that he had seen a marriage of two diamonds, the two crystals being so firmly drawn toward each other by mutual sympathy that when they were put in one place they would cling to one another, as with an “unending kiss,” as though one were a man and the other a woman, and he asserts that the union was blessed with offspring. This curious idea has been repeatedly put forth by certain of the older writers as we have had occasion to note elsewhere.[[667]]
After expatiating on the mechanical skill displayed by the Indians of the New World, an early Spanish traveller gives the following details regarding their success as gem-cutters:[[668]]
Yet all that we have said is surpassed by the ingenuity of the Indians in working emeralds, with which they are supplied from the coast of Manta and the countries dependent on the government of Atacames, Coaquis or Quaques. But these mines are now entirely lost, very probably through negligence. These curious emeralds are found in the tombs of the Indians of Manta and Atacames; and are, in beauty, size and hardness superior to those found in the district of Santa Fé; but what chiefly raises the admiration of the connoisseur is, to find them worked, some in spherical, some cylindrical, some conical, and of various other figures; and all with a perfect accuracy. But the unsurmountable difficulty here is, to explain how they could work a stone of such hardness, it being evident that steel and iron were utterly unknown to them. They pierced emeralds and other gems, with all the delicacy of the present times, furnished with so many tools; and the direction of the hole is also very observable; in some it passes through the diameter, in others only to the centre of the stone, and coming out at its circumference they formed triangles at a small distance from one another, and thus the figure of the stone to give it relief was varied with the direction of the holes.
The existence of emeralds in the region near Berenice is vouched for by Ptolemy. The mines of emerald here were duly entered in the map of the patriarch and the Arabs are said to have dug for them; but, Pocock writes, “As all stones that may be found belong to the Grand Signior, the Arabs are very well satisfied that the presence of emeralds should not be suspected, because he would have the profit, and the inhabitants might be obliged to work in the mines for a very small consideration.”[[669]]
The number of ancient hematite artefacts found in the United States indicates that this material was more largely used within its territorial limits for implements and ornaments than in any other part of the world;[[670]] indeed the somewhat sweeping statement has been ventured that it does not seem to have been used outside of this section of the New World; however, some exceptions to this rule must be admitted. That certain of these ornaments were used as amulets is highly probable, and they were undoubtedly regarded as objects of great value, since with the primitive tools at his command the Indian cutter must have found his task a very hard one, requiring the expenditure of much time and patience. In the Andover Collection there is an exceptionally fine specimen from Ross County, Ohio. It is of heavy pure hematite, which has been worked into the form of a pendant; notches have been made at both ends, as a form of decoration, and on the lower, broad end, fourteen lines have been incised; the edges are slightly beveled and the patina indicates the antiquity of the work. The lines have evidently been made by a flint cutting-implement.[[671]] Another probable hematite amulet is a rudely fashioned fish effigy. Here the appearances of eye and gill (only on one side) are evidently merely natural irregularities of surface, which it has been conjectured determined the cutter to add a mouth and round off the material so as to approximate a fish-form; the hematite is black and of fine quality. This relic comes from Cole Camp, Benton County, Missouri.[[672]] The larger number of these hematite artefacts are from Missouri, southern Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky, and considerable numbers have been turned up in Tennessee, New York, Wisconsin, and parts of Arkansas. Only a relatively small number were taken out of burials or graves, the majority of specimens having been secured on or near the surface.
Shah Jehangir relates in his memoirs that Mûnis Khân, son of Mihtar Khân, presented him with a jug of jasper (jade), which had been made in the reign of Mîrzâ Ulugh Beg Gûrgân, in the honored name of that prince. It was a very delicate rarity and of a beautiful shape. Its stone was exceedingly white and pure. Around the neck of the jar were carved characters expressing the auspicious name of the Mîrzâ and the Hijra year. Jehangir ordered them to inscribe his name and the auspicious name of Akbar on the edge of the lip of the jar.[[673]]
Jade ornaments of ancient workmanship have been found in Syria, and it is quite likely that in many cases where the designation plasma is used by ancient writers, true jade, or nephrite, was the material. As there was no specific designation for jade, the different varieties were assimilated to other stones of like color and appearance, so that, among others, the names jasper, plasma and even smaragdus were used to denote jade.
Mortuary tablets of jade have been used from time immemorial in China for the reception of historic inscriptions, the toughness and durability of the material making it especially desirable for this purpose. In the case of rulers, such tablets not only bore the names of the deceased sovereign but also an epitome of the leading events of his reign, and additions were made to this record from time to time so that in historic value they may be compared with the clay tablets of Babylonia and Assyria. One of these interesting monuments found its way to San Francisco, after the looting of the Forbidden City by the international army of relief in 1901. On it appeared a record of the treaty between the United States and China in 1868, and the other records went back to the death of Shun Chi in 1661. Probably owing to exposure to the weather the earlier inscriptions were not very legible.
At all important Chinese marriage ceremonies the priest carries what is known as a “marriage sword.” This is usually about twelve or thirteen inches in length and the sheath is often studded with various pink stones, cut en cabochon. The stones most favored for this decoration are pink tourmaline, rubellite from the Shan Mountains, or rose-quartz, and the natural color of these gems is often intensified by placing a pink paste or foil beneath them; occasionally the coloration of the stones is enhanced by dipping them in a pink aniline solution. A piece of green jade is usually set as a boss at the hilt of this symbolical sword. In one remarkable specimen the guard consisted of a piece of white jade with the figure of a dragon carved in relief upon it; the sword-blade was of bronze. At the marriage ceremony the bridegroom is given the sword to hold, and the bride the sheath; as the wedding ring is placed upon the bride’s finger, sword and sheath are brought together.
Among the innumerable forms of jade decoration or carving, produced by the indefatigable and painstaking Chinese artists, is a small curved wand often having a trefoil termination; sometimes the entire wand is of jade, and at other times it is of teakwood adorned with jade medallions, frequently showing birds and flowers. This wand was used as a kind of sceptre of office, and the official entitled to bear it would hold it in both hands when standing before the emperor. Its name, ju-i, means “may all be,” and is to be taken as a wish that everything may turn out fortunately. In modern times the ju-i is carried as a lucky charm, although its official significance is not forgotten. This form of wand is said to have been introduced into China from India, at the time of the Buddhist propaganda, and in representations of Buddhist priests they are sometimes shown carrying one of them. In ancient India it was taught to be one of the seven precious objects, the septa-ratna, mentioned in the Vedas.[[674]] This Indian origin is, of course, highly probable, but it is strange that in ancient Egypt also, curved wands of a somewhat different type, made of ivory and embellished with symbolical figures, possessed the same blended significance of marks of official dignity and magic wands.
A large mass of lapis lazuli was found in one of the Inca graves of Peru by Señor Emilio Montés, and was exhibited by him in the Centennial Exhibition of 1913. With the exception of one corner that has been chipped off, the block is of symmetrical form, the dimensions being, in inches, 24 × 14 × 9, and the weight 312 pounds. The smoothed surface gives evidence of careful and fairly successful polishing by the native lapidaries. This exceptionally fine specimen of lapis lazuli is now in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.[[675]] Evidently in ancient Peru as in the Old World the “celestial hue” of lapis lazuli was thought to render it most appropriate for use as a memorial offering to the dead or as a talisman by the aid of which their heavenward journey might be made easier.
The so-called “black onyx” has almost entirely replaced jet. This is a chalcedony impregnated with a carbonic matter, such as blood or a solution of sugar, the carbonate of which is charred by sulphuric acid, giving a rich, velvety, black hue to the stone, which takes a high polish. However, a certain limited amount of the old “Whitby Jet” once so highly favored is still mined and worked up into ornaments in the neighborhood of Whitby on the northeast coast of England, in the district of Leeds, although but fifty persons are now engaged in this industry which fifty years ago gave employment to 1500 workers. Some Spanish jet is also used, a material harder and more brittle than that found in England.
Autographed for this work by the author of the poem, Dr. Edward Forrester Sutton.
The story was current that Pope Leo X (1475–1521) had a precious stone, probably some type of “moonstone,”[[676]] which grew brighter as the moon waxed, exhibiting the soft, silvery brilliance of our satellite, and then gradually lost its brightness as the moon waned, growing paler and dimmer and becoming quite obscure as the moon’s disk ceased to be illumined by the sun. As a mate to this, Pope Clement VII (1475–1534) was reputed to have in his possession a stone with a golden spot which moved across the surface in exact accord with the apparent motion of the sun across the heavens from sunrise to sunset.[[677]] These are undoubtedly fables that were circulated intentionally, or more probably through pure love of exaggeration, in order to enhance the merit of two exceptionally fine specimens of moonstone and sunstone in the papal treasury.
In the eighteenth century the collection of the Duke of Brunswick contained a magnificent ancient drinking-cup, of the kind used in sacrificial ceremonies, cut from a single piece of onyx; this cup was said to have formed part of the rich spoils taken from Mithridates by the Romans under Pompey. It was valued in the duke’s inventory at 150,000 thalers, and Catherine II of Russia is stated to have offered four times that sum, or 600,000 thalers ($400,000) for this unique cup.[[678]]
In the symbolism of the Manichean sect, an early Christian heresy owing its origin to a direct and predominant influence of Persian ideas, pearls occupy a prominent place. A legendary or poetic pearl called “the bright moon” was the symbol of compassion, and one of the treatises ends with the words: “Our heart has received the majestic splendor of the pearl granting every wish.” We are also told of “a diamond pillar” which sustains humanity, and the Messenger of Light is likened to a perfumed mountain entirely composed of a mass of jewels.[[679]]
The recital of two Arab travelers, Hasan ibn Vazid and Sulaiman, who visited India in the ninth century, contains a curious theory of the formation of pearls or rather of the pearl-oyster. The primal matter is assumed to be a gelatinous moss, analogous to that of a species of algæ. This floats upon the water and attaches itself to the keels of ships, where it hardens, develops a shell, and finally drops off to sink into the depths of the sea. The formation of the pearl itself is then discussed and the theory noted in Pliny’s Natural History and so often repeated after his time, namely, that pearls are formed from the “dew of heaven,” is cited; but the writer adds: “Others say that they [the pearls] are produced in the oysters themselves. This appears more probable and is confirmed by experience; for the greater part of those observed in the oysters are firmly attached there and are immovable. Those which are mobile are called by the merchants seed-pearls.” As a true Mohammedan the writer concludes with the pious ejaculation: “God knows how the matter really stands!”[[680]]
The same travellers relate the story of the discovery of a pearl under very singular conditions. An Arab came to Bassora with a very fine pearl. He took it to a druggist whom he knew and asked the latter how much it was worth. The merchant estimated it at a hundred pieces of silver, to the great surprise of the Arab, who demanded whether anyone could be found willing to pay so much. Without hesitation the merchant declared that he was ready to give the price himself, and immediately paid over the money. He then took his purchase to Bagdad, where he secured a large profit on his investment. On concluding his sale the Arab told the Bassora druggist how he had secured his pearl. One day, while walking along the Bahrein coast, he saw on the sands a dead fox, whose mouth was tightly compressed by a strange object. On closer observation this proved to be an enormous pearl-oyster shell. Evidently the fox had thrust his snout into the shell while the valves were open so that he might devour the soft contents, but the valves suddenly closed upon him and he had died of suffocation. On prying open the shell the Arab found therein the pearl which was destined to bring him what he regarded as a fabulous sum.[[681]]
The women of the Arab town occupying a site close to that on which stood the Babylon of ancient times, wore, as a favorite adornment, nose-rings of gold set with a pearl and a turquoise. The English traveller, John Eldred, who traversed Mesopotamia in 1583, found this custom so general that he writes: “This they doe be they never so poore.”[[682]]
For years a statement has been going through the press that pearls are liable to become diseased and die, and that the famous necklace of pearls presented by President Thiers of France to his wife, and bequeathed by Mme. Thiers to the French Government, had lost their lustre and died, perhaps owing to the death of the owner. For there is an old belief that pearls, as well as opals and turquoises, lose some of their lustre when the owner or wearer becomes ill, and change to a dull and lifeless hue when the owner dies. An examination of the necklace by the writer showed that the pearls were in good condition, and to confirm his statement to this effect he had the director of the Louvre Museum write him a letter. In this official communication the director not only states that the pearls had not sickened and died, but that they were in as “healthy” a condition as they had ever been.
The invariable experience of the writer has been that whenever pearls have been said to have suffered in this way, the true explanation has been that they were old and poor at the time of their purchase, and that this romance was started on its travels as an excuse to cover up the defect of such pearls and to arouse the belief that they had been remarkably beautiful and valuable when they were originally acquired.
As though to make amends to the Queen Gem for such disadvantageous rumors, considerable publicity has recently been given to a report that, in the Musée de Monaco, there was a luminous pearl whose beauties were revealed by an inner light, so that darkness had no power to dim its lustre. In a thoroughly impartial spirit, the writer went to the fountain-head for information in this matter, and received as answer from the director of the museum that there was no such pearl in the collection and that he had absolutely no faith in the luminosity of pearls.
As has been seen, both of these legends must be set aside as false, and we fear there is just as little truth in a report that a genuine “pearl-powder” is now used by the fair ladies of Paris and by their numerous imitators. The story goes that the Arab workmen engaged in pearl-piercing in India are noted for the clearness—we can hardly say, the lightness—of their complexions, and that this is supposed to be attributable to the fact that, when resting from their difficult task, they are in the habit of taking up some of the pearl-dust that has fallen on the floor and rubbing their faces with it. As the conditions under which these men work are eminently unsanitary, those who noted the clearness and smoothness of their complexions came to the conclusion that there must be something especially beneficial in pearl-dust, and brought the matter to the notice of a French chemist. The latter proceeded to utilize the suggestion and compounded a new cosmetic. He did not, however, pin his faith to the pearl-dust alone, but wisely added a number of other ingredients.
Still another mythical tale in reference to pearls has to be refuted. For some time past numerous specimens of a so-called “cocoanut-pearl” have been brought from the East. These are very white pearls, resembling in hue the hard meat of the cocoanut, and said to have been produced in the cocoanut, just as other pearls are produced in certain species of mollusks. However, the writer has always found them to be pearls secreted by the gigantic mollusk Ostrea Singapora.
A strange poetic fancy regarding the transmutation of parts of the human form into gems of the sea appears in Ariel’s song in Shakespeare’s “Tempest”:
Full fathom five thy father lies,
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes,
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rare and strange.
Tempest, Act I, Sc. ii.
Some natives of the Sulu Archipelago believe that the nautilus pearl is a most unlucky object to possess, for should a man engage in a fight while wearing such a pearl he would inevitably be killed. Hence, when a native by chance comes across one of them, he very quickly throws it away, as a probable bringer of ill-luck. Occasionally, however, such pearls fall into the hands of those who are less influenced by superstition, and one weighing 72 grains was given, in 1884, to an Australian gentleman, by Mohammed Beddreddin, brother-in-law of the Sultan of Sulu. This was a perfect, pear-shaped pearl of a creamy-white hue and somewhat translucent; it is composed of the porcelanous, not of the nacreous constituent of the shell.[[683]]
East Indian Baroque pearl. Weight over 1700 grains, Holland, 1775.
It has been stated that this Sulu superstition is not shared by the natives of Celebes Island, near Borneo, for here such pearls are kept as charms and talismans. One of an irregular pear-shape, weighing 27½ grains, has been found on the northern coast of the island.[[684]] The finding of a nautilus pearl by a Chinese woman in Borneo is noted by Rumphius, who describes it as being as large as a bean and white as a piece of alabaster, hard and bright, but of very irregular shape. The finder put it in a closed box, and was not a little surprised to discover when she opened the box after a time that the original pearl had engendered another one the size of a lentil; later it had two other, smaller offspring. The woman carefully treasured her find as a lucky stone which would bring her good fortune in her search for mussels. Rumphius shrewdly conjectures that the smaller concretions had broken off the larger one while it was enclosed in the box.[[685]]
The well-known lines in Shakespeare’s “Othello”:
Of one whose hand, like the base Judean’s,
Cast away a pearl richer than all his tribe.
have been explained in many different ways by the commentators, one of whom (Steevens) saw in them a reference to the following story current in Venice in the sixteenth century. A Jew, after long and perilous wanderings in the East, succeeded in bringing with him to Venice a great number of fine pearls. These he disposed of there at satisfactory prices, with the exception of one pearl of immense size and extraordinary beauty, upon which he set a price so high that no one was willing to pay it. Finally, the Jew invited all the leading gem-dealers to meet him on the Rialto, and when as many of them as answered his call had assembled, he once more, and for the last time, offered his peerless pearl for sale, detailing all its perfections in eloquent terms. However, he made no concession in the price, and the dealers unanimously refused to purchase it, probably expecting that the Jew would at last be forced to make a reduction, but to their amazement, instead of doing this, he threw his pearl before their very eyes into the waters of the canal, preferring rather to lose it than to cheapen it.[[686]]
The belief that the growth of pearls in the pearl-oyster was due to rain-drops is perpetuated in the Arab proverb: “The rain of the month of Nisan brings forth pearls in the sea and wheat on the land.”[[687]] This spring month was, and is still, the period when pearl-fishing begins in the Orient. Another pearl proverb repeats the evangelical saying in this form: “Do not throw pearls under the feet of swine.”
A Tonquinise legend of the origin of pearls represents them as springing from the blood of a young princess who was slain by the king, her father, because she had betrayed to her husband the secret of a magic bow, whose death-dealing arrows always flew to their mark. In his anger at his daughter’s act, the father drew his scimitar and beheaded her, but with her last breath she prayed that her blood might be turned to pearls. Her prayer was heard and now the finest pearls of this land are found in the waters about the place where she died.[[688]]
From blue sapphires the color may be extracted so that they become white, in such sort that they excellently imitate the diamond, so well, indeed, that the fraud can only be detected by an expert jeweller. This art was known at an early period, and no doubt induced many writers to ascribe certain of the qualities of the diamond to the sapphire. As illustrating this, a Rabbinical author states that a certain man went to Rome to sell a sapphire. The purchaser said to him: “I will buy it provided I may first test it.” He placed it on an anvil and struck it with a hammer; the anvil was split and the hammer was broken to pieces but the stone remained in its place uninjured.[[689]]
CLEOPATRA DISSOLVING HER PRICELESS PEARL AT THE BANQUET TO MARK ANTONY
Tapestry. Eighteenth century.
The virtues of the sapphire are enumerated at length by Bartolomæus Anglicus, the old scholastic philosopher, who flourished in the first half of the thirteenth century and taught theology in the famous University of Paris.[[690]] After noting the old dictum according to which the sapphire was the “gem of gems” and one worthy to adorn the fingers of kings, Bartolomæus proceeds to instruct his readers in regard to the wonderful curative powers of this beautiful gem. These appear always to be connected with its supposed calming and cooling influence. Thus it reduced the temperature in fevers and checked the flow of blood; for instance, if attached to the temples it stopped nose-bleed; if the heart were unduly excited, this agitation could be controlled by the power of the sapphire. Too profuse perspiration was also checked if a sapphire were worn. It shared with the diamond the virtue of reconciling discord. Its power as an antidote to poison was believed to be proved by an experiment in which a spider was placed in a box with a sapphire. After a short time the poor spider expired, done to death by the supreme virtue of the celestial stone. A like story was told by ancient writers in regard to the emerald. Of course, the chastening virtues of the sapphire are not forgotten, virtues which have caused it to be selected as especially appropriate for the rings of cardinals and high church dignitaries; this belief arose from the association of purity with the color of the heavens, the pure, unadulterated blue of the cloudless sky.
One of the rarest and most beautiful of the corundum gems of Ceylon is locally known there by the name padparasham. It is of a most rare and delicate orange-pink hue, the various specimens showing many different blendings of the pink and orange. The significance of the Cinghalese name seems to be somewhat obscure, but a probable conjecture explains it to mean “hidden ray of light”; another etymology would see in the first syllable, pad, an abbreviation of padma, lotus, the petals of this flower often having a soft orange tint. In this case the meaning would be “hidden lotus,” as though the very color-essence of the flower were enclosed within and shone through the gem.[[691]]
A Persian treatise on precious stones was composed by Mohammed Ben Mansur[[692]] in the thirteenth century of our era. This work was written for Sultan Abu Naçr Behadirchan, and consists of two divisions, the first treating of precious stones and the second of metals. It is interesting to note in this treatise the recognition of the essential likeness of the Oriental ruby, sapphire, topaz, etc.; these varieties of corundum are all grouped under the single designation “yakut.” Ben Mansur writes:[[693]]
The yakut is six-fold: 1, the red; 2, the yellow; 3, the black; 4, the white; 5, the green or peacock-hued; 6, the blue or smoky-hued. Some divide the yakut into four classes: red, yellow, dark, and white, reckoning the peacock-hued and the blue among the dark. The yakut cuts all stones except carnelian and diamond.
Although the Oriental carnelian is hard and difficult to cut or polish only popular prejudice accounts for this statement, as it falls far short of the diamond in hardness.
Pseudo-Aristotle, writing some time from the seventh to the ninth century A.D., was the first to define clearly the three leading varieties of the corundum gems (yakut) as the same mineral substance, and differing only in color. These are the ruby, the Oriental topaz (jacinthus citrinus) and the sapphire. Instead of according different medicinal or talismanic virtues to these three precious stones, this writer states that each and all of them, when set in rings or worn suspended from the neck, protected the wearer from danger in epidemics, gave him the honor and good will of his fellow-men, and also the privilege of having his petitions accorded.[[694]]
The great Athenian comic poet, Aristophanes (c. 448–c. 385), makes Strepsiades, one of his characters in the “Clouds,” assert to Socrates that he knows of a stone having the virtue of saving him from the payment of a claim of five talents, for which suit has been brought against him. This stone, called ὓαλος in Greek, was to be found in the stock of those who dealt in medicines; it was transparent and with it fire could be kindled. The philosopher, although he knows the stone well enough, fails to see how it could be made to help the defendant in a suit at law, and asks Streposiades what he proposes to do with it. The latter is not at a loss for an answer and declares that when the clerk proceeds to write down the charge on his waxen tablet, he, Streposiades, will hold the stone in the sun’s rays so that its beam of light will fall upon the tablet and melt the wax, thus quite literally “wiping out the charge.”[[695]]
Rock-crystal was so highly prized in Roman times that one of the greatest treasures preserved in the Capitol was a mass of this stone, weighing fifty pounds, that had been dedicated by Livia, wife of Augustus Cæsar. Vessels of great size were also made from this material, one of the largest being a bowl owned by Lucius Verus, the colleague of Marcus Aurelius, the dimensions of which were so great that the stoutest toper of the time could not empty it at a single draught. If we can trust a statement of Mohammed Ben Mansur, the Arabs and Persians of a later age must have far surpassed the Romans in the size of their crystal vessels, for he says that a Mauritanian merchant owned a basin of rock-crystal within which four men could seat themselves at the same time. It is true that this basin was composed of two pieces of the material.[[696]]
The Chinese word for crystal, ching, was originally represented by the symbol
; that is, three suns, an attempt to figure the refraction and dispersion of light by the crystal.[[697]] The soui che stone of the Chinese which is said to quench thirst if it be placed in the mouth, is almost certainly rock-crystal, for the Chinese, in common with the ancient Greeks and Romans, believed this substance to be a transformation of water, a kind of fossil ice. A similar power was attributed by Pliny to one of the varieties of agate.[[698]]
Labrets of quartz are used in Central Africa and we have a very interesting description by M. A. Lacroix regarding these ornaments as worn by the natives of a part of the French possessions. In the land of the Bandas the natives highly prize a piece of rock-crystal so shaped that it can be introduced into the lower lip. This usage is confined to the basins of the Ombella, the Kemo and the Tomi, affluents of the Oubanghi.
The following description of the labrets was communicated to M. Lacroix by M. Lucien Fourneau, Administrator of the Colonies:
These objects, called baguérés, consist of hyaline quartz, perfectly transparent; they are very regularly cut, and measure from four to seven cm. (two to three inches) in length. Some have the form of a very elongated and pointed cone, without any protuberances, the greatest diameter being about one cm. (about half an inch); the others, thinner and sharper, have at the base a rim destined to hold them in place; in all cases a pad of thread constituting a kind of permanent plug, assures and completes their stability. Some women wear as many as three of these singular ornaments, thrust, point downwards, into the same lip.
The most regular quartz crystals are selected, and these are chipped off and roughly shaped by blows struck with a hard substance; the quartz is then set in a wooden handle, and the final shaping and polishing are accomplished by friction upon a round slab of quartzite or sandstone. These slabs show grooves along which the crystals have been rubbed. On an average the time required is four or five days of five hours. The completed ornament is valued at nine pounds of red wood worth about $1.20; sometimes one can be secured for three chickens, worth sixty cents.[[699]] Those who cannot afford quartz labrets substitute wood, glass, or pewter. M. Lacroix draws our attention to the fact that a study of the processes employed in shaping and polishing these pieces of quartz is of great importance for the elucidation of the methods in use during the Stone Age.[[700]]
A nose-jewel from the New Hebrides consists of a crystal of hyaline quartz reduced to a cylindrical form, one extremity having been pointed, while the other retains the natural faces of the crystal. This was passed through the septum of the nose, and was most likely worn as an amulet.[[701]]
Rock-crystal has been used extensively in the past year with ornaments of ribbon-like or plaque-like effects. Sometimes all the parts are made into the exact shape of a bowknot, with a bordering of platinum and diamonds, or of platinum and diamonds with a calibre-cut onyx; that is, the rock-crystal material is cut into minute square or oblong stones, which are run into double triangular edges that hold them. The crystals are dulled, and frequently have the appearance of moonstones. At times, indeed, moonstones are used in their place. Sometimes these panels, or bits and pieces of rock-crystal, are drilled, diamonds set in platinum are inserted into the drill-holes, and the ornament is engraved in classic designs of Watteau-like effects.
The origin of Burmese rubies is thus explained in a Burmese legend current in the region of the Ruby Mines. According to this legend, in the first century of our era three eggs were laid by a female naga, or serpent; out of the first was born Pyusawti, a king of Pagan; out of the second came an Emperor of China, and out of the third were emitted the rubies of the Ruby Mines.[[702]]
Dealing in precious stones was by no means an unusual occupation in Europe more than four hundred years ago, as is shown by the fact that a certain Peter, one of the secret agents of Perkin Warbeck, a pretender to the throne of England in Henry VIII’s reign, was called in the secret correspondence of the conspirators, “The Merchant of the Ruby.” Such dealers frequently travelled from place to place, and usually offered their wares to princes and nobles; hence the statement in a letter that the Merchant of the Ruby “was not able to sell his wares in Flaunders” might not seem suspicious if the letter were intercepted and read, although the meaning was that the emissary had been unable to obtain succor in Flanders for the cause of the pretender.[[703]] Probably this designation also contained a covert allusion to the Red Rose of York, for Perkin Warbeck gave himself out to be Richard, Duke of York.
A sixteenth-century traveller, the Portuguese Duarte Barbosa, after saying that “the rubies grow in India,” proceeds to state that those of finest quality and greatest value were for the most part gathered in a river called Pegu and were named nir puce by the Malabars. As a test of their fineness, the Hindus would touch them with the tip of the tongue, the coldest (densest) being the best. When a superior ruby was thus picked out, the examiner would attach a little wax to its finest point, and so pick it up and look through it against a bright light; by this means any blemish would immediately become apparent. These rubies came not only from the river of Pegu but from other parts of the land of the same name, often being discovered in deep mountain clefts. However, they were not cut and polished in that country, but were merely cleaned and sent for cutting to “Palecote and the country of Narsynga.”[[704]]
The balas-ruby (originally a spinel from Badakshan) was one of the most admired precious stones in medieval times, before the diamond was helped to its proud preëminence by having its beauties revealed through the exercise of the diamond-cutters’ skill. Almost all the large “rubies” of which we read, those of Europe at least, were balas-rubies, as were also by far the greater part of the so-called rubies in Oriental royal collections of that and later times. The great Italian poet Dante uses this stone (balascio) as a symbol of the glowing radiance of divine joy in the following lines from the Divina Commedia (Paradiso, ix, 67–69):
L’altra letizia, che m’era già nota
Preclara cosa, mi si fece in vista
Qual fin balascio in che lo sol percota.
In very ancient times as well as at the present day (if we admit that the anthrax of Theophrastus really was ruby and not a pyrope garnet), the ruby was the most valuable of all precious stones, the Greek writer stating that at the time he wrote, about 260 B.C., an exceedingly small specimen would sell for as much as forty gold pieces. His statement that these stones came from Carthage and Marseilles should not induce us to prejudge the question as to their real character, as many articles of Asiatic commerce were distributed from these parts, more especially from the great Carthaginian seaport.[[705]]
A variety of sapphire, having, to a certain extent, the coloration of the ruby, was called by natives of Ceylon in the sixteenth century nilacandi;[[706]] this might be rendered sapphire-ruby. These stones are purple-red by daylight, but artificial light kills the blue and they appear red. They are frequently called phenomenal sapphires or alexandrite sapphires.
Indian poetic fancy has connected the creation of sapphires in Ceylon with the fair maidens of that island.[[707]]
When the young Cingalese maidens sway, with the tips of their fingers, the stems of the lavali blossoms, then do the two dark blue eyes of the Daitya fall, eyes with a sheen like that of the lotus in full bloom.
Hence it is that this island, with its long sea-coast and its interminable forests of ketskas, abounds in magnificent sapphires, which are its glory.
The following pretty bit of Oriental imagery occurs in a Cinghalese poem on the deeds of Constantino de Sá, a Portuguese Captain-General. Here the poet, writing of a river that flowed through the island, calls it “that lovely stream, the Kaluganga, which meandered as a sapphire chain over the shoulders of the maiden Lanka.”[[708]] Lanka is a Cingalese name for Ceylon.
The depth of the coloration of sapphires and other stones was believed to indicate their degree of “ripeness,” the pale stones being “unripe.” As an illustration of this, Cardano instances a sapphire he had examined, a small part of which was blue, while the rest resembled a diamond. Specimens of this kind exist in several collections.[[709]] The writer has seen many that are dark blue when viewed from above, and almost white when viewed through the back. The Cinghalese lapidaries had very cleverly cut a crystal that was white, with a thin coating of blue, so that the blue was at the back, fully realizing the wonderful dispersive power of the sapphire, and that it would appear dark blue if viewed from above. The value was naturally only trifling compared with that of a perfectly even-colored gem.
Al-Berûnî (973–1048 A.D.) gives as the hues of the “red yakut” (ruby), pomegranate-colored safran (henna), purple, flesh-colored, rose-colored, and of the shade of a pomegranate blossom. Other colors of the yakut (corundum crystals) were yellow (Oriental topaz), gray, green (Oriental emerald), white (white sapphire), and black. A henna-colored yakut, if weighing one mitqal (about 24 carats), was valued at 5000 dinars ($12,500), if its weight was half as much, or about 12 carats, it was esteemed to be worth 2000 dinars ($4500), but for one weighing as much as 2 mitqals (48 carats) no definite price could be given, probably because of its great rarity and costliness.[[710]]
The Sanskrit name for the topaz, pita, signifies “the yellow stone.” This Sanskrit word is thought by many to be the original of the Hebrew pitdah, a stone of the high-priest’s breastplate. Another Sanskrit name is pushparaga, “flower-colored.”[[711]] It must be borne in mind, however, that these names refer not to our topaz but to yellow corundum, or Oriental topaz, as it has often been called.
A topaz of exceptional size is that known as the “Maxwell-Stuart Topaz”[[712]] from the name of the owner. It was brought from Ceylon to England with a lot of inferior rubies and sapphires for use in watchmaking, and was believed to be simply a piece of quartz. So little was it appreciated that when sold at auction it only brought £3 10s. ($17.50). When on closer examination its true quality became apparent, the owner decided to have it cut in brilliant form. The operation required twenty-eight days’ consecutive work, the diamond-wheel being used, and resulted in the production of a fine cut stone of a pure white hue, weighing 368³¹⁄₃₂ carats. When the cutting was partially completed, a “feather” became apparent that would have spoiled the table, but as it was still possible to reverse the position of table and culet, this was done, and the “feather” removed. At this time, in 1879, this topaz could lay claim to being the largest cut stone in existence, although its size is considerably surpassed now by that of the largest Cullinan diamond, 516½ carats.
The same exceptional position taken by jade among the Chinese is occupied by turquoise among the Tibetans; these are so emphatically primates among gem-minerals that the very name “stone” seems a designation unworthy of them, and as a Chinese would say, “it is jade, not a stone,” so would a loyal Tibetan exclaim of his favorite gem, “it is a turquoise, not a stone.” Another indication of the exceptional rank of turquoise in Tibet is that, as with the famous Oriental and European diamonds and also with some celebrated balas-rubies, certain of the first turquoises of Tibet have received individual names, such, for example, as “the resplendent turquoise of the gods” and “the white turquoise of the gods.” A tradition relates that the largest turquoise found up to that time was discovered in the eighth century A.D. by King Du-srong Mang-po on the summit of a mountain near the sacred Tibetan city of Lhasa.[[713]]
In 1613, Shah Abbas of Persia sent to Jehangir six bags of “turquoise-dust,” weighing in all some 23½ pounds Troy. However, the material proved to be of very inferior quality, for the jewellers searched in vain through the whole mass for a single stone fit for setting in a ring. Jehangir consoles himself with the reflection that “probably in these days turquoise-dust is not procurable such as it was in the time of Shah Tahmasp.”[[714]]
When the Syrian monarch Antiochus XIII visited Syracuse during the prætorship of Caius Verres, he bore with him many richly adorned vessels, some of them being of gold set with gems after the Syrian fashion. However, the finest of all was a wine-cup carved out of a single piece of precious-stone material. When this had once met the gaze of the greedy Verres, he did not rest until he had got it into his possession. To attain his end he resorted to a most ignoble stratagem. Professing his ardent admiration of this as well as of the other richly-adorned and finely-wrought vessels, Verres requested that they might be left with him for a short time so that he might contemplate them at his leisure, and might also have an opportunity to submit them to examination by his goldsmiths with a view to having some copies executed. Antiochus readily acceded to this request, but when after the lapse of a few days he wished to regain possession of his things, Verres put him off from day to day, on one pretext or another. Finally, as Antiochus refused to take the more than broad hints that the precious objects should be bestowed as gifts, Verres spread the rumor that a piratical fleet was on its way from Syria to attack Sicily, and forced Antiochus to leave the island that very day, retaining the borrowed vessels in spite of all remonstrances.[[715]]
That precious stones should be used to decorate the teeth seems a rather queer development of art, although the practice is not altogether unknown at the present day, when we hear now and again of diamonds being set in teeth to satisfy the vanity of some eccentric individual. In pre-Colombian times, however, there is abundant evidence that this strange form of personal adornment was by no means rare, several examples having been unearthed from burials in Ecuador, and evidence of the usage being offered by remains from Mexico and also from Central America. Among the Mayans here jadeite seems to have been the stone principally favored for this purpose, while in Mexico hematite has been met with in Oaxaca, turquoise in Vera Cruz, and at other places in the land, rock-crystal and obsidian.[[716]] For the insertion of the stones, the primitive dental artists carefully and skilfully cut or rubbed away the enamel from a section of the front part of the tooth to be decorated, and then applied the precious stone, cut to the required shape, as an inlay. The way in which this was done gives evidence of a remarkably high degree of skill in this line of work; in many cases an inlay of gold was used, instead of a precious stone, and it has even been conjectured that some of these gold inlays represent a kind of gold filling for the protection of the tooth. While this is open to question, the undoubted fact that new teeth were occasionally inserted to take the place of those which had fallen out or decayed, as shown in several specimens, might be regarded as corroborative of the broader assumption. The expert workmanship of these pre-Colombian “dental surgeons” is clearly manifested in the good condition of the teeth whence so much of the enamel had been removed, showing that the inlays must have been so closely adjusted that the tooth was effectively protected from the introduction of moisture.
One of the latest fashionable fads, suggested by the great variety of bright-colored costumes worn by the mondaines (and others) at the present day, is the selection and wear of jewelry set with stones of the same color as the striking gown. Thus with a costume of glowing red, the ruddy ruby would be chosen, a sky-blue costume would insure the wearing of the justly popular sapphire, dress of a golden-yellow hue would call for one of the shades of topazes, while the “new brown,” now so much in vogue, finds its complementary stone in topaz of a slightly darker shade. The grass-green costume would suggest one of the many beautiful shades of the tourmaline, and jewelry of the pink tourmaline would be appropriate to garments of this color. With their wonderful play of color, opals would accord with all varieties of hue in costume and might thus be worn with either of the other more especially matched stones.
An old account of the London trades and guilds, in writing of the jewellers’ art, makes the following statement regarding the qualifications of a jeweller, as appropriate to our own times as to any other.[[717]]
He ought to be an elegant Designer, and have a quick Invention for new Patterns, not only to range the stones in such manner as to give Lustre to one another, but to create Trade; for a new Fashion takes as much with the Ladies in Jewels as in anything else; he that can furnish them oftenest with the newest Whim has the best Chance for their Custom.