The bird Ibis appears here as it is seen in the hieroglyphics upon obelisks. It was dedicated to Osiris and Isis, good and salutary genii. This creature treads upon the crocodile, emblematical of Typhon, who was reckoned among the Egyptians as the cause of every evil. The two-headed Janus may signify the power of the sun and of Osiris from east to west in the day and in the night (although it has been questioned whether the faces are not those of Pythagoras and the magician Apollonius). The goat’s head, which also appeared in the last gem, is said to be an amulet of health and intended to have power to defend against evils which malice might work, and such its power is marked by holding in its mouth a monstrous crested dragon allied to hatred and coupled with poisonous qualities and carrying a terrible appearance.
§ 2. Jasper, set in rings, took the lead of all other precious stones in its supposed healing power; and this power was supposed to be strengthened when combined with silver in preference to gold.
Even Galen has recommended a ring with jasper set in it and engraved with the figure of a man wearing a bunch of herbs round the neck. Many of the Gnostic or Basilidian gems, evidently used for magical and talismanic purposes, were of jasper. Rings of this material, and to be used as marriage tokens, are said to be made at Wesingburg, the materials being supplied from the shores of Lake Wetter.[174]
Pierre de Boniface, a great alchemist and much versed in magic, who died in 1323, is the reputed author of a manuscript poem on the virtues of gems, of which the celebrated Nostradamus gives the following pretended extract:
“The diamond renders a man invincible; the agate of India or Crete, eloquent and prudent, amiable and agreeable; the amethyst resists intoxication; the cornelian appeases anger; the hyacinth provokes sleep.”[175]
In a scarce poem, by T. Cutwode, entitled Calthæ Poetarum, or the Humble Bee, (1599,) the goddess Diana is introduced, modestly clothing and attiring the heroine:
“And with an emerald hangs she on a ring,
That keeps just reckoning of our chastitie.
And therefore, ladies, it behoves you well