Rings for the finger

by George Frederick Kunz

2. WATCH RING, SET WITH PEARLS

Showing the dial and the movement of the balance staff Eighteenth Century

MODERN WATCH RING

Side and front views

A ring made from the hoof of a wild ass was supposed to possess medicinal virtue, and one made from the hoof of a rhinoceros, if placed on the finger, was believed to cure certain nervous disorders. A ring of rhinoceros-horn was a still more powerful remedial agent and its wear was favored in India as an antidote for poisons and to cure convulsions or spasms.[586] A ring made from the hoof of the elk possessed similar virtues, and cramps in the legs would be cured if the afflicted part were merely touched with such a ring.

As to the mode in which the elk-hoof should be used for curative rings for epilepsy, the old authorities differed, Goclenius affirming that a piece of the hoof should be set in a ring, while others believed that the entire ring should be turned out of this material. The proper way of wearing it was to place it on the fourth finger, so that it could come in contact with the palm of the hand. The choice of the particular hoof was also matter for debate, some favoring that of the left hind foot and others that of the right one. Rings set with teeth of the sea-horse were recommended by Johann Michaëles, a famous physician of Leipsic. A ring made of pure silver, of “the moon,” as the astrologers said, if set in a piece of elk-hoof, under the zodiacal sign of Pisces and during a favorable conjunction of the planets, would prove a certain cure for epilepsy and all brain diseases.[587]

The Tyrolean hunters have the same superstitious fancy as to the talismanic power of an antelope’s tooth set in a ring as is (or was) held in some other parts of the world regarding elks’ teeth set in rings. Of the Tyrolean rings, four examples were disposed at the sale in New York in 1913, of the fine collections of Mr. A. W. Drake.[588]

A gold ring specially designed for a physician’s use in counting pulse-beats is to be seen in the collection of Dr. Albert Figdor, Vienna. It is set with a watch, below which, on the bezel, is inscribed the name of the watchmaker, Kossek in Prague. The aperture for the insertion of the watch key is on the lower side, and there is a slide for regulating the movement of the little timepiece.[589]

Among healing rings none might be thought to promise better results than the “electric rings,” made of an amalgam of copper and some other metal, which are sold to a considerable extent, their curative power being supposedly derived from an electric charge, or a generation of electricity. Whatever good effects may have been observed as a result of the use of such rings, presumably few would be inclined to deny that one of the active agents in the cure was the faith of the wearer, which assuredly would fortify or supplement the beneficial effects of electric emanations, where the mind was firmly impressed with the conviction that a curative power existed in the ring.