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.