September, 1915

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE
I.Magic Stones and Electric Gems[1]
II.On Meteorites, or Celestial Stones[72]
III.Stones of Healing[118]
IV.On the Virtues of Fabulous Stones, Concretions and Fossils[160]
V.Snake-Stones and Bezoars[201]
VI.Angels and Ministers of Grace[241]
VII.On the Religious Use of Various Stones[277]
VIII.Amulets: Ancient, Medieval, and Oriental[313]
IX.Amulets of Primitive Peoples and of Modern Times[348]
X.Facts and Fancies about Precious Stones[377]

Illustrations

COLOR PLATES
PAGE
Model of a Hindu Lady, Illustrating the Mode of Wearing Jewelry in North India[Frontispiece].
Jade Bell of the K’ien-lung Period (1731–1795)[143]
1, 1½. Emerald that Belonged to the Deposed Sultan of Turkey. 2. Almandite Garnet. 3. Sardonyx Idol-eye of a Babylonian Bull. 4. Aquamarine Seal[159]
Illustrating Precious Stones and Minerals Used for Seals in Ancient Assyria and Babylonia[242]
Perforated Jade Disk Called Ts’ang Pi, a Chinese Symbol of the Deity Heaven (T’ien)[302]
Turquoise Incrusted Objects, Probably Amulets, Found at Pueblo Bonito, New Mexico[353]
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[370]
DOUBLETONES
Indian Medicine-men[18]
Chalcedony and Agate Pebbles from Pescadero Beach, San Mateo County, California[30]
Pebble Beach, Redondo, Los Angeles County, California[30]
Hindu Wearing a Collection of Ancestral Pebbles as Amulets[37]
Killing a Dragon to Extract Its Precious Stone[45]
Naturally Marked Stone[45]
A Simple Apparatus for Illustrating the Electric Properties of the Tourmaline[54]
Necklace of Faceted Amber Beads[63]
Vignette from the “Lapidario de Alfonso X, Codice Original”[69]
The “Madonna Di Foligno,” by Raphael[73]
The Kaaba at Mecca[84]
“Ahnighito,” the Great Cape York Meteorite, Weighing More than 36½ Tons[96]
“The Woman,” Cape York Meteorite[97]
“The Dog,” Cape York Meteorite[98]
Two Views of the Willamette Meteorite Now in the American Museum of Natural History, New York City[99]
Flint Amulets of the Predynastic Period, Egypt[108]
The “Ortus Sanitatis” of Johannis De Cuba, Published at Strassburg in 1483[122]
Famous Pearl Necklace of the Unfortunate Empress Carlotta, Widow of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico[126]
Jade Tongue Amulets for the Dead. Chinese[139]
Frontispiece of Museum Wormianum[141]
Ancient Persian Relic Known as the “Cup of Chosroes”[154]
Bezoars of Emperor Rudolph II, Now in the Hofmuseum, Vienna[216]
Frontispiece and Title-page of Francesco Redi’s “Experimenta Naturalia,” Amsterdam 1675, and Two Specimen Pages of This Treatise[232]
Forms of Tabasheer[233]
Specimens of Tabasheer[235]
Zodiac Mohurs, Coined by the Mogul Sovereign Shah Jehan, about 1628[246]
The Medieval Conception of the Cosmos, the Successive Spheres of the Planets, Including the Sun, and Beyond These the Crystalline Heaven and the Empyrean[248]
The Angel Raphael Refusing the Gifts Offered by Tobit[250]
Santa Barbara[258]
Bloodstone Medallion, Showing the Santa Casa of Loreto Carried by Angels to Dalmatia from Galilee[267]
Chinese Jade Amulets for the Dead[283]
La Madonna Della Salute, by Ottaviano Nelli[287]
Ceremony Annually Observed in the Mogul Empire of Weighing the Sovereign Against Precious Metals, Jewels and Other Valuable Objects, Which Were Distributed as Gifts[301]
The Sacred Well of Chichen Itzá[307]
Carved and Worked Stones from the Sacred Well at Chichen Itzá, Yucatan, Mexico[308]
Eye-Agates[315]
Types of Egyptian Seals and Scarabs in the Murch Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York[316]
Colossal Scarab in Black Granite, British Museum[320]
A Medieval Spell[328]
From a Portrait of Queen Elizabeth[337]
Complete View of the Ancient Jade Girdle-Pendant (From Ku Yü T’u P’u)[341]
Tibetan Woman with Complete Jewelry[343]
“The Light of the East”[345]
Indian Medicine-man[354]
Hei-Tiki Amulets of New Zealand[362]
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[373]
Side View of Hilt[373]
“The Legend of the Moonstone,” Autographed for This Work by the Author of the Poem, Dr. Edward Forrester Sutton[386]
Cleopatra Dissolving Her Priceless Pearl at the Banquet to Mark Antony[394]
LINE CUTS
Title-page of One of the Earliest Treatises on Meteorites[91]
Types of Ceraunia or “Thunder-stones”[111]
Interior of Fifteenth Century Pharmacy[122]
Extracting Toad-stone[162]
Toad-stones. Natural Concretions of Claystone and Limonite[163]
Types of Cheloniæ (Tortoise-stones). Natural Concretions[171]
Chelidonius, or “Swallow-stones”[172]
Ætites[175]
Extracting an Alectorius[179]
Alectorius[180]
Lapis Manati[182]
Lapis Malacensis, Stone of the Hedgehog or Porcupine[183]
Lapis Judaicus. Pentremite Heads[187]
Glossopetræ. Fossil Shark’s Teeth[188]
Belemnites. Fossilized Bony End of Extinct Cuttle-fish[191]
Brontia. Fossil Sea-urchins[193]
Trochites } Fossil
} Crinoid
Enastros } Stems		[194]
Bucardites Triplex[195]
Types of Ombria (Fossil Sea-urchins)[196]
Cornu Ammonis (Fossil Nautilus)[197]
Specimens of Astroites (Asteria), or Fossil Coral[199]
Application of a Bezoar to Cure a Victim of Poisoning[202]
Monkey Bezoar[204]
1. Hedge-hogstone from Malacca. 2, 3. Spurious Stones of this Type Manufactured in Ceylon.[205]
Calculi Taken from Bladder of Pope Pius V[220]
Types of the Ovum Anguinum. Echinites (Sea-urchins)[222]
Cobra de Capello[236]
Canadian Indian Medicine-man[357]
The Birth of the Opal[374]
East Indian Baroque Pearl[392]

The Magic of Jewels and Charms

I
Magic Stones and Electric Gems

While the precious and semi-precious stones were often worn as amulets or talismans, the belief in the magic quality of mineral substances was not confined to them, but was also held in regard to large stone masses of peculiar form, or having strange markings or indentations; moreover, many small stones, possessing neither worth nor beauty, were thought to exert a certain magical influence upon natural phenomena. An occult power of this sort was also attributed by tradition to some mythical stones, the origin of this fancy being frequently explicable by the quality really inherent in some known mineral bearing a designation closely similar to that bestowed upon the imaginary stone.

To certain stones has been attributed the power to produce musical tones, the most famous example being the so-called “Vocal Memnon” of Thebes. This colossal statue was said to emit a melodious sound when the sun rose, and according to Greek legend this sound was a greeting given by Memnon to his mother, the Dawn. It appears, however, that the statue was a respecter of persons, for when the Emperor Hadrian presented himself before it, he is said to have heard the sound three times, whereas common mortals heard it but once, or at most twice, while occasionally the statue withheld its greeting altogether. A modern traveller relates a personal experience that may cast a side-light upon this matter. His visit to Thebes was made in the evening, but a fellah who was standing near the statue asked him whether he wished to hear the musical sound. Of course the reply was in the affirmative. Thereupon the man climbed up the side of the colossal figure and hid himself behind the elbow. In a moment sharp metallic sounds became audible; not a single sound, but several in succession. Knowing from their quality that they could not proceed from the stone, the traveller asked his donkey-boy for an explanation and was told that the man was striking an iron bar. In ancient times the priests probably performed this or a similar trick in a much more skilful way than did the poor fellah, so that the mystery of the statue was carefully guarded.[[1]]