Even in South Africa snake-stones are known, but it appears that the few specimens reported had been brought thither from the Dutch East Indies; one such stone had been handed down for generations in a Dutch settler’s family. From their appearance some of these snake-stones were judged to be pieces of burnt hartshorn. A Boer farmer owned an amulet of this kind that he would loan from time to time to neighbors who might have need of it. On one occasion, when the daughter of an English hunter had been bitten by a snake, the father sent off a man on horseback to borrow this snake-stone. Owing to the unavoidable delay, some hours elapsed before it could be applied to the wound. The girl recovered after its use but the wound did not heal satisfactorily, and this was attributed to the length of time that had intervened between the attack of the snake and the use of the remedial stone.[[478]]
In December, 1887,[[479]] the writer described a white opaque variety of hydrophane with a white, chalky or glazed coating, which had recently been brought from a Colorado locality. The absorbent quality of this stone is quite remarkable, and when water is allowed to drop on it, it first becomes very white and chalky, and then gradually perfectly transparent. This property is developed so strikingly that the finder proposed the name “Magic Stone” for the mineral and suggested its use in rings, lockets, charms, etc., to conceal photographs, hair, and other objects, which the wearer wishes to reveal only as caprice dictates.
VI
Angels and Ministers of Grace
The veneration of angels and the attribution to them of especial days or months, as well as the idea that they were guardians of those born on those days or during those months, was the result of many factors. The belief in the existence of angels is present in all parts of the Bible, but in the earlier portions they are not individualized in any way. The angel of God, or of the Lord (malach Elohim or malach Yahveh) was simply a messenger of God, employed to communicate his will or else to accomplish some act of divine justice.
It is quite possible that the greater prominence given to angels among the Jews after the Babylonian Captivity was not solely dependent upon Babylonian or Persian influence. We learn from the historical and prophetical books of the Old Testament that the Jews had, from the earliest times, worshipped other gods besides the God of Israel, and were ever ready to assimilate the religious superstitions of the heathen world. Several of the divinities that were worshipped in Babylonia and Assyria were also objects of adoration in Israel, not indeed by the chosen spirits of the nation from whom we receive our records, but by the masses of the people. This very fact, however, served in a certain sense to maintain the purity of the national religion. As the superstitious inclinations of the populace were so fully satisfied from without, there was no necessity to develop or distort the national religion in this direction. The Babylonian Captivity changed all this. It was the élite of the Jewish nation that was deported, and the sufferings and humiliations to which they were subjected in a foreign land only served to strengthen their faith in Yahveh and in his Law. Hence it is, that when this tried and purified remnant returned to Judæa, rebuilt the fallen temple and reorganized the state, the latter became a theocracy in a much stricter sense than ever before, and from this time we can really speak of Judaism as the religion of the whole people.
But the inevitable tendency to split up the unity of the divine force, a tendency that makes itself felt in all religions and among all peoples, soon asserted itself anew and in a different direction. As the people were no longer allowed, we may even say were no longer inclined, to go after foreign gods, they proceeded to develop the idea of divine messengers or intermediaries which had always formed part of the national faith, but had never been fully evolved. While Isaiah and Ezekiel both knew of a division of the angels into certain categories as, for example, cherubim, seraphim, hayyot (living creatures), ofanim (wheels) and arelim, there is no attempt at individualization, and the first mention of an angel’s name occurs in the Book of Daniel, which later critics are disposed to assign to the second century B.C. It is most natural to suppose that such names were known and were familiar to the people long before that time. When we read in the Book of Daniel, xii, 1: “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of Israel,” it is easy to see that the idea that certain special qualities were attributed to this angel was deeply rooted in the popular mind. In a previous verse, x, 13, we read: “Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me,”—a conclusive proof that a hierarchy of angels had already been thought out.
| Fossil Coral of the Devonian Period 1000 B.C. | Amethystine Quartz About 2500 B.C. | Lapis Lazuli About 2000 B.C. | Anhydrite About 2500 B.C. | Banded Agate About 2800 B.C. | Hematite About 2000 B.C. |
| Amethystine Quartz Probably Assyrian of 700 B.C. | Lapis Lazuli 2000 B.C. or earlier | Aragonite-banded 3000 B.C. | Amazon Stone About 1500 B.C. | Black Serpentine, hard and compact. Seals of this type are generally as old as 2500 B.C. |
| Marble, discolored by fire About 2500 B.C. | Jaspery Agate As late as 800 B.C. | Aragonite Probably as old as 3000 B.C. | Rock-Crystal About 1200 B.C. | Serpentine (banded) Probably as early as 2500 B.C. |
| Ferruginous Agate About 800 B.C. | Shell 3000 B.C. or earlier | Jasper, banded red and black About 1200 B.C. | Chalcedony, Blue Saphirine About 700 B.C. | Agate (banded) Assyrian of about 700 B.C. |
| ILLUSTRATIONS OF ACTUAL PRECIOUS STONES AND MINERALS USED FOR SEALS IN ANCIENT ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA | ||||
| Mostly from the collection in the American Museum of Natural History, New York City. | ||||