Nathaniel Hawthorne’s beautiful story of “The Great Carbuncle” in his “Twice-told Tales” is based on the Indian tradition which is, he says, “too wild and too beautiful to be adequately wrought up in prose.” Nevertheless the author does so with old-world charm: “Some few believe that this inestimable stone is blazing as of old, and say that they have caught its radiance like a flash of summer lightning, far down the valley of the Saco. And be it owned that many a mile from the Crystal Hills I saw a wondrous light around their summits and was lured by the faith of poesy to be the last pilgrim of the Great Carbuncle.”
In the Middle Ages the carbuncle was worn as a charm to protect the wearer against the plague, and it was said to protect travellers on long voyages by sea from drowning, and by land from accidents. It was also credited with the power of resisting poisons, of averting evil thoughts and dreams. It was an up-lifter of the soul and a preserver of the health of the body. When its lustre changed, the death of the wearer was indicated. In addition to being the stone of undying hope and the dispeller of sadness, the Indians and Arabs credit it with protecting from wounds and harm in the midst of battle. A story was told to the author by the mother of an Australian Captain born, according to astrology, with the Sun rising in the sign of the Archer. This officer wore at the author’s suggestion a ring of carbuncle. At Gallipoli he, with a few men, was cut off by incessant gunfire which, although directed their way, did not injure them and from which they were eventually rescued. During this ordeal the Captain looked often at his calm, flame-burning ring, the unearthly brightness of which seemed to him an emblem of salvation.
Emanuel Swedenborg compared the carbuncle with the good of celestial love, and it was regarded as a heart stimulant by some old medical writers. It represents the red arterial blood and is connected with the fiery sign of the zodiac Sagittarius. A great part of Australia is much influenced by this sign according to astrology and large quantities of extremely beautiful almandines—which were at one time mistaken for rubies and termed “Australian rubies”—have been already found.
To dream of the carbuncle was said to indicate acquirement of wisdom.
The carbuncle is under the zodiacal Sagittarius.
CARNELIAN
“Let not the Muse the dull Carnelian slight,
Although it shine with but a feeble light.”
Marbodus.
The Carnelian obtains its name from the Latin word Carnis, flesh, which describes its colour. The Sard (Greek, Sarx, flesh) called by Swedenborg and the ancients the “sardine Stone,” of a deeper brownish red is said by Pliny to have been named from Sardis in Asia Minor. Carnelian is also written cornelian, cornelien, and carnelion. Woodward in his “Natural History” (1695) alludes to the ancient Roman tradition that the pale red carnelians were called females and the deeper colours males. The yellow carnelian was anciently regarded as the female loved by the Sun. These gems are extremely sensitive, being affected by oils and acids. It has been demonstrated from olden times that carnelians exposed to the rays of the sun were brightened and heightened in colour, a result which could not be obtained by ordinary heat. The carnelian and sard were greatly used in all ages, and many beads, charms and ornaments have been found in the old lands. The writer had in his possession two beautiful Etruscan scarabs of sard—one bearing a portrait of Æsculapius and the snake, the other portraying Venus disrobing—neither of which had suffered much from the attacks of time.