STAR OF MINAS
This stone was discovered at Bagagem in Brazil, in 1911. Its weight in the rough is given as 174¾ carats.
THE ARABIAN DEATH
The first Earl Lytton became possessed of a fine diamond on which were engraved certain Arabic words, and his death which took place soon after he had obtained possession of it has been attributed to its malignant influence. The gem was bequeathed by Earl Lytton to Madame la Comtesse Greffuhle, who showed it to a learned Indian Prince who was in Paris at the time. After reading the mysterious Arab words the Prince told the Comtesse that it was a stone of death, and advised her not to keep it. The lady, desiring to end the power of the stone for mischief, threw it into the river Seine from the Pont Neuf.
THE MOONSTONE
The famous novel by Mr. Wilkie Collins entitled “The Moonstone,” is based on the histories of “the magnificent stone which adorns the top of the Russian imperial sceptre, once the eye of an Indian Idol,” and the Koh-i-Noor. Some writers confuse this Moonstone with the well-known orthoclase feld-spar. The following extract from the Prologue of Mr. Collins’s book states: “The earliest known traditions describe the stone as having been set in the forehead of the four-handed Indian God who typifies the Moon. Partly from its peculiar colour, partly from a superstition which represents it as feeling the influence of the Deity whom it adorned, and growing and lessening in lustre with the waxing and waning of the Moon, it first gained the name by which it continues to be known in India to this day—the name of the Moonstone. A similar superstition was once prevalent, as I have heard, in ancient Greece and Rome: not applying, however, as in India to a diamond devoted to the service of a god, but to a semi-transparent stone of the inferior order of gems supposed to be affected by the lunar influences—the Moon, in this latter case also, giving the name by which the stone is still known. The adventures of the Yellow Diamond began with the 11th century of the Christian era. At that date the Mohammedan conqueror Mahmoud of Ghizni crossed India: seized on the holy city of Somnauth and stripped of its treasures the famous temple ... the Moon God alone escaped the rapacity of the conquering Mohammedans.... An age followed another until the first years of the 8th Christian century saw the reign of Aurungzebe, Emperor of the Moguls. At his command havoc and rapine were let loose.... The shrine of the four-handed God was polluted ... and the Moonstone was seized by an officer of rank in the army of Aurungzebe ... The warrior who had committed the sacrilege perished miserably. The Diamond fell into the possession of Tippo, Sultan of Seringapatam, who caused it to be placed as an ornament in the handle of his dagger—and after, General Baird himself found the dead body of Tippo under a heap of slain.” (See [Koh-i-Noor], [Regent], [Orloff].)
CHAPTER XVIII
DICHROITE—IOLITE
DICHROITE: DIOPTASE: DISTHENE: EMERALD: ENSTATITE: EPIDOTE: ESSONITE: EUCLASE: FLINT, THE STONE OF EARLY MAN: ITS USE IN ANCIENT EGYPT: ETHIOPIAN ARROWS: THE ELF DART: FAIRY STONE: CHIAS, THE FIRST TO PROVE THE FLASHING OF STRUCK FLINT: ITS USE IN THE PREVENTION OF NIGHTMARE: “HOLEY” STONES: BUTLER AND THE HOLLOW FLINT: THE MARA: THE GARNET: PECULIARITIES: DANA’S CLASSIFICATION: SUCCINITE, A HARMONY CHARM: GROSSULARITE, A HEALTH CHARM: PYROPE OR BOHEMIAN GARNET: LARGE SPECIMEN IN SAXON REGALIA: EMPEROR RUDOLPH’S SPECIMEN: A TALISMAN OF FRIENDSHIP: HOPE AND PSYCHIC DEVELOPMENT: SPESSARTITE, A PRAYER CHARM: ANDRADITE, A BANISHER OF UNWORTHY THOUGHTS: SPECIMENS FOUND ENGRAVED WITH ANGELS’ NAMES: OUVAROVITE: GARNETS AFFECT MAGNETIC NEEDLE: GREENSTONE: GROSSULARITE: HAEMATITE: SOTACUS’S CLASSIFICATION OF HAEMATITE VARIETIES AND THEIR ACCREDITED VIRTUES: DANA’S CLASSIFICATION: PLINY’S RECOMMENDATION: USE IN ANCIENT TIMES: MUMMY’S HEAD-REST: ANDREAS BALVANCENSIS’ IDEA: STENCH STONE: GALEN’S PRESCRIPTION: HIDDENITE: HORNSTONE: HYACINTH: VIRTUES OF THE HYACINTH: THE JACINTH VARIETY: THOMAS DE CANTEMPRE’S DESCRIPTION: OPINIONS OF LEONARDUS AND DE BOODT: FRANCIS BARRETT’S COMMENTS: OBSERVED CHANGES IN THE STONE: AVICENNA’S COMPARISON: THE HYACINTH IN THE GARDEN OF PEACE AND AMONGST THE ROSICRUCIAN JEWELS: HYDROPHANE: HYPERSTHENE: IOLITE.
DICHROITE. (See [IOLITE].)
DIOPTASE. The name is derived from the Greek DIA, through, and OPTOMAI, to see. This pretty emerald-green copper silicate was named in 1801 by Hauy, who found on looking through it cleavage directions. As the crystals are usually so small Dioptase, which is of about the same degree of hardness as lapis lazuli, is seldom used in jewellery. According to ancient philosophy, dioptase would strengthen the sight of those who gazed upon it, and benefit if worn on the neck in throat troubles. Astrologically, dioptase is under the celestial Taurus.