Cook’s Voyages, 1790.

In ancient times the minerals comprising or included in this important group were commonly known by the name Lapis Nephriticus or Kidney Stone, and from this name in the 18th century Dr. A. G. Werner suggested the term Nephrite. To the Nephrite varieties the general term Jade is universally applied. The name occurs in old writings as jad and jadde, and is derived from the Spanish Hijada, kidney. Sir Walter Raleigh in 1595 wrote of this “kinde of stones which the Spaniards call Piedras Hijadas and we use for spleene stones.” Chemically the species included under the name “jade” are not the same, the nephrite jade being a silicate of lime and magnesia and the jadeite a silicate of sodium and alumina, but the modern scientist in common with the ancient scientist binds them together under the one denomination—kidney stone. In the 19th century Professor A. Damour demonstrated the chemical difference between jade and jadeite. The well-known Camphor Jade of China is a white jadeite, some specimens containing certain percentages of Chromium exhibiting those apple-green patches so highly praised by gem collectors. Burmese Jade, known as Chauk-Sen, (which since the 13th century has been principally exported to China) is chiefly jadeite, and the Imperial Jade of charming pale or apple-green colour, known as Feitsui and set down by some writers as chrysoprase, is more properly Prehnite. The nephrite charms—Piedras Hijadas—known in Mexico as Chalchihuith when the Spanish invaded that country were probably jadeites. The Chinese have held the jade family in the highest esteem and reverence for many centuries, and it poetically expresses to them all the virtues of many precious stones blended together. It is said that most of the nephrite used by them came from the Kuen-lun mountains in Turkestan, but the discovery of the mineral at no great distance from Peking in 1891 helped to make that city a great working centre. The Chinese word for jade is YU, expressed in their hieroglyph as a cross over a kind of semi-circle. Jade stone they know as YU-CHI, and precious objects of jade as OUAN YU. The words KHITCHINJOU-YU indicates a gem rare as jade, and the Imperial Academy was known as Jade Hall. The Turkestan name for jade closely resembles the Chinese YU in its form YASHM, YUSHM or YESHM.

Ages before the Christian era the jade was said to indicate the nine accomplishments, Charity, Goodness, Virtue, Knowledge, Skill, Morality, Divination, Rectitude, Harmony. YU may also be rendered “courage,” and in its connection with the jade stone or YU-CHI it included the five cardinal virtues—YU, bravery, JIU charity, JI modesty, KETSU equity, CHI discrimination. In her “Wanderings in China” Mrs. C. F. Gordon Cummings says: “The Chinese name for jade is YU-SHEK—(it may also be written YU-CHI) and that by which we call it is said to be a corruption of a Spanish word referring to a superstition of the Mexican Indians who deemed that to wear a bracelet of this stone was the surest protection against all diseases of the loins: hence the Spanish named the mineral Piedra di Hijada (stone of the loins) by which name it became known in Europe.” Jade is the concentrated element of love which protected the infant and the adult and preserved the bodies of the dead from decay. Dr. Kunz quotes the Chinese mystical writer Ko Kei who asserted that the body of a man who had consumed 5 pounds weight of jade powdered did not change colour when he died, and that when several years later it was exhumed no evidences of change or decay were visible. When vibrated this stone produces musical notes, and it was regarded as expressive of music and harmony, poets singing its praises. It was the emblem of love, beauty, protection and charm, and it graced the holy altars. For the altar of earth the symbolic jade stone was of yellowish hue, whilst during lunar festivals white jade was employed. Black—mentioned, but doubtful indeed—was the North Jade, and red the South. White was the West and green the East. It was said that in sickness the heat of the body drew out virtues from the jade, healing virtues soothing and life protecting. In “Buddhist Records of the Western World” Mr. Samuel Beal writes that “in the kingdom of Kuichi or Kuche in the Eastern Convent known as the Buddha Pavilion, there is a large yellowish-white jade stone shaped like a sea shell which bears on its surface what is said to be Buddha’s footmark. This footmark is one foot 8 inches long and 8 inches in breadth. It is said that the relic emits a bright sparkling light at the conclusion of each fast day.” Professor E. H. Parkes, M.A. in “Ancient China Simplified” mentions a custom of burying a jade symbol of rulership in the ancestral temple to protect the fortunes of the family, and jade symbols adorned private family insignia. Strangely enough the world’s people have always reverenced the nephrite as the kidney stone—the use of it goes further back than the knowledge of man. It was used in old Egypt as in old China, and Pliny mentions the Adadu-nephros or kidney of Adonis. This is an early identification of jade with the Venusian Adonis and the parts of the body over which Venus astrologically presides. The Indians call it the Divine Stone which is credited with being a cure for gravel and epilepsy and as a charm against the bites of animals and poisonous reptiles. It was also said to remove thirst and hunger, to cure heartburn and asthma and to affect favourably the voice, organs of the throat, the liver and the blood. Its greasy surface led to its employment as a hair improver, but its chief excellence was in nephritic disorders and specimens worn over the region of the kidneys or on the arm are said to have acted in a wonderful and unexpected manner in the banishing of these troubles. It is claimed also as a power for the removal of gravel. The Maoris of New Zealand according to the best authorities noted six varieties of jade. Punamu is their name for the whole species termed by authors of the last decade “green talc of the Maoris.” The well-known greenstone variety is termed Kawakawa by the Maoris, the paler and more precious Kahurangi, the greyish Inanga. The Tangiwai stone is a pellucid serpentine or variety of Bowenite. The Nephrite is a sacred stone to these sturdy New Zealanders who use it in the construction of their offensive and defensive weapons and sacred objects. These greenstone weapons are amongst the finest of known stone tools. The sacred and curiously formed charm, the Hei Tiki, is an esoteric symbol which is worn as a precious emblem and never parted with except for very weighty reasons. For example, a Hei Tiki recently handled by the author was given by an old chief on his deathbed to an English officer who had saved his life in the Maori war. The Tahunga stone—the stone of the magicians by the aid of which the flashes of light were directed by the Medicine Man to bewildered eyes, was usually formed from a Kahurangi type of greenstone, and the Mere or Pattoo Pattoo, a club of dark Punamu, was said to send its victims to the world of Spirits.

Old Maori Charm of Greenstone Known as “Hei Tiki”

A variety of jade of dark green colour, discovered in the Swiss Lake dwellings and the dolmens of France usually in the form of Celts was termed Chloromelanite by Professor Damour. This Nephrite has also been discovered in New Guinea where it was fashioned by the natives into clubs and other implements. Other Nephrites have been termed Fibrolite or Sillimanite. The Pâté de Riz is merely a fine white glass, and Pink Jade is usually a piece of quartz. Some beautiful specimens of translucent green jade are collected by children on the Island of Iona and many specimens have been unearthed in various parts of Europe. Professor Max Muller discovered in old Egypt a remarkable green stone used as a charm against hysteria; this interesting specimen is now in the Museum of Natural History, New York.

The Nephrite family is under the celestial Libra.

CHAPTER XXI
OBSIDIAN—ONYX

OBSIDIAN, A NATURAL VOLCANIC GLASS: ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CUSTOMS: MEXICAN ITZTLI: STATUES IN OBSIDIAN: USED BY GREEKS AND ROMANS: “OBSIDIANS”: OBSIDIAN “BOMBS”: BOTTLE STONE: MR. R. H. WALCOTT AND HIS TERM OBSIDIANITES: AUSTRALITES: BILLITONITES: MR. F. CHAPMAN’S THEORY: SUPERSTITIONS OF THE NATIVES: OLIVINE: DERIVATION: LEGEND OF THE SLEEPING VENUS: THE GATES: THE ONYX STONES OF THE HIGH PRIEST: LIFE AND EARTH DEATH: ANTIQUE BELIEF NOTED BY MR. PHILLIPS AND ITS MEANING: RABBI BENONI AND THE MASTER RAGIEL: EYE STONES: A CHARM OF BEAUTY: CASTOR AT THE TOMB OF APHAREUS: NICOLO THE ÆGYPTILLA OF THE ANCIENTS: GIBRALTAR STONE: THE MANTUAN VASE: EL JAZA OR STONE OF SADNESS: 5 TYPES OF ONYX: AN ONYX STAIRCASE: SYMBOLICAL MEANING OF THE STRATA: AS ROSICRUCIAN STONES: THE SAINTE CHAPELLE OR GRAND CAMAHIEU KNOWN AS THE “APOTHEOSIS OF AUGUSTUS”: PEIRESC CORRECTS A FALSE BELIEF: THE CARPEGNA CAMEO: THE CORONATION CAMEO OF AUGUSTUS: TRUE MEANING AND DERIVATION OF THE WORD CAMEO.

OBSIDIAN