, 1880-12-19
VIRTUES OF GEMS.


In both the Greek and the Roman writa,a
power Of precious stones. From MANY of
| the illusions 1t appears that the dictates of
fashion here, as everywhere else, had mnch
influence over the prevailing belief in the yir.
tue of particular st,nes, now one and now
another being held up as specially etficacIou.
| for the cure of certain diseases. Tins
while the. ''crystal" and the "adamas''
| stood for long time among the Greeks at
the head Of medicinal agents, that position
was afterward assumed BY the "sarlius," or
the Oriental carnelian- "No other stonen
| records Pliny, 'was SO great fayorit with
the Greeks as this, and the plays OF Menander
and Of Philemon abound in allusIons to it,
| The cause Of this favOritlsm lay probably in
| the facility with which the car1elian could
be cut by the engrayer, the dull red fesh-col-
| ored stone offering by itself no other attrac-
| tons. Such engraved stones, either in the
! form of intag|ios or of canoes, constitute 10
| some extent an epoch in the history OF gems,
] rs it modified the original idea OF stones
| being possessed Of Inherent virtues. To this
came NOW to be added the conception thar
| these powers might be raised or changed BY
| pictures and Inscriptions from the hand Of
| the engraver.
The current OF ideas that led to the en-
craving on precious stones is very clearly
sketched ont BY Camille LEONARDO, an Italian
writer Of the fifteenth century, himself
firm believer in the power OF "charms" aud
the ancient Greeks and Romans following in
the footsteps Of the Egyptfans and Persians,
were perfectly reasonable in attaching value
to engraved stones, LEONARDO goes on to say:
'All things in Nature have certain form,
and are subject to certain influences So,
also, precious stones, being natural p1oduc-
ti0ns, have a prescribed form, and as such
are subject to the universal influence of tbs
planets. Hence, if these stones be engraved
By a skilfful person. under some particular
influence, they receive special virtue, as il
they had been endowed with additional
power through that engraving And should
it happen that the power intended by tine en-
craving be the same as that of the natural
be doubled, and thereby its efficacy greatly
augmented"
The ancient writer's give us numerous pre-
scrlptions as to the proper use and appllca-
tion OF engraved stones It Is not 1,;s ttls ~
down for the employment OF various
.'char1ns." Thus, "ar ram or 4 bearded mans
head 1.-THE god Ammon] engraved on sapphire
will protect the wearer from all intirnltties,
graved bery1, with the dragon in front, has
power to evoke the water spirits and forca
them to speak; and it will also call up tho
dead Of your acquaintance, obliging them to
your tha An0sher G5ssf
with design showing s' a man with long
face and beard, his eyebrows raised, sitting
behind plnw. and holding up a foxsand :
yulture, witt, four men lying upon his neck"
eepg T ks se@ Se deam n9e5 y ofr asaa %S 5
the right way Of discovering them" There
were most remarkable virtues in another
kind of cut stone, representing Hercules
and JoVe, "Aan seated, and woman
Standing before him with her hair banging
up to her; this cut on carnelian has thB vir--
tue that whoever is touched Herewith shall
be led to dQ the owners will Immediately"
And again, as related by LEONARDO: MAN
engraved on heph;estitis {carbunele), orcrys-
tai, which stone must be set in a copper ring:
whosoever looks upon it OIL a Sunday, before
sunrise, sf!ail have victory over all bis ene-
mics, and # he looks upon it on a THURSDAY
must be clothed in white. and alstain from
eating pigeon" Highly recommended was
another gem engraving upon "chalce-
donlus,'' SO called from being met with IN
copper mines near the City OF Chalcedon-
We learn that :" goat engraved on chace~
donius leads to anass wealth: keep this IN
thy money-box, and thou art certain to get
RICH" 1t is sad to record that the ancient
chalcedonius, frequently referred to By PIiny,
- Hu HO1E luuAu. Lut INlHtS u tHdAGCuo'+
having become exhausted more than th0u-
sand years ago. The stone now going by tho
name Of chalcedony is an agathe onyx, close,
~ atlleH to. and scarcely to be distinguished
from, the hungarian opal.
The faith in engraved stones 13 constituting
" charms - and ''amu1ets - noufishes, aS IS
well known. nearly rs vigorously in the East
at the present day as it did in ancient Gteeeo
and Rome, and.is not extinct even in Europe.
There are few potentates in Asia and Afrtca
who have not around their neck, mostly
pressed against the heart. some gem t1HpFG
tect them against evil. The late King ffHncs
IL OF Naples wore constantly necklet n'aao 10
up of engraved "amulets," supposed 70 20
similar in virtue to the Greek stone with uh
man on the eagle, which conferred "siGt2!y
overall enemies; 10 these ''charns," " a as
Majesty trusted to the very last,-nntlA Ns
to be supposed. Gen. Garil,!ldi had driven
him from home and throne. Throughont
Spain and Italy there exists, among the l0Wel
classes, full faith in asnuiets." especially II
such us adorn the statues Of the Madonna aha IT,
the fayorit saints. In the rest Of Europe tae "
belief met its deGtll-strUke in the aaFen' ~ ~
ProteStantlsn- However, 1t Is. rfiateu "
Vaughan, Bishop Of Chester, that Qnsseh
Elizabeth cured, by touch. scroflltons W "
cases - by virtue Of some precious stones oe
longing to the Crown of England that pog
sesseA this miraculous gift" This was th,. ess
IDENTIFY still the belief in Queen Elszaoe.ahMe
time, though it is more than doubtful "netnE1
the strongly-mint1ed Royal lady shared Il
4 KEEPSAKE.