Morning journal and courier., 1883-12-22
Superstition About Precious Stones
 From tho Cornhfil Mssafine.l


 If any stone deserves worship for it's beau ty it is the opal; and so rightly valued at it's proper worth was the opal in oIden days that after ages admired the Roman Senator who. when Mark Anthony coveted his opal ring, went into voluntary exile, preferriog to part with his country rather than his gem. Yet in these days there are numbers of people who will refuse the gift of an opal or sell any they may possess, on account of it's bad repu- tation as briuger of bad luck and dIspeiier of affection. Yet it was the reverse Of an inauspicious stone ii former days. Accord Ing to Onamakritus 1t was one os .he stoi1es that would insure the efficacy of prayer. Ac. cording to Berquem the opal made it's wearer lovRbIe and concilated love; it Tajoiced the heart, preserved fro m poison and infection, dissipated melancholy, and strengthened the sight. What, then, could be more desirable either as gift or a possession? Whence, then, arose the bad reputation of the opal? Barbot, in his t'Treatise on Precious Stones" says that it is evidently due to it's connec- ton with the legend Of Robert the Devil, without explaining further, while sometimes it is traced to the story of the opal in Sir Walter Scott's Anne of Geierstein y It will be remembered that in tue weird tale of Anpe's grandfather the Persian lady whom he married possessed g marvellous opal, which, on the day of the christening of their ohiid, when some holy water cane in contact with it, first shot out brilliant spark, and was the next instant ''lightless and colorless as a common pebble" The Persian heroine tainted and died, and was followed by her husband, Herman of Arpheim, three years afterward; and their granddaughter, refer ring to the story, said that she had beard of the opal growing pale, 1t being the nature of that noble stone to do so on the approach of poison, and Hermione having been thought to have been poisoned by the jealous Baro- ness Steinfeldt. But it is evident that there is not enough in either of these tales to &C., count for total change of popular supersti. tion, neither the legend of Robert the Devil nor of the Persian Esrmione having ever been sufficiently known to have had the slightest influence on common opinion. Till, there fore, some better explanation can be thought of the wrong that is at present done to that fairest of all gems, the opal, must bs set down as one of those freaks of superstition which are absolutely without justification or reason. But the superstition that yet fingers about the precious stones represents, happily, a diminishing quantity. Who would think now of sttributing to each stone spec- ial influence over each month, and wearing, therefore, the sapphire in April, the agate Tn May, and so forth? Yet our ancestors did this and even appropriated 10 12 kinds of precious stones the 12 Apostles. Perhaps there was some pious intent iu making the jasper the symbol of Saint Peter, the chryso lite of Saint Matthew, or the uncertain beryl of the disbelieving Saint Thomas; but the modern spirit needs not these reminders, and their value at any time must have been very doubtful. But smile as we may at the su- perstition that ruled in by-gone times with regard to precious stones, we have to admit that it was not altogether without it's brighter side. In the darker ages, for instance, it can have been no mean happiness to possess gems which, like the sapphire, insured the fulfflIment of prayer, or, like the diamond ordo roduoa6 Ea t0 6Af0 and pleasant pastime. What charms have we wherewith to face the perils and mfsfortunea of life comparable to the faith in their taiis- man which supported our ancestorss?