The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1892-04-28
SILLY SUPERSTITION.
The Widespread Belief That Opals
AFRO Unluclzy.
Jcwo1crs Who Arc Afraid to Keep Them
La Stock--Sofnc reasons why tue
Beautiful Gems Arc viewed
with Distrust.

lcautuui ScElS arc ttcWC0
with Distrust.
The silly superstition ebout cpals--
that they bring Ill lncls-oics hard. says
Minerals. In fact, although Queen Vic
toria has taken firm stand against II
and proves her position by making pres
ents of opal jcwelry to her friends and
relatives, there are many who think
that it is increasing. The supertition
and the arrival within q year of
bushel or SO of opals from Australia. un.
surpassed in color, have had tendency
to lower the price of these lovely gems,
and some dealers are willing to dispose
of their stock of them for less than cost.
One jewelcr in New York, who formerly
sold good many, refuses to keep them
any longer. 81 haven't an opal in the
place." said he. mind, I'm not in the
least affected by this idea of opals
bringing bad luck, for love the stones,
and would Gs lief have an opal on my
finger as diamond, but they are run.
ming down in value and have but few
buyers, so that 1t does not pay me to
keep them, and, besides, women come
back hore with opal rings and pins that
sold them years ago and demand to
exchange them for something else. be-
cause in the meantime their pet cats
have died, or their babies have had
Group, or their neighbors have expressed
horror at their tcmerity in wearing
forbidden gem. In other words. they
want to exchange worn and unsuitable
goods for things that are newer and OF
1yvn In, .,,1,1 a..
are good customers l have to submit To
it."
One man in Brooklyn took the opal
out Of his ring and smashed it to atoms
with q Ratchet because he had failed in
business.
While Sir Walter Scott did something
to give the opal bad name by his
account of it in "Anne of Gierstein," It
was held in distrust long before his
time. 1t was considerably in use in
Venice at the time Of the plague, and it
was noticed there in the hospitals
that before death the stone would
sometimes brighten on the victims fin
ger. 1t never seemed to occur to the
people that the illness could produce
the glow of color; they took 1t for
granted that the stone occnsioned the
Illness. AS q matter of fact opals arc
affected by heat, even by that Of the
hand, and the fever, being at Its height
just before death, caused the colors to
shine with unwonted clearnesa This
confirmed the superstition, and TO this
day there are sane and able-bodied people
who believe that a chip of stone in the
house can cause calamities. Sometimes
1t seems as If mankind has not gone far
beyond its swaddling clothes as yet
Probably another reason for the dis
trust excited in opals is the fact that
they change and lose their color. This
has its cause in the softness and por-
BUSINESS Of the material and its capacity
both for absorbing water and withpart-
ing with whit It has, one Of which
transformations tends to make II dull,
the other ohallSy and opaque. A pecul.
lar variety of opal, black in color, yot
exhibiting iridescent flashes. was cut
into handsome stones, but on opening
the papers that contained them a few
weeks later 1t was discovered that they
had crumbled into powder. They were
said to have come from New Zealand.
The transparent opals that come from
Honduras are believed to regain color.
after It has become faint, by soaking
them in oil. Doubtless the most cur
ious form of opal, but one that does not
commend itself for use in ornament, is
the hydrophane, that was known GEN.
turies ago as the oculus mundi, or
"eyc OF the world"-a name purely fan
tastical-and that has recently been
found in small quantities in Colorado.
This stone has q wonderful power OF
absorption. In its usual state It is of q
ye.lowish, waxy tint, but when water
Is dropped upon It the tint slowly
passes ,oway. and from being .translu-
cent 1t becomes transparent On ex.
posure to the air the water evaporatea
In an hour, leaving the stone as Il waa
hefora