The St. Johns herald., 1892-11-17
SILLY SUPERSTITION.
The Widespread Belief That Opels
 Are Unlucky.
Jewellers Who Are Afraid to Keep Them in Stock-Some Reasons Why the Beautiful Gems Are Viewed
 with Distrust.

 The silly superstition about opals- that they bring ill lucl-tlies hard, says Minerals. In fact, although Queen Vic toria has taken firm stand against 1t and proves her position by making pres ents of opal jewelry to her friends and relatives, there are many who think that it is increasing. The superstition and the arrival within 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 jeweler in New York, who formerly sold good many, refuses to keep them any longer. 'I haven't an opal in the place" said he. f'Mind, I'm not in the least affected by this idea of opals bringing bad luck, for love the stones, and would as lief have an opal on my finger as diamond, but they are run ming down in value and have but few buyers, so that it does not pay me to keep them, and, besides, women come back here 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 croup, or their neighbors have expressed horror at their temerity in wearing forbidden gem. In other words, they want to exchange worn and unstable goods for things that are newer and of more value, and in cases where they are good customers have to submit to it." sraeE --rs-r--
 One man in Brooklyn took the opal out of his ring and smashed it to atoms with hatchet 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. It 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. It never seemed to occur to the people that the illness could produce the glow of color; they took it for granted that the stone occasioned the illness. As matter of fact opals are 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 clearness. This confirmed the superstition, and to this day there are sane and able-bodied people who believe that chip of stone in the house can cause calamities. Sometimes it 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 DOT ousness of the material and its capacity both for absorbing water and withpart- ing with what it has, one of which transformations tends to make it dull, the other challzy and opaque. A pecul- far variety of opal, black in color, yet exhibiting iridescent flashes, was cut into handsome stones, but on opening the papers that contained them few weeks later it 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 cen turies ago as the oculus mundi, or ''eye of the world"-a name purely fan tastical-and that has recently been found in small quantities in Colorado. This stone has wonderful power of absorption. Tn its usual state it is of yellowish, waxy tint, but when water is dropped upon it the tint slowly passes aaway, and from being 'translu- cent it becomes transparent. On eX- posture to the air the water evaporates in an hour, leaving the stone as it was before.
 RRlTlSL GOi OAlES