The San Francisco call., 1896-11-01
THEY ROBBED THE SUNBEHMS
Magnetic and Electrical Virtues Of
Our Precious Stones

Any one in whose nature is implanted
the love of the beautiful, as it is expressed
in color and form, fresh from the labora-
tory of nature, cannot but receive pleas
ant sensation upon meeting Unexpectedly
the sparkling iridescent gems exposed for
sale in this land of mist and sunshine.
Go where you will, on the train or in the
city, you will see some one or something
which will remind you that gems are a
product of the soil in this section. From
a diamond to an agate, the so-called pre-
cious stones abound, more or less perfect,
resurrected from the grave of centuries,
hidden in the cold and rocky mountains,
or under the sands of the remorseless
deserts.
You may feast your eyes and revel to
your hearts content in the bright offer
ings of these geometrical children of the
elements, who are OF many races, kith
and kin. They seem to have robbed the
sunbeams of their prismatic hues and bor-
rowed fire from the stars, while mother
Moon" herself has been obliged to pay
tribute with some of her soft but cold
smiles. In fact, you may run the entire
gamuI of color-tones in this jewel king
dom; and if it be true, as some one has
tried to demonstrate recently, that each
color represents a sound, what divine
anthems these aristocrats of the mineral
world must sing-what melodies and har-
monies to touch the soul OF naturel
Two important lessons, it seems to me.
are offered to mantle bully and the
monarch of this little earth-bv these
crystalline brothers of the metals, and
they are accuracy and "harmony"
There are some curious legends con.
nected with gems. There always has been
and pro ably always will be something
about them which makes them precious
other than the value arising from t. G
labor of obtaining, and their relative
scarcity. Whether it be superstition Oh
truth, there ia q common belief in the
minds of men, and has been from time
immemo orial, that gems have exercised
a specific power upon the human organ
ism. 1t is we'll known that among othsl
minerals precious stones--at least some
of them-are possessed of an influence
which is analogous to electricity ana mag.
netism, if, indeed, it is Eot really these
forces themselves that contribute the in
nate virtues to inanimate (O crystals.
But are they inanimate? What is lifei
1t has been SldteQ more Iuau once re-
Gently that everything is alive, down to
the very atoms floating in the air, and in
making this statement nothing new is Of
fered. as we find the same belief incor.
porated in the views of the ancients. In
fact, it was proclaimed and believed in
Egypt, that land of pyramids, sphinx and
other mysteries. Even in our own day
the greatest scientific minds have come to
the conclusion that life is universal,
omnipresent principle. Nothing, let me
say, is without life. In scme forms, as
stones, life acts slowly. but none the less
truly. This Is queer tenet, no doubt, to
modern minds, but we find it being EN-
braced by many intelligent people, and il
Is worth mentioning here as offering pos
sloiy clew TO tie action of stones and
meals when used therapeutically.
In some frapments of ancient lore we
hno the statement that it was imagined
that the garnet was conducive to joy, the
chaicedony to courage. the topaz promot-
ing chastity. the amethyst assisting rea-
son. and the sapphire intuition, showing