The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-12-05
SOME NEW BOOKS.


HffNVtpb y fai'Lts' w hstH az VI
The MnDic Of JcrcIs and charms
81. =. Lippincott Company. a COM
panion volume and supplement to iis
very Interesting hook on THE Curious
Lore of Precious stones" publishcI
by the same house. The title is some
what misleading. for the author 'hav-
ing collected u large mass Of material.
chronological, historical and legendary,
in the curse Of personal observations
and study. decided that tho volume
FED not treat Of gems alone" This
decision has had two results: first,
much of the material has moth
ing to do with jewels Mt all, but with
mineralogical products that have been
revered for reasons unconnected with
their intrinsic value. and, second, that
the contents Of note books. put to-
gether without drastic revision and
condensation, and including entertain
ing digressions into cognate fields and
some repetition. make DIR. Eun1's vol
ume one 10 dip into II to consult
for its encyclopaedia information.
rather than to rea C~onseCutively.
The illustrations. some in color. are.
~ We're those in the earlier volume,
very beautiful.
DisregardinG the authors order ~
arrangement. we may begin with the
stones. not precious. that are undoubt-
eddy and visibly of celestial origin.
the meteorites. in earlier times always
objects OF natural reverence. For
many of these DIR. kunz depends on
the pninstaking researches Of h late
Prof. Hubert A. Newton OF Yale Uni
versity. who tried his best to stab
fish the real facts regarding the me-
t~eorites recorded In history. lie tells
Of the stone that fell at Ensisheim.
in Alsace. in 1892. which was exam
lined by the Emperor Macmillan. who
was at Basel, not very far away. n
summoned a council to decide what
the meaning Of the celestial message
might be. They decided that 1t meant
something Of importance in the fight
ing then going on between the French
and the Turks; they might h;..e de-
cided otherwise II they had had any
suspicion of the significance OF Column
bus's discovery that year. In 1911
the Pope and the French were at
war: that year there was a shower
Of metcorites at Crerla. In Lombardy,
and not Ions after the French with
drew from Italy. F'o that reason the
ireball is shown in Rafacl's painting
Of the Madonna of Foligno. DIR. Kunz
gives an o of the black stone
in the Kaabah at Moslem which every
pilgrim kisses. which some guess may
h a meteorite: he tells about the
meteorites mentioned In ancient chron-
icles of many lands and of those re-
corded in the last two centuries, which
have been subjected to more or less
scientific examination. He gives full
descriptions. with pictures. Of the
great meteorites brought by Peary
from Cape York and of those found
in the Willamette Valley. now in
the New York Museum Of Natural
History, Of the Canyon Diublo me
teorite and of others found in the
United States, and tells of their chem
icai constituents and of the uses to
which meteoric iron has been put
He on the are instances
of a meteor striking a human being
In its fall.
Connected with the mcteors are IN,
beliefs regarding other sub
stances that We're thought to have
fallen from heaven, Most recent oi
these is the deluslon. common at one
time in Great Britain, that the me-
tcors on striking the earth turn To .
1ellylike substance. This s~nlrtanCe Il
q well known fungoUs growth that an
pears in the fields most beautifully 10
the fall. the season for shooting stars
Il was called popularly star slough
"star shoot. - star jelly or star rot
A Dartmouth chemical lecturer de-
scribed in 1919 how he Oun the Jelly
like remains of a fallen star. Tn
f:affin's Bay natives think the tdilin.
stars are the souls nj the departc,
bound on m excursion to liadcs 10 SCI
what is going on there while thundc
and lightning ARE caused by ~ par,
OF old womcn who quarrel 80 V~iu.cnti'
over the possession of a seal that the
bring the house down orer their head
and shatter the lamps" Through
out Europe the stone implements n
primitive man were believed to hoV
fallen from hcavsn during storms an.
were called thunder stones Tn
stone hammers perforated In the mid
die TO hold the handle are perhaps ST,
used in East Prussia L. secure tn
flowing of milk from COW that hay
been bewitcheu. They are used :
avert the lightning in storms in Gee
many and in Brazil. In MORAY:
they reveal hidden treasures: they ais
remove warts and have other healin
qualities. The prehistoric arrow
heads and stone hatchets have Xix
qualities not only in Burma and Ma
laysia hut in ireland and in the Alpi
Or. Kunz tells Of TWO aViators VIII
declare thai they have been !iVcd fror
injury by carrying with them a plcC
OF meteorite: he also rccitcs the OK
p%crienccs Of "A Boston lady VINO oil
tanned a metcorite from a professo
of palmistry. a runaway truck Struc
her carriage and she raised her mum +
protect her face: the nun was alnIos
cut in two but she was unhurl. \ FEY
DAVIS later she wa walking under
%scaifolding when it Eel! around he
leaving her safe in h midst Of tn
ruin. Dr. kunZ seems inclined to at
tribute the power of rel'ulsiou in thi
Boston miracle to the qualities inner
ent in the meteorite.
The faith in the healing qualities {
precious stones, whether merely won
or applied TO the injured parts q
taken internally, was universal unt
quito recent times. DIR. kun2 quote
many instances In his all too bii'
.l.. 49,. --s4