Folklore of Luminous Stones

Rabbinical tradition tells of a wonderful luminous stone placed by Noah in the Ark. This stone shone more brilliantly by day than by night, and served to distinguish the day from the night when, during the flood, neither sun nor moon could be seen. (Ginsburg, "Legends of the Jews," Eng. trans., Phila., 1909, vol. i, p. 162. See also Levy, "Dictionary of the Targumim," etc., New York and London, 1903, vol. ii, p. 836, s. v. Pirke d'R. El., ch. xxiii.) According to another Jewish legend, Abraham is said to have built a city for the six sons Hagar bore to him. The wall with which this city was surrounded was so lofty that the light of the sun was cut off, and to offset this Abraham gave to his sons enormous precious stones and pearls. These exceeded the sun in brightness, and will be used in the time of the Messiah. (Ginsburg, 1. c.)

AElian relates the following tale of a luminous stone. A woman of Tarentum, named Heracleis, who was a pattern of the domestic virtues, lost her husband and mourned sincerely for him. Her grief made her compassionate, for when a young stork just learning to fly lost its strength and fell to the ground before her, Heracleis picked up the helpless bird and tended it carefully until its strength returned and it was able to fly away. A year later, when the woman was outside the house enjoying the bright warm sunshine, she saw a stork flying toward her. As the bird passed over her head, it let fall a precious stone into her lap. Heracleis took the stone with her into the house, feeling by an infallible instinct that the stork which had dropped it was the one she had cared for in the previous year. During the night she woke up, and was astonished to see that the room was lighted up as though by many torches, the radiance proceeding from the stone bestowed by the stork as a proof of its gratitude. (Claudii AEliani, "De animalium natura," lib. viii, cap. 22, ed. Gesner, Tiguri, 1568.)

In German, the stone called Donnerkeil (thunderbolt) has several synonyms; among these is Storchstein ("stork-stone"). It is evident that the stone of Heracleis was identical with the precious and brilliant variety of cerauniae mentioned by Pliny, "which drew to themselves the radiance of the stars." The flashing and ruddy light of the ruby suggested an igneous origin, and induced the belief that rubies were generated by a fire from heaven,--in other words, by the lightning flash. (Grimm, "Worterbuch," vol. ii, col. 1244.)

The analogy between the flame of a lamp or the glow of a burning coal and the radiance of a ruby, suggested some of the names given to this stone, or those resembling it in color, as, for instance, the Greek anthrax and the Latin carbunculus and lychnis. Probably the fancy that such stones were luminous in the dark was nothing more than the logical result of the quasi-identification of them with fire in some of its manifestations. Still, it is a wellknown fact that some stones possess a high degree of phosphorescence. This circumstance must have been observed by chance, and may have had something to do with the legends of luminous stones, although this peculiarity is not characteristic of the ruby.

According to Pliny, the lychnis, perhaps a spinel, was so called a lucernarum accensu (from the lighting, or the light, of lamps). The author of the poem "Lithica" says that the diamond (adamas), like the crystal, when placed on an altar, sent forth a flame without the aid of fire. ("Lithica," line 270.) If this did not refer to the use of rock-crystal as a burning-glass, we might see in the passage an indication that the phosphorescence of the diamond had already been noted before the second or third century of our era.

From the Lydian river Tmolus a marvellous stone was taken which was said to change color four times a day. This surpasses the properties of the "saphire merveilleux" which changed its hue at night. Only innocent young girls could find the Lydian stone, and while they wore it they were defended from outrage. (De Mely, "La traite des fleuves de Plutarche," in Revue des Etudes Grecques, vol. v (1892), p. 331.) Is it possible that the ancient writer intended to hint at the proverbial fickleness of woman, when stating that this changeable stone could only be discovered by one of the fair sex?