Properties and Historical Importance of Bloodstones or Heliotrope

BLOODSTONE, or heliotrope, representing the month of March in the list of natal stones, symbolic of courage and wisdom, and the centre of much legendary interest, is one of the most attractive of the green varieties of that almost omnipresent mineral, quartz. The scientific terminology of quartz is involved and complicated by differing authorities in mineralogy, but bloodstone is a massive variety generally classed as plasma, a name, however, that is applied by some to green chalcedony and by others to green jasper; this curious mineral contains spots of red jasper that resemble drops of blood, and to which it owes its name. One of the most striking traditions which concern bloodstone is that it originated at the crucifixion of Christ, from drops of blood drawn by the spear thrust by a Roman soldier into his side, which fell on a piece of dark green jasper. The body of bloodstone is translucent to opaque and of a dark-green colour. Quartz, as is mentioned elsewhere in connection with its gemstone varieties, crystallises in the hexagonal system; hardness, 7; specific gravity, 2.5 to 2.8--the purest kinds 2.65. Pure quartz is silica; the varied colours and characters of the many gem-stone varieties are due wholly or partly to contents of iron, alumina, manganese, nickel, and other chromatic constituents. The red spots in bloodstone are simply oxide of iron. The specific name, heliotrope, is favoured by Dana, among other mineralogists. "Heliotrope" is a word derived from two Greek words meaning "sun-turning," and refers to the belief that the stone when immersed in water would change the image of the sun to blood-red. The water was also reputed to boil and upturn the experimental utensils containing this submerged weird mineral.

This opaque, but slightly lustrous, jaspery quartz, although a beautiful and interesting mineral, is not extensively used now in jewelry, and a requisition for it is usually an idiosyncrasy, or because it is a natal stone for those who were born in the month of March. Hardy, tough, yet carved with facility, it is well adapted to signet rings and is usually seen bearing crests or monograms. The ancient Egyptians and Babylonians used the bloodstone extensively for seals. Outside the realm of jewelry it supplies a fine material for artistic cups, small vases, and statuettes. In the French Royal Collection in Paris is a bust of Jesus Christ in bloodstone, so executed that the red spots of the stone most realistically resemble drops of blood. Another fine specimen of carving is a head of Christ in the Field Columbian Museum, Chicago.