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Onyx
The onyx, if worn on the neck, was said to cool the ardors of love, and Cardano relates that everywhere in India the stone was worn for this purpose. (Cardani, "De subtilitate," lib. vii, Basileae, 1560.) This belief is closely related to the idea commonly associated with the onyx,--namely, that it provoked discord and separated lovers. The close union and yet the strange contrast between the layers of black and white may have suggested this.
Pyrites
Crystal of iron pyrites (pyrite, native iron disulphide) are sometimes used as amulets by the North American Indians, and the belief in their magic power is attested by their presence in the outfit of miscellaneous objects which the medicine-men use in the course of their incantations. Because these gleaming yellow crystals are occasionally mistaken for gold, the name "fool's gold" has been popularly bestowed upon them. (Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico," ed. by Frederick Webb Hodge; Smithsonian Inst.; Bur. Am. Ethn., Bull. 30; Washington, 1910, Pt. 2.)
Of this material the ancient Mexicans made wonderful mirrors, one side being usually polished flat, while the other side was strongly convex. Frequently this side was curiously carved with some symbolic representation as appears in the case of a pyrite mirror of the Pinard collection in the Trocadero, Paris. (Kunz, "Gems and Precious Stones of North America," New York, 1890.) |
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Precious Stones Guide Vol 9
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