About Medicine Men in History and the Medicinal Properties of Gemstones

Besides the "Philosopher's Stone," the chief object of their quest, the alchemists believed that several other stones possessing magic virtues could be produced. Among these was the "angelical stone," which gave power to see the angels in dreams and visions, and also the "mineral stone," a substance by means of which common flints could be transmuted into diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, etc. Possibly some alchemists were glassmakers, and fused the quartz with various mineral salts into imitations of the gems, having the colors, but not the hardness or other properties.

One of the strangest fancies as to the medicinal efficacy of stones is that held by the native Australians, who believe that "crystals" are embedded in the bodies of their medicine-men. This belief is encouraged by the medicine-men themselves; indeed, they are supposed only to retain their power so long as these atnongara or ultunda stones remain in their bodies, and a share of their might can be transmitted by transferring certain of the stones from their own bodies to that of another. The ceremony proceeds as follows:

The Nung-gara [medicine-men] then withdrew from their bodies a number of small clear crystals called Ultunda which were placed one by one, as they were extracted, in the hollow of a spear-thrower. When a sufficient number had been withdrawn, the Nung-gara directed the man who had come with them to clasp the candidate from behind and to hold him tightly. Then each of them picked up some crystals, and taking hold of a leg, gripped the stones firmly and pressed them slowly and strongly along the front of the leg and then up the body as high as the breast-bone. This was repeated three times, the skin being scored at intervals with scratches, from which blood flowed. By this means the magic crystals are supposed to be forced into the body of the man... After which each of them pressed a crystal on the head of the novice and struck it hard, the idea being to drive it into the skull, the scalp being made to bleed during the process....

One of the Nung-gara then withdrew from his skull just behind his ear (that is, he told the novice that he kept it there) a thin and sharp Ultunda, and taking up some dust from the ground, dried the man's tongue with it, and then, pulling it out as far as possible, he made with the stone an incision almost half an inch in length.

The mesticas of the Malays represent a class of stones differing in important respects from the various types of bezoars. A principal distinction is that the mesticas are not supposed to owe their origin to pathological conditions in the organism wherein they occur, but rather to a super-abundance of the normal and healthy constituents of the animal or plant. It is probably due to this that the virtues of these particular concretions are rather talismanic than therapeutic, and that they are believed to endow the finder, or one who receives them by gift, with courage, immunity from injury, and also with cunning and shrewdness in the affairs of life. Especially by warriors are these stones highly valued, for they are supposed to protect the wearer from wounds; indeed, this belief sometimes went so far as to lead the Malays to think that absolute invulnerability was conferred on one who carried several of them bound so closely to the skin that in some cases they even penetrated the flesh. The typical mestica is described as a hard stone, brilliant but seldom transparent; it is found in the flesh or fat, in the heart or on the legs of animals, and also sometimes in plants.

Rumphius declares that many extraordinary cases were related of warriors who could not be injured by any weapons until the mestica had been cut out of their flesh, wherein it had become embedded. Indeed, he states that Dutch officers of proved veracity had confidently asserted that they had encountered such men among their native antagonists. While Rumphius feels himself therefore forced to admit the truth of the invulnerability of these men, he hastens to add that such powers could not be inherent in any piece of stone, but must owe their origin to diabolical agencies. The fact that the Mohammedans had their mesticas blessed by the priests of their faith, and burned incense beneath them on Fridays, the Mohammedan equivalent of the Christian Sunday, did not probably shake the belief of Rumphius that the Devil had something to do with these substances.

The medicine-men of the Kainuga Indians of Paraguay mutter incantations over the bodies of the sick, and then, after many struggles and contortions, proceed to extract stones from their mouths, claiming that they have taken the patient's disease into their own bodies, the stones being regarded as the seat of the ailment. In one case, the medicine-man produced five of these stones before the patient admitted that his pain was relieved. After the cure was completed the sorcerer was clever enough to feign extreme exhaustion, as though his vital forces had been subjected to a tremendous strain.