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Treating of the metallic affinities of precious stones, Paracelsus (1493-1541) affirmed that the emerald was a copper stone; the carbuncle and the jasper were golden stones; the ruby and the chalcedony, silver stones. The "white sapphire" (corundum) was a stone of Jupiter, while the jacinth was a mercurial stone. Powdered jacinth mixed with an equal quantity of laudanum was recommended as a remedy for fevers resulting from "putrefaction of the air or water." This illustrates the custom of combining an inefficacious material, such as the powder of a precious stone, with another possessing genuine remedia virtue, the name of the stone appealing to the popular superstitions regarding its therapeutic powers, and thus rendering the preparation more acceptable. ("The Hematic and Alchemical writings of Aureolus Philippus Theophrastus Bombast of Hohenheim, called Paracelsus the Great," trans. by Arthur Edward Waite, London, 1894, Vol. I, pp. 14, 225, Vol. II, p. 218.)
It is related by Plutarch that when Pericles was dying of the plague, he showed to one of his friends, who was visiting him, an amulet suspended from his neck. This had been given to Pericles by the women of his household, and Plutarch cites the instance as a proof that even the strongest minds will at certain times yield to the influence of superstition. (Plutarchi, "Vitae," ed. Sinteris, Lipsiae, 1884, p. 339; Pericle, 38.)
There were sceptics in ancient times who put no faith in the popular superstitions as to the curative powers of precious stones. Eusebius (ca. 264-ca. 349), in his oration on the Emperor Constantine the Great (272-337), says: (Eusebii Pamphili, "De laudibus Constantini," cap. v; in Eusebii, "Opera Omnia," ed. Migne, Parisiis, 1857, cols. 1337, 1340; Patrologiae Graecae, vol. xx.)
"He held that the varieties of stones so greatly admired were useless and ineffective things. They possessed no other qualities than their natural ones, and hence no efficacy to hold evils aloof; for what power can such things have either to cure disease or to avert death? Nevertheless, although he well knew this, he was in no wise opposed to their use simply as ornaments by his subjects." |
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Precious Stones Guide Vol 9
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