STONES AND MAGIC

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 June 1927, Page 10

STONES AND MAGIC

ANCIENT SUPERSTITIONS. “All stones are alike; they are all precious,” says Materlinck’s fairy in the well-known play, “The Blue Bird.” But fortunately such a creed is by no means universal. It is, however, an undoubted fact (hat. men have from very early times chosen to cherish certain stones for (heir beauty and rarity, and others for (heir reputed powers of working miracles. The belief that animals contained within their bodies stones endowed with magical properties is. for example, one that is common to almost every race and civilisation, and refers to a large variety of creatures. Shakespeare in “As You Like It,” .referred to the toadstone: “The toad, ugly and venomous, wears a precious jewel in his head,” and what is more (irmly believed in its virtues, which were described by a contemporary writer as follows: — “Toads produce a stone, with their own image sometimes. It hath very great force against malignant tumours that are venomous. They are used to heat in a bag and to lay it hot, without anything between, to the naked body and to rub the affected place with. it. They say it prevails against the enchantment of witches, especially women and children bewitched. In the plague it is laid to the heart to strengthen it.”

There were also other famous animal stones, such as the Bronte stone in the head of the tortoise, the Cinaedia in the head of a fish of that name, Chelonides, a grass green stone said to be present in a swallow’s stomach, and many others endowed with similar miraculous properties. But none of them originated in animals, except two beautiful translucent stones, the ear stones, or otoliths, found in a fish’s head, by the laminated structure of which it is possible to tell its age. Curiously enough some of the stones that were reputed to have magical powers were, properly speaking, not stones at. all. Thus, the famous philosopher’s stone, which was destined, like the touch of Midas, to turn all base things into gold, was supposed to be, in its perfect form, a. red powder, heavy and glittering. But it was possessed of the most wonderful properties, for. in addition to its power of transmutation, it was believed that, it would he able to preserve the health, raise the dead, make the old young, turn the coward into a hero, strengthen the memory, and sober the drunkard. Similarly, the Bologna stone was, like the philosopher’s, no stone at all, hut merely a form of phosphorous prepared from the ores near Bologna. But it greatly intrigued the scientists of the day by its property of shining in the dark ,and gained great virtue thereby. It. is interesting to find that, the forerunner of the modern crystal gazer existed formerly as a. sorcerer or magician who used his stone ostensibly Io cure diseases inflicted by witches, to discover thieves, recover stolen goods, and foretell future events and the state of absent friends; and sometimes for purposes that were by no means so beneficial. Even the Druids’ believed in the magical power of stories. Creeping through perforated stones was one of their ancient ceremonies. It was also claimed that he who slept on a certain stone on a particular night would' be cured of lameness.