WHEN JEWELS WERE EATEN.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10628, 3 December 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

WHEN JEWELS WERE EATEN.

Stones of healing, as tlioy used to be called, may not have been quite such fakes as sceptical moderns think. At least a writer inclines to believe that there may; h&ve been some, foundation : for' ; the if.aith?once 'placed in' them'; > Hb points out "that "every gem is the focus of a light ray, and it is noteworthy that the, traditional attributes of jewels are quite jilong the line of later scientific ideas. The amethyst and the sapphire, prisms of the soothing violet nnd. blue ray, .-hjive ever been'considered caliniiig 'in.itheir influence, while the ruby, the bloodstone, etc., have always been said to exercise the rousing, stimulating effect of the red ray. Gems arc highly electric. The chrysalitq acts-ion . the magnetic needle, and this presupposes "the v radiation of living force" jewels, so strongly insisted upo'njin ancient and mediaeval writings. "Precious stones applied externally or internally formed an accepted part of the medical pharmacopteia, m ancient and mediroval times." ....

An ancieut and costly jewel compound was: "the five precious fragments, cousistihg of powdered rubies, topriies, emeralds, sapphires, and hyacinthsl A famous French confection of 1712 was composed of jacinth, coral, sapphire, topaz, pearl, and emerald, mixed ,with gold and silver leaf tmd "herbs-»of power.'.' '■ "This confection," says Pomet, the French King's apothecary, "is much tised in Florence'and Languedoc, where' you meet few persons not having a pot thereof." It was supposed to be an excellent recipe for many • physical ailments. '

Precious stones were prepared medicinally by (1) powdering (i.e., by grinding); (2) calcination (by fire or corrosion); (3) purification; (4) liquidation; (5) distillation or volatilisation (i.e., dis-solved-in spirits of wine and distilled); (6) sirugisation (solution mixed with citron-, barberries, sugar, and water); Powder of emeralds in doses of 30 to 40 grains was considered an astringent. It staunched blood and strengthened the eyes. P'owdcred topaz and rose-water-prevented bleeding nnd was good for digestion; it was sold by apothecaries as an antidote to madness, and taken in time cured asthma and induced sleep, j , '• ■ Powder of ; rubies was usuallj' taken hi doses of 30 to 40 grains "to strengthen the vitals and restore lost strength!" and also prevented infection. Sapphires are highly' electric: there was powder of sapphire and oil of sapphire ; some "prepare a sapphire .- >vith cordial water; others dissolve the fine dust of a saphyiro in pure vinegar and jtiyce of limons, and give the solution with some other cordial." Powder of- sapphiro healed boils and sores and was also goqd for the eyes. Pearls were given in consumption, cured quartan, ague, strengthened the nerves. "Salt of pearl", was much thought of by Paracelsus; pearls were sometimes taken in doses of six grains in water, "or dissolved in vinegar, barberry juice, or limons." Poison was the terror of the Middle Ages; it is natural therefore to. find many remedies among gems—the jacinth, the sapphire, the diamond, the cornelian,_ the ruby, the agate, the toadsone, " the bezoar stone were all used as antidotes to poison. The Lee Penny was a famous stone of healing, set in a coin brought back from the Crusades by one of the Lockarts of Lee; it was specially used' in cattle: diseases. The coin, attached to a chain, was dipped in a bucket of water—"three dips and a swirl," as the country people expressed it—and the water was given to the cattle. In the reign of Charles I. the Laird of. Lee lent the penny to the inhabitants of Newcastle, where the plague was raging, receiving as' plcdgo £6OOO.