The present and the following chapter are devoted to a study of the talismanic virtues attributed to precious stones and gems, as distinguished from the curative powers with which they were credited. It is sometimes difficult to establish a hard and fast dividing line between the two classes, as everything that conduces to the happiness and well-being of man also affects his bodily health, but a distinction, correct in the main, may be made by regarding the talismanic use as covering all cases except those in which the stone was used where to-day some really medicinal substance would be administered.

A modern German writer on amulets has proposed to apply the term “emanism” (Emanismus) to the virtue existing or supposed to exist in amulets and talismans, and gives as his opinion that their virtue is neither a spiritual nor a personal one, but the operation of forces, the latter not being special, mysterious vital forces, but impersonal physical components and qualities, and that these exercise their influence by means of emanation. Wundt has held that the very earliest amulets were parts of the human body, and almost always such parts as were believed to be the bearers of the soul.^[558]

Radiation or emanation of energy, without observable loss of substance, is a fact familiar enough to us to-day, but this phenomenon was not so generally accepted centuries ago. Still the lodestone always offered a striking example with which all writers on such subjects were acquainted. A stranger argument in support of the truth of this property was adduced by the seventeenth century physician, Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682), who writes:^[559]

If amulets do work by emanation from their bodies upon those parts whereunto they are appended and are not yet observed to abate their weight; if they produce visible and reall effects by imponderous and invisible emissions, it may be unjust to deny all efficacy to gold, in the non-emission of weight or deperdition of any ponderous articles.

While the learned doctor does not expressly state his belief in these “imponderous and invisible emissions” from amulets, he certainly does not attempt to deny their existence.

The Bolivian natives believe that the so-called mountain-sickness, the affection from which some travellers suffer at high altitudes, probably originates in subtle emanations from certain mineral veins. A confirmation of the fact that such a belief exists, though not of the truth of the theory, is found in the native name for this illness, veta, which signifies at once “mountain-sickness” and a vein or lode. The fact that at the pass of Livichuco, on the trail from Challapata to Sucre, there are considerable deposits of antimony, is regarded as substantiating this strange fancy.^[560]

Among the Babylonians one of the most dreaded of the malign spiritual powers was the terrible female demon Labastu, and a long series of amulets are recommended, one or more of which should be worn to ward off her pernicious influence. For some of these amulets precious stones were used, and the effect of color, probably a determining circumstance in the selection of the particular stone, was to be strengthened by the color of the wrapping about the stone and of the cord by means of which it was to be hung from the neck, or attached to the right or left hand or foot, or to other parts of the body. As this dreadful spirit was chiefly feared as the inducer of disease, the location of the amulet was perhaps in some cases determined by the presence of local pain or disorder; in this case it would be expected to act as a cure of disease rather than a mere preventive. The following passages refer to such stone amulets:^[561]

Thou shalt wrap up a shubu-stone in white wool, and hang it on a white woollen cord, with four eye-stones (enâti) and four parê, and bind it to thy right hand.

A black ka-stone shalt thou enwrap in black wool, hang it on a black woollen cord, provide it with three eye-stones and three parê, and bind it to thy left hand.

Thou shalt wrap a white ka-stone in red wool, hang it on a red woollen cord, with four eye-stones and four parê, and bind it to the right foot.

An appu-stone shalt thou wrap up in blue wool, hang it on a blue woollen cord, furnish it with three eye-stones and three parê, and bind it to the left foot.

Seven eye-stones and seven parê shalt thou string on a black cord.

The enâti (eye-stones) here mentioned were most probably eye-agates similar to those still prized in the Mesapotamian region for their supposed magical virtues, and more especially for protection against the Evil Eye. There is, indeed, a bare possibility that some form of the cat’s-eye (known by that name to the Arabs) or one of the star-stones may occasionally be signified by this Assyrian name. The word parê, as it is not preceded by the determinative character signifying stone, may refer to some other material.

An immediate association of an animal eye with a turquoise, an example of the sympathetic magic to which we have frequently alluded, comes from Persia. During the celebration of the imposing ceremonies attending the great annual assemblage of pilgrims at the shrine of Mecca, it is customary to slaughter an immense number of sheep, and certain of the Persian pilgrims will secure possession of some of the eyes of their sacrificial victims, and will embed turquoises in them, firmly believing that in this way they have composed an infallible amulet against the Evil Eye.^[562]

A Persian manuscript of a work entitled “Nozhat Namah Ellaiy,” written in the eleventh century by Schem Eddin, the transcription being dated 1304, asserts that the turquoise (piruzeh), though lacking in brilliancy, was esteemed to be a stone of good omen, and one that would bring good luck, since this was indicated by its name, signifying in Persian, “the Victorious.”^[563]

One of the Egyptian tales from the time of the early dynasties shows the value placed upon the turquoise in Egypt at that time. This recital occurs in Baufra’s Tale. The reigning Pharaoh, to relieve a fit of mental depression, took a pleasure trip on the palace lake in a boat rowed by twenty beautiful and richly attired maidens. While bending over her oar, one of the maidens let fall into the water from her hair-adornment a fine turquoise (Egypt mafkat, thus rendered by Petrie) and was deeply chagrined at the loss. However, the court magician Zazamankh, who accompanied the sovereign, by his magic arts was able to provide a remedy, for on his reciting a charm of great power the turquoise rose up through the water so that it could be picked up from the surface and returned to its disconsolate owner.^[564]

The Egyptians believed that the different kinds of precious stones were endowed with certain special talismanic properties, and these stones were combined in their necklaces in a way supposed to afford protection from all manner of malign influences. The beads were of various forms, sometimes round or oval, and at others, rectangular or oblong; besides the stones in general use, such as the emerald, carnelian, agate, lapis lazuli, amethyst, rock-crystal, beryl, jasper and garnet, beads of gold, silver, glass, faience, and even of clay and straw, were employed. To complete the efficacy of the necklace, small images of the gods and of the sacred animals were added as pendants. Even on the mummies and mummy cases such ornaments are painted in imitation of necklaces or collars of precious stones, with flowers, etc., as pendants.^[565]

One of the most artistic and beautiful specimens of ancient Egyptian goldsmiths’ work was recently sent by Dr. Flinders Petrie, on behalf of the Egyptian Research Account Society, to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. It is adorned with amethysts set in gold, the stones with their symbolic settings constituting a charm of powerful amulets for the protection of the wearer, who is believed to have been the Princess Sat-Hathor-Ant, of the Twelfth Dynasty, the wife of the heir to the throne. Dr. Petrie pronounces this to be one of the finest ancient Egyptian necklaces he has ever seen.

This splendid ornament came from tomb No. 154 at Haragh. It measures 26.3 inches in length and is composed of 88 amethyst beads varying in length from nearly a quarter-inch to about four-tenths of an inch (0.6 cm. to 1 cm.) and in diameter from a little over a quarter-inch to over four-tenths of an inch (0.7 cm. to 1.1 cm.). The beads are slightly flattened and the borings were made from both ends, meeting accurately in the centre in the majority of cases. In spite of small surface scars, they are generally of very clear and even color.^[566]

Special chapters from the great Egyptian collection of hymns and invocations known as the “Book of the Dead” were inscribed on certain particular stones, as in the following instances:

Chapter XXVI of the Book of the Dead to be inscribed on, or recited over, a figure in lapis lazuli.^[567]

Chapter whereby the Heart is given to a person in the Netherworld.

He saith: Heart mine to me, in the place of Hearts! Whole Heart mine to me, in the place of Whole Hearts!

Let me have my Heart that it may rest within me; but I shall feed upon the food of Osiris, on the eastern side of the mead of amaranthine flowers.

Be mine a bark for descending the stream and another for ascending.

I go down into the bark where thou art.

Be there given to me my mouth wherewith to speak, and my feet for walking; and let me have my arms wherewith to overthrow my adversaries.

Let two hands from the Earth open my mouth: Let Seb, the Erpâ of the gods, part my two jaws; let him open my two eyes which are closed, and give motion to my two hands which are powerless; and let Anubis give vigor to my legs that I may raise myself upon them.

And may Sechit the divine one lift me up, so that I may arise in Heaven and issue my behest in Memphis.

I am in possession of my Heart, I am in possession of my Whole Heart, I am in possession of my arms and I have possession of my legs.

[I do whatsoever my Genius willeth, and my Soul is not bound to my body at the gates of Amenta.]

Chapter XXVII of the Book of the Dead to be inscribed on, or recited over, a figure in green feldspar.^[568]

Chapter whereby the Heart of a person is not taken from him in the Netherworld.

O ye gods who seize upon Hearts, and who pluck out the Whole Heart; and whose hands fashion anew the Heart of a person according to what he hath done; lo now, let that be forgiven to him by you.

Hail to you, O ye Lords of Everlasting Time and Eternity!

Let not my Heart be torn from me by your fingers.

Let not my Heart be fashioned anew according to all the evil things said against me.

For this Heart of mine is the Heart of the god of mighty names [Thoth], of the great god whose words are in his members, and who giveth free course to his Heart which is within him.

And most keen of insight is his heart among the gods. Ho to me! Heart of mine: I am in possession of thee, I am thy master, and thou art by me; fall not away from me; I am the dictator to whom thou shalt obey in the Netherworld.

Were there sufficient evidence as to the use of jade by the ancient Egyptians, we might be justified in finding an allusion to this substance in the 160th chapter of the Book of the Dead. This chapter was to be inscribed upon a small column made of a green stone (Renouf translates “green feldspar”), as appears in the text, which reads, in part, as follows:

I am the column of green feldspar which cannot be crushed, and which is raised by the hand of Thoth.

Injury is an abomination for it. If it is safe, I am safe; if it is not injured, I am not injured; if it receives no cut, I receive no cut.

Said by Thoth: arise, come in peace, lord of Heliopolis, lord who resides at Pu.

The text is accompanied by a vignette in which Thoth is represented bringing the column enclosed in a box or casket. This is one of the forms of the neshem-stone, a name used in Egyptian as widely and vaguely as was smaragdus in Latin. One thing is, however, quite evident, the material designated here must have been of exceptional hardness and toughness, for the special virtue of the column-amulet was to make the body as hard and indestructible as itself. Incidentally we may recall that the hermetic work of Thoth, named by the later Greeks Trismegistos, the Thrice Mighty One, which was said to have been unearthed in a tomb, was inscribed upon smaragdus.

The larger part of the amulets used in ancient Egypt represented some living creature. The most usual type is the bull’s head, which was cut from carnelian, hematite, amazon stone, lapis lazuli, or quartz. Prehistoric Egyptian amulets representing the fly have been found; these were of slate, lapis lazuli and serpentine. In historic times gold was employed as the material. Other types occurring in prehistoric times are the hawk, of quartz or limestone; the serpent, of lapis lazuli or limestone; the crocodile and the frog. Carnelian was freely used as the material for amulets in the earlier historic times, among the prevailing forms were the hand, the fist, and the eye; amulets figuring the lion, the jackal-head, the frog, and the bee, also appear. Silver or electrum was substituted for carnelian in the Middle Kingdom. At a later period amulets were used less and less frequently.^[569]

The mysterious virtues of the scarab are not yet forgotten in the East, in Syria at least, for we are told that this beetle is an object of much veneration among the Syrian peasants as an amulet. One use of it in this way is to enclose a specimen in a box and lay this upon the breast of a babe in its cradle as a sure protection against the greatly-dreaded Evil Eye. There is also a superstition in this region that if a “scarab” is found lying helplessly on its back, anyone who charitably relieves it of its embarrassment by setting it on its feet, will be relieved of the guilt of a number of sins.^[570]

It is difficult to see any other origin for the scaraboid, or imperfect scarab form, than that afforded by the Egyptian scarabs, some of which date back to about 4000 B.C. Whether we can literally say that the scaraboid was introduced into Babylon by the Egyptians may be open to question, as the form itself appears to have been evolved by Etruscans and Greeks. Unquestionably the scaraboid was much more easily shaped than the scarab proper, and for those traders who wished large supplies for commercial purposes at a low cost, this was by no means a negligible quality.

The evolution of the ring from the cylindrical seal is of course purely a matter of conjecture. Here, as is often the case in a chain or series of fossil remains, we have a succession of types which may be connected with one another genetically, but which must not be so connected. That is to say, we cannot prove the affirmative and can only point to a probability.

Many cut and engraved stones, some of which had evidently been used as talismans, have been washed up on the shore at Alexandria, Egypt. Not all of these are completed, some being only half worked, as though the engraver had become dissatisfied with his design, or had found a flaw in the material, or that they had been lost from boats or ships. It has been conjectured that these half-completed gems were the work of household jewellers employed in the palaces of Alexandria.^[571] In Mas’ûdi’s “Meadows of Gold” we read that in his time, in the tenth century A.D., there was what he terms “a fishery for precious stones” on the sea-coast near Alexandria, Egypt. To account for this he relates two bits of legend. One of them represents these fragments of precious stones as having originally adorned the richly decorated vases and vessels of Alexander the Great, which were broken up and cast into the sea by Alexander’s mother after his death. The other tale was to the effect that Alexander himself had gathered together a mass of jewels and ordered them to be thrown into the sea near the Pharos, so that its neighborhood should never be deserted; for, Mas’ûdi remarks, wherever precious stones are to be found, whether in mines or in the depths of the sea, men are sure to assemble to seek for them.^[572]

The prophet Isaiah in his third chapter, where he scores the wantonness and vanity of the Daughters of Zion (vs. 16–26), enumerates in detail the various adornments of a Hebrew mondaine toward the end of the eighth century before Christ. Among the jewels and trinkets, amulets (lehâshîm; v. 20) are expressly mentioned, and also “crescents,” these being probably of gold. While it is not possible to determine the material of the amulets, the fact that they are named together with rich ornaments of various kinds, rings, nose-jewels, bracelets, anklets, etc., indicates that they were of precious material, and were possibly engraved precious stones or seals of some sort.^[573] In the Song of Songs, which can scarcely be assigned to a later date than Isaiah, and may have been written earlier, the seal is named in what is perhaps the most beautiful passage of this unique poem, Chapter VII, verse 6:

The golden “crescents” were used as amulets by the Midianites for suspension on the necks of their camels, at the period of the Hebrew conquest of Canaan, as appears from the eighth chapter of Judges (v. 21).

The burying in a grave of valuable gems and ornaments worn by the deceased during life must have been originally due to a belief that they served as talismans to guard the remains from the malign influence of evil spirits, or perhaps even to afford protection and aid, by some strange occult power, to the soul of the departed in the under or upper world whither it had journeyed. In the New World, among the more highly civilized and wealthy Indian tribes of the south, this custom was very general, and rich spoils have been taken from their graves by the unsentimental settlers from Europe. In the Old World also this usage was quite common; Egyptian tombs have afforded jewels of gold and gems worth large sums intrinsically, apart from their archæological value, and only to note one among many instances, we may recall the treasures unearthed by the indefatigable Schliemann in the old Greek tombs of Mycenæ. However, of all these finds none surpasses in interest that made by M. Henry de Morgan near Susa on February 10, 1901, when there was brought to light, from a depth of some six metres below the surface, a bronze sarcophagus containing the skeleton of a woman. Heaped upon the breast of the skeleton and strewn about the head and neck was a mass of finely-wrought and artistic gems and jewels, including several detached amulets. From coins found in the burial and also from the general character of these relics, M. de Morgan believes that the interment must have been made at some date between 350 and 330 B.C., just before Alexander’s invasion of Persia.^[574]

The jewels embrace a beautiful gold torque weighing 385 grams (something over one pound Troy). The hoop terminates in two lions’ heads having cheeks of turquoise, while on the muzzle is a lapis lazuli flanked by two turquoises; on the top of the head is a plate of mother-of-pearl. Bracelets similar in design and decoration to the torque go to complete the parure. Of even greater interest than the gold torque was a three-row pearl necklace, 238 of the pearls being still more or less well preserved; originally there must have been from 400 to 500 of them. Still another valuable necklace consists of 400 beads of precious or ornamental stone material and 400 gold beads. The stones represented are turquoise, lapis lazuli, emerald, agate, various jaspers, red and blond carnelian, feldspar, jade (?), hyaline and milky quartz, amethyst of a pale violet hue, hematite, several marbles and breccia. A fourth necklace had a row of beads and pendants incrusted with carnelian, lapis lazuli and turquoise; here the sharp contrast of the bright red carnelian disturbs the harmonious effect produced by the combination of the dark blue lapis lazuli and the light blue turquoise.

The detached amulets are of various forms, one figuring a sphinx with a ram’s head; this was in white paste with green enamel. Another, of gold, was rudely fashioned in the form of a lion or a cat, and there was also a dove of lapis lazuli, poorly executed, the amulets (mainly of Egyptian type) being of very inferior workmanship as compared with the jewels. Still they serve to confirm the belief that this heaping up in the tomb of all the dearest treasures cherished in life, was intended to exert a post-mortem influence upon the after-life of the dead woman.

That some of the Hebrew patriots who fought under the banner of Judas Maccabæus toward the middle of the second century B.C. were tinged with the prevailing superstition regarding amulets, appears in a passage of the second book of Maccabees, where it is stated that when Judas collected together for burial the bodies of those patriots who had fallen in battle before Odolla, they were found to have worn beneath their tunics certain idolatrous amulets, a custom strictly forbidden to the Jews. Their death was then looked upon as a signal instance of divine justice, which “had made hidden things manifest,” and Judas exhorted the people to take this lesson to heart and guard themselves from sin.

The wealth of books on magic and divination produced in the ancient city of Ephesus, in Asia Minor, was so great that the designation “Ephesian writings” was quite generally given to writings of this kind, more especially to denote short texts that could be worn as amulets or charms. We read in the Acts of the Apostles (xix, 19) that after hearing the fervent discourses of St. Paul, in which he eloquently attacked the superstitions of the Ephesians, many of those who owned books of this description were so deeply moved that they burned up all such books in their possession, to the value of 50,000 pieces of silver, that is to say $9000, equivalent perhaps to $90,000, if we make due allowance for the greater purchasing power of money nearly two thousand years ago. The small literary value of the writings of this sort that have been preserved for us indicates that the loss to posterity by this auto-da-fé was not very considerable, and yet many queer superstitions and strange usages of which we now lack information must have been noted in these magic rolls and sheets.

The following lines may serve to show how highly the jasper was esteemed in ancient times, this designation covering jade as well:^[575]

Auro, quid melius? Jaspis. Quid Jaspite? Virtus. Quid virtute? Deus. Quid deitate? Nihil.

What is better than Gold? Jasper.

What is better than Jasper? Virtue.

What is better than Virtue? God.

What is better than the deity? Nothing.

The first mention of the famous charm Abracadabra, which so often appears engraved on Gnostic gems, occurs in a Latin medical poem written by Serenus Sammonicus who lived in the third century and is said to have bequeathed his library consisting of sixty-two thousand volumes to the Emperor Gordian the Younger. The poem recommends this mystic word, or name, as a sovereign remedy for the “demitertian” fever, if it were written on a piece of paper and suspended by a linen thread from the neck of the patient. To have its full efficacy the word should be written as many times as there are letters in it, but taking away one letter each time, so that the inscription assumed the form of an inverted cone.^[576]

It is interesting to note that De Foe, writing in the seventeenth century of the Great Plague in London (1665), alludes to this strange talisman as still in use.^[577] Treating of the curious prophylactics employed at that time, he reproaches those who employed such methods, and acted “as if the plague was not the hand of God, but a kind of possession of an evil spirit, and that it was to be kept off with crossings, signs of the zodiac, papers tied up with so many knots, and certain words or figures, as particularly the word Abracadabra formed in triangle or pyramid, thus:

A curious charm which was extensively used as an amulet in medieval times consists of five Latin words so arranged that they can be read backwards or forwards and also upwards or downwards. The disposition of the letters is as follows:

This charm has been preserved for us in Greek and Coptic as well as in Roman characters, and examples of it have been found cut in a marble slab above the chapel of St. Laurent at Rochemaur (Ardèche), France, and also in the plaster wall of an old Roman house at Cirncester, Gloucestershire, England. In a Greek manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale, in Paris,^[578] the Latin words are transliterated and translated as follows:

Another and more ingenious explanation of this puzzle has, however, been given.^[579] Beginning with the last word “rotas,” and taking the other words in their order, it is proposed to read as follows: “The plough-wheels (rotas), the laborer (opera), holds (tenet), creep after him (arepo), I, the sower (sator).” The chief defect in this version appears to be the assumption that “opera” can be rendered “laborer,” an interpretation which is, at best, supported by a doubtful use of the word in that sense by Horace. This charm appears in an Italian manuscript of the fourteenth century,^[580] where it is recommended to be used for the assurance of a speedy delivery.

Touching the wonderful and mystic power attributed to the seven vowels of the Greek alphabet by the Gnostics, C. W. King cites the following words from the Pistis Sophia of Valentinus:^[581]

Nothing therefore is more excellent than the mysteries which ye seek after, saving only the mystery of the Seven Vowels and their forty and nine Powers, and the Numbers thereof. And no name is more excellent than all these [Vowels], a Name wherein be contained all Names and all Lights and all Powers.

The last sentence probably refers to the arrangement of these vowels often met with in inscribed Gnostic talismans, the so-called Abraxas gems. Here we often find them in the following order Ι Ε Η Θ Ο Υ Α, and the sound of these vowels really suggests the conventional pronunciation of the Hebrew name Jehovah (yehowah). The words quoted from the Pistis Sophia are placed in the mouth of Jesus, and King calls attention to the fact that in Greek the same word is used for voice and vowel (φώνη). He therefore believes that the passage in Revelations (x, 3–4): “The seven thunders uttered their voices,” signifies that the sound of the seven vowels “echoed through the vault of heaven, and composed that mystic utterance which the sainted seer was forbidden to reveal unto mortals.”

Certain talismans were supposed to afford protection not only to individuals but even to entire cities. Of this class were two talismans described by Gregory of Tours. He relates that Paris had enjoyed from ancient times a surprising immunity from serpents and rats, as well as from fires. However, in clearing out the channel beneath a bridge across the Seine, the workmen found, embedded in the mud, two brazen images, one of a serpent and the other of a rat; after these had been removed from their resting place, serpents and rats appeared, and conflagrations became common.^[582]

Of the many memorials of the Age of Charlemagne preserved in the Cathedral Treasury at Aachen, that popularly known as the Talisman of Charlemagne always exerted a peculiar fascination over the minds of those visiting the shrine, both because of its sacred character and on account of the mystic power ascribed to it.

The “Talisman” is composed of two large sapphires, cut en cabochon, one being of oval form and the other square, these constituting respectively the front and back of the relic; enclosed between them is a cross made from wood of the Holy Cross said to have been found in Palestine by St. Helena, mother of Constantine the Great. This is only visible when looking through the oval sapphire set in front of the medallion. The two sapphires are joined and framed by a band studded with precious stones, and various other gems are set above and below them. The oval sapphire is of a pale blue, and is furnished with a gold openwork bordering. At the top of the medallion, in a square space is set a lozenge-shaped garnet, and around the oval sapphire forming the front are placed successively, (1) an emerald, (2) a pearl, (3) a garnet, (4) a pearl, (5) an emerald, (6) a pearl, (7) a garnet, (8) a pearl, (9) an emerald, (10) a pearl, (11) a garnet, (12) a pearl, (13) an emerald, (14) a pearl, (15) a garnet, (16) a pearl.

The square sapphire at the back of the medallion is of poor quality and imperfect color; about it are sixteen settings, containing respectively, (1) (lacking), (2) a pearl, (3) a garnet, (4) a pearl, (5) an emerald, (6) a pearl, (7) a garnet, (8) a pearl, (9) an emerald, (10) a pearl, (11) a garnet, (12) a pearl, (13) an emerald, (14) a pearl, (15) a garnet, (16) a pearl.

On the band are set the following stones: (1) a pearl, (2) a sapphire, (3) a pearl, (4) an amethyst, (5) a pearl, (6) a sapphire, (7) a pearl, (8) an amethyst, (9) a pearl, (10) an almost white sapphire, (11) a pearl, (12) an amethyst, (13) a pearl, (14) a white sapphire.

In the summer of 1804, Empress Josephine went to Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) to take the waters there, and during her stay, on August 1, she visited the tomb of Charlemagne in the Cathedral. We are told that Napoleon, who joined Josephine at Aix-le-Chapelle on September 3, had already authorized the Cathedral chapter to part with certain of the relics and bestow them upon Josephine at the time of her visit to the tomb. This authorization, of course, was only a polite equivalent for a command, and was duly carried out, the most prized object secured by Josephine being precisely this famed talisman. It eventually came into the hands of Hortense, Josephine’s daughter, the mother of Napoleon III, and was inherited by him. It is said to be now in a private collection in Paris.^[583] Empress Eugénie is stated to have worn it at the time of the birth of the Prince Imperial, and to have further shown her belief in the mystic, or magic, virtues of the talisman by sending it several years later to Biarritz, that it might be kept for a time in the sick-room of M. Bacciochi, when he was prostrated by illness in that city.^[584]

An Anglo-Saxon treatise on the medical art, from the beginning of the tenth century, the original manuscript of which was owned by an Anglo-Saxon leech named Bald, as testified to by an entry on the title-leaf, gives the agate a prominent place as a talismanic and curative agent. More especially is its power over the demon-world emphasized. Indeed it is asserted to serve as a sort of diagnostic of demoniacal possession, the words being: “The man who hath in him secretly the loathly fiend, if he taketh in liquid any portion of the shavings of this stone, then soon is exhibited manifestly in him that which before secretly lay hid.” Less unfamiliar to those acquainted with the early literature on the subject are the statements that the wearers of agates were guarded against danger from lightning, and from venom. The liquid “extract of agate,” taken internally, also produced smooth skin and rendered the partaker immune from the bites of snakes.^[585]

An extremely strange type of amulets found occasionally in Gallic sepulchres are disks made from human skulls. It appears to be a well-ascertained fact that the operation of trephining was performed at this early date, almost if not quite exclusively in the case of infants, and it is believed principally for the cure of epilepsy. If the child survived the operation its skull was thought to have acquired a certain magic power. This idea had its rise in the belief that epilepsy was the result of an indwelling evil spirit, so that if the disease disappeared as a result or sequence of the operation, this evil spirit was believed to have made his way out through the aperture. On the eventual death of one whose skull had been successfully trephined, disks were sometimes cut just on the edge of the opening through which the possessing spirit had slipped out, leaving as a trace of his passage some of his diabolic but still potent virtue.^[586] That the superstition regarding these cranial disks lasted well into the sixteenth century, even among some of the educated, is proven by the fact that on a bracelet which belonged to and was worn by Catherine de’ Medici, one of the talismans was a piece of a human skull.

Attention was first called to the strange amulets taken from the human skull by the operation of trephining, by M. Prunetière, at a meeting of the French Association for the Advancement of Science, held in Lyons in 1873.^[587] The specimen he then exhibited came from a sepulture in the department of Lozère. This particular example showed a break on the edge, and M. Paul Broca has conjectured that a small piece may have been chipped off, so that it might be pulverized and administered as a powder to persons suffering from disease of the brain, a treatment favored by those who doubted the generally-believed supernatural origin of epilepsy, and suspected its source in some lesion of the brain or of the meninges. For this, of course, no more efficient remedy could suggest itself, according to the old sympathetic theory of medicines, than a powder made from the skull of one who had been an epileptic. These skull-amulets have been unearthed in neolithic burials in various parts of France, a considerable number having been found by M. de Baye and others in the department of Marne; a specimen was also found in an Algerian sepulture by General Faidherbe.

The great Greek physician Hippocrates of Cos, a contemporary of Plato, advised that resort should be had to the operation of trephining in many cases of injury to the head, and that the ancient Hindus were to a certain extent familiar with it as a method of treating diseases of the brain appears in one of the Buddhist recitals from a Tibetan source. Here it is related that Atreya, master of the King of Physicians, Jîvaka, when appealed to for help by a man suffering from a distressful cerebral disorder, directed the man to dig a pit and fill it up with dung; he then thrust the man into this soft and savory mass until nothing but his head and neck protruded, and opened his skull. From it was drawn out a reptile whose presence had caused the malady. Jîvaka seems to have been in consultation with his master in this interesting operation, and is said to have later extracted a centipede from a man’s skull after making an aperture therein with a golden knife.^[588] In neither of these cases, however, do we have any hint that disks or fragments from the human skull were used as amulets.

A ghastly object much favored in France in the Middle Ages, as it was believed to give the owner the power to discover hidden treasures, was the so-called main-de-gloire, or “hand of glory,” which was the desiccated hand of one who had met his death by hanging.^[589]

A remarkable talismanic bracelet owned by Catherine de’ Medici was set with a skull-fragment and with a representation of a “main-de-gloire.” This is described in the catalogue made in 1786 of M. d’Ennery’s collection. The settings of the bracelet, ten in number, comprised the following objects, to each of which was probably ascribed some special significance and virtue.^[590]

An oval “eagle-stone” (ætites), on which was graven in intaglio a winged dragon; above this figure was the date 1559, the year in which the bracelet was composed and that of the death of Catherine’s husband, Henri II.

An octagonal agate, traversed by a number of tubular apertures, the orifices of which could be seen on either side of the stone.

A very fine oval onyx of three colors, bearing graven on its edge the following names of angels: Gabriel, Raphael, Michael, Uriel.

A large oval turquoise with a gold band.

A piece of black and white marble.

An oval brown agate, with a caduceus, a star and a crescent engraved in intaglio on one of its faces, and on its edge the name Jehovah and certain talismanic characters; on the other face were figured the constellation Serpens, the zodiacal sign Scorpio and the Sun, around which were the six planets.

An oblong section of a human skull.

A rounded piece of gold on the convex side of which was graven in relief the “hand of glory” (main-de-gloire); on the concave side appeared the Sun and Moon done in repoussé work.

A perfectly round onyx, bearing graven in the centre the name or word “Publeni”; this possibly designated the original Roman owner of the stone.

In the opinion of a German writer of the eleventh or twelfth century, the amethyst, if worn by a man, attracted to him the love of noble women, and also protected him from the attacks of thieves.^[591] This stone was always prized because of its beautiful color, even though it was never so rare or costly as some others. Some authorities assert that the amethyst induces sleep.^[592] Perhaps this was one of the means by which the stone cured inebriety, as it enabled its votaries to sleep off the effects of their potations.

As testimony of the belief in the efficiency, remedial or talismanic, of precious stones prevalent at the opening of the fifteenth century, may be noted the presence among the manuscript books of Marguerite de Flandres, Duchesse de Bourgogne, of a work listed as follows: “The book of the properties of certain stones.” It was carefully enclosed in a crimson velvet covering.^[593] Incidentally it is a rather interesting fact that at this early date, 1405, we find in Duchess Margaret’s little library two Bibles in French and a separate copy of the Gospels also in that language. This serves to disprove the popular idea that translations of the Bible into the vernacular were in distinct disfavor with Roman Catholics before the era of the Reformation. Of course until the invention and use of the art of printing there could be no wide diffusion of such translations.

The jacinth is described by Thomas de Cantimpré as being a stone of a yellow color. “It is very hard and difficult to cleave, or cut; it can, however, be worked with diamond dust. It is very cold, especially when held in the mouth.” Among many other virtues, it protects from melancholia and poison, and makes the wearer beloved of God and men. It also acts as a sort of barometer, since it grows dark and dull in bad weather and becomes clear and bright in fine weather.^[594] Cardano says that when the weather was fine the stone became obscure and dull, but when a tempest was impending, it assumed the ruddy hue of a burning coal. It also lost its color when in contact with any one suffering from disease, more especially from the plague.^[595]

As a result of his study of precious stones, Cardano was induced to affirm that they had life, but he gravely states that he had never noted that they possessed sex (a common belief in his day), although “as nature delights as much in miracle as we do, some may be so constituted that they are almost distinguished by sex.”^[596]

The beautiful sapphire has always been a great favorite with lovers of precious stones and to it has been attributed a chastening, purifying influence upon the soul. Even Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy, wherein precious stones are rarely mentioned, takes occasion to write as follows of the sapphire: “It is the fairest of all precious stones of sky colour, and a great enemy to black choler, frees the mind, mends manners.”^[597]