CHAPTER VII 



Frecious Cored 



CORAL has been taken commercially from the 

 African, Corsican, and Sicilian coasts of the 

 Mediterranean since the time of the earliest 

 records. The ancient Greeks and Romans attempted 

 to account for its origin in their mythology. Ovid 

 relates that when Perseus cut off the head of the 

 Medusa the dreadful face never lost the power of 

 turning things to stone, so that when he hung the 

 head in the branches of a tree the tree was turned 

 to stone. Later the nymphs threw these petrified 

 branches into the sea, where, growing and spreading, 

 they became coral. A variation of this legend has 

 it that the blood which dripped from the head fell 

 upon the shrubs, changing them into coral flowers 

 and seeds, which were drawn beneath the waves by 

 the sea-nymphs. 



Pliny says that the Gauls used coral for the dec- 

 oration of their weapons and helmets, and that the 

 Romans exported large quantities of it to India, 

 where it was highly prized. The Romans hung 

 branches of it around their children's necks to pre- 

 serve them from dangers such as the falling-sickness 

 and other infantile diseases. Roman women wore 

 it to protect them from sterility and the influence 



of the evil eye. 



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