156 BULLETIN 118, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Amber is used to-day in Lombardy and the Piedmont as a cure for 

 goiter — a belief that dates back to the time of Pliny. 



Amethyst. — Emblematic of sincerity. 



As an amulet it dispelled sleep, sharpened the intellect, prevented 

 intoxication, gave victory to soldiers, and protected its wearer from 

 sorcery. (Leonardus.) 



"The amethyst banishes the desire for drink and promotes chas- 

 tity." (Art Magic; or Mundane, Submundane, and Supermundane 

 Spiritism.) 



Lost its color in contact with and was an antidote for all poisons. 

 (Albertus Magnus.) 



According to Pliny, the amethyst was an antidote to drunkenness, 

 and it takes its name from this property. Moreover, if the name of 

 the moon or sun be engraved on it and it be thus hung about the 

 neck from the hair of a baboon or the feathers of a swallow, it is a 

 charm against witchcraft. It is also serviceable to persons having 

 petitions to make to princes. With the assistance of a spell or in- 

 cantation it kept off hailstorms and flights of locusts. 



Porta, in his treatise on magic, says that the amethyst neutralizes 

 magic incantations. 



The Puranas hold that the amethyst "gives strength and cures 

 morbid heat and fistula." 



Beryl. — Used with incantations to foretell the future and review 

 the past, was efficacious in detecting thieves, forewarned death, and 

 was supposed to have power over and to be the abode of evil spirits 

 that could be made to work the wearer's will by means of suitable 

 ncantations. It rendered its owner cheerful, preserved and in- 

 creased conjugal love, cured diseases of the throat and jaws and 

 disorders "proceeding" from the humidity of the head, and is a 

 preservative against them." (Camillus Leonardus, Speculum Lapi- 

 dum. 1502.) 



According to Freeman, who wrote in 1701 — 



The beryl disturbs devils beyond all others. If it be thrown in water with the words 

 of its charm sung it shews various images of devils and gives answers to those that 

 question it. Being held in the mouth, a man may call a devil out of hell and receive 

 satisfaction to such questions as he may ask. 



Browning, in one of his poems, makes use of this belief. 



The beryl was largely used for divination in 1600. The method 

 was as follows: A bowl was filled with water and the ring suspended 

 in it. The answer to the question propounded was spelled out by the 

 ring striking the sides of the vessel. A modification of this, and one 

 still in use, was to mark the edges of the bowl with the letters of the 

 alphabet; the stopping of the ring at certain letters composed the 

 answer. Still another method, and one said to have been used by 

 Napier, was to throw a sphere cut from the stone into a bowl of water. 



