164 BULLETIN 118, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



This idea was not unknown in Europe, for we find the diamond 

 listed as one of the poisons given to Sir Thomas Overbury when a 

 prisoner in the Tower; while Benvenuto Cellini, the famous gold- 

 smith, writing about 1560, relates how his life was preserved by the 

 roguery of an apothecary, who, being employed to pulverize a dia- 

 mond intended to be mixed in a salad for Cellini with the intention of 

 poisoning him, substituted a beryl as cheaper, thus saving the life 

 of Cellini. 



According to Sanskrit medicine the diamond combined all the 

 six tastes, cured every disease, brought health and strength, and was 

 very useful in chemical operations. (Mani-Mala.) 



In Egypt the diamond, when set in gold, gives health and wealth to 

 its wearer. 



According to Porta, in his Magiae Naturalis, the diamond contends 

 against sleeplessness, enchantments, and turns away wrath. 



Rabbi Benoni, a fourteenth century mystic, held that the diamond 

 was capable of producing somnambulism, and when used as a talis- 

 man with lodestone and sapphire it would attract such powerful 

 planetary influences as to render its wearer almost invincible. 



In Art Magic; or Mundane, Submundane, and Supermundane 

 Spiritism, it is stated that the diamond is the most powerful of all 

 means to promote spiritual ecstacy. 



Emerald. — Emblematic of happiness. As an amulet it was a pre- 

 server of chastity, and betrayed or punished its violation by flying 

 into pieces or losing color. It preserved women in childbirth and 

 eased the pains of labor; water in which the stone had stood hastened 

 the afterbirth. (Leonardus.) Applied to the lips it stopped hem- 

 orrhage. When hung around the neck it prevented epileptic attacks. 

 (Albertus Magnus.) 



Dedicated to Mercury. 



Much used by astrologers for the purpose of divination. (Car- 

 danus, De Lapidibus Preciosis.) 



Albertus Magnus cites the case of a certain King of Hungary who, 

 while wearing an emerald, had knowledge of his wife, upon which the 

 stone broke in three parts. 



There is such an enmity betwixt it and illegitimate venery, or the uncleanness of 

 the flesh, as that if it do but touch the skin of an adulterer it will break, and that it 

 doth bridle the reins of lasciviousness and much temper it. (Arcida Gemmea.) 



Avenzoar held that it was an antidote for poisons, and that 6 

 grains of its powder taken in water made an excellent cordial. 



Mundella, a sixteenth century physician, calls attention to the pur- 

 chase of a fine emerald by Franciscus Maria, Prince of Urbine, for use 

 as a remedy in the treatment of a disorder with which he was troubled. 

 (Arcula Gemmea.) 



