168 BULLETIN 118, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Dosis est a 5ij ad 5j, aut in pilulis, aut in pulvere, aut in jure, aut in aqua Boraginis, 

 aut in conserva Boraginis, aut in vino cretico. 



According to Sanskrit medical science lapis-lazuli is cooling and 

 a curative of biliousness. (Mani-Mala.) 



Lodestone. — Orpheus, in the Hymni et de Lapidibus, says: 



It will confer strength, banish disease, and when worn constantly about the per- 

 son ward off epidemics and plagues. Sitting before it and fixing the eyes earnestly 

 upon it one has but to ask the gods for light on any subject, and the answer will come 

 breathing out through the stone. The soul will hear it and the senses discover it 

 clearly. 



In great repute in Europe during the fifteenth, sixteenth, and 

 seventeenth centuries for its numerous virtues as an amulet and 

 drug. Carried about the person it cured cramp and gout; held in the 

 hand during the hour of travail it shortened the time and eased the 

 pains of labor. Bruised and taken internally with the juice of fennel 

 it cured disorders of the spleen; applied as an ornament it prevented 

 baldness. A dram of the stone mixed with the fat of a serpent and 

 the juice of nettles caused insanity. The powder thrown over a 

 household fire caused the inmates to flee in a panic, an artifice, ac- 

 cording to the popular belief, made use of by thieves. (The Mirror 

 of Stones. 1750.) 



It is good against the headache, convulsions, and poisons; and that it causeth easy 

 delivery, and procureth love 'twixt man and wife, and preserveth peace and concord 

 amongst friends, and that it driveth away fears and increases wisdom. Galen and 

 Dioscorides say it. (Arcula Gemmea. 1653.) 



Lodestone is in repute to-day as a preventive and cure for cramps, 

 colic, and rheumatism. Among the American negroes it is used as a 

 voodoo stone, and is thought to be a love charm; to possess phallic 

 properties; to increase the strength of the body, and to cure lumbago, 

 rheumatism, and hernia. 



Malachite. — Thought to increase the strength and growth of 

 children and ward from them all dangers and infirmities. (Pliny, 

 Nat. Hist.; Solinus, Polyhist., C. 36; Baccius de Nat. gem., C. 29.) 



It strengthened the stomach; preserved children from hurt and 

 convulsions. (Arcula Gemmea.) 



Boetius states that 6 grains taken internally acts as an excellent 

 purgative. It will cure "cardialgia" and colic. (Tract, de Lapidi- 

 bus et Gemmis.) 



Held to be a powerful local anaesthetic, for "being taken in drink 

 or bruised in vinegar and applied to the members that are to be cut 

 off and burnt, it makes them so insensible that they feel scarce any 

 pain. (Speculum Lapidum.) 



Moonstone. — According to Pliny, "the image of the moon contained 

 therein daily waxes or wanes according to the period of the lunar 

 motion." 



