566 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 19(X). 



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 neel?: 

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

 against witchctraft. It is also serviceable to persons having petitions 

 to make to princes. With the assistance of a spell or incantation, 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 tistula." 



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

 past: was efficacious in detecting thieves, forewarned death, and Avas 

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

 could be made to work the wearer's will b}'^ means of suitable incan- 

 tations. It rendered its owner cheerful, preserved and increased 

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

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

 against them." (Cam.illus Leonardus, Speculum Lapidum. 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 largeh' 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, w-as to mark the edges of the bowl with the letters of the alpha- 

 bet; the stopping of the ring at certain letters composed the answer. 

 Still another method, and one said to have been used b}' Napier, was 

 to throw a sphere cut from the stone into a bowl of water. The 

 character of the circles formed announced whether the presiding demon 

 A^s favorable or not. If favorable, the information desired was pic- 

 tured on the surface of the bowl. 



Prior to the seventeenth century the beryl was in some repute as a 

 curative. Mixed with an equal weight of silver, its powder, taken 

 internally, was thought to cure leprosy. Water in which the stone had 

 stood was good for the eyes, and, taken internall}^ it dispelled flatulencj^ 

 and cured indisposition of the liver, 



Nicols, in the "Arcula Gemmea," published in 1653, said: 



Wurtzung, in his general practise, saith that the beryll is used in all distemi^ers of 

 the heart. But take this caution by the way: Beware of the use of gemms (unless 

 you are sure they be true) in physick, by reason they are so frequently adulterated. 



Bloodntone. — Symbolical of wisdom, firmness, and courage. 



