450 PLIXT'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXXVII,~ 



however, still more incredible, we have the evident untruthful- 

 Bess of one assertion made about it, that it has the property of 

 silencing the winds. Gorgonia 40 is nothing but a coral, which 

 has been thus named from the circumstance that, though soft 

 in the sea, it afterwards assumes the hardness of stone : it has 

 the property of counteracting fascinations, 41 it is said. Gonia^a, 42 

 it is asserted, and with the same degree of untruthfulucss, 

 ensures vengeance upon our enemies. 



CHAP. 60. nr.LioiRoriuM. iiKrn.icsTms. UKKMUAIDOION. HKX- 



r.CONrAUTHOS. HIEliACITIS. IIAMM1TIS. I1AMMONIS COKNU. 



HORMISCION. HYJ:NJA. HJEMATITIS. 



Heliotropium 43 is found in ./Ethiopia, Africa, and Cyprus : 

 it is of a leek-green colour, streaked with blood-red veins. It 

 has been thus named, 41 from the circumstance that, if placed 

 in a vessel of water and exposed to the full light of the sun, 

 it changes to a reflected colour like that of blood; this being 

 the case with the stone of ^'Ethiopia more particularly. Out 

 of the water, too, it reflects the figure of the sun like a mirror, 

 and it discovers eclipses of that luminary by showing the 

 moon passing over its disk. In the use of this stone, also, we 

 have a most glaring illustration of the impudent effrontery 

 of the adepts in magic, for they say that, if it is combined with 

 the plant 45 heliotropium, and certain incantations are then re- 

 peated over it, it will render the person invisible who carries 

 it about him. 



Hephcestitis 16 also, though a radiant stone, partakes of the 

 properties of a mirror in reflecting objects. The mode of 

 testing it is to put it into boiling water, which should imme- 

 diately become cold. If exposed to the rays of the sun, it 

 should instantly cause dry fuel to ignite : 47 Corycus 48 is the 

 place where it is found. Hermuuidoion 19 is so called from the 



* " Gorgon stone," The head of the Gorgon Medusa was fablrd to turn 

 those into stone \vho looked upon it. 4l See B. xxxii. c. 11. 



*' This reading is very doubtful. 



43 Now known as Heliotrope, bloodstone, or blood jasper. It is of a 

 chep-green colour, with red spots. 44 "Turning under the sun." 



** See B. xxii. c. 29. * " Stone of Ilephaestoj," or " Vulcan." 



47 It acting jis a burning-glass, probably. 



* See B. iv. c. '20, and B. v. c. 22. 



** *' Genitals of Mercury." This singular stone does not appear to have 

 bi-t-n identified. See Note 9 above. 



