August 12, 1922] 



NA TURE 



Black Coral. 



By I'rof. Sydney J. Hickson, F.R.S., The University, Manchester. 



IN a short article by Prof. J. Stanley Gardiner 

 published in Nature of December 15, 192 1 (vol. 

 108, p. 505), attention was directed to the use of black 

 coral by the natives of Java for making bracelets 

 which are believed to act as a cure for rheumatism 

 and to the widespread belief, " from Suez to the most 

 distant parts of the Pacific," in the efficacy of certain 

 magical powers of this substance. The use of black 

 coral for this purpose is not only very widespread at 

 the present day but has been prevalent also among 

 both barbaric and civilised races from time immemorial. 

 The avrnraOh of the ancient Greeks was in all proba- 

 bility a kind of black coral, and was used as an antidote 

 to the stings of scorpions and for other medical and 

 magical purposes. According to some of the older 

 writers the herb given by Mercury to Ulysses as a 

 charm to protect him from Circe was a piece of Anti- 

 pathes. Rumphius quotes Salmasius as having written 

 in his notes on Solinus that Antipathes was used as a 

 protection against sorcery. Pliny refers to it in his 

 alphabetical list of stones. He says, Book XXXVII., 

 Chapter 54, " Antipathes is black and not transparent : 

 the mode of testing for it is by boiling it in milk, to 

 which, if genuine, it imparts an odour (?) like that 

 of myrrh." Dioscorides regarded Antipathes as a 

 kind of black coral which was possessed of certain 

 medical properties. 



These and other references to the substance by 

 ancient Greek and Roman authors do not, it is true, 

 give us any certain clue as to the identity of their 

 Antipathes, and it is only by indirect circumstantial 

 evidence that the conclusion is arrived at that it was 

 the axis of one of two or three kinds of marine 

 flexible coral. 



The definition of the word " corallium " as used in 

 the time of Pliny may be derived from the comment 

 he makes upon Gorgonia. " Gorgonia nihil aliud est 

 quam curalium : nominis causa, quod in duritiam 

 lapidis mutatur emollitum in mari ; hanc fascina- 

 tionibus resistere adfirmant." 



There is no truth in the belief that corals are soft 

 in the sea and become hard when exposed to the air, 

 and we cannot, in modern times, accept the statement 

 that they have the power of resisting fascinations ; 

 but it is reasonable to interpret this definition by 

 Pliny to mean that to the Romans of his time coral 

 was a marine substance with a soft cortex when fresh 

 and that it was commonly believed to possess certain 

 magical properties. 



Pliny's milk test for Antipathes is interesting but 

 unfortunately very obscure. The phrase he uses is 

 " experimentum eius, ut coquatur in lacte : facit enim 

 id murrae simile." But similar to myrrh in what 

 respect ? In odour, in colour, or in form ? Solinus 

 considers it to have been similar to myrrh in odour 

 (Collect, v. 26), but other authors have interpreted 

 Pliny to mean similar to myrrh in colour. I have 

 recently applied this test to a piece of Antipathes in 

 my possession and have found after prolonged boiling 

 in milk there is a faint odour resembling that of heated 



NO. 2754, VOL. I io] 



myrrh, but the colour of neither the milk nor the 

 coral seems to be in any way affected. For this reason 

 I am inclined to believe, until my experiments on 

 this subject are extended, that Pliny meant to say 

 " similar in odour to myrrh." 



Let us turn now to another fragmentary indication of 

 the ancient use of black coral. The word " coral " is 

 to be found in two texts of the English version of the 

 Bible (Job xxviii. iS and Ezekiel xxvii. 16). Prof. 

 Peake has kindly informed me that Gesenius and other 

 commentators consider that the Hebrew word " Ra- 

 moth " which is translated " coral " in the E.V. 

 means " black coral," and that the word " Peninim " 

 which is translated " rubies " in the E.V. really 

 means " red coral." Thus Job xxviii. verse 18 should 

 read : "No mention should be made of black coral 

 or of pearls : for the price of wisdom is above red 

 coral." I am not competent to form any definite 

 opinion on the views of these commentators ; but if 

 they are right and black coral was known to the 

 ancient Jews there may also be some explanation of 

 a remarkable passage in the writings of Josephus. 



In his book on the Antiquities of the Jews (i. 3. 6) 

 Josephus relates that according to Berosus, the 

 Chaldean, there is still some part of Noah's Ark in 

 Armenia, and the natives carry off pieces of the 

 bitumen (pitch ?) from it to make into amulets for 

 averting mischief. We have in this passage reference 

 to a substance like bitumen (i.e. black and flexible 

 when heated) which was made into bracelets and 

 believed to possess magical properties. Of course, 

 it may not have been black coral at all, but if black 

 coral accompanied by the beliefs in its efficacy against 

 evils of many kinds was transported to distant parts 

 of the world, as we know red coral was transported at 

 that period, it would not be remarkable if it became 

 associated with the Noah's Ark myth. It would be a 

 matter of great interest if scholars learned in Jewish 

 antiquities could throw some further light on the use 

 of either black or red coral by the children of Israel 

 in early times. 



The making of amulets from the pitch of Noah's 

 Ark, and their use for averting mischief, brings us 

 back to the statement in the article in Nature 

 mentioned above that the natives of Java make 

 bracelets of black coral for curing rheumatism. The 

 most complete account of this superstition in the 

 Malay Archipelago is to be found in Rumphius's 

 " Amboinsch Kruidboek " (xii. p. 195), published in 

 1750, in the article on Corallium nigrum or Accarbaar 

 itain. Rumphius says that the natives make bracelets 

 of it by soaking it in cocoa-nut oil and bending it 

 into the form required over a slow fire while smearing 

 it all the time with oil. It is then polished with a 

 rough leaf. Sometimes it is inlaid with gold or silver 

 ornaments. It is supposed to confer on the wearer 

 all kinds of blessings (zegeningen) and to protect him 

 from sorcery. It is sometimes made into sceptres for 

 the chiefs and is also made into a powder by grinding 

 with a stone, mixed with water and drunk as a medicine. 



