of Plinies Naturall Hiftorie. 627 
A tharif itbe hung about thenecks of infants,iecau‘th falivation sbur being held in the mouth, 
it melteth prefently. Moreover, they fay, that it hurteth mertiorie and caufeth oblivion: this 
[tone commeth from the river Achelous. Some there be, who call that Emeraud Galaétites; 
which feemieth as it were to be bound about with white veins,- Galaicos ts much like unto Argy- 
rodanuus, but that it is fomewhat fouler:commonly they are found by two or three togither. As 
for Gafidanes, we have it from the Medians; in colour it refembleth blades of corne, & feemeth 
befet here and there with floures: it groweth alfo about Arbele : this gem is faidlikewife tobee 
“conceived with young, and by fhaking to bewray and confefle a child withinthe wombe 24nd * Haply our 
itdoth conceiveeverie three moneths.Gloffi petra refernbleth amans tongue,and groweth not Bezoar. 
uponthe ground, but inthe eclipfe of the moone falleth from heaven , andis thought bythe 
B magicians cto be verie neceflarie for pandors and thofe that court faire women : but wee have no 
reafonto beleeve it, confidering what vaine promifes they have made otherwife of it ;forthey 
beareus in hand, that it doth appeafe winds,Gorgonia is nothing els but Corall :the name Gor- 
gonia groweth upon this occafion, That it curneth tobe as hard asa {tone: it affuageth the trou: 
ble of the fea and maketh it calme: the magicians alfo affirme, thacit preferveth from hghening 
and terrible whirlewinds. Asvaine they be alfo.in warranting fo much of the heatbe Guniane; 
namely,that it will worke revenge and punifhinent upon our enemies. 7 
The pretiousftone Heliotropiuin, 1s foundin Aithiopia, Affricke, and Cyprus:the ground # 
thereof isa decpegreene in manner ofa leeke;butthe fame is garni(hed with veins of bloud :the 
reafon of the name Heliottopium is this, For that ifit be throwne into a paile of water, it chaun- 
Cc geththeraies of the Sun by way of reverberation intoa blondie colour, efpecially that which 
commeth out of Aithiopia : the fame beeing without the water, doth reprefent the bodie of the 
Sun, like unto a mitroir: and ifthere bee an eclipfe of the Sun,a man may perceive eafily in this 
ftone howthe moone goeth under it, and ob{cureth the light :but moft impudent and palpable 
isthe vanitie of magicians in their teports of this ftone;forthey letnot to fay, That if a man car- 
ric itabout him,togither with the hearbe Heliotropium, and befides mumble certaine charmes 
or prayers, hee (hall goe invifible. Semblably, Hephaftites is of the nature of a looking -glafle, 
for although it bee reddith or of an orenge colour, yet it fheweth ones face in it :the meaneés to 
know this ftone whether it bee right or no, is this; in cafebeeing put intofcalding warer, it pre- 
{ently cooleth it ; or ifin the Sun 1t will fet on fire any drie wood or fuch like fewell :this fone is 
D found growing upon the hill Corycus. Horminodesis a ftoné fo called, in regard ofthe greene 
colour that it hath refembling the hearbe Clarie; for otherwhiles it is white, andfometume a- 
gaine blacke, yea and pale now and then ;howbeit hooped about it is with acitclé of goldane 
colour. Hexecontalithos, for bigneffe is but {mall, and yet for the number of colonts that ie 
hath, it got this name: founditis in the region. of the Troglodytes . Hieracites chaun zeth co- 
Jour all whole alternatively by turnes ; it eemethito be blackith among kites feathers . arises 
. sefembleth the fpawne of fifhes: and yet fomie of them be found as it were compofed of nitre, 
and otherwife it isexceeding hard. The pretious ftone called Hammons-horne, is reckoned a- 
mong the moft facred gemms of Ethiopia: of a gold colour itis;and fheweth the forme of a 
rams horne:the magicians promife, that by the vertwe of this tone, there will a ppeare dreames' 
E inthe night which reprefentthin gs to come. Hormefion is thought tobee one of the lovelieft 
gems thata man can fee, fora certaine fierie colour it hath )and the fame fpreadeth forth beams 
of gold, and alwaiescarrieth with it in the edges a white and pleafant light. Hyeniatocke the 
name of the Hyens eye: found they are in them when they be affailed and killed: andit wee may 
give creditto magicians words, if thefe ftones be putunder a mans tongue, hee thal] prefently 
prophefie ofthingstocome. The bloud-ftone Hemarites is foundin Ethiopia principally,and 
thofe be fimply the beft of all others ; howbeit there are of hemlikewife in Arabia and Affiicke: 
in colour it 1s like unto bloud,and fo called:a ftone that I muft not overpafie in filence, in ré- 
gard of my promife that I made to reprove the vanities andillufions of thefe impudent and bar- 
barous magicians whodeceivethe world with their impoftures :for Zachal-as the Babylonian, 
in thofe books which he wrote toking Mithridates, attributeth unto gems allthé deftiniesand 
fortunes thatbe incident untoman:and particularly touching thefe bloud-ftones, not conten- 
ted to have graced them with medicinable vertues refpedtive to the eyes and the liver, hee ordai- 
ned it tobe given unto thofe for to kaxé about them,who have any petition unto a king or great 
puince, for it would fpeed and further the fuite: alfo in cafe of law matters it giveth good iflue 
Hbh y and 
