22 
Field Museum of Natural History 
moss agate. Corolloachates ("coralline agate") was 
spotted all over, like sapphirus, with drops of gold, and 
was commonly found in Crete, where it was also known 
as "sacred agate." It was regarded as capable of heal- 
ing wounds inflicted by spiders and scorpions, a prop- 
erty which Pliny says might really belong to the stones 
of Sicily, as scorpions in that island lose their venom. 
The agates found in Phrygia have no green bands, and 
those of Thebes in Egypt lack red and white veins. 
The Egyptian agate was reputed as an antidote to the 
poison of the scorpion, and the stones of Cyprus were 
credited with the same property. By some people the 
highest value was set upon those stones which present 
a transparency like that of glass. 
Pliny, further, relates a number of superstitious 
notions entertained by the Magi of Persia with refer- 
ence to agates. Stones covered with spots like a lion's 
skin were believed to be an efficient protection against 
scorpions. In Persia, agates were used, by a process of 
fumigation, for stopping storms and hurricanes, as 
well as the course of rivers ; if they were thrown into a 
boiling cauldron and turned the water cold, this prop- 
erty was regarded as a proof of their' efficacy. A simi- 
lar notion, it will be seen below, turns up in China. To 
be really efficacious, Pliny adds, the stones must be 
fastened with hair from a lion's mane ; hyena's hair is 
rejected in this case, as it is apt to arouse discord in 
families. An agate of one color renders the athletes 
invincible, the Magi argue, on the ground that if 
thrown into a jar filled with oil together with pig- 
ments and boiled for two hours, it will impart a uni- 
form color of vermilion to all the pigments. 
In this case, it was not the agate which in the 
opinion of the Magi received new colors, but it was the 
coloring matters which through the agency of agate 
changed all their colors into one — vermilion. And since 
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