broadly determined by their form and surface; for example, well-rounded
specimens of fairly uniform size would be classed as marine pebbles,
while river-pebbles would be subangular and usually flat; pebbles of
glacial origin, on the other hand, would have faceted, rounded edges,
their surfaces being polished and striated. However, although these
rules might hold good in many cases, careful observation has
demonstrated that pebbles of all these supposedly distinct types can be
found among those of marine, fluviatile, or lacustrine origin. This is
explicable by the fact that while the constant, unhindered action of sea
or river would probably produce pebbles of distinct type, the local
conditions often interfere with this. For instance, on a low sea-coast,
with weak wave-action, pebbles frequently became buried in the sands,
thus retaining their form practically unchanged, and even where the
waves are stronger, so that the pebbles are more or less constantly
exposed to their force, it must be borne in mind that some of these
coast pebbles have been swept down by rivers, or have already been
affected by glacial action. In these cases the force of the waves will
indeed modify the form, but along the lines of that already produced by
the earlier agencies. Broadly stated, those that were round or oval
would generally remain so, rectangular fragments might have their angles
worn away and become elliptical, while flat fragments would not exhibit
any notable change in shape.[37]
When a group of pebbles have been long exposed to attrition by the
waters of a powerful stream, especially where the current is
intermittent, and where a large quantity of sand has been worked or
blown into the stream by freshet or wind storm, they may become rounded
by the erosive action of the water or by the abrasive power of the sand,
as well as by the attrition consequent upon their sharp contact with one
another. This is exemplified in the case of boulders in a river bed, it
having been noted in certain streams on the Navajo Reservation that
while the upstream sides of the boulders were polished and rounded, and
even sometimes faceted and etched, but little change was observable on
the downstream sides. This has been tested experimentally, holes an inch
in depth having been drilled in opposite sides of sandstone boulders,
and on examination five years later in five different localities where
this had been done, the deepest hole remaining on the upstream sides
measured but four-tenths of an inch, while in one locality the holes had
entirely disappeared, and yet so trifling was the effect of the water on
the downstream side that a blue-pencil mark had not been washed away. Of
course, the erosion of quartzite and limestone boulders tested in this
way proved to be a much slower process, amounting to less than
one-hundredth of an inch annually. Another important consideration in
the shaping of pebbles by river-water is the swiftness of the current,
it having been noted, for instance, that those which have been washed
down the steep slopes of the Navajo Mountain and the edge of the Black
Mesa are somewhat better rounded than those that have been borne along
for a much greater distance by less swift-flowing water.
That striated, faceted, or polished pebbles are always of glacial
origin, or that those of glacial origin usually offer these
characteristics is far from the fact; indeed, it may rather be said that
they are generally missing. The fluvio-glacial drift is much more
widespread than ground moraine, and the pebbles found in the former
rarely present these aspects; indeed, it has been noted that in an
hour’s search through the glacial drift of Connecticut, only a single
such specimen may be met with. On the other hand, many pebbles of this
type have been found under conditions plainly showing that the striation
was due to other causes, in some instances, as with those occurring in
conglomerates, to pressure and differential movement.[38]
The burying of white stones or lumps of quartz with the dead was not
infrequent in early times in Ireland. The peasants of the north of
Ireland call these Godstones. A cist found at Barnasraghy, County Sligo,
was nearly filled with quartz pebbles, and not long since a white stone
was found in a primitive burial place near Larne, County Antrim. That
this was a usage confined to the earlier period of Irish history is
generally admitted, and the discovery of such white stones in a grave is
accepted as an indication that it belongs to an early date.[39]
It has been suggested that these white stones were used for burials
because of the symbolic meaning of the color, which to the minds of many
primitive peoples was that of purity, as indeed it is still among most
modern peoples, although the symbolism may not always be consciously
accepted. White marble seems to most of us the most appropriate and
beautiful stone for monuments, and if to a very considerable degree
granite is now used as a substitute, this is principally because of its
greater resistance to the deteriorating effect of atmospheric changes.
Already in prehistoric times, the cave-dwellers showed a fondness for
gathering quartz crystals and fragments, and specimens of those taken
from the Auvergne Mountains have been found in the cave-dwellings of Les
Eyzies; they may have been used as amulets or talismans.[40]
A legend of the great Irish saint, Columba, gives an instance of the
curative use of white pebbles. After this saint had vainly entreated
Broichan the Druid to free a Christian bond-maiden, as a last resort he
menaced the druid with approaching death. The prediction or curse was
speedily on the way to fulfilment, Broichan sickened unto death, and in
his terror consented to free the maiden. Hereupon St. Columba went to
the river Ness and picked up out of its shallows several white pebbles,
announcing that they would, by the Lord’s power, work the cure of
heathen people. One of the stones was blessed by the saint and placed in
a vessel filled with water, on the surface of which it floated, and as
soon as Broichan had taken a draught of the liquid he was restored to
perfect health.[41]
A famous Scotch amulet was a polished globular mass of white quartz, an
inch and three-quarters in diameter, owned by the chiefs of Clan
Donnachaidh and known as the “Stone of the Banner.” It had been
accidentally found by a chief of this clan, who, on his way to join
Robert Bruce in 1315, before the battle of Bannockburn, noted a
glittering stone embedded in a clod of earth that had become attached to
his flagstaff. It was looked upon as a powerful talisman in battle, and
water in which it had been dipped was said to cure diseases. Tradition
asserted that this white stone of Clan Donnachaidh was identical with
that used long before by St. Columba.[42] As such white stones were
often deposited in graves, sometimes even being placed in the mouth of a
deceased person, it has been suggested that perhaps the sparks emitted
by the quartz on percussion were believed to shed some faint gleams
along the dark pathway of the departed in his journey to the underworld.
In Christian times there can be little doubt in regard to the influence
exercised by the text in Revelation: “To him that overcometh ... I will
give a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man
knoweth save he that receiveth it.”[43]
Crystal balls are not only valued for the visions to be seen, or
supposed to be seen in them, but are sometimes worn as amulets against
illness. In some parts of Japan they are thought to ward off dropsy, and
their wear is also recommended to guard from all wasting diseases.[44]
The likeness of rock-crystal to congealed water may well be credited, in
the doctrine of sympathy, with its putative power of preventing the
watery infiltration from which a dropsical patient suffers. As the
Japanese make many choice crystal balls, these objects are generally
more or less familiar in that land and have thus appealed as well to
those who were superstitious as to those who appreciated things
beautiful in themselves.
In Yucatan quartz crystals were not only used for divining, but also to
ensure the success of the crops. The fact that such crystals have been
found in the Indian mounds of Arkansas, North Carolina, and elsewhere,
may warrant the supposition that they had been worn as talismans and
then interred with the deceased persons as a most intimate part of their
property. The writer’s personal observation in Garland and Montgomery
counties, Arkansas, demonstrated that quartz crystals were to be found
in mounds together with chipped arrow-points of chalcedony, although the
crystals did not appear to have been worked in any way. The region about
Hot Springs, Arkansas, has furnished some of the finest rock-crystal
found in the United States. From North Carolina also have come many
remarkable specimens, the largest of which, found in 1886, was unluckily
broken up by the person who discovered it. In its crystal state it must
have weighed about 300 pounds, and if cut would have furnished a crystal
ball 4½ or 5 inches in diameter. This splendid crystal came from Phœnix
Mountain, Chestnut Hill township, in Ashe County, North Carolina, and
from the largest fragment recovered, weighing 51 pounds, several slabs 8
inches square and from half inch to one inch in thickness were cut.
Nearby a crystal weighing 285 pounds was found, and another weighing 188
pounds. Some of the crystals from this locality had on one side a green
coating of chlorite, and when this was not removed, the effect was as
though one saw a green moss growing beneath a pool of water. The
rock-crystal slabs have an advantage over glass when used for mirrors,
as they more truly reflect the tints of a fine complexion. Brilliant
crystals from Lake George and its neighborhood have been called “Lake
George Diamonds.” In marked contrast with the large examples we have
noted, many crystals of quartz are so small that 200,000 would have an
aggregate weight of but one ounce and yet many are perfect crystals and
doubly terminated.
The presence of white quartz pebbles in some graves of the Indian
Moundbuilders, appears to be indicated to a satisfactory extent in the
case of certain specimens from the Etowah Mound in Georgia; these
pebbles, which form part of the Steiner collections in the United States
National Museum, were not, however, worked or polished in any way, nor
are there any traces of use for ornament or decoration. On the other
hand, white quartz pebbles from the Pueblo region of the Southwest offer
undeniable signs of having been long used and are of frequent
occurrence; some of these have been found in graves. In connection with
the probable reasons determining their presence the designations “fire
stones” or “charms” have been given them; some specimens of this worked
quartz had evidently been worn as pendants, while others had probably
been regarded as fetishes.[45]
It is most interesting to note that the superstitious use of these
objects in burials was so widespread as to prove that it must have been
due to some inherent property or properties in white stones, and
especially in pebbles of white quartz, which appealed very strongly to
the mind of primitive man. That, as has been noted above, the conception
of purity should be associated with whiteness, in its contrast to any
obscure color, is natural enough, and rests upon the association of
spotless cleanliness with moral purity, and very probably the sparkles
of light emitted by a bright piece of quartz, normally or on percussion,
brought this material into some connection with the worship of fire, or
of fire-gods. To another possible conception along the same lines we
have already alluded.
An instance is reported where a very curious quartz pebble, one-half
white and the other black, was found within the hand bones of the
skeleton of an Indian; the finder carried it about with him for many
years as a “lucky stone,” but it appears that his personal experience of
its effects, if these can be judged from what happened to the bearer of
such a talisman, has been of a kind to shatter the most robust faith in
the protective power of his Indian charm. Possibly the strange relic may
have symbolized night and day for the Indians, and thus have been
believed to guard the wearer or the person with whom it was buried, at
all times and seasons. That pebbles of this sort were sometimes buried
in the ground, disposed in circles and squares, is vouched for by some
who claim to have unearthed them in ploughing, but our informant was not
able to confirm these statements, as the arrangements had always been
effectually disturbed before he reached the spot.[46]
In many graves of the primitive Red-paint People of Maine, small pebbles
have been found. As they were not large enough to have served as
paint-grinders, and as but one such pebble occurs in any single grave,
the presumption is quite strong that they were considered as talismans
for the dead. The fact that the practical laborers of our day who dug
out these graves instinctively named the pebbles “lucky stones” goes to
prove that this supposition is not too far-fetched, although there is no
positive evidence to support it. The pebbles were yellow, bright red, or
gray in color, the graves explored being at Orland, Maine, as well as at
the outlet of Lake Alamoosook, on the south side of this lake and at
Passadumkeag; indeed such graves have been met with all the way from the
Kennebec Valley eastward to Bar Harbor.[47]
The respective symbolic meanings of white and black are illustrated in
the designations “white magic” and “black magic,” the latter denoting
conjurations or spells in which the aid of the powers of darkness, of
the Devil and his demons, was sought by the sorcerer, while “white
magic” was to be performed by harmless and innocent means, sometimes
even by religious rites. In this way it sometimes so closely approached
the domain of religious miracle, that it becomes difficult to
distinguish between these two conceptions of supernatural action in the
material world.
Quartz of a different type with needle-like inclusions is called
“Thetis’s hair stone.” This is a transparent or translucent quartz, but
so completely filled with acicular crystals of green actinolite, or
occasionally altered actinolite of a yellow-brown or brown color, as to
appear almost opaque; seals and charms have been made to a small extent
of this variety. Of other inclusions in quartz we may note those of a
very brilliant stibnite projecting in all directions, some of the
intruded crystals being very curiously bent. Exceedingly beautiful gems
have been cut from this material.[48] When this quartz is cut en
cabochon across the ravalette inclusions, a cat’s-eye effect is
produced. The yellow quartz cat’s-eye of Ceylon and the green of Haff,
Bavaria, are of this type. So densely set were the green actinolite
inclusions in the case of a specimen found at Gibsonville, North
Carolina, that it was believed by the finder to be an emerald.
An extremely beautiful effect in quartz is produced by enclosed,
acicular crystals, or hair-like particles of some other mineral, such as
rutile, for instance, and sometimes even of gold. To specimens of this
latter type may be referred the Greek name “chrysothrix,” used in the
Orphic poem “Lithica” and signifying literally “golden hair”; of this
the verses tell us there were two varieties, that which may be
identified with quartz, having a resemblance to “crystal,” while the
other, said to have the appearance of chrysoberyl, may have been a
yellower variety. To the quartz traversed by filaments of rutile, or the
red oxide of titanium, has been given the taking name of “Venus’s hair
stone”; a pretty French name is _Flèches d’Amour_ or “Cupid’s
Arrows.”[49]
The California beaches have furnished some of the most interesting
ornamental pebbles, the greater number being of chalcedony or agate
weathered from an amygdaloidal rock, while a few are of jasper or fossil
coral. Their variegated color-markings made them very attractive
ornamental objects in themselves, and there is reason to believe that
centuries ago the Indians of this region valued them as talismans or
amulets. At present the finest specimens are gathered from Pescadero
Beach in San Mateo County, about twenty-four miles west of San José,
Redondo Beach, fifteen miles south of Los Angeles, and also from
Crescent City Beach, in the northern part of California. On Moonstone
Beach, Santa Catalina Island, many beautiful quartz and chalcedony
nodules have been picked up, which have weathered out of ryolite rock of
sanidine feldspar and quartz. It has been quite a custom for guests of
the hotels to go down to Redondo Beach and gather these pebbles, and
some of those collected by enterprising natives are placed in a bottle
of water to bring out the beauty of their colors. Sometimes they are
drilled and strung on flexible wire to form long chains or necklaces.
Several pebbles presumably from Redondo Beach were found, in 1901, in an
Indian grave, where they were probably placed as amulets for the
dead.[50]
[Illustration:
By courtesy of California State Mining Bureau.
1. Chalcedony and agate pebbles from Pescadero Beach, San Mateo
County, California.
2. Pebble Beach, Redondo, Los Angeles County, California.
From George Frederick Kunz’s “Semi-precious Stones of California,”
Sacramento, 1905.
Bulletin No. 37 of the State Mining Bureau.
]
The occurrence of fluid cavities in quartz, chalcedony, sapphire, and
other minerals, is due at times to cavernous structures formed during
the growth of these minerals, when the crystalline substances, for some
reason, instead of filling these up solid, will avoid the caverns and
enclose the liquid of crystallization. In agate inclusions this is found
with silicious content, possibly due to the fact that it is to an extent
carbonic acid gas, or water containing salt or some other foreign
substance. In agate chalcedony, whether in pebbles as minute as a
pinhead, or in amygdules several feet across, the liquid is enclosed
because the walls of the gas-pores in the rock, which are frequently
almond-shaped, are gradually becoming smaller, or rather the walls
thicken by the deposition of the silica forming agate, chalcedony, or
any impenetrable layers, or else an impenetrable form of quartz; then
again, frequently toward the centre or when the liquid forms less
rapidly, or through some change, the quartz becomes crystalline, either
colorless, smoky, or amethystine, and this is due to various inclusions.
This gradual thickening of the walls means that the aperture into which
the liquid penetrates becomes smaller and smaller until at last it is
entirely sealed, so that it becomes enclosed in a kind of nature’s
water-bottle, these being sometimes as large as in the chalcedony
specimens from Uruguay; this is also the case with the hydrolites and
the enhydros, when they can be shaken and the water rattles as in a
bottle.
An occasional small Redondo Beach, California, or Medford, Oregon pebble
contains a moving bubble of air in liquid.
Most wonderful specimens of rutilated quartz are the great, rich brown,
possibly titanium-colored masses in the Morgan Collection at the
American Museum of Natural History, that in the Vaux Collection at the
Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, and a smaller mass in the
British Museum; these were all obtained near Middlesex, Vermont. The
rutile is a rich transparent or translucent red, varying in thinness
from that of an ordinary needle to that of a knitting-needle, and even
to that of a thin lead-pencil. Wonderful specimens are also found in the
Alps of St. Gotthard, in Madagascar, and in Alexander County, North
Carolina, where they are found in quantity as minute crystals of a rich
red or golden yellow.
Other curious and interesting rock-crystals with inclusions are those
showing enclosed drops of water, the kind termed _enhydros_ by Pliny[51]
and many old writers; in some of the rarer specimens the enclosed water
is present in considerable quantity. Quartz with inclusions of this type
was highly appreciated in the Greco-Roman world, and one of the best
poets of the Decadence, Claudian (fl. about 400 A.D.), composed a series
of poetic epigrams upon them, seven of these being in Latin and two in
Greek. An example of the best in each tongue, the first in the former
and the second in the latter, must be of interest, although the literal
prose version cannot have the charm of the original verse.[52]
The Alpine ice, already precious in its frigidity, acquires an intense
hardness through the action of the solar rays, but unable to transform
itself entirely into a gem, it betrays its original source by the
water that still remains within it. This adds at once to the beauty of
this liquid stone and to its value.
In its changeful aspect, this crystal born from snow and fashioned by
the hand of man is an image of the world, of the heavens enclosing
cruel ocean in their wide embrace.
An old superstition among the Laplanders of Sweden is that in order to
avert or cure disease which may be or has been caused by sleeping in the
open air on the exposed moorland, three pebbles should be gathered, one
from the water, one out of the earth, and the third from the surface of
the ground or “from the air.” These are placed on a fire until they
become red-hot, and are then thrown into water; the stone which sizzles
most is that belonging to the element which has caused the illness. The
whole body, or sometimes only the afflicted part, is to be moistened
with the water in which the pebbles have been immersed, and each
separate stone is to be carefully returned to the spot whence it was
taken.[53]
Near Middleville, in Herkimer County, New York, in a calciferous
limestone, gray and brownish-gray in color, there are numerous cavities
varying in size from that of a pinhead to that of a man’s head. In these
cavities are found carbonaceous substances such as asphaltum and other
hard, black hydrocarbons. These cavities also frequently show mud or
sand adhering to the sides, or mud and sand mixed with the petroleum, in
which are often found brilliant and transparent rock-crystals, the
purest of any found in the world. They are unusually perfect hexagonal
prisms with both sets of six pyramid faces; that is, with same slight
modification, eighteen brilliantly polished faces. These are especially
sought after on account of their great purity, and because it is
considered that he who wears one will have fair weather and secure the
blessing of fair sailing on the sea of life. Some of these crystals are
so small, though of absolute perfection, that it would require 250,000
of them to weigh an ounce; others again are sometimes as large as from
one to two inches in length. When not entirely transparent they
frequently contain inclusions of black asphaltum or other hydrocarbons
and also contain hollow cavities which are filled with fluid, sometimes
salt water and sometimes liquid carbonic acid gas. In these are moving
bubbles and occasionally a heavy hydrocarbon; that is, a bubble will
ascend and the hydrocarbon will sink; or else the bubble will rise and
take with it a small speck of hydrocarbon, and another will sink. In a
wonderful specimen now at the American Museum of Natural History there
is an object like a small spider of hydrocarbon which sinks while a
minute water-bubble rises. They are called fair-weather stones.
Tasmanian rain-makers use white stones in their magical rites; however,
the stone by itself is not considered an effective talisman, for it must
be dipped in the blood of a young girl to give it added power. After a
number of white pebbles have been steeped for a time in this blood, the
rain-maker ties them up in strips of bark and sinks them in some deep
water-hole in which a diabolical spirit is supposed to dwell. The
natives confidently assert that this ceremony is soon followed by the
desired rainfall. As the belief prevails here as elsewhere, that these
white stones or pebbles to retain their power must not be looked upon by
a woman, it seems a little strange that the rain-bringing stone is
dipped in a young girl’s blood.[54]
However, white stones have not always and everywhere been regarded as
lucky, for it is stated that among the fishermen of the Isle of Man the
presence of a white stone in a fishing-smack is confidently believed to
portend poor fishing. Indeed it has been reported by a Scotchman, who
went out in a fishing boat for several consecutive days with a party of
Manx fishermen, that after a succession of days marked by poor fishing
they began to nickname him “White Stone.”[55]