cited by Pliny. This was said to attract the flame and to ignite if it
came in contact with the fire. If worn on the neck it was a cure for
fevers; if powdered and mixed with honey and oil of roses it was
beneficial for dimness of vision, and its powder, whether taken by
itself or in water with gum mastic, remedied diseases of the
stomach.[112] In ancient and medieval times the fear of poison being
administered in food or drink was very great, and any substance that was
credited with the power to show the presence of poison, by some change
in clearness or color, was highly valued. An amber cup was said to
reveal the admixture of any of the various kinds of poison with the
liquid it contained.[113]
The use of amber as a preventive of erysipelas finds a defender in Rev.
C. W. King, who writes as follows:
[Illustration:
NECKLACE OF FACETED AMBER BEADS
German. Eighteenth century.
]
That the wearing an amber necklace will keep off the attacks of
erysipelas in a person subject to them has been proved by repeated
experiments beyond the possibility of doubt. Its action here cannot be
explained; but its efficacy in defence of the throat against chills is
evidently due to its extreme warmth when in contact with the skin and
the circle of electricity so maintained.[114]
The electrical property of amber was remarked as early as 600 B.C. by
the Ionic philosopher Thales, and from this observation may be dated the
beginnings of the study of electric phenomena.
That faith in the magic powers of amber beads still exists is
illustrated in the case of an old Russian Jewess who recently died in
one of our charitable institutions. This woman is said to have reached
the age of one hundred and six years, and she ascribed her extraordinary
longevity to the possession of a necklace of very large amber beads,
which had been given her by her mother, who also lived more than a
hundred years. The daughter, a few days before her death, bestowed this
treasured heirloom upon _her_ daughter, for it is generally believed
that the virtues of gems largely depend upon their being received as
gifts.
In northern Germany, also, for more than a century a string of amber
beads was looked upon as a favorite and necessary gift. The writer has
seen hundreds of these strings, many of which have been worn for one,
two, and sometimes more generations. The beads are round and usually
facetted; however, they have been abraded against each other for so long
that they are often flat disks, and a string originally fifteen or
sixteen inches long will be twelve, and often only nine inches in
length, so much of the original spheres having worn away.
A well-known physician of the sixteenth century, Johann Meckenbach,
claimed, in 1548, to have discovered the process of producing oil of
amber. Although Meckenbach was not entitled to the credit he claimed, as
the experiment had already been successfully made, he gained great
repute by this means, and when he communicated to Duke Albrecht of
Prussia the secret of his process, the rulers of other lands overwhelmed
the duke with requests for a supply of the precious remedy. Ferdinand,
Archduke of Austria, sent a special messenger the long journey to
Berlin, twice in a year, for a few flasks of the oil, which was regarded
as a cure for many diseases.[115] The oil of amber—_oleum succini_ of
the Pharmacopœia—has maintained its repute as a cure for various
affections up to the present day. In some forms of gout and rheumatism
it relieves the inflammation and pain in the joints; and its
antispasmodic action makes it a valuable remedy in cases of asthma,
whooping-cough, hysteria, bronchitis, and infantile convulsions.[116]
An early version of the strange tale that ships were attracted by masses
of rocks, or even mountains of loadstone, is given by Palladius (c.
367–c. 431 A.D.). He relates that the loadstone was produced on a group
of islands called the Maniolæ, which were on the route to Taprobane
(Ceylon), and continues, “if any ship constructed with iron nails
approached these islands they were drawn by the power of the loadstone
and their course was arrested. For this reason those voyaging to
Taprobane use ships especially put together with wooden pegs.” Probably
the legend arose from the fact that wood was often used in the case of
vessels trading in this region, because iron was scarce and expensive.
This is the view of Procopius, who found the same story still current in
the sixth century.[117]
It has been noted as a curious fact that none of the ancient writers who
treat of the loadstone recognized that the attractive energy exerted by
this substance on iron was also exerted by iron upon the loadstone; on
the contrary, they constructed many ingenious hypotheses to explain why
this was not the case.[118] The strange fancy that in the presence of a
diamond a piece of loadstone was robbed of its attractive force, must
have arisen from an observation of the well-known electric properties of
the first-named stone, and from the idea that the much more valuable
stone should have the greater power. Here, as in many other cases, we
see how little interest was taken in actual experiment by ancient
writers, a pre-conceived idea of the eternal fitness of things being the
main criterion.
Spaniards of the thirteenth century believed that the magnetic power of
the loadstone would depart from it if it were steeped in the juice of
leek or onion for three days; but the virtue would return to the stone
if it were bathed in goat’s blood. This recalls the queer notion that
the diamond could only be broken when moistened with goat’s blood, both
fancies having their origin in the idea that goat’s, or rather ram’s
blood, was endowed with warmth and vitality to a higher degree than
other blood.
An ingenious magnetic oracle is described by De Boot.[119] This
consisted of a round board, about the edge of which were marked the
letters of the alphabet, while in the centre there stood a small wooden
figure, set on a pivot, and holding extended in one hand a little wand.
One foot of this figure was slightly advanced and within it was
concealed a small iron ball. The experimenter held in his hand a wooden
sceptre, with a powerful loadstone at its top, and as he touched with
his sceptre the lower side of the board, beneath the spot on which any
one of the letters was marked, the attraction exercised by the loadstone
on the iron made the figure revolve on its pivot so that the little wand
pointed toward the letter indicated. In this way any word could be
spelled out and appropriate answers given to any question. The device
would be too obvious at present, but in De Boot’s time it would have
served well enough to mystify the spectators.
That the loadstone was highly esteemed in the sixteenth century was well
versified by Robert Norman in “The Newe Attractive.”
THE MAGNES OR LOADSTONES CHALLENGE
Give place ye glittering sparkes, ye glimmering Diamonds bright,
Ye Rubies red, and Saphires brave, wherein ye most delight.
In breefe yee stones enricht, and burnisht all with gold,
Set forth in Lapidaries shops, for Jewels to be sold.
Give place, give place I say, your beautie, gleame, and glee,
Is all the vertue for the which, accepted so you bee.
Magnes, the Loadstone I, your painted sheaths defie,
Without my helpe, in Indian Seas the best of you might lye.
I guide the Pilots course, his helping hand I am,
The Mariner delights in me, so doth the Marchant man.
My vertue lies unknowne, my secrets hidden are,
By me the Court and Common-weale, are pleasured very farre.
No ship could sayle on seas, her course to runne aright,
Nor compasse shew the ready way, were Magnes not of might.
Blush then, and blemish all, bequeathe to mee thats due,
Your seates in golde, your price in plate, which Jewellers doo rewe.
Its I, its I alone, whom you usurpe upon,
Magnes my name, the Loadstone cald, the prince of stones alone.
If this you can denie, then seeme to make reply,
And let the Painefull sea-man judge, the which of us doth lye.
THE MARINER’S JUDGMENT
The Loadstone is the stone, the only stone alone,
Deserving praise above the rest, whose vertues are unknowne.
THE MARCHANT’S VERDICT
The diamond bright, the Saphire brave, are stones that beare the name,
But flatter not, and tell the troath, Magnes deserves the same.[120]
It was reported in the seventeenth century that ruptures were cured in
Belgium by the help of the loadstone. The patient was first given a dose
of iron filings, reduced to a very fine powder; thereupon a plaster made
of crushed loadstone was applied externally to the affected part. This
was said to produce a cure in the space of eight days.[121] Probably the
plaster was believed to draw the iron filings or some emanation from
them through the affected parts toward the surface.
In medieval Europe this mineral was greatly valued for its therapeutic
virtues. Trotula, the first of the female physicians connected with the
celebrated School of Salerno, the centre of medical culture in Europe in
the Middle Ages, and who wrote a treatise on female diseases,
recommended the use of the loadstone in childbirth. The stone was to be
held in the right hand, and the learned lady asserted that the wearing
of a coral necklace would aid its beneficent effect. Both these
substances are prescribed for this use by the Oxford teacher, John
Gadesden (1300), in his “Rosa Anglica.” Francisco Piemontese, who taught
in Naples about 1340, also recommends the loadstone, but he directs that
it be strewn with the ashes obtained by burning the hoof of an ass or a
horse; according to this last authority, the stone should be held in the
left hand.[122]
That wounds caused by burning could be healed if powdered loadstone were
sprinkled over them was confidently taught even in the seventeenth
century. However, some ill effects were occasionally remarked when the
substance was used medicinally, for it sometimes produced melancholia.
In this case an antidote was found in the emerald, and we are assured
that if a solution made from this stone were taken thrice a day for nine
consecutive days, the melancholia would pass away.[123]
In the sixteenth century in India, it was believed that a small quantity
of loadstone taken internally preserved the vigor of youth, and Garcias
ab Orta relates that a king of Ceylon, when an old man, ordered that
cooking utensils of this material should be made for him, and had all
his food cooked in these. Garcias claims to have this information direct
from a Jew, Isaac of Cairo, who was ordered to make the vessels.[124]
A loadstone amulet for the cure of gout is stated to have been worn by a
native of the English county of Essex. The stone was sewed up in a
flannel covering to which was attached a black ribbon for suspension
from the neck. Of course it was worn beneath the clothing, although the
encasing flannel must have prevented direct contact with the skin. This
piece of magnetic iron ore measured about an inch and a half in width,
and was two-tenths of an inch thick. The patient, a Mr. Pelly, was an
elderly man, who had suffered for some time from annually recurring
attacks of gout which prostrated him for from three to four months.
Learning of the reputed virtues of loadstones, more especially of those
of Golconda, he sent to India for one and he is said to have been
thereby relieved of his disease.[125]
[Illustration:
Vignette from the “Lapidario de Alfonso X, Codice Original” (fol. 12).
Published in Madrid, 1881. This design shows the finding of the
“Stone of Sterility.” Author’s library.
]
In Persia a certain stone received the name of _Shahkevheren_ or “King
of Jewels,” for it was reputed to attract all other precious stones, as
the loadstone did iron. The greatest of the Sassanian monarchs, Khusrau
II (590–628), had occasion to test the power of this wonderful stone. He
had lost a ring of great price in the river Tigris, near the spot where
some time later the Mohammedans founded the city of Bagdad. Taking a
_shahkevheren_ the monarch attached it to a line and literally fished
for his ring, using the magic stone as a bait. We are told that the ring
was recovered, and this must have greatly added to the reputation of the
“King of Jewels.”[126]
In the ninth century Arabic treatise, translated from an earlier Syriac
text and falsely attributed to Aristotle, a number of fabulous stones
are noted. All of these were said to have attractive properties, and as
the loadstone attracted iron, they attracted various substances, each
having its special affinity. First, we are told of the stone that
attracted gold, then, in turn, of stones that attracted silver, copper,
and other metals.[127] Probably the legend of the finding of these
stones is based upon the employment of certain mineral substances in the
purifying of gold, silver, etc. Among other fabulous or almost fabulous
stones was one called _askab_, which, although of mean appearance, was
able to break the diamond just as the diamond broke all other
stones.[128] Have we here an allusion to the polishing of the diamond by
its own dust? It is not improbable that this art, in an incomplete form,
was known to the Hindus long before it was practised and perfected in
Europe.
The stone that attracted hair was the lightest of all stones and very
fragile; a piece as large as a man’s fist weighed but a drachm. It
looked like a piece of fur, but when touched was found to be a stone.
The strange powers of this extraordinary substance could easily be
demonstrated, for if placed on a hairy spot of man or beast the hair was
extracted, while if it were rubbed over a bald spot the hair was made to
grow.[129] Probably the appearance of certain minerals covered with
fine, hair-like spines, suggested the idea that the body of the stone
had attracted hair to itself, and thus gave rise to this strange belief
in the depilatory power of the stone, or it may have been a form of
amber that, owing to its opacity, was not recognized as being the same
as the transparent variety.
The Arabic Aristotle relates many wonderful tales of stones found by
Alexander the Great during his Asiatic campaigns (327–323 B.C.). While
these are all apocryphal, there can be no doubt that it was subsequent
to these campaigns that western Europe was first made familiar with many
of the precious stones of Persia and India. One of the stones reported
by “Aristotle” bore the name _el behacte_ or _baddare_, rendered in a
Hebrew version _dar_ (pearl?). This was the stone that attracted men, as
the loadstone attracted iron. A quantity of these stones were found on
the seashore by the soldiers of Alexander’s army, but the men were so
fascinated by their aspect as to be unable to gather them up. Therefore
Alexander ordered that the soldiers should veil their faces, or close
their eyes, and, after covering the marvellous stones with a cloth,
should take them away without once looking at them. Hereupon Alexander
gave commands that a wall should be built around “a certain city.”[130]
Possibly we have here a distant echo of the pearl gates of the New
Jerusalem.
Two other strange stones are described, one of these appearing on the
surface of the water only during the night, while the other shows itself
during the daytime and sinks beneath the surface as soon as the sun
sets. The “daystones,” according to the legend, were quite useful to
Alexander in his campaigns, for if they were attached to the necks of
horses or beasts of burden, the horses would not neigh, and the other
animals would be equally mute as long as they bore the stones, so that
the passage of the army would not be revealed to the enemy. The
“night-stones,” on the other hand, produced an entirely opposite effect,
for when wearing them the animals uttered their respective cries
unceasingly. We are not told that Alexander ever used them to provide an
animal symphony as martial music for his soldiers.
Referring again to the subject of amber, as the objects placed in Roman
sepulchral urns were always chosen because of some supposed religious or
talismanic quality, there is considerable significance in the fact that
an urn of this type, preserved by Cardinal Farnese, contained a piece of
amber carved into the figure of an elephant. Coming down to modern
times, there is record that the Macdonalds of Glencoe handed down as
heirlooms four amber beads said to cure blindness, and there seems
reason to conjecture that this substance was sometimes credited with
being an antidote for the poison of snake bites, as a small perforated
stone used as late as 1874 in the Island of Lewis for this purpose
appears to be a semi-transparent amber.[131] Indeed, amber set as a
jewel to cure rheumatism is said to be offered for sale in London
to-day, and the writer has learned that the late Rev. Henry Ward Beecher
long carried amber beads with him to ward off this malady.
II
On Meteorites, or Celestial Stones
It is somewhat difficult to obtain trustworthy accounts regarding the
occurrence of meteorites in medieval and ancient times, as there was a
strong tendency to confuse the real meteorites with flint arrow-heads
and hatchets derived from the stone age. A number of interesting facts
bearing on the history of certain real or supposed aerolites were given
in a recent lecture delivered by Prof. Hubert A. Newton in New Haven,
Conn.[132] Some of the more striking instances are here presented.
As an illustration of the way in which meteorites may have come to be
reverenced in former times, we have the modern instance of a stone that
fell in the region north of Zanzibar, on the East African coast, and was
seen and picked up by some shepherd boys. At first all the efforts of
the German missionaries to buy this stone were fruitless, because the
neighboring Wanikas looked upon it as a god, and, after securing
possession of it, proceeded to anoint it with oil, clothe it with
apparel and decorate it with pearls. They also built a temple wherein
the stone received divine honors. This worship endured for some time,
but when, three years later, the nomad tribes of the Masai swooped down
on the Wanikas and burned their villages and massacred many of the
inhabitants, the Wanikas lost all respect for the stone and were glad to
part with it. This conduct was, after all, not entirely unreasonable,
since the fetish had failed to prove its divine power.
[Illustration:
By Courtesy Soule Photo Co.
THE “MADONNA DI FOLIGNO,” BY RAPHAEL
In the Vatican Collection, Rome. The white curve in the middle of the
background shows the passage of the meteor to the earth.
]
This occurrence in the nineteenth century may well be typical of what
must have happened in past times. A case from the fifteenth century,
narrated by Professor Newton, is very interesting, since the treatises
on precious stones of that period and somewhat later contain many
notices of supposed meteorites. We are told that, on November 16, 1492,
a stone weighing 300 pounds fell at Ensisheim, in Alsace. Emperor
Maximilian, who was then in Basel, caused the stone to be brought to the
neighboring castle and summoned a state council to determine the
character of the divine message associated with its fall. The council
decided that the event signified some important occurrence in the
approaching conflict between the French and the Turks, and the stone,
with an appropriate inscription, was suspended in the church, the
strictest injunctions being given that it should not be removed. Conrad
Gesner, in his treatise, “De figuris lapidum,”[133] states that a
fragment of this stone was given to him by a friend and that it
resembled ordinary sandstone.
We are told that nineteen years later a shower of stones fell near
Crema, east of Milan; these stones fell in French territory and at that
time the Pope was engaged in hostilities with the French. During the
following year, the French, who had long threatened the States of the
Church from their possessions in Lombardy, were forced to withdraw from
Italy. In the celebrated painting by Raphael, known as the Madonna di
Foligno, one of the greatest treasures of the Vatican, this Crema
fire-ball is depicted.
Naturally the recitals from ancient times are not as easily controlled
as the more modern accounts and it is always possible that stones other
than meteorites were given a celestial origin by superstitious zeal. The
black stone of the Kaabah, which is probably noted by early Greek
writers and was an object of adoration for the Arabian tribes before the
time of Mohammed, was believed to have dropped from heaven together with
Adam, and in many Greek legends images were said to have fallen from
heaven. Of course in the case of real statues this is simply a vague
superstition, but the stone venerated in Phrygia as an image of Cybele
may possibly have been a genuine meteorite.
The following facts in relation to this stone are presented by Professor
Newton:
It was a conical mass bearing a rude resemblance to a human head, and
was said to have fallen near Pessinus. It was placed in the Temple of
Cybele and worshipped as her image. During the second Punic war, in
205 B.C., because of Hannibal’s prolonged invasion of Italy, the
downfall of the Roman state was feared, and the Romans were terrified
by a shower of stones from the sky. On consulting the Sibylline books,
some verses were found to the effect that a foreign enemy could be
driven from Italy if the Idæan mother (Cybele) was brought from
Pessinus in Phrygia to Rome. An embassy was sent to King Attalus of
Pergamos to request his consent to the transfer of the stone, and
although he even refused obedience to the commands of the Delphic
oracle, which required him to surrender the stone as an act of
hospitality, he at last yielded when a violent earthquake shook the
country, and the voice of the goddess was heard, enunciating these
words: “It is my will. Rome is a worthy place for any god; delay
not.”[134]
Herodian, who relates this story, proceeds to narrate the arrival of the
stone at Rome, where Scipio Africanus was chosen to bear it to the
Temple of Victory. A silver image of the goddess was made, the conical
stone serving as the head. For five hundred years this image, later
transferred to the Temple of the Great Mother of the Gods, was an object
of Roman worship. It has been described very fully by Arnobius (fl. 300
A.D.).[135] He states that it was a small stone which could be easily
and lightly carried in the hand; it was of a black hue and of rough
surface, and had many irregular projecting angles. As it was naturally
marked with the form of a mouth, it was inserted in the face of an image
of the goddess to figure that feature.
As the stone was valueless, modern explorers long hoped that it might
not have been carried off from Rome by the spoilers, but the search for
it has been in vain. In a rare volume describing excavations made in the
Palatine hill in 1730, Professor Lanciani is stated to have found a
stone that had been unearthed at that time in a chapel, lacking any
inscription to indicate the divinity to whom it was dedicated. This
stone was said to be “of a deep brown color, looking very much like a
piece of lava, and ending in a sharp point.” The similarity of this
description to that of Arnobius indicates that the Cybele stone may
really have been found in 1730, but it has since disappeared. It would
have been extremely interesting for mineralogists if they could have
been enabled to examine this supposed meteorite, perhaps the very
earliest regarding which we have such definite information.
To throw it into greater relief it was surrounded by a silver rim. When
first brought to land from the ship on which it had been transported to
Rome, the sacred stone was confided to the care of a company of Roman
matrons who passed it on from one to another as it was solemnly borne to
the Temple of Victory.[136]
Whether this stone was really a meteorite, as tradition taught, or
whether it was a fossil of the type later known as _hysteriolithus_, as
was conjectured by M. Falconnet, in 1770,[137] remains doubtful. Its
light weight, upon which quality Arnobius lays stress, and its peculiar
form seem to favor somewhat the latter supposition. A similar stone to
which divine honors were paid was in a temple on Mount Ida.