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THE DIAMOND
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was
not included in the list, but it was given a place in the more
generally applicable lists of birthstones, of which several came into
existence, the more widely accepted being what are known now as the
Polish and the Jewish. These in turn have been welded of late for
business reasons into one, and a new modern list formed, in which the
cheaper stones are discarded or combined with others more expensive and
ancient authority is made to countenance the more precious varieties
which jewelers prefer to sell. To give effect to the idea, a string of
doggerel, bad enough to be ancient, has been bound to the months and
stones, and it has been so widely circulated of late as to be
established in the trade and the popular mind as authoritative. Behind
every superstition somewhere, interested motives are to be found hiding.
Of
these birthstones, the diamond is awarded to April, and is said to
typify purity and to preserve peace. Undoubtedly it has preserved peace
under many threatening conditions.
Various
magic powers and medicinal virtues have at different times been
ascribed to the gem. One said it warded off mania; another that it was
an antidote for poisons, though the exact method of applying or
administering it has not been preserved with the prescription. One
writer claimed that if it were placed upon the forehead of a woman
while she slept, it would cause her to reveal the secrets of her heart.
One less imaginative, but wiser and more practical, said that, placed
upon a woman's hand it brought felicity. Some probably confounding the
ancient superstition about the pearl, averred that the diamond brought
tears to its possessor,
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