Ch. 2: Superstitions of Gemstones

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	THE BOOK OF DIAMONDS malicious nocturnal visitors called incubes so the ladies adopted the fashion of always removing the rings before retiring to rest. Men derived courage from wearing diamonds. Rubies were deemed a specific remedy against the plague. Amethyst enabled a man to drink his fill without getting drunk. An emerald, if exposed to the view of a false witness, would fill him with confusion and check the flow of his perjury. A sapphire was invaluable to persons who desired to win the favor of princes. So on throughout the list. Each stone had its specific virtue. According to Garcias ab Orta (1563), the diamond was not used for medicinal purposes in India of his time, except when injected into the bladder to break up vesical calculi. He notes, however, the belief that diamonds or diamond dust, when taken internally, worked as a poison. As a proof of the falsity of this belief, Gareias adduces the fact that the slaves who worked in the diamond mines often swallowed diamonds to conceal them and never experienced any ill effects, the stones being recovered in a natural way. The same author notes the case of a man who suffered from chronic dysentery and whose wife had for a long time administered to him doses of diamond dust. While this did not help him, neither did it injure him; finally, by the advice of doctors, this strange treatment was abandoned. The man eventually died of his disease, but not until many days after the doses of diamond dust had been discontinued.¹The idea that diamonds or diamond dust had deadly ¹ Kunz, G. F., The Curious Lore of Precious Stones, p. 153. 12

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