desired to know in heaven and upon earth. This learned
naturalist says, "Divers are the virtues of stones," which leads
us to infer that he accepted the popular theories on this topic.
It was the prevaling opinion in ancient times that precious
stones were endowed with organic life, that they breathed, and
had the power to increase or diminish their size at will.
Pythagoras endowed them with souls, Theophrastus with sex,
Dioscorides with marvellous powers ; Plato believed they were
produced by fermentation ; and Cardan thought they were
subject to illness, old age, and death.
The diamond was one of the most marvellous of all the
gems, being propagated, according to Sir John Mandeville, in a
manner similar to organic beings ; that it was important in
defensive armor we are apprised in " Paradise Lost." Chaucer, in
his "Romance of the Rose," alludes to the supernatural powers
of gems. The San Graal, celebrated in poetry and romance by
the writers of the Middle Ages, and the object of religious
veneration for many centuries, was a cup made of a single
stone, thought to be an emerald, detached from the crown of
Satan when he fell from heaven, and was used at the celebration of the Last Supper, and, subsequently, to receive the
blood of Christ when expiring upon the cross.
Both Newton and Boyle, two of the most eminent English philosophers, are said to have given some credit to the
popular belief in the medicinal qualities of precious stones.
If this was true, it was probably in the sense that some
other mineral substances are used for curative purposes,
and not because they were endowed with any marvellous
properties.
In its early history, science was closely allied to superstition,
when all the laws and forces of nature were invested with
mysterious powers, and no material substance, perhaps, was
