Respecting Precious Gems. 29
the
state of health of the donor or possessor. If they became dull, he was
conjectured to be unwell or in danger ; and their becoming opaque or
colourless would give rise to the most dismal forebodings. The
turquoise was conceived to have an affinity with its possessor or
master, and to change in colour as his state of health altered. The
fact that some turquoises do change their colour may have given rise to
this superstition ; the real cause of their variation seems to arise
from the difference of temperature and state of the weather. The
knowledge of the properties of gems common to writers of the Middle
Ages, differs but little from that possessed by Pliny and Aristotle,
and they seem to have copied very generally from each other. Marbodus,
Boetius, Cardanus, and Rhave adopted the statements of Pliny in many
instances ; and in a book written by Thomas Nicolls, published at
Cambridge in the year 1652, the statements of Pliny and Theophrastus
about the .diamond are quoted as being perfectly true.
Albertus
Magnus, Langius, Cardanus, Boetius, and others have written at length
on this subject, and their speculations as to the origin of gems, and
their supernatural effects, are most amusing. Serapius ascribes to the
diamond the power of driving away lémures, incubes, and succubos, and
of making men courageous and magnanimous ; and says that if the gem is
placed with a loadstone, it nullifies its power.
According to Boetius, in his work ' De Natura Gem-marum,' the ruby is a sovereign remedy against the plague
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