imitated
by bone, horn, and ivory, stained with cinnabar, —also by a composition
of gypsum, gum, and cinnabar. One of the Greek names of coral was
from
the
tradition that the blood dropping from the head of Medusa, which
Perseus had deposited on some branches near the sea-shore, becoming
hard, was taken by the sea-nymphs and planted in the sea. Pliny calls
it ' dendrites' and ' corallum,' and it was dedicated by the Romans to
Jupiter and Apollo. In the Middle Ages it was used in medicine as an
astringent, and given to newly-born infants ; it was also thought to
deepen in colour when worn by a man, and to become paler when worn by a
woman. Both Boetius and Dioscorides sagely report it as efficacious
against the delusions of the devil when worn in the form of an amulet.
ON THE MEANS OF ASCERTAINING THE IDENTITY OF GEMS.
The
details given under the head of each stone afford ready and simple
means for determining, unaided, the identity of any particular stone ; and
a comparison of the results of the experiment, with the different
headings in Table A, will show at a glance in which division the
crystal or cut-stone experimented on should be classed.
