in
composition, though possessing diversities of colour, and of optical
properties) may exercise for the benefit, or restoration to health, of
invalid owners the tonic effects of Aluminium oxide, their common basis
of structure; how the Ruby (composed essentially of Alumina, one part,
and Magnesia one part), may, by virtue of its metallic oxides, of Iron,
Copper, and Chromium, renovate the bloodless patient, bringing back the
rich hue of convalescence, together with vital force, " renewed like
the eagle's " ; how the Turquoise, by its phosphates, may co'nfer fresh
brain-powers ; how the Brazilian Topaz may endow the bony skeleton
during youthful growth with a continuous solidity of frame (developing
on into the adventurous miner, or the bold, successful colonist), by
virtue of its Silicon, and its Fluorine,—thus steadily incorporated;
how the Garnets likewise (employed as inlaid stones in Celtic, and
Anglo-Saxon jewellery) by their oxides of Iron, and Magnesium, can
prove of admirable help to bloodless wearers. Why the vitreous
Opal—containing, as it does, from nine to ten parts of water when
lustrous and bright (but liable to become dry, and therefore dull; and,
moreover, because fragile of texture, soon growing greasy)—is for these
several reasons unpopular, and deemed unlucky for those persons who
venture to adopt it; why Amber has deservedly gained an antiseptic
reputation (as against such bacterial maladies as whooping cough,
putrid sore throat, etc.) because of its mnate sulphur; why Pearls (as
secreted by the mantle of the Pearl-Oyster from the depths of the
Persian Gulf, or of Australian seas) whilst charming to view because of
their iridescent sheen, have become credited from earliest times with
salutary marine influences, as
