by
the Messrs. Lemery and Tournefort,"—when treating of Stones, they say,
concerning the Sapphirus, or Saphir, " used in physick are the
fragments, or pieces which the lapidaries cut off from the Saphirs,
which are much about the size of large pin-heads, reddish, or blackish
; but the red are to be prefer'd, because the black are full of
iron-stone ; by which we may perceive they have some analogy to the
Loadstone, for they will be attracted like iron." " There are a great
many virtues attributed to the Saphirs which they have not; as the
fortifying the heart, and other noble parts, purifying the blood,
resisting of Poyson ; their true properties are to stop fluxes, sweeten
the blood, and dry up ulcers of the eyes."
To
serve utilitarian purposes Sapphire Stones are put into the works of
watches, for some of the wheels to rotate upon as hard, durable pivots.
On
their signet-rings both the Phoenicians and the Asiatics manifested a
persistent partiality for the old Egyptian Scaraboci, or Beetles. It
may be that as the received symbol of the Sun this insect commended
itself to the Phoenicians (who were exclusive worshippers of that
luminary, under the name of Baal) : the Beetle having acquired this
distinction amongst the Egyptians from its habit of forming globes,
types of the world, as receptacles for its eggs ; thus symbolizing the
creation, by the Divine Author of its being. iElian states further,
that amongst the Egyptians their warriors wore beetles in their rings,
as a badge of their profession ; because the insect typified manliness,
being, according to the popular belief, exclusively of the male sex.
" Rings," Magus, (Francis Barrett, (1801), has said in his Occult Philosophy, " when they are opportunely
