The
Heliotrope is a precious stone, and is green, and sprinkled with red
drops, and veins of the colour of blood. If it be put in water before
the sunbeams, (a forecast of our modern burning-glass,) "it maketh the
water sethe in the vessel that it is in, and resolveth it, as it were,
into mist, and soon after it is resolved into rain-drops." "Also, it
seemeth that this stone may do wonders ; for, if it be put in a basin
with clear water, it changeth the sunbeams by rebounding of the air,
and seemeth to shadow them, and breedeth in the air red, and sanguine
colours, as though the sun were in eclypse, and darkened. An herb of
the same name (Heliotrope), with certain enchantments, doth beguile the
sight of men that look thereon, and maketh a man that beareth it not to
be seen."
The
Sunflower (under its title—Heliotropium) with which the Bloodstone is
here associated, is more commonly known botanically as Helianthus. Its
large showy flowers, surmounting tall stalks, are popular ornaments, of
brilliant yellow hue, in English cottage gardens, during the summer,
and autumn. The central discs of the flaunting flowers are aggregations
of black oily seeds, of which it is remarkable that an enormous
quantity is consumed as food by the populace of Russian towns. These
seeds, having an agreeable taste, are constantly chewed by that people.
Their outer husks are detached by the teeth, and spat out. In days of
public festivity the ground everywhere is covered with them as thickly
as the streets of Paris are strewn with " confetti " during the
Carnival. At every street corner a brisk trade is done in these seeds
by old women, who sell them very cheaply. The kernels of the seeds
contain helianthic acid; whilst.
