202 PRECIOUS STONES.
Under
the Lower Empire Crystal Rings were worn for the like purpose ; these
were solid, being carved out of one single piece, which had its face
engraved with some intaglio as a signet. Crystals are sometimes found
with a cavity in their substance, containing a few drops of water,
which moves about as the stone is turned.
"
Erstwhile the boy, pleased with its polish clear, With gentle finger
twirl'd the icy sphere, He marked the drops pent in its stony hold,
Spared by the rigour of the wintry cold ; With thirsty lips the
unmoisten'd ball he tries, And the loved draught with fruitless kisses plies."
By
this epigram—one of Claudian's—an incontrovertible proof is afforded
of the said former theory deducing the Crystal's slow formation from
hardened, or solidified ice.
" The Crystal"—as stated in Precious Stones : their History : Mystery, (W.
Jones, 1880)—" has been the most popular of all Oracles. The favourite
stone was a Beryl, and the custom was to ' charge ' the said stones ;
for which purpose set forms were used. Scott, in his Discovery of Witchcraft, gives
the form for St. Helen ; whose name was to be written on the Crystal
with olive oil, beneath a Cross, likewise designed, and while the
operator turned himself eastward. A child, born in wedlock, and
perfectly innocent, was then to take the Crystal in his hands, and the
operator, kneeling behind him, was to repeat a prayer to St. Helen,
that wdiatsoever he wished might become evident in the stone. Finally,
the Saint herself would appear in the Crystal, in an angelic form, and
answer any question put to her." This proceeding was directed
