ascribed
to the Opal by our ancestors. One of which superstitions Sir Walter
Scott has availed himself of in the episode concerning the Baroness
Hermione, of Arnheim, in his Anne of Gierstein, when the Opal
worn by that lady, whereon a drop of holy water chanced to rest,
straightway shot out a brilliant spark, like a falling light, and then
forthwith became lustreless, and void of colour as a common pebble.
Strange to say, after the brilliant novelist's fiction was published, a
belief that Opals are unlucky obtained such currency that these gems
went quickly out of fashion. But lately they have come again into
favour ; and now promise to regain, (as they have always merited), high
estimation ; and this the more especially since they are the only
Precious stones which defy imitation. And, in fact, so far was the Opal
from being considered unlucky in the Middle Ages that it was believed
to possess unitedly the special virtues of every gem with the
distinctive colour whereof it was emblazoned. Petrus Artensis, tempore Henry
IV., said, " The various colours in the Opal tend greatly to the
delectation of the sight." But in modern, times if a Russian of either
sex, or of any rank, should happen to see an Opal among goods submitted
to purchase, he, or she, will buy nothing more on that day, because the
Opal is, in the judgment of subjects of the Czar, an embodiment of the
evil eye. It is likely that the same superstition will be found to
similarly obtain in other countries.
As
a mineral the Opal is a natural form of hydrated silica, which has
apparently hardened from a gelatinous state; and during consolidation
it has undergone contraction unequally, in different directions. For
which reason, though amorphous, it behaves in polarised
