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LAPIS LAZULI. 331
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But
a great many people advise it without the Cochineal, who believe that
two grains thereof will answer the same purpose." " This ' grain,'
(really an insect,) is one of the principal riches of the countries in
which it grows, especially for the poor people throughout all Provence,
and Languedoc, where the peasants gather, and sell it by the pound to
the apothecaries, who from the pulp make a syrup they call Alkermes ;
and the remainder which is left in the sieve, or strainer, after it is
cleansed, they sell again to the dyers."
One
of the Palaces at St. Petersburg contains rooms lined with Lapis
Lazuli. The names of this gem are derived from the Latin word Lapis, a stone, and the Persian word Lazur, blue.
It is now said to be an established fact that by directing the rays of
blue electric light on the eyes, while carefully excluding every other
ray, a person can be thrown into a deep sleep, with complete
insensibility, which is both harmless, and pleasant. This sleep lasts
two or three minutes, and may be indefinitely repeated. It further
appears that blue lights, combined with blue surroundings, of carpets,
hangings, wall-paper, furniture, etc., in a room, are wonderfully
exhilarating, and will do much for the relief of nervous disquietude.
The
" Armenian Stone" (referred to as possessing the medicinal, and
curative virtues which the Lapis Lazuli similarly claims), is " full of
spots, green, sky-colour'd, and blackish, like Lapis Lazuli, with
golden spots, and it differs not from it but in maturity, for both are
discovered in the same mines. But Lapis Lazuli, which is the ripe, is
found in gold mines, the Armenian in the silver mines. It dryes
moderately, cleanseth with a little sharpness, and binding; taken
inwardly
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