Moonstone is that of the Ceylon Opal. Its crystals are seldom found of any large size. The Stones are cut en cabochon by the lapidary.
Magus
(Francis Barrett, 1801), affirms the belief entertained of old, that
this stone, Heliotropium, Moonstone, green, like a jasper, or emerald,
and beset with red specks, makes the wearer constant, renowned, and
famous, conducing also to long life ; there is likewise another
wonderful property in this stone, which is, that it so dazzles the eyes
of men as to make its wearer invisible. But then there must be applied
to it the herb bearing the same name, viz., Heliotropium, or the
sun-flower ; and these kinds of virtues Albertus Magnus, and William of
Paris mention in their writings.
The
" Moonstone," as popularised by Wilkie Collins, in his remarkable,
wonder-stirring fiction of that name, was formerly an object of special
veneration because of its reputed lunar attraction. Pliny described it
as shining with a yellow lustre, from a colourless ground, and bearing
an image of the moon. " Which image," he relates, " if the story be
true, daily waxes, or wanes, according to the state of that luminary
then obtaining. Marbodus likewise, in the eleventh century, termed the
Moonstone " sacred." Concerning the lime which is present, (though only
as a trace, and therefore all the more potential,) as a constituent of
this, and some other such stones, Basil has said, " It fixeth the
volatile spirit of minerals." Furthermore, " Washed lime," wrote Dr.
Rowland, 1669, " dryes without nipping, and is therefore good against
stubborn ulcers, and burns, and others that are not easily cured." "
Formerly," tells Mr. Harry Emanuel, " the Moonstone was fashionÂable in
this country, although now it is seldom seen."
