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Callais, Turquois

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66                     NATURAL HSTORY OF GEMS.
upon itself, so that the wearer escapes all hurt—a property beyond the scope of reason. I can solemnly affirm that I. always wear one set in a ring, the nature of which I can never sufficiently admire. Thirty years ago it had been worn by a Spaniard living not far from my father's house. On his death, when his goods wore sold off' (as is the custom with us), amongst the rest the Turquois was put up. No one, however, would bid for it, although many had come to buy it on account of its choice colour in the lifetime of the former owner; for it had entirely lost the original beauty and lustre, so that it looked more like Malachite than a Turquois. My father and brother were present, thinking to bid for the gem, which they had often admired aforetime, and were astonished at the change. My father, however, purchased it for a more trifle, because everybody thought it was not the same that the Spaniard used to wear. When my father came home, thinking it scorn to wear so unsightly a gem, he made me a present of it, saying, ' Since the story is that a Turquois, to exhibit its power, must be presented when one is at home, I now make you a gift of it.' I took the gem to an engraver to; cut my arms upon it, as is done upon Jasper, Calcedony, and other cheap stones, not choosing to wear it, having lost all its beauty, merely as an ornament. I received it back from the engraver, and wore it for a signet-ring Hardly was it on my finger a month-when its original colour returned, though not so bright as before, in conse­quence of the engraving and the inequality of its surface. Everybody was surprised, more especially as the colour grew finer every day. Perceiving this, I never took it off my finger, just as I do still. Its wonderful virtue in the case of a fall (if really proceeding from it) I have myself experienced. For returning on horseback to Bohemia from Padua, where I had taken my Doctor's degree, a guide I
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