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Corallium, Coral

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CORALLIUM.
101
Amber being the sole ornament known to them in the way of jewels) ; but when Pliny wrote, the demand for it in India had become so great, that it was rarely to be seen in its native country, all that was in the least degree saleable being exported to the East ; a notice this, by the way, that gives an insight into the vast commerce and the facility of communication existing at that time between Europe and India. Coral was as much sought after by the Indians as pearls were by the Romans, and fetched as high a price ; the value of such things, as Pliny sagely remarks, being altogether arbitrary (ista, persuasione gentium constant). The beads (baccae) were as highly prized by the men of the Indians, as the Indian pearls by the Roman ladies. They were worn as a specially sacred amulet, as well as for orna­ment by their " prophets and diviners (Brahmins) ; so that they delight in them both for their beauty and their super­natural virtues."
Every observation of Pliny's respecting the then trade with India is borne out by modern experience, Tavernier remarking that Coral was by far the most profitable article that could be taken out to that country. At present a sphere, sound, good-coloured, and weighing an ounce, will command a higher price than any precious stone, either in China or Japan, being in great demand for the apex to the mandarin's cap of office.
The Romans seem to have employed Coral merely as an amulet and in medicine : the little branches were tied round children's necks to keep off the Evil Eye ; and, powdered after calcination, it was taken in water for the stone and colic. Being of a cooling and astringent quality, it was an ingredient in salves for obstinate ulcers, for removing scars, and for complaints of the eyes. But Orpheus (570), who poetically fables it to have originated when the newly-severed Gorgon's head was laid down by Perseus on the
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