and
being the residuum of its subject-matter, rather has subsequently
infiltrated into the cavity through the pores oî the stone. It is said
that the miners in California often come upon huge quartz-nodules
filled with water, and are poisoned occasionally by drinking it, from
the quantity of silica it holds in solution.
Such
Enhydrous Crystals are not unfrequently to be met with in jewels of the
Cinque-cento. They are, indeed, somewhat dangerous ornaments, being apt
to explode with greai; violence on the sudden application of heat, an
instance of which is on record where a person had his palate severely
lacerated by inadvertently placing one in his mouth, and its bursting
there; and Caire mentions a similar explosion happening within his
knowledge on a jeweller's attempting to solder a ring set with such a "
pregnant gem." *
The
ancients do not appear to have attached much medicinal virtue to the
Crystal—Orpheus, the prime source of all sucli notions, only
recommending it as a remedy for diseases of the kidneys, externally
applied, and as a burning lens for sacrificial purposes ; but
Marbodus, on the authority of Evax, prescribes the powder of it to be
taken in mulsum (wine and honey) by women suckling, as a sure means for increasing their supply of milk.
In
addition to all these wonders, the Crystal played an important part in
magic. A sphere, some three inches in diameter, apparently one of that
ancient sort already described, was the far-famed "show-stone" of Dr.
Dee, wherein that " egregious wizard " conjured up for those who
consulted him a picture of their coming fates, after the manner yet
practised by the Caireen magicians, who, however, substitute for the
sphere a pool of ink held in the
* These curious stones are now found at Bragonza near Vicenza, whence their popular name " Goccia d' aqua di Vicenza."
