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Ovum Anguinum, Druid's Bead

Ovum Anguinum, Druid's Bead Page of 384 Ovum Anguinum, Druid's Bead Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
OVUM ANGUINUM.
255
the oracle, it would return to every question the most veridical answers. At the end, the consulting party is ordered to bathe the stone a second time, and holding it to his eyes watch it closely, when he will perceive the spirit departing out of it in a wondrous manner.
This last character suggests the idea of the Hydrophane, a brown opaque kind of Opal, which, after immersion in water, becomes transparent and lustrous, returning to its primitive dull opacity as the liquid evaporates from its pores. The gem on this account was greatly admired in former times, and was honoured with the title of Oculus Mundi.
Another virtue of the Ophites alleged by Orpheus (413) is that the bearer may walk securely among serpents, though they should meet him in swarms. If even he tread upon them with bare feet they never think of using their teeth, but either hasten away terror-struck, or else, if rushing to the attack, stop midway in their career, and, raising their necks on high, fawn upon him with their tongues like so many dogs. Guarded by this amulet, the hunter Euphorbus slept in the forests of Ida unhurt, close by the most savage dragons. The powder of it also was a sure antidote for the serpent's bite. Besides this it was a cure for blindness, deafness, barrenness, and impotence. The Salagrama, or sacred stone of Vishnu, so much used by the Brahmins in all propitiatory rites, especially at the moment of death, is described by Sonnerat as a kind of Ammonite, very heavy, oval, or round, black : the actual wrinkled, ponderous, round, black Orites of Orpheus. Sometimes its colour is violet, which, representing a vin­dictive avatar of the god, is looked upon with horror. It resembles touchstone, and is concave on the reverse, with spiral lines terminating towards the centre. It is hollow, with only a single small aperture. The possessor of one keeps it wrapped up in a linen cloth, often perfumes and
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