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OVUM ANGUINUM.
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255
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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 vinÂdictive 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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