Amethystus, Amethyst

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	66	AMETHYSTUS.

	the feathers of a swallow, they are a charm against witchcraft. They are also serviceable to persons having petitions to make to princes : they keep oif hailstorms and flights of locusts with the assistance of a spell which they teach." Where it may be remarked that the names of the Moon and Sun must have been the mystic names of these luminaries in a sacred Oriental language, for such in Greek or Latin would have been too simple for the faith of their dupes, and, besides, never are to bo seen on any similar relics. Doubtless we have here an allusion to the ΙΑΩ and ABRASAS, words of that actual signification, and which in the following century appear on such countless multitudes of talismanic gems connected with Magian or with Egyptian superstitions.

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