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Jaspis, Jasper, Quartz-gems

Jaspis, Jasper, Quartz-gems Page of 453 Lapis Lydius, Touchstone, Assaying Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
210                                         JASPIS.
affirms that, " if one offer sacrifice holding in his hand the polished Jasper, colour of the Spring, he rejoiceth the hearts of the gods, and they shall satiate his thirsty land with showers ; for this stone brings down rain upon the parched-up fields." Pliny quotes as a sample of the impudence of the Magi, the assertion contained in the book dedicated to Mithridates by Zachalias the Babylo­nian, that the gem Haematites was not merely good for the eyes and the liver, but gave success to those having petitions to kings, and also the victory in lawsuits and trials. Here he seems to allude to Orpheus (670), who makes Helenus offer this auxiliary to Ajax when proceeding to the contest for the armour of Achilles, the acceptance of which would have ensured him complete success, and even the acquiescence of Pallas, patroness of his rival. Again the Achates from India was good against venomous spiders and scorpions, and " for many other great wonders." The vermilion-coloured made athletes invincible; perhaps the reason why the design of Hercules strangling the Nemean lion is so often found upon this kind.
Supported by the authority of Galen, its efficacy was undis­puted even in 1609. De Boot testifies that in his own practice he has observed effects scarcely credible from the application of the Red Jasper in cases of hemorrhage, and mentions the prevail­ing belief that a Green Jasper engraved with the figure of a scorpion, when the sun was entering that sign, was a sure pre­servative against the formation of the stone in the bladder.
Jaspis, Jasper, Quartz-gems Page of 453 Lapis Lydius, Touchstone, Assaying
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