14 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c.
stone
is the most discriminating of all stones, inasmuch as it brings to
maturity the embryos that proceed from legitimate copulation, but
destroys such as be unlawful or incestuous." " The Lychnites is a stone
that gives the faculty of seeing in the dark, if hung about a person's
neck. It also cures fluxions of the eyes, if tied in a linen rag around
the forehead."
The causes of these virtues, he says, had been investigated in ancient times by Anaxagoras, Empedocles, and Democritus ; and more recently by Alexander of Aphrodisia (in the third century), "a person very ready to explain all the mysteries of Nature, of whatever sort."
About a century after Psellus shines forth Mohammed Sen Mausur, who
may justly claim the honour of being the first since Pliny (beyond whom
he is far advanced in many points) to compose a really scientific and
systematic treatise upon this branch of Mineralogy. This was his 'Book
of Precious Stones,' dedicated to the Abasside Sultan of Persia, Abu
Naser Beharderchan.* In this work he treats of each stone under three
heads, viz., " Properties, Varieties, and Places producing it." The
knowledge of the true characters of the different species displayed in
every one of his articles is absolutely marvellous, considering the age
in which he wrote. He actually anticipates by many centuries the
founders in Europe of the modern science, Hauy, Moh, &c, in several
of their supposed discoveries, such as defining the different species
of the Corundum and Spinel, and in basing his distinctions upon the
hardness and specific gravity of the several kinds. Another thing that
gives the work a special interest is the evident fact that the author
drew from that fountain-head of the science whence the early Greek
mineralogists had obtained,
* Von Hammer has published a translation into German, in his ' Mines de l'Orient,' vol. vi.
