18 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c,
as figure in the library of the alchemist : Hermes Tris-megistus, as the author of the ' Liber Quadripartitus ;' Chad (Jael), " a most ancient doctor amongst the Children of Israel, in the Wilderness ;" Ragiel, in his ' Book of Wings,' "a tractate indispensable to all students of magic ;" Solomon; and Thetel, better known as ' Babanus Maurus.' This
last was Abbot of Fulda in 822, and reputed the most learned man of the
Carlovingian era. As he had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land (which
indeed was the indispensable complement to the education of a
philosopher in those times) he may possibly have acquired there his
deep knowledge of the science of Sigile.*
To
give an insight into the mode in which these wizards interpreted the
designs of ancient art, and of the powers they attributed to the same
on the strength ot such interpretations, a few examples shall be
adduced, premising with the explanatory introduction of Camillo's own
: " All things in nature have a certain form, and are subject to
certain influences. Stones therefore, being natural productions, have a
certain specific form, and are likewise subject to the universal
influence of the planets. Hence if they be engraved by a skilful person
under some particular influence, they receive a certain virtue as
though they had been endowed with life through that engraving. But if
the effect intended by the figure engraved be the same as that produced
by the natural property of the stone, its virtue will be doubled and
its efficacy augmented.·!· For example, the property of the Sicilian
Aerate
