28 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES
structed
mind saw therein the embodiment of purity and chastity, it perhaps
realized this health-giving and beneficent function. In the same way
the idea of passion was associated with the red and radiant ruby,
another concept the relative truth of which has been demonstrated by
spectrum analysis, since the red rays are heat-giving and vivifying.
But this was not the only source of these primitive ideas in regard to
color· the therapeutic effect was often sought and found in some
fancied analogy between the color of the gem and the character of the
malady or infirmity to be cured. Thusj yellow stones were supposed to
be especially efficacious in cases of jaundice, an instance of
instinctive homoeopathy, based on the dictum similia similibus curantur. Following
out this train of thought, the red stones were endowed with the power
of checking the flow of blood; especially the so-called bloodstone was
prescribed for this use, and it was supposed that by its mere touch it
could stop the most violent hemorrhages. Green was regarded as the
color most beneficial for the sight, and to the emerald and other green
stones was ascribed great curative power in this respect. Here,
however, the simple influence of the color was later combined with its
symbolical significance. In heathen mythology this showed itself in
the ascription of the emerald to Venus, as the exponent of the
reproductive energies of nature, while in the Christian conception
these stones became typical of the resurrection, of the birth into a
new and purer life. Nowhere can we find a better illustration of the
transforming effect of distinct and diametrically opposite concepts
upon the impressions made by natural objects. The pure and colorless
and yet brilliant stones, such as the diamond and all other white
stones, were naturally
