TALISMANIC USE OP PRECIOUS STONES 71
asserted that the diamond is sometimes consumed or melted when it thunders.43 Certainly, that the same force that was supposed to have
formed the stone should be able to dissolve it, is not an illogical
idea. That the diamond can be entirely consumed at a high temperature
was a fact not known in Europe in the fourteenth century, and
therefore the belief in the destructive effect of the electric current
must have arisen from superstitious or poetic fancies, and not from
any vague conception of the true nature of the diamond.
In the Talmud we read of a gem, supposed to have been the diamond, which was worn by the high priest.44 This
stone served to show the guilt or innocence of one accused of any crime
; if the accused were guilty, the stone would grow dim, but if he were
innocent, it would shine more brilliantly than ever This quality is
also alluded to by Sir John Mandeville; who wrote :
It happens often that the good diamond loses its virtue by sin and for incontinence of him who bears it.
The
Hindus classed diamonds according to the four castes. The Brahmin
diamond gave power, friends, riches and good luck; the Kshatriya
diamond prevented the approach of old age; the Vaisya stone brought
success, and the Sudra, all manner of good fortune. On the other hand,
in the treatise on gems by Buddhabhatta45 we read:
A
diamond, a part of which is the color of blood or spotted with red,
would quickly bring death to the wearer, even if he were the Master of
Death.
43 Anonymous writer in Ital. MS. of the fourteenth century in the author's library; fol. 41 p. verso.
" See page 278 for description of this diamond by St. Epiphanius. " Finot, " Les lapidaires indiens," Paris, 1896, p. 9.
