82 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES
visited.64
It was said to lose its brilliancy and grow pale and dull if the wearer
or any one in his immediate neighborhood became ill of the plague. In
addition to these qualities the jacinth augmented the riches of the
owner, and endowed him with prudence in the conduct of his affairs.65
St. Hildegard, the Abbess of Bingen (d. 1179), gives the following details as to the proper use of the jachant (jacinth):66
If any
one is bewitched by phantoms or by magical spells, so that he has lost
his wits, take a hot loaf of pure wheaten. bread and cut the upper
crust in the form of a cross,—not, however, cutting it quite
through,—and then pass the stone along the cutting, reciting these
words : " May God, who east away all precious stones from the devil . .
. east away from thee, N., all phantoms and all magic spells, and free thee from the pain of this madness."
The
patient is then to eat of the bread; if, however, his stomach should be
too feeble, unleavened bread may be used. All other solid food given to
the sick person should be treated in the same manner. We are also told
that if any one has a pain in his heart, the pain will be relieved
provided the sign of the cross be made over the heart while the above
mentioned words are recited.
The
wearer of a jacinth was believed to be proof against the lightning, and
it was even asserted that wax that had been impressed by an image
graven on this stone averted the lightning from one who bore the seal.
That the stone really possessed this power was a matter of common
report, it being confidently declared that in re-
M Marbodei, " De lapidibus," Friburgi, 1531, fol. 38.
" Cardani, " Philosophi opera quasdarn," Basile», 1585, p. 323. " De gemmis."
" S. Hildegardae, Opera omnia; in Pat. Lat. ed. J. P. Migne, vol. cxcvii, Parisiis, 1855, col. 1251.'
