lovers. The close union and yet the strange contrast between the layers of black and white may have suggested this.
Crystals
of iron pyrites (pyrite, native iron disul-phide) are sometimes used as
amulets by the North American Indians, and the belief in their magic
power is attested by their presence in the outfit of miscellaneous
objects which the medicine-men use in the course of their
incantations. Because these gleaming yellow crystals are occasionally
mistaken for gold, the name "fool's gold" has been popularly bestowed
upon them.101
Of this material the ancient Mexicans made wonderful mirrors, one side being usually
polished flat, while the other side was strongly convex. Frequently
this side was curiously carved with some symbolic representation as
appears in the case of a pyrite mirror of the Pinard collection in
the Trocadéro, Paris.102
101 "
Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico," ed. by Frederick Webb
Hodge; Smithsonian Inst.; Bur. Am. Ethn., Bull. 30; Washington, 1910,
Pt. 2, p. 331.
102 Kunz, " Gems and Precious Stones of North America," New" York, 1890, pp. 299, 300.
