152 THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES
as
published of an opal by Paris newspapers. A shopgirl, plainly clad, in
crossing the Place de l'Opera, when the street traine was at its
greatest, stopped at one of the "refuges" halfway across the street. To
the girl's great surprise, an elegantly attired lady standing there
slipped an opal ring from her finger and gave it to the girl, who took
it to a jeweller's shop to sell it. Here she was arrested on suspicion
of having stolen it. The magistrate before whom she appeared was
inclined to believe her story and ordered a "personal" in a widely read
journal asking the lady to clear the girl of the charge. A titled lady
presented herself, substantiating the girl's statement. She feared
ill-luck would befall her if she wore or kept the ring, which was
returned to the shopgirl.
A
possible explanation of the superstitious dread the opal used to excite
some time ago may be found in the fact that lapidaries and gem-setters
to whom opals were entrusted were sometimes so unfortunate as to
fracture them in the process of cutting or setting This was frequently
due to no fault on thë part of the cutters or setters, but was owing
to the natural brittleness of the opal. As such workmen are responsible
to the owners for any injury to the gems, they would soon acquire a
prejudice against opals, and would come to regard them as unlucky
stones. Very widespread superstitions have no better foundation than
this, for the original cause, sometimes a quite rational one, is soon
lost sight of and popular fantasy suggests something entirely
different and better calculated to appeal to the imagination.
The
belief that the diamond fractured the teeth if it were put in the
mouth, and ruptured the intestines if it were swallowed, already
appears in pseudo-Aristotle,12
22 Kose,
" Aristoteles De lapidibus und Arnoldus Saxo," in Zeitschr. für D.
Alt., New Series, vol. vi, p. 391. See also Avicenna, "Liber canonie,"
Basilea?, 1556, p. 182, lib. ii, Tract, ii, cap. 20.
