RELIGIOUS USES OF PRECIOUS STONES 271
interesting stone that was known as lapis crucifer, or cross-stone by the ancients.
The peculiar form of the mineral known as staurolite (from the Greek σταυρόs cross)
is due to the twinning of two crystals at right angles. In Cronstedt's
treatise on mineralogy, published in Stockholm in 1758, we are told
that the staurolite was sometimes called Baseler Taufstein'
(baptismal-stone) or lapis crucifer, the former name being used in Basel, where the stone was employed as an amulet at baptisms. However, the lapis crucifer of
De Boot appears from his description to have been the chias-tolite. In
Brittany these twin crystals were worn as charms, and local legends
state that they had dropped from the heavens.
Fine
crystals of staurolite have been found in Patrick County, Virginia, and
there is said to be a beautiful local legend in regard to their origin.
Near where they are found there wells up a spring of limpid water, and
the story goes that one day, long, long ago, when the fairies were
dancing and playing around this spring, an elfin messenger winged his
way through the air and alighted among them. He bore to them the sad
tidings of the crucifixion of Christ in a far-off city. So mournful was
his recital of the sufferings of the Saviour that the fairies burst
into tears, and these fairy tear-drops, as they fell to earth,
crystallized into the form of the cross. These natural crosses are in
great demand as charms, and ex-President Roosevelt is said to wear one
of them mounted as a watch-charm.
There
has been found in the southern part of New Mexico, and in northern
Mexico, a blue variety of calamine, a hydrous silicate of zinc,
colored blue by an admixture of copper. This stone has been cut into
gem form
