340 CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES
dian
angel set over those born in the month. In each and every case the
material form and color of the stone "was believed to attract the favor
and grace of the saint or angel, who would see in the selection of the
appropriate gem an act of respect and veneration on the part of the
wearer.
The
old writers are never tired of insisting upon the idea that, while the
image graven upon a stone was in itself dead and inactive, the
influence of the stars during whose ascendancy the work had been
executed commuÂnicated to the inert material talismanic qualities and
virtues which it before lacked. In these instances the images could be
regarded as outward and visible signs of the planetary or zodiacal
influence. Even in the case of the bezoar stone, a generally recognized
antidote for all sorts of poisons, it was held that the scorpion's bite
could be most effectually healed by a bezoar upon which this creature's
figure had been cut during the time when the constellation Scorpio was
in the ascendancy.2
In
the production of engraved stones to serve as amuÂlets, the influence
of the respective planet was made to enter the stone by casting upon
the latter, during the process of engraving, reflections from a mirror
which had been exposed to the planet's rays. In addition to this, the
work was executed while the planet was in the ascendant, and the design
was emblematic of it. With these combined influences the gem was
believed to be thoroughly impregnated with the planetary virtue.3
An
old writer finds in the hardness of precious stones a reason for their
retaining longer the celestial virtues they receive. After they have
been extracted these vir-
* Graffarelli, " Curiositates inauditse," Hamburgi, 1706, pp. 146, 147.
* Schindler, " Der Aberglaube des Mittelalters," Breslau, 1858, p. 131.
