tian
literature—notably the statements in the Ebers Papyrus—and the very
uncertain sources in-Hindu literature, the earliest authority for this
branch of the subject is the Natural History of Pliny. In this
connection, however, it is only just to call attention to a fact which
has been often ignored—namely, that Pliny himself had very little faith
in the teachings of the "magi," as he calls them, in regard to the
superstitious use of gems for the prevention or cure of diseases ;
indeed, he seems to have been almost as sceptical in his attitude as
many modern writers, for certain quite recent authorities still credit
amber and a few other mineral substances with therapeutic effects
other than those which can be explained by the known action of their
chemical constituents. Still, Pliny yielded so far to the taste of his
time as to preserve for us many of the statements of earlier writers on
the subject, naming them in most cases and so enabling us to form some
idea of the character of this pseudo-science in the Roman world in the
first century of our era. With the gradual decay of ancient learning,
the less valuable elements of popular belief came more and more into
the foreground, and the old superstitions were freely copied by
successive authors, each of whom felt called upon to add something new
on his own account. This-explains much of the confusion that reigns in
regard to the attribution of special virtues to the different stones,
for the wider the reading of the author the greater became the number
of virtues attributed to each separate-stone, until, at last, we might
almost say that each and every precious stone could be used for the
cure of all diseases. Nevertheless, it is comparatively easy to see
that either the color or constitution of the stone originally
indicated-its use for this or that disease.
A distinction is often made between the talismanic
