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ON THERAPEUTIC USES OF STONES 381
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the
pure green hue of emeralds aided the eyesight, that gem engravers are
said to have kept some of them on their work-tables, so as to be able
to look at the stones from time to time and thus relieve the eye-strain
caused by close application to their delicate task.21
Psellus
says that a cataplasm made of emeralds was of help to those suffering
from leprosy; he adds that if pulverized and taken in water they would
check hemorrhages.22 They were especially commended for use
as amulets to be hung on the necks of children, as they were believed
to ward off and prevent epilepsy. If, however, the violence of the
disease was such that it could not be overcome by the stone, the latter
would break.23 Hermes Trismegistus says the emerald cures
ophthalmia and hemorrhages. The great Hermes must have had a special
preference for this stone, since his treatise on chemistry (peri chemeias) is said to have been found inscribed on an emerald.24
By
the Hindu physicians of the thirteenth century the emerald was
considered to be a good laxative. It cured dysentery, diminished the
secretion of bile, and stimulated the appetite. In short, it promoted
bodily health and destroyed demoniacal influences. In the curious
phrase of the school the emerald was "cold and sweet."25
Teifashi (1242 a.d.) believed that the emerald was a
31 Plinii, " Naturalis historia," lib. xxxvii, cap. 16.
* Psellus, " De lapidum virtutibus," Lug. Bat., 1745, p. 32.
n Johannis Braunii, " De Vestitu sacerd. Heb.," Amstel., 1680, p. 659.
" From an old book the title-page of which reads : " In hoe volumine de Alchemia," etc., Norimberghe, 1541, p. 363.
" Garbe, " Die indische Mineralien ; Naharari's Rajanighantu, Varga xiii," Leipzig, 1882, p. 76.
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