382 CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES
cure
for haamoptysis and for dysentery if it were worn over the liver of the
person affected; to cure gastric troubles, the stone was to be laid
upon the stomach. Furthermore, the wearer was protected from the
attacks of venomous creatures, and evil spirits were driven from the
place where emeralds were kept.26 The direction to place the
stone on the affected part, a recommendation often met with in the
treatises on the therapeutic use of ornamental stones, shows that these
were believed to send forth emanations of subtle power. Probably
enough, the brilliant play of reflected light which proceeds from many
of these gems suggested the idea that they radiated a certain curative
energy. This theory need not surprise us, for, although it is
altogether fanciful in the case of the diamond, ruby, emerald, etc.,
the newly discovered substance, radium, really possesses the active
properties ascribed by old writers to precious stones.
A
stone the therapeutic quality of which was specialized is the jade or
nephrite. Strange to say, although there are very few places where this
mineral can now be obtained,—the chief sources of supply being the
province of Khotan in Turkistan and New Zealand,—in prehistoric times
the stone must have been found in many different localities, since
axe-heads and other artefacts of jade have been discovered in many
lands both of the old and new world. \
When
the Spaniards discovered and explored the southern part of the American
continent, they came across numerous native ornaments and amulets made
of jade (jadeite) and brought many of these with them to
".Teifashi, " Fior di pensieri sulle pietre preziose," Ital. trans, by Antonio Raineri, Firenzi, 1818, p. 20.
