MAGIC STONES AND ELECTRIC GEMS 25
''Stone
of the Banner." It had been accidentally found by a chief of this clan,
who, on his way to join Robert Brace in 1315, before the battle of
Bannockburn, noted a glittering stone embedded in a clod of earth that
had become attached to his flagstaff. It was looked upon as a powerful
talisman in battle, and water in which it had been dipped was said to
cure diseases. Tradition asserted that this white stone of Clan
Donnachaidh was identical with that used long before by St. Columba.42
As such white stones were often deposited in graves, sometimes even
being placed in the mouth of a deceased person, it has been suggested
that perhaps the sparks emitted by the quartz on percussion were
believed to shed some faint gleams along the dark pathway of the
departed in his journey to the underworld. In Christian times there can
be little doubt in regard to the influence exercised by the text in
Revelation: "To him that over-oometh ... I will give a white stone, and
in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth save he that
receiveth it."48
Crystal
balls are not only valued for the visions to be seen, or supposed to be
seen in them, but are sometimes worn as amulets against illness. In
some parts of Japan they are thought to ward off dropsy, and their wear
is also recommended to guard from all wasting diseases.** The likeness
of rock-crystal to congealed water may well be credited, in the
doctrine of sympathy, with its putative power of preventing the watery
infiltration from which a dropsical patient suffers. As the Japanese
make many choice crystal balls, these objecte are generally more or
less familiar in that land
* Ibid., pp. 13 and 14, citing Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1860-1, vol. iv, pt i, p. 219.
• Ibid., p. 12, citing Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1860-1, vol. iv, pt. i, p. 219.
"William Thomas and Kate Paritt, " The Book of Talismans, Amulets and Zodiacal Gems," London, 1914, p. 62.
