MAGIC STONES AND ELECTRIC GEMS 33
An
old superstition among the Laplanders of Sweden is that in order to
avert or cure disease which may be or has been caused by sleeping in
the open air on the exposed moorland, three pebbles should be gathered,
one from the water, one out of the earth, and the third from the
surface of the ground or "from the air." These are placed on a fire
until they become red-hot, and are then thrown into water; the stone
which sizzles most is that belonging to the element which has caused
the illness. The whole body, or sometimes only the afflicted part, is
to be moistened with the water in which the pebbles have been immersed,
and each separate stone is to be carefully returned to the spot whence
it was taken.83
Near
Middleville, in Herkimer County, New York, in a calciferous limestone,
gray and brownish-gray in color, there are numerous cavities varying in
size from that of a pinhead to that of a man's head. In these cavities
are found carbonaceous substances such as asphaltum and other hard,
black hydrocarbons. These cavities also frequently show mud or sand
adhering to the sides, or mud and sand mixed with the petroleum, in
which are often found brilliant and transparent rock-crystals, the
purest of any found in the world. They are unusually perfect hexagonal
prisms with both sets of six pyramid faces; that is, with same slight
modification, eighteen brilliantly polished faces. These are
especially sought after on account of their great purity, and because
it is considered that he who wears one will have fair weather and
secure the blessing of fair sailing on the sea of life. Some of these
crystals are so small, though of absolute perfection, that it would
require 250,000 of them to weigh an ounce ; others again are sometimes
as large as from one to
"Torsten Kolmodin, " Lapparne och deres Land; Skildringar och Studier," Pt. III, Stockholm, 1914, p. 14. 3
