90 THE MAGIC OF JEWELS AND CHARMS
true Damascus blade the lines are wavy.85
An unsuccessful attempt to forge a sword from a piece of meteoric iron
is reported by Avicenna in the case of a siderite that fell at Jurgan
in 1009 a.D., from which swords that were ordered to be made by the Sultan of Khorassan could not be executed.36
η
an Arabic work bearing the name of Avicenna and entitled "The Cure,"
the writer mentions a meteorite which fell in the Jordan, and of which
(Sultan Mohammed Ghazni wished to have a sword made for him, thus
proving that the Sultan believed that meteorites possessed marvellous
properties.37
A
number of Greek and Roman coins bearing representations of these
sacred meteorites have come down to us, and more than two hundred
specimens may be seen in the section of meteorites in the Natural
History Museum (Königlich-kaiserliches naturhistoriches Hofmuseum) in
Vienna. These coins are of great value in determining the history of
those aerolites which were preserved in the temples of certain
divinities.
The
Viennese collection of meteorites is the finest in the world, and this
is largely due to the zeal and intelligence of the late Dr. Aristides
Brezina, while superintendent of the department of mineralogy and
meteorites in the Museum. In regard to the impression made upon the
mind of man in ancient times by the fall of meteorites, Dr. Brezina
writes :88
"
Ε. F. F. Chladni, " Neues Verzeichniss der herabgefallenen Stein- und
Eigenmassen," p. 58 ; Gilbert's Annalen der Physik, vol. 1.
" Ibid., p. 5.
" Berthelot, " Histoire des Sciences: La Chimie au Moyen-âge," Paris, 1893, vol. iii, p. 225.
** Brezina, " The
Arrangement of Collections of Meteorites " ; Proceedings of the
American Philosophical Society, vol. xliii, Jan.-Dec., pp. 212, 213.
