142 THE MAGIC OF JEWELS AND CHARMS
was
shown in turn, declared that he had used the stone in this way but did
not know its name. This is perhaps the earliest use of the name
nephrite, the form occurring in the Italian text being either due to a
typographical error, or to Arnobio's ignorance of the correct spelling.
Proceeding
to dilate upon the many virtues of this stone, Oleandro quotes
Aldobrando, "a physician, physicist and philosopher of Bologna," who
described it as having usually a purple shade, almost like porphyry,
with various figures of herbs, flowers, knots and Arabic characters in
a yellow color. There were, however, according to the same authority,
some of a darker hue, with protuberances and bands of yellow and also
black spots, as though the stone were a section of the spleen. This
kind was recommended and used in diseases of the spleen. In another
variety, in the midst of the purple color might be seen a yellow stain
with pittings and hollows ; this was thought to figure a section of the
liver, spattered with bile, and such stones were employed with good
effect to cure those suffering from bilious disorders. To discharge the
bile a dose of four grains was administered, the powdered stone being
thoroughly dissolved in wine. Still another kind, of a reddish hue, ' '
like coagulated blood, ' ' full of pittings and veinings, was thought
to be more especially valuable as a remedy for disorders of the blood
and for checking hemorrhages.59
The
learned Ko Kei asserts that the body of a man who had taken nearly five
pounds of jade did not change color after his death and states that the
body having been exhumed several years later did not show the
slightest alteration. Besides this, it was observed that there were
gold and jade around the tomb. Since then (in China), in the Kan
period, the custom was followed of embalming the dead bodies of the
emperors, and of preserving them in a gar-
* Oleandro Arnobio, "Tesoro delle Gioie," Venetia, 1602, pp. 139-141.
