146 THE MAGIC OF JEWELS AND CHARMS
Jet, the gagates of
the ancients, was said to have been first found in the river Gagates in
Lycia, whence its name was derived. Galen, the greatest physician of
ancient times, reports, however, that he searched in vain for this
river, although he sailed in a small vessel along the whole coast of
Lycia, so that he might closely observe it. Still, he did not give up
his search for the material, even when he failed to find its reputed
source, and in Caelo-Syria, on a hill on the eastern shore of the Dead
Sea, he came across certain black, crustaceous stones, which emitted a
slender flame when placed in the fire. These must have been small
masses of bitumen, and, according to Galen, they were used for chronic
swellings of the knee-joint "which are difficult to cure."68
The
fumes of jet are mentioned as a remedy for the pest in one of the
earliest Greek medical treatises, written by Meander, who flourished in
the second century b.c. He
declares that the most virulent pestilence could be driven away if the
bedrooms were fumigated with the smoke of the slow-burning jet.69 The plague was called the black plague and naturally the aid of a black substance was sought to cure it.
For
Pliny, jet was endowed with many medicinal virtues. Its fumes were a
cure for hysteria and were said to reveal the presence of a latent
tendency to epilepsy; connected with this in some way was the curious
belief, repeated by later authors with certain variations, that these
fumes could also be used as a test of virginity. When powdered and
mixed with wine, jet relieved the pains of those suffering from
toothache, and if the powder were combined with wax,
" Claudii Galeni, " Opera omnia," ed. Kühn, Lipaise, 1826, vol. xii, p. 207; De simplic. med., lib. vii, cap. 2.
"Nicandri, " Theriaka," Parisiis, 1557, p. 2.
