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150 THE MAGIC OF JEWELS AND CHARMS
recommended by
Dioscorides. This stone was to be burned thoroughly and the resultant
powder moistened so that a kind of paste was obtained. This was claimed
to have an astringent and caustic effect, and was freely used as a
counter-irritant.77 Probably here as in other cases a
sulphate of copper has been confused with the lapis lazuli. The
ancients did not favor the administration of lapis lazuli internally,
and Braunfels78 therefore regarded the free use of pills of lapis lazuli which was common in his time as a source of grave danger. The lapis Armenus, however,
if well prepared and properly washed, was less to be feared ; but,
unfortunately, the genuine stone was rarely to be found in the
apothecaries' shops.
Many
medicinal virtues were ascribed to malachite. Worn as an amulet, it
averted attacks of faintness, prevented hernia, and saved the wearer
from danger in falling. In this latter respect similar powers seem to
have been admitted in the case of the green malachite as were
attributed to the bight blue or greenish-blue turquoise. If malachite
were reduced to a powder, dissolved in milk and taken as a potion, it
cured cardiac pains and colic; mixed with honey, and applied with a
linen cloth to a wound, it stanched the flow of blood, and cramps were
relieved if this solution were applied to the affected part; lastly, if
mixed with wine, it was a cure for virulent ulcers.79
Powdered
malachite was sometimes administered medicinally, with what results we
have little definite information ; certainly, if not very carefully
used, the effect would
"
Dioscoridis, " De materia medica," lib. v, cap. 106. '* Braunfels, "
Von Edelsteinen," Strassburg, 1536, fol. xlviii, a. *· De Boot, "
Gemmarum et lapidum historia," Lug. Bat., 1636, p. 264, lib. ii, cap.
113.
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