370 THE MAGIC OP JEWELS AND CHAEMS
selves
on opposite banks of a frozen stream or pond, on a Christmas Day, and
each one slides a turquoise to the other over the ice, both of them
will be blessed with good fortune for the following year and will
prosper in all their undertakings. If the stream or pond were at all
wide, the fact of having accomplished this feat successfully might
indeed be taken as proof of considerable dexterity, and might perhaps
indicate that one who could succeed in this little exploit had a chance
of making his way in more important matters.
The
natural markings on agate pebbles often present designs having some
special symbolical significance, and could then be looked upon by the
superstitious as amulets of notable power, much exceeding in efficacy
those artificially formed. A strange instance in illustration of this
is an agate pebble picked up not long since on Newport Beach, Rhode
Island. This stone is clearly and definitely marked with the mystic
Chinese monad, a device that is widely known in the United States from
its adoption as a symbol by the Northern Pacific Railroad.
A
limestone pebble with peculiar markings is in a private collection in
New York. This somewhat resembles in shape the famous magatama jewel of
the Japanese, and the markings suggest that, like the latter, it may
have had a phallic significance, or at least one connected with the
worship of the reproductive powers. The markings indicate an attempt to
figure an undeveloped being, and possibly the object was intended for
use as an amulet to facilitate parturition.
The
prevailing reaction against the purely materialistic beliefs so
generally accepted a score or more of years ago, finds expression in a
marked tendency toward a renewal— in a greatly modified form, of
course—of the old fancies or instinctive ideas touching the virtues of
gems. Thus one modern writer at least was bold enough to suggest not long since that "the efficacy of charms and precious stones may
