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Ch. 10: Gemstone Facts

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FACTS AND FANCIES ABOUT PRECIOUS STONES 379
Mohammedans may be noted its power to preserve the equa­nimity and gravity of the wearer in the midst of disputes or inordinate laughter. A special and peculiar utilization of this material was to employ splinters of it as toothpicks. Their use not only whitened the teeth but also prevented bleeding of the gums. The Prophet, according to tradition, asserted that the wearer of a carnelian ring would never cease to be happy and blessed.3
The chrysolite is now regarded as a semi-precious stone only, yet Shakespeare presented this gem as the type of ex­cellence in its kind when he wrote ("Othello," Act V, Scene 2) :
It is interesting to note that this appreciation of the beauty of the chrysolite is also shown in an old Greek glos­sary of alchemical terms, where occur the words : Ιερός λίθος è<n\ Χρυαόλίβοί, "Sacred stone means the chrysolite."*
Such was the sacred quality ascribed to strings of coral beads in some parts of Africa, not long since, that they were regarded as the most precious gifts a ruler could bestow. If the favored recipient were so unfortunate as to lose this royal donation—which was a mark of high rank—he himself, as well as all involved in the theft, incurred the penalty of death. A writer of the seventeenth century, Palisot de Beau-vais, relates that in Benin human victims were sacrificed at a "coral festival," when the corals of the king and royal fam­ily were dipped in the victim's blood, so as to placate the coral fetish and ensure a further supply of the precious
•Edmond Doutté, "Magie et Religion," Alger, 1909, pp. 83, 84. ♦Berthelot, "Collection des anciens alchemiates grecs," Paris, 1888, 1889, toL i, p. 9 of text.
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