|
CHAPTER XXII
|
||
|
|
||
|
BLOODSTONE
B
LOODSTONE, or
heliotrope, representing the month of March in the list of natal
stones, symbolic of courage and wisdom, and the centre of much
legendary interest, is one of the most attractive of the green
varieties of that almost omnipresent mineral, quartz. The scientific
terminology of quartz is involved and complicated by differing
authorities in mineralogy, but bloodstone is a massive variety
generally classed as plasma, a name, however, that is applied by some
to green chalcedony and by others to green jasper; this curious mineral
contains spots of red jasper that resemble drops of blood, and to which
it owes its name. One of the most striking traditions which concern
bloodstone is that it originated at the crucifixion of Christ, from
drops of blood drawn by the spear thrust by a Eoman soldier into his
side, which fell on a piece of dark green jasper.
The body of bloodstone is translucent to opaque
173
|
||
|
|
||