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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[MAY, 1898.
the month in which its guardian influence was strongest. When their god-head had not yet passed from the stars, and they still ruled the destinies of men and of mankind, it was fitting that gems who were of like spirit with the flashing lights of heaven should also guard and rule the life of men. As a guardian home the gem was not only used to guard the person of the owner, Gems also guarded property. The Romans of the empire crusted their robes with precious stones. Pliny says we drink out of a mass of gems. Gems decked candelabra as well as caps, and, after the time of Constantine (A. D. 330), crowns and picture frames, even armour had an armour plating of gems.71 Since the guardian wants guarding the services of gems were enlisted to keep evil out of churches and temples; to protect the images of the gods;72 to ornament the cross; to cover crucifixes, missals, reliquaries, and sacred vessels; to protect priests, bishops and popes.73
As with other guardians the experience of the spirit-controlling power of gems may be judged from their healing or medical virtues. The Almighty gave Abraham a gem to keep off sickness74 In ancient pharmacopæas, precious stones are among the most valued remedies, The dwarf king Laurin from his precious gems gained wondrous strength and power.75 The ruby, topaz, emerald, sapphire and diamond were so valuable in medicine that they were known as the Five Precious Fragments. St. Fillan (A. D. 700), one of the early preachers of Christianity in Scotland, cured diseases by the touch of precious stones,76 Besides by the touch, gems cured by being ground to powder and swallowed.77 In recent times gems used to be kept in the mouth tied by a string to cure ear-ache, tooth-ache and sore throat.78 In Middle-Age Europe, the stones found in the lynx, the cock, the adder, and the toad ensured victory and stayed thirst. According to the Hebrews, the agate kept off the plague, and the Arabs used the agate to stop bleeding. In the eleventh century, the agate was an antidote to poison, as in the An Oren Riwle Christ is likened to the agate which the poison of sin cannot approach.81 According to Marbodus (A. D. 1070), the agate soothed thirst and sore-eyes, kept the wearer in health, and gave him grace and eloquence.82 Marbodus says:-"Grave a beryl with a scorpion and a bird, consecrate, and set it with vervain leaf and gold : it will strengthen your eyes and liver, and make you victor in battle."93 In auother passage, Marbodns states that the virtue in jewels exceeds the virtue in herbs.84 In the eleventh century, blood-stone or hämatite enred ulcers, tumour on the eye, and spitting of blood, stopped fluxes, cleansed wounds, and melted stone in the bladder.85 The carnelian stopped bleeding and quieted
11 Streeter's Precious Stones and Gems; pp. 18, 19, The Romans of the empire and the French of Francis I. (A.D. 1500) adorned their armour with engraved stones and cameos. King's Antique Gome, p. 256. Compare in early (A, D, 100-600) Scotland, Cuchullin's chariot bossed with crystals, cairngorms and other stones of power. Clerk's Ossian, II. p. 151.
79 How early is the belief that precious stones guard the guardian is shown by the Hindu ling montioned above with its base crusted with the nine charms. The belief is much older than Hindu ling-worship. Ea, the Babylonian Earth-Spirit, the great spirit-soarer, had an armour of precious stones. His chief weapon was a stone with seven rays and fifty faces. Budge's Babylonian Life and History, p. 188.
3 Protection of the wearer seetns to underlie the wearing of the Cardins!'s ruby and of the Bishop's sapphire. The original meaning of the rite is lost in the explanation that the custom is solely for pomp and show, the ruby suiting the scarlet robes of the Cardinal and the sapphire the violet robes of the Bishop. King's Antique Gems, 297. It is not less hid by the tradition that the ring symbolison the union betwoon Christ and the Church, or that the sapphire was worn by persons under a vow of chastity because the sapphire was a checker of lust. Op. cit. p. 297. The fact, that in the middle ages Bishops were buried woaring their rings of office (Op. cit. p. 297), supports the view that the ring was worn for its guardian virtues. Similarly, the freemason, who reaches the giddy height of the arch degree, has to be guarded by wearing a jewel. Greenlaw's Masonic Lecturer, p. 209.
Tt Napier's Folk-Lore, pp. 102, 103. 6 Folk-Loro Record, Vol. IL p. 95. Napier's Folk-Lore, pp. 102, 103. 71 Pettigrew's Superstitions connected with Medicine and Surgery, pp. 50-57. 18 Dieulalait's Diamonds and Precious stones, p. 50. 19 Grimm's Teutonic Mythology, Vol. III. p. 1219. * Emanuel's Diamonde and Precious Stones, p. 30. #1 Skent's Piora the Ploughman, p. 113. 81 Marbodus in King's Antique Gems, p. 893 ; Black's Polk-Medicine, p. 176. ^ King's Antique Goms, p. 482.
#4 King's Antique Gems, p. 439. Black, Folk Medicine, p. 165, quotes a saying that, to scare fiends, Christians trust to words, Jews to stones, Pagana to herbs.
A Marbodus in King's Antique Gems, p. 408. The belief in the eyo-healing power of hematite goes back . Babylon. Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. II. p. 295.
