ornament is composed of three keys, to which are given the respective names, Key of Love, Key of Good Fortune, and Key of Heaven. They are to open up for the wearer the treasures of true love, of wedded bliss, and, finally, of paradise. A legend from the time of the Crusades suggested the form of this pretty jewel. Mourning the departure of a knight on the long and perilous journey to Palestine, a Provençal maiden wandered through the woodland, seeking peace and consolation in its quiet recesses. As she passed along the leafy pathways, she all unconsciously gave utterance to her longings and fears in softly spoken words. All at once a bright light beamed about her, and a radiant fairy advanced toward her and gave her an ivory casket in which lay three jewelled keys, masterpieces of the goldsmith's art. The first of these, the fairy assured her, would open the young knight's heart to receive her image; the second would open the church door to admit her, a happy bride; and the third, when life's journey was o'er, would unlock for her the gates of Paradise.

On the deservedly popular watch bracelets, things of beauty as well as utility, the precious stones used for decoration are sometimes selected for the significance of the first letters of their names when read in sequence. The following example may be noted:

Diamond
Emerald

A methyst
Ruby

Sapphire

A gate
Ruby

A methyst

In this way any name or endearing epithet can be prettily

expressed.

X

Facts and Fancies about Precious Stones MANY interesting facts about precious stones do not

properly refer either to their talismanic or curative powers, and yet serve in not a few cases to indicate more or less clearly the reasons which have determined popular fancy or superstition in attributing particular virtues to a given stone.

As an instance of the strange vagaries of belief in the influence exerted by certain of these stones, we may take the statement that powdered agate dissolved in beer was used by the Bretons as a test of virginity. If a young girl were unable to retain this delectable mixture on her stomach, she was supposed to be impure.1 The ability to stand this test seems rather to prove the possession of a strong stomach than a clear conscience.

Rainbow Agate is a name appropriately applied to agates showing a beautiful prismatic effect. These are composed of quartz and chalcedony in very fine layers. The writer secured a splendid specimen of this type of agate set in a jewel which had formed part of an old Saxon collection; it may possibly have come from India. The prismatic play of color differs from that observed in quartz iris, in that the iridescence is due to the minute interference lines and not, as with the iris, to internal fractures.

The greatest interest was manifested in the eighteenth century in these agates, one of which was described in a special pamphlet under the title, "Regenbogen Achat," and

1 Wilhelmus Parisiensis, quoted in Pancirollus, “History of Many Memorable Things,” London, 1715, vol. i, p. 42.

illustrated with a colored plate. The effect was that of a spectrum rather than the iris effect of the crystalline quartz. This iris was also highly valued, and great favor was set upon brilliant examples of what was in reality rock-crystal fractured, the small fracture-planes causing the breaking up of the light and producing the rainbow or iris effect. In fact it was a spectrum produced by the mixture of quartz between the chalcedonic layers.

Cellini has a marvellous story to tell of a luminous carbuncle. A certain Jacopo Cola, a vine-grower, going into his vineyard one night noticed what appeared to be a bit of glowing coal at the foot of one of the vines, but on reaching the spot he was unable to locate the source of this radiance. Very wisely he retraced his steps to the spot whence he had first observed the light, which became again apparent, and when he now very carefully approached the vine he found that the gleam proceeded from a rough little stone, which he joyfully picked up and carried off with him. He showed it to a number of his friends and among them chanced to be a Venetian envoy, an expert on precious stones, who immediately recognized that the find was a carbuncle. Thereupon taking a base advantage of the finder's ignorance, he succeeded in buying the stone for only ten scudi, and then hastened away from Rome, lest his deception should be discovered. Not long afterwards this same Venetian went to Constantinople and sold the stone to the Sultan of the time for 100,000 scudi, a profit of 10,000 per cent. The fact that the vintner could only see the gleam from a given spot is in itself sufficient proof that what he noted was merely the reflection of some distant light striking a smooth surface of the stone at a certain angle.

Among the many virtues credited to carnelian by the

'Benvenuto Cellini, "Due trattati, uno intorno alle otto principali arti dell' oreficeria," etc., Fiorenzi, Valenti Panizzi & Marco Peri, 1568, fol. 10.

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):

Nay, had she been true,

If heaven would make me such another world

Of one entire and perfect chrysolite,

I'd not have sold her for it.

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: Iepòs kitos šσTI Xpubli0os, "Sacred stone means the chrysolite." 4

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 Beauvais, 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 alchemistes grecs," Paris, 1888, 1889, vol. i, p. 9 of text.

material. Possibly human blood was believed to strengthen the special virtue supposed to be inherent in this red substance.

There is a note of republican simplicity in the reported wearing of coral ornaments on ceremonial occasions by the present Queen of Italy. Indeed, the assertion that this is done to stimulate the coral industry in Italy may be true, as nothing would better tend to do this than such an example of royal favor for coral. Certainly this is in marked contrast with the almost exclusive use of pearl ornaments of all kinds so characteristic of Queen Margarita, whose devotion to the pearl, now perhaps the most costly of gems, had a poetic appropriateness for one bearing her name, and we can scarcely imagine the Pearl of Savoy without her splendid parures and necklaces of pearls. Still, undoubtedly this new departure renders it possible for all Italian women, rich or poor, to loyally follow the example set by their Queen Helena, and there is little danger that the rich will ever neglect to avail themselves of the exclusive privilege they possess of owning and wearing diamonds, pearls, rubies, sapphires and emeralds, which surpass coral as much in beauty as they do in price.

A comparatively recent attempt to use diamond dust as a poison is said to have been made in 1874 on Colonel Phayre, British Resident at the court of the then reigning Gaikwar of Baroda. The colonel was in the habit of refreshing himself after his morning walk with a glass of sugared water flavored with a little lime-juice. One day, on taking a sip of his customary beverage, he noted that it had a strange taste, and instead of drinking it he saved it up and had it analyzed. The analysis revealed the presence of arsenic in quantity sufficient to cause death, and of diamond dust as Roth, "Great Benin, Its Customs, Art and Horrors," Halifax, England, 1903, p. 95.