The magic of jewels and charms

The Magic of Jewels and Charms


             “A Volume of Absorbing Interest.”—_N. Y. Sun._




                  THE CURIOUS LORE OF PRECIOUS STONES

                       BY GEORGE FREDERICK KUNZ,
                           A.M., PH.D., D.SC.

BEING A DESCRIPTION OF THEIR SENTIMENTS AND FOLKLORE, SUPERSTITIONS,
SYMBOLISM, MYSTICISM, USE IN PROTECTION, PREVENTION, RELIGION AND
DIVINATION, CRYSTAL GAZING, BIRTH-STONES, LUCKY STONES AND TALISMANS,
ASTRAL, ZODIACAL, AND PLANETARY

  With 86 illustrations in color, doubletone and line. Octavo.
  Handsome cloth binding, gilt top, in a box. $5.00 net. Carriage
  charges extra.

This work represents the observations and discoveries during twenty-five
years of collecting on the part of Dr. Kunz, and will be found a rarely
interesting galaxy of anecdote, research, and information upon a
fascinating subject.


                        J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
                      PUBLISHERS      PHILADELPHIA

[Illustration:

  By courtesy of W. Griggs and Sons, Ltd., London.

  MODEL OF A HINDU LADY, ILLUSTRATING THE MODE OF WEARING JEWELRY IN
    NORTH INDIA

  From the Journal of Indian Art.
]




[Illustration]

                     The Magic of Jewels and Charms

                                   BY
                         GEORGE FREDERICK KUNZ
                           A.M., PH.D., D.SC.

          WITH 90 ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOR, DOUBLETONE AND LINE

[Illustration]

                         PHILADELPHIA & LONDON

                        J. B. Lippincott Company




              COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY


                  PRINTED IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA




                            TO THE MEMORY OF

                                THE LATE

                PROFESSOR THOMAS EGLESTON, PH.D., LL. D.


    OFFICIER DE LA LÉGION D’HONNEUR AND FOUNDER OF THE SCHOOL OF
    MINES, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, AN ARDENT LOVER OF MINERALS, KEENLY
    APPRECIATIVE OF PRECIOUS STONES, AND A KINDLY FRIEND OF THE
    AUTHOR, THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED




                                Preface


Jewels, gems, stones, superstitions and astrological lore are all so
interwoven in history that to treat of either of them alone would mean
to break the chain of association linking them one with the other.

Beauty of color or lustre in a stone or some quaint form attracts the
eye of the savage, and his choice of material for ornament or adornment
is also conditioned by the toughness of some stones as compared with the
facility with which others can be chipped or polished.

Whereas a gem might be prized for its beauty by a single individual
owner, a stone of curious and suggestive form sometimes claimed the
reverence of an entire tribe, since it was thought to be the abode or
the chosen instrument of some spirit or genius.

Just as the appeal to higher powers for present help in pressing
emergencies preceded the development of a formal religious faith, so
this never-failing need of protectors or healers eventually led to the
attribution of powers of protection to the spirits of men and women who
had led holy lives and about whose history legend had woven a web of
pious imaginations at a time when poetic fancy reigned instead of
historic record. The writer still holds that true sentiment, the
antithesis of superstitious dread, is good for all mankind—sentiment
meaning optimism as truly as superstition stands for pessimism—and that
even the fancies generated by sentiment are helpful to us and make us
happier; and surely happiness often means health, and happiness and
health combined aid to evolve that other member of the triumvirate,
wealth. Do we not often wish for the union of these three supreme
blessings?

At all times and in all periods there have been optimists and
pessimists, the former animated by the life-bringing sentiment of hope,
and the latter oppressed by the death-dealing sense of fear. Let us
always choose a happy medium between a foolish excess of hope and an
unreasonable apprehension of future troubles. The world’s history and
our own experience show us that it is the optimist who has caused the
world to progress, and we should trust and believe that the sentiment of
hope and faith will always animate humanity.

We know that for centuries it has been believed that amber necklaces
protect children from cold. May we not also now add that to pearls the
same qualities are attributed? There must be a reason for this. May not
this belief be ascribed to the circumstance that in the wearing of
either of these gems their virtue consists in the fact that the
necklaces do not cover the neck? In other words, they are worn on the
bare throat and the opinion prevails that an exposed neck means less
liability to cold. For, where the neck is never overheated and then
suddenly chilled, a normal temperature being maintained, there should be
protection from colds and from the many ills resulting from them.