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Subsection 4 Precious Stones Metals and Minerals as Alteratives

SUBSECTION 4 Precious stones metals and minerals as alteratives

Precious stones are variously judged. Many reject their use, or that of any minerals, in medicine. Foremost among them is Thomas Erastus, in his treatise against Paracelsus and in a letter to Peter Monavius: “Let those who wish believe that stones can work wonders; no one will persuade me. For my part, experience has shown me that there is no virtue in them.”

On the other side, Mattioli is equally lavish in their praise in his commentary on Dioscorides; so are Cardano, Renodaeus, Alardus, Rueus, Encelius, Marbodeus and others. Mattioli singles out coral, and Oswald Croll, in his Chemical Basilica, prefers salt of coral. Christoph Encelius, book 3, chapter 131, regards them as so many distinct medicines against melancholy, sorrow, fear, dullness and the like.

Renodaeus admires them: “Besides adorning kings’ crowns, gracing the fingers, enriching our household furnishings, defending us from enchantments, preserving health and curing diseases, they drive away grief and cares and cheer the mind.” The particular stones are these.

Granatus, or garnet, is a precious stone so called because it resembles the seeds of a pomegranate. An imperfect kind of ruby, it comes from Calicut. “Hung about the neck or taken in a drink, it strongly resists sorrow and refreshes the heart.” I find the same properties ascribed to jacinth and topaz: “They allay anger and grief, lessen madness, and greatly delight and cheer the mind. If carried on the person or taken in a potion, it will increase wisdom,” says Cardano, “and banish fear.” He boasts of curing many mad people with it, who, when they put the stone aside, became as mad again as they had been at first.

Petrus Bayerus, Come with Me, book 2, chapter 13, and François de La Rue, On Gems, chapter 19, say as much of chrysolite: a friend to wisdom and an enemy to folly. Pliny, book 37; Solinus, chapter 52; Albertus, On Stones; Cardano; and Encelius, book 3, chapter 66, highly praise the power of beryl: “it greatly helps sound understanding, suppresses idle fancies and evil thoughts, and causes mirth,” and so on.

A stone called chelidonius is found in a swallow’s belly. “Wrapped in a clean cloth and tied to the right arm, it will cure lunatics and mad people and make them agreeable and merry.” There is a kind of onyx called chalcedony, with the same qualities: it “greatly helps against imaginary illusions arising from melancholy,” and preserves the vigour and good condition of the whole body.

The eban stone, which goldsmiths use to polish their gold, has the same or very similar properties when carried on the person or given in a drink.

Among other jewels, Levinus Lemnius, Institutes for Life, chapter 58, mentions two more notable ones, carbuncle and coral, “which drive away childish fears and devils, overcome sorrow and, hung about the neck, suppress troublesome dreams.” Cardano gives nearly the same properties to the green stone emmetris when carried on the person or worn in a ring, and La Rue gives them to diamond.

Niccolò Cabeo, a Jesuit of Ferrara, recounts many different opinions about the powers of a lodestone in the first book of his Magnetic Philosophy, chapter 3. Some say that if it is swallowed in pieces—“if anyone swallows it in fragments, it will restore youth”—it will, like viper wine, restore a person’s youth. Yet others maintain that carrying it about causes melancholy. Let experience decide.

Mercurialis admires the emerald for its power to calm all emotions of the mind; others admire sapphire, “the fairest of all precious stones, sky-coloured and a great enemy to black bile: it frees the mind and improves conduct,” and so on. In his Catalogue of Simples, Jacobus de Dondis includes ambergris; “the bone in a stag’s heart”—a bone in the heart of a stag; a unicorn’s horn; and bezoar stone, discussed elsewhere. This last is found in the belly of a small animal in the East Indies and is brought to Europe by Dutch merchants and our own countrymen. Renodaeus, book 3, chapter 22, On Medicinal Materials, says that he saw two of these animals alive in the castle of the Lord of Vitry at Coubert.

Lapis lazuli and Armenian stone will be discussed in their proper place, because they purge.

Of the rest I will briefly add this much from Cardano; Renodaeus, book 3, chapter 23; Rondelet, book 1 On Shellfish, chapter 15; and others: “Almost all jewels and precious stones have excellent powers to calm the emotions of the mind,” which is why rich people are so eager to possess them. “And those smaller pearls found in shells among the Persians and Indians,” by the agreement of all writers, “are very strengthening to the heart,” and generally help to cheer it.

Most people say as much of gold and some other minerals as these writers have said of precious stones. Erastus still takes the opposing side. In his Disputations against Paracelsus, chapter 4, folio 196, he admits that gold “makes the heart merry, but only in the sense that it lies in a miser’s chest.” “But I applaud myself as soon as I gaze at the coins in my chest,” as the man in the poet says. In that way it revives the spirits and makes an excellent remedy for melancholy.

For gold in medicine strengthens the heart; Therefore he loved gold especially.

7541.“Censured” means judged or assessed, not necessarily condemned; “explode” means reject. Burton sets opponents and defenders of mineral medicine against one another. The Latin note appeals to both reason and experience and refuses to accept falsehood as truth; the English body shortens this to the absence of virtue in the stones. Crato’s letter collection and the Erastus letter are cited as printed, without claiming direct collation.

7545.“Virtue” throughout this catalogue means an attributed power or efficacy. Salt of coral is a prepared substance; the phrase is not expanded into an unverified chemical recipe. The margin includes pearls as well as coral and gems. The Dioscorides anchor points to the short marginal “Book on gems”; that imprecise relationship is retained.

7550.These are period lapidary names and classifications. Burton calls garnet an imperfect ruby and places its origin at Calicut; this is retained, not converted into modern mineralogy. He moves from two stones, jacinth and topaz, to a singular “it”; the modern column preserves that uncertainty about which stone receives Cardano’s claims. The margin specifies night fears where the body says fear.

7553.The quoted powers are taken from a lapidary tradition linking stones with intellect and emotion. Veni mecum literally means “come with me”; the abbreviated title and the Bayerus reference remain unverified. The printed list of authorities and its attribution to beryl are retained. No modern mineral identity is imposed on historical chrysolite.

7556.Chelidonius means a swallow stone in this tradition. “Fair” means clean; “amiable” means agreeable or lovable. “Lunatic,” “mad” and “phantastick illusions” are historical categories, not precise modern diagnoses. Burton classifies chalcedony as a kind of onyx; that classification is retained.

7558.“Sleeken” means smooth or polish. The material meant by “Eban stone” has not been securely identified here, so its name is retained. The margin’s therapeutic assertions are preserved separately from Burton’s cross-reference to the preceding stones.

7561.“Carbuncle” is a historical gem name. The reading Emmetris is retained because its precise identification remains uncertain. Burton gives it nearly the same properties as carbuncle and coral, while the Latin note makes the narrower claim of pleasant dreams when worn in a silver ring. The body and margin should not be flattened into one statement.

7562.A lodestone is a naturally magnetic stone. Burton balances contradictory claims of restored youth and induced melancholy, then appeals to experience to decide. The short Latin clause is translated separately from his ensuing English gloss. The exact chapter in Cabeo remains to be collated.

7566.Monoceros means a unicorn in this medicinal vocabulary. Bezoar denotes a concretion found inside an animal; Burton’s account of its origin and trade is retained. He does not identify the particular animals seen at Coubert. The stag-heart phrase is translated twice because Burton gives both Latin and an English gloss. The printed cross-reference and abbreviated Renodaeus title are preserved.

7567.Armenus is the Armenian stone of the historical pharmacopoeia. These stones are deferred because Burton classifies them as purgatives rather than alteratives. Precise modern mineral identification is not supplied from the name alone.

7570.“Unions” means pearls, not a mixture of ingredients. The Latin margin names margaritae and uniones, traditionally pearls and large pearls, whereas the English calls these “smaller Unions”; both formulations are retained. “Cordial” again means strengthening or cheering the heart. Burton’s appeal to all writers is his own generalization.

7573.Horace, Satires 1.1.66–67, gives the miser’s self-applause over his coins. Burton omits ipse domi, “myself at home,” and joins the remaining phrases; the modern column follows his shortened quotation. The joke turns medicine’s gold into accumulated money. The unmarked Minerals label begins this new portion of the argument.

7575.Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, General Prologue 443–444, in the portrait of the Physician. Burton’s wording and spelling are retained on the left; the new rendering keeps the two-line form. The joke exploits both the alleged medicinal value of gold and the physician’s fondness for money. Harvard’s Chaucer text confirms the passage.