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Superstitions: Canterbury

Dr. John Bargrave, Dean of Canterbury, was born in 1610, and bequeathed his museum to Christchurch, Canterbury, 1676.

A stone in the brain of a Tortoise was said to have the efficacy of a fire-annihilator in extinguishing flames; whoever did, at a proper time (having first washed his mouth), carry it under his tongue felt a divine inspiration to foretell future events. The time for this was the whole day of the first new moon, and the fifteen succeeding days during the lunar ascension, every day from sunrise to six o'clock, but in the decrease it poured forth its virtue in the night.

Cabot, a stone in a particular fish, possessed the power of foretelling weather, being clear and shiny when the skies were favourable, and cloudy when portending storms.

The pretty little Swallow was in former times a greater conjurer than it is considered at present, having, it was believed, two precious stones in the stomach--a red one for curing insanity, and a black one, ensuring "good luck" to its fortunate possessor. Tied about the neck in a yellow linen cloth, they prevented fevers and cured the jaundice. According to some writers, the stones were to be wrapt in the skin of a calf or a hart, and bound to the left arm. The stones were to be extracted while the young brood stood in their nest, and if taken in the month of August they would be more perfect, provided the young birds did not touch the earth, nor their mothers be present when they were extracted.

The Alectorius, a stone worn by the wrestler Milo, was so called from being taken out of the gizzard of a fowl.

The Aspilates, a fiery stone, was said by Democritus to be found in the nests of Arabian birds.

A stone like a crystal, as large as a bean, extracted from a Cock, was affirmed by the Romans to render its possessor invisible. In the Middle Ages, for this fiction was substituted another, that the wearer of the stone would never feel thirsty (like a dryad), and the proper cock that had the stone was to be discovered by his never drinking with his food, like other fowls! The Wagtail came in for a share of preternatural distinction, but to develop the potent virtues of the stone it was believed to possess, it was necessary to wear it in an iron ring.

A man might make himself invisible whenever he pleased if he possessed a Raven-stone, a talisman which is procured in New Pomerania in the following manner. When you have discovered a raven's nest, you must climb the tree, and take your chance that the parent birds are at least a hundred years old, for otherwise you will have your trouble for nothing. You are then to kill one of the nestlings, which must be a male bird, and not more than six weeks old. Then you may descend the tree, but be very careful to mark well the spot where it stands, for by-and-by it will become invisible, as soon as the raven comes back and lays a raven-stone in the throat of its dead nestling. When it does, you may go up again and secure the stone.

The Hyena was very properly hunted, not, however, for its ferocious propensities, but for a precious stone in one of its eyes, which, when placed under the tongue of its fortunate finder, enabled him to unriddle the future. It was also a preservative from the ague and the gout. AElian relates a curious story about the Carbunculus (ruby), how a certain widow, Heraclea, had tended a young stork that, having fallen from its nest before it was fully fledged, had broken its leg, and how the grateful bird, on returning from its annual migration, dropped into her lap, as she sat at the door, a precious stone, which, on her awaking at night, had lighted up her chamber like a blazing torch. Philostratus speaks of the Lychnis stone, as placed by the stork in its neck, as an amulet against serpents. The fabulous animal called the "Carbunculo," said to have been seen in some parts of Peru, is represented to be about the size of a fox, with long black hair, and is only visible at night, when it slinks slowly through the thickets. If followed, it is said to open a flap or valve in the forehead, from under which an extraordinary and brilliant light issues. The natives believe that the light proceeds from a precious stone, and that any foolhardy person who may venture to grasp at it rashly is blinded; then the flap is let down, and the animal disappears in the darkness. Such are the stories related by the Indians; and it appears that the belief in the existence of the Carbunculo has prevailed in Peru from the earliest times, and certainly before the Conquest; so that its introduction cannot be attributed to the Spaniards. It is even prevalent among most of the wild Indians, by whom the early missionaries were told the stories, which they, in their turn, repeated about the animal. As yet, nobody has been able to capture one; the Spaniards always showed themselves very anxious to obtain possession of the precious jewel; and the viceroy, during the Spanish occupation, in the official instructions to the missionaries, placed the Carbunculo in the first order of desiderata. What animal may have served as a foundation for these fabulous stones, it is difficult to say; probably one that seeks its prey by night, and the flashing of whose eyes, when excited, may have led to such a fable. Alardus (1539) describes the stone mentioned in page 14 as a topaz, to have been a carbuncle:-- "Amongst other stones of the most precious quality, and therefore beyond all price, and not to be estimated by any equivalent of human riches, the gift of that most noble lady Hildegarde, formerly wife of Theodoric, Count of Holland, which she had caused to be set in a gold tablet of truly inestimable value, and which she had dedicated to St. Adalbert, the patron of the town of Egmund: among these gems, I say, there was a Chrysolampis, commonly called an Osculan, which in the night-time so lighted up the entire chapel on all sides, that it served instead of lamps for the reading of the hours late at night, and would have served the same purpose to the present day, had not the hope of gain caused it to be stolen by a runaway Benedictine monk, the most greedy creature that ever went on two legs. He threw it into the sea close by Egmund, for fear of being convicted of sacrilege by the possession of such a gem. Some traces of this stone still remain in the upper border of the before-mentioned tablet."

A stone extracted from the Wild Ass was esteemed a cure for epilepsy, and made its possessor unconquered in battle; taken with wine, it drove away quartan ague.

Corvia was the name of a stone obtained from the nest of a crow. Leonardus Camillus, in his "Mirror of Stones," explains how this precious stone was obtained:--" On the calends of April, boil the eggs taken out of a crow's nest until they are hard, and being cold, let them be placed in the nest, as they were before. When the crow knows this, she flies a long way to find the stone, and returns with it to her nest, and the eggs being touched with it, they become fresh and prolific. The stone must immediately be snatched out of the nest. Its virtue is to increase riches, to bestow honours and foretell future events."

The Doriatides was a black and shining stone, found in the head of a cat, suddenly cut off, which conferred the gratification of every wish to its fortunate possessor.

A precious stone, the Lyncurium, was generated by the lynx: among other virtues, it cured the king's evil.

The Lippares, or Liparia, was a stone to which all kinds of animals came of their own accord, as it were by a natural instinct, and found in Lybia. It was supposed to have a wonderful power in defending animals; and when a beast was pursued by the hunters, it hastened to find out this stone for protection, for as long as the animal looked upon the stone, no huntsman could see his victim. A stone extracted from the head of a Snail without a shell, of a white colour, small, and like a piece of a human nail, cured fever when hung around the neck.

The Quirinus, or Quirus, a juggling stone found in the nest of the hoopoe, when laid upon the breast of a sleeping person, forced him to discover his rogueries.

The Epistides, a red glittering stone, when fastened over the heart with magical bands, and on repeating certain verses for the occasion, kept a man safe from every misfortune. It drove away locusts and mischievous birds, blighting winds and storms. The Exebonos, a white stone, being bruised and drank, cured insanity. The Eumetis, the colour of flint, when put under the head of a sleeping person, rendered him prophetic. The Emere, of a grassy colour, was by the Assyrians consecrated to their gods, and was a "superstitious" gem. The Elopsides, when hung about the neck, cured headache. Filaterius, a stone of the colour of the chrysolite, dispersed terrors and melancholic passions, rendered the bearer complaisant and comforted the spirits. A red Fongites, if carried in the hand, removed all ailments of the body and assuaged anger.

The Granati, of a dark red, or reddish violet, cheered the heart, and protected the wearer from pestilential diseases. The Galactides, known under different names by magicians, was declared by them to render magical writings to be heard, and ghosts called up to return answers to questions. It also possessed the far more valuable qualities of burying quarrels and mischief in oblivion, and re-uniting in love those who had been at variance. If held in the mouth, it would let the owner know what opinions were formed of him by others. A test of its genuineness was to smear one's body with honey, and then expose it to the flies; if the stone was true, the flies and bees kept off. The Gargates, which Solinus affirms were found in large quantities in our country, on being heated with rubbing, would drive away devils with the smoke, dissolve spells and enchantments, and helped the dropsical. They healed the bites of serpents when mixed with the marrow of a stag, and fastened loose teeth. The Gasidana, a stone of a swan colour, was said to have the power of generating within itself on being shaken. The Glosopetra, a stone like the human tongue, was believed to fall from heaven in the wane of the moon, and, according to the magicians, excited lunar motions.

The Hamonis, a stone of a gold colour, was numbered among the most sacred gems, and had the shape of a ram's horn. It was found in Ethiopia. If a man holding this stone placed himself in an attitude of contemplation, his mind became divinely inspired.

A stone called Demonius was a preservative against agues, and rendered the wearer invisible. The Diadochus, described like the beryl in colour, disturbed devils, and if thrown into water with a charm repeated, it showed various images of devils, and gave answers to those who questioned it; being held in the mouth, any spirit from the "vasty deep" might be summoned. It was only deprived of its virtues on touching a dead body.

The Heliotrope (Sun-turner), called by necromancers the Babylonian gem, if inscribed with certain characters, would enable its owner to foretell future events, and if rubbed over with the juice of the herb of its own name, it rendered the wearer invisible.It secured safety and long life; poisons submitted to it; and it was supposed to collect clouds and raise tempests. In the Middle Ages, the heliotropes which contained many red spots were highly valued, from a belief that the blood of Christ was diffused through the stone. In a "Booke of the Thinges that are brought from the West Indies" (published in 1574, translated from the Spanish in 1580), we read:--" They doo bring from the New Spain a stone of great virtue, called the Stone of the Blood. The Bloodstone is a kind of jasper of divers colours, somewhat dark, full of sprinkles like to blood, being of colour red, of the which stones the Indians dooth make certayne Hartes, both great and small. The use thereof both there and here is for all fluxe of blood, and of wounds. The stone must be wet in cold water, and the sick man must take him in his right hand, and from time to time wet him in cold water. In this sort the Indians doe use them. And as touching the Indians, they have it for certain, that touching the same stone in some part where the blood runneth, that it doth restrain, and in this they have great trust, for that the effect hath been seen." The Jacinth possessed extraordinary properties, driving away fever and dropsy, clearing the sight, expelling noxious fancies, restraining luxury, rendering the wearer victorious, powerful, and agreeable; if set in gold, these virtues were greatly increased. The Kynocetus had power to cast out devils. The Lignite conferred prophetic powers, and was a preservative against witches. The Moonstone, popularized in a work of fiction by Wilkie Collins was, as its name implies, an object of special veneration from its supposed lunar attraction. It is one of the prettiest, though most common of precious stones in Ceylon. Pliny describes it as shining with a yellow lustre from a colourless ground, and containing an image of the moon, "Which, if the story be ture," he observes, "daily waxes or wanes according to the state of that luminary." Marbodus, Bishop of Rennes, in the eleventh century, who wrote a treatise on the miraculous virtues of precious stones, describes similarly this stone, and terms it "sacred."

Coral beads were worn in India as amulets; the Romans tied little branches round their children's necks to keep off the evil eye. Orpheus, the gempoet of the Greeks, attributes wonderful powers to coral, the gift of Minerva; it baffled witchcraft, counteracted poisons, protected from tempests and from robbers, and mixed in powder with seed-corn (rather an expensive agricultural agent) secured growing crops from thunder-storms, blight, caterpillars, and locusts--in fact, it was a true farmer's friend.

Amber, which was prettily defined to be the tears of the Electrides dropped on the death of their brother, Phaethon, was also worn by children as an amulet, and by adults as a charm against insanity; worn round the neck it cured the ague.

The Shah of Persia wears around his neck a cube of amber reported to have fallen from heaven in the time of Mahomet, and which has the property of rendering him invulnerable. Ground up with honey and rose oil it was a specific against deafness, and mixed with Attic honey prevented dimness of sight. Tacitus describes the amber-gatherers as a sacred nation worshipping the mother of the gods, Hertha.

The learned professor of Copenhagen, Olaus Worm, alludes to the popular notions and superstitions current respecting amber. By his account it would seem to have been received as a panacea, sovereign for asthma, dropsy, toothache, and a multitude of diseases. Bartholomaeus Glanvilla, in his work, "De Proprietatibus Rerum," who seems to regard amber as a kind of jet, describes it as driving away adders, and contrary to friends. Chalcedony hung about the neck dispersed melancholy; if a person carried one perforated, with the hair of an ass run through it, he would overcome all contentions, and be preserved from tempests and sinister events. Crystal hung about the neck of sleepers, kept off bad dreams and dissolved spells of witchcraft. The Chrysoprasus gave assiduity in good works, banished covetousness, and made the heart glad. The Chrysolite expelled phantoms, and, what was more service-able, rid people of their follies; bound round with gold and carried in the left hand, it dispersed night hags. The Citrini (yellow corundum) protected the wearer from dangers in travelling, secured him from pestilential vapours, and gave him favour with princes. The Onyx was believed in the Middle Ages to expose its owner to the assaults of demons, ugly dreams by night, and, worse than these, law-suits by day; a Sard worn with it, however, was said to counteract these mischievous influences. Great virtues were ascribed to the Opal by our ancestors, of which superstition Sir Walter Scott availed himself in the episode of the Baroness Hermione of Arnheim, in "Anne of Geierstein," when the opal worn by the lady on which a drop of holy water had rested shot out a brilliant spark like a falling light, and then became lightless and colourless as a common pebble. Marbodus tells us that the opal conferred the gift of invisibility on the wearer. Opalus was supposed to be only another form of ophthalmius, "eye-stone," whence sprang these notions of its virtue. So far was the opal from being considered unlucky in the Middle Ages, that it was believed to possess united the special virtue of every gem with whose distinctive colour it was emblazoned. Petrus Arlensis (temp. Henry IV.) says, "The various colours in the opal tend greatly to the delectation of the sight." If a Russian of either sex or of any rank, should happen to see an opal among goods submitted for purchase, he or she will buy nothing that day, for the opal is, in the judgment of the subjects of the Czar, the embodiment of the "evil eye." It is probable the same superstition will be found in other countries.