The Curious Lore of Precious Stones

Talismans and birth-stones, crystal balls and the High Priest's breastplate — Tiffany's own gem expert gathered every superstition, legend and cure ever credited to a precious stone.

Superstitions and Their Sources

6 pages in this part of The Curious Lore of Precious Stones.

Superstitions and Their Sources

When the existence of miracles is acknowledged, there will always be a tendency to regard every singular and unaccountable happening as a miracle; that is to say, as…

Superstitions and Their Sources: Cuba

The persistence of the most cruel and unnatural practices of old-time sorcery is illustrated by the fact that only a few years ago, in the…

Superstitions and Their Sources: Boot

In the next chapter of his work, De Boot, while extolling the remedial power of a certain group of stones, insists upon the falsity of many…

Superstitions and Their Sources: Syriac

In the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, a new literature on this subject made its appearance, probably in Asia Minor. Some of the…

Superstitions and Their Sources: Thomas

A most interesting medieval treatise on the virtues of precious stones forms part of the De rerum natura of Thomas de Cantimpre…

Superstitions and Their Sources: Dolce

Among literary deceptions one of the boldest was that practised in the early part of the seventeenth century by Ludovico Dolce. This writer…

Rights & ReuseThe complete text of The Curious Lore of Precious Stones (1913) is in the public domain in the United States — like all works published before 1928 — and is free to read, download, quote, teach from, and reuse. This digital edition (its transcription, restored images, and site design) is © 2026 PhotoOpAI, and any editorial commentary we add is clearly marked as ours; the underlying public-domain text carries no such restriction.