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The Talismanic Use of Special Stones: Boot

Not long after, the powers of De Boot's turquoise were put to the test. As he was returning to Bohemia from Padua, where he had just taken his degree, he was forced to traverse a narrow and dangerous road at night. Suddenly his horse stumbled and threw him heavily to the ground, but, strange to say, neither horse nor rider was injured by the fall. Next morning, while washing his hands, De Boot remarked that about a quarter of his turquoise had broken away. Nevertheless the stone did not lose its virtue. Some time afterward, when the wearer was lifting a very heavy pole, he felt all at once a sharp pain in his side and heard his ribs crack, so that he feared he had injured himself seriously. However, it turned out that he had not broken any bones but had simply strained himself; but, on looking at his turquoise, he saw that it had again broken into two pieces. (De Boot, "Gemmarum et lapidum historia," Lug. Bat., 1636.) A singular virtue ascribed to the turquoise was that of striking the hour correctly, if the stone were suspended from a thread held between the thumb and index-finger in such a way that a slight vibration would make the stone strike against the side of a glass. De Boot states that he made the experiment successfully, but he very sensibly explains the apparent wonder by the unconscious effect of the mind on the body. The expectation that the stone was going to strike a certain number of times induced an involuntary movement of the hand. (De Boot, "Gemmarum et lapidum historia," Lug. Bat., 1636.) The turquoise seems to have been worn almost exclusively by men at the beginning of the seventeenth century, for De Boot, writing in 1609, said that it was so highly regarded by men that no man considered his hand to be well adorned unless he wore a fine turquoise. Women, however, rarely wore this gem. (De Boot, 1.c.) This custom was much in vogue among the Englishmen who travelled in the Orient, until a score of years ago. The Persians fully appreciate the beauty and power of this, their national stone, and they have a saying that to escape evil and attain good fortune one must see the reflection of the new moon either on the face of a friend, on a copy of the Koran, or on a turquoise, (Hendley, "Indian Jewelry," London, 1909.) thus ranking this stone with two most precious things, a friend and the source and warrant of religion. Possibly we should take this proverbial saying to indicate that whoever has a true friend, a copy of the sacred volume or a turquoise will be preserved from harm.