In a price-list of a firm of German druggists, printed in 1757, all the precious stones still appear. Here the cost of a pound of rock-crystal is six groschen ($.18) ; the same quantity of emerald was priced at eight groschen ($.25), while the pound of sapphire was quoted at sixteen groschen ($.50), of ruby at one thaler ($.75), and of lapis-lazuli at five thalers ($3.75). This indicates quite clearly the quality of the emerald, sapphire and ruby offered for sale. A pound of Oriental bezoar commanded the highest prioe, sixteen thalers ($12).”

Regarding the length of time during which various preparations retained their strength, Braunfels states that, according to the opinion of the Arabian physicians, the solution of lapis Armenus lasted for ten years, while that of lapis lazuli could be preserved only about three years. A list of the indispensable materials which should be in eyery good pharmacy included the following precious stones :
Jacinth, Magnes, emerald, hematite, Sapphire, Coral, Topaze, Jasper

The supposed medicinal properties of precious stones are subjected to a searching criticism by the Veronese physician, Francesco India, writing in 1593.

After establishing the distinction between alimentary and medicinal substances he proceeds to exclude from the latter category the jacinth, emerald, sapphire, etc. because although they could be reduced to a powder, they could not be dissolved, so that when taken in a potion they could be absorbed in the human system.

Hence no such effects could properly be ascribed to them as were to be expected from the regular and normal medicinal agencies. This writer ascribes the original use of such stones as remedies for malignant fevers and other dangerous diseases to the Arabs, adding that “had they not made this mistake and thus led many physicians into error they would have been better worthy of praise.”

In fact he does not hesitate to pronounce the emphatic opinion that these stones are not remedial agents fit to be
administered or used by any rational physician.

That powdered hematite (red oxide of iron) possesses an astringent quality and may really be looked upon as a medicine, he fully recognizes, more particularly its efficacy for the care of diseases of the eye, but neither these nor similar qualities can be credited to sapphires, emeralds, or jacinths.

At the same time he is not disposed to deny that these stones may have some subtle effect upon the body when worn, or when held in the month for a time. Thus he agrees with Avicenna (Ben Sina) that a jacinth worn over the heart may strengthen that organ, for he knows of the power inherent in jasper to check a hemorrhage. In a word his argument is principally directed against the internal use of powders made from these hard and unassimilable stones.

Whether the somewhat mysterious illness and death of the popes Leo IV and Paul II could have been caused by the great quantity of pearls and precious stones they were in the habit of wearing was a question seriously discussed by Johann Wolff, the supposed lethal effect being attributed to the coldness of such objects.
Indeed, the frigidity of precious stones was adduced by certain writers as one of the chief reasons for their remedial use in fevers.

Not only to King Frederick III of Denmark himself, to whom on his death-bed in 1670, a dose of pulverized bezoar was administered, but to his queen and their children such remedies were given, there being record that on September 19, 1663, a prescription containing red coral and pearl powder was compounded by the Court Pharmacy for the queen, while a few years earlier the inevitable bezoar and also a tonic pearl-milk were administered to some of the royal offspring.

Some interesting details as to the use of precious stone remedies for the cure of illness appear in the manuscript notes of lectures given at the Leyden Hospital by the seventeenth century physician, Lucas Schacht in 1674 and 1675.

This shows that these remedial agents were there and at that time only used as a last resort, when the patient’s condition had become desperate and the physician is usually obliged to record the fact that death ensued shortly afterwards.

Thus we are told of the case of a certain Ludovicus Carels who was suffering from difficulty of breathing and purulent expectoration.
His body was so distended that he could scarcely move his limbs and he also had a severe diarrhcea. This was his condition on November 12, 1674, and the symptoms steadily grew worse under a treatment of herb decoctions, until a few days later, on Novonber 21, it is noted that “he only thinks of death.”

Still the doctors waited until November 24 before they decided to administer a compound remedy consisting in part of the elixirs of jacinth and pearl; three days later the patient died. In general the chief symptoms which justified the use of such remedies were those of high fever or great weakness.
Although by the middle of the eighteenth century the belief in the special curative powers of precious stone material had almost entirely disappeared giving place to a more scientific conception of the chemical composition of these bodies, still, we find, even in so capable a writer as the German mineralogist, U. F. B. Bruckmann, a lingering trace of the old idea, for while he declares that all intelligent physicians have abandoned their use, he adds, “if, however, any stone of this kind has more effect than an ordinary earthy substance, it is the lapis lazuli, but we have a hundred other remedies equally efficacious and much cheaper. ”

He also testifies to the fact that very little genuine material was to be had from the apothecaries, he himself having often seen a yellow feldspar offered instead of a jacinth, and poor garnets as substitutes for rubies.
Toward the end of the eighteenth century, a famous cordial medicine, called “Gascoign’s Powder,” after the physician who compounded it, had an immense vogue in England.

It is stated to have contained Oriental bezoar (the most important ingredient), white amber, red coral, crab’s eyes, powdered hartshorn, pearl and black crab’s claws certainly a most incongruous mixture and one well calculated to test the resisting powers of the person to whom it was administered.

A modem writer finds in the homeopathic theory of medicine an explanation of the apparent therapeutic effects of precious stones.

For if the smaller the dose the greater the effect, then such super-subtle emanations as are thought to proceed from precious stones must have effects still more powerful than those of the most highly diluted tinctures administered by homeopathists of the old school Christian Science, however, with its bold denial of the existence of disease, and with Its purely spiritual treatment of the “mental error” that is supposed to be at the root of all morbid symptoms, could even more easily account for the apparent cures wrought by merely wearing precious stones. The belief in their remedial virtue would serve to remove the morbid impression, and would restore the mind to its normal and healthy state.

An instance from our own day of the application of a mineral substance externally for the cure of disease, appears in the use of the uranium pitchblende occurring in Bohemia, This is enclosed in leather bags and applied to the head for the cure of headache. The most violent pains are said to be relieved in a short time by this treatment, the effect being produced by the radium contained in the pitchblende.

Of the minute particles thus secured a small quantity was to be introduced each morning into the injured eye, the patient being in a recumbent posture. He was then to keep properly quiet with his eyes shut for a considerable length of time after this operation. Although it was not indeed claimed that where the power of sight had been destroyed it could thus be restored, still even in case of such severe injury the eyeball was healed sooner and assumed a better appearance. In less serious cases a cure was considered to be assured.

They dissipate sadness, control incontinence, avert evil thoughts and dreams, exhilarate the soul and foretell misfortunes to man by losing their native splendor.

Although the chemical constituents of coral have but slight medicinal value, it is quite possible that some effects upon the secretions may have been observed experimentally after the administration of a dose of powdered coral.
An old pharmacopoeia gives elaborate directions for the preparation of the “Tincture of Coral.” A branch of very red coral was to be buried in melted wax, and allowed to remain over a fire for the space of two days, “after which time you will see that the coral has become white, while the wax has assumed a red hue.”
A fresh branch of coral is then to be put into the partially colored wax and the above operation repeated ; the wax will then be “redder than before.” It is now to be broken into crusts which are to be steeped in alcohol until the liquid has extracted the coloring matter from the wax and has become reddish.
In this way, after the removal of the wax by filtration, etc., a tincture was obtained which is represented to have been an excellent tonic and to have had the power to expel “bad humors” by inducing perspiration, or by its diuretic action.

We strongly suspect that in this as in many modern “tonics” the contents of spirit was the active principle.
An apparent confirmation of the widespread belief of former centuries that red coral changed its hue in sympathy with the state of the wearer’s health, caused perhaps by the exudations or sweats arising from fevers or other ailments, is given from personal experience by the German physician, Johann Wittich.
Writing toward the end of the sixteenth century, this author relates that he was called in to attend a youth named Bernard Erasmus, son of the burgomaster of Amstadt.

As the youth sickened unto death a red coral which he was wearing turned first whitish, then of a dirty yellow, and finally became covered with black spots. To the anxious questions of the youth’s sister, Wittich could only give a mournful answer, telling her to take away the coral, for death was surely approaching, and this prognostication proved to be only too true, as in a few hours young Erasmus was dead.
A rosary of coral beads was sometimes called in France a pater de sang, or “blood-rosary,” since it was believed to check hemorrhages. An anonymous author of an eighteenth century treatise on superstitions, assuming that this effect could be produced only by thickening the blood, asserts that such a rosary might do more harm than good for if it possessed this power at one time, it must possess it constantly, and its action would be very injurious.

Pearls and corals were still freely used as therapeutic agents in the last half of the seventeenth century for we are told that Louis XIV (1638-1715), in 1655, took tablets containing gold and pearls, which had been prescribed for him by his physician Vallot, and, in 1664, a remedy composed of pearls and corals was recommended by the same authority.