The magic of jewels and charms / by George Frederick Kunz.

  • Kunz, George Frederick, 1856-1932.
Date:
1915
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The magic of jewels and charms / by George Frederick Kunz. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    other mineral, such as rutile, for instance, and sometimes even of gold. To specimens of this latter type may be re¬ ferred the Greek name ‘ ‘ chrysothrix, ’ ’ used in the Orphic poem ‘^Lithica’’ and signifying literally ‘‘golden hair’’; of this the verses tell us there were two varieties, that which may be identified with quartz, having a resemblance to “crystal,” while the other, said to have the appearance of chrysoberyl, may have been a yellower variety. To the quartz traversed by filaments of rutile, or the red oxide of titanium, has been given the taking name of “Venus’s hair stone”; a pretty French name is Fleches d’Amour or “Cupid’s Arrows. The California beaches have furnished some of the most interesting ornamental pebbles, the greater number being of chalcedony or agate weathered from an amygdaloidal rock, while a few are of jasper or fossil coral. Their varie¬ gated color-markings made them very attractive ornamental objects in themselves, and there is reason to believe that cen¬ turies ago the Indians of this region valued them as talis¬ mans or amulets. At present the finest specimens are gath¬ ered from Pescadero Beach in San Mateo County, about twenty-four miles west of iSan Jose, Redondo Beach, fifteen miles south of Los Angeles, and also from Crescent City Beach, in the northern part of California. On Moonstone Beach, Santa Catalina Island, many beautiful quartz and chalcedony nodules have been picked up, which have weath¬ ered out of ryolite rock of sanidine feldspar and quartz. It has been quite a custom for guests of the hotels to go down to Redondo Beach and gather these pebbles, and some of those collected by enterprising natives are placed in a bottle of water to bring out the beauty of their colors. Sometimes they are drilled and strung on flexible wire to form long chains or necklaces. Several pebbles presumably from See N. F. Moore, “ Antient Mineralogy,” 2d ed.. New York, 1859, p. 190.