Note e — BOOK V.

To the foregoing Instances of divine Management, with relation to the political State of Man, I shall add another Thing, that I confess hath always seem’d to me somewhat odd, but very providential; and that is, the Value that Mankind, at least the civiliz’d Part of them, have in all Ages put upon Gems, and the purer finer Metals, Gold and Silver; so as to think them equivalent unto, and exchange them for Things of the greatest Use for Food, Cloathing, and all other Necessaries and Conveniences of Life. Whereas those Things themselves are of very little, if any Use in Physick, Food, Building or Cloathing, otherwise than for Ornament, or to minister to Luxury; as Suetonius tells us of Nero, who fish’d with a Net gilt with Gold, and shod his Mules with Silver; but his Wife Poppæa, shod her Horses with Gold. Vit. Ner. c. 30. Plin. N. H. L. 33. c. 11. So the same Suetonius tells us, Jul. Cæsar lay in a Bed of Gold, and rode in a silver Chariot. But Heliogabalus rode in one of Gold, and had his Close-stool Pans of the same Metal. And Pliny saith, Vasa Coquinaria ex argento Calvus Orator fieri queritur. Ibid. Neither are those precious Things of greater Use to the making of Vessels, and Utensils, (unless some little Niceties and Curiosities,) by Means of their Beauty, Imperdibility, and Ductility. Of which last, the great Mr. Boyle hath among others, there two Instances, in his Essay about are Subtilty of Effluviums. Chap. 2. Silver, whose Ductility, and Tractility, are very much inferior to those of Gold, was, by my procuring, drawn out to so slender a Wire, that——a single Grain of it amounted to twenty seven Feet. As to Gold, he demonstrates it possible to extend an Ounce thereof, to reach to 777600 Feet, or 155 Miles and an half, yea, to an incredibly greater Length.

And as to Gems, the very Stories that are told of their prodigious Virtues, are an Argument, that they have very little, or none more than other hard Stones. That a Diamond should discover whether a Woman be true or false to her Husband’s Bed; cause Love between Man and Wife; secure against Witchcraft, Plague and Poisons; that the Ruby should dispose to Cheerfulness, cause pleasant Dreams, change its Colour against a Misfortune befalling, &c. that the Sapphire should grow foul, and lose its Beauty, when worn by one that is Leacherous; that the Emerald should fly to pieces, if it touch the Skin of any unchaste Person in the Act of Uncleanness: That the Chrysolite should lose its Colour, if Poyson be on the Table, and recover it again when the Poyson is off: And to name no more, that the Turcoise, (and the same is said of a gold Ring,) should strike the Hour when hung over a drinking Glass, and much more the same Purpose: All these, and many other such fabulous Stories, I say, of Gems, are no great Arguments, that their Virtue is equivalent to their Value. Of these, and other Virtues, consult Worm in his Museum, L. 1. §. 2. c. 17, &c.

But as to Gems changing their Colour, there may be somewhat of Truth in that, particularly in the Turcoise last mention’d. Mr. Boyle observ’d the Spots in a Turcoise, to shift their Place from one Part to another, by gentle Degrees. So did the Cloud in an Agate-handle of a Knife. A Diamond he wore on his Finger, he observ’d to be more illustrious at some Times than others: Which a curious Lady told him she had also observ’d in hers. So likewise a rich Ruby did the same. Boyle of Absol. Rest in Bodies.