FROM the earliest times in man's history gems and precious stones have been held in great esteem. They have been found in the monuments of prehistoric peoples, and not alone the civilization of the Pharaohs, of the Incas, or of the Montezumas invested these brilliant things from Nature's jewel casket with a significance beyond the mere suggestion of their intrinsic properties.
The magi, the wise men, the seers, the astrologers of the ages gone by found much in the matter of gems that we have nearly come to forgetting. With them each gem possessed certain planetary attractions peculiar to itself, certain affinities with the various virtues, and a zodiacal concordance with the seasons of the year. Moreover, these early sages were firm believers in the influence of gems in one's nativity,—that the evil in the world could be kept from contaminating a child properly protected by wearing the appropriate talismanic, natal, and zodiacal gems. Indeed, folklorists are wont to wonder whether the custom of wearing gems in jewelry did not originate in the talismanic idea instead of in the idea of mere additional adornment.
