A Sober Stone

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 28, 25 January 1929, Page 12

A Sober Stone

ELL within the last hundred years fashion has completely reversed the verdict of the ancients. They considered the amethyst one of the most precious gems, to-day it is one of the least esteemed. That may be because its rich wine colour is too sober for modern taste

and partly because we have lost the touching faith of our forefathers. Certainly, if only half the tales were true, the ancients had every reason to revere the amethyst, for its vir- | tues were greater than those of almost any other gem, It could, for instance, do what every barber longs to do, namely, restore the hair to a bald man’s head. All the middle-aged mediaeval gentleman had to do when he was getting a little bit thin on the top was to wear an amethyst touching the skin on the third finger of the left hand and lo! the hair would sprout again. Intoxication Insurance. Soldiers wore it because, as every fighting man knew, it ensured protection against sudden death in battle. Statesmen wore it as a preservative against treason and to obtain the favour of princes; conspirators wore it because it saved the wearer from being east into prison. There was hardly a man who could afford not to be protected by wearing an amethyst. But its most famous power was that of saving the wearer from the evils of intoxication, a power bestowed on it by the God of Wine himself. Ac- cording to the ancient legend Bacchus once fell in love with a slender Greek nymph who rejected his proposals and appealed to the chaste Diana to save her from the god’s unwelcome attentions. Whereupon Diana changed the nymph into an amethyst. Bacchus was overwhelmed with grief at the loss of his beloved, and, gazing at the wine-red stone, vowed that henceforth none who wore it should ever be afflicted by intoxication. Some say that the word "amethyst" means "not drunken," in allusion to this episode; others, less romantic, believe the name to be no more than: the Greek form of a long-forgotten Oriental name.