ABSTRACT
Agate. — Several kinds of agate are known, and all of them are used extensively in the East. The “ red agate,” which is mentioned by Pliny (Hist. Nat., xxxvii. 54) and known as “ blood agate,” was a protection against the large spiders and scorpions. The so-called “ green agate ” is potent in quelling disease of any kind in the eyes. The brown agate, or “ tawny agate,” is the most powerful of all and the most popular, for it makes the warrior victorious, protects a man against every kind of poisonous reptile, gives a lover favour in the sight of his lady, the sick man who holds it in his hand recovers, and gives a man riches, happiness, health, and long life. It also increases a man's intelligence. It drives away fevers, epilepsy, and madness; stops the flow of rheum in the eye, reduces menstruation, disperses the water in dropsy. In Italy and Persia it protects the wearer against the “ Evil Eye.” The triangular agate amulets worn in Syria on the neck keep away intestinal troubles. Black agate, with white stripes, is greatly prized, but green agate is also greatly treasured ; for if a woman drinks the water in which a green agate ring has been washed she will never be sterile. The amulets of grey agate which are common in Egypt, and are worn on the neck, prevent stiff-neck and ward off colic and diarrhoea.
