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Generation of Mobile Devices Second Edition (2012-09-
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Author(s): Zigurd Mednieks, Laird Dornin, G. Blake Meike, Masumi Nakamu
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Edition: Second Edition (2012-09-26)
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Year: 2012
Language: english

SECOND EDITION
Programming Android
Zigurd Mednieks, Laird Dornin, G. Blake Meike,
and Masumi Nakamura
Beijing • Cambridge • Farnham • Köln • Sebastopol • Tokyo

Programming Android, Second Edition
by Zigurd Mednieks, Laird Dornin, G. Blake Meike, and Masumi Nakamura
Copyright © 2012 Zigurd Mednieks, Laird Dornin, Blake Meike, and Masumi Nakamura. All rights
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1348682639

Table of Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Part I. Tools and Basics
1. Installing the Android SDK and Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Installing the Android SDK and Prerequisites 3
The Java Development Kit (JDK) 4
The Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE) 5
The Android SDK 7
Adding Build Targets to the SDK 8
The Android Developer Tools (ADT) Plug-in for Eclipse 9
Test Drive: Confirm That Your Installation Works 12
Making an Android Project 12
Making an Android Virtual Device (AVD) 16
Running a Program on an AVD 19
Running a Program on an Android Device 20
Troubleshooting SDK Problems: No Build Targets 21
Components of the SDK 21
The Android Debug Bridge (adb) 21
The Dalvik Debug Monitor Server (DDMS) 21
Components of the ADT Eclipse Plug-in 23
Android Virtual Devices 25
Other SDK Tools 26
Keeping Up-to-Date 27
Keeping the Android SDK Up-to-Date 28
Keeping Eclipse and the ADT Plug-in Up-to-Date 28
Keeping the JDK Up-to-Date 29
Example Code 30
SDK Example Code 30
Example Code from This Book 30
On Reading Code 31
iii

2. Java for Android . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Android Is Reshaping Client-Side Java 33
The Java Type System 34
Primitive Types 34
Objects and Classes 35
Object Creation 35
The Object Class and Its Methods 37
Objects, Inheritance, and Polymorphism 39
Final and Static Declarations 41
Abstract Classes 45
Interfaces 46
Exceptions 48
The Java Collections Framework 51
Garbage Collection 55
Scope 55
Java Packages 56
Access Modifiers and Encapsulation 57
Idioms of Java Programming 59
Type Safety in Java 59
Using Anonymous Classes 62
Modular Programming in Java 64
Basic Multithreaded Concurrent Programming in Java 67
Synchronization and Thread Safety 68
Thread Control with wait() and notify() Methods 71
Synchronization and Data Structures 72
3. The Ingredients of an Android Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Traditional Programming Models Compared to Android 75
Activities, Intents, and Tasks 77
Other Android Components 79
Service 79
Content Providers 80
BroadcastReceiver 83
Component Life Cycles 83
The Activity Life Cycle 83
On Porting Software to Android 85
Static Application Resources and Context 86
Organizing Java Source 87
Resources 88
Application Manifests 90
Initialization Parameters in AndroidManifest.xml 91
Packaging an Android Application: The .apk File 94
The Android Application Runtime Environment 94
iv | Table of Contents

The Dalvik VM 95
Zygote: Forking a New Process 95
Sandboxing: Processes and Users 95
The Android Libraries 96
Extending Android 98
The Android Application Template 98
Overrides and Callbacks 99
Polymorphism and Composition 101
Extending Android Classes 102
Concurrency in Android 104
AsyncTask and the UI Thread 105
Threads in an Android Process 116
Serialization 118
Java Serialization 119
Parcelable 120
Classes That Support Serialization 124
Serialization and the Application Life Cycle 125
4. Getting Your Application into Users’ Hands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Application Signing 127
Public Key Encryption and Cryptographic Signing 127
How Signatures Protect Software Users, Publishers, and
Secure Communications 129
Signing an Application 130
Placing an Application for Distribution in the Android Market 135
Becoming an Official Android Developer 135
Uploading Applications in the Market 136
Getting Paid 138
Alternative Distribution 139
Verizon Applications for Android 139
Amazon Applications for Android 141
Google Maps API Keys 143
Specifying API-Level Compatibility 144
Compatibility with Many Kinds of Screens 144
Testing for Screen Size Compatibility 145
Resource Qualifiers and Screen Sizes 145
5. Eclipse for Android Software Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Eclipse Concepts and Terminology 148
Plug-ins 148
Workspaces 149
Java Environments 150
Projects 151
Table of Contents | v

Builders and Artifacts 151
Extensions 151
Associations 153
Eclipse Views and Perspectives 153
The Package Explorer View 154
The Task List View 154
The Outline View 155
The Problems View 155
Java Coding in Eclipse 156
Editing Java Code and Code Completion 156
Refactoring 156
Eclipse and Android 158
Preventing Bugs and Keeping Your Code Clean 158
Static Analyzers 158
Applying Static Analysis to Android Code 163
Limitations of Static Analysis 166
Eclipse Idiosyncrasies and Alternatives 166
Part II. About the Android Framework
6. Building a View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Android GUI Architecture 171
The Model 171
The View 172
The Controller 173
Putting It Together 173
Assembling a Graphical Interface 175
Wiring Up the Controller 180
Listening to the Model 182
Listening for Touch Events 187
Multiple Pointers and Gestures 190
Listening for Key Events 192
Choosing an Event Handler 193
Advanced Wiring: Focus and Threading 195
The Menu and the Action Bar 199
View Debugging and Optimization 202
7. Fragments and Multiplatform Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Creating a Fragment 206
Fragment Life Cycle 209
The Fragment Manager 210
Fragment Transactions 211
vi | Table of Contents

The Support Package 216
Fragments and Layout 217
8. Drawing 2D and 3D Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Rolling Your Own Widgets 225
Layout 226
Canvas Drawing 231
Drawables 242
Bitmaps 247
Bling 248
Shadows, Gradients, Filters, and Hardware Acceleration 251
Animation 253
OpenGL Graphics 258
9. Handling and Persisting Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Relational Database Overview 263
SQLite 264
The SQL Language 264
SQL Data Definition Commands 265
SQL Data Manipulation Commands 268
Additional Database Concepts 270
Database Transactions 271
Example Database Manipulation Using sqlite3 271
SQL and the Database-Centric Data Model for Android Applications 275
The Android Database Classes 276
Database Design for Android Applications 277
Basic Structure of the SimpleVideoDbHelper Class 277
Using the Database API: MJAndroid 280
Android and Social Networking 280
The Source Folder (src) 282
Loading and Starting the Application 283
Database Queries and Reading Data from the Database 283
Modifying the Database 287
Part III. A Skeleton Application for Android
10. A Framework for a Well-Behaved Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Visualizing Life Cycles 296
Visualizing the Activity Life Cycle 296
Visualizing the Fragment Life Cycle 308
The Activity Class and Well-Behaved Applications 311
The Activity Life Cycle and the User Experience 311
Table of Contents | vii

Life Cycle Methods of the Application Class 312
11. Building a User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Top-Level Design 316
Fragment, Activity, and Scalable Design 317
Visual Editing of User Interfaces 319
Starting with a Blank Slate 319
Laying Out the Fragments 323
Lay Out Fragments Using the Visual Editor 324
Multiple Layouts 325
Folding and Unfolding a Scalable UI 326
Decisions about Screen Size and Resolution 326
Delegating to Fragment Classes 330
Making Activity, Fragment, Action Bar, and Multiple Layouts Work To-
gether 333
Action Bar 333
Tabs and Fragments 333
The Other Activity 336
12. Using Content Providers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Understanding Content Providers 342
Implementing a Content Provider 343
Browsing Video with Finch 344
Defining a Provider Public API 345
Defining the CONTENT_URI 346
Creating the Column Names 348
Declaring Column Specification Strings 348
Writing and Integrating a Content Provider 350
Common Content Provider Tasks 350
File Management and Binary Data 352
Android MVC and Content Observation 354
A Complete Content Provider: The SimpleFinchVideoContentProvider
Code 355
The SimpleFinchVideoContentProvider Class and Instance Variables 355
Implementing the onCreate Method 357
Implementing the getType Method 358
Implementing the Provider API 358
Determining How Often to Notify Observers 363
Declaring Your Content Provider 363
13. A Content Provider as a Facade for a RESTful Web Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Developing RESTful Android Applications 366
A “Network MVC” 367
viii | Table of Contents

Summary of Benefits 369
Code Example: Dynamically Listing and Caching YouTube
Video Content 370
Structure of the Source Code for the Finch YouTube Video Example 371
Stepping Through the Search Application 372
Step 1: Our UI Collects User Input 373
Step 2: Our Controller Listens for Events 373
Step 3: The Controller Queries the Content Provider with a managedQuery
on the Content Provider/Model 374
Step 4: Implementing the RESTful Request 374
Constants and Initialization 375
Creating the Database 375
A Networked Query Method 375
insert and ResponseHandlers 388
File Management: Storing Thumbnails 390
Part IV. Advanced Topics
14. Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Search Interface 395
Search Basics 395
Search Dialog 402
Search Widget 403
Query Suggestions 404
Recent Query Suggestions 404
Custom Query Suggestions 405
15. Location and Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Location-Based Services 412
Mapping 413
The Google Maps Activity 413
The MapView and MapActivity 414
Working with MapViews 415
MapView and MyLocationOverlay Initialization 415
Pausing and Resuming a MapActivity 418
Controlling the Map with Menu Buttons 419
Controlling the Map with the Keypad 421
Location Without Maps 422
The Manifest and Layout Files 422
Connecting to a Location Provider and Getting Location Updates 423
Updating the Emulated Location 426
StreetView 430
Table of Contents | ix

16. Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
Audio and Video 433
Playing Audio and Video 434
Audio Playback 435
Video Playback 437
Recording Audio and Video 438
Audio Recording 439
Video Recording 442
Stored Media Content 443
17. Sensors, NFC, Speech, Gestures, and Accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
Sensors 445
Position 447
Other Sensors 449
Near Field Communication (NFC) 450
Reading a Tag 451
Writing to a Tag 457
P2P Mode and Beam 459
Gesture Input 461
Accessibility 463
18. Communication, Identity, Sync, and Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
Account Contacts 467
Authentication and Synchronization 470
Authentication 471
Synchronization 478
Bluetooth 485
The Bluetooth Protocol Stack 485
BlueZ: The Linux Bluetooth Implementation 487
Using Bluetooth in Android Applications 487
19. The Android Native Development Kit (NDK) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
Native Methods and JNI Calls 502
Conventions in Native Method Calls 502
Conventions on the Java Side 503
The Android NDK 504
Setting Up the NDK Environment 504
Editing C/C++ Code in Eclipse 504
Compiling with the NDK 505
JNI, NDK, and SDK: A Sample App 506
Native Libraries and Headers Provided by the NDK 507
Building Your Own Custom Library Modules 509
Native Activities 512
x | Table of Contents

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
Table of Contents | xi

Preface
The purpose of this book is to enable you to create well-engineered Android applica-
tions that go beyond the scope of small example applications.
ThisbookisforpeoplecomingtoAndroidprogrammingfromavarietyofbackgrounds.
If you have been programming iPhone or Mac OS applications in Objective-C, you will
find coverage of Android tools and Java language features relevant to Android pro-
gramming that will help you bring your knowledge of mobile application development
to Android. If you are an experienced Java coder, you will find coverage of Android
application architecture that will enable you to use your Java expertise in this newly
vibrant world of client Java application development. In short, this is a book for people
with some relevant experience in object-oriented languages, mobile applications, REST
applications, and similar disciplines who want to go further than an introductory book
or online tutorials will take them.
How This Book Is Organized
We want to get you off to a fast start. The chapters in the first part of this book will
step you through using the SDK tools so that you can access example code in this book
and in the SDK, even as you expand your knowledge of SDK tools, Java, and database
design. The tools and basics covered in the first part might be familiar enough to you
that you would want to skip to Part II where we build foundational knowledge for
developing larger Android applications.
The central part of this book is an example of an application that uses web services to
deliver information to the user—something many applications have at their core. We
present an application architecture, and a novel approach to using Android’s frame-
work classes that enables you to do this particularly efficiently. You will be able to use
this application as a framework for creating your own applications, and as a tool for
learning about Android programming.
In the final part of this book, we explore Android APIs in specific application areas:
multimedia, location, sensors, and communication, among others, in order to equip
you to program applications in your specific area of interest.
xiii

By the time you reach the end of this book, we want you to have gained knowledge
beyond reference material and a walk-through of examples. We want you to have a
point of view on how to make great Android applications.
Conventions Used in This Book
The following typographical conventions are used in this book:
Italic
Indicates new terms, URLs, email addresses, filenames, and file extensions
Constant width
Used for program listings, as well as within paragraphs to refer to program elements
such as variable or function names, databases, data types, environment variables,
statements, and keywords
Constant width bold
Shows commands or other text that should be typed literally by the user
Constant width italic
Shows text that should be replaced with user-supplied values or by values deter-
mined by context
This icon signifies a tip, suggestion, or general note.
This icon indicates a warning or caution.
Using Code Examples
This book is here to help you get your job done. In general, you may use the code in
this book in your programs and documentation. You do not need to contact us for
permission unless you’re reproducing a significant portion of the code. For example,
writing a program that uses several chunks of code from this book does not require
permission. Selling or distributing a CD-ROM of examples from O’Reilly books does
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from this book into your product’s documentation does require permission.
We appreciate, but do not require, attribution. An attribution usually includes the
title, author, publisher, and ISBN. For example: “Programming Android, Second
xiv | Preface

Edition by Zigurd Mednieks, Laird Dornin, G. Blake Meike, and Masumi Nakamura.
Copyright 2012 O’Reilly Media, Inc., 978-1-449-31664-8.”
If you feel your use of code examples falls outside fair use or the permission given here,
feel free to contact us at permissions@oreilly.com.
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Acknowledgments
The authors have adapted portions of this book from their previously released title,
Android Application Development (O’Reilly).
Drafts of this book were released on the O’Reilly Open Feedback Publishing System
(OFPS) in order to get your feedback on whether and how we are meeting the goals for
this book. We are very grateful for the readers who participated in OFPS, and we owe
them much in correcting our errors and improving our writing. Open review of drafts
will be part of future editions, and we welcome your views on every aspect of this book.
Zigurd Mednieks
I am eternally grateful to Terry, my wife, and Maija and Charles, my children, who gave
me the time to do this. This book exists because our agent, Carole Jelen, at Waterside
Productions, whipped our proposal material into shape, and because Mike Hendrick-
son kicked off the project within O’Reilly. Brian Jepson and Andy Oram, our editors,
kept this large troupe of authors unified in purpose and result. Thanks to Johan van
der Hoeven, who provided review comments that contributed much to accuracy and
clarity. Thanks to all the reviewers who used the Open Feedback Publishing System to
help make this a better book.
Laird Dornin
Thanks to my wonderful Norah for encouraging me to take part in this project, even
though you had no idea of the amount of effort involved in writing a book. Cheers to
trips to Acadia, trips to New Hampshire, and late nights writing. I’m glad this book
did not stall our truly important project, the arrival of our beautiful daughter Claire.
Thanks to Andy our editor, and my coauthors for giving me this opportunity. Thanks
to Larry for reviewing and enabling me to work on this project. I’m glad that ideas I
developed at SavaJe could find a voice in this book. Finally, thanks to our main re-
viewers Vijay and Johan, you both found solid ways to improve the content.
G. Blake Meike
My thanks to our agent, Carole Jelen, Waterside Productions, without whom this book
would never have been more than a good idea. Thanks, also, to editors Brian Jepson
and Andy Oram, masters of the “gentle way.” Everyone who reads this book benefits
from the efforts of Johan van der Hoeven and Vijay Yellapragada, technical reviewers;
Sumita Mukherji, Adam Zaremba, and the rest of the O’Reilly production team; and
all those who used O’Reilly’s OFPS to wade through early and nearly incomprehensible
drafts, to produce salient comments and catch egregious errors. Thanks guys! Speaking
of “thanks guys,” it was quite an honor and certainly a pleasure to collaborate with my
coauthors, Zigurd, Laird, and Masumi. Of course, last, best, and as ever, thanks and
xvi | Preface

love to my wife Catherine, who challenges me in the good times and provides support
when it’s dark. Yeah, I know, the bookcase still isn’t done.
Masumi Nakamura
I would like to thank my friends and family for bearing with me as I worked on this
and other projects. An especially big thank you to Jessamyn for dealing with me all
these years. I also would like to thank Brian and Andy for getting us through the fine
points of writing and publishing, as well as my coauthors for bringing me in to work
on this piece. Also, a quick shout out to all the people at WHERE, Inc. who have been
very supportive in my technological wanderings. Finally, a thank you to you, the read-
ers, and all you developers working tirelessly to make Android a great platform to work
on and enjoy using.
Preface | xvii

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follow the form of an eye the term “eye agate” is often employed. In
this last form it was considered an excellent instrument for the seer
or prophet to hold, as it symbolized the third eye now known as the
Pineal Body. Clearly the gray tint of the eye of stone approaches in
colour the matter of the human eye. The importance of this peculiar
organ, which lies upon the corpora quadrigemina of the brain in
front of the cerebellum, was held in great respect by ancient
scholars who regarded it as the organ of occult sight, of inner
perception and intuition. This hidden eye is bigger in a child than in
an adult, and in the woman it is bigger than in the man. There is
little doubt that the ancients regarded these markings on the agate
stone as symbolic of the faculties of the high spirit of man, of
prosperity in peace, and protection in war. The ring of Pyrrhus is
recorded by Pliny as representing in its natural colours Apollo with
his lyre standing amongst the nine Muses, each with her correct
attribute. The Muses and their attributes as indicated in their statues
are as follows:
1. Calliope, the muse of epic poetry. A tablet and stylus, or a roll
of paper.
2. Clio, the muse of history. An open scroll.
3. Euterpe, the muse of lyric poetry. A flute.
4. Melpomene, the muse of tragedy. A tragic mask, the club of
Hercules or a sword.
5. Terpsichore, the muse of choral dance and song. A lyre and
the plectrum.
6. Erato, the muse of erotic poetry. The lyre.
7. Polyhymnia, the muse of sublime hymn. Pensive and
meditative, carries no attribute.
8. Urania, the muse of astronomy. Staff and globe.
9. Thalia, the muse of comedy or idyllic poetry. A comic mask, a
shepherd’s staff or a wreath of ivy.

The Rev. C. W. King mentions that agates are still found “adorned
with designs which one feels the greatest difficulty in admitting to be
the mere fortuitous result of the arrangement of their shaded strata,
so exactly does that result imitate the finished production of art.” He
instances the “Egyptian Pebble” in the British Museum which shows
the head of the poet Chaucer covered with the hood, a faithful
portrait even more remarkable when it is considered that the
specimen was just broken in two pieces and not even polished. A
specimen in the Galleria of Florence shows in the markings of yellow
and red a running Cupid. Such curious markings are continually
exhibiting the silent, magical symbols of Nature by the aid of which
the great but humble philosophers of ancient days read the
messages of the Divine. Many and various are the virtues ascribed to
the agate by the ancient masters, and when considering these it is
well to remember their passion for making meanings obscure in
order that the hidden secrets might be successfully guarded. The
“pleasant scent of the agate”—obtainable most truly by rubbing
together two polished specimens—is lauded by Pliny, and Orpheus
recommends that the “changeful agate” be steeped in wine to
improve the flavour. Powdered and bound on wounds, it healed
them, and Rabbi Benoni of 14th century fame advised that an agate
be held in the mouth to quench thirst and soothe fever. It was
regarded as a charm against poisons, which no doubt accounts for
its being used to form vases, bowls, cups, and vessels for holding
foodstuffs, specimens of which are still found in more or less perfect
state in the excavations. Mr. King mentions the Carchesium or two-
handled agate cup of Charles the Bold (presented by that King to the
Abbey of St. Denis) which was used to hold the wine at the
ceremony associated with the coronations of the kings of France. It
was stolen in 1804, the year Napoleon Buonaparte was crowned
Emperor at Paris, and was not used, therefore, at his coronation—a
significant circumstance in the career of this man of Destiny who,
with his innate love for the occult must have known long before this
event that the agate was his birthstone. Shortly after the vase was
recovered uninjured, but its jewelled setting had been removed from
it, never to be seen again.

The agate, especially the eye agate, was reputed as a cure for
tired eyes, also bestowing on the wearer strength and health, and
inclining him to grace and eloquence. As one of the seven sea gems,
a banded agate was credited with the power of taking away the
terrors of the ocean, while to dream of one was held to denote a sea
journey. Being astrologically connected with the death sign Scorpio,
it was potent in seeking divine aid in this life and in the life to come.
It rendered the wearer agreeable, gave him the favour of God, if he
employed it as a holy instrument it turned the words of his enemies
against themselves, rendered him—symbolically speaking—invisible,
gave him victory and induced happy dreams. It was a charm against
lightning, thunder, tempests, and all wars of the elements. Albertus
Magnus gives it efficacy against eruptive skin diseases; the
Mohammedans engraved on it the symbols of Hassan and Hussein,
the grandsons of the Prophet of Islam, and placed it round the necks
of children to protect them from falls and accident. They also mixed
it, in powdered form, with certain fruit juices and administered it as
a cure for insanity. It was also prescribed for haemorrhage, the
spitting of blood, boils, ulcers, gravel and affections of the spleen
and kidneys. Used as a powder it hardened tender gums and
arrested bleedings. Some Arabian writers advise against the use of
powdered agate as an internal medicine unless carefully blended
with other substances. An agate worn about the neck banished fear,
indigestion and lung troubles. It was recommended by Dioscorides
as a charm against epidemics and pestilential diseases. It protected
from the bites of serpents and insects, and was bound to the horns
of oxen to induce a good harvest. It was said to have been the
“fortune stone” of the Trojan hero Æneas, protecting him in war,
voyages and storms.
The agate is always adorned with a system of bands which exhibit
variety in hue, shade and tint. The Chalcedony (See Chalcedony) is
more compact and regular in colour, the two stones therefore being
easily distinguishable. Swedenborg sets the agate down as the
symbol of the spiritual love of good. It is astrologically attached to
the martial sign Scorpio.

ALABASTER
“Why should a man whose blood is warm within,
Sit like his grandsire, cut in alabaster?”
Shakespeare.
The Greek ALABASTROS was derived from Alabastron, a town in
Upper Egypt where this beautiful white massive variety of gypsum
was found. It was used by the ancients for fashioning perfume
bottles, the vials to hold oil for anointing kings, priests, initiates into
the mysteries, etc. These articles were commonly called alabastra,
and the name continued in use long after other materials had
replaced alabaster in their manufacture. The quarries of Hat Nub
and those near Minieh supplied ancient Egypt with the material
which was compared by ancient masters to the purity of the soul. No
doubt this accounts for its use in holy works, and in the making of
sarcophagi, statues, etc. In the Book of Matthew we read of the
woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment. In Mark
“she brake the box and poured it (the ointment) on his head.” In
Luke we are told that “a woman in the city brought an alabaster box
of ointment,” etc. “Box” is a mistranslation; the “box” holding the oil
was an alabastrum, and this “oil of holy ointment compound after
the art of the apothecary,” as set down in the Book of Exodus, was
put in the alabaster vases which were sealed in such a way that the
tops had to be broken in order to release the liquid. This was
seemingly done to prevent evaporation. Many of these vases have
been found amongst the ruins, together with other Egyptian vases
called Canopic jars in which were placed the embalmed viscera of
the departed. On the covers of these canopi were drawings of the
heads of the genii of the dead known as the four children of Horus—
Kesta, Hapi, Tuamutef, and Qebhsennuf. A vessel surrounded by
receptacles for holding a number of alabastra was called an
ALABASTRO-THECA.
Pure specimens of alabaster were also employed as milk-stone
talismans. Oriental alabaster, known as the Algerian onyx, is a solid
crystalline carbonate of lime, precipitated from water in stalagmitic

form. This Oriental alabaster is considerably harder than true
alabaster which is easily scratched. Pliny writes of columns of
alabaster over thirty feet in height. In ancient times it was regarded
as a species of onyx, and was made into cups, vases and other
utensils. Pliny says that it was “of the colour of honey, opaque and
spirally spotted.” There are also specimens in colour brown mixed
with lemon, and others of the colour of the finger-nail.
Leonardus regards alabaster as the right substance for preserving
unguents, and Dioscorides employed it in medicine. It was used as a
charm against accidents, especially whilst travelling, for securing
public favour, for success in legal affairs, etc.
It may be mentioned that the beautiful sarcophagus of alabaster
which was found by Giovanni Belzoni in 1817 in the tomb of Seti I
(circa 1400 B. C.) and purchased by Sir John Soane for £2000
sterling, now rests in the Soane Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields,
London. It is adorned with texts and scenes from the Book of the
Gates. In this old Book the names of the Twelve Gates of the Tuat,
or underworld, and of the Guardians of the Gates are given. The
denizens of each section are identified, as well as their petition to Ra
and his responses. The Book of the Gates, rich in magical formulae,
is one of the oldest books in the world.
Alabaster proper and Oriental alabaster are under the zodiacal
Cancer.
ALEXANDRITE. The Alexandrite is a variety of the chrysoberyl.
This remarkable gem was discovered about 60 miles from
Ekaterinburg, on the birthday of Czar Alexander II of Russia, from
whom it obtains its name—The Horoscope of that Emperor indicates
the stone as a symbol of misfortune to him.
The alexandrite presents the curious phenomenon of changing its
colour according to the different rays of light to which it is exposed.
By daylight the gem is of a charming olive or emerald green tint,
which changes in artificial light to a columbine or raspberry red. The
stone is favoured by Russians on account of its blend of national
colours, red and green. These mixed colours are distinctly Aquarian.
No mention seems to have been made of this peculiar variety of

chrysoberyl in ancient writings, and it stands as a herald of the new
Aquarian Age into which we are now moving. The Alexandrite has
been described as an emblem of loyal regard, and to dream of it is a
symbol of struggle and progress. It is under the zodiacal Aquarius.
AMAZONITE OR AMAZON STONE. The Amazon Stone is a green
variety of Feldspar. The name is said to have been derived from the
Amazon River, but no specimens have been found there. The meagre
evidence available about this stone certainly does not favour its
connection with the Amazon River in any way. This river was named
the Amazon in the 16th century by the Spanish explorer Orellana in
consequence, it is said, of an encounter he had with a band of
women warriors on its banks. He called the mighty stream the
Amazon after the women described by Herodotus, Diodorus, etc.,
and the Amazon stone also was named after them. In a letter to the
author (1905) the late Comte de Glenstrae wrote: "It is to the
Amazons led by Myrina (Diodorus Siculus) that we owe the
establishment of the Samothracian mysteries which their Queen
founded after aiding Isis and Horus in the war against Typhon, as
the Amazons of an earlier date had aided Neith (Athene) and Amoun
against the usurpation of Chronos. I have always had a great
admiration for the Amazons, and few again have noticed that the
coins of the seven cities of Asia (Apocalypse) bore generally the
figure of an Amazon as each of those cities was said to have been
founded by one of their Queens. There is much in their symbolism.
That story of their breasts being amputated is nonsense, being
refuted by every monument. As Sanchoniathon says, “the Greeks
confused nearly every legend.” It was said that the Amazons had
their right breasts singed off, the better to enable them to draw their
bows; but the word Amazon does not mean “without breast,” nor
does it appear to have any connection with the word “mazos”
meaning “a breast.” There does not seem to be any reason to doubt
that the Circassian word “Maza,” the moon, explains its origin. The
Amazons of Thermodoon in Asia Minor are termed “worshippers of
the moon.” The Amazons were votaries of the “chaste Diana” in one
of her attributes, and no male was allowed to live among them. No

matter by what name she is called, Diana is a moon goddess and a
woman’s goddess, and no male was allowed to offend her modesty.
Actaeon who saw her bathing was charmed into a stag, and fell a
victim to his own hunting dogs, while the hunter Orion, ardent in his
passion for Eos, the Morning, was slain by the “sweet arrows” of
Diana.
Thus, the Amazon stone received its name from the romantic
Amazons or worshippers of Maza, the moon. It is under the Zodiacal
Cancer.

CHAPTER XII
AMBER—AZURITE
AMBER
“Pretty, in amber to observe the forms
Of hairs, or straws, or dirt, or grubs, or worms!
The things, we know, are neither rich nor rare,
But wonder how the devil they got there.”
Pope.
Amber is a fossil vegetable resin which has undergone change
owing to chemical action. The name is derived from the Arabic word
AMBAR. Amber is also known as Succinum (a word derived from the
Greek Succum, juice) on account of its vegetable origin. At one time
it was also known by the Oriental word Karabe, straw-attractor.
Hash-mal was its name in Hebrew and by the Greeks it was known
as ELEKTRON, from which our word electricity has been derived.
That painstaking scholar of the 17th century, Dr. Philemon Holland,
thus translates from the 37th Book of Pliny: “To come into the
properties that amber hath; if it bee well rubbed and chaufed
between the fingers, the potentiall faculty that hath within is set on
work and brought into actuall operation whereby you shall see it to
draw chaffe, strawes, drie leaves, yea and thin rinds of the Linden or
Tillet tree after the same sort as the loadstone draweth yron.”
According to Callistratus it is good as a preventative of delirium, and
as a cure for strangury if taken in drink or attached as an amulet to
the body. This last author gives the name CHRYSELECTRUM to an
amber of golden colour which presents most beautiful tints in the

morning, attracts flame with the greatest rapidity, igniting the
moment it approaches fire. Worn upon the neck, he says, it is a cure
for fever and other diseases, “and the powder of it either taken by
itself or with gum mastick in water is remedial for disease of the
stomach.”
The writer has had strong evidence of the efficacy of amber in the
cure of asthma, hay fever, croup and various diseases of the throat,
and knows a number of medical practitioners who are convinced of
its beneficial action. A well-known chemist also assured him that his
wife had suffered from asthma all her life until five years ago, when
she expressed a desire to wear a string of amber; since wearing this
she has not experienced the slightest symptom of her former
trouble. The writer has an amber necklet, the beads of which are
mud-coloured and cracked after having been worn for a few months
by a lady suffering from hay fever. There is no doubt of its curative
influence, no doubt that ancient observation was correct, and the
statement in some modern medical text books that amber has
“absolutely no curative value” is difficult indeed to follow. It is
remarkable that distilled amber yielding a pungent, acrid but not
unpleasant oil, known as Oil of Amber or Oil of Succinite, is
recognized as a potent ingredient in various embrocations. It is,
therefore, hard to reconcile the statements that while amber has
“absolutely no curative value,” Oil of Amber has. Mr. C. W. King says:
“Repeated experiments have proved beyond doubt that the wearing
of an amber necklace has been known to prevent attacks of
erysipelas in a person subject to them.” He also writes of its efficacy
“as a defender of the throat against chills.”
Ancient writers said that amber eased stomach pains, cured
jaundice and goitre, and acted against certain poisons, Camillus
Leonardus recommending it as a cure for toothache and affections of
the teeth. In the Middle Ages it was used as a charm against fits,
dysentery, jaundice, scrofula and nervous affections. Thomas Nicols,
a 17th century writer, says: “Amber is esteemed the best for physic
use, and is thought to be of great power and force against many
diseases, as against the vertigo and asthmatic paroxysmes, against
catarrhes and anthreticall pains, against diseases of the stomach and

to free it from sufferings and putrefactions and against diseases of
the heart, against plagues, venoms and contagions. It is used either
in powder or in troches, either in distempers of men or of women,
married or unmarried, or in the distempers of children.” The dose
formerly administered for coughs, hysteria, etc., was from ten to
sixty grains.
Amber cut in various magical forms was extensively used as a
charm against the evil eye, witchcraft and sorcery. It was and still is
used as a mouthpiece for cigar and cigarette holders and smoking
pipes, etc. Its employment in this capacity was originally talismanic,
for it was implicitly believed that amber would not only prevent
infection, but would act as a charm against it. Francis Barrett, in his
work on Natural Magic, says that amber attracts all things to it but
garden basil or substances smeared with oil. In China today amber is
greatly esteemed, being used in the making of certain medicines,
perfumes, and as an incense which use dates back to the Bible
times. In such esteem is amber held in the East that the Shah of
Persia is said to wear a block of amber on his neck to protect him
against assassination. Perhaps no legend has been more ridiculed
than the one which relates that amber was the solidified urine of the
lynx; but the old writers Sudines and Metrodorus show that the lynx
was not an animal but a tree from which amber is exuded, and
which was known in Etruria as a Lynx. Pliny repeats from Ovid’s
Metamorphoses the tradition among the Greeks that amber was the
tears of the Heliades (Phaethusa, Ægle, Lampetia), the Sun Maidens,
who harnessed the steeds of the Sun to the chariot when their rash
brother Phaethon set forth on his fatal journey. The horses of the
Sun were wild and strong, fire flew from their nostrils, and the
youthful charioteer was not strong enough to keep them to their
rightful course. The chariot, as its speed grew faster, became
luminous, electric and fiery, the hair of the driver caught fire, the
earth began to smoke and burn, Libya was parched into a waste of
sand, Africa was afire, rivers were dried up, vegetation was
destroyed, and the heat was so intense that the inhabitants of the
stricken countries changed from white to black. Gaea, in fear for the
earth, called on Jupiter for protection, who, with a lightning-bolt,

struck the chariot, hurling the “stricken waggoner,” as Shakespeare
calls him, lifeless into the River Eridanus—(the Padus or Po)—at the
mouth of which river were found the Electrides Insulae (Amber
Islands). The three sad sisters were transformed into poplars, and
their tears of amber never ceased to flow. “To these tears,” says
Pliny, “was given the name of Electrum, from the circumstance that
the Sun was usually called Elector.” It requires but little thought to
unveil this beautiful allegory which told the exact truth even while
the nature of amber was disturbing the minds of scholars, its
vegetable origin being doubted.
The old story that amber was a concretion formed by the tears of
the birds is a variation of the Phæthon legend which Thomas Moore
has so gracefully rendered in “The Fire Worshippers.”
“Around thee shall glisten the loveliest amber
That ever the sorrowing sea-bird hath wept.”
That amber is found containing the material remains of extinct
insects, etc., is alluded to by Pope in his lines quoted at the head of
this chapter. That it was especially well known and esteemed in the
ancient world can be accepted without the slightest doubt. Amber
beads have been found in the tombs of Egypt as far back as the 6th
dynasty (B. C. 3200), of the ancient Empire, a dynasty which ruled in
old Chem long before the time of Joseph. HASHMAL as the Hebrew
for amber has been doubted by some scholars who take it to signify
the metal electrum, a substance combination of 4 parts of silver and
one of gold, used by the Greeks, and from which some of their coins
were struck; but other authorities accept it as indicating amber
which was known long before electrum was compounded. Delitzsch
believes the Hebrew HASHMAL to be derived from the old Assyrian
word ESHMARU, and the connection is a very probable one. The
Rabbis employ other words to express amber, as for example, KEPOS
HAYA-RUDIN, amber of the Jordan. This occurs in a curious passage
in which Rabbi Nathan states that if honey were mixed with the
amber of the Jordan it became “profane.” Honey, according to
Porphyry, is a symbol of death, and hence could not be mixed with

amber which is a symbol of life. This would be as repulsive to the
Rabbinical mind as the violation of the command: “Thou shalt not
seethe a kid in its mother’s milk” would be. Libations of honey could
only, according to Porphyry, be offered to the terrestrial gods. Philo
Judæus in Book III explains the matter as follows: “Moreover it also
ordains that every sacrifice shall be offered up without any leaven or
honey, not thinking it fit that either of these things should be
brought to altar. The honey perhaps because the bee which collects
it is not a clean animal, inasmuch as it derives its birth, as the story
goes, from the putrefaction and corruption of dead oxen, or else this
may be forbidden as a figurative declaration that all superfluous
pleasure is unholy, making indeed the things which are eaten sweet
to the taste but inflicting bitter pains difficult to be cured at a
subsequent period, by which the soul must of necessity, be agitated
and thrown in confusion not being able to settle on any resting-
place.” In addition, the lines of Virgil, Georgic IV, may be considered:
“His mother’s precepts he performs with care:
The temple visits, and adores with prayer:
Four altars, raises: from his herd he culls
For slaughter, four the fairest of his bulls:
Four heifers from his female store he took,
All fair and all unknowing of the yoke.
Nine mornings thence, with sacrifice and prayers,
The powers atoned, he to the grave repairs.
Behold a prodigy! for, from within
The broken bowels and the bloated skin,
A buzzing noise of bees his ears alarms:
Straight issue through the sides assembling swarms.
Dark as a cloud, they make a wheeling flight,
Then on a neighboring tree, descending, light:
Like a large cluster of black grapes they show,
And make a large dependence from the bough.”
Dryden’s Translation.

We must again look to symbology if we desire to understand the
meaning. Of old the Bee was a symbol of the Soul, and by the laws
of Mohammed bees were admitted to the joys of Heaven. The
votaries of Ceres adored the Moon under the symbol of a bee—a
symbol appearing on some of the Greek coins, notably on those of
Ephesus where Diana, goddess of the Moon, was worshipped and
whence the cry, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians,” reached the ears
of Paul (Acts XIX). Porphyry writes: “The Moon presiding over
generation was called a bee and also a bull, and Taurus is the
exaltation of the Moon.” He adds symbolically: “But bees are
oxbegotten, and this appellation is also given to soul proceeding to
generation.” (“Cave of the Nymphs.”) The explanation of the veiled
mystery is that the Moon at the full is the symbol of the soul, the
emblem of which is a bee. It comes from the body of a bull or
Taurus, the second sign of the zodiac, in which as Porphyry observes
she is in her exaltation and powerful; Taurus is the earth sign of the
planet Venus in the guise of the goddess of Generation, and as the
soul enters the world, new born, the waters of the Jordan are
needed to purify it as, when it leaves the body, water was left for it
to wash off the emanations of its deserted covering. Further into the
mysteries it is unnecessary to go. The veil of Isis hides the truth, and
only he who will strive to understand heavenly wisdom can hope to
pierce that veil.
Amber has been placed under the sign Leo, the sign of the Sun,
by some of the old masters, while others have allotted it to the sign
of Venus (Taurus), to which it more probably belongs. It is very soft,
is easily cut with a knife, and burns freely. Large quantities are found
on the coast of the Baltic, which the Greeks called in consequence
the Amber Sea. In Oriental story Amberabad (Amber City) was a city
of Jinnistan (Fairy Land).
To dream of amber was said to denote a voyage, and according to
the philosophy of the Quabalah the indication was of some kind of
movement or change.
Amber has been imitated in preparations of Mellite, Copal and
Anine, also by a blending of sulphur and gutta percha at high
temperature, etc., but Mellite is infusible by heat, burning white.

Copal catches fire and falls from the instrument on which it is heated
in flat drops, while the general attracting power of most substitutes
falls far short of the true substance.
AMETHYST
“The purple streaming amethyst is thine.”
Tennyson.
The amethyst is a species of transparent, violet-coloured quartz,
the name of which is derived from the Greek AMETHYSTOS, from
the traditional belief that this stone possessed the power to oppose
the effect of the fumes of intoxicants, an opinion not entirely shared
by Plutarch. Amongst the Greeks and Persians an amethyst bound
on the navel was said to counteract the evil effects of wine. The
amethyst is described by Trevisa in the 15th century as “purple red
in colour medelyd wyth colour of uyolette,” and in Sir Philip Sidney’s
“Arcadia,” we read:
“The bloodie shafts of Cupid’s war
With amatists they headed are.”
The stone is found under the names ametist, ametiste, amatites,
amaethist, and it was not until about the middle of the 17th century
that its present form began to be adopted. To enjoy the full
vibrations of the amethyst an old custom recommended that it be
worn on the third finger of the left hand—a practice at one time
followed by medical practitioners—and some form of ancient belief
demanded that the amethyst must come in contact with the left
hand before its action could be appreciated and understood.
It is well known that the magic of the ancient Egyptian temples
included the art of magnetism, and the action of various mineral
substances on the magnetized patient has also been noted by the
more modern investigators including Dr. Babbitt, Baron Reichenbach,
Dr. Ennemoser, Dr. Edmonson and Dr. de Lignieres. Stones of the
earth have been especially employed by these scholars with results

of such marked importance that the contention of the ancients
regarding the amethyst as a charm against drunkenness, deserves
respect. To be effective in the induced magnetic sleep, stones had to
be placed in the left hand. Connected with the ancient belief in the
sobering power of the amethyst is the beautiful allegorical legend
telling that Dionysius, enamoured of a graceful nymph, pressed his
love upon her, but Diana intervened, transforming her into a purple
amethyst. In respect for the transformed nymph Dionysius vowed
that whosoever wore the amethyst would be protected from the
evils of intoxicating wines.
The amethyst was worn in ancient Egypt, and a scarab cut from a
specimen was held in great esteem by soldiers who carried it on the
field of battle as a charm against death by the shafts and swords of
war. This practice was carried far into the Middle Ages, and many
amethysts were worn for the same purpose in this last terrible war
of nations. When worn by a Bishop of the Church, the amethyst is a
glyptic symbol of heavenly understanding. Swedenborg likens it to a
“spiritual love of good,” and Dr. Brewer writes of purple shades,
indicating “love of truth even unto martyrdom.” It is stated by Patrick
in “Devotions of the Roman Church,” that the wedding ring of the
Virgin Mary and Joseph was of amethyst or onyx. Mr. King writes
that this ring, exhibited in the Abbey St. Germain des Prés, is
engraved “with two nobodies—probably liberti—whose votive
legend: ‘Alpheus with Aretho’ is but too plainly legible in our Greek-
reading times.” The ring, having been saved at the burning of the
Abbey in 1795, was secured by General Hydrow and given to the
Imperial Russian Cabinet.
In what is described by Camillus Leonardus of the 16th century as
one of the magical books of King Solomon, a charm for gaining
influence over princes and nobles is a rider on horseback holding a
sceptre, engraved on an amethyst and set in double its own weight
in gold or silver.
The amethyst has always been regarded as symbolical of the
pioneer in thought and action on the philosophical, religious, spiritual
and material planes. The virtues ascribed to this stone are many. It
was regarded as a charm against witchcraft, poison and evil

thoughts; it was an aid to chastity, a power against all forms of over-
indulgence and a strengthener of the mind; it was a charm for
securing the favour of princes, rulers, churchmen, people of wealth,
influence and power, people with prophetic ability, poets, travellers,
publishers, etc. It would strengthen the wisdom, faith and religion of
the wearer and aid in prayer and in dreaming. If bound to the left
wrist the amethyst enabled the wearer to see the future in dreams;
to dream of the stone itself indicated success to a traveller,
clergyman, sailor, philosopher, teacher or mystic, also protection,
faith and fruitful thoughts. For pains in the head (headache,
toothache, etc.), it was recommended that an amethyst be
immersed in hot water for a few minutes, taken out, dried carefully
and gently rubbed over the parts affected and the back of the neck.
Almost all authorities agree in translating the Hebrew ACHLAMAH
as amethyst and in identifying it as the ninth stone of the High
Priest’s Breastplate. It was the seventh precious stone which the
sage Iachus gave to Apollonius of Tyana as an emblem of piety and
dignity.
Many writers on the subject of planetary influences have placed
this gem under the celestial Pisces, the fishes, because anciently
Pisces was one of the mansions of Jupiter; but the sign of the Fishes
is transparent and glistening in hue whilst in the nature of kinship a
fiery gem belongs to a fiery zodiacal sign. In this direction the fiery
Mars, as ruler of the sign Aries, has been confused with the
Babylonian and Assyrian MARDUK or MERODACH. Marduk or
Merodach represented the planet Jupiter, and to him
Nebuchadnezzar addresses his songs of praise: “Merodach, the great
lord, the senior of the gods, the most ancient has given all nations
and people to my care.” “I supplicate the king of gods, the lord of
lords in Borsippa, the city of his loftiness.” “O, god Merodach, great
lord, lord of the house of the gods, light of the gods, father, even for
thy high honour, which changes not, a temple have I built,” etc. The
“house of the gods” is the ninth celestial house, naturally the sign
Sagittarius, and in the Quabalah the ninth heavenly sphere is the
Primum Mobile, the star-decked Heaven. (See “Numbers, their
Meaning and Magic.”) The name Merodach or Marduk is a corruption

of Mardugga (the sacred son), and because they saw the life-giving
orb rising from the sea, the ancient Chaldean masters accounted
Jupiter his first offshoot, hailing him as “Marduk:”—“Marduk, first
born of the mighty deep, make us pure and prosperous.” The giving
of prosperity is ever an attribute of Jupiter, and the measure and the
source of the gift are shown in the nativity or map of the heavens at
a person’s birth.
An effective talisman for the protection of horses and their riders
was a winged horse cut on an amethyst. The ancients connected the
amethyst with the ninth celestial mansion—the mansion of
Sagittarius—and there is no reason for allotting it to any other.
ANATASE. The name is derived from the Latin ANATASES,
elevation. It was so named from the length of its chief axis. This
mineral is composed of Titanic acid which crystallizes in fine,
transparent stones of brown, dark blue or black, of adamantine
lustre. The anatase, which equals the opal in hardness, cannot be
traced in ancient writings. It is rarely used in jewellery. In harmony
with the philosophy of gem influence it is connected with the sign
Sagittarius.
ANDALUSITE. This stone, first discovered in Andalusia, derives its
name from that rich mineral province of Spain—the Tarshish of the
Bible, the Tartessus of ancient geography, the Bætica of the
Romans. Its colours are light bottle-green, pearl grey, flesh and pink.
It is extremely dichroic, showing the twin colours red and leaf-green
—the red gleaming from the stone in antithesis to its common hue.
The Andalusite is as hard as the garnet or zircon. Professor Dana
moistened specimens with nitrate of cobalt, after which they
assumed a blue colour. This mineral may have been known to the
ancients, but identification is difficult. Ancient philosophy would
connect it with the zodiacal Aquarius.
APATITE. Apatite is a mineral which obtained its name from the
Greek word APATAO, to deceive, because it deceived old students
who confounded it with aquamarine, chrysolite, tourmaline, etc.

Abraham Werner (the author of the Neptunian theory that all mineral
substances were once contained in watery solution), first
demonstrated in the 18th century the true nature of apatite which is
a phosphate of lime with fluorite and chloride of calcium. The lustre
varies from transparent to opaque, and is vitreous to sub-resinous. It
is much softer than tourmaline, its degree of hardness being but 5;
for this reason it is but little used in the manufacture of jewellery. Its
colours are pale sea-green, blue-green (in which colouring it is
sometimes called Moroxite), yellowish-green (in which colouring it is
often called Asparagus stone), yellow, violet, white, grey, brown,
red, colourless, and transparent. Professor Judd, F.R.S., found a
concretion specimen of apatite when cutting a mass of teak wood—a
particularly rare find. In agreement with the ancient system the
apatite is astrologically under the zodiacal Pisces.
APOPHYLLITE. Apophyllite is a hydrous silicate of potassium and
calcium which obtains its name from the Greek word APOPHULLIZO,
to exfoliate, because it falls in leaves before the blowpipe. It is
extremely soft, being from between 4 and 5 in Mohs’s scale. The
stone is found in a variety of colours—milk-white, greyish, green,
yellow, red, pink. It is seldom used by jewellers. The apophyllite is
under the sign Taurus.
AQUAMARINE. (See BERYL.)
ASBESTOS. The word is derived from the Greek ASBESTOS,
inconsumable, and is identified with the Amianthus (impollutible) of
the ancients. It is a variety of hornblende, of a fine and fibrous
texture, of which Marbodus wrote:
“Kindled once it no extinction knows
But with eternal flame increasing glows.
Hence with good cause the Greeks Asbestos name,
Because once kindled nought can quench its flame.”

The incombustibility and weak heat conducting qualities of
asbestos render it extremely useful as a protection against fire. The
ancients used it for the wicks of their temple lamps, and in order to
preserve the ashes of the departed their dead bodies were laid on
asbestos before being placed on the funeral pyre. Cloths of asbestos
were thrown in the flames for the purpose of cleaning them. So fine
and flaxy is the mineral that gloves have been made of it. Asbestos
is under the zodiacal Gemini.
AVENTURINE. Aventurine or goldstone is a quartz of a brownish,
semi-transparent character, spangled with spots of golden-yellow
mica. This stone is identified with the stone called by Pliny the
“Sandaresus”—“of stars of gold gleaming from within.” The name
Aventurine (per adventura, by accident), arose, it is said, from an
accident in a Venetian glass factory, where a workman found that
eight parts of ground glass, one part protoxide of copper and two
parts of oxide of iron well heated and allowed to cool slowly,
produced the peculiar appearance admired in the real gem to even
better effect. The aventurine variety of quartz is under the zodiacal
Leo.
AXINITE. The name Axinite is derived from the Greek AXINE, an
axe, on account of the sharp and axe-like form of the crystals. The
axinite is about the same degree of hardness as the Spodumene or
the demantoid garnet (6.5 to 7). It is pyro-electric and highly
vitreous. The colours vary between pearly-grey, clove, brown,
honey-yellow, violet, plum-blue. The axinite is under the zodiacal
Sagittarius.
AZURITE. Azurite is a blue copper carbonate obtaining its name
from its colour. It is kindred with malachite, from which it differs but
slightly. Some mineralogists call it blue malachite. It is under the
zodiacal Libra.

CHAPTER XIII
THE BERYL FAMILY
THE BERYL FAMILY: SOME LARGE SPECIMENS: VAUQUELIN’S DISCOVERY: THE
CELESTIAL SIGN OF THE BERYL FAMILY: OLD MINES OF KLEOPATRA: WOMEN
SEARCHERS OF EGYPT: THE CANOPY OF HOLOFERNES: STARS OF THE PLEIADES:
EMERALD AND THE EYES: POPE JOHN XXI AND HIS ASSERTION: THE SERPENT’S
GAZE: TAURUS, SCORPIO AND THE STORY OF EDEN: THE TRUE VENUS: REPTILES
OF OVER-INDULGENCE: CIRCE AND THE SWINE: DIANA, GODDESS OF THE MOON:
VIRTUES ASCRIBED TO THE EMERALD: ESMERALDA: THE DRAGON OF THE
EMERALD MINE: PRESCOTT’S STORY: PIZARRO’S LARGEf EMERALD: THE TRICK OF
PEDRAZA: INDIAN BELIEF: APOLLONIUS OF TYANA AND THE EMERALD OF
IARCHUS: THE EMERALD IN ROSICRUCIAN PHILOSOPHY: SWEATING EMERALDS:
EMERALDS IN OLD EXCAVATIONS: ESTEEM OF THE ROMANS: PERSIAN BELIEFS:
ALBERTUS MAGNUS, CARDANUS AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE MASTERS:
MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS’ STONE IN BRAZIL: HINDOO BELIEFS: THE HEAVEN OF
THE MUSLIMS: THE INHABITANTS OF PARADISE: PARACELSUS AND THE
EMERALD: EARLY CHRISTIAN EMBLEM: BERYL IN MAGICAL RITES: “THE
TEMPEST”: RECOMMENDATION OF LEONARDUS: WATER DIVINATION: STORY OF
THE RING OF POLYCRATES: FISH AND RING STORIES: HERODOTUS AND OLD
WRITERS ON THE RING OF POLYCRATES: PHILIP II AND THE FATAL RING OF
SPAIN: SPAIN’S DEFEAT BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE BURIAL OF
THE ILL-OMENED RING: GIFT OF POPE ADRIAN VIII TO HENRY II: EMERALD OF
KING ARTHUR: POPE INNOCENT’S PRESENT TO KING JOHN: SWEDENBORG’S
EMERALD CORRESPONDENCE: THE FALSE AQUAMARINE AMONGST THE BRITISH
CROWN JEWELS: THE FATAL EMERALD OF RUSSIA.
BERYL
“What rings of Eastern price his fingers hold.
Gold decks the fingers, beryl decks the gold.”
Parnell.
The name beryl is derived from the Greek and Latin BERYLLUS; some
say also from the Persian BELUR. Some of the old fashions of writing the

name are included in the following: beril, beryll, berall, birrall, byral,
byrrall, byralle, berial, beryall, bureall, beryl stone.
Dr. Holland’s rendering of Pliny’s remarks on the beryl (Chapter 36) is
interesting: “Many are of the opinion that beryls are of the same nature
that the emeraud, or leastwise verie like: from India they came as from
their native place, for seldom are they to be found elsewhere.”
Beryls are pale green stones coloured by iron. Some very large crystals
have been found. Professor Rutley mentions one specimen found at
Royalston in Massachusetts, which weighed nearly 2½ tons.
EMERALD
“As when an emerald green enchas’d
In flaming gold, from the bright mass acquires
A nobler hue, more delicate to sight.”
J. Philips.
The name in days of old was variously written: emeraud, emeraude,
emraud, emeroyde, emmorant, emerant, ameraud, emerode, emrade,
hemerauld, smaragdus. The derivation is from the old French word
ESMERALDA, through the modern French EMERAUDE; Greek
SMARAGDOS, Latin SMARAGDUS.
Amongst some large sized emeralds Professor Dana notes one in the
cabinet of the Duke of Devonshire, which specimen is 2¼ inches long by
about 2 inches in diameter; a finer specimen weighing six ounces, once in
the possession of Mr. Harry Thomas Hope; one formerly in the Royal
Russian collection, 4½ in. in length, 12 in. in breadth, 16¾ pounds troy in
weight; another weighing six pounds, which is 7 in. long and 4 in. broad.
Dr. Holland’s translation of Pliny (Book 37) is as follows:
“True it is that we take great delight to behold green hearbes and
leaves of trees but this is nothing to the pleasure we have in looking upon
the emeraud, for compare it with other things, be they never so green, it
surpasseth them all in pleasant verdure.”
The Emerald is the beautiful green variety of the beryl family, coloured
by chromium.
AQUAMARINE

“One entire stone of a sea-water green known by the name of agmarine.”
Stow. Chron.
1598.
The word is derived from the Latin AQUA, water, and MARE, the sea. It
was known under various forms: aigue marine, ague marine, aque
marine, agmarine, etc. In colour the aquamarine is pale blue, bluish green
and light sea-green.
Here may be mentioned the Golden Emerald—an emerald of charming
golden colour, and the Rose Beryl named Morganite after the late J.
Pierpont Morgan.
The whole beryl family is classified under the sign Taurus. Their
crystalline form is hexagonal (six-sided), and six is the traditional number
of Venus, whose earth house or mansion in astrology is the heavenly
Taurus. Beryllium enters largely into their composition, and because of the
sweetness of its salts this element is also termed Glucinum (Greek
GLYKYS, sweet). Glycina was first discovered by the great chemist
Vauquelin while experimenting with emeralds in 1797. Much confusion has
arisen amongst authors on the subject of gems and the Heavens, from
confounding the beryl with the tourmaline—a distinctly Mercurial gem.
The beryl, aquamarine and emerald present only colour shade differences.
It is more difficult, however, to find really fine emeralds than it is to find
other varieties of the same family. The emeralds found in the workings of
the old Kleopatra mines, whose very existence was at one time doubted,
are of the lighter or beryl variety. These gems were much sought after in
ancient times, the Egyptian women being esteemed the best searchers
“because of their superior eyesight.” There is no doubt, as before noted,
that the sex was considered as well as the sight, and the selection of
women “daughters of Venus” for this work was not without design.
The splendour of the canopy of purple and gold under which
Holofernes, the Assyrian general, rested was enriched according to the
Apochrypha with emeralds and precious stones (Judith X. 21). This symbol
of Assyrian luxury—considering the accredited virtue of the emerald
amongst the ancients—was of evil import to the leader of the army of
Nabuchodonosor, the “King of all the earth.”
Astrology notes that a person born in the sign Taurus, especially from
the 20° to the 30° amongst the nebulous stars of the Pleiades, or with
violent stars in that sign at birth, has his sight always affected to a greater

or lesser extent, hence the accredited virtues of the emerald as an eye
stone, and no pharmacy of the Middle Ages would have thought of
omitting it from its dispensary. As eye stones the stones of the beryl
family have always been held in high esteem, Pope John XXI affirming
that a diseased eye treated with an emerald became sound again. It was
not claimed that the emerald would restore lost sight, but it was regarded
as extremely potent in eye disease, injury or trouble of any kind.
Sometimes it was sufficient, especially in the case of inflamed eyes, to
bathe the eye in water in which emeralds had been steeped for six hours;
at other times the stone was reduced to the finest powder, an extremely
small quantity of which was placed in the eye at stated intervals, Tom
Moore sings in Lalla Rookh:
“Blinded like serpents when they gaze
Upon the emerald’s virgin blaze.”
The tradition that when a serpent fixes its eyes on an emerald it
becomes blind is echoed from Hebrew philosophy, and Ahmed Ben
Abdalaziz in his “Treatise on Jewels” has it that the lustre of emeralds
makes serpents blind. As this ancient statement has occasioned some
mirth and ridicule amongst those swayed by surface considerations it may
be as well to consider the matter from another point of understanding.
The symbolist will at once perceive the hidden parable: in astrology,
serpents have been classed under the Scorpion of the zodiac, and the
Venusian Taurus in the zodiac is opposite to the Scorpion. In the story of
the Garden of Eden it is the Scorpion (snake) who tempts Eve, and her fall
is held by occult students as a symbol to compel Man to exert his highest
strength to enable his triumph over the lowest to be complete. The
zodiacal Scorpio is accursed on its lower expression, and is symbolical
then of the corruption which can menace virgin purity. Man on the lowest
borderlands to which over-indulgence will ever draw him has been faced
by serpents and reptiles whose immaterial lives exist only in those dark
realms. The story of Circe and the Swine finds its parallel in the power of
the pure and beautiful Venus to expel even by her symbolic emerald lust,
envy, malice and grossness, to destroy the serpent’s gaze and to call the
blind and suffering Man back to his peaceful Heaven again. So, as the
Moon in astrological philosophy is exalted in Taurus, Diana the goddess of
the Moon is the friend of chaste women. In Cutwode’s “Caltha Poetarium,

or the Humble Bee,” written in 1599, Diana adorns the heroine with an
emerald ring.
It can easily be seen why the emerald is the emblem of true happiness
and the preserver of chastity, and why it was said to fracture if chastity
were violated: to one taking vows of chastity and breaking them, the
emerald could never appear the same again—before his spiritual vision it
would be broken and shattered. Leonardus said that the emerald
protected women in childbirth, and most old writers are impressive in
warning men to wear one as a charm against spiritual and mental
weakness.
The Peruvian goddess Esmeralda was said to reside in an emerald as
big as an ostrich egg, and it was the custom of this little Venus in her
symbolic emerald egg to receive emeralds as offerings from her devotees
who also, it was said, sacrificed their daughters to her.
Stevenson (“Residence in South America”), writing of the emerald mine
of Las Emeraldas, says: “I never visited it owing to the superstitious dread
of the natives who assured me that it was enchanted and guarded by an
enormous dragon who poured forth thunder and lightning on those who
dared to ascend the river.” It is peculiar how the symbols of mankind
coincide: the dragon is another of the zodiacal Scorpio varieties ever
opposite Taurus, and was of old regarded as the agitator of thunders,
lightnings and earth commotions. Prescott, in his “History of Peru,” tells us
how the Spaniards after murdering the trusting Indians raided their
dwellings and seized their ornaments and precious stones, for this was the
region of the esmeraldas or emeralds. One of the jewels that fell into the
hands of Pizarro was as large as a pigeon’s egg. Fra Reginaldo di Pedraza,
one of the Dominican missionaries, told the Spaniards that the method of
proving the genuineness or otherwise of emeralds was to try if they could
be broken with a hammer; Prescott adding: “The good Father did not
subject his own jewels to this wise experiment, but as the stones in
consequence of it fell in value, being merely regarded as coloured glass,
he carried back a considerable store of them to Panama.” The Indians held
that the emerald protected against poisons and cleansed man from sin.
As an emblem of Eternal Spring, Iarchus included the emerald in the
mystic necklace of Apollonius of Tyana. In Rosicrucian philosophy it is
advised that if an emerald set in a ring of gold be placed on the solar
finger of the left hand when the Sun entered Taurus, the wearer would
attain his cherished aim and be enabled by the sweating of the stone to

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