At the Renaissance of letters at first everything had to give place to the books of the ancients; nothing was good or true except what was found in Aristotle or Galen. Instead of studying plants as they grew, they were only studied in the works of Pliny and Dioscorides; and nothing is so frequent in the writings of those times than to find the existence of a plant doubted for the simple reason that Dioscorides has not spoken of it. J. J. ROUSSEAU: _Dictionary of Botany_. PRECIOUS STONES. Marvellous virtues were attributed by the ancients to the precious stones known to them, but rather perhaps in their character of amulets than as medicines. One of the so-called hymns of Orpheus, composed probably about 500 B.C., is “On Stones,” and describes the properties of many of these highly esteemed minerals. Four lines (taken from a translation in the Rev. C. W. King’s “Natural History of Precious Stones”) will serve as a sample:-- With its complexion of a lovely boy The opal fills the hearts of gods with joy; Whilst by the mild effulgence of its light Its healing power restores the fading sight. Coral, according to the same authority, acquired its special properties from Minerva. This substance was much valued by the Romans, who attached pieces of it by ribbons to their children’s necks, in the belief that it would protect them against the designs of sorcerers; and Paracelsus adopted the same view, recommending necklaces of coral to be worn as a preventive of epilepsy, “but such impostures,” says Quincy (1724), “are now deservedly laughed out of the world.” Some old writers insisted that coral worn on the person changed colour, becoming dull and pale when the wearer’s health failed. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries coral and pearls were considerably used in medicine in the form of magisteries, tinctures, syrups, and arcana. Lemery says coral was given to infants in their mothers’ milk as soon as they were born (he does not explain how) to prevent epilepsy, and he names a multitude of other disorders for which it was good. Boyle, too, in his “Collection of Remedies,” recommends it in drachm doses to “sweeten the blood and cure acidity.” The largest and reddest obtainable was to be chosen.