Certain =stones= from their colour suggest flesh; thus garnets and carnelians are worn in the rough or worked into beads as amulets against skin diseases. Most precious stones are credited with distinctive properties, and some have a reputation for being unlucky, as for example the precious opal. The amethyst, as its name implies, was regarded by the ancient Greeks as a charm against becoming intoxicated; among the ancient Egyptians the amethyst corresponded to the Zodiacal sign of the Goat, and as the goat was an enemy to vines, so the amethyst was a foe to wine. Leland (43, 351) points out that it also ‘drives away bad thoughts and confers ripe and happy genius.’ Amber beads are carried by people of various races for weak eyes, and it is essential they should be looked through to strengthen the sight (43, 267). The electrical power of attraction of light objects by amber when rubbed was doubtless one cause of its supposed virtue. The several =metals= have their active magical properties. A lump of crude antimony in Italy is very efficacious when the following invocation is pronounced: ‘Antimony, who art of zinc and copper! thou most powerful, I keep thee ever by me, that thou mayest banish from me evil people, and bring good luck to me.’ Gold is the most genial or luck-bringing, and, as a woman said, ‘antimony is stronger than lead, because it consists of three metals, or rather always has in it copper and lead’ (43, 373-4). =Colour= alone has its magical qualities, hence the frequency of red woollen thread or stuff in counter-charms against the evil eye, as an old saw expresses it: ‘Roan tree and red thread, will drive the witches aa wud’ (49, 156). For the same reason red coral is so greatly valued. Blue is of equal efficacy, hence the wearing of turquoise by so many Oriental and North African peoples, and blue beads are worn by people for much the same reason, that they suspend them round the necks of donkeys or camels.