The ancients set great store on the magical qualities of precious stones; indeed it has been maintained, with great show of reason, that such stones were used as amulets long before they were worn as mere ornaments.​[595] Thus the Greeks gave the name of tree-agate to a stone which exhibits tree-like markings, and they thought that if two {p165} of these gems were tied to the horns or neck of oxen at the plough, the crop would be sure to be plentiful.​[596] Again, they recognised a milk-stone which produced an abundant supply of milk in women if only they drank it dissolved in honey-mead.​[597] Milk-stones are used for the same purpose by Greek women in Crete and Melos at the present day;​[598] in Albania nursing mothers wear the stones in order to ensure an abundant flow of milk.​[599] In Lechrain down to modern times German women have attempted to increase their milk by stroking their breasts with a kind of alum which they call a milk-stone.​[600] Again, the Greeks believed in a stone which cured snake-bites, and hence was named the snake-stone; to test its efficacy you had only to grind the stone to powder and sprinkle the powder on the wound.​[601] The wine-coloured amethyst received its name, which means “not drunken,” because it was supposed to keep the wearer of it sober;​[602] and two brothers who desired to live at unity were advised to carry magnets about with them, which, by drawing the twain together, would clearly prevent them from falling out.​[603] In Albania people think that if the blood-stone is laid on a wound it will stop the flow of blood.​[604] [Sidenote: Homoeopathic magic of the sun, the moon, the stars, and the sea. Homoeopathic magic of the setting sun. Homoeopathic magic of the pole-star.]