shape, of at least a finger’s breadth, weighing two ounces and a half, and of a most peerless colour: in fact, it was a most perfect paragon, so exquisite that when the King asked what he valued it at, he replied that he thought a city or even a kingdom would scarcely pay for it.” Spinels and corundum are always found together, and Dr. G. F. H. Smith comments on the fact that although harder stones, rubies in the river gravels are usually waterworn whilst spinels are found in perfect crystals. The ancient Zoologist Elianus repeats an old story that a stork brought a spinel as a present to the woman-nurse Heraclis for healing his wounded leg. Here again it is necessary to look beneath the fable for true understanding of it. The stork is one of the birds of Jupiter and its legs are astrologically under the zodiacal Sagittarius (the house or mansion of Jupiter). The woman symbolizes the moon and in her name the afternoon sun is concealed. The nurse is under Virgo, the sign to which the Spinel is attached. The 4 toes of the stork symbolize the negative or afternoon sun, the 3 front toes webbed to the first joint, Jupiter. Again, the stork has no voice and tells no secrets. Hence we have a cryptic prescription illustrating the method employed by the ancient medical brethren to convey their meaning to each other. The spinel is here an active mineral employed in the treatment, together with the moon and negative or afternoon sun, of certain afflictions of the legs. Even today it is a custom amongst medical men to preface their prescriptions with the symbol of Jupiter. The stork is also greatly esteemed as a bird of good fortune and happy omen, and in many countries it is protected against destruction. The spinel was esteemed as a perfect health stone and was especially valued as a charm to be worn over the solar plexus. It was a fortunate gem for doctors of medicine, scholars, writers, clerks, secretaries, manufacturers, business people, hospital attendants, nurses, etc. It raised the thoughts and purified the imagination. A specimen placed at each corner of a house was considered a protection against calamity, and rough pieces placed at the 4 angles of a garden, orchard or corn field were said not only to protect the products from storms and lightning, but also to carry the symbolic influence of rich returns for the farmer. The spinel or balas, rubicelle, almandine ruby and the Sapphirine are under the Zodiacal Virgo. The Chloro-spinel and the pleonaste are under the zodiacal Capricorn. SPODUMENE