In none of these essays, however, was the lake really and effectually drained off, and that of Paris in 1823 or 1824 failed in the same way, because of inadequate capital. He had succeeded in persuading sixteen shareholders to club together, each one contributing $500 to a common fund, but after not only this $8,000, but $12,000 more supplied by himself had been expended, there still remained 33 feet of water in the lake. Recently an English company has recognized that the treasure must be sought at or even beneath the true bottom, as this existed at the time of the Spanish Conquest, and thus at levels considerably lower than those of the bottom at the present time. The project is, after 30 feet of the present bottom has been removed, to set up a steam shovel and sink down 40 or 50 feet in search of the gold-dust, golden ornaments and emeralds believed to exist here. VIII Amulets: Ancient, Medieval, and Oriental The present and the following chapter are devoted to a study of the talismanic virtues attributed to precious stones and gems, as distinguished from the curative powers with which they were credited. It is sometimes difficult to establish a hard and fast dividing line between the two classes, as everything that conduces to the happiness and well-being of man also affects his bodily health, but a distinction, correct in the main, may be made by regarding the talismanic use as covering all cases except those in which the stone was used where to-day some really medicinal substance would be administered. A modern German writer on amulets has proposed to apply the term “emanism” (Emanismus) to the virtue existing or supposed to exist in amulets and talismans, and gives as his opinion that their virtue is neither a spiritual nor a personal one, but the operation of forces, the latter not being special, mysterious vital forces, but impersonal physical components and qualities, and that these exercise their influence by means of emanation. Wundt has held that the very earliest amulets were parts of the human body, and almost always such parts as were believed to be the bearers of the soul.[558] Radiation or emanation of energy, without observable loss of substance, is a fact familiar enough to us to-day, but this phenomenon was not so generally accepted centuries ago. Still the lodestone always offered a striking example with which all writers on such subjects were acquainted. A stranger argument in support of the truth of this property was adduced by the seventeenth century physician, Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682), who writes:[559] If amulets do work by emanation from their bodies upon those parts whereunto they are appended and are not yet observed to abate their weight; if they produce visible and reall effects by imponderous and invisible emissions, it may be unjust to deny all efficacy to gold, in the non-emission of weight or deperdition of any ponderous articles.