An old pharmacopœia gives elaborate directions for the preparation of the “Tincture of Coral.” A branch of very red coral was to be buried in melted wax, and allowed to remain over a fire for the space of two days, “after which time you will see that the coral has become white, while the wax has assumed a red hue.” A fresh branch of coral is then to be put into the partially colored wax, and the above operation repeated; the wax will then be “redder than before.” It is now to be broken into crusts, which are to be steeped in alcohol until the liquid has extracted the coloring matter from the wax and has become reddish. In this way, after the removal of the wax by filtration, etc., a tincture was obtained which is represented to have been an excellent tonic, and to have had the power to expel “bad humors,” by inducing perspiration, or by its diuretic action.[259] We strongly suspect that in this, as in many modern “tonics,” the contents of spirit was the active principle. An apparent confirmation of the widespread belief of former centuries that red coral changed its hue in sympathy with the state of the wearer’s health, caused perhaps by the exudations or sweats arising from fevers or other ailments, is given from personal experience by the German physician, Johann Wittich. Writing toward the end of the sixteenth century, this author relates that he was called in to attend a youth named Bernard Erasmus, son of the burgomaster of Arnstadt. As the youth sickened unto death a red coral which he was wearing turned first whitish, then of a dirty yellow, and finally became covered with black spots. To the anxious questions of the youth’s sister, Wittich could only give a mournful answer, telling her to take away the coral, for death was surely approaching, and this prognostication proved to be only too true, as in a few hours young Erasmus was dead.[260] A rosary of coral beads was sometimes called in France a _pater de sang_, or “blood-rosary,” since it was believed to check hemorrhages. An anonymous author of an eighteenth century treatise on superstitions, assuming that this effect could be produced only by thickening the blood, asserts that such a rosary might do more harm than good, for if it possessed this power at one time, it must possess it constantly, and its action would be very injurious.[261] Pearls and corals were still freely used as therapeutic agents in the last half of the seventeenth century, for we are told that Louis XIV (1638–1715), in 1655, took tablets containing gold and pearls, which had been prescribed for him by his physician Vallot, and, in 1664, a remedy composed of pearls and corals was recommended by the same authority.[262] Corundum