(1.) _Lyncurium._ This stone, about which there has been more obscurity and confusion than about any other gem, is supposed by some writers to be the tourmaline, by others a jacinth, and by others a belemnite. The ancients supposed it to be produced from the urine of the lynx. The following is the account of Theophrastus, _Theophrastus's History of Stones. With an English Version_ ..., by "Sir" John Hill, London, 1774, p. 123, ch. xlix.-l. "There is some Workmanship required to bring the Emerald to its Lustre, for originally it is not so bright. It is, however, excellent in its Virtues, as is also the _Lapis Lyncurius_, which is likewise used for engraving Seals on, and is of a very solid Texture, as Stones are; it has also an attractive Power, like that of Amber, and is said to attract not only Straws and small pieces of Sticks, but even Copper and Iron, if they are beaten to thin pieces. This Diocles affirms. The _Lapis Lyncurius_ is pellucid, and of a fire Colour." See also W. Watson in _Philos. Trans._, 1759, L. i., p. 394, _Observations concerning the Lyncurium of the ancients_.
(3.) _Garnet._ The authority for both these is Pliny, _Nat. Hist._, book xxxvii., chap. vii. (p. 617 of English edition of 1601).
{ 39} "Over and besides, I find other sorts of Rubies different from those above-named;... which being chaufed in the Sun, or otherwise set in a heat by rubbing with the fingers, will draw unto them chaffe, strawes, shreads, and leaves of paper. The common Grenat also of Carchedon or Carthage, is said to doe as much, although it be inferiour in price to the former."
(4.) _Jasper._ Affaytatus is the authority, in _Fortunii Affaitati Physici atque Theologi ... Physicæ & Astronomicæ c[=o]siderationes_ (Venet., 1549), where, on p. 20, he speaks of the magnet turning to the pole, likening it to the turning of a "palea ab Ambro vel Iaspide et hujuscemodi lapillis lucidis."
(5.) _Lychnis._ Pliny and St. Isidore speak of a certain stone _lychnis_, of a scarlet or flame colour, which, when warmed by the sun or between the fingers, attracts straws or leaves of papyrus. Pliny puts this stone amongst carbuncles, but it is much more probably _rubellite_, that is to say, red tourmaline.