gems, jade, Fischer-Book

An early nineteenth-century medical dissertation concerned with the so-called Amazonian stone (lapis amazonicus) and its supposed use in the treatment of epilepsy. Schroeder discusses the material within the older medical tradition in which certain stones and minerals were credited with therapeutic powers, especially against convulsive disorders. Of particular interest to gemological history, the work preserves the historical medicinal associations attached to the “Amazon stone,” a term whose exact mineralogical identification in this context should not be assumed without examining the dissertation itself. The study is useful as evidence for the persistence of lapidary medicine into the early nineteenth century, even as mineralogy was becoming increasingly scientific.