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What Is Bloodstone Crystal? - IFLScience

What Is Bloodstone Crystal? - IFLScience

What Is Bloodstone Crystal? - IFLScience
Jan 27, 2023 57 secs

The mineral heliotrope, popularly known as bloodstone, is a type of quartz that has attracted a particularly rich vein of stories and legends that date back at least as far as Roman times.

Those who told this tale were not aware of bloodstone’s relative abundance in Australia or the Americas, but it might be interesting to learn how they explained the stones getting from the Middle East to Eastern Europe or India.

Pliny the Elder wrote: “When the stone is dropped into a vessel of water and bright sunshine falls upon it, in reflecting the sunlight it changes it into the color of blood.

On the other hand, he did at least pour contempt on conjurers who claimed that joining the stone to the heliotrope plant and casting spells could render the wearer invisible.

In the context of stories like this, it is easy to dismiss the practice of Roman soldiers who wore the stone into battle and believed it would slow bleeding if stabbed.

However, the Aztecs ascribed similar properties, particularly in powdered form, to the stone and the hematite may have had astringent effects that limited blood loss.

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