Jet

Black Amber, Jeat, Agath, Gagate
Succini Nigri, Carbo Fossilis, Lapis Thracius
Picture Museum Museorum, Valentini, 1704

Picture Jet (Photo by Geni, Wikimedia)

Minerological name:


Lignite (variety)
Jet is similar to Coal, but harder, with a deeper color, and higher luster. Jet began to form about 180 million years ago.

Other stones allied to or classed with Jet:
1. Black Amber (considered lowest-grade Amber)
2. Cannel Coal is another fossil fuel used as a substitute for Jet. It is essentially the same, being fossil carbon, but is inferior and softer. Cannel means candle, and this form of coal was used as a source of wax in candle making.
3. Lapis Thracias is closely related to Jet with similar properties.
4. Lithanthrax, Pit Coal, Stone Coal

Parts used:


Powdered Stone

Temperature & Taste:


Cool, dry. Pungent, Sweet

Properties:


Hardness: 2.5–4
Specific Gravity: 1.30–1.34

Constituents:


Carbon, mineral Oil (to 12%), with traces of Sulphur, Aluminium, Silica etc.

Uses:


1. Calms Mind & Spirit, Settles Wind:
-Headache, Migraine, Toothache
-Epilepsy, Dizziness, Vertigo, Paralysis, Lethargy, Fainting,
-Insomnia, Nightmares (Salmon)
-Madness, Mental Illness (Salmon)
-regarded as effective in expelling Melancholy

2. Moves the Blood, Eases Pain:
-Palpitations
-Amenorrhea (Dioscorides); fumes inhaled were used to promote menses.
-Hysteria, Suffocation of the Womb (fumes, Pliny)
-Promotes Labor, steeped in water for 3 days and drunk (probably the fumes also)
-Cold Pain and Swellings (Salmon); ‘softening and discussing nature’ (Culpeper)

3. Clears Damp, Promotes Urine:
-Edema, swelling of the feet
-Diarrhea

4. Resists Poison:
-Snake bite (Salmon)

5. Externally:
-the fumes when burned were used for Hysteria, Headache, to calm children etc.
-fumes inhaled for bronchitis and breathlessness
-worn to protect from Nightmares
-as an ointment with Wax for Nodes, Scrofula and Cold Tumors (Pliny, Salmon)
-dissolved in water and applied to firm loose teeth (Galen)
-Jet decocted in wine as a mouthwash for Toothache (Pliny); the same was used for loose teeth.

Dose:


Levigated Powder: 500mg–2 grams (up to 3 grams), taken in wine to move the Blood.
A tincture or Spirit may be prepared as for Amber.
An oil may also be prepared as for Amber, which can be applied externally to cold pain.

Magical Uses:


Said to prevent witchcraft (Marbode)

Substitute:


1. Generally regarded as similar to Amber, although weaker.
2. ‘The Rosemary has all the virtues of the stone called Jet’. (The Physicians of Myddvai, translated by John Pughe esq., 1861)

Comment:


Agate and Jet were sometimes confused, as different authors referred to both minerals as Gagate. Pliny and Dioscorides give clear description of their Gagate, which refers to Jet. Jet was often noted for being used by burning and inhaling the fumes. Agate is not used like this. It was also known to attract straw or pieces of paper when rubbed, as for Amber.

Main Combinations:


See Amber for combinations where Jet may be used.
1. Hysteria, Female diseases:
i. Jet with Pearl
ii. Jet, Amber
2. To protect from Snake Bite, Powdered Jet was mixed with the Marrow of a Stag and applied

Major Formulas:



Cautions:


None noted

Main Preparations used:


Tincture, Oil, Spirit
  • Extra Info
  • History
‘If you would distinguish between a wife and a virgin, scrape some Jet into water, and give it her to drink. If she be a wife, she will without fail pass water, but if a virgin she will not have a more urgent call than usual’. (The Physicians of Myddvai, translated by John Pughe esq., 1861)

‘Take the stone called Gagates which is the same that is called Kakabre, and it is found in Lybya and
Britannica, the most noble Isle of the world, wherein is contained both countries, England and Scotland. It is of double colour; black, and of the colour of Saffron, and it is found gray coloured, turning to paleness. It heals the Dropsy, and it binds the bellies that have a lax. And Avicenna saith, that if the stone be broken and washed, or be given to a woman to be washed, if she be not a virgin, she will piss soon, if she be a virgin, she will not piss’. (Albertus)