On the pages of the book by Vladimir Pechenkin, Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, not only a multitude of precious and ornamental stones sparkle and sparkle, but also a scattering of the most brilliant historical figures, both fictional and real. For example, A.S. Pushkin, whose two carnelian rings are discussed in the chapter "A stone in a setting". Critic Lidia Maslova presents the book of the week — especially for Izvestia.
Vladimir Pechenkin
"Myths of precious stones. From Cupid's arrows and Adam's apple to living silver and the skin of the Great Runner"
Moscow : MIF, 2025. 352 p.
The author of the book deduces the tradition of inserting gems into a frame and wearing them with some esoteric meaning from the myth of Prometheus, who, after serving his sentence, received a ring with a piece of his rock as a souvenir, thus remaining symbolically bound to it forever. By the way Pechenkin retells the story of the philanthropic titan, one can get an idea of the expressive manner of the researcher, who even treats mythological characters as living and almost personally familiar people. Your heart bleeds when the author literally forces you to get into the skin of Prometheus, sweltering under the scorching sun, then under the dank icy wind: "Every movement echoes with the crunch of crumbling ice floes. It feels like you're freezing all over: first, the skin is covered with an ice crust, then the cold penetrates inside and gradually the heart, brain, and liver turn into pieces of ice... Oh, the gods! Liver!.."
One of the most colorful characters in this chapter is Polycrates, who ruled the island of Samos in the 6th century BC and was famous for his supernatural luck. In order not to arouse the envy of the gods, Polycrates sacrificed an emerald ring to them, throwing it into the sea, but the gods rejected the gift, and that evening the pebble was found in a fish that was caught for dinner by the tyrant, after which Polycrates' luck, alas, deserted. Retelling this popular story, Pechenkin again wholeheartedly brightens it with everyday details and almost Hollywood dialogues: "The out-of-breath cook, choking with delight, shouted: "How lucky you are, master! The gods have returned your beloved jewel!"
Pechenkin harmoniously combines this literary and entertaining approach aimed at the general reader with scientific information, for example, in the first part of the book "Mythical Mineralogy", which examines the problems of classification and nomenclature of minerals, of which about 5 thousand are now known and about fifty new ones are discovered annually. All of them need to come up with some names, and Pechenkin explains in some detail the logic of this process and the main trends: "The practice of naming names after people who have left their mark on history has taken root. More often — in honor of scientists associated with Earth sciences, for example: Lomonosovite, fersmanite, nenadkevichite, goethite. The latter is named after Goethe, who was not only a poet, playwright and statesman, but also engaged in natural science issues, including mineralogy. To a lesser extent, the names of prominent representatives of other professions are used — Gagarin, Chkalovite, Armstrongite or even Roosevelt, Clintonite. If someone thinks that the last mineral is in honor of the American president, they will be mistaken: this stone was named after Dewitt Clinton, an American lawyer and diplomat who was also involved in geology."
The fascinating chapter "Lithotherapy" tells about the persistent and sometimes even unfounded human faith in the healing properties of gems, which originated in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The so-called bezoar stands somewhat apart from the healing stones, which, strictly speaking, is not a mineral, but has a biological origin, forming in the intestines of some animals.
An example of frivolous disbelief in the miraculous power of bezoar is Napoleon, who received three fabulously expensive bezoar stones as a gift from the Persian ambassadors and commissioned the famous chemist Claude-Louis Berthollet to study their composition.: "Berthollet crushed the stones and showed Bonaparte the base with the mineral deposits covering it. Napoleon ordered the gift to be thrown away, muttering: Meanwhile, given the recent evidence that the emperor was poisoned with arsenic, he should have been more careful about Persian gifts, Pechenkin hints: "... who knows how history would have turned out if he had at least one Shah's bezoar?"
A light spirit of mystical mystery, which does not interfere with the scientific approach, permeates the entire book, but especially the magical aura thickens in the last chapter of "Beliefs of miners" — about which supernatural entities and creatures help or prevent people from finding and extracting the minerals they need. Here, among other things, you can get acquainted with the concept of supporters of the theory of paleocontact that in ancient times representatives of an alien civilization flew to Earth to extract minerals, but since they themselves did not want to work hard in the mines, they created a man and gave him the necessary knowledge, and also bred a special breed of "mini-miners" in order to save money. However, Pechenkin puts this bold theory into scientific doubt: "Where did the remains of these tom thumb boys who worked in the mines go? Archaeologists find Pithecanthropus, Synanthropus, and our other forefathers, but not representatives of the "small mining races."
The most charming character of the final mystical chapter is old man Shubin, whom the Donbass miners believed in and who allegedly even had a real prototype — a gas—burning miner who crawled through the workings with a torch to burn out the methane accumulating in the mines. It was later that canaries were adapted to determine the high concentration of gas, and before that, the safety of the miners was ensured by Shubin, who received his nickname because of the sheepskin coat, abundantly watered with water. This creation of a miner's fantasy carried out not only a practical mission, but also contained an important moral message: "Most often, Shubin appears in the image of an old miner coughing like an old man. He tends to make fun of the miners, likes to grab a leg or laugh in the dark. It has great power. Miners trapped in the rubble can be helped to get out. But he doesn't like those who are greedy for profit and punishes them."
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
