Whitby Jet.
Jet is a type of
brown coal, fossilised wood of an ancient tree, similar to our present day
"Araucaria", the monkey puzzle tree. These trees flourished in the Jurassic
period, about 180 million years ago. When the trees died, they fell into the swamps,
rivers or eventually found their way to the sea. The trees would become waterlogged and
sink to the bottom, where they lay for millions of years. Dead and decaying organisms, mud
and detritus falling on top of the already decaying monkey puzzle tree, causing great
pressure, flattening the trunk and branches, together with chemical changes, created what
we see today, "Whitby Jet" . Jet has been used as a jewel and talisman for over
4000 years. The ancient Greeks and Romans called the black stone "Gagates" and
in the first century AD, Pliny wrote in his natural history notes:- " Gages is a
stone, so called from the town and river Gages in Lycia. It is black, smooth, light and
porous and differs but little from wood in appearance. The fumes of it, burnt, keeps
serpents at a distance and dispels hysterical affections, they detect a tendency also to
epilepsy and act as a test to virginity. A decoction of this stone in wine is curative to
toothache and in combination with wax, it is good for scrofula." Since the times of
Pliny, we have come a long way and improved our knowledge of its chemical and physical
properties, taking all that was noted with a pinch of salt.
