Perhaps the first person to attribute alexandrite with magical powers was the Russian writer Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov (1831-1895) who wrote a short novel, "Alexandrite, Mysterious Interpretation of a True Fact", in which the gem plays a major role and is defined as a prophetic stone. At nearly the same time, Eliphas Levi, a French author and magician (1810 -1875), connected the duality of the colors in alexandrite with the duality of human blood -- venous and arterial. In his book, La Clef des Grandes Mysteres (The Key to the Great Mysteries), he refers to alexandrite as "the favorite charm of our time which clears and strengthens the blood vessels".