@AviraDeArah I didn’t say that Chazal’s refuos were based on folk remedies, I said that a Rishon did. Which is absolutely not problematic to say in any context. For that matter, the Gemara discusses many many strange sounding refuos, especially in Mesechtas Gittin. But I don’t recall any of them mentioning gemstones in particular. So it sounds to me, that when Rabbeinu Bechaye discussed the healing properties of the gems in the Choshen, he was basing it off of common knowledge.
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