Chapter VI: Front Matter (6)

After noting the power of the jasper (probably the red variety) to check hemorrhages from any part, and its general effect upon the circulation of the blood in reducing the pulse, thus calming desire and quieting the restless mind, Cardano turns to another of the reputed virtues of this stone, that of rendering the wearer victorious in battle. The true reason for this he finds in the stone’s tendency to diminish passion, and hence to render the wearer timid and cautious, for “the timid usually conquer, since they avoid a doubtful contest if possible.” Gesner states that he saw “in the possession of a writer of Lausanne,” a green jasper, bearing the image of a dragon with rays, similar to the gem described by Galen.[288]

Of the jasper, De Boot relates,[289] from his own experience, that for checking hemorrhages the red variety is the most effective, and, in this connection, he describes the case of a young woman in Prague, who had suffered for six years from hemorrhages. Many different remedies had been tried without avail, and when De Boot was called in to attend the case, he advised the woman to wear a red jasper. As soon as this stone was attached to her person the hemorrhage ceased. After wearing the jasper for some time, the woman thought she could safely lay it aside, but whenever she did so the hemorrhage returned after a longer or shorter interval, while it always ceased immediately she resumed wearing the stone. This seemed to prove conclusively that it checked the flow of blood. Eventually the woman was so effectively cured that she was able to give up wearing the stone. Green jasper, if worn attached to the neck so as to touch the gastric region, was, according to De Boot, a cure for all diseases of the stomach. The same writer alludes to the belief that the virtue of this stone was enhanced if it were engraved with the image of a scorpion while the sun was entering the constellation Scorpio, but he rejects this belief as entirely superstitious and futile, while admitting that, to obtain the best results, the jasper should always be set in silver.

Pear-shaped pieces of red jasper seem to have been more especially favored for use as amulets. Italian amulets of to-day show this, and Bellucci finds that the form is chosen as representing a drop of blood, and thus aiding, by sympathetic magic, in the cure of hemorrhages or wounds, and preventing the infliction of the latter. Sometimes such amulets of red jasper are attached to the bed-post by a red ribbon. In the case of a particularly valued amulet of this type, Bellucci was informed by the peasant owner that it owed its great virtue to having been blessed by the parish priest. Thus the traditional power of a pagan amulet received the sanction of the church and the object was associated with purely Christian amulets.[290]

Jet

Jet, the _gagates_ of the ancients, was said to have been first found in the river Gagates in Lycia, whence its name was derived. Galen, the greatest physician of ancient times, reports, however, that he searched in vain for this river, although he sailed in a small vessel along the whole coast of Lycia, so that he might closely observe it. Still, he did not give up his search for the material, even when he failed to find its reputed source, and in Cælo-Syria, on a hill on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, he came across certain black, crustaceous stones, which emitted a slender flame when placed in the fire. These must have been small masses of bitumen, and, according to Galen, they were used for chronic swellings of the knee-joint “which are difficult to cure.”[291]

The fumes of jet are mentioned as a remedy for the pest in one of the earliest Greek medical treatises, written by Nicander, who flourished in the second century B.C. He declares that the most virulent pestilence could be driven away if the bedrooms were fumigated with the smoke of the slow-burning jet.[292] The plague was called the black plague and naturally the aid of a black substance was sought to cure it.

For Pliny, jet was endowed with many medicinal virtues. Its fumes were a cure for hysteria and were said to reveal the presence of a latent tendency to epilepsy; connected with this in some way was the curious belief, repeated by later authors with certain variations, that these fumes could also be used as a test of virginity. When powdered and mixed with wine, jet relieved the pains of those suffering from toothache, and if the powder were combined with wax, a salve was produced that gave very beneficial results in cases of scrofula.[293] Even as a toilet preparation jet was recommended for use, and a most excellent dentifrice is said to have been made from it. In this connection jet was credited with tonic as well as cleansing properties, as is shown by the words of Bartholomæus Anglicus, who declares that this material was especially beneficial for “feeble teeth and waggyng,” since it strengthened them and made them firm.[294]

The delusions and hallucinations of melancholic subjects were believed to be put to flight by the power of jet, either in its solid form or when reduced to a solution. The fact that this material was often used for the beads of rosaries was thought to have some connection with its supposed virtues, since the bad dreams or dreadful hallucinations sometimes accompanying melancholia were designated as “demons,” and thus the prayers counted off on jet beads might be supposed to have the greater power to banish the devil and his black angels. The old writer who cites these particulars about jet, adds that there was to be found in the river Nile a black stone the size of a bean, at sight of which dogs would stop barking, and which also drove away evil spirits. Here we have another among many instances of the curious blending of the doctrines of sympathy and antipathy, the black stone repelling the imps of darkness and nullifying the spells of the Black Art.[295]

Lapis Armenus

The _lapis Armenus_ was well known to the Arabs under the name _hajer Armeny_, and their medical writers describe it quite accurately and distinguish it from the somewhat similar lapis lazuli, with which it was often confused in ancient times. Ibn Beithar states that if properly prepared it would not provoke nausea, as was otherwise the case. It was said to cause a very abundant evacuation of bile and must have been regarded as an efficient remedy for the bilious disorders so general in warm climates.[296]

A “blue amulet” against vertigo, melancholia and epilepsy could be made up of the following ingredients: shavings from an elk’s horn and from a human skull, to be reduced to a fine powder, the excrement of a peacock, white agate, lapis lazuli or _lapis Armenus_, of which enough was to be used to give the required sky-blue tint. The whole mass was then to be softened by the addition of gum tragacanth, and formed into heart-shaped tablets, which were to be dried out in the air, and then smoothed on a turning-lathe. These amulets were to be worn attached to the neck or the arm, sometimes they were enclosed in a little receptacle of silver or of red sandal-wood and suspended from the neck.[297]

Lapis Lazuli

In Papyrus 3027 of the Berlin Museum, a record that dates from about the fifteenth century B.C., and appears to be contemporaneous with the celebrated Papyrus Ebers, we have directions for the curative use of three stones as amulets; namely, lapis lazuli, malachite (Amazon stone?) and, probably, red jasper. The interpretation of the text offers considerable difficulty, but it seems that the stones were worked into the form of beads and then strung on a cord and suspended from a sick child’s neck. Thereupon a formula was recited, calling upon the disease to pass through the beads and disperse itself through water and air, or, more literally, to attach itself to the denizens of water and air. The translation of Dr. Adolph Erman is as follows:[298]

[A red bead? of lapis lazuli thereon.]
... a green bead? of malachite is thereon.
a red bead of jasper? is thereon

O, ye beads! fall upon the haunches [of the ...] in the flood; on the
scales? of the fish in the stream; on the feathers of the birds in the
heavens. Hasten forth! _nšw_, fall upon the earth

Let this text be recited over the beads?, one of lapis lazuli, the
other of jasper?, the other malachite, which are drawn on a string
of ... and hung upon the neck of a child.

Erman does not venture to translate the name of the disease (nšw), but says that another word derived from the same root signifies a discharge from the nose. Possibly we have to do with croup or some similar disease of the respiratory organs.

A curious prescription for the cure of cataract is given in the Ebers Papyrus,[299] dating from about 1600 B.C. The six ingredients are as follows: genuine lapis lazuli, verdigris salve, a resinous substance perhaps similar to what is to-day called tabasheer, milk, stibium, and “crocodile-earth,” the slime of the Nile. It is possible that the word _chesbet_, which usually signifies lapis lazuli, was understood in this case as indicating some other stone, such as that known by the name of _lapis Armenus_—this latter is a carbonate of copper and really possesses astringent properties.

For remedial use a lapis lazuli (_cyanus_) of deep hue is recommended by Dioscorides. This stone was to be burned thoroughly and the resultant powder moistened so that a kind of paste was obtained. This was claimed to have an astringent and caustic effect, and was freely used as a counter-irritant.[300] Probably here as in other cases a sulphate of copper has been confused with the lapis lazuli. The ancients did not favor the administration of lapis lazuli internally, and Braunfels[301] therefore regarded the free use of pills of lapis lazuli which was common in his time as a source of grave danger. The _lapis Armenus_, however, if well prepared and properly washed, was less to be feared; but, unfortunately, the genuine stone was rarely to be found in the apothecaries’ shops.

Malachite

Many medicinal virtues were ascribed to malachite. Worn as an amulet, it averted attacks of faintness, prevented hernia, and saved the wearer from danger in falling. In this latter respect similar powers seem to have been admitted in the case of the green malachite as were attributed to the light blue or greenish-blue turquoise. If malachite were reduced to a powder, dissolved in milk and taken as a potion, it cured cardiac pains and colic; mixed with honey, and applied with a linen cloth to a wound, it stanched the flow of blood, and cramps were relieved if this solution were applied to the affected part; lastly, if mixed with wine, it was a cure for virulent ulcers.[302]

Powdered malachite was sometimes administered medicinally, with what results we have little definite information; certainly, if not very carefully used, the effect would have been anything but favorable. A friend of De Boot once told the latter that a dose of six grains of powdered malachite acted as a purgative, but the wary doctor confesses that he never ventured to test the efficacy of this prescription.[303] In Bavaria, at the present time, mothers and midwives are fond of wearing pieces of malachite set in rings or strung for use as necklaces. These are believed to help the dentition of children and are also thought to bring more clients to the midwives. Amulets of this and other kinds were sold in Bavaria, in the seventeenth century, by wandering students and by gypsies.[304]

Median Stone

Of the so-called Median stone we read, in Konrad von Megenberg’s “Buch der Natur,”[305] that it had powers of good and evil; “for when dissolved in the milk of a woman who has borne a son, it restores sight to the blind.” It also cured gout and insanity. If, however, anyone were so ill-advised as to dissolve the stone in water and partake of the solution, he would die of hasty consumption; or if he simply bathed his forehead with the liquid, he would be robbed of his sight.

Onyx

A famous medicinal stone was at one time in the Abbey of St. Alban, founded in 793 A.D. by Offa, King of Mercia, in honor of the British protomartyr. In 1010, under Abbot Geoffrey de Gorham, a sumptuous shrine was erected to receive St. Alban’s body; this shrine was principally of silver, and was richly adorned with precious stones, chosen from among those in the treasury of the monastery. The records state that one of these stones “was so large that a man could not grasp it in his hand.” It was believed to give great help to women in childbirth. Hence, it was not set in the shrine, but was left free, so that it might be taken from house to house as required. The size of this stone and the fact that it was not used for ornamentation might have induced the belief that it was one of the singular “eagle-stones,” so celebrated in ancient and medieval times, but it is expressly described as an onyx-gem, the gift of King Ethelred II (968–1016) to the monastery. From the description we learn that on one side of this onyx was cut an image of Esculapius, the god of healing, and on the other that of “a boy bearing a buckler.” As the art of gem-cutting was practically unknown in Europe in the tenth century, this must have been an antique gem, and may have served as a pagan amulet many centuries before it was placed upon the shrine of a Christian saint and used as a Christian amulet.[306]

An old manuscript of Matthew Paris[307] gives a sketch of the gem from this author’s own hand. As the special power exerted by this talisman was to aid women in their confinements, it was loaned out from time to time to such as were considered worthy of the honor. In one case, however, it came into untrustworthy hands, for the favored lady failed to return the gem when her immediate need of its help had passed, retaining it in her possession until her death, when she bequeathed it to her daughter. During her lifetime the latter appears to have had no prickings of conscience, but on her death-bed, possibly through the exhortations of her confessor, she made provision that the long-lost sardonyx should be returned to the Abbey. It is said to have borne the name Kaadman, which Mr. Thomas Wright regarded as a corruption of _cadmeus_ or _cameus_, early forms of our “cameo.”[308]

Pyrite

In Geneva and in the neighboring regions great virtues are ascribed to a cut and facetted iron (pyrite), very hard, susceptible of a high polish and of resplendent lustre. This is cut to resemble the rose or brilliant form of diamond, and is set in rings, buckles, and other ornaments. In appearance it resembles polished steel and is called _pierre de santé_, or “health-stone,” for it is believed to grow pale when the health of the wearer is about to fail.[309] This substance is known as marcasite and is a bisulphide of iron. In the time of Louis XVI it was largely used for ornamental purposes; at present steel has almost entirely taken its place, although it is still utilized to a limited extent. Many believe that this is the material to which Victor Hugo alludes in his great romance, “Les Miserables,” as having been manufactured by Jean Valjean.

Rock-crystal

Medical men in Rome, in the first century, attested that no better cautery for the human body could be used than a crystal ball acted upon by the sun’s rays,[310] and this use of the material seems to have been very general at that time.

In his commentary on Andrea Bacci’s gem-treatise, Wolfgang Gabelchover, the German translator, says that a German name of rock-crystal in his time, the early sixteenth century, was _Schwindelstein_ (“vertigo-stone”), because it was believed to preserve the wearer from attacks of dizziness. Other remedial or physical effects of rock-crystal are also noted. Taken as a powder in dry wine, it was a cure for dysentery, and the physician, Christopher Barzizius, taught that if its powder were mixed with honey and administered to mothers, they would be the better able to nurse their offspring.[311]

The following lines by Robert Wilson (d. 1600), a popular sixteenth-century comedy writer, credit amber and rock-crystal with qualities not commonly ascribed to them, although the fancied growth of rock-crystal from a piece of ice probably explains its supposed styptic virtue:[312]

LUCRE: And if they demand wherefore your
wares and merchandise agree,
You must say, jet will take up a straw;
amber will make one fat;
Coral will look pale when you be sick,
and crystal stanch blood.

That a remedial tincture of rock-crystal could be made was firmly believed by the Danish chemist, Ole Borch (Olaus Borrichius, 1626–1690), and in his chemical lectures he gives the following directions as to the processes to be employed. A rock-crystal was to be heated to a high temperature and then cast, while still warm, into cold water; it would thereupon break up into small fragments. By heating these particles together with tartaric salts, the whole mass would be reduced to a liquid solution. Half of the quantity, after cooling off, was to be put into a distilling glass with the best “spirit of wine” and was to be digested in a bath of lukewarm water. It would then be seen that the solution became red. This process is repeated several times, and finally the tincture is concentrated by distilling off the spirit of wine, leaving the pure rock-crystal tincture. Its remedial quality is stated to have been applicable to dropsy, scrofula, or hypochondriac melancholia, if it were taken in doses up to forty drops in a proper medium.[313]

ANCIENT PERSIAN RELIC KNOWN AS THE “CUP OF CHOSROES”

The engraved rock-crystal medallion in the centre depicts Khusrau II,
Parwiz (A. D. 591–628), in the peculiar and characteristic garb of
the Sassanian monarchs. The strange wing-like adornments rising from
each shoulder, and the moon crescent and sun-disk above the head,
are especially noteworthy. In the Royal Museum, Bucharest, Roumania.
]

To make the _magisterium_ of rock-crystal, a pound of the substance was to be heated to a high temperature and then dipped into spirits of vitriol. After this operation had been repeated ten times, the rock-crystal was to be ground, on a marble slab, to a very fine powder, which was a sure remedy for gout and for calculi formed in any of the bodily organs. The spirits of vitriol in which the rock-crystal had been dipped was sometimes filtered through blotting-paper and sold as crystal spirits of vitriol; this was asserted to be a powerful diuretic, from seven to ten drops being given at a dose in a cup of meat broth.[314]

As late as the last half of the eighteenth century a Dr. Bourgeois recommended the use of rock-crystal, calcined and ground, as a very excellent astringent in the most obstinate cases of diarrhœa. In reporting this, Valmont de Bomare (1731–1807) adds that it would be desirable to know the nature of the acid in rock-crystal and its state of combination.[315] Here, as in all cases where some of the constituents of precious stones may really possess certain curative powers, a better result can be attained by using these constituents in other forms or combinations.

The wonderful therapeutic virtues of a Scotch lake named Loch-mo-naire are explained by a local legend as having arisen from certain magic crystals which had been cast into its waters. These crystals, if placed in water, rendered the liquid a potion of great curative power. They were the property of a woman who had gained by their possession a great reputation as a healer, but her success attracted the envy of a neighbor who determined to secure for himself the woman’s wonder-working stones. In pursuance of this design he came to her, feigning illness. She saw through his deception and sought safety in flight, but he pursued her and was gaining rapidly on her, when she threw the stones into the waters of the lake, crying out the Gaelic word _noire_, “shame,” and uttering the wish that its waters should be rendered powerful to cure the sick, all except those of the clan Gordon to which the would-be thief belonged. As the correct translation of the name of the lake is said to be not “Lake of Shame” but “Serpent Lake,” the legend appears to have no good foundation, but is perhaps as true as any of the popular tales purporting to explain the origin of the virtues of healing springs or waters.[316]

To many stones was attributed the power of transmitting a certain remedial virtue to water or other liquid in which they were immersed. This, as we have related, was the case with the white stone that St. Columba sent to King Brude at Inverness when the king’s druid priest Broichan was suffering from disease. A peculiarity of this stone was that if it were required in the case of a person about to die, it would disappear from view. Thus its remedial powers could never be put to test unless success were assured.[317]

There can be no reasonable doubt that some remarkable cures have been effected by means of relics, or by drinking the waters of a spring believed to have been pointed out by some divine vision. From a purely scientific standpoint this can be explained as the result of an extraordinary stimulation of the nerve-centres, caused by the rapt enthusiasm of religious faith. The relics, or the pure water, simply serve as an object about which this faith crystallizes, so to speak, and gains a concrete and external form, which in turn reacts upon the mind of the believer. It is a well-known fact that a great shock, or imminent peril, has sometimes suddenly restored the power of motion to those who have long been paralyzed. This view does not, however, necessarily exclude a religious interpretation of these phenomena when they are produced by religious impressions, for the divine will manifests itself by natural means, and a true understanding of the regular and normal working of these means should give us a deeper, truer, and purer faith.

Sapphire

As a substance for medicinal use, the Hindus declared the sapphire to be bitter to the taste and lukewarm. It had a remedial action against phlegm, bile and flatulence.[318] A similar action is ascribed to several other precious stones, the medicinal qualities attributed to them being less differentiated among the Hindus than they were with the Greeks and Romans, or in medieval times.

To drink of a potion made from the sapphire was said to be helpful for those who had been bitten by a scorpion, and for those suffering from intestinal ulcerations, or from growths in the eye; it also prevented boils and pustules, and healed ruptured membranes.[319] Here we see that the sapphire shared with the emerald the power of strengthening the sight, and one authority asserts that if anyone looked long and intently at a sapphire, his eyes would be protected from all injury, and nothing harmful could befall them.[320]

A medieval test of the antitoxin quality of the sapphire was to place a spider in a vessel to whose mouth a sapphire was so suspended that it would swing backwards and forwards just above the spider. The supposedly venomous insect was not long able to resist the power of the stone and fell a victim to its virtues. Wolfgang Gabelchover gravely asserts that this experiment had often been successful.[321]

The removal of particles of sand or dust from the eye was said to be successfully accomplished by “warming” a sapphire over the eye, the virtue of the stone thus passing into the eye and giving the organ the strength necessary for the ejection of the troublesome foreign body.[322] This attribution of a chemical action to the sapphire in eye-trouble may be added to the many statements of its general curative powers in eye-diseases.

Topaz

The thirteenth century Hindu physician Naharari states that the topaz tastes sour and is cold. It is a remedy for flatulence and is a most excellent appetizer. Any man who wears this stone will be assured of long life, beauty and intelligence.[323] Many a curious legend has been woven about the old belief that the topaz quenched thirst. However, popular fancy does not endow any and every topaz with this power. One of these thirst-removing topazes is said to have been in the possession of a celebrated Hindu necromancer, whose services had been sought by one of the petty rajahs of India on the day of a decisive battle. Either this necromancer’s art must have failed him at the critical moment, or else a more powerful enchanter guided the fortunes of the enemy, for the latter prevailed and the owner of the potent topaz was left dying upon the field of battle. Alongside him was a poor wounded soldier who was clamoring for a drop of water to quench his burning thirst. Hearkening to this prayer, the dying necromancer threw his topaz to the soldier, telling him to place it upon his heart. No sooner did he do so than his thirst passed away, and we must suppose that his wounds were also healed, for we are told that on the morrow he sought everywhere on the battle-field for the corpse of his benefactor but could find no trace of it.

1. Emerald that belonged to the deposed Sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid;
weight 45.33 carats. Auctioned December 11, 1911, Paris.

1½. Side view of the emerald.

2. Almandite garnet (transparent) fashioned into a knuckle bone; on
the upper surface is engraved an eagle with outspread wings, above
which are the Greek characters κακγ. Charm seal of some early
knuckle-bone player.

3. Sardonyx idol-eye of a Babylonian bull, pierced for suspension.
Engraved at a later period with the head of a Parthian king.

4. Aquamarine seal (transparent). Sassanian Pahlavi. Found in ruins of
Babylonia.
]

Tavernier, the great French Seventeenth Century jeweler-traveler, the first European to visit the ruby mines, took with him a number of emeralds, generally large. These were often cut from the top of the crystal, usually darker in color, and simply domed off, preserving the original hexagonal shape. Remarkable specimens are in the Indian Museum and the South Kensington Museum, part of the jewels of Thebaud, King of Burma. The finest emeralds of this type belonged to the late Sultan of Turkey; one of the finest, a remarkable gem, cut rounded en cabochon, was with the Bijoux du Sultan, S. M. Abd-Ul-Hamid II, sold at the Galerie Georges Petit, November 28, 1914. It weighed 44³⁄₁₆ carats (old system) or 45.29 carats (metric system). (See color plate.)

A remarkable charm is a hemispherical, transparent aquamarine, with figure of hump bull, found in ancient Babylonia. (See color plate.)

A quaint, ancient amulet is carved out of fine knuckle bone, an eagle with spread wings engraved on one side; portrait of a Parthian King. (See color plate.)

A Babylonian idol’s eye, of sardonyx, was pierced and worn as charm against the Evil Eye; later engraved with portrait of a Parthian King. (See color plate.)

IV
On the Virtues of Fabulous Stones, Concretions and Fossils

Not only precious or semi-precious stones were used as charms or talismans and for curative purposes; a large number of animal concretions also were and are still somewhat in favor. These concretions, variously composed but usually containing a quantity of carbonate of lime, are found in different parts of animals’ bodies, and they were believed to contain a sort of quintessence of the nature of the animal in which they occurred. For this reason the _alectorius_, from the body of the cock, one of the most widely known of the animal stones in ancient times, was thought to confer valor upon the wearer, and is said to have been worn by athletes in their contests.

In the case of venomous, or supposedly venomous, creatures, such as the toad and certain snakes, the stone was used as an antidote for poisons. This virtue was thought to be notably present in the so-called bezoar stone, taken from the stomach of a species of goat, as well as from some other animals. As we shall see, legend sought to account for the peculiar qualities of the bezoar by the tale that the animals in whose bodies the stones were formed had been bitten by serpents. Indeed, it seems not unlikely that the belief in the curative properties of the bezoar stone originally owed its existence to the finding of some such concretion in the body of an animal that had died from the effects of snake-bite.

As is well known, certain pathological conditions induce the formation of stones of various kinds and shapes in the human body also. Here the tendency has been to use these stones to counteract the disease which produced them. Renal or vesical calculi, for instance, were recommended for diseases of the kidneys and bladder, a treatment quite in accord with the popular idea of the homeopathic theory.

Another class of animal substances, namely, the fossil teeth of the shark, enjoyed a tremendous vogue at one time, and were known by the name of _glossopetræ_. These were usually regarded as stones, and because of their peculiar form were frequently assimilated to the belemnites and even to the flint arrow-heads and other prehistoric flint instruments, which were dug up in many places. All these flint artefacts were believed to have been precipitated to the earth by the discharge of electricity during a thunder-storm; in other words, they were “thunderbolts.”[324] The same idea was frequently held as to the origin of the _glossopetræ_, and those found on the island of Malta were brought into connection with an incident of St. Paul’s visit to that island.

In many different countries, especially in the north of Europe, these flint arrow-heads and the fossil remains of similar form, were called fairy-darts or elf-shots, and were believed to be the enchanted weapons of the elves and fairies, who, in the old folk-lore, are represented as beings of a very different quality from the fairies and elves of the tales of our childhood. In some parts of Europe at the present day, for example in Ireland, the peasantry talk with bated breath of the doings of the “good people,” for they shrink from using the word “fairy” lest it might offend these mysterious and generally malevolent beings. The designation “good people” is therefore used to placate and flatter them.

Extracting toad-stone. From Johannis de Cuba’s “Ortus Sanitatis,”
Strassburg, 1483.
]

Various shell fossils were also used as talismans. Here the form generally determined the virtues they were supposed to possess. Some of these strange forms lent themselves to an interpretation in line with the primitive adoration of the life-giving forces of nature, and suggested the use of such fossils to cure certain special diseases. Other of these petrifactions retaining the form of the enclosing shell, especially those of circular shape, and with concentric rings, were believed to be of meteoric origin and to have fallen during thunder or rain; hence the names of _brontia_ and _ombria_. A certain class of these fossils, with convolutions on the surface resembling the form of a snake, were called snake-eggs (_ova anguina_), and, very naturally, enjoyed the repute of preserving the wearer from poisons. All these varieties will be described in this and the following chapters.

While some believed that the toad-stone was vomited by the animal, others held that it constituted a part of the toad’s head. That this was the popular belief in Shakespeare’s time is shown by the well-known lines in his “As You Like It” (Act II, sc. 1):

Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.

De Boot, whose treatise was published about the time that Shakespeare wrote these lines, gives the following account of the result of his efforts to obtain a toad-stone according to the prescribed method:[325]

I remember that, when a boy, I took an old toad and set it upon a red
cloth that I might secure a toad-stone; for they say that it will not
give up its stone unless it sits upon a red cloth. However, although I
watched the toad for a whole night, it did not eject anything, and
from this time I became convinced all the tales concerning this stone
were merely fond imaginings.

A stone called simply the “Indian Stone,” and said to be light and porous, is noted by pseudo-Aristotle, and to it is attributed the power to relieve those suffering from dropsy, by drawing the water to itself. If weighed after having been applied to the patient, the stone was found to have increased in weight in proportion to the amount of water absorbed, and when it was placed in the sun, water of a yellowish hue exuded, until, finally, the stone resumed its original appearance and weight.[326] Another and perhaps earlier authority gives the name “toad-stone” to this material.[327]

BVFONITES

Toad-stones. Natural concretions of claystone and limonite. From
Mercati’s “Metallotheca
Vaticana,” Romæ, 1719.
]

The toad-stone was not only an antidote for poisons, but was also thought to give warning of their presence by becoming very hot. To fully profit by this strange quality, the wearer of such a stone was advised to have it so set in a ring that it would touch the skin; in this way he would be sure to have timely notice, if any poisoned food or drink were offered to him.[328] The writer who mentions this adds the following tale of the discovery of a toad-stone:

A clerk once found a toad which had a round knob on its head,
wherefore he thought that there must be a toad-stone. So he took up
the toad and tied it firmly in the sleeve of his coat. When he
returned from the fields and searched for the toad he found it not,
although the sleeve of his coat was tightly bound below and he could
not discover any opening through which the creature could have passed.
This shows us that it is a great help to prisoners in jail.

Another early authority, Thomas de Cantimpré, says of the toad-stone:

If one take the stone from a living and still quivering toad a little
eye can be seen in the substance; but if it be taken from a toad that
has been some time dead, the poison of the creature will have already
destroyed this little eye and spoiled the stone.

If the toad-stone be swallowed at meal-time it passes through the system and carries off all impurities.[329] Here the substance may have been one of many concretionary materials,—bauxite, impure pearls, concretionary limestone, stalagmite, or even the eye-stones from the crawfish; indeed, any material, white or gray, that had a semblance to a toad color, and was then sold by the vendor of charm stones as coming from a toad’s head.

The great Erasmus (1465–1536) made a pilgrimage to the famous shrine of the Virgin in the church at Walsingham, in Kent. In his description of what he saw there he expressly notes a wonderful toad-stone:

At the feet of the Virgin is a gem for which there is as yet no Latin
or Greek name. The French have named it after the toad [crapaudine],
because it represents so perfectly the figure of a toad that no art
could do this so well. The miracle is all the greater that the stone
is so small, and that the exterior surface has not the form of a toad,
the image showing through it as though inclosed within.[330]

As we see, the stone of Erasmus contained the form or image of a toad. This was not usually the case with the concretions that bore this name, and it appears probable that the “crapaudine” of the shrine at Walsingham owed its peculiarity rather to art than to nature. A rather far-fetched explanation of the origin of these substances is given by Ambrosianus, who relates that, in order to investigate the quality and character of toad-stones, he killed a number of toads and took out their brains. Although these were not hard when extracted, they became, in time, as hard as stones.[331]

A toad-stone which appeared to represent the form of this animal was preserved as an heirloom in the Lemnian family. It exceeded the size of a walnut and was often seen to dissipate the swelling caused by the bite of a venomous creature in any part of the body, if it were rubbed quickly over the swelling. It, therefore, seemed to possess the same quality as was attributed to the animal from which it was taken, namely, to draw out and annul all poisons. If any neighbor of the Lemnian family were bitten by a mouse, a spider, a dormouse, a wasp, a beetle, or any such creature, he soon sought the aid of this stone.[332]

We have noted De Boot’s unsuccessful attempt to secure a toad-stone, but he does not seem to have used the orthodox method for obtaining it. According to one authority,[333] the creature should be placed in a cage covered with a red cloth and then set in the hot sunshine for several days, until thirst forced the poor toad to eject his precious stone, which was to be removed as soon as possible lest it should be swallowed again. Another method proposed is so cruel that it is a comfort to know that the whole matter is little more than a fanciful conceit. In this case, the toad was to be enclosed in a pot with many perforations, and the vessel with its unlucky inmate was then to be placed in an ant-hill and left there until nothing remained of the toad except his bones and the coveted stone. It is quite probable that any stone found in an ant-hill after this procedure would be termed a “toad-stone,” since the toad was put away in order to find one. In some instances they may have been bony concretions from the head of the toad, or even pebbles that the toad had swallowed.

While it is quite possible that some of the so-called toad-stones may really have been concretions found in the head of the toad, by far the greater part were probably small pebbles sold as “toad-stones” to those who believed in the magic virtues of such a stone and were ready to pay a good price for one. Where there is a demand there will always be a supply, and the rarer the genuine article is, the greater is the incentive to imitation or substitution. In the case of some of these “toad-stones” set in rings to serve as amulets, the material has been found to be the fossil palatal tooth of the ray, a species of fish.[334]

The small share of material prosperity that fell to the lot of wits and literary men in the England of the sixteenth century, even in the age of Elizabeth, induced Thomas Nash (1567–1601) to liken the fate of the wit to that of the toad-stone, or, as he writes, of “the pearl,” which was said to be in the head of the toad, this “being of exceeding virtue, is enclosed with poison; the other, of no less value, compassed about with poverty.”[335] A writer of the same period affirms that if the toad-stone were touched to any part, “envenomed, hurt, or stung with rat, spider, wasp, or any other venomous beast,” the swelling and pain were diminished.[336]

The bones of the lizard were supposed to have medicinal virtues similar to those attributed to various “stones” found in animals. The following directions are given by Encelius for securing these bones: “Put a green lizard, while still alive, in a closed vessel filled with the best quality of salt. In a few days the salt will have consumed the flesh and the intestines, and you can easily gather up the bones.”[337] These were used as remedies for epilepsy and were considered to be as efficacious as the hoofs of the elk, a recommendation which seems to have been regarded as sufficient to convince the most sceptical of the remedial virtues of the lizard’s bones.

The crab furnished the stone called the crab’s-eye, because in form it resembled an eye. Like almost all the animal concretions, it was principally used as a remedy for those suffering from vesical calculi, and no other concretion was believed to be so efficacious in breaking up or dissolving the calculi in the case of those who had long been afflicted with them. Those referred to by Encelius were from the crawfish and are often used as eye-stones.[338]

In the last joint of a crab’s claw was sometimes found a small concretion closely resembling in size and appearance a grain of millet-seed; it was in no wise like the “lapillus” found in crab’s eyes. We have the testimony of Cardanus that he had preserved two such concretions, one of which he had himself come across, while the other had been found by a colleague. They were smooth and light, and of a reddish-white color. Because they were very rarely met with, the circumstance was regarded as of good augury for the finder.[339]

A round concretion (a calculus) from the liver of the ox is described by Ibn Al-Beithar as being of a yellowish color and composed of successive superimposed layers. If secured at the time of the full moon it was believed to promote _embonpoint_, and was much prized by the Egyptian women for this virtue. The effect was to be attained by taking two grains of the pulverized concretion, either with the bath or directly after bathing, and thereupon a “fat hen” was to be eaten.[340] The latter prescription, if regularly and frequently administered, might be thought to suffice without the powdered calculus.

From the second stomach of heifers was sometimes obtained a dark brown or blackish concretion of very light weight and as round as a ball. This was credited with great remedial virtues provided it had not fallen to the ground.[341] There seems to have been a belief that the curative or talismanic properties of animal concretions, or of the teeth of animals, were weakened, or destroyed, if these objects came in contact with the earth. This belief was perhaps due to the idea that the mysterious power of the substance was originally derived from earth currents, or emanations, and that the active principle would return to the earth if the object came in contact with it.

The _lapis carpionis_ or carp-stone, a triangular mass, was taken from the jaws of the carp. It was smaller or larger according to the size of the fish. The principal remedial use was against calculi, or for the cure of bilious diseases and colic.[342] These are bony plates from the upper part of the mouth of the carp. Such so-called “stones” were also said to check bleeding of the nose, a quality they owed to their astringent properties, quite noticeable if anyone tasted the powder made from them.[343]

The _cinædias_, a white and oblong concretion, had in Pliny’s time the reputation of possessing extraordinary powers, announcing beforehand whether the sea would be clear or stormy.[344] In what way this weather prediction was manifested we are not told; perhaps the surface of the concretion may have become dull or grayish when there was much humidity in the air. The cinædia were said to be found in pairs in the fish of that name; one pair being taken from the head of the fish and another pair from the two dorsal fins. Power to cure diseases of the eye was conferred upon these concretions by putting nine of them, duly numbered, in an earthen jar together with a green lizard. Each day one of the “stones” was taken from the vessel in the numerical order, and on the ninth day the lizard was liberated. Evidently it was thought that to kill the animal would interfere with the transmission of its virtue to the concretions.[345]

The eye of the hyena was supposed to furnish a stone called _hyænia_ and Pliny writes that these animals were hunted to secure possession of it. Like rock-crystal and many other decorative stones, this _hyænia_ was thought to give the power to foretell the future, if it were placed beneath the tongue.[346] Because of the hyena’s uncanny habit of feeding on carrion, and unearthing dead bodies from graves, it has often been associated with necromancy and with evil spirits.

The _lacrima cervi_, or “stag’s tear,” is not to be confounded with the bezoar stone according to Scaliger, who maintains that it was a bony concretion that formed in the corner of a stag’s eye only after the animal had passed its hundredth year; as the stag never attains this age he might as well have said that the existence of this “tear” was a fable. However, he describes it as though he had carefully inspected a specimen, saying that it was so smooth and light that it would almost slip through the fingers of anyone who held it in his hand. It had similar powers to those of the bezoar, being a powerful antidote to poisons and a cure for the plague if powdered and given with wine; these good effects resulting from the excessively profuse perspiration that followed the administration of the dose.[347]

These fabled stag’s tears, though often praised as substitutes for the bezoar, were not believed in by all the early writers, one of them, Rollenhagen, giving expression to a caustic opinion that might do credit to a writer of our own day. Alluding to the many reports of the existence of such “tears,” shed by the animals because of the pains they suffered after indulging in a diet of serpents, he notes that all those who make these statements are careful to place the habitat of these eccentric stags as far away from their own land as possible, always “somewhere in the Orient,” probably at “Nowheretown,” as he adds.[348]

Types of _cheloniæ_ (tortoise-stones). Natural concretions. From
Aldrovandi’s “Museum metallicum,” Bononiæ, 1648.
]

The _chelonia_ is said by Pliny to have been the eye of the Indian tortoise. The magicians asserted that this was the most marvellous of all “stones”; for if bathed in honey and then placed in the mouth, when the moon was either full or new, it conferred the power of divination, and this power lasted for one entire day.[349] This virtue was not, however, altogether peculiar to the _chelonia_, for it was shared by several other substances; in each case the stone was to be placed in the mouth, thus coming into more immediate contact with the organs of speech, and stimulating to prophetic utterance. A later writer states that it was the uterine stone from the tortoise that gave the gift of prophecy. That from the head cured headaches and averted lightning, while the stone taken from the liver, if administered in solution, was a remedy for ague.[350]

The wild ass was another of the animals that furnished concretions prized for their talismanic and medicinal powers. That taken from the animal’s head cured headache and epilepsy; that from the jaw made the owner indefatigable, so that he yielded to none in battle. It was also a remedy for ague and for the bites of venomous creatures, as well as a marvellously efficacious vermifuge for children.[351] Very likely the story of Samson, who wrought such slaughter among the Philistines when armed with the jawbone of an ass, may have suggested the fancy that the concretion from the ass’s jaw would give victory to the wearer.

Chelidonius, or “Swallow-stones.” From “Museum Wormianum,” Lugduni
Batavorum, 1655.
]

Pliny notes the opinion that a stone taken from the body of a young swallow, if worn attached to the human body, helps to strengthen the brain, and he adds that the stone is said to be found in the young bird even when it has just broken the shell.[352] According to Thomas de Cantimpré the swallow-stone is a talisman for merchants and tradesmen.[353] The merits of the _chelidonius_, as this stone was called, were fully recognized in Saxon England and are given due prominence in an Anglo-Saxon medical treatise, dating from the first half of the tenth century. When these “swallow-stones” had been obtained they were to be carefully protected from contact with water, earth, or other stones. To secure the best results _three_ of them were to be applied to the person who stood in need of their remedial effects. Not only did they cure headache and eye-smart, but they banished the dreaded nightmare, rendered futile the wiles of goblin visitors, and dissolved all fascinations and enchantments. The seekers after these wonderful stones are stoutly assured that they can only be found in “big nestlings.”[354]

The _ætites_ (eagle-stone) is first mentioned by Pliny who states that it was found in the nests of eagles of a certain species, and adds that some called this stone _gangites_. Fire had no power over it and it was a useful remedy for many diseases. Its special virtue, however, was to prevent abortion, this use being suggested by the character of the stone itself, which “was as though pregnant, for when it was shaken another stone rattled within it, as though in a womb.” The curative virtues of the _ætites_, like that of the swallow-stone, only existed when the stone was taken from the bird’s nest. This was probably a story told by the vendors of such geodes to enhance the value of their wares, although there may have been some foundation for it in folk-lore.

They are really hollow concretions of an iron stone, containing a piece of loose iron or hardened sand, or a concretion of some kind that rattles, and is called by the Italians _bambino_ or “babe.” Such concretions are found at many places on every continent, many fine ones having been found in Delaware. They vary in size from one to six inches across. The small ones of a hard, smooth exterior that have become polished from wear, are especially valued as charms.[355]

A passage in the treatise on stones by Theophrastus, pupil of Aristotle, might seem to indicate that the _ætites_ was already known in the third century B.C. The words he employs are as follows: “The most astounding and greatest power of stones (if indeed this be true) is that of bearing progeny.” As both Pliny and Dioscorides name this stone or geode and fully describe its character, laying especial stress upon the loose, rattling material enclosed in its hollow interior, this fact giving rise in later time to the half-poetic name of “the pregnant stone,” there is every reason to believe that it was already known of three or four, or even more centuries before their time.[356]

Marbodus of Rennes calls this stone “the guardian and defender of nests.”[357] Enclosing as it did one or more smaller stones, it was thought to be symbolically designated as an aid to parturition. According as it was attached to the left arm or to the left thigh, it either retarded or accelerated the natural processes. This, however, by no means exhausted the virtues of the stone, for when worn on the left arm of man or woman, it conferred sobriety, increased riches, and moved the wearer to love; it also brought victory and popularity, and preserved children from harm. In addition to all its other powers this stone seems to have possessed a certain detective quality, to judge from the following words of Ætius, who wrote in the sixth century A.D.:[358]

The ætites serves to discover thieves, if anyone places it in the
bread which they eat; for whoever has committed a theft is unable to
consume the bread. It has also been stated that, if cooked with any
kind of food, the ætites unmasks thieves, since they cannot eat such
food. If taken with wax from Cyprus, with fresh olive oil, or with any
other calefacient, this stone greatly helps those suffering from
rheumatism and paralysis.

Ætites. From Johannis de Cuba’s “Ortus Sanitatis,” Strassburg, 1483.
]

The loose, enclosed concretion was named in Latin _callimus_, and we have a detailed description from the sixteenth century of one of these, which belonged to Georgius Fabricius. Because of its curious markings he had it set on a pivot in a ring, so that both sides of the stone could be easily seen. The material was in part as clear as a rock-crystal, evidently a very translucent chalcedony, but the chief interest centred in the images or figures traced by nature upon the stone. These showed what seemed to be two forms, one of a cowled monk, and the other that of a tall, beardless man; there was also a third, showing an undefined form. On the under side of this _callimus_ was marked the outline of a crescent moon.[359]