meteorites are recorded, the credibility of some of the statements not
being very convincing; others, however, appear to be quite worthy of
credence. Thus the Chronicle of Ibn Alathir relates that several persons
were killed by a rain of stones that fell to the earth in Africa in
August, 1020 A.D.[186] In the middle of the seventeenth century the
tower of a prison building in Warsaw is said to have been destroyed by a
meteorite.[187] A hundred years or so before, on May 19, 1552, there was
a great fall of stones, not far from Eisleben, one of which killed the
favorite steed of Count Schwarzenburg, while another wounded the count’s
body-physician, Dr. Mitthobius, in the foot. This was witnessed by
Spangenberg, who reports it in his Saxon Chronicle; he carried off some
of the stones with him to Eisleben.[188] An eight-pound stone (probably
a siderite) is stated by a certain Olaf Erikson to have fallen on
shipboard and killed two persons, at some time about the middle of the
seventeenth century; this is rather indefinite information.[189] The
most remarkable happening, however, is reported from Milan from the end
of the seventeenth or the beginning of the eighteenth century, when a
very small meteorite, weighing not quite an ounce, fell into the
cloister of Santa Maria della Pace (now a cotton factory) and killed a
Franciscan monk. Such was the velocity of this little stone that it
penetrated deep into the monk’s body, whence it was extracted and
preserved for a long time in the Collection of Count Settála. The
greater part of this collection went later to the Ambrosian Library at
Milan, but Chladni sought in vain there for any trace of the
death-dealing meteorite.[190]
Among the Welsh peasants there is a belief that when a meteor falls to
the earth it becomes reduced to a mass of jelly. This they name _pwdre
ser_. The most plausible explanation offered for this fancy is that the
autumn, the season when the largest number of meteors may be observed,
is also the time of the year when the jelly-like masses of the
plasmodium of Myxomycetes most frequently appear in the fields. A
peasant who, after noting the apparent fall of a meteor, should go in
search of it, might easily come across one of these lumps of plasma, and
might well be induced to think that he had found all that was left of
the meteor after its violent fall to the earth. Of course we have here
to do with the apparent, not with the real, fall of a meteorite. In this
connection it is interesting to note that the _medusa_, or jelly-fish,
has been called a “fallen star” by sailors.[191]
This Welsh fancy that meteors or “falling-stars” turned to a jelly when
they struck the earth appears to have been quite general in Great
Britain, and the jelly-like substance was variously named “star-slough,”
“star-shoot,” “star-gelly” or “jelly,” “star-fall’n.” The Welsh _pwdre
ser_ literally means “star-rot.” As early as 1641 Sir John Suckling
(1609–1642) wrote the following lines which well describe the way in
which these gelatinous substances came to be regarded as the remains of
a “fallen star”:
As he whose quicker eye doth trace
A false star shot to a mark’d place
Do’s run apace,
And, thinking it to catch,
A jelly up do snatch.
Sir Walter Scott also, whose familiarity with superstitions was very
great, has not failed to note this one in his “Talisman,” where the
hermit says: “Seek a fallen star and thou shalt only light on some foul
jelly, which in shooting through the horizon has assumed an appearance
of splendour.” Here the star itself is supposed to have had this
gelatinous form.
An early writer,[192] noting this curious belief that “a white and
gelatinous substance” was all that remained of a fallen star, declares
that he had clearly demonstrated to the Royal Society that the mass was
composed of the intestines of frogs, and had been vomited by crows,
adding that his opinion had been confirmed by the testimony of other
scientific men. Huxley, from a description, conjectured that the
substance was nostoc, a gelatinous vegetable mass, but this seems to be
somewhat doubtful. In 1744 Robert Boyle states that some of this
“star-shoot” was given to a physician of his acquaintance, who “digested
it in a well-stopt glass for a long time,” and then sold the liquor for
a specific in the removal of wens.[193]
A jelly-like mass believed by him to be the remains of a “fallen star”
was found by Mr. Rufus Graves at Amherst, Mass., on August 14, 1819, and
duly reported in the American Journal of Science.[194] As this gentleman
was at one time lecturer on chemistry at Dartmouth College, his
testimony is worth heeding, but there can be no doubt that while he
accurately describes what he found, he was altogether mistaken in
supposing that the meteor fell precisely on the spot where he discovered
the gelatinous substance. As we have noted, it has recently been
suggested that these “jellies” are plasmodia of forms of Myxomycetes
which do not appear to have any connection with the spot whereon they
rest, but seem to have fallen from the air.[195]
Falling stars are explained by the natives of Labrador and of Baffin’s
Bay as being souls of the departed bound on an excursion to Hades in
order to see what is going on there, while the phenomena of thunder and
lightning are caused by a party of old women, who quarrel so violently
over the possession of a seal that they bring the house down over their
heads and shatter the lamps. These “old women” must, of course, be
spirits of the upper air, not human beings.[196]
In some Australian tribes the sorcerers, or “medicine-men,” taking
advantage of the superstitious dread of falling stars common among the
aborigines, pretend to have marked the spot where such a star has fallen
and to have dug it up and preserved it in their medicine-bag. These
supposititious “fallen stars” are sometimes quartz pebbles, and in one
instance the curiosity of a European investigator was satisfied by the
display of a piece of thick glass, which the sorcerer strictly
maintained he had dug out of the ground wherein the star had
fallen.[197]
Arrow-heads encased in silver were looked upon as the solid contents of
the lightning flash, and were not only thought to protect the house in
which they were kept from being struck by lightning, but their
protective power was believed to extend to seven houses in the immediate
neighborhood. An interesting example is a neolithic silex arrow-head
figured by Bellucci. This has been elegantly set in silver in modern
times, and comes from Pesca Costanzo, in the province of Aquila, Italy.
The Italians are convinced that if the arrow-head, or similar object,
come in contact with a piece of iron, the “essence of the lightning”
departs from it, revealing itself in a spark; hence they wrap it up,
carefully, in skin, cloth, or paper so as to guard it from harm.
Sometimes these objects are anointed with oil, a survival of the custom
of making propitiatory offerings of oil. This usage in the case of
sacred stones is very general, and is met with in places as remote from
each other as Sweden, India and the Society Islands.[198]
In an Iroquois myth and legend, He-no, the god of thunder, is an object
of great veneration because of the powerful aid he renders to those whom
he favors. He is believed to direct the rain which shall fertilize the
seed in the earth, and also to give aid to the harvesters when the
fruits of the earth have ripened. While traversing the celestial vault,
in his journeyings hither and thither above the surface of the globe, he
bears with him an enormous basket filled with huge boulders of chert
rock. These he casts at any evil spirit he may encounter, and when on
occasion a spirit succeeds in avoiding such a boulder, it will fall down
to the earth surrounded by fire. We have here another version of the
almost universal myth of thunder-stones.[199]
In treating of the flint arrow-heads of the American Indians, Adair
notes that in form and material they closely resembled the “elf-stones”
with which European peasants were wont to rub any of their cattle
believed to have been “shot” by fairies or elves. A village in which one
of these magic objects existed was considered to be particularly favored
by fortune, as they not only served to protect the cattle from
bewitchment but were equally efficacious in preserving human beings from
the spells of witches.[200]
In East Prussia, when cows are believed to have been bewitched so that
their milk is under a spell, resort is had to the powers of a perforated
“thunder-stone.” Such stones were ancient stone hammers with a central
perforation for a handle. The stone is held beneath the cow at
milking-time, and the milk is allowed to pass through the
perforation.[201] By this means the spell is broken and the milk becomes
harmless.
Such perforated stones are also used to protect a house from being
struck by lightning. When a storm approaches nearer and nearer, the
owner of one of these magic stones will thrust his finger through the
hole, twirl the stone around three times, and then hurl it against the
door of the room. When this has been done, the house is believed to be
proof against lightning.[202]
In Westphalia the stone is laid upon a table alongside of a consecrated
candle, the shrewd peasants thus assuring for their houses the
protection of the church as well as that of the ancient God of
Thunder.[203]
Another phase of the superstition in regard to the stone axes known in
many different parts of the world as thunder-stones, because they are
believed to have fallen during a thunder-storm, is given by Dr. Lund in
a letter written from Logoa Santa in Brazil. He states that the
inhabitants rather look askance at these stones, believing that wherever
they are found the lightning is apt to strike, “in order to seek its
brother!”[204]
[Illustration:
By courtesy of the British Museum, London.
FLINT AMULETS OF THE PREDYNASTIC PERIOD, EGYPT
]
The stone implements of various forms found in the shell-heaps of Brazil
are called by the natives _Curiscos_ or “lightning-stones.” The Guaranis
name them “stars fallen from heaven”; the Cajuas, “stones hurled by the
thunder”; and the Coarados, “axe-stones.” A high price is paid for these
by the gold-seekers in Brazil, who believe that, by attraction, they
show the presence of gold beneath the surface, just as the divining-rod
is supposed to be affected by the presence of water or by hidden
treasures.[205]
The peasants of Slavonic descent in Moravia have great faith in the
virtues of the “thunder-stone.” During Passion Week the stone has the
power to reveal the location of hidden treasures, and it is also
believed that warts on man and horse will disappear if they be rubbed
with such a stone before sunset. However, not only healing virtues are
attributed, for if the stone be hurled at anyone and strikes him, it
inflicts a mortal wound.[206]
A poetic and appropriate name has been applied to the earliest of the
chipped stone artefacts of primitive man by archæologists. They are
called “Dawn Stones” (eoliths), and the name characterizes these
interesting relics, the first steps in the development of sculptural
art, as products of the dawn of human civilization.
A curious survival of the adoration of stones is reported by the Earl of
Roden in his “Progress of the Reformation in Ireland.”[207] A
correspondent informed Lord Roden that in Inniskea, an island off the
coast of Mayo, there was, in 1851, a stone idol called in the Irish
tongue Neevougi. This was said to have been preserved and worshipped
from time immemorial. The stone is described as having been wrapped in
so many folds of homespun flannel that it looked like a mass of that
material. This is explained by the custom of dedicating a dress of this
flannel to the stone whenever its aid was sought, the garment being
sewed on by an old woman who officiated as the priestess of the stone.
Prayers were offered to this strange idol for the cure of diseases, as
it was supposed to be endowed with extraordinary powers. A stranger
petition sometimes made was that a storm might arise and wreck a ship
upon the coast so that the thrifty islanders might profit by its
misfortune; on the other hand, with charming inconsistency, when they
wished to go a-fishing or pay a visit to the mainland, the trusty stone
was expected to assure them fair weather and a calm sea.
In Tavernier’s time (about 1650) many poor families living in the woods
and on the hillsides in India, far from any village where there was a
temple, would take a stone, probably one of a peculiar shape, and would
roughly paint on it a nose and eyes in red or green color. This being
done, the whole family would gather about this stone and reverently
adore it as their idol.[208]
In certain districts in Norway, up to the end of the eighteenth century,
superstitious peasants used to preserve round stones, and set them up in
a conspicuous place in their houses. At Yule-tide these stones were
sprinkled with fresh ale. Some of them were worshipped as divinities,
and every Thursday, or oftener, they were smeared with butter, or some
similar substance, before the fire. This ointment was allowed to dry on
the stone, which was then returned to its place of honor. These
ceremonies were supposed to insure the health and happiness of the
household.[209]
[Illustration:
Types of ceraunia or “Thunder-stones.” From “Museum Wormianum.”
Lugduni Batavorum, 1655.
]
The fact that special ceremonies were performed in connection with these
stones on Thursday, as well as the name “Thor-stones” applied to many of
them, indicates that in early times they were associated with the
worship of the god Thor. The so-called thunderbolts—usually flint
axe-heads—are believed to have been hurled at the trolls or elves by the
thunder, so that these evil-disposed spirits might be subdued and
prevented from fulfilling an old saying, according to which they would
desolate the earth. Originally it was Thor himself who was believed to
hurl the thunderbolt.
These stones were supposed to be endowed with wonder-working powers.
When a woman was in labor, ale was allowed to drip over a stone of this
kind, and was then given to the woman to drink. All through the
Scandinavian countries the peasants believed that if such a stone were
hung up in a house or on cattle, the trolls and other malevolent spirits
would be driven away, and all spells and witchcraft would be rendered
harmless.[210]
In Sir William Brereton’s account of his travels (1634–1635)[211] we
read that he saw in the School of Anatomy at Leyden a stone called
“_Fulminis Sagitta_, or the dart of the thunderbolt, about the size of
your little finger.” This was either a belemnite[212] or a stone
arrow-head of somewhat similar form. It bore a Latin inscription to the
following effect: “Many believe that nursing children can be cured of
rupture if this stone be attached to their thighs, or if they do not
suffer from this complaint, they will be preserved from it.”
On the ridge-beam of an Irish cottage at Portrush was found a neolithic
celt of the kind believed by the peasantry to be “thunderbolts.” This
celt had been placed on the roof of the cottage to protect it from being
struck by lightning, a notion thoroughly in accord with the theory of
sympathetic magic. In Surrey, England, a like belief is held as to the
fossil belemnites, and nodules of iron pyrites such as have been found
in Cretaceous formations near Cragdon are also thought to have fallen
from the sky during a thunder-storm, and to possess peculiar powers in
reference to the lightning.[213]
In Ireland the prehistoric stone arrow-head is believed to have been
shot at man or beast by the fairies. Should an old woman be so lucky as
to find one she will become highly honored in her village, and it is
used as a cure for diseases produced by the wiles of evil spirits. To
effect a cure, the _saigead_ (“arrow”) must be placed in water, which is
then given to the sick person to drink.[214] Cows which have been
wounded by the “fairy-darts” are also made to drink of this water. The
Irish peasants wore the stone arrow-heads, set in silver, as amulets for
protection against injury from like weapons at the hands of the fairies.
Similar superstitions exist in the North of England.[215] Nilsson
believes that the “elf-shots” (the arrow-points or axe-points) of the
Irish peasantry are identical with the “Lap-shots” of the Swedish
peasantry. These stones were thought to have belonged to the Laplanders,
the “black elves” of the Edda, and were therefore used as a protection
against the witcheries of these elves. The idea that the substance or
thing that has caused an injury can effect a cure of this injury,
appears in the Edda.[216]
The shepherds in the French Alps value the “thunder-stones” (_peyros de
tron_) very highly. They are handed down from father to son as precious
heirlooms, and when the flocks are driven to the pasturage, one of these
wonder-working stones is embedded in a tuft of wool on the back of the
bell-wether; this is supposed to serve as a protection for the whole
flock.[217] In Spain the peasants call these stones _piedros del rayo_,
or “lightning-stones.”[218]
The names bestowed on such prehistoric stone implements by the
inhabitants of the Malay Archipelago, of Java and Sumatra, all indicate
that they are believed to have fallen from the sky. In Malacca they are
called _batu gontur_, “lightning-stones,” and in Sumatra we have the
name _anakpitas_, “child of the lightning.” In the island of Nias, near
Sumatra, they are worn as amulets on the head or attached to the sword.
The Watubela islanders denominate them “teeth of the thunder,” a name
which suggests the appellation glossopetra (“stone-tongue”), and like
this is evidently derived from the form of certain of these prehistoric
celts.[219]
The Burmans have given the highly poetic name of “rainbow-disease” to
the disorder known to us as appendicitis, and they use the axe-heads and
other pointed or sharpened arrow-heads of the Stone Age for the cure of
this malady, stroking the region affected with one of these implements.
The natives share in the delusion almost universal among primitive
peoples, that these stone implements have fallen from the sky during
thunder-storms, and that they partake of the nature of thunderbolts;
hence they are supposed to destroy the rainbow-disease, as the approach
of heavy storm clouds, charged with lightning, darken the sun and put an
end to the beautiful natural phenomenon.
In the island of Mindanao, one of the Philippine group, the heathen
Manobos called the thunder the “speech of the lightning,” and regarded
the latter as a kind of wild animal, so that whenever the lightning
struck the earth or a tree they believed that the animal had buried its
teeth in the spot. They therefore looked upon any stone implement found
there as one of these teeth.[220]
The ancient stone hammers found in Japan are called _rai fu seki_,
“thunderbolts,” or _tengu no masakari_, “battle-axes of Tengu,” the
warder of the heavens. Other stone implements bear the name “fox-axes,”
or “fox-planes.” These peculiar designations are employed because the
fox is a symbol of the devil, and the stone axes are regarded as weapons
of the devil. Of course this in no wise prevents their use as amulets or
medicinally; indeed, their powder is thought to be an especially
effective remedy for boils and ulcers. Many such stones may be seen in
the temples, where they are carefully preserved and shown to the
pilgrims who visit the different shrines.[221]
Even at the present day, the superstitious belief in the magic
properties of the prehistoric stone implements still survives among some
of the Scandinavian peasants. They believe that these offer protection
against lightning, and they are very unwilling to part with them. In
some regions the stone axes or arrow-heads are supposed to afford
protection against lightning, and they are occasionally used to relieve
the pangs of childbirth. In the latter case they are placed in the bed
of the suffering woman. Another curious use to which they are put is as
a cure for an eruptive disease of children. Here the flint is struck
sharply with a piece of steel, so that the sparks fall upon the child’s
head.[222] This gives us an added proof of the association of these
stone axes, etc., with fire and with the lightning flash.
The Burmese celts or stone hatchets are frequently of jade and differ
from those usually met with in Europe and India, in that they are
provided with a chisel-edge instead of a double-sloped cutting edge. An
interesting account of the superstitions connected with these implements
is given by Mr. Theobald,[223] from whom we quote the following passage.
It will be noted that the Burmese ideas are in almost exact accord with
those current in Europe.
The Burmese call these implements _mo-jio_, thunder-chain or
thunderbolt, and believe that they descend with the lightning flash,
and, after penetrating the earth, work their way back by degrees to
the surface, where they are found scattered about the fields among the
lower hills, usually after rain, or on removing the crops. The true
_mo-jio_ is supposed to possess many occult virtues, and it is not
common to find one which does not show signs of having been chipped or
scraped for medicinal purposes.
One of the chief virtues of the _mo-jio_ is to render the person of
the wearer invulnerable; and many an unlucky _mo-jio_ has succumbed to
the popular test, which is to wrap it in a cloth and fire a bullet at
it at short range. If the man misses the cloth, the authenticity and
power of the charm is at once established; if the stone is fractured
it is held not to be a real _mo-jio_.
Fire will not consume a house which contains one, though I never heard
of this ordeal being attempted. Last but not least is the known fact
that the owner of a real _mo-jio_ can cut a rainbow in half with it.
Certain recent happenings have suggested that the name “aviator-stone”
would be a peculiarly appropriate designation for meteorites, and indeed
this new name would only serve to emphasize the legendary belief, that
he who bore with him a meteorite when he was in deadly peril would
escape all injury. By a strange coincidence those who are willing to
take great risks and chances are generally more or less superstitious
regarding small things, and a daring aviator recently remarked that on
one occasion, when his machine had suddenly fallen fifty feet, he felt
for his tie and said to himself: “This accident has happened because I
forgot to put on my opal pin, but I have been saved from injury because
I carried a meteorite.” This aviator, having mentioned the incident to
Harmon, a few minutes before the latter made his successful attempt to
win the Doubleday-Page aviation prize, Harmon immediately took the
meteorite which had been shown to him, saying: “Let me have it.” He
accomplished his task, and although both the competing machines were
injured, the aviators themselves were saved.
A meteorite, of course, cannot be claimed to be a preventive of danger
on all occasions, but several who have always carried them have seemed
to escape all sorts of harm. Some years ago a meteorite was given to
Edward Heron Allen, the famous writer on palmistry and the violin, and
this gifted man always wore it about him. One morning he awakened to
find that the entire roof above him had fallen in, except just that
portion over his bed. He told the story to one of the best known ladies
in Boston; one who is known for her public spirit, her love of art and
her faultless manner of entertaining. This lady successfully urged Allen
to give her the meteorite. A few days later, while out driving, a great
truck with two runaway horses attached to it struck her carriage.
Instinctively she raised her muff to protect her face; the muff was
almost cut in two, but the lady was not hurt. A few days later, while
she was walking under some scaffolding, it fell, and the open part where
the hoists went up proved to be just where she stood. Although
surrounded by ruin, she remained unharmed.
III
Stones of Healing
In his commentary on Theophrastus, Sir John Hill touches upon the
question of the medicinal virtues of precious stones. His researches
regarding the causes and conditions determining color in stones, led him
to the conjecture that the active principle, if it really existed, was
to be sought in the coloring matter. As the opinion of a very clever
student in his day, his words will bear quotation:[224]