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.
[Illustration:
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]
[Illustration:
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]
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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]
A seventeenth century writer, not otherwise uncritical, does not
hesitate to declare that he had himself witnessed, in the case of a
fig-tree, an instance of the special power exercised by the _ætites_.
One of these stones having been attached to this tree, all the fruit
dropped off in, the space of ten hours, although tree had apparently
lost nothing of its vigor, its foliage remaining as luxuriant as
before.[360]
An old treatise on the _ætites_ gives the following names as applied to
it in various languages:[361]
Italian: Aquilina, pietra d’aquila, pietra aquilina, ethite.
French: Pierre de l’aigle.
Spanish: Piedra de l’aguila.
Polish: Orlovi Kamyen.
Swedish: Oernarsteen.
English: Eagle-stone.
German: Adlerstein.
Flemish: Adelersteen, arensteen.
Arabic: Hager achtamach.
Syriac: Abno dneshre.
Chaldaic: Abno dineshar, or abno denishra.
Hebrew: ’Eben ha-nosher.