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Fabulous Stones, Concretions and Fossils: Judaicus

The lapis Judaicus is described as of oval form, in shape like an olive, and sometimes provided with a stem at the upper part as though it had grown on a tree. The stone was soft and friable and in color either white or grayish. The "male" variety had several rows of equidistant spines, while the "female" was quite smooth. The description and the figured representations of the lapis Judaicus show that it was a form of pentremite--that is, a form of crinoid. This fossil, which was said to come from Syria and Palestine, was taken in solution as a remedy for calculus. The larger, male stones, were regarded as the better for renal calculus and the smaller, female stones, for vesical calculus. Hence this fossil was sometimes called tecolithos, from, to dissolve, and, stone. Pliny also states that this name was applied to certain concretions found in sponges and supposed to possess similar virtues. Of the remedial use of this stone, or fossil, Galen states that when prescribed for vesical calculi, it was pulverized in a mortar, and the powder being mixed with water, three glasses of the solution were given. He adds, however: "I must say that as far as I have seen they have no effect, but they are efficient in the case of renal calculi."

No fossils were more prized than the so-called glossopetrae or "tongue-stones." Although these were really the fossilized or petrified teeth of a species of shark, Pliny and his sources believed them to be meteorites, which "fell from the sky when the moon was waning." This was, indeed, a prevalent fancy regarding all dart-shaped, pointed or sharpened fossils, or flints. Because of this celestial origin, the glossopetrae were said to control the winds and even to affect the motions of the moon. At a later time the chief source of supply for these petrified teeth was the island of Malta, and they were therefore sometimes called lingues Melitenses, or Maltese tongues.; the Germans named them Steinzungen, or "stone-tongues." According to popular belief these so-called Maltese tongues were petrified snakes' tongues and they were brought into connection with the miraculous adventure of St. Paul on the island of Malta, when he shook off a viper that had fastened on his hand, and sustained no injury from the bite (Acts, xxviii, 3-5). This was taken to signify that the poison had been taken from all the snakes on the island.