Fabulous Stones, Concretions and Fossils

15 pages in this part of The Magic of Jewels and Charms.

NOT only precious or semi-precious stones were used as charms or talismans and for curative purposes; a large number of animal concretions…

In many different countries, especially in the north of Europe, these flint arrow-heads and the fossil remains of similar form, were called…

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…

The bones of the lizard were supposed to have medicinal virtues similar to those attributed to various "stones" found in animals. The…

The cinadias, a white and oblong concretion, had in Pliny's time the reputation of possessing extraordinary powers, announcing beforehand…

Italian: Aquilina, pietra d'aquila, pietra aquilina, ethite. French: Pierre de l'aigle. Spanish: Piedra de l'aguila. Polish: Orlovi Kamyen…

Bausch enumerates and rejects a number of explanations to account for the supposed presence of the aetites in the nests of eagles. One…

That the "eagle-stones" were not always hollow is shown by a specimen owned in the eighteenth century by the English family Postlethwayte…

From New Spain was also brought the lapis manati, taken from the manatee, or sea-cow. This does not appear to have been a stone, but rather…

Even the spider was supposed to produce a stone having remedial power, especially that variety called by the Germans Kreuzspinne…

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…

The material called "St. Paul's Earth," said to be derived from "St. Paul's Cave," in the island of Malta, was reduced to a fine powder and…

The trochites and entrochus, named Raderstein, or "wheel-stone," by the Germans, are other fossils to which remedial or talismanie virtue…

If we were inclined to accord the title of precious stones to stones greatly esteemed for their talismanic virtues, a high place in this…

The saga of Dietrich of Bern relates of King Nidung that on the eve of a battle in which his forces were much inferior to those of the…