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Meteorites, or Celestial Stones: Brazil

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.

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. A poetic and appropriate name has been applied to the earliest of the chipped stone artefacts of primitive man by archaeologists. 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.