sprinkled
with the powder of the stone ; a certain incantation being repeated at
the same time. The paste was then rounded into balls as large as eggs,
and some thereof given to each of the persons, with a little drink ;
but the guilty one found it impossible to swallow a mouthful, and
choked in the attempt.
The
Eagle Stone—described as of a scarlet colour— rendered its owner
amiable, sober, and rich ; preserving him from adverse casualties. By
an entry in the Mercurius Rusticus (1658) one learns that "
Among other things valuable for rarity, and use, the rebels took from
Mr. Bartlett, a Cock-eagle's Stone; for which thirty pieces had been
offered by a physician."
Dr.
Bargrave (1650) had purchased from an Armenian at Rome a Lapis
Aquilaris, or Eagle Stone, of excellent qualities and use, which, by
applying it to child-bearing women, would keep them from miscarriages.
" It is so useful that my wife can scarce keep it at home ; and
therefore she hath sewed the strings to the knit in which the stone is,
for the convenience of the tying of it to the patient on occasion ; and
hath a box, she hath, to put the purse, and stone in. It were fitt that
either the Dean's, or Vice-Dean's wife, (if they were marry'd men,)
should have this stone in their custody for the public good, as to
neighbourhood; but that still they have a great care into whose hands
it be committed, and that the midwives have a care of it, so that it be
still the Cathedral Church's stone." This Dr. John Bargrave, Dean of
Canterbury, was born in 1610, and bequeathed his museum to
Christchurch, Canterbury, 1676.
Magus has said: " Amongst stones, those which resemble the rays of the sun by their golden sparklings
