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Batrachites, Toadstone

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126
BATRACHITES.
a century later Vossius asserts (De Phys. Christ, vi. 19) that it was usual to take the Bufonites (Toadstone) in drink before meals, to counteract any poison that might be administered in the dishes; a singular dinner-pill, exemplifying the state of society in those times. It was also believed to burn the skin, at the very presence of poison, if worn set open in a ring so that the stone should touch the finger; besides which, it was also good against all complaints of the stomach and kidneys if so worn. Chinese porcelain also in the times of Vossius was supposed to fly into pieces when a poisoned draught was poured into it. Erasmus, in his ' Peregrinatio Religionis ergo,' thus describes a famous Toadstone set at the feet of Our Ladye of Walsingham :— " At the feet of the Virgin is placed a gem to which no name has yet been given among the Greeks or Romans, but the French have named it after the toad, inasmuch as it represents the figure of a toad so exactly that no art of man could do as well. And the wonder is so much the greater, that the stone is very small, the figure of the toad does not project from the surface, but shines through as if enclosed in the gem itself. And some, no mean authorities, add that, if the stone be put into vinegar, the toad will swim therein and move its legs." This account makes it probable that the gem in question was a lump of amber enclosing some large insect.
Another version was that in order to preserve its virtues this jewel must be voluntarily surrendered by the living reptile. De Boot relates how that in his boyhood he had sat up a whole night watching a toad placed upon a red cloth (the received mode of making it disgorge the treasure), in the hopes of seeing it cast up the Bufonites ; but the experiment failing, he concludes the story to have no foundation in fact. The figures he gives of the substance resemble greatly in shape the small fossil spheres, like strawberries, found in the gravel. It is probable enough that the toad, like certain larger reptiles (the alligator), may be in the habit of swallowing small stones to assist digestion, and such, if found by accident within an animal enjoying so great a reputation in the Middle Ages for his powers both for good and evil in medicine, would naturally be taken for a most potent gem.
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