166 THE MAGIC OP JEWELS AND CHARMS
and then set in the hot sunshine for several days, until thirst forced the poor toad to eject
his precious stone, which was to be removed as soon as possible lest it
should be swallowed again. Another method proposed is so cruel that it
is a comfort to know that the whole matter is little more than a
fanciful conceit. In this case, the toad was to be enclosed in a pot
with many perforations, and the vessel with its unlucky inmate was then
to be placed in an ant-hill and left there until nothing remained of
the toad except his bones and the coveted stone. It is quite probable
that any stone found in an ant-hill after this procedure would be
termed a "toad-stone," since the toad was put away in order to find
one. In some instances they may have been bony concretions from the
head of the toad, or even pebbles that the toad had swallowed.
While
it is quite possible that some of the so-called toad-stones may really
have been concretions found in the head of the toad, by far the greater
part were probably small pebbles sold as "toad-stones" to those who
believed in the magic virtues of such a stone and were ready to pay a
good price for one. Where there is a demand there will always be a
supply, and the rarer the genuine article is, the greater is the
incentive to imitation or substitution. In the case of some of these
"toad-stones" set in rings to serve as amulets, the material has been
found to be the fossil palatal tooth of the ray, a species of fish.11
The
small share of material prosperity that fell to the lot of wits and
literary men in the England of the sixteenth century, even in the age
of Elizabeth, induced Thomas Nash (1567-1601) to liken the fate of the
wit to that of the toad-stone, or, as he writes, of "the pearl," which
was said to be in the head of the toad, this "being of exceeding
virtue, is enclosed with poison ; the other, of no less value, compassed
» Smith, " Jewellery," London, 1908, p. 151.
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