358 plint's natueal history. [Book XXXYL 



in the quarries of this stone, all maladies of the legs disappear, 

 ^vhereas, in mines in general, the legs become aifected with 

 disease. " Flower of stone of Assos" is the name given to 

 a soft stone which crumbles into dust, and is found very effi- 

 cacious in some cases ; it resembles red pumice in appearance. 

 In combination with Cj^rian wax, this stone is curative of affec- 

 tions of the mamillae ; and, employed with pitch or resin, it 

 disperses scrofulous sores and inflammatory tumours. Used in 

 the form of an electuary, it is good for phthisis, and, with honey, 

 it causes old sores to cicatrize, and consumes proud flesh. It 

 is used, also, for the cure of wounds of an obstinate nature 

 inflicted by animals, and acts as a desiccative upon suppura- 

 tions. Plaisters, too, are made of it for gout, bean-meal being 

 incorporated with it for the purpose. 



CHAP. 29. (18.) — OSSEOUS STOIsTES. PALM STONES. COllANI. 

 BLACK STONES. 



Theophrastus and Mucianus are of opinion that there are 

 certain stones which bring^^ forth other stones. Theophrastus 

 states, also, that a fossiP^ ivory is found, both white and 

 black ; that the earth, too, produces bones, and that osseous^' 

 stones are sometimes found. In the vicinity of Munda in 

 Spain, the place where the Dictator Caesar defeated Pompeius,^^ 

 there are stones found, which, when broken asunder, bear the 

 impression of palm leaves.^^ 



There are some black stones, also, which are held in much 

 the same esteem as the marbles ; the Taenarian^'^ stone, for 

 example. Yarro says that the black stone of Africa is more 

 durable than that of Italy ; while, on the other hand, the white 

 corani" are harder than Parian marble. He states, also, that 



25 Deniocritus, amongst the ancirnts, and Savonarola and Cardan, in more 

 recent times, have attributed to stones the powers of reproduction. Vivcs 

 speaks of certain diamonds -which conceive and fructify; and Avicenna 

 speaks of the selenite or moon-stone of Arabia, which, when suspended 

 from a tree, generates other stones of a similar nature. Tournefort also 

 entertained similar opinions. 



2* Fossil teeth of mammiferse, probably. 



'■^ Fossil animal remains, no doubt. 



'^ Cneius Pompeius. See 15. iii. c. 3. 



*^ " Palmati." Tli is is more probably the meaning, than the "human 

 palm," as Littre renders it. They were fossil impressions of leaves, in 

 all probability. 



^" See Chapter 43 of this Book : also B. iv. cc. 7, 8. 



*' Stones so culiod, possibly, from being found in the vicinity of Cora 



