88 THE JEWEL IN THE TOAD'S HEAD 



of fantastic ignorance, there grew up the solid body of 

 unassailable knowledge of Nature and of man which we 

 call " science " a growth which made such prodigious 

 strides in the last century that we now may be truly said 

 to live in the presence of a new heaven and a new earth ! 

 It was, then, a real " stone," called the toad-stone, to 

 which Shakespeare alluded. It is mentioned in various 

 old treatises concerning the magical and medicinal 

 properties of gems and stones under its Latin name, 

 " Bufoniits lapis," and was also called Borax, Nosa, 

 Crapondinus, Crapaudina, Chelonitis, and Batrachites. It 

 was also called Grateriano and Garatronius, after a gentle- 

 man named Gratterus, who in 1473 found a very large 

 one, reputed to have marvellous power. In 1657, in the 

 " translation by a person of quality " of the ' Thaumato- 

 graphia ' of a Polish physician named Jonstonus, we find 

 written of it : " Toads produce a stone, with their own 

 image sometimes. It hath very great force against 

 malignant tumours that are venomous. They are used to 

 heat it in a bag, and to lay it hot, without anything 

 between, to the naked body, and to rub the affected place 

 with it. They say it prevails against inchantments of 

 witches, especially for women and children bewitched. 

 So soon as you apply it to one bewitched it sweats many 

 drops. In the plague it is laid to the heart to strengthen 

 it." Another physician of the same period (see ' Notes 

 and Queries,' fourth series, vol. vii, 1871, p. 540) appears 

 to be affected by the new spirit of inquiry, for he relates 

 the old traditions about the stone and how he tested them. 

 He says it was reported that the stone could be cut out 

 of the toad's head. (In the book called ' Hortus 

 Sanitatis,' dated 1490, there is a picture here reproduced 

 [Fig. 4] of a gentleman performing this operation success- 

 fully on a gigantic toad.) Our sceptical physician, 

 however, goes on to say that it was commonly believed 



