452 



formed I must refer you to a former Letter*, not thinking it neces- 

 sary to pause any longer here, in removing any doubts which scep- 

 ticism may have suggested. 



Similar tales have been invented, for the purpose of accounting 

 for other stones which have borne the similitude of vetches, of 

 pease, &c. Thus the Virgin is said, in passing from Bethlehem to 

 Jerusalem, to have beheld some peasants who were sowing pease, 

 and begged they would present her with some, which they refused, 

 saying they were merely stones : Then such, she replied, shall you 

 reap ; and since then, it is said, nothing will grow there except 

 these stones, which possess the form of pease. For the better un- 

 derstanding of this miraculous transmutation 1 must again refer 

 you to a former Letter-)- ; and when I inform you that these petri- 

 fied peas are formed of a calcareous stone, of a yellowish white 

 hue, and frequently irregular in their forms, you will with very 

 little hesitation believe that their origin is similar to that of the 

 Confetto di Tivoli which are there described. I need hardly re- 

 mind you that immense quantities of stone exist in different parts, 

 formed of similar round bodies, which are termed Pisolithi, ori- 

 ginating in stalactitic concretion. When these concretions assume 

 a smaller form, they have been termed Meconites, or Cenchrites, 

 according as they most resemble the seeds of the poppy or of 

 the millet. When the mass has resembled a collection of the 

 grains of wheat, &c. it has been termed Lapis frumentarius, and it 

 has been considered as the petrifaction of such grain. 



But one of the most curious of the suppositions petrifactions of 

 vegetable matter is petrified bread (lapides paniformes panes pe- 

 trifacti, seu dcemonis. Teufel Brod.) Bruckman gives a very par- 

 ticular account of different petrifactions which had been supposed 

 to have been of this kind, 



Letter XXXII. t Letter XXXIX, 



