A SCEPTICAL PHYSICIAN 



that these stones are thrown out of the mouth by old 

 toads (probably the tongue was mistaken for the stone), 

 and that if toads are placed on a piece of red cloth they 

 will eject their " toad-stones," but rapidly swallow them 

 again before one can seize the precious gem ! He says 

 that when he was a boy he procured an aged toad and 



FIG. 4. Representation of a man extracting the jewel from a toad's 

 head; two "jewels" already extracted are seen dropping to the 

 ground. From the ' Hortus Sanitatis,' published in 1490. 



placed it on a red cloth in order to obtain possession of 

 " the stone." He sat up watching the toad all night, but 

 the toad did not eject anything. " Since that time," he 

 says, " I have always regarded as humbug (' badineries ') 

 all that they relate of the toad-stone and of its origin." 

 He then describes the actual stone which passes as the 

 toad-stone, or Bufonius lapis, and says that it is also 



