I40 THE SWALLOW 



Greece. In the Middle Ages its use spread 

 over into Italy and Spain, and thence into 

 northern Europe, — and is it not possible 

 that the eyestone of to-day, which is some- 

 times used to remove foreign particles from 

 the eye, is a remnant of this old super- 

 stition ? 



The swallow stone of popular medicine 

 was a tiny oval-shaped pebble, generally 

 white in color, although Pliny tells us there 

 were two kinds of swallow stone " renowned 

 in magic art " — one white and the other 

 red. German scholars also mention two, 

 one red or speckled with red, and the other 

 black, the red one alone possessing heal- 

 ing virtue. 



Where was this stone to be found? 

 Among the peasant folk of Denmark you 

 may still hear it said that out of one hun- , 

 dred little swallows which have never 

 touched earth, one has in its stomach this 

 healing stone. The Germans will tell you 

 that if a swallow returns to the same nest 



