452 
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 Jeru- 
salem, 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 j 
and since then, it is said, nothing will grow there except these stones, 
which possess the form of pease. For the better understanding of 
this miraculous transmutation, I must again refer you to a former 
Letter, (XXXIX) ; and when I inform you that these petrified peas 
are formed of calcareous stone, of a yellowish white hue, and fre- 
quently 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 remind you that immense 
quantities of stone exist in different parts, formed of similar round 
bodies, which are termed Pisolithi, originating in stalactitic con- 
cretion. When these concretions assume a smaller form, they have 
been termed Meconites, or Cenchrites, according as they most re- 
semble 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 suppositious petrifactions of 
vegetable matter, is petrified bread, Rapides paniformes panes pe- 
trifacti, seu dcemonis. Teufel Prod.J Bruckman gives a very par- 
ticular account of different petrifactions which had been supposed to 
have been of this kind. 
In the church of St. Peter, of Leyden, a stone is preserved, the 
history of which is, that — ^in the year 1316, a poor woman, deserted 
by fortune, and almost perishing, with her numerous children, for 
want, humbly petitioned her rich sister for bread. She, however, 
refused to supply her, and swore, in the most solemn manner, that 
