About the Historical Use of Fossils as Talismans

The use of fossils as talismans and for the cure of diseases was mainly due to their strange and various forms. As color played the most important part in the case of precious stones, each color being looked upon as possessing a certain symbolic significance fitting the stone for some special use or uses, so in the case of fossils the form was the determining factor. Sometimes it was as the form of some creature held by the superstitious to be particularly endowed with mysterious qualities beneficial to mankind, at other times the fossil form suggested some part of the human body, and was therefore believed to afford protection to this part, or to cure any disease affecting it. This will be made clearer by a brief notice of some of the principal fossils which were favored in ancient and medieval times, either by popular superstition or by those who from interested motives made use of these superstitions for the purpose of gain, although they may have only half believed in the real virtue of the objects they sold.

The remedial quality of fossils, which were believed to have been formed from shells and marine animals deposited during the deluge, is ascribed by Mentzel to the fact that they had been produced by the action of fire, and hence had the same quality as though prepared and calcined by the chemist's art. They were therefore believed to have great medicinal virtues in the cure of diseases.

The lapis Judaicus is described as of oval form, in shape like an olive, and sometimes provided with a stem at the upper part as though it had grown on a tree. The stone was soft and friable and in color either white or grayish. The "male" variety had several rows of equidistant spines, while the "female" was quite smooth. The description and the figured representations of the lapis Judaicus show that it was a form of pentremite--that is, a form of crinoid. This fossil, which was said to come from Syria and Palestine, was taken in solution as a remedy for calculus. The larger, male stones, were regarded as the better for renal calculus and the smaller, female stones, for vesical calculus. Hence this fossil was sometimes called tecolithos, from, to dissolve, and, stone. Pliny also states that this name was applied to certain concretions found in sponges and supposed to possess similar virtues. Of the remedial use of this stone, or fossil, Galen states that when prescribed for vesical calculi, it was pulverized in a mortar, and the powder being mixed with water, three glasses of the solution were given. He adds, however: "I must say that as far as I have seen they have no effect, but they are efficient in the case of renal calculi."

No fossils were more prized than the so-called glossopetrae or "tongue-stones." Although these were really the fossilized or petrified teeth of a species of shark, Pliny and his sources believed them to be meteorites, which "fell from the sky when the moon was waning." This was, indeed, a prevalent fancy regarding all dart-shaped, pointed or sharpened fossils, or flints. Because of this celestial origin, the glossopetrae were said to control the winds and even to affect the motions of the moon. At a later time the chief source of supply for these petrified teeth was the island of Malta, and they were therefore sometimes called lingues Melitenses, or Maltese tongues.; the Germans named them Steinzungen, or "stone-tongues." According to popular belief these so-called Maltese tongues were petrified snakes' tongues and they were brought into connection with the miraculous adventure of St. Paul on the island of Malta, when he shook off a viper that had fastened on his hand, and sustained no injury from the bite (Acts, xxviii, 3-5). This was taken to signify that the poison had been taken from all the snakes on the island.

The material called "St. Paul's Earth," said to be derived from "St. Paul's Cave," in the island of Malta, was reduced to a fine powder and made into tablets. These were stamped with the Maltese cross; sometimes on the opposite side some other figure was impressed. As there was temptation to sell other material for the genuine, the purchaser was warned to be on his guard. The virtues of this powder--which was dissolved in wine or water--were numerous, and were the same as those ascribed to the "tongues" (glossopetrae) and to the "eyes"; for it was believed to be an antidote for poisons, cured the bites of venomous creatures, and remedied many other ills. The "eyes" were set in rings so that the material touched the wearer's skin; the "tongues" were worn attached to the arm or suspended from the neck. Sometimes vessels were made from the earth. These were filled with wine or water, the liquid being allowed to stand until it had absorbed the virtues of the earth; it was then taken as a potion with good effects. The "tongues" and "eyes" were often dipped in wine or water and were supposed to transmit their curative powers to the liquid.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries a strange belief was prevalent among the ignorant to the effect that the fossil sharks'-teeth, the "tongue-stones," were the teeth of witches who sucked the blood of infants; these "vampires" were called lamiae in ancient times. Probably the fact that a certain species of shark bore the name lamia gave rise to this idea, which was therefore merely due to a confusion of names. Nevertheless we can easily understand that this popular belief added to the repute of the glossopetrae, for the more dreaded the object the greater the power it was credited with possessing. In the seventeenth century De Laet (d. 1649), the Dutch naturalist and geographer, received in Leyden certain glossopetrae sent him by a friend in Bordeaux, who wrote that they would cure any one suffering from soreness of the mouth, whether this were the result of having eaten impure food, or were produced by some derangement of the secretions. The "tongues" were to be dipped in spring water and would cause bubbles to form therein; as soon as these disappeared, the water was to be used as a gargle, and the mouth was to be washed with it two or three times. De Laet's friend assured him that this treatment would cure the disorder in twenty-four hours.

A seventeenth-century amulet of a fossil shark's tooth, mounted in silver and found in an excavation at Salzburg, Austria, was among the objects exhibited by the writer for the New York branch of the American Folk-Lore Society, in the Department of Ethnology of the Columbian Exposition held in Chicago, in 1893. They are frequently found at Lake Constance but are from the ancient fossiliferous formations and not from the lake. They are often sold as amulets.

Fossils whose form suggested that of a more or less acutely pointed shaft, were thought to possess special powers, sometimes offensive as against enemies, and again defensive for the protection of the wearer. Thus the belemnites, considered to represent the form of a dart, when dissolved and taken as a potion, were said to prevent nightmare and to guard against enchantments. They are often either ash-colored or whitish, and sometimes reddish-black. All these varieties were frequently found during the sixteenth century in Hildesheim, and in the marble grotto near the castle of Marienburg, called the "Dwarf's Grotto."

The umbilicus marinus, a fossil shell, which in form bore a great likeness to the human navel, was called "sea-bean" by sailors. Usually of a pale saffron hue, some specimens have a reddish or blackish tinge. In the sixteenth century it was believed to have astringent properties. We are also told that women used it as one of the ingredients of a cosmetic for whitening the complexion.

Certain echinites (fossil sea-urchins) found on the Baltic coast are called by the peasants Adlersteine and Krallen-steine ("eagle-stones" and "claw-stones"), since they believe that while the substance was soft eagles had seized them with their talons, thus producing the peculiar forms and markings. Whoever had a fossil of this description on his table while a thunder-storm was raging ran no risk of being struck by lightning.

Reich describes another variety of echinite, which was popularly known as a "toad-stone," the specimen he figures having been given him by a certain Johannis Krauss. In this appeared some large cavities, whose presence Reich found it very difficult to explain, until Krauss informed him that they had been made by a former owner of the fossil who had scraped out a few grains of the substance each year for medicinal use. He was persuaded that his long life--he attained the age of eighty--was entirely owing to his employment of this remedy.

The trochites and entrochus, named Raderstein, or "wheel-stone," by the Germans, are other fossils to which remedial or talismanie virtue was accorded in popular fancy. These "wheel-stones," while detachable, fitted as closely together in the original formation as though they had been skilfully adjusted by a clever artisan. De Laet states that when immersed in oil they gave forth bubbles and moved about spontaneously. Still another of these fossils believed to be amulets was the enastros, which De Boot terms the asteria vera, or genuine asteria, since it not merely showed a star-shaped marking as did the fossil coral bearing the name astroites, but was shaped like a five-pointed star. As with the trochites, chains of these little stars were found, closely joined together but separable from one another. Some called them "star-seals," because the stellar imprint was sharp and clearly defined as though the work of an engraver or gem-cutter. These fossils are types of encrinites.