Chelidonius: The Swallow Stone

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Chelidonius: The Swallow Stone Christopher John Duffin Published online: 23 Apr 2013.

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Folklore 124 (April 2013): 81–103 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0015587X.2012.747479

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Chelidonius: The Swallow Stone Christopher John Duffin

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Abstract Specimens of the swallow stone (Chelidonius) include small clasts of agate, gastropod opercula (calcareous lids sealing the apertures of snails), crayfish gastroliths (paired calcareous concretions in the stomach), and possibly fossil fish teeth and larger foraminiferans (a type of unicellular organism). With a long literary pedigree extending from classical to early modern times, swallow stones were believed to have many curative properties utilized in folk medicine, as well as giving protection against evil forces and conferring numerous personal qualities on the owner. The sources presented here are regarded as accessible reflections of contemporary beliefs.

Introduction The swallow is a small passerine (perching) bird that, as a consequence of its adaptations to aerial insect feeding, is placed together with the martins in the family Hirundinidae. The pan-European barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) has six subspecies, a number of which are strongly migratory, wintering in the southern hemisphere. A distinctive bird with blue upper parts, a long, deeply-forked tail for aerial manoeuvrability, and scimitar-like wings, the swallow has developed a close association with humans, building cup-shaped nests fashioned from mud pellets in barns and on suitable roosts in other buildings (Figures 1 and 2). Other nesting sites include cliffs, riverbanks, and caves, sheltered spots also preferred by humans. Perhaps it is the close association with human habitation and activity which has led to the extensive folklore associated with this bird (see Ingersoll 1923 and Tate 2007, for a broader treatment). The stone associated with the swallow has a variety of names and spellings attached to it in the literature, a summary of which is given in Table 1. Earliest Accounts Plutarch (c. 46 –120) was a Greek philosopher, historian, and biographer. Born near Delphi where he served as one of the priests who interpreted the predictions of the oracle, he later became a Roman citizen. Although its precise authorship and date is a matter of some debate, De Fluviorum et Montium (Treatise on rivers and mountains) is usually included in Moralia (Morals), Plutarch’s collection of moral essays. Quoting a lost work attributed to Thrasyllus (probably Tiberius Claudius Thrasyllus of Mendes, who flourished in the first century AD and was astrologer to Tiberius), his entry for the River Nile records the presence of the stone kollotes: which the swallows picking up against the time that Nilus overflows, build up the wall which is called the Chelidonian wall, which restrains the water and will not suffer the country to be injured by the fury of the flood. (Goodwin 1878, 496) q 2013 The Folklore Society


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Figure 1. Swallows closely associated with human habitation (Cuba 1511).

The wall-building industry of the swallow described by Plutarch contrasts strongly with the small stones seemingly first described by Pliny the Elder (23– 79), who wrote in his famous Historia Naturalis (bk 30, chap. 27): The magicians think highly of . . . also the small grits found in the crops of young swallows, tied to the left arm of the patient; for swallows, it is said, give small stones to their young the moment they are hatched. If, at the commencement of the first paroxysm, an epileptic patient eats the first of a swallow’s brood that has been hatched, he will experience a perfect cure: but at a later period the disease is treated by using swallow’s blood with frankincense, or by eating the heart of the bird quite fresh. Nay, even more than this, a small stone taken from a swallow’s nest will relieve the patient the moment it is applied, they say; worn, too, as an amulet, it will always act as a preservative against the malady. (Bostock and Riley 1856, vol. 5, 451)

The account of Chelidonius, the swallow stone, was later embellished by Damigeron (second century AD ) in his De Virtutibus Lapidum (The virtues of stones). The centurion Lucinius Fronto delivered magnificent gifts to Evax, king of Arabia, from the Roman Emperor Tiberius (ruled 14–37 AD ). This book, supposedly containing a wealth of secret lore and ascribed to Damigeron, was given as a return gift. Damigeron wrote concerning the swallow stone: The red [stone] heals lunatics, the insane and the depressed. Do this with it:—Take a clean linen rag, tie it in it and place it ‘round the left arm of the sick person and in three days he will be cured. Moreover it makes those who wear it pleasant and rich and friendly and agreeable. Likewise, if the black [stone] is worn, it brings a happy outcome to all business matters and he who wears it can resist the anger and threats of kings and rulers. For whoever has it with him will win everyone’s praise, and lead all to accept his authority, for he will be honest with them. And if anyone’s eyes hurt, grind it with water and rub it on, and he will be cured. And when you take it from the nest, see that neither the mother nor the father is nearby, for it will be more effective in this way. Now the black stone, put it in a yellow linen rag, relieves the tertian and daily fevers, and it is excellent against all kinds of tumour. (Tahil 1989, 20)

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Chelidonius: The Swallow Stone


Table 1. Etymology of the swallow stone. Name

Authority

Calculus hirundinum Celidonia Celidonio Celidonius Celidoyne Cheledony Chelidoines Chelidon Chelidonei minerales Chelidoni Chelidonian Chelidonii minerales Chelidonio Chelidonium Chelidonius lapis Chelidony Cleridonius Fausses Chelidoines Kollote Lapis Sarcenagensis Pierre Chelidoine Pierre de Sarcenage Pierre ophtalmique Pierres d’hirondelles Pietra delle Rondini Pseudochelidonii Schwalbenstein Svalesteen Swallow-stone Pierre d’arondelle Pierre de Chelidoine

Bomare (1769) Gimma (1730) Batman (1582) Albertus Magnus, 1262 (Wykoff 1967) London Lapidary, early fourteenth century (Evans 1932) Damigeron, second century (Tahill 1989) Bertrand (1763) Dioscorides, first century (Gunther 1968) Gruner (1775) Bertrand (1763) Marbode, eleventh century (King 1860) Bertrand (1763) Gimma (1730) Albertus Magnus, thirteenth century (Scanlan 1987) Mizaldus (1566) Aberdeen Bestiary, c. 1200 Peterborough Lapidary, late fifteenth century (Evans 1932) Bertrand (1763) Plutarch, first century Lemery (1714) Delametherie (1797) Lemery (1714) Beurard (1809, quoted in Rolland 1879: 318) Various Gimma (1730) Bertrand (1763) Lonicer (1630) Aphelen (1764) Nicols (1652) Belleau (1576) Merat and de Lens (1833)

Figure 2. Woodcut of the swallow, Hirundo rustica (Gesner 1669, 68).

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Sources of the Stone As was the case with Alectorius, the magical stone recorded as coming from capons, Chelidonius is reported as originating in various parts of the anatomy of the bird (Duffin 2007). Some authors, such as those of the early ninth-century Anglo-Saxon Leechbook of Bald, the late sixteenth-century Sloane lapidary (London, British Library, MS Sloane 2539), and Stephen Batman commenting on Bartholomaeus Anglicus’s De Proprietatibus Rerum (1240), indicate that it should be obtained from the mouth or ‘mawe’ (Cockayne 1864, 2: 307; Evans 1932, 124; Seymour 1975, 2: 841; Batman 1582, bk 16: 258). Other authorities, including Plutarch, Pliny, Albertus Magnus (c. 1193– 1280), and Georgius Agricola (1494– 1555), suggest that the stone is obtained from the craw or crop of the bird (Goodwin 1878, 496; Bostock and Riley 1856, vol. 5, 451; Scanlan 1987, 300; Agricola 1612, 619; Bandy and Bandy 1955, 146). This feature is a muscular, pouch-like enlargement of the oesophagus used for temporary storage of the food before it passes to the stomach. After temporary storage in the crop, food passes into the proventriculus or ‘true stomach’, lined with a glandular epithelium which secretes the enzymes that start chemical digestion. From here, the food enters the ventriculus or gizzard, a feature found in all birds, which has thick muscular walls. The gizzard commonly contains the small stones or gastroliths that help to abrade the food, perhaps prior to its being passed back to the proventriculus for another period of chemical digestion. A number of authors, including Damigeron and Joannes de Mey (1633– 1721), suggest that this is the organ from which the swallow stones can be harvested (Tahil 1989, 20; Mey 1652, 115; Thorndike 1958, 201). Indeed, Élie Bertrand (1713– 97), a Swiss pastor and geologist, suggested that these were ‘stones which the swallows swallow to encourage their digestion, and which are found in their stomachs’ (Bertrand 1763, 145). It is interesting to note that other cultures, such as the Pueblo tribes of the American Southwest, purposefully gathered gastroliths. In this instance, the stones were collected from large dinosaur skeletons exposed in the Jurassic Morrison Formation. The gastroliths were utilized by Clovis people as hammer stones, and by members of the Hopi and Pueblo tribes to burnish their pots (Mayor 2005, 157). Less anatomical precision is indicated by a number of authors who join the Aberdeen Bestiary (c. 1200) in indicating that the stones come from the stomach of the swallow (Aberdeen Bestiary, fol. 102r; Wyckoff 1967, 79; Nicols 1652, 175; Leonardus 1502, fol. 28r, 1750, 81; Falileyev and Owen 2005, 15). Others, like Pedanius Dioscorides (c. 40 –90), Marbode of Rennes (1035 – 1123), and Albertus Magnus, merely indicate that they come from the ‘belly’ or ‘bowels’ (Gunther 1968, 105; King 1860, 400; Best and Brightman 1973, 37; Lemnius 1658, 138; Bahler and Gatto 1997, 81). A group of fifteenth-century and sixteenth-century English lapidaries refer the origin of Chelidonius to the womb of the swallow (Evans 1932, 52, 59, 81 and 124; also Batman 1582, bk 16: 258). The timing of collection of the stone also seems to have been of importance, according to some authors. Dioscorides indicates that this should be ‘at ye increase of ye Moon’ (Gunther 1968, 105). In 1262, Albertus Magnus introduced the idea that the month of August was most appropriate for collecting the swallow stone since ‘those taken at that time are said to have more strength’ (Wyckoff 1967, 79). This was repeated in much of the later, largely derivative literature (Best and Brightman 1973, 37; Leonardus 1502,



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fol. 28r; 1750, 81; Morales 1605, chap. 20; see also the Ashmole lapidary in Evans 1932, 59). A number of texts combine the month with the phase of the moon. Lemnius, for example, states that extraction should be ‘when Autumn begins and the Moon increaseth’ (see also Sloane lapidary, and Mey 1652, 115). Most authors agree that the sources of the stones are nestling swallows, although Damigeron recommends catching those that have just recently flown the nest (Tahil 1989, 20). Pliny states that the adult swallows ‘give small stones to their young the moment they are hatched’ (Bostock and Riley 1856, vol. 5, 451). Timothie Bright (1550 – 1615) indicates that the stones should be obtained from members of the first brood in the nest, a recommendation reiterated by others (Bright 1580, 37; Nicols 1652, 175). The thirteenth-century Alfonsine lapidary recommends that it be extracted from the first chick to hatch (Bahler and Gatto 1997, 81). Albertus Magnus gives an intriguing way of discriminating between stone-bearing and barren birds: It is said that the young swallows which produce the stone are recognised by the fact that they perch in the nest, turned to face one another, while the rest of the brood turn their posteriors to the stonebearing birds. (Scanlan 1987, 300)

Camillus Leonardus, physician to Cesare Borgia, states that ‘such Stones ought to be extracted while the young Brood stand in their Nest’ (Leonardus 1750, 81). He also recommends, following Bartholomaeus Anglicus, that the stones be collected before the young swallows touch the ground (Anglicus 1483, bk 12, chap. 21; Batman 1582, 185). The ninth-century Leiden Leechbook states that the stones themselves should not touch the ground (Falileyev and Owen 2005, 15). It is as if coming into contact with the earth somehow leaches away the occult power of the stones, a principle met with in a number of other fabulous stones (the Zahir mora or adjutant stork stone, and the Ovum anguinum, for example; see Duffin 2008, 19). Damigeron recommends that harvesting of the stone from the nest should be accomplished when both parent birds are absent, and Leonardus also insists that their ‘Dams’ (mothers) not be present (Tahil 1989, 20; Leonardus 1750, 81; also Sloane lapidary). Getting to the often inaccessible cup-shaped nest of clay bonded with saliva and lined with straw and feathers, plastered under overhanging shelters such as beams, cannot have been an easy task. Following complex rules governing collection of the stones must have made the task even more stressful, but at least two authors claim to have done so. Batman gives the following account: As touching these stones, I my selfe trieng an old rule, did finde in ye maws of the young Swallowes, a blacke stone as bigge as a Thistle seede, and another red, and a third gray, spotted black, and after gave them away. (Batman 1582, 258)

Anselm Boetius de Boodt’s (1550 –1634) experience was not so rewarding, however; he regretted not having found any such stones in the swallows which he inspected (Boodt 1636, 344; 1644, 439). The Ortus Sanitatis (Garden of health) provides us with an illustration showing extraction of the swallow stone from a seemingly living bird (Figure 3).


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Figure 3. Extraction of Chelidonius, the swallow stone (Cuba 1511).

Nature of the Stones The stones obtained from the swallow are most commonly described as belonging to two sorts, usually with differential occult qualities (Bandy and Bandy 1955). Damigeron indicates that there are black and red kinds, a convention followed by most later authors (Tahil 1989, 20). Marbode of Rennes, supported by Bartholomaeus Anglicus and Batman, however, stipulates that one is white and the other red, while Dioscorides describes ‘one of diuers colours, & the other cleare [and of one colour]’ and the Sloane lapidary has ‘one blew, ye other redd of kind’ (King 1860, 400; Anglicus 1483, bk 12, chap. 21; Batman 1582, 185; Gunther 1968, 105; Evans 1932, 124). A Middle English lapidary gives the two colours as black and dun (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Misc. e.558; Zettersten 1968, 30). The Alfonsine lapidary states that the most common colours of the stones are green and white, but admits the possibility of other hues (Bahler and Gatto 1997, 81). Vincent de Beauvais (c. 1190 –1264) states that both stones are purple, one distinguished by black spots (Beauvais 1468, bk 9, chap. 53). It was fairly common for certain closely similar ‘figured stones’ to be identified as ‘male’ and ‘female’ in late medieval and renaissance literature (Duffin 2006, 268). Bartholomaeus



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Anglicus and his translator and commentator, Stephen Batman, apply this same approach to swallow stones, identifying the red variety as male and the white as female (Anglicus 1483, bk 12, chap. 21; Batman 1582, 185). Batman also identifies a third type, grey spotted with black, and small in size: ‘as bigge as a Thistle seede’ (Batman 1582, 185). Two stones, usually one of each colour, were commonly said to be present in those swallows that possessed them. Agricola states that they have ‘a symmetrical form and are always hollow and for this reason are quite fragile. They are usually light grey on top while the hollow convex portion is a dark purple, often with irregular spots’ (Bandy and Bandy 1955, 146). The Alfonsine lapidary records that they are ‘rough to the touch, hard to break, and small in size’ (Bahler and Gatto 1997, 81). The collective wisdom was that, although plain in appearance, they are nonetheless invaluable. The fourteenth-century North London lapidary states that ‘although small and of little strength it surpasses any good stone in profit’, while the Sloane lapidary comments, ‘It is not full and faire, But it is of much bewty in him-selfe’, and Batman asserts that although it is ‘a little stone, but it is precious; and be little and unseemly: But in vertue they be no less of value then more stones and greater’ (Evans 1932, 52 and 124; Batman 1582, 185). Antoine le Grand (d. 1699), however, finds that the swallow stone, ‘hath nothing in the least in it that resembles a Gem’ (Le Grand 1694, 198). The French Connection Swallow stone folklore seems to have been particularly prevalent in France. Sassenage is a small town about eight kilometres west of Grenoble. It sits at the base of a mountain, Mollard Gargot, formed by a spectacular overturned anticline in late Cretaceous rocks. The limestones are cut by a famous cave system, locally renowned for yielding swallow stones, pierres d’hirondelle or pierres de Sassenage. Following a brief citation by the early sixteenth-century historian, Aymar du Rivail, the first description of any substance was by Denis Salvaing de Boissieu (1600– 83). He listed them as one of his seven wonders of the Dauphiné, claiming worldwide fame for these small stones (Boissieu 1656, 88; Boissieu 1661 quoted in Muller 2001, 16). Indeed, they were cited as such in early Victorian tourist guides, although often accompanied by a comment that the title was somewhat misleading (Starke 1828, 473). De Boisseau says they were placed under the eyelids in order to cure all manner of maladies of the eyes, and says without hesitation that even India does not possess gems as precious as these (Muller 2001, 16). Shortly afterwards, Nicolas Lemery (1645 –1715), apothecary to Louis XIV, included an entry for Lapis Sarcenagensis in the numerous editions of his highly influential Traité Universel des Drogues Simples (Universal treatise of drugs and simples), first published in 1698 (Lemery 1714, 461). He states that, when placed in the eye, the stone irritates it and combines with any filth (ordure) there and when forced out of the eye, takes the dirt with it (see also Menestrier 1701, quoted in Muller 2001, 19). Indeed, Nicolas Chorier (1612 –92), a French lawyer and historian, states that the stones have the same nature as pierres ophthalmiques—a confection of aluminium sulphate, copper, potassium nitrate, and pulverized camphor, also known as pierres divines, which were used to scarify ulcerated corneas (Chorier 1674, 11; Rivet 1803, 180). Descriptions of the pierres de Sassenages indicate that they vary from white through mottled to blue, grey, brown, or reddish in colour, with a bright, polished, glassy lustre

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and a smooth surface (Chorier 1674, 11; Lemery 1714, 461). Estimated as being about the size of a lentil and having a variety of shapes, they were first identified as being small, water-worn grains of agate (Wallerius 1753, 174; Bertrand 1763, 300; M. D. F. 1774, 253; Born 1790, 121). An alternative possibility is that these swallow stones may be fossil larger foraminifera belonging to the genus Orbitolina. These are the discoidal, calcareous skeletons of marine amoeboid protoctistans. Technically, since these are unicellular organisms, their skeletons count as microfossils. In reality, the coiled shell, divided into a series of separate chambers, may measure several centimetres across. Fossil orbitolines have been reported from the Sassenage succession (for example, Lory 1846, 62; 1861,

Figure 4. Type material of Orbitolina conoidea (Gras 1852) and Orbitolina discoidea (Gras 1852) from the Albian (Cretaceous) of Sassenage and Le Rimet, Département de l’Isère, France. Muséum d’histoire naturelle de Grenoble Collection MHNGr. PA.11145, reproduced by kind permission of Mrs Claudie Durand.

Figure 5. Nummulites gizehensis or ‘Pharaoh’s lentils’ from the Eocene rocks of Egypt and Libya (La Harpe 1883, pl. 33).


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Figure 6. Lapis chelidonius (gastropod operculae) illustrated by Lang (1708, pl. 50). Reproduced by kind permission of the Wellcome Library for the History of Medicine.

162 – 63; Gras 1848, 92). Indeed, Orbitolina discoidea was described from Aptian rocks in the Sassenage area and is a very common fossil there (Gras 1852, 52, pl. 1, Figures 7 – 9). A number of Sassenage websites make this connection.1 Certainly, the shape of these fossils (Figure 4) conforms to the descriptions of the lentil-like size and shape of the pierres de Sassenage. Orbitoline foraminiferans are very similar to the closely related but slightly younger fossil group known as the nummulites. The extended folklore of nummulite fossils includes references by Pliny and Strabo (born 64 BC ) to relatively diminutive specimens from the building stone of the Egyptian pyramids at Gizeh as being petrified lentils from the diet of the slaves who built them (Figure 5; La Harpe 1883; Casanova 1983, 9; Mayor 2000, 71, 274 and 280). Pseudo-Aristotle (dates contested) notes that specimens collected

Figure 7. Lapis chelidonius and Lapis chelidonius fossilis from Aldrovandi (1648, 792). Nos 1 and 2 are Lapis chelidonius fossilis and may be fossilized fish teeth. Nos 3 and 4 are Lapis chelidonius animalis and are probably gastropod operculae. By permission of Bologna University Library; no further reproduction without the written permission of the Library.


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Figure 8. Shih yen, or stone swallows from Kwang-si, obtained from Chinese apothecaries and described as the Devonian fossil brachiopod Spirifer disjunctus (Wright 1853, pl. 15).

from the Nile had magical as well as medicinal uses (Mayor 2000, 221 and 277). The name comes from nummulus, a dimunitive of the Latin for ‘money’; the coin-like appearance of the fossils has also led to them being identified as ‘Devil’s Gold’, ‘Angel’s Money’, or ‘Ladislau’s pennies’, after the eleventh-century king of Hungary (Thenius and Vávra 1996, 38; Gregorová 2006, 65; József, Tibor, and Voigt 2004). It is worth noting for completeness that the stones at Sassenage have a second interpretation attached to them—the larmes de Mélusine (tears of Mélusine), a water sprite. The first extensive compilation of tales regarding Mélusine was collected by Jean d’Arras in the late fourteenth century and translated into English around a century later (D’Arras 1895). The story has many versions and associated legends. Essentially, the Sassenage version is that Mélusine was condemned to a weekly transformation; every Saturday the lower half of her body was changed into that of a fish or serpent. When her husband surprised her whilst bathing, she fled into the local caves, emerging only to foretell, three years in advance, the deaths of various local lords (Babinet 1847, 49). When she was abandoned by her husband, her tears fell into the torrent of the River Furon, where they turned into stone. Some swallow stone lore was collected from Normandy by the pioneering French folklorist and correspondent of Gustav Flaubert, Amélie Bosquet (1815– 1904). She records that the swallow was believed to have the ability to find beach pebbles that could restore sight to the blind (see also Pluquet 1834, 42). The only foolproof technique for collecting the stone entailed putting out the eyes of the swallow’s young. The mother bird would then immediately go in search of the healing stone. Having applied it to the restoration of her fledgling’s sight, she would then try to fly off with the stone in order to hide and protect it. If, however, a red cloth was placed beneath the nest, the bird would mistake it for fire and drop the stone safely onto it, ready for collection (Bosquet 1845, 217; Harting 1883, 278; Swainson 1886, 51). Likewise in Brittany, stones found in swallows’ nests were deemed to be ‘sovereign cures for certain diseases of the eye’ and hired out to those who had need of them at a cost of around one sous per day (Lebour 1866, 523). Inspection of some specimens of



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Breton swallow stones by Lebour revealed that they were actually exotic gastropod opercula—the calcareous plates used to seal the aperture in many marine and freshwater snails. Although Lebour suggests that ‘they must have been brought there from some distant shore in the swallow’s stomach’, it is equally possible that they were imported and passed down through the family. Indeed, the French anthropologist Guyot-Daubès cites just such a practice in the late nineteenth century, the individual stones being revered as ‘extremely precious’, even though their origins had lapsed into obscurity with the passing generations (Guyot-Daubès 1885, 6). A similar identification was noticed even earlier by Carl Nicolas Lang (1670 – 1741), a Lucerne physician and avid geological collector whose cabinet formed his ‘Museum Lucernense Langianum’, and by Michele Mercati (1541 –93), Roman physician and Prefect of the Vatican Botanical Gardens under Pope Pius V (Lang 1708, pl. 50; Mercati 1719, 183; Figure 6). Ole Worm (Olaus Wormius, 1588– 1655), personal physician to Christian IV of Denmark, antiquary and avid collector of curiosities, notes that the Lapilli Chelidonii of Malta were thought to be the valves of very small shells of the size and aspect of ‘marine navels’; but he adds that he believes such views to be neither justifiable nor reasonable (Worm 1655, 72). Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522 – 1605), an influential naturalist at Bologna and founder of the famous botanic garden there, also published illustrations of swallow stones (Aldrovandi 1648, 791). Those collected directly from swallows are small hemispherical objects with a central concavity. Alongside them, he shows specimens of the slightly larger, but otherwise closely similar Lapis chelidonius fossilis (Figure 7). From the name alone, these items must have been obtained from the ground. Aldrovandi is credited with coining the word ‘geology’ and built up an extensive collection that included many fossils (Vai and Cavazza 2003). It is possible that the specimens illustrated by Aldrovandi are fossilized fish teeth belonging to a durophagous (crushing) dentition such as those found in the numerous pycnodonts known from Italian rocks. During the French Renaissance, Remy Belleau (1528– 77) was one of the young revolutionary poets belonging to the group known as La Pléiade. His final work, first published in 1576, was a collection of poems arranged in the style of a medieval lapidary, and featured the pierre d’arondelle. The swallow is characterized as the ‘messenger of the strong and new spring’. The stone itself is ‘a nasty, pitiful treasure’, although ‘Its ugliness and smallness/ Do not compromise/ Its strength and its value’ (Verdier 1973, 208 – 209). Belleau manages to incorporate a wide range of applications of the stone in his text, all based upon those listed by classical and medieval authors (see below), and even claiming it as a source of victory in wars against the Arabs and Medois. His conclusion is: Who will possess you, swallow stone? It will be you, trusted keeper Of honour and chastity: Because you possess in yourself extremes Of virtue and even graces On which you have built your happiness. (Verdier 1973, 211. Translation by Catherine Casset.)

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A Modern Perspective The various elements of stone collection can now be considered in the light of current ornithological knowledge. The chronology is quite appropriate in respect of the reproductive biology of the swallow, which generally arrives in Europe during May from their period of overwintering in the southern hemisphere. There is enormous latitudinal variation in the timing of breeding, however. Egg-laying may begin during early March in Spain, but may not start in Norway until late June (A. Møller, pers. comm.). A clutch of four to five eggs is typical, and two broods may be produced in a single season. The eggs hatch after up to nineteen days of incubation and the fledglings spend up to twenty-two days in the nest before they disperse. Primarily insectivorous, barn swallows nevertheless eat grit in order to help deal with insect exoskeletons in the crop. There are records of parents feeding their chicks with small pieces of snail shell or chalk obtained from walls in order to provide the necessary gastroliths, with the additional benefit of supplying supplementary calcium during a period of rapid growth (A. Møller, pers. comm.). The discovery of gastropod opercula in nestling swallows by earlier authors is therefore by no means impossible. Medicinal Applications Pliny introduces the idea that, tied to the left arm, the swallow stone is most useful in treating patients with epilepsy. The alternatives (eating the first swallow hatchling at the initial onset of symptoms or, in the case of later treatment, eating fresh swallow heart or swallow’s blood mixed with frankincense) paled to insignificance by comparison (Bostock and Riley 1856, 5: 451). Alexander of Tralles (c. 525 –c. 605), a Lydian town in the ancient kingdom of Asia Minor and now part of Turkey, following Pliny, included swallow stones in his list of medicines effective in cases of epilepsy (Alexander of Tralles 1549, 65). This approach was also supported by Dioscorides, Albertus Magnus, and by a number of later authors for what they usually called the ‘falling sickness’ (Gunther 1968, 105; Wyckoff 1967, 79; Bright 1580, 37; Lupton 1627, 96; Bandy and Bandy 1955, 146; Leonardus 1750, 81; and the Sloane lapidary). Laevinus Lemnius and Joannes de Mey both explain that this cure is accomplished by the stone drying up and eliminating the ‘viscous and clammy moisture’ and ‘tenacious humours’ that cause the disease (Lemnius 1658, 138; Mey 1652, 281). The stone is also claimed to have extensive powers for healing the mind. Damigeron, Arnold of Saxony, Albertus Magnus, Marbode, Anglicus, the Aberdeen Bestiary and the Sloane lapidary all report that the red stone heals lunatics and the depressed (Tahil 1989, 20; Stange 1905, 70; King 1860, 400; Aberdeen Bestiary, fol. 102r; Wyckoff 1967, 79; Anglicus 1483, bk 12, chap. 21; Batman 1582, 185; Evans 1932, 124; see also Caesius 1636, 527; Jonstonus 1661, 162; Evans 1932, 52; and the Sloane lapidary). The Middle English lapidary sums up the benefit as the stone ‘is moche werth tyll them þat ben owte of theyre witte & for hem that lye in langowus’ (MS Eng. Misc. e.558; Zettersten 1968, 30). ‘Lunatick passion’ is the term often applied to these conditions. Presumably, the fact that the stone should be collected during a waxing moon was thought to endow it with the sympathetic magic appropriate to treat madness. The Leiden Leechbook recommends Chelidonius for ‘pains, however old and persistent’, while the Leechbook of Bald indicates that they are good for headache, a malady for which



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specimens collected by Bellucci were also used (Falileyev and Owen 2005, 15; Cockayne 1864, 2: 307; Bellucci 1889, 50; Wilson 1891, 146; Bonser 1963, 344). This source also recommends the stone for use against occult interference, being good ‘for the fiends temptations, and for night goblin visitors, . . . and for the night mare, and for knot, and for fascination, and for evil enchantments by song’ (Cockayne 1864, 2: 307). The Aberdeen Bestiary reinforces this belief, stating that Chelidonius heals the demon-possessed, whilst John Jonston says that it is ‘good against fantastick thoughts (Johnstonus 1657, 116). The Alfonsine lapidary proclaims instant healing for those possessed by the devil, if the stone is hung about the neck in a calfskin pouch suspended by a red silk thread, but gives the warning that ‘this virtue does not work if the two stones [from the belly of the chick] are not together, or if they did not come from a male chick’ (Bahler and Gatto 1997, 81). It was also said by many authors to cure a range of ocular diseases. In some cases the comments are fairly generic, such as preserving eyesight, although Bartholomaeus Anglicus, the Middle English lapidary, Sloane lapidary, and North London lapidary all specify its use in cases of sore eyes (Wilson 1891, 146; Anglicus 1483, bk 12, chap. 21; Batman 1582, 185; Zettersten 1968, 30; Evans 1932, 52). Leonardus recommends it for ‘Distempers of the eyes’, while the Peterborough lapidary proclaims that with it ‘Your eyes will be made whole’ (Leonardus 1750, 81; Evans 1932, 81). Albertus Magnus introduces confusion with some rather contradictory remarks; having said it cures the eyes, he also makes the comment that it dims the sight (Best and Brightman 1973, 37; Wyckoff 1967, 79). Damigeron and the Peterborough lapidary both recommend that the stone be ground to a powder, and the eyes washed or even rubbed with a suspension of the grit in water. Leonardus states that the stone should be ‘bruised to Pieces in Water, and made into a Pellet’ (Leonardus 1750, 81). The Alfonsine lapidary gives the most extensive account: When they are pulverized in a gold mortar with a gold pestle, and well-ground powder is placed in the eyes of a person whose eyes are not clear due to the water trapped in them, it will greatly improve his vision, and if he uses the powder regularly, he will be cured. (Bahler and Gatto 1997, 81)

The stone was also commended for removing dust from the surface of the eye (Gabelkover 1694, 96). The most recent account of these stones being used to remove foreign objects from the eye is given by Guyot-Daubès. After describing a similar application of coins and small silver batons, he goes on to explain that the pierre d’hirondelle, somewhere in size between that of a lentil and a chickpea, was inserted into the corner of the eye. Sticking to the globe of the eyeball, it disappeared under the eyelid, bringing about immediate pain relief. Being lubricated by tears that moved between the stone and the eye surface by capillarity, the cure was apparently completely painless, and the stone removed for use on another occasion (Guyot-Daubès 1885, 7).2 GuyotDaubès’s paper elicited several written responses to the editor of the journal agreeing with the author and adding that some specimens of swallow stones could be identified as yeux d’écrivisses—‘crabs’ eyes’, or oculi cancrorum, small calcareous gastroliths formed in astacid crayfish and shed during their summer moult in July and August (Steiner 1885, 46; Reeb 1885, 46). These structures were a popular ingredient in a range of medicines, and often used in the treatment of pleurisy, asthma, bladder stones, and colic (J. D. 1957, 57; Duffin 2010, 27).


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Other authorities are content to apply the water in which the stone has been steeped to the washing of the eyes. Once again, Albertus Magnus stands apart, commanding that the stone be wrapped in the leaves of the greater celandine (Chelidonium majus), which was also known as the swallow wort (see also Sloane lapidary, and Stange 1905, 70). This association comes from Pliny: ‘The swallow has shown us that the chelidonia [celandine] is very serviceable to the sight, by the fact of its employing it for the cure of its young, when their eyes are affected’ (Bostock and Riley 1855, 2: 292; see also Aelianus 1562, 86). As a consequence, the boiled juice of the plant was mixed with honey and applied to the eyes as a salve (Pliny, bk 25, chaps 50 and 91 in Bostock and Riley 1856, 5: 114 and 136). John Gerard (1545– 1612) refers to the celandine in his Great Herball, first published in 1597: ‘The juice of the herbe is good to sharpen the sight, for it cleanseth and consumeth away slimie things that cleave about the ball of the eye’ (Woodward 1927, 247). Nicolas Culpeper (1616 – 54) asks a perfectly reasonable question in his English Physitian: ‘is not this far better than endangering the eyes by the art of the needle?’ (Culpeper 1652, 29). In addition to the above, a series of other afflictions and diseases was said to be cured by the swallow stone, including quartan, quotidian, tertian, and daily fevers (mostly varieties of malaria), tumours, typhus, intransigent sicknesses and diseases, sleeping or forgetful sickness, persistent sores, ‘wrappe’, ‘periodical disorders’, and jaundice (Tahil 1989, 20; Stange 1905, 70; King 1860, 400; Cockayne 1864, 2: 307; Aberdeen Bestiary, fol. 102r; Wyckoff 1967, 79; Best and Brightman 1973, 37; Anglicus 1483, bk 12, chap. 21; Beauvais 1468, bk 9, chap. 53; Batman 1582, 185; Evans 1932, 31, 52, 59, 81 and 124; Caesius 1636, 527; Leonardus 1750, 81). The Peterborough Lapidary comments that ‘yf a woman be trauelyng of a child, by ye vertu of this ston sche schall be delyuerrd with gret peyne of her body, & ye child this ston may towche ne dieth’ (Evans 1932, 81). The stone seems to have been effective in that it ‘puttith away fleme & restraineth þe humours þat that be noyous & contrarious to a mannys body’ (Zettersten 1968, 30). Indeed, Petrus Bonus Avogarius (also known as Avogadri, fl. 1445– 1506), professor of medicine (and later, astrology) at Ferrara University, cited this principle in writing to his imperial Medici ruler, Lorenzo Il Magnifico (1445 –92). In a letter dated 11 February 1488, he recommends that Lorenzo should wear a sapphire ring on the third finger of the left hand in order to alleviate pains from gout, ‘because that stone has occult virtues and the specific one of preventing evil humours going to the joints’ (Cameron 1964, 589). He adds the caveat, however, that: in the summer during August, I will find celandine, which is a red stone that grows in the stomach of the swallow. I will send it to your Magnificence to be tied in a piece of linen and sewn in your shirt under the left breast at the nipple. This will have the same effect as the sapphire. (White 2000, 48)

Apart from its ophthalmological application, the swallow stone seems to have largely been amuletic. Many authors follow Damigeron in recommending that it should be wrapped in a clean linen cloth and tied around the left arm (Tahil 1989, 20). Few take up his comment that the stone works within three days of its application; indeed, Pliny assures his readers that it ‘will relieve the patient the moment it is applied’ (Bostock and Riley 1855, 2: 292). Some authors indicate that the colour of the cloth is important; Damigeron and Leonardus state that the cloth should be yellow, the Middle English and Sloane lapidaries recommend that it be dyed green, while the Peterborough and Sloane



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lapidaries give instructions to ‘bynde this ston in a red sendell clowte’ (Tahil 1989, 20; Leonardus 1750, 81; Zettersten 1968, 30; Evans 1932, 81). The precise nature of the wrapping material showed some variation. Dioscorides states that the stone should be enclosed ‘in an heyfer’s or hart’s skinne before they touch the ground’, while others recommend the use of calfskin or other leather (Wyckoff 1967, 79; Best and Brightman 1973, 37; Leonardus 1750, 81). The Aberdeen Bestiary suggests that the stone be moistened with saffron before being wrapped in the cloth, while Vincent de Beauvais suggests that the cloth be ‘tinted with crocus’ (Beauvais 1468, bk 9, chap. 53). The London lapidary recommends that it be wrapped up together with the sacraments, presumably for greater efficacy (Evans 1932, 31). Likewise, the exact place of attachment to the body was open to interpretation. Whilst tying it to the left arm was favoured, some authorities recommend that it be placed in the armpit, while others allowed it to hang on the left side of the body (Wyckoff 1967, 79; Best and Brightman 1973, 37). Agricola recommended that it be hung about the neck, especially of young boys, while Leonardus suggested that it be tied in that position with a yellow cloth (Bandy and Bandy 1955, 146; Lupton 1627, 96; Leonardus 1750, 81). In a break from tradition, Jonstonus said it should be applied to the right arm, whilst the Middle English lapidary was content with it being carried in a purse, at least in terms of helping the bearer to maintain his high level of personal probity (Jonstonus 1657, 116; Zettersten 1968, 30). Much as is the case with Alectorius, Chelidonius has numerous supposed personal, non-medical benefits associated with it. The details of these records are given in Table 2, but they can be summarized as bringing eloquence, a pleasing and agreeable personality, assistance in turning away wrath and anger (especially from nobility), and the persistence needed to bring plans to a successful conclusion. I have been unable to trace any specimens of swallow stones in museum collections or surviving materia medica cabinets. It is obvious, however, that some sort of medical trade in this item took place, as a seventeenth-century Aberdonian apothecary lists them as being for sale at two shillings per grain (just less than sixty-four milligrams), equivalent to around £27,000 per gram today (using average earnings as an index) (Gordon 1625, 16). Chinese Folklore Stone swallows, or shih-yen, are part of Chinese folklore and have been incorporated into the Chinese materia medica (Needham 1959; Oakley 1965, 9 – 16 and 117 – 25; 1978, 208 – 40 and 276– 81; 1985, xi– 99; Duffin 2008, 21). A fifth-century writer, Li Tao-Yuan, quoting the author Lo Han from a century earlier, writes in his Shui Ching Chu (Commentary on the waterways classic): In Shih-Yen Shan there are a sort of stone oysters which look like swallows. Hence the name of the mountain. During thunderstorms, these stone ‘swallows’ fly about as if they were real swallows. (Needham 1959, 615)

The idea of stone swallows taking off from mountainsides and flying through thunderstorms was tested by Tu Wan in 1133. He observed in his Yün Lin Shih Phu (Cloud forest lapidary) that movement through the air was the consequence of downslope movement of stones loosened by the everyday processes of weathering (Needham 1959, 616).

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Table 2. Swallow stone personal qualities. Benefit

Authority

Makes people friendly, rich, pleasant, agreeable Brings a happy outcome to all business ventures Abnility to resist the anger and threats of kings and rulers Will win everyone’s praise, and lead all to accept his authority, for he will be honest with them With force persuasive orators they arm And grace the hearts of multitudes to charm And bring thy measures to the wished for end It blunts the threats and cools the ire of kings Makes a man eloquent and loved Helps to bring things to completion Offers protection against the threats and rages of kings and princes Maketh a man kind and pleasing Makes a man eloquent, acceptable and pleasant Turns away wrath Bringeth the business begun to an end Makes one eloquent and pleasing and agreeable Acts against angry threats Brings to a conclusion any business that is undertaken She makeþ a man wyly and well avised in wordis and pleasyng to many She shall helpe hym to the ende þat he begynnyth Woll helpe moche a man þat is maneshed of wrath and of angur It makes him well spoken of and beloved of men (popular). It shall help him do great things Helps against the menaces of Kings and Princes Brings journeys to a good end Makes people kind and pleasing Makes the bearer fair speaking and pleasant Brings many needs to a good end Makes the wrath of kings pass away He schal not be sclaw He schal be a feyr speker He schal be loued of all men It maketh a man full wyse in speech and wel beloved It helpeth to end a mans work he hath begun It helpeth greatly for menacing and for threatening of ye people, from wrath of a king, lors and ladies. It maketh a man kinde and pleasing Acts against wrath Maketh a man pleasant and gracious Against Angar treatenings & such It renders those who wear it eloquent and acceptable Conducts Affairs undertaken to a happy Issue Quells Anger Makes the Bearer of it agreeable and pleasant Appeases the Wrath of Masters

Damigeron (1st Century) Damigeron (1st Century) Damigeron (1st Century) Damigeron (1st Century) Marbode (11th century) Marbode (11th century) Marbode (11th century) Marbode (11th century) Aberdeen Bestiary (circa 1200) Aberdeen Bestiary (circa 1200) Aberdeen Bestiary (circa 1200) Anglicus (1240) Albertus Magnus (1250 De Secretis) Albertus Magnus (1250 De Secretis) Albertus Magnus (1250 De Secretis) Albertus Magnus (1262 De Mineralibus) Albertus Magnus (1262 De Mineralibus) Albertus Magnus (1262 De Mineralibus) Middle English Lapidary Middle English Lapidary Middle English Lapidary London Lapidary London Lapidary London Lapidary Ashmole Lapidary Ashmole Lapidary North London Lapidary North London Lapidary North London Lapidary Peterborough Lapidary Peterborough Lapidary Peterborough Lapidary Sloane Lapidary Sloane Lapidary Sloane Lapidary Batman 1582 Batman 1583 Sloane 2539 Sloane 2539 Leonardus 1750 Leonardus 1750 Leonardus 1750 Leonardus 1750 Leonardus 1750

Li Tao-Yuan’s comment that shih-yen were stone oysters was quite perspicacious. Specimens purchased from various Chinese apothecary shops during Victorian times were identified as Devonian and Carboniferous spiriferid brachiopods (‘lamp shells’).


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These fossils have distinctive wing-like shells because of their elongate hinge areas. Indeed, for a long time Chinese apothecary outlets were prime sources of scientific specimens, which were duly described and named (Figure 8; Wright 1853). Incorporated into pharmacopoeia from the seventh century onwards, these fossils were often dissolved in vinegar and then administered in cases of rheumatism, skin diseases, and arthritis (Duffin 2008, 21).


Conclusions The swallow stone is a good example of a fabulous stone whose existence has some factual basis. With written accounts dating from classical to early modern times, the stone has variously been suggested as being identified as gastropod opercula, the calcareous gastroliths of freshwater crayfish, fossil fish teeth, orbitoline foraminifera, and small clasts of agate. The subject of an extensive medical folklore, the stone was believed to be effective in the treatment of epilepsy, mental disorders, various fevers, and other afflictions. Medieval texts often identified its ability to protect against various occult activities. It is with a range of ocular disorders that the stone is most commonly associated, however, in keeping with contemporary beliefs regarding the behaviour of parent swallows in preserving the eyesight of their nestlings. The ‘stone swallows’ of Chinese folk medicine were used to treat rheumatism, arthritis, and disorders of the skin. As with many other fabulous stones, the earliest accounts of the swallow stone took on a burgeoning authority that was little questioned until the more empirical approaches of the Enlightenment. Vestiges of swallow stone folklore were most persistent in France, where they were revered well into the nineteenth century. Acknowledgements Renzo Console kindly helped with some of the early Latin texts, and Catherine Casset translated Belleau’s poetry for me. The British Library, the Geological Society of London, and the Wellcome Library kindly gave access to the many volumes consulted during the preparation of this paper. I am grateful to Dr Anders Pape Møller (Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris), Mrs Claudie Durand (Curator, Muséum d’histoire naturelle de Grenoble) and Dr Romain Vullo (Université de Rennes) for their helpful correspondence. Comments from Adrienne Mayor (Stanford University) and an anonymous second reviewer were very helpful. Notes 1

For example: http://jean.louis.negre.free.fr/03_Vercors/_Falaises%20Gerbier/2006_11_26_Falaises% 20Gerbier_V1.pdf (accessed 6 April 2010).

2

Guyot-Daubès (1885, 6 – 7): ‘on la posait sur le coin de la paupiére et sitôt qu’elle était en contact avec les larmes, elle se collait sur le globe de l’oeil et disparaissait sous la paupière. La douleur occasionée par le petit corps étranger cessait instantanément et cela à la joie et à l’ètonnement de la personne qui essayait pour la première fois se singulier remède. La pierre d’hirondelle, malgré son volume, malgré l’anfractuosité de sa surface, n’occasionnait celle-même aucune gène, aucune douleur’.

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Biographical Note A geologist by training, Chris Duffin gained a PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy at University College London in 1980. His mainstream research is on fossil fishes, particularly sharks; he is co-author of the Palaeozoic sharks volume of the Handbook of Paleoichthyology (Verlag Dr Friedrich Pfeil, 2010). A passionate interest in the folklore of geological materials, particularly their use in folk medicine from classical to early modern times, is currently threatening to take over his life. Working as a school teacher, he is Head of Biology, Head of Critical Thinking, and Senior Master at Streatham and Clapham High School.