ety of
trap-rock. It was believed to have most sovereign virtues against poison
if pounded and drank, and, like the turquoise, to give warning of its
presence by a change of colour, when simply worn in a ring. It was
believed to exist in the head of the toad. Fenton, writing in 1569,
says, "There is found in the heads of old and great toads a stone which
they call borax or stelon; it is most commonly found in the head of a
he-toad." It was not easily attained, for the toad "envieth so much that
man should have that stone," says old Lupton, in his "Thousand Notable
Things." Hence came a true test for such stones, according to the same
credulous author, who thus enlightens us:--"To know whether the
toad-stone called _crapaudina_ be the right and perfect stone or not,
holde the stone before a toad so that he may see it, and if it be a
right and true stone, the toad will leap toward it, and make as though
he would snatch it from you." It should be obtained, says a mediaeval
author, while the toad is living, and this is to be done by simply
placing him upon a piece of scarlet cloth, "wherewithal they are much
delighted, so that while they stretch out themselves as it were in sport
upon that cloth, they cast out the stone of their head, but instantly
they sup it up again, unless it be taken from them through some secret
hole in the same cloth."[117-*]

[Illustration: Fig. 138.]

[Illustration: Fig. 139.]

[Illustration: Fig. 140.]

Lupton, whom we have just quoted, tells us of "a rare good way to get
the stone out of the toad," which has the advantage of greater
simplicity. It is to be done thus:--"Put a great or overgrown toad
(first bruised in divers places) into an earthen pot; put the same into
an ants' hillocke, and cover the same with earth, which toad at length
the ants will eat, so that the bones of the toad and stone will be left
in the pot." Boethius relates how he watched a whole night an old toad
he had laid on a red cloth to see him cast forth the stone, but the
tedious watch was not rewarded; the toad retained his jewel, and he had
nothing from thence to "gratify the great pangs of his whole night's
restlessness."

The Londesborough collection supplies us with two remarkable specimens
of rings connected with toad superstition. Fig. 138 is of mixed metal
gilt, having upon it the figure of a toad swallowing a serpent. There is
a mediaeval story of a necromancer introducing himself to another
professor of ma