anged it at the cathedral for "sacrament money," out of which
he made a ring. If this ring was worn by the afflicted person,
the seizures were said to cease.

The superstition concerning the jewel in the toad's head was a
strangely persistent one: it is difficult to imagine what real
foundation there could ever have been for the idea. An old writer
gives directions for getting this stone, which the toad in his life
time seems to have guarded most carefully. "A rare good way to get
the stone out of a toad," he says, "is to put a... toad... into
an earthen pot: put the same into an ant's hillocke, and cover
the same with earth, which toad... the ants will eat, so that the
bones... and stone will be left in the pot." Boethius once stayed
up all night watching a toad in the hope that it might relinquish
its treasure; but he complained that nothing resulted "to gratify
the great pangs of his whole night's restlessness."

An old Irish legend says that "the stone Adamant in the land of
India grows no colder in any wind or snow or ice; there is no heat
in it under burning sods" (this is such an Hibernian touch! The
peat fuel was the Celtic idea of a heating system), "nothing is
broken from it by striking of axes and hammers; there is one thing
only breaks that stone, the blood of the Lamb at the Mass; and
every king that has taken that stone in his right hand before going
into battle, has always gained the victory." There is also a
superstition regarding the stone Hibien, which is said to flame
like a fiery candle in the darkness, "it spills out poison before
it in a vessel; every snake that comes near to it or crosses it
dies on the moment." Another stone revered in Irish legend is the
Stone of Istien, which is found "in the brains of dragons after
their deaths," and a still more capable jewel seems to be the Stone
of Fanes, within which it is claimed that the sun, moon, and twelve
stars are to be seen. "In the hearts of the dragons it is always
found that make their journey under the sea. No one having it in
his hand can tell any lie until he has put it from him; no race or
army could bring it into a house where there is one that has made
way with his father. At the hour of matins it gives out sweet music
that there is not the like of under heaven."

Bartholomew, the mediaeval scientist, tells narratives of the magical
action of the sapphire. "The sapphire is a precious stone," he
says, "and is blue in colour, most like t