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Toadstone
The toadstone, also known as bufonite, is a mythical stone or gem that was thought to be found in the head of a toad. It was supposed to be an antidote to poison and in this it is not unlike Batrachite, supposedly formed in the heads of frogs. Toadstones were actually the button like fossilized teeth of ''Lepidotes'', an extinct genus of ray-finned fish from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. They appeared to be "stones that are perfect in form" and were set by European jewellers into magical rings and amulets from Medieval times up until the 18th century.
==Beliefs==
From ancient times people associated the fossils with jewels that were set inside the heads of toads. The toad has poison glands in its skin, so it was naturally assumed that they carried their own antidote and that this took the form of a magical stone. They were first recorded by Pliny the Elder in the first century.〔
According to Paul Taylor of the English Natural History Museum:
The true toadstone was taken by contemporary jewellers to be no bigger than the nail of a hand and they varied in colour from a whitish brown through green to black, depending on where they were buried.〔Thomas Nicols (1652). Lapidary, or, the History of Pretious Stones. Part ii, chapter xxxvi, pp.158-159.〕 They were supposed to be most effective against poison when worn against the skin, on which occasion they were thought to heat up, sweat and change colour.〔Daniel Widdowes alias Woodhouse (1631). Naturall Philosophy: Or Description of the World, and of the Severall Creatures therein contained. Second Edition, corrected and enlarged.〕 If a person was bitten by a venomous creature a toadstone would be touched against the affected part to effect a cure.〔Thomas Lupton (1576). A Thousand Notable Things, Of Sundry Sortes.〕 Loose toadstones were discovered amongst other gemstones in the Elizabethan Cheapside Hoard and there are surviving toadstone rings in the Ashmolean and the British museum.
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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