[ 27 ]
XI. The greateſt, however, and moſt wonderful of all the Qualities of Stones is that (if the Accounts of it are true) of thoſe which bring forth young[1].
- ↑ This is one of the many Paſſages for which this excellent Author has been cenſured by Perſons who had never ſufficiently ſtudied, or, perhaps, even read him (as I hope to prove has been the general Caſe in the Accuſations to which he has been ſubject) and this has been as much miſunderſtood and miſrepreſented as any one of them all.
Pliny has given a Handle to the Accuſations of him, in this Place, by ſaying, that he and Mutianus believed there were Stones which brought forth young. Idem Theophraſtus et Mutianus eſſe aliquos lapides qui pariant credunt. This has been a ſufficient Source of Cenſures on the Author: moſt of thoſe who quote, or mention him, never having given themſelves the Trouble of learning any Thing more of him than what Pliny has told them; as this, and many other Paſſages, frequently quoted from him, to be hereafter conſidered, will abundantly prove: But, with Pliny's Leave, I muſt obſerve, that I find no Reaſon here to imagine, that Theophraſtus ever believed any ſuch Thing. He mentions it, on the contrary, as a Thing which he did not believe; but which, as it was generally reputed true, and a very remarkable Property of a Stone, he could not avoid mentioning in a Place where he was profeſſedly writing on that Subject. He would not however let it paſs, even though he did allow it a Place, without frankly expreſſing his own Suſpicion that it was but an idle and groundleſs Story.
The Stone meant is the Ætites, or Eagle Stone; the Ætites Aquilinus. Linn. Ætites, ſeu Aquilinus Lapis, Worm. 77. Charlt. 31. Lapis Ætites, Boet. 375. De Laet. 114. Æti-
turned to Stone; without regard to their different Configuration of Pores or Parts.
The Place where this Stone was dug was near Aſſos, a City in Lycia, from whence it had its Name; and Boetius informs us, that in that Country, and in ſome Parts of the Eaſt, there were alſo Stones of this Kind, which, if tied to the Bodies of living Perſons, would, in the ſame Manner, conſume their Fleſh.
The Stones mentioned next, as having an attractive Power, are the Load-ſtone, &c. but as theſe and the Lapis Lydius are hereafter deſcribed more at large by the Author, I ſhall reſerve to that Place what I have to add in regard to them.
