Toadstone! A Witchy Wednesday article.

 

Toadstones, also know as bufonite, are mythical stones that were thought to be found inside the head of a toad. They were believed to sweat, change colour or even heat up in the presence of poison. It was thought that a toadstone placed on bites from snakes, insects, spiders and shrews would extract poison from the wound.

Image from The Hortus Sanitatis.

15th-century illustration showing the setting of a toadstone into a ring to use as a talisman for protection against poison. From the Hortus Sanitatis.

William Shakespeare referred to toadstones in As You Like It.

Sweet are the uses of adversity, which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head; and this our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in every thing.”

William Shakespeare As you like it Act 2, Scene 1.

So what are toadstones?

Toadstones are actually the fossilised teeth of Lepidotes, an extinct type of fish common in the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods, 200 to 100 million years ago. 

'Toadstones' which are actually teeth from a Lepidote.
Image from Wikipedia. 

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