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Abstract
Alectorius is the name given to a stone derived from the gizzard of a cock or capon. In a folklore pedigree extending from the first century to the middle of the eighteenth century, it was recommended for slaking thirst, conferring invincibility, promoting desirable personal qualities and for treating a range of conditions.
Introduction
A number of stones held in high esteem throughout the Middle Ages for their amuletic, prophylactic and curative powers were believed to be generated in the bodies of living organisms. Thus, there were the Hyaenia (produced in the eye of the Hyaena), Dracontites from the brain of the dragon, Bufonites from the head of the toad, Kenne from the tears of the stag, Cinaedia in the skull of various fishes (Duffin 2007), and many others. One particular stone with an extensive bibliographic and historical pedigree was Alectorius, the Cock's Stone or Capon Stone, the name of which is derived from alektor the Greek term for a cockerel or rooster. The varied etymology of this stone is summarised in Table 1.
The first stop for anyone interested in the roots of the folklore connected with animals, plants, minerals and "figured stones" is the thirty-seven-volume encyclopaedic compendium of Gaius Plinius secundus (A.D. 23-79) entitled simply "Natural History." The most commonly used parallel Latin and English modern edition of this work runs to ten volumes. Pliny was a successful Roman official and a high ranking officer, who retired at the age of fifty-two years so that he could spend more time on literature and science. A prodigious and efficient worker, Pliny habitually arose shortly after midnight to apply himself to his interests before completing his daytime duties for the Emperor Vespasian (A.D. 9-79). Pliny's hours of relaxation at the baths, at mealtimes, or merely sitting in the sun, inevitably involved being read aloud to by a secretary from the works of ancient and contemporary authors, while he made or dictated notes. He was apparently fond of saying that there was no book so bad that some good could not be got out of it (Letters of the Younger Pliny, Book HI, 5 "To Baebius macer"; Radice 1963, 89).
Pliny's Natural History has an internal structure, although parts could be characterised as the interested...