Book on Fossil Objects, Stones, and Gems

On the shapes of stones, etc.

B8

...arising from nature, which, he says, maintains the number and proportion of parts just as in the leaves and fruits of plants. He believes that this very fact possesses some peculiar power original: vim; in Renaissance natural history, "virtue" or "power" often referred to the inherent medicinal or magical properties of a substance. and signifies something. And a little later: Of those images which nature presents, some are like figures of substance and form; others are like paintings. Truly, whatever things take the place of form also occur by chance, but not in all instances. Therefore, those which are not always found in the same stones, but rarely and by chance—generated just as they are in the clouds—possess no power. Such were the "Apes" original: Simiae; likely a reference to accidental markings or dendrites that resembled the shapes of monkeys. found in Alabandic stone original: Alabandicus lapis; a dark red or blackish gemstone, often identified as a variety of garnet or manganese ore named after Alabanda in Caria. at Freiberg Freiberg was a major mining town in Saxony, Germany.; and another of the same kind which had a small red shield surrounded by four lines, of which the first and third were white, and the second and fourth were red. At Annaberg Another significant Saxon mining town., another Alabandic stone had the shape of a cross: but this was a geometric form rather than an intentional image. Thus he [Stella] wrote, having certainly borrowed these things from the books of Georgius Agricola Georgius Agricola (1494–1555) is often called the "father of mineralogy." His works, such as De Natura Fossilium, were foundational for Gesner..