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Lapides Judaici

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(Jewish Stones). In the chalky beds which surround in some parts the summit of Mount Carmel are found numerous hollow stones, lined in the inside with a variety of sparry matter, which, from some distant resemblance, are supposed by the natives to be petrified olives, melons, peaches, and other fruit. These are considered not only as curiosities, but as antidotes against several diseases. Those which bear some resemblance to the olive have been designated Lapides Judaici, otherwise "Elijah's Melons," and are superstitiously regarded as an infallible remedy for stone and gravel when dissolved in the juice of lemons. Those supposed petrified fruits are, however, as Dr. Shaw states, only so many different-sized flint- stones, beautified within by sparry and stalagmitical knobs, which are fancifully taken for seeds and kernels. (See CARMEL).