Page 50 - Hrobat Virloget, Katja, et al., eds. (2015). Stone narratives: heritage, mobility, performance. University of Primorska Press, Koper.
P. 50
stone narratives
try’ (both alchemy and chemistry) which includes laboratory experimentation and me-
thodical observation. The questions he asks are the questions of emerging modern natu-
ral science. Ficino, on the other hand, is entirely speculative-minded and is an enemy of the
material world. He proceeds from an organicist metaphor of a common soul of the Earth
which animates everything. There are also individual souls possessed by animals and hu-
mans. »Many animals exist on the earth that have their own souls distinct from the com-
mon soul of the earth. For they move locally as the earth does not; they remain alive even
when they are not in contact with the earth, which stones and plants (deriving life as they
do from the soul of the earth, not from their own soul) do not do...« (Ficino, 2001, p.
265). Stones and plants, on the contrary, depend entirely on the common soul of the earth:
»Stones grow too like its teeth, and plants like hairs as long as they are attached by the
roots; but as soon as they are pulled up or torn out of the earth, they stop growing.« (2001,
p. 249)
Enter ethnography
Ethnographers and folklorists have reported beliefs about growing and multiplying stones
from different continents. On the beach of Punalua on the Big Island of Hawaii, »The
black, smooth pebbles found here are famous throughout the Islands on account of their
supposed power of self-propagation. The Hawaiians distinguish between male and female
stones, the latter having smaller pebble enclosed in their cavities. These smaller ones, ac-
cording to the persistent belief, became detached from the parent stone, and later on grow
to full size and in their turn give birth to pebbles.« (Kinney, 1913, p. 71) In the same vein,
folklorist Martha Beckwith claimed that porous pebbles, found on the nearby beach of
Koloa on the same island, »were supposed to grow from a tiny pebble to a good-sized rock
and to reproduce themselves if watered once a week« (Beckwith, 1970, p. 88). In anoth-
er book, Beckwith also reported that a native child from a well-educated family, when
asked »Where else did all the stones come from?«, displayed a »box of so-called ‘breed-
ing stones’« and offered his assurance that they would »produce young« (Beckwith, 1972,
p. 56).
That stones not only grow when it rains but also breed, is what is today claimed for
the trovant stones from the village of Costesti in southern Romania. These astonishing ro-
tund forms, reminiscent of the champignons and put under the tutelage of UNESCO, are
advertised by a web page as following:
It is known that the (sic) upon being exposed to water, the side of a Trovant swells up and starts
growing. When the swollen part reaches a certain weight, it breaks off. However, the interest-
ing fact is that the structure of this newborn Trovant is very similar to the parent rock, and the
newborn will have their own nucleus. This process is reminiscent of budding – the reproduction
mechanism of some unicellular organisms. This makes the scientists wonder whether Trovants
might be an unknown to mankind inorganic form of life.4
Also the villagers of Blaxhall in Suffolk possess a stone that grows. This erratic sand-
stone, weighing 5 tons, is known as Blaxhall Stone. In the mid-twentieth century, folklor-
ist George Ewart Evans reported that the villagers, especially the elders unwilling to accept
the verdict of geologists, claimed that their stone was turned up by a ploughman more than a
4 Http://tripfreakz.com/offthebeatenpath/trovants-the-living-rocks-of-romania. Accessed: 3 April 2015.
48
try’ (both alchemy and chemistry) which includes laboratory experimentation and me-
thodical observation. The questions he asks are the questions of emerging modern natu-
ral science. Ficino, on the other hand, is entirely speculative-minded and is an enemy of the
material world. He proceeds from an organicist metaphor of a common soul of the Earth
which animates everything. There are also individual souls possessed by animals and hu-
mans. »Many animals exist on the earth that have their own souls distinct from the com-
mon soul of the earth. For they move locally as the earth does not; they remain alive even
when they are not in contact with the earth, which stones and plants (deriving life as they
do from the soul of the earth, not from their own soul) do not do...« (Ficino, 2001, p.
265). Stones and plants, on the contrary, depend entirely on the common soul of the earth:
»Stones grow too like its teeth, and plants like hairs as long as they are attached by the
roots; but as soon as they are pulled up or torn out of the earth, they stop growing.« (2001,
p. 249)
Enter ethnography
Ethnographers and folklorists have reported beliefs about growing and multiplying stones
from different continents. On the beach of Punalua on the Big Island of Hawaii, »The
black, smooth pebbles found here are famous throughout the Islands on account of their
supposed power of self-propagation. The Hawaiians distinguish between male and female
stones, the latter having smaller pebble enclosed in their cavities. These smaller ones, ac-
cording to the persistent belief, became detached from the parent stone, and later on grow
to full size and in their turn give birth to pebbles.« (Kinney, 1913, p. 71) In the same vein,
folklorist Martha Beckwith claimed that porous pebbles, found on the nearby beach of
Koloa on the same island, »were supposed to grow from a tiny pebble to a good-sized rock
and to reproduce themselves if watered once a week« (Beckwith, 1970, p. 88). In anoth-
er book, Beckwith also reported that a native child from a well-educated family, when
asked »Where else did all the stones come from?«, displayed a »box of so-called ‘breed-
ing stones’« and offered his assurance that they would »produce young« (Beckwith, 1972,
p. 56).
That stones not only grow when it rains but also breed, is what is today claimed for
the trovant stones from the village of Costesti in southern Romania. These astonishing ro-
tund forms, reminiscent of the champignons and put under the tutelage of UNESCO, are
advertised by a web page as following:
It is known that the (sic) upon being exposed to water, the side of a Trovant swells up and starts
growing. When the swollen part reaches a certain weight, it breaks off. However, the interest-
ing fact is that the structure of this newborn Trovant is very similar to the parent rock, and the
newborn will have their own nucleus. This process is reminiscent of budding – the reproduction
mechanism of some unicellular organisms. This makes the scientists wonder whether Trovants
might be an unknown to mankind inorganic form of life.4
Also the villagers of Blaxhall in Suffolk possess a stone that grows. This erratic sand-
stone, weighing 5 tons, is known as Blaxhall Stone. In the mid-twentieth century, folklor-
ist George Ewart Evans reported that the villagers, especially the elders unwilling to accept
the verdict of geologists, claimed that their stone was turned up by a ploughman more than a
4 Http://tripfreakz.com/offthebeatenpath/trovants-the-living-rocks-of-romania. Accessed: 3 April 2015.
48
