Home1797 Edition

ALECTORIA

Volume 1 · 85 words · 1797 Edition

a stone said to be formed in the gall-bladders of old cocks, to which the ancients ascribed many fabulous virtues. This is otherwise called Alectorius Lapis, sometimes Alectorolithos, in English the cock-stone. The more modern naturalists hold the alectorius lapis, to be originally swallowed down, not generated in, the stomach or gizzard of cocks and capons. It is known that many of the fowl-kind make a practice of swallowing pebbles, as it is supposed to be of service in the business of trituration and digestion.