Home1797 Edition

AMPHICOME

Volume 1 · 88 words · 1797 Edition

in natural history, a kind of figured stone, of a round shape, but rugged, and beset with eminences, celebrated on account of its use in divination. The word is originally Greek, ἀμφικόμην, q.d. ustringue comata, or "hairy on all sides." This stone is also called Erotos, Eros, Amatoria, probably on account of its supposed power of creating love. The amphicome is mentioned by Democritus and Pliny, though little known among the moderns. Mercatus takes it for the same with the lapis lambricus, of which he gives a figure.