Glossopetra, Fossil Shark Teeth

Tongue-stones, Ungues Melitenses (Maltese tongues)
Picture Museum Wormianum, 1655

Picture Picture Metallotheca Vaticana, Mercati, 1719

Zoological name:


Fossil teeth of lamniform sharks, including Megladon.

Parts used:


Fossil teeth

Temperature & Taste:


Cold, dry. Sweet, Astringent

Uses:


1. Clears Heat, Resists Poison:
-Snake Bite, both to treat, and as an amulet to prevent
-Epidemic Fevers including Small Pox
-also to protect against Witchcraft

2. Clears Heat, Stops Wind, Guides Qi Down
-Childhood Convulsions
-Vomiting

3. Moves the Blood
-promotes and quickens Childbirth (as an amulet)

4. Kills Worms:
-regarded as useful for Worms

5. Externally:
-mostly used as amulets to protect against poison, infection, and witchcraft
-infused in water, the water is used as a gargle for Sore Mouth and Throat, as well as toothache
-applied directly to a snake bite they were believed to counter the Venom


Dose:


600–1200mg with water or wine.

Main Combinations:



Major Formulas:



Cautions:


None noted

Main Preparations used:



History


‘Glossopetra, which resembles the human tongue, is not engendered, it is said, in the earth, but falls from the heavens during the moon’s eclipse; it is considered highly necessary for the purposes of selenomancy [Moon divination]. To render all this
however, still more incredible, we have the evident untruthfulness of one assertion made about it, that it has the property of silencing the winds’. (The Natural History of Pliny, trans. by Bostock and Riley, Vol. 6, 1858)