|The Stone Face: Fragments of An Earlier World
"Stones have life, they can suffer illness, old age, and death. When cut, stones can grow. Stones cover themselves with figures. According to Alberti, nature had carved Solomon's seal on a stone found in a field near Verona, as if with a ruler. At Freiburg, a stone 'of alabandite' bore the image of monkeys. At Anneburg, 'another stone of alabandite' had the shape of a cross. In the forest on the Hercynian mountains (Erzgebirge), gold spots on rocks create such varied shapes as 'a sea perch, a salamander, a rooster, a bearded head, and the Virgin and Child.... Similarly, in Lake Alsatia, near the Misnesis Mountains, figures of frogs and fish, in copper, have been found drawn upon the surface of stones.'"