It was affirmed by the Romans to render its possessor invisible. In the Middle Ages, for this fiction was substituted another, that the wearer of the stone would never feel thirsty (like a dryad), and the proper cock that had the stone was to be discovered by his never drinking with his food, like other fowls ! stones from the cock are also called alectorius stones and they were believed to aid wrestlers and married couples as well as serving as medical antidotes for poisons. The alectorius or “cock-stone” is one of the most famous of those real or supposed animal concretions that were known in ancient times. From the age of Pliny and unquestionably long before his time– there was a popular belief that this stone was only to be found in the gizzard of a cock which had been caponed when three years old, and had lived seven years longer. This was believed to allow the substance to acquire its boasted virtue, for the longer it remained in the body of the capon, the greater its power. From its association with the pugnacious fowl, the alectorius became a favorite stone with wrestlers, and the great and invincible Milo of Croton is said to have owned many of his victories to the possession of one, for if held in the mouth, it quenched the thirst and thus refreshed the combatant.
Cock stone (Alectorius)
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