A pair of firestones, from a twelfth-century English Bestiary. And the first interesting thing is simply the appearance of stones in a book about beasts: these are beastly stones, then, and so lively rocks. And as living things, of course, they are gendered. One category distinction, that between animate and inanimate, is refused and so that another, between male and female, can be extended. Their gendering is crucial to the meaning that the bestiary text assigns to the stones. Kept apart, male and female firestones are perfectly safe; but put together, they immediately burst into flame. Just so its better to the keep male and female religious apart - and for male religious to keep away from women entirely - otherwise the flames of lust will be ignited. But. What is curious to me about this and other images of firestones, is the way they downplay the distinction of gender. Firestones may be male and female, but in these images t...