Because their beak, calcined and reduced to powder, is the only efficacious remedy for epilepsy.
"Adventures of a Young Naturalist"
Lucien Biart
These might have remained obscure but for the discovery, in the south-western palace at Nimroud, of a pair of winged sphinxes, calcined by fire but still in their places between two huge lions at one of the doors.
"A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria, v. 1"
Georges Perrot Charles Chipiez
Sir Henry Layard describes these sphinxes as buried in charcoal, and so calcined by the fire that they fell into minute fragments soon after exposure to the air.
"A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria, v. 1"
Georges Perrot Charles Chipiez