Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1866-07-07
Bitten by a DOg-The Wonderful Mad
Stone.
TFron the Attica Ind. LEDGE

from the sAOuSOA'I
One night the latter part of last week
as DR.. W, L. Leyman, of this place,
was making a professional call at the
house of Mr.. Holmes, In Warren
county, he was attacked by two dogs be-
longing to the place, and while endeav-
oring to defend himself, fell, when one
of the dogs bit him severely on the
right arm. On the doctors arrival at
home in his condition, his family be
came uneasy, and thinking perhaps the
dog that bit him was rabid, urged HIM
to go to Terre Haute, and apply the
mad stone" in the possession of Mrs.
TAYLOR, of that place. The doctor had
no fears whatever, and had always re-
garded this stone as Eumbug, but
finally consented to go to satisfy hls
family. On his arrival at Terre Haute
he proceeded to the house of Mrs. Tay-
10y, and had the application of the same
made. The lady informed him that if
he was bitten by a rabid animal, the
stone would adhere in thirty minutes.
After three hours of faithful applica-
tion it failed to take hold, and Mrs.
Taylor announced, as the doctor had
thought from the first, and as all the
circumstances indicated, that he was not
bitten by rabid dog. While there,
however, the doctor witnessed an opera
ton of the '.mad stone," and CLEANED
such facts regarding it from reliable
citizens of Terra Haute, as to dissipate
the skepticism which he confesses
he had always had regarding the
efficacy of this stone as an antidote
for hydrophObia. He met at Mrs. Tay-
lor's a man from Illinois, who had been
bitten by mad calf, and to whom the
stone adhered for thirteen hours. draw
ing from the wounded part greenish
colored matter, which it failed to ex-
tract from the doctors arm. When the
stone became filled with this fluid it
was soaked in warm water for time,
when it would again adhere and absorb
with its original force. -..
DIR. Leyman also conversed with
gentleman in Indianapolis who had
been bitten by an Enthusiastically rabid
dog, and used this stone with success.
Mrs Taylor, who is an old resident of
Terre Haute, and known by the citizens
of that place as a lady of worth and
good standing, states that the stone has
been used IN thousand cases, and has
never failed. She further says it was
once applied to a man who had already
gone mad from the effect of bite, and
while the fit was on him. He was en-
tirely cured.
OF the history of this stone we are
not fully informed. 1t has been in the
Taylor families for eighty years past,
and the accounts of its cures are famil-
lar to most of our readers. The stone
is white, smooth and hard, is about two
inches in length, half or three-quarters
of an inch in thickness. 1t is porous,
the pores being star-shaped, and run
ming across the stone in lines of perfect
regularity. The operation with it is
performed by scarifying the flesh near
the bite, and laying the stone on. 1t
never absorbs matters from the wound
ed part unless the bite is that of a rabid
animal. In the process of absorption,
the matter frequently passes entirely
through the stone. fa. I-
We are indebted for these facts to
DIR. Leyman, who is well known as a
good physician of many years practice,
and gentleman OF unquesticnable
veracity. The doctor very truly says
That the stories about this stone seem
incredible, but facts are stubborn
things, and he is no longer among the
skeptics.