The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1886-01-15
New York Herald.

From the New York Herald.
eff they had a maidstone in Newark
now there would be no necessity Of
sending anybody to Parisfor Pasteur's
treatment" said Mr.. George H. Fitz.
wilson in his Office at No. 80 West
Broadway. "a maidstone is the most
wonderful cure for the bite of a mad
dog or d snake that the world has ever
known. Unfortunately there have
been only two of them ever found.
One of these was owned by Mrs. King
of Richmond, Va, and was famousa all
through the state for so years before
the war. The number of people who
had been bitten by mad dogs, rattle
snakes and moccasins, and whose
lives that stone has saved, mounts up
into the hundreds"
where is the stone now?" askedthe
Herald reporter.
at was sold at auction after the
death of Mrs. King, about fifteen years
ago and bought by a stranger who
paid 5000 for it. No one knew who
he was or where he went after the sale.
He and the stone simply disappeared.
81 was and probably still am the
owner of the other maidstone" con-
tinued Mr.. Fitzwilson. ut wasfound
about 20 years ago in an Indian
mound, in GAINESVILLE, Mecklenberg
county, Va, by a Mr.. Morse. He gave
it to me after the war, and it has been
in my possession since then. When
this epidemic of rabies broke out ins
New Jersey / looked for it, but it, too,
had disappeared. During the last
week have turned my house upside
down, but it can't be found. 1T is, Oh
course, somewhere in the house, but
just where, it will trouble me to learn.
Some years ago | lent it to q friend
in Philadelphia. He submitted IT to
several eminent physicians in Phlla-
delphia for examination. They test
ed it, and after curing several mad dog
and snake bites with it, they agreed
that it was the most wonderful thing
they had ever seen."
"Hcw is the stone applied?"
sfIt is a piece of perfectly black
porous stone, SO light thatit viii float
on water and about the size OF my
little finger. 1t has puzzled BIOLOGISTS
wonderfully, for they cannot tell what
kind Of stone it is, geologically speak,
ing. When a personi is bitten by q mad
dog the stone is pressed AGAINST the
wound. In half q minute it will be-
gin to turn green and will adhere to
the flesh as tightly as if it was q piece
of sticking plaster. AS it absoi bs the
poison it grows more green until IL y
the color Of an oak leaf. Then it tails
off and, after being washed in tepld
water and cleansed of the green fiuid,
can be used again and again until It re-
fuses to absorb any more poison.
81 have seen it used on q Negroes
arm that had been bitten by q noe
casin snake, which is about as
venomous as o. rattlesnake- Near
" half an hour had elapsed
between the time he was bitten
and the applicationAof the maidstone,
and his hand, arm and shoulder were
frightfuliy swollen. In another hall
hour he wouldshave been dead. Inc
maidstone took hold like a leech ana
filed itself seven times with the green
ish fluid ! have spoken of. While this
process OF absorption was going on
you could see the swelling decreasing
minute BY minute, until, when the
maidstone would absorb no more and
remained perfectly black when ap,
pliel, tho mans arm was its natural
size once again.
ga maidstone is q most wonderful
thing" concluded Mr.. Fitzwilson-
1--WE heard of the Indians in the
mountains Of North Carolina having
one some years ago, but no whitem q
ever saw it. shall make every effort
to learn where mine is. and If 1 car
find it ] shall send it directly to New
ark, where rs marvellous powers can
be demonstrated to the satisfaction