The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1888-09-20
The Magic of the Maidstone.

- ss.1 &A The Magic of the Maidstone.
Bic Chicago Inter- Ocean has told us
the real virtue in the maidstone as
&e for hydrophobia is its size-to be
n striking the rapid animal before
Ssss aangs sends poison through your
But people believe in the mad.
despite the sneers of the papers,
prefer it to the savant Pasteurs
lation plan. The stone is rarer
}tbe diamond, and not over score
fem, according to the Cincinnati
@lirsr, are known to be in existence,
SFs they are guarded with such solem.
that the belief in their healing
ers is created, or, if it already exists,
ngthened in the minds OF those who
relief from them. Marvellous tales
cures by its application has been
brded and substantiated by testimony
Ii was beyond cavil.
one of these stones has been on exbis ls'
bon at the Cincinnati centennial
position, and the cures it has effected @ leo
ring the past few days have set set the
Bople wild. Mrs. Albert Hirst, who
a been bitten on the hand by mad
t, ex xperieuced great deal Of pain in
injured member Procuring the
bue, she applied it to the hand where
+ wound had ientirey healed The
lone cluDg tenaciously to the hand,
here it hung for an hour and twenty.
ye minutes. At the expiration of that
|2E3ES83 me it dropped off and Was placed in
Ian o. of.varm milk. Upon reapplication
S| refused to adhere to the hand, which
ieretofore had been almost useless, but
Gas now painless. Its muscles had re.
2axed, aud it was as good as ever-and
b bhe cure is thought to be permanent.
R A young son of Mrs. J. E. Higbee,
bf the same place, had been bitten by a
mad dog. The mother heard of the cure
W ust narrated and asked and was granted
@ permission to apply the stone to the
The lad, little fellow, was
brought unwillingly from neighboring
kocial party, and the wounds he bad
Received laid bare. The stone was ap.
piled, and at once clamped itself tightly,
| against the skin about the ori6ces made
10y the dogs teeth. Here it clung
bteadfastly for an hour and fifteen min.
S1tes, or Eve minutes less than it did 10
sMrs Hirst's hand. The operation had
Rhe effect of relieving the lad of the pain
1he bites were causing him. Those who
|s witnessed the application of the stone are
s|S oud in its praises, and firmly convinced
|s' bf its genuiness in the cure and proven.
xion of rabies.
$SM The mad stone is not confined to any
A6ne part CT the globe. Some have been
sound in India. Another has been
pund in Kentucky, which is held in an
Interior town and frequently sent to
zistant places to perform its miraculous
ssork. One remarkable stone is owned by
frs. L. e.. Gibson, of Columbia county,
Georgia, which descended to her from
he great grand father of her husband,
Ind is said to have effected hundred
gures proving successful when the
|ss6s3S patient was in hydrophobic paro1yems.
Dne sufferer, who had been bitten by a
attlesnake and was found unconscious,
4 3s vas restored to his senses and to ulti.
hate health through its use. 1t is also
laid that Marshal Nelms has one ofthe
precious talismans
@ The biography" of the stone alluded
3o above as having effected cures is
8 interesting. 1t was discovered in South
merica, under the following remarkable
circumstances A gentleman while bath
ng, was bitten on the foot bya snake
khose venom was so poisonous and
IS eadly that none ever recovered there.
F Fom. In his struggles 10 escape, the
sBE s5: :sntlemans foot struck this stone lying
' in the bottom of the stream and it stuck
|&za&o the wound. He was taken out and
|sE aid on the bark to die. The stone vas
aoticed, and an effort made to detach it.
|$Ehe resistance caused them to allow it
Ito remain, and, while waiting for the
||58|sSeictim to die, they were astonished to see
him sink into peaceful sleep.
ssst After perhaps half an hour the stone
9ropped off, and in the course of two
s ,ours the gentleman awoke, feeling little
khe worse for wear from the venom.
The stone was placed in some milk
glightly warmed and applied again. It
|3E {emained attached some time, aud the
|eab batient was as we'll as ever. Expert.
aents were then made upon the bites of
Earious snakes, spiders, ETC., and also
|S aused by mad dogs and each proved
1ccessful. 1t was purchased by an old
M Mea captain for large price and brought
W New Orleans, when it was sawed in
{alves, and this portion passed into the
auds of the father of the present OWL
3% In all cases the mad stone is used in
ae same manner. A patient who has
cen bitten OF stung by rapid or pois-
nous animal is prepared for the appli.
3ation of the healer by exposing the spot
Bitten to which the magic talisman will
ling with strange tenacity. Apowerful
|8 uction is felt by the patient, which con-
@ nues until the stone gradually becomes
aturated with the poison contained
kithin the system, when it falls off of its
Swn accord. To refresh it, bath of
farm water or milk is prepared, and in
s the stone is soaked until the poison is
xtracted. This is continued until the
tone refuses to take hold, when it is
M &M eemed that the patient has been relieved