Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-06-07
THE MAIDSTONE.
WHAT IT is AND IT'S ALLEGED
MIRACULOUS WORK.
Pronounced by Doctors Tradition
of Ignorance = n Maidstone
observation-disclosures Story
About One.

Miraculous stories Of alleged cures of
cases of hydrc<phobia by the use of stone
popularity called maidstone" have
long, says the New YORK San, been com
mon in tradition. Although the mad
stone is not described in Websters Die
tionary, nor in the American Encyclo-
pedia, and is generally regarded by edu-
Gated physicians as II relic of superstition,
these stories are yet circulated with the
pretence of authenticity. 1t may be
safely assumed that wherever there is evil
dence of an alleged cure, there is no evil
dencc that there was any hydrophobia to
be cured, for such is the testimony of ey-
pcrts who have spent Il good deal of time
and money investigating stories of alleged
hydrophobia.
The literature of the maidstone is very
scarce. All that could be found in the
big library of the Academy of Medicine
by the industrious librarian, Mr.. John S.
BROWNIE, was description of the mad
stone, written by DIR. w. j. Hoffman. of
the Smithsonian Institute, and published
| i'll the San Francisco Western Lancet for
january, 1884, as follows.
Having just had the opportunity to care
| fully examine a so-called maidstone" brief
| description may not he unintercsting The
specimen was obtained by one of the United
States Geological Survey in North Carolina
during the past field season, nnd consists of
| pebble measuring niue-tentlis of an inch in
| length three-fourths in width ut the brondcst
| part, and appears 20 have been the original
| surface resulting from cleavage. Its weight
Is 40 grains The color is dirty white, but
upon the rounded surface has assumed IL deep
brick red, which has penetrated into the body
1f tl,sa, M.
intiltlation of ferric compounds. The fiat
| surface shows the venings OF coloring matter
very distinctly, and as it shades off through
| an orange tint into the white of the body of
the stone, causes quite an attractive Spcci-
men. The rounded portion of the pebble,
when held i'll the sunlight. shows n Sitin lnstre
| Of Il strawberry aud burnt s2nna tiut-a re-
| Election resembling that of the moonstone and
| labradcritc. being characteristic of some of
| the feldspars to which this example no doubt
! belongs
The gentleman whosold it to the present
| owner stated that it had been obtained from
| the paunch of wliitc-spotted deer SIncrIrus
virginanus;, shot about two years ago. 1t is
| natural 20 suppose that the partial albiuism
of the annual added considerable mystery to
| the Speciiacn found within its body. and the
| finder, being 40 doubt OF 4 Supcrstitious
| nature, mt once experimental with it, with
| the result thao one ease or kytlroDholia and
| one q. ratslesnaEe bite were cured. The per-
| son bitten by II mad dog is said 10 have beer
II typical c:,Sc. and Il dog bite, bv the same
rabid animal died atterw;,rd. A:iiflavts sub
stimulating the above mentioned cases are
| offered by the discuvere,. but we shall not
: dwell upon the alleged merits of the stone
until actual experiments shall have been per
formed under the direction of competent
/ persons
The i,i,nncr of applying the stone is 10 heat
| ii III hot water and then to apply it to the
wound. when its great absorbing u proper
ties will at once cause il to adhere and ex-
tract the poison! 1t is said TO partially bury
Itself III the sof5 parts puc..aring the skin irl-
| mediatcy around it,
! VIXEN first hearing of the above specimen
thought it might be one of those ordinary
| calc;ieous connections sometimes met with
III the hcrbiverols riammnlia but piece of
| ieldSpar Is quite an unusual deviation, and
| the only reason that can be given is that the
| deei'S tongue coming i'll contact with Il saline
substance, the animal would naturally swul-
low II, on account of its extreme fondness for
| salt. The piece Of gclC,spar may by its ex-
posture and gradual decomposition. have az
communicated Il thin film on incrustation OF
potash, which is its cher alkaline constituent,
thus naturally atfor,iing sufficiently salty
taste for it to he swallowed entire.
The latest story about the maidstone
comes from Terra llaute. and is this:
The indianapolis Journals correspondent
mt Terrc Haute, Ind, reports that what is
| known aS the Tcrrc HIute maidstone was to-
day applied TO the leg of the eleven-yea!-od
daughter of John Kirk ut Rush County,
Ind. who was bitten two weeks ago by u
pup which afterwar,l died with all the syinl-
toms OF hydrophoba. The stone after Il
lapse OF eleven hours still adhered. The dog
bit two sisters Of the child, and either
| scratched on bit four-ycal-old brother
| The maidstone was applied to the boy but
would not ;:dhere, and this confirms the I'M
| preston that his INJURY is from Il scratch
The wounds OF the three girls were not deep
but b'ood was drawn. The maidstone is
| thoroughly saturated, and the cloth about il
is soaked with poisonous looking matter
| Tho longest time the stone ever adhered he
| fore this application was fourteen hours, and
| thit was many years ago. The stone has an
authenticated record of more than eighty
years, and no death has ever resulted if It
| once adhered. When it drops OFF the child
ON whom it is now. applied it will be tried on
one of the sisters
The succeeding day brought the fol-
lowing.
other of the four children of the Rush County
| farmer who were bitten two weeks ago. The
| stone adhered nearly twelve hours TO the
elevcn-year-old girl treated Sunday. and
eight hours to the five-year-od girl yestcr-
day. Some of the virus drawn through the
porous stone will be subjected to scientific
| examination. Last night two men from
Warren County, this State, camc here to
| nave the stone applied, each being app-e-
hensive that some of the saliva OF Il hog got
under the skin of their fingers. The hog was
bitten by Il dog, rs were several others in the
same pen, and so far three have died The
dog has been running wild through the
country.
Seeking the opinions of reputable
physicians, a SIN reporter saw DR.. Allan
McLane Hamilton, who emphatically de-
clared that the maidstone is not believed
by well-inforned persons to have any of
the curative or remedial properties
ascribcd to it; that the belief in it is re-
garded as a superstition of the past, not
worthy of serious thought. DR.. Hamil-
ton said: POSSIBLY such porons stone
may absorb the blood of wound, and
with it virus, if there would be any TO be
absorbed; but it would be no more
efficient than sponge or any other alb
sorbent. No sensible person believes in
the curative powers of any such stone 1t
is easy to see how, if there was no hydro
phobia to be cured, ignorant persons,
after seeing such stone applied, and