The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-24
THE EFFIcAoY or sYAKEsroNEs.
some stories of Cure worked on
Victims of snake Poison.

ENOm the AsOuuun OlauudIus
Hindu native remedies for snake bite
are always interesting. whether one cred
it them or no. There are plenty to be
found, of which good number have the
testimony of respectable Europeans. This
is explained generally bysassuming that
the poison had not really entered, or that
the snake was not venOmOus, or some inn
probability of the sort for which there
is no shadow of evidence as a rule. Con-
Vlnced that cure is impossible, savants
commonly put forward any objection that
occurs to them and impatiently dismiss
the subject: They may be right; we are
not in the least prepared to demonstrate
their error. But the statements of eye
witnesses, whose word could not be Ques-
TONED in another matter, is worthy or
more consideration.
Maj. Forbes in Ceylon saw native
pfactluoner cure man who had been
SO Enthusiastically bitten that before the
operation began he was insenble. Plac-
ing large tin pan of live charcoal on
the victims head was one part of the
treatment, and the administration of 'nu-
merous vegetable compounds" another
Inc author regrets that he had no means
OF analyzing them. Tscudi also saw an
instance among the Indians of Bolivia,
ana ne had the scientific knowledge nee
essary for Identifying the root employed
~ was Polyanthes tuberosa, cut in slips
ana STEPPED in the juince of Mikaria hua-
co, creeper. But of all processes the
snake stone is most fascinating. a
soou many natives in India have them.
through the Indian press telling how Ma
naralah Scindhia had asked a wealthy
farsl 10 name a price for one in his pos
session. Sclndhia is not a. credulous man,
by all accounts, nor one TO offer a blank
cneck unless quite satisfied that the ar
IItle had priceless value. Some one in
Whom he took interest had been bitten
talisman. q d
The statement made by Mr.. Froehnert.
oandmaster of the Second Life Guards
70 Frank auckland is well worth atfen,
tlon. He said that when travelling over
me plains of India, not far from Banga-
natives catching eobras One of them
had been bitten comrade produced
two little balls, one of which he applied
70 the wound, and, with something that
appeared to be small stick, made
passes down the arm--that is against
the course which the venom would nat
urally take. In about five minutes the
enect became visible, and shortly the vic
tim was wen. Mr.. Froehnert bought the
OBJECTS. Some time afterward, at quite
a dlnerent place, man happened to be
bitten by cobra; Mr.. Froehnert Volun-
teered the use of his little balls and
SUCKS. They were applied, and the man
soon got better" To say the least this
is noteworthy evidence Frank auckland
was not a man to neglect it. The stick
was found to be common gamboge. which
IS a strong fnedicine. but 1t has no WISH
Bile relations With shake bite. He took
II 70 the college of surgeons with the
balls, which were the size of a large
pea, to one of them dry blood stiH ad-
hereo 1t must be supposed that exami-
nation was as thorough as circumstances
permitted, but we could. make nothing
OF Them beyond that they were composed
of some vegetable material, for vegetable
hairs were Seen in abundance.
Another case, not less impressive, is
given by Mr. Selous in his Travels and
Adventures in Southeast Africa" In 1877
he made acquaintance with a venerable
Boer named Friedrich de LANCE at Marico.
De LANCE possessed snake-stone, which
he kept in cotton wool inside a small box,
and this again was locked in a desk
old man alleged that several. persons in
the district had been saved thereby, and
horses, too naming among others the
daughter of certain Antony Fortman.
Two years afterward Mr.. Selous' encoun-
tered this man. with his family, in Mata-
beleland, but he did not recall the associa-
ton, until one day Fortman said to his
daughter "Show Mr. Selous where the
snake bit you" The girl turned her
sleeve, displaying. a very ugly scar. When
she was. stung in the neighborhood of
Marico, her father sent a man on horse
back full speed for De Lange'S snake
stone. The child had lost consciousness
and her arm was nearly black when it
arrived, but two applications cured her.
Mr.. Selous examined the object several
times. So far as he remembers it is light
and porus, round, blackish, with grayish
mottlings, the upper side polished, the
under rough. Phis latter is put to the
wound, and it sucks up the poison. When
and the venom rises to the surface like
a thin white thread. The operation must
be repeated if necessary. De Lange in
the family for an ir1efinite number of
generations; il is at least probable that
one of his forefathers got it from Dutch
shank, who was travelling with Mr. Sc
louS, offered $50 for the stone, a notable
sum in cash for a wandering Boer. But
De Lange refused to deal at any price.