The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-06-18
MALAY "sNAKE STONES"
They Are at Least of Use in ReIiev-
ing Wounds inflicted by Fishes.
Letter in Nature.

Letter IN Nature.
A good many years ago, when sea bath
ing in the Old Straits of Singapore d. e.
those separating the island from the Mo
lay Pennsula), l put my foot in slight
muddy hollow in the sandy seabed; the
moment | did so 1 received an agonizing
stab near the ankle from some red-hot
poisoned blade it seemed), which drove me
in hot haste ashore, where a Malay con-
stable, on hearing what had happened,
and on examination Of the wound, pro
nounced my assailant to be the "ikau
Sembilang" (sembilang fish, Plotosus can
ius, one of the siluroids, 1 am informed
by Mr.. Boulenger. of the British Museum.
The fish is armed with three powerful
spines on the head, one projecting perpen-
dicularly from the top and one projecting
horizontally from each side.
The Malay lost no time in running to
the barracks near by, whence he shortly
returned with a little round charcoal
like stone about the size of a small mar
Bile. This he pressed on to the wound,
to which it adhered, and remained there
by itself, without any continuation OF
pressure, for minute or more. Then it
fell off, and black blood began to flow,
which, after a little, was succeeded by
blood of normal color. The pain, which
had been excessively acute. began to di-
minish soon after this. and In an hour
had practically disappeared. The wound
gave me no further trouble, but a fort
night afterward l noticed a hole about
she size of a pea where the wound had
been.
Another gentleman who. curiously
enough. had suffered in the same way in
another part of Singapore the same day.
was not so fortunate in his cure, being
completely laid up for six weeks.
The black stone applied by the Malay to
the wound came, he alleged, from the
head of a snake and claimed, therefore.
10 be a bezoar stone. 1t was, no doubt,
a snake stone, probably made of charred
bone, and therefore porous in character,
which would account for the adhesive
and absorptive powers it displayed in my
case.
In his "Thanatophidia of Indls," Sir j.
Fayrer Quoted by Yule in "Hobson-Job-
son'D expresses entire disbelief in the eff
ticacy of these stones remedies lin the
case of the real bite of a deadly snake"
owing to the extreme rapidity with which
n such a case the venom pervades the
system.
However this may be, the late Prof
Faraday, after examination of one of
these stones supplied by Sir Emerson
Tennent Quoted by Yule), credits it wi h
Ger ain absorb MT powers. ana it, would
sem a pity that the undoubted value of
UGH stones. at all events in minor cases,
a
fering should be discredited.
Another remedy, considered of some
value by Malays for the stab of P,otosus
canius is the sap of Henslowia lobbiana.
which grows freely on the coasts OF the
Malay p ninsula,
Amorg Other marine offenders of this
lass dreaded by Malays are several va
reties of the skae or sting ray. mari, ."
as they are generically called, and some
of the "lepu" of which the only danger
Gus ore, l have Mr.. Boulenger's author
ity for saying is the "lepu' proper viz,
-ynancia horrida. When the skate reaches
a large size he will drag a fsherman's
canoe a long way
Among the Medusae one much dteaded
IS known as "ampai" from its long
fringes. The effects, unless remedy can
speedily be found, are painful and trying
o a degree, seeming to penetrate the
whole frame, as it were, electrically, at
once specially affecting the seat of any
lilment, and even the teeth and the hair.
l have never suffered from 1t myself.
but am enabled to speak to these points
from two cases which came under my
-orsonal observation. A valuable remedy
for this sting If applied soon, lis the juice
Of the young fruit of the papaw (Carica
papaya).
A further illustration of the value of
some native remedies is supplied by a
case which occurred some years ago AT
Malacca during my residence there,
though I cannot state what the remedies
employed were.
A young gentleman in the Office of the
telegraph company went out to battle in
the sea one night from the end of the
pier On any case o rash proceeding, II
only fer the occasional presence of croc-
odiles). when he found himself in the
embrace OF some creature with long ten
tacles. from which, after desperate strug-
giles, he eventually succeeded in freeing
his legs and his arms, and I'm regaining
the pier. The colonial surgeon could do
nothing for him, and he was in such tor
lures that for a time he seemed to have
lost his mental balance, but nine or ten
days after the occurrence native pracu-
toner, being called in, cured him com
p,ctely.