Arizona republican., 1903-08-12
NlIeI UE IF MADSTCNES.
Sail to Cure Eites from Mad Dogs and
from Snakes.

nous insects, and even of mad dogs
which have recently been accomplished
both in this city ard in Chicago by
means of madstones-stones which are
asserted to have the power of absorb
ing poison from wounds-that it may
! be timely to call attention to the fact
for centuries past stories have been
current regarding the virtues. real and
| imaginary, of stones of this kind.
| While, of course, there is still room for
skepticism concerning the reality of the
cures attributed thereto, the immense
amount of literature dealing with the
subject should be sufficient to protect
1t from the ridicule which has been ex-
cited in Connection Herewith among a
certain element of the scientific world.
The maidstone, sometimes known as
the snakestcne, Is first mentioned in
the Travels in India of Jean Baptiste
Tavernier, the great Orietal traveller of
the seventeenth century, who describes
1t as being oval in shape, thick in the
middle. becoming thin toward the edges.
He writes as follows: THE Indians
say that it grows on the heads of GER
tain snakes. But l should rather be-
lieVe that it is the priests of the idol
alters who make them think so, and that
this stone is composition which is
made of certain drugs. Whatever il
may be, it has an excellent virtue in
extracting all the poison when one has
been bitten by a poisonous animal. If
the part bitten is not punctured, it is
necessary to make an incision so that
the blood may flow. and when the stone
has been applied thereto it adheres and
does not fall until it has extracted all
the venom which iS 1caU-
In order to clean it, it is stepped in
woman's milk, or. in default of it. in
the milk of a COW. and after having
been thus stepped for 10 or II hours, the
milk, which has absorbed all the venom.
| assumes the color of pus One day
when 1 dined with the archbishop of
Goa he took me into his museum.
where he had many curiosities. Among
other things he showed me one of these
| stones, and, in telling me of its prop
critics, assured me that it was but three
days since he had made Il trial of il.
after which he presented it to me-
AS he traversed a marsh on the Is
land of SalSettO. upon which Goa is
situated, on his way to a house in the
country. one of his palanquin bearers.
who was almost naked, was bitten by
a serpent, and was at once cured by
this stone. 1 have bought many of
them, and it is that which makes me
think that they make them. You en-
ploy two methods to ascertain if the
snakestone is good and that there is no
fraud. The first is by placing the stone
in the mouth. For then, if ii is good,
it attaches itself Immediately to the
palate. The other is to place it in q
glassful of water. and Immediately, if
it is genuine. the water begins to boil
Thevenot. in his Voyages" likewise
describes the snakestone and discourses
exclusively on the subject. Indeed
there are few writers on eastern India
during the last 200 years who have not
devoted attention to these stones, all
of them declaring that the belief in
their efficacy is very general throughout
Hindustan, not only among the natives,
but also among the white population.
The annals of the Roman Catholic mis-
sionS likewise contain numerous ac-
counts, duly authenticated, of cures
effected by the snakestones, mentioning
them as an 'infallible remedy for the
bites and stings of all sorts OF venom
Gus reptiles and animals, and likewise
for wounds made by poisoned arrows"
There is every reason to believe that
not exclusively an Indian product. Ac-
cording to DR.. George Frederick Kunz,
who has made special study of the
subject, the so-called maidstone is
nothing else than tabasheer, well
known to mineralogists. Tabasheer is
variety of opal that is to be found
in the joints of certain species of bam-
boo in Hindustan, Burmah and South
America 1t is originally juice, which.
by evaporation, changes into u mucfla-
ginous state, and then becomes a solid
substance. 1t ranges from translucent
to opaque in color. and upon fracture
| ii breaks into regular pieces, like
starch. DR.. Kunz declares that with
regard to Tavernier's account of the
maidstone clinging to the palate and
causing water to boil when immersed,
tabasheer has the property of strong
~ adhering to the tongue, and when
put into water emits rapid streams of
minute bubbles of air.
1t is almost identical with an organic
product found by Arnold Hague in the
geysers of the Yellowstone Park, and
which has received the name of Colo
RADIO hydrophane. The latter, like tab
asheer, has an extraordinary capacity
for the absorption of fluid, and this I'M
doubtedly renders 1t efficacious for the
purpose of absorbing poison from a
wound, providing the latter is open
enough. 1t may be added that tabasheer
formerly known as tabiXir, was known
and used in Persia by the principal
physicians of the rulers of that empire
as far back as in the tenth century of
our era. Indeed, tabasheer plays a very
important part in the medicine of the
middle ageS.--New York Tribune.
/ Georgia leads the South in one great
step toward the solution of the race