Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1890-05-03 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

THE SNAKE STONE.  The netnealiste are all on the etti vise in conaegis-once of a communication from Professor Homolds, a learned German, who avers that he has discovered the secret of the saake stone, which has puzzled the savaista of every remevry for many ages peat l and various assemblies of sober-looking, spectacled, old gentlemen have been held both in London mid the country where-Ter an interchange of scientific ideas can be obtained. The subject, indeed. has been consideret interesting enough to induce long scientific oorrespoudence amongst the highly - gifted members of one society I of nateralists with the highly - gifted members of another. Professor Hensel& affirms that he has seen with his own eyes what he describes, and declares upon his hmour that his assertion is no idle dream, but a truth, which, if not more strange than many others in nature which have become familiar to us, may certainly be accounted as one of the most aweinspiring of all those hitherto revealed to the human race. The incident witnessed by the professor is recorded in Heeper's Magenee for March. It has sent a thrill through the whole nervous of every lover of the marvellous, and, through the testimony of so great a master of the phenomena of nature, cannot be doubted. It has long been known to them who- watch for any fresh discovery of the mysteries of nature that the cobra, the most venomous of all serpents has sometimes in its possession a precious stone which shines in the dark. The stone is considered so valuable by the creature ithelf that it will defend it itgainst displacement with its very life. It is carried about in the month, and at night deposited in the grass, , jealously watched and guarded by its owner, who' ' as if fascinated by the sight, will remain motionless gazing at it for hours without moving. The professor owns that, although he had heard the story from all 'Oda and conditions of men in many parts of India, he bed never attached to it the smallest particle of belief until, staying at the house of s German settler at Point de Galls, a man of great learning sad science, he had been assured by lais host that he had more than once been witness of the phenomenon, and that he had seen more than forty examples of the snakes keeping watch and ward over the Neje Kann, or cobra-stone, of which he had been once enabled to procure a specimen. It was small, of shout the use of a pea, and emitted a faint but many-tinted light in the dark. The fact itself thus established on such good authority, there remained only to reflect on the cause of the marvel. The snake, on being violently disturbed from its mysterious vigil, will fight the intruder to the death, frequently to be killed rather than yield up the treasure. If approached stealthily and with caution the reptile seizes the jewel in its month, and glides away in ell haste to the shelter of the bushes, where all pursuit is hopeless. After a while the professor, having offered a handsome reward for indication of the presence in the neighbourhood of a stone-cobra, became himself witness of • the existence of the circumstance exactly as described. He saw from the branches of a tamarind-tree, where he had 1 taken his post, "a large cobra coiled up at the foot lof the tree, and slowly swaying its head to and fro in front of the shining object which had created emelt interest amongst us all. It win impossible, however, to secure the stone that night, as if the snake had been disturbed it would have disappeared on the instant, whereas if left in peace it would Ireturn to the same spot every night with the stone, 1 and we therefore should have time to concoct& plan I for securing the prize. On the fourth night the i snake was killed, and the stone was seized." It proved to be a pebble of a Icllowish colour in the light, but in the dark emitting a greenish phosphorescent flame. "I found it," says the professor "to be a rare variety of fluor spar, which if dropped into a glass of hot water will give out a light of a beautiful green colour as long as the heat lasts." Then began for the professor the search for information concerning the wondrous presence of the storm under such circumstances, s.nd he soon discovered the mystery. The cobras are, perhaps, ! the only serpents that feed on insects, preferring, I as a rule, fireflies to every other. The female , insect cannot fly, being furnished with only rudimentary wings. She, therefore, sits quietly in the grew shining with all her might, while her male friends flash around her in greet numbers. The little green luminous pebble, concerning which the wildest superstitions are afloat in India, ie nothing more than a deooy. The cobra seeks for one of these pebbles in the dry gravel of the river beds, being, perhaps, attracted by its light resembling that of the glow-worm. The cobra carries it about as en easy mode of getting a living having nothing to do but to deposit the stone in the grass at night, when thousands of fireftfes flock round it to be devoured." The professor concludes his wondrous tale by a trite Gterase.a theory of hereditary instinct in animals, aa he weak° has every reason to believe that the young mitres are quite as cunning, as the old one, in theart of catching the fireflies by help of the " Maja Kau." The paper has created the most lively sen,sation at tlie,Britisli Mu.seum. Rcurrom oti'e Youwei Wpwaff.—On Monday Nies Carlyle, a yenta lady rteeirpying a respectable position in Carliele, committed suicide by rutting hoe tivrao4 tridi o razor. Bbe was discovered a little before noon W:th her throat fearfully gashed, sad IWO) dead, , •