Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 50.djvu/110

98 That St. Paul is the one appealed to in the above instances may be attributed to the fact that he was not affected by the bite of a serpent when almost instant death was the result expected by his associates (Acts, xxviii, 3-6).

It would appear that the Old-World custom of employing calculi or stones for the extraction of serpent venom gradually led to the practice in modern times of applying similar substances to wounds made by the bite of rabid dogs. These calculi are of a cretaceous or chalky nature, and anything of a cretaceous character may, if dry, possess absorbent properties; and it is probable that to this property may be attributed the first employment of the Oriental bezoar stones as capable of extracting or expelling poisons.

The prescription for the use of the so-called mad stone is generally as follows: Place it against the wound until it becomes saturated with the poison, when it will of its own accord fall off. Then boil it in milk to remove the poison, and repeat the application until the stone refuses to adhere.

A short time since I examined a celebrated North Carolina mad stone, one that had widespread reputation. This stone was of the size and form of an ordinary horse-chestnut, white in color, and consisted of feldspar, a hard mineral usually found in granite. It possessed no absorbent properties whatever, and its reputed ability to extract poison or any other liquid was utterly unworthy of a second thought.

We are all familiar with the frequently circulated reports of the cures performed by mad stones, reports pretending to emanate from reputable physicians and others, but when we attempt to trace the source from which they emanate they are found to be of questionable authority.

To illustrate the esteem in which these substances are held, I will only add that in 1879 a mad stone was sold to a druggist in Texas for two hundred and fifty dollars. The specimen was found in the stomach of a deer.

It may be of interest to refer to a famous specimen, known as the "Lee" stone or penny, which consisted of a small, heart-shaped pebble of carnelian or agate, set in a silver coin about one inch in diameter. The specimen was traditionally asserted to have been brought from the Holy Land, and it is said to have suggested to Sir Walter Scott the design of his Talisman. According to the legend, Robert Bruce wished that after his death his heart should be carried to the Holy Land by Sir James Douglas; and in 1329 the latter, accompanied by Simon Lochart, of the Lee, proceeded on the mission. In Spain the Scots were