Chapter VIII: Front Matter (8)

The Indians of Peru had their own theory as to the genesis of the bezoar stone. In relation to this Joseph de Acosta writes:[423]

The Indians relate from the traditions and teachings of their
ancestors, that in the province of Xaura, and in other provinces of
Peru there are various poisonous herbs and animals which empoison the
waters and pastures where they [the vicuñas, etc.] drink and eat. Of
these poisonous herbs, one is right well known by a natural instinct
to the vicuña and to the other animals which engender the bezoar, and
they eat of this herb and thus preserve themselves from the poison of
the waters and pastures. The Indians also say that the stone is formed
in the stomachs of these animals from this herb, whence comes the
virtue it possesses as an antidote for poisons, as well as its other
marvellous properties.

Of the mineral bezoar, which was also regarded as an antidote against poisons, Mohammed ben Mançur relates that various ornamental figures were formed from it, such as small images of the Shah or little female figures; these were perhaps regarded as talismans. Knife-handles were also made of this material,[424] and here the use may have been connected with the belief in the curative power of the bezoar, if brought into direct contact with the skin, as would be the case when the knife-handle was grasped in the hand.

A mineral bezoar bearing a close likeness to the animal concretion was found in Sicily. This stone was usually round, sometimes oblong like an egg, and sometimes compressed; its usual size was about that of a pigeon’s egg, the largest stone not surpassing the size of a hen’s egg. It was commonly white, occasionally of a somewhat ashy hue, and the surface was generally smooth, though now and then it was rough with small protuberances. Its taste resembled that of the white _bolus armenus_. The composition of this stone was similar to that of the Oriental bezoar of animal origin, having the same layers, and in the centre a small mass of sand over which nature had imposed from eight to ten layers, just as in the animal bezoar.[425]

A peculiar bezoar is reported from Indrapura, India. This was said to have been found in the skull of a rhinoceros, and was of light weight and of a black hue, varying to pale red when held against the light; it was hard enough to cut glass. The owner believed it to be a panacea for all ills. For blood-spitting it was held in the mouth; for rheumatism, bruises, or burns, it was rubbed over the affected part; and for the bites of venomous creatures it was simply laid upon the wound; even those at the point of death were revived by it.[426]

An amulet set with a bezoar stone is said to have possessed such a power to prevent bleeding that when a Malacca prince was killed in a battle with his rebellious subjects, no blood was flowing from any of his numerous wounds. On stripping the body a golden armlet set with a bezoar came to view, and the moment this was removed blood began to flow freely from the wounds.[427]

Mercato writes of a marvellous Occidental bezoar, sent from Peru to Rome in 1534, as a gift to Pope Gregory XIII. It weighed no less than fifty-six ounces, although it was defective, since a large portion of the exterior crust was missing, the second layer was partly broken away, and even the third layer was damaged in some places. This wonderful concretion had been dedicated to one of the Peruvian gods, as a rare and precious object, and it was taken away by the Spaniards when they spoiled the temple. Mercato says that this bezoar was “of a truly monstrous size, unheard of in all previous centuries, and it is still the largest in the whole realm of nature.”[428]

The bezoars of the New World seem to have differed considerably from those of India. They had a rough surface, were usually of a gray color, of various sizes and forms, and composed of a number of superimposed, coalescing layers, much thicker than those of the Oriental, or Indian, bezoar. They were usually of considerable size, either hollow within or containing seeds, needles and similar substances. They came from the West Indies, especially from Peru, and were brought thence by the Spaniards and Portuguese. The greater number were found in a kind of chamois; however, we are told that the bezoar was not found in all these animals, “but only in the old ones.”[429]

A letter written in the sixteenth century by one who had travelled extensively in India and in Peru, illustrates the ideas of that time regarding both Oriental and Occidental bezoars:

A gentleman living about twenty-eight years in these Countries, writes
to his Friend, that he saw those Animals out of which comes the
Bezoar, and saith, they are very like _Goats_, only they have no
Horns; and are so swift, that they are forc’d to shoot them with guns.
He tells us, that he and some Friends, on the 10th of _June_ 1568,
hunted some of these Creatures, and in five Days kill’d many of them;
and that in one of the oldest of them, they made diligent Search for
the stone, but found it not, neither in the Ventricle, nor in any
other Part of the Animal. They ask’d the Indians that attended upon
them, where the Stones lay; they denied they knew anything of them,
being very envious and unwilling to disclose such a Secret. At length
(he saith) a Boy about twelve years old perceiving us to be very
inquisitive, and to be very desirous of Satisfaction in that
Particular, shew’d us a certain Receptacle and (as it were) a _Purse_,
into which they receive their eaten herbs, which afterwards when
churned, they convey into the Ventricle.[430]

The same circumstances were observed by this informant in regard to the Peruvian bezoars, and from the “pouch” of one of these animals were taken no less than nine stones, “which, by the help of nature, seemed to be made of the Juice of those salutiferous Herbs, which were crammed up into this little Pouch.”[431]

While the Occidental bezoar from South America enjoyed a special repute in Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when bezoars were so freely used as poison-antidotes, and for the cure of fevers and other diseases, it has been doubted whether the aborigines of South America ever valued them in any way before the time of the Spanish Conquest. What seems, however, to be a proof that they sometimes did so, is afforded by the discovery of a bezoar, probably taken from the body of a llama, in a tomb at Cojitambo, in the Cañari region of Ecuador. In spite of the contrary opinion expressed by Garcilasso de la Vega, there is reason to believe that such animal concretions were used by these Indians in magic practices. The Quichua name is _illa_, and Holquin in his Quichua dictionary says that the natives believed that bezoars were luck-bringing stones. Another name, _quicu_, is vouched for by Arriaga, who states that the Spaniards found some bezoars stained with the blood of sacrificial victims, thus showing that they were thought to possess a certain religious or mystic significance. Another author, Don Vasco de Contreros y Vievedo, writing in 1650, states that the most highly valued of these concretions among the natives of South America were those taken from the American tapir, which they called _danta_.[432]

The comparative value of Oriental and Occidental bezoars was still an open question toward the end of the sixteenth century. In a letter written by Sir George Carew to Sir Robert Cecil, on October 10, 1594, the former states that he had submitted a bezoar from the West Indies to a London jeweler named Josepho, who had told him that had the substance come from the East Indies he would value it as high as £100, but that never having made trial of West Indian bezoars, he would not venture on an estimate, although he did not doubt but that they were quite as good. Nevertheless he would not care to buy this one before having tested its virtues experimentally.[433]

That good Queen Bess shared the beliefs of her age as to the virtues of stones is well known, and she appears to have regarded her bezoars as worthy of a place among the treasures of the Crown, for in the inventory of the jewels made at the accession of James I we read:

Also one greate Bezar stone, sett in goulde that was Queene
Elizabeth’s, with some Unicorne’s Horne, in a paper; and one other
large Bezar stone, broken in peeces, delivered to our owne handes, by
the Lord Brooke, the two and twentith day of Januarie, one thousand
sixe hundred and twenty and two.[434]

After the death of Rudolph II, in 1612, the Venetian envoy, Girolamo Soranzo, wrote to the Doge, “No other monarch has ever accumulated so many jewels.” He also communicates the fact that some at least of these gems were to follow him to the grave, for when interred, his head was covered with a cap adorned with many valuable precious stones. However, Rudolph’s fondness for the more splendid gems and jewels was accompanied by a very particular taste for the collection of Oriental bezoars, of which a large number are noted as in his possession at the time of his death. These ranged in weight from 1 loth (½ oz. Troy) to 25½ loth (a little more than one pound Troy); most of them were provided with a rich gold setting, and one especially prized bezoar, weighing about 8 ounces, reposed in a silver box decorated with 32 diamonds and 26 rubies. Another of very singular shape, resembling “four toes,” is also entered on the list. Besides these the imperial collection included several other curious animal concretions, probably regarded as having therapeutic virtues, such, for instance, as a “stone” from the body of a doe; this had been found by a certain Helmhardt Jörger and by him presented to the emperor; another of these treasured concretions came from the stomach of a stag. A specimen of the famed “eagle-stone” is also listed; this had a double gold setting, and on it were inscribed the words “Piedra Geodas,” showing that the real character of this stone as a geode was then well understood.[435]

Some of the gold mounted bezoars of Rudolph II are still to be seen in the Hofmuseum, at Vienna. One is surrounded by a gold band with a scroll pattern; another has a capping of gold and stands upon a golden base, and still another, capped and belted with gold, is attached by a chain to a golden bowl. This was probably to be used as a test of the freedom from poison of any beverage in the vessel. A bezoar of the eighteenth century is mounted upon a tree of gold, against the trunk of which a wild boar is leaning. This may be only a decorative adjunct, or it might be an indication of the particular animal source of this special bezoar.[436]

The bezoars of Borneo are taken either from monkeys or porcupines. For medicinal use, the gratings are dissolved in water and the solution is administered as required. Skeats relates that he was once asked $200 by a native for a small stone, erroneously asserted to be a bezoar. This stone was carefully wrapped up in cotton and preserved in a tin box with some grains of rice, the owner firmly believing that the stone fed on the rice. A red monkey (semnopithecus) furnishes many of these bezoars, but those from the porcupine are supposed to be so much the more efficacious that the Sultan of Saik claims all bezoars of this kind found in his dominions as his personal property; nevertheless, many are said to be surreptitiously taken out of the country by Malayan or Chinese traders. A remarkably fine specimen in the possession of the Sultan is valued at $900; small ones may be worth no more than $40, but the value increases very rapidly with the size of the concretion. Though it is confidently believed that the bezoars work wonderful cures in diseases of the bowels and of the respiratory organs, the natives value them chiefly as aphrodisiacs, this action being secured either by wearing them or by taking them in solution.[437]

BEZOARS OF EMPEROR RUDOLPH II, NOW IN THE HOFMUSEUM, VIENNA
]

The Chinese work entitled P’ing-chou-k’o-t’an, by Chu Yü, written in the first quarter of the twelfth century, mentions the _mo-so_ stone (the bezoar) and states that it was worn in finger rings. Should anyone have reason to suppose that he had taken poison, all he had to do in order to escape any bad effects was to lick the bezoar stone set in his ring. The Chinese writer adds that it might thus be justly called “a life preserver.”[438]

The Dayaks of Borneo have a method for producing bezoars which they call _guligas_. This is to shoot an animal with an unpoisoned arrow. When the wound heals, there is often a hardening of the skin, which finally results in the formation of a _guliga_. In some of these concretions the point of the arrow still remains. The _guligas_ of natural formation are frequently found between the flesh and the skin of apes and porcupines.[439]

In the eighteenth century Valmont de Bomare reports that the bezoars of the hedgehog commanded the highest price. These were greasy and soapy, both to the eye and to the touch, and of a greenish or yellowish color; a few were reddish or blackish. They were so highly valued in Holland that a Jew in Amsterdam asked 6000 livres ($1200) for a specimen in his possession as large as a pigeon’s egg; and such bezoars were even rented in Holland and Portugal, at the rate of one ducat ($2.50) a day, to those who were exposed to contagion, and believed that the bezoars, if worn as amulets, would protect them from the danger.[440]

In a letter to the Macon, Georgia, _Journal and Messenger_ of August, 1854, Major J. D. Wilkes, of Dooley County, relates that while hunting he shot down a fine buck. He states that on cutting up the animal he found a stone of a dark greenish color, about where the windpipe joins the lights. It was from an inch and a half to two inches long, and quite heavy for its size, although it appeared to be porous. Major Wilkes says that he had heard of similar stones from old hunters, and had been told that they possessed the power of extracting poison, but that they were rarely found. The communication proceeds to relate a case where this stone was successfully applied to a dog which had been bitten by a rattlesnake. We have here one of the few notices extant regarding an American bezoar stone.[441]

An American bezoar taken from the stomach of a deer killed in the Chilhowee Mountains, in Tennessee, was reported in 1866 by Prof. David Christy. In extracting this concretion the hunter had damaged the outer layer, but when this was removed there remained a perfectly smooth, round body, about the size and shape of a hen’s egg, and of a light brown color. When Professor Christy obtained it, this bezoar had already acquired the reputation of possessing great though somewhat undefined virtues; he presented it to Professor Wood of the Ohio Medical College in Cincinnati.[442]

Writing of bezoars in the year 1876, Dr. Learned states that Signor Korkos, of Morocco, showed him one for which he had paid twelve dollars. It was as large as a small walnut, the surface being smooth and cream-colored; a section revealed the presence of the concentric circular layers characterizing the formation of this concretion. For remedial use it was rubbed on a stone until a sufficient quantity of its powder was obtained, which was then diluted in liquid and administered as a potion. Strict dieting and absolute rest in the house for seven days were an essential part of the treatment, the bezoar powder being more especially recommended in diseases of the heart, liver or other internal organs, but for sore eyes and for rheumatism its virtues were praised. This illustrates a modern employment of the concretion in Mohammedan Morocco.[443]

Some medical authorities of the sixteenth century were disposed to regard the calculus produced by the human subject as superior in medicinal efficacy to the far-famed bezoar. One of their arguments was that as man was the highest type of organized being a human product must exceed in value one from an animal source; then again, his food was of the best, superior in quality to that taken by the animals furnishing the bezoars. For every theory a proof can be found if one is on the lookout for it, and therefore we need not be surprised if the virtues of calculi or gravel were also supported by evidence. In 1624 or 1625 the Dutch city of Leyden was visited by the plague, and to the great regret of the physicians there was no supply of bezoars on hand. Hereupon they were driven to make use of human gravel, and found to their astonishment that this was an even more excellent sudorific than the bezoar itself.[444]

Calculi taken from the bladder of Pope Pius V. From Mercati’s
“Metallotheca Vaticana.” Romæ, 1719.
]

Although there is no direct relation between bezoars and the hair-balls sometimes found in the stomach or intestines of human beings, there is some slight analogy, as the animal bezoar concretions seem to have been formed about a nucleus consisting of some indigestible material that has been swallowed by an animal. From the report of hospital surgeons, it appears that these hair-balls, which result from a long-continued habit of swallowing hair, are almost exclusively found in the bodies of women, generally of very young girls. The large size which they sometimes attain is very surprising; in several instances they have so filled up the stomach that they are moulded by it into its exact shape. Although when a hair-ball has reached this size, and indeed long before, the most alarming symptoms set in, frequently recurrent vomiting being the most characteristic, we cannot but wonder how it is possible for _any_ food to enter and pass through the stomach under such conditions, the only explanation being the great power of dilation this organ possesses. Its disposition to patiently tolerate foreign bodies where it cannot expel them, renders it often a poor guide in a diagnosis based upon the patient’s personal experience. These hair-balls accumulate and lodge not only in the stomach but also in the intestines, and in either case the eventual result is almost certain to be fatal unless the obstacle is removed by operation. Very occasionally only does nature react sufficiently to expel the impediment without surgical aid. Of course all treatment is vain unless the morbid habit of hair-swallowing can be overcome. This does not seem to be an accompaniment of a distinctly diseased mental condition, although that is sometimes coincident, but must assuredly result from some derangement or abnormality of the nervous centres, inducing a morbid and unnatural craving.[445]

Types of the Ovum Anguinum. Echinites (sea-urchins). From Aldrovandi’s
“Museum metallicum,” Bononiæ, 1648.
]

The serpent-stone, called by Pliny _ovum anguinum_, or “serpent’s egg,” is said to have been worn by the Druid priests as a badge of distinction. Pliny relates that he had seen one of them which was as large as a moderate-sized apple, its shell being a cartilaginous substance. It was supposed to be generated in midsummer out of the saliva and slime exuding from a knot of intertwined serpents. When the moisture had coagulated and formed into a sphere, this was tossed in the air by the hissing snakes, and, in order to preserve its efficacy as a talisman, the finder had to catch it in a linen cloth before it fell to the ground. Such “serpent’s eggs” were in high favor with the Romans, who believed they procured for the wearers success in all disputes and the protection of kings. So great was the faith reposed in their magical virtues that Claudius is said to have condemned to death a Roman knight, one of the Vecontii, simply because he had an _ovum anguinum_ concealed in his bosom when he appeared in court during the trial of a lawsuit in which he was involved. In order to enhance the value of this amulet, the story was circulated that great dangers were incurred in securing it; for the snakes pursued any one who seized the egg and he could only escape by fording a river, across which they could not swim.[446] In later accounts of this amulet it is described as a ring, sometimes composed of a blue stone with an undulating streak or stripe of yellow, thought to represent a snake.

Certain so-called floating-stones have been found in a branch of Mann Creek, a tributary of the Weiser River, which flows into the latter near its confluence with the Snake River in Idaho.[447] These are hollow quartz globes, with a shell so thin that the air in the cavity more than makes up for the specific gravity of the quartz. Some formation similar to this may possibly have been intended by Pliny in his description of the _ovum anguinum_ or serpent’s egg of the Druids, which floated if thrown into a stream, although it is perhaps more probable that these “serpent’s eggs” were shells of the sea-urchin, as they are figured by De Boot and other writers.

The snake-stone, legends regarding which are met with in so many different parts of the world, is known to the Lapps of northern Europe, and strange to say, some of the elements of Pliny’s old recital touching the “serpent’s egg” come out in the account given of it by this primitive race, in general so far removed from any notion of classical tradition. Anyone in search of this stone must resort, according to the Lapps, to the pairing place of snakes, for here they throw the stone, which is small and white, back and forth to one another; he must steal along quietly until he is quite near to the snakes and then snatch the stone as it flies through the air, and run away with it as fast as he can to the nearest piece of water. Should he reach the water before the snake does—for the reptile pursues him—he gains the ownership of the stone; if, however, the snake first reaches the water, this is very dangerous for the man. Hence he should carefully search out the nearest water before snatching the stone, and as the snake will not immediately know what has become of it, and will hunt for it awhile before starting in pursuit of the thief, the latter will have time to come first to the water.[448]

Tertullian writes that the wearing of stones taken from the head of a dragon or of a serpent was especially reprehensible in the case of a Christian; for how could a Christian be said to “bruise the head” of the Old Serpent (Gen. iii, 15) while wearing such a stone about his neck or on his head, and thus testifying to a kind of serpent worship![449]

The Greek poem “Lithica,” belonging to the fourth century B.C., also celebrates the virtues of a “snake-stone,” which is to be pressed closely on the bitten spot; but besides this application, the drinking of undiluted wine in which the stone _ostrites_ had been pulverized, is recommended. This shows that the therapeutic value of alcohol as a stimulant to revive the nerve-centres, paralyzed by the animal poison, was recognized at this time. An unusually precise description is given of the _ostrites_; it was round, hard, black and rough, and was marked by many wavy lines or veins. Some one of the many varieties of banded agate seems to answer best to this description.[450]

The legend that St. Patrick drove out all snakes from Ireland sometimes took the form that the saint had transformed them into stones. This belief is noted by Andrew Borde, physician and ecclesiastic, who, writing in 1542, mentions some strange stones he had been shown on that island:

I have sene stones the whiche have had the forme and shape of a snake
and other venimous wormes. And the people of the countrie sayth that
such stones were wormes, and they were turned into stones by the power
of God and the prayers of saynt Patrick. And English merchauntes of
England do fetch of the erth of Irlonde to caste in their garden’s, to
keepe out and to kyll venimous wormes.[451]

The legendary serpent-stone is usually one taken from the reptile’s head, but Welsh tradition tells of one extracted from the tail of a serpent by the hero Peredur, and having the magic property that anyone holding it in one hand would grasp a handful of gold in the other. This stone was generously bestowed upon Etlym by the finder, who only secured it after vanquishing the serpent in a dangerous conflict.[452]

The snake-stone (or “madstone”), in Arabic _ḥajar alḥayyat_, is described by the Arab writer Kazwini, as being of the size of a small nut. It was found in the heads of certain snakes. To cure the bite of a venomous creature the injured part was to be immersed in sour milk, or in hot water, and when the stone was thrown into the liquid it would immediately attract itself to the bitten part and draw out the poison.[453] The homeopathic idea plays a considerable rôle in the superstitions of the Arabs of northern Africa. To cure the bite or sting of the scorpion, the creature is to be crushed over the wound it has inflicted. If anyone is bitten by a dog, he should cut off some of the animal’s hair and lay this on the bitten part; if, however, the dog was mad, it must be killed, its body opened and the heart removed. This is then to be broiled and eaten by the person who has been bitten.[454]

Many beautiful glass beads of Roman, or perhaps of British fabrication, have been found in Great Britain and Ireland. Upon some of these are bosses composed of white spirals, the body of the bead being blue, red, yellow, or some other brilliant color. These have been called “holy snake beads.” Probably most of them are merely ornamental productions and were not intended to represent serpent-stones. The curious test of the genuineness of an _ovum anguinum_ mentioned by Pliny, namely, that even if set in gold, it would float up a stream against the current, indicates a very porous structure; perhaps some of these serpent’s eggs were hollow, vitrified clay balls with wavy lines on the surface.

De Boot, in his treatise on stones and gems,[455] figures the _ovum anguinum_, and says that its form was either hemispherical or lenticular. In his opinion the name “serpent’s egg” was given to the stone because on its surface there appeared five ridges, starting from the base and tapering off toward the top. These bore a certain resemblance to a serpent’s or adder’s tail. The stone was believed to protect the wearer from pestilential vapors and from poisons.

The so-called “snake-stones,” many specimens of which have been found in British barrows, bear in the Scottish Lowlands the designation “Adder Stanes.” They are also sometimes called adder-beads or serpent-stones. For the Welsh they were _gleini na droedh_ and for the Irish _glaine nan druidhe_, the meaning being the same, “Druid’s glass.” Many interesting examples were added to the collection of the Museum of Scotch Antiquaries, one of these being of red glass, spotted with white; another of blue glass, streaked with yellow; other types were of pale green and blue glass, some of these being ribbed while others again were of smooth and plain surface. That the glass “snake-stones” were objects of considerable care and attention is indicated by the mending of a broken specimen shown by Lord Landesborough at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries in 1850. This broken bead had been repaired and strengthened by the application of a bronze hoop.[456]

The supposed snake-stones are also to be found among the Cornishmen, who sometimes call these objects _milprey_ or “thousand worms,” and they even lay claim to the power of forcing a snake to fabricate the “stone” by thrusting a hazel-wand into the spirals of a sleeping reptile. In another version it is not a bead that is formed but a ring which grows around a hazel-wand when a snake breathes on it. If water in which this ring has been dipped be given to a human being or an animal that has been bitten by a venomous creature, all ill effects of the bite will be warded off, the water acting as a powerful antidote to the poison.[457]

The belief that the snake-stone of Welsh legend—in reality either a fossil or a bead—was evolved from the venom or saliva ejected by a concourse of hissing snakes, gave rise to a peculiar popular saying among the Welsh to the effect that people who are whispering together mysteriously, and apparently gossiping, or perhaps hatching some mischief, are “blowing the gem.”[458]

Many of the glass beads known as “snake-stones” or “Druid’s glass” are perforated, and this is fancifully explained as being the work of one of the group of snakes which forms the bead. This particular snake thrusts its tail through the viscous mass before it has become hardened into a glass sphere. In various parts of Scotland such beads are treasured up by the peasants; according to the testimony of an English visitor of 1699, who reports that they were hung on children’s necks as protection from whooping-cough and other children’s diseases, and were also valued as talismans productive of good fortune and protective against the onslaught of malevolent spirits. To guard one of these precious beads from the depredations of the dreaded fairies the peasant would keep it enclosed in an iron box, this metal being much feared by the fairies.[459]

A type of snake-stone used in Asia Minor is described as being of a pearly white hue, rounded on one side, and flat on the other. Toward the edge of the flat side runs a fine, wavy, bluish line, the undulations of which are fancied to figure a serpent. The victim of a snake-bite first had the spot rubbed with some kind of sirup; then the stone was applied to the bitten spot, and it would adhere to the inflamed surface for eight days; at the expiration of this time it would fall off. The bite would be entirely healed and would not be followed by ill effects of any kind.[460]

A novel theory in regard to the formation of a type of snake-stones is given by an old Chinese writer. This is that snakes, before they begin to hibernate, swallow some yellow earth and retain this in the gullet until they come forth again in the springtime, when they cast it forth. By this time the earth has acquired the consistency of a stone, the surface remaining yellow, while the interior is black. If picked up during the second phase of the moon this concretion was thought to be a cure for children’s convulsions, and for gravel, and was powdered and given in infusion. The infusion could also be applied with advantage externally to envenomed swellings.[461]

An old manuscript found in a manor house in Essex, England, contains a translation, made in 1732 by an Oxford student, E. Swinton, of some details on the snake-stone, taken from a work published in the same year at Bologna by Nicolo Campitelli. After noting that these stones came from the province of Kwang-shi in China and from different places in India, their appearance and qualities are described. In color they were almost black, some having pale gray or ash-color spots. The test of the genuineness of such a stone was to apply it to the lips; if not a spurious one, it would cling so closely to the membrane that considerable force must be exerted to separate it therefrom. The usual directions are given for its employment in the cure of snake bites, but its usefulness by no means ended here; its curative power was also exhibited in the case of “Scrophulous Eruptions and Pestilential Bubos,” and it could be used in the treatment of malignant tremors, venereal disorders, etc. With the manuscript was found a specimen snake-stone. This was described as being a thin oval body, about an inch in length and three-quarters of an inch broad; the color was gray with light streaks, and the surface was bright and polished. It was of the consistency of horn, and the writer of the note in the “Lancet” believes that it was part of a stag’s antler or some similar substance, from which the animal matter had been removed by the action of heat; many of the Oriental snake-stones are of this type, but, as we have already seen, a great variety of more or less porous materials have been and are still used in this way in different parts of the world. A practical experiment was made in 1867 by Dr. John Schrott, who excited six cobras to bite a number of pariah dogs. Without delay the snake-stones were applied to the wounds, but they proved absolute failures, death resulting as speedily as though nothing had been done.[462]

Jean Baptiste Tavernier, the great Oriental traveller of the seventeenth century, gives the following description of the “snake-stones” found in India:[463]

Finally, I will mention the snake-stone, which is about the size of a
doubloon, some approximating to an oval form, being thicker in the
middle and tapering toward the edges. The Indians say that it forms on
the head of certain snakes, but I rather believe that the priests of
these idolators make them think this, and that this stone is a
composition of certain drugs. However this may be, it has great virtue
to draw out all the poison, when anyone has been bitten by a venomous
creature. If the part that has been bitten has not been punctured, an
incision must be made, so that the blood can flow out, and when the
stone has been applied, it does not fall off until it has absorbed all
the poison which gathers about it. To clean it, woman’s milk is used,
or should this be lacking, cow’s milk, and after ten or twelve hours
steeping, the milk which has drawn out all the poison takes on the
color of pus. Having dined one day with the Archbishop of Goa, he took
me into his museum, where he had several curious objects. Among other
things he showed me one of these stones, and having told me of its
properties, he assured me that but three days before he had seen them
tested, and presented the stone to me. As he was traversing a marsh on
the Island of Salsate, whereon Goa is situated, to go to a country
house, one of those who bore his palanquin, and who was almost
entirely naked, was bitten by a snake and was immediately cured by
this stone. I have bought several of them, and they are sold only by
the brahmins, which makes me think the brahmins themselves make the
stones. There are two methods of testing whether the stone is good or
the product of some deception. The first of these tests is to place it
in one’s mouth, for then, if it be good, it springs up and cleaves to
the palate; the second test is to place it in a glass full of water;
if it is not sophisticated, the water begins to seethe, small bubbles
rising from the stone at the bottom to the surface of the water.

Thevenot, a French traveller who visited India in 1666, about the time Tavernier was there, asserts that the famous “Stones of the Cobra” were manufactured in the town of Diu, in Guzerat, and that they were made “of the ashes of burnt roots, mingled with a kind of Earth they have, and were again burnt with that Earth, which afterwards is made up into a Paste, of which these Stones are formed.” After describing the process employed for cleaning the stones after they had been used, Thevenot adds that if not freed from the absorbed venom the stones would burst.[464]

Dr. J. Davy examined and analyzed some of these “stones,” and found one of them to be a piece of bone partially calcined. When applied to the tongue or to any other moist surface it adhered firmly. Another, which lacked all absorbent or adhesive power, was said to have saved the life of four men. It therefore appears that while some of the “snake-stones” really possessed some possible curative virtues, others were esteemed only because of a superstitious belief in their magical properties. Kaempfer, writing in 1712, informs us that these stones should always be used in pairs, and applied successively to the wound.[465] The belief in the efficacy of such stones is still general in India, and one of the varieties is supposed to be found in the head of the adjutant bird.[466]

Francisco Redi[467] describes the extraordinary healing power attributed to stones obtained from the heads of certain serpents, called by the Portuguese “_cobras de capello_,” found throughout Hindostan and Farther India. These stones are claimed to be an infallible remedy for the bites and stings of all kinds of venomous reptiles or animals, and likewise for wounds made by poisoned arrows, etc. He repeats the usual tales of their adhering powerfully when applied to the bite or wound, and clinging to it like a cupping-glass until they had absorbed all the poison, when they would fall off spontaneously, leaving the man or animal sound and free. Then follows the account of steeping the stones in milk to remove the poison, the milk assuming a color between yellow and green. These wonderful stones and the narrations concerning them had been brought to Italy by Catholic missionaries, who seemed to have entire faith in their powers; so that Redi says they offered to prove the accounts by any number of experiments, such as would satisfy the most incredulous, and prove to medical men that Galen was correct when he wrote (Chapter XIV, Book I) that certain medicines attract poison as the magnet does iron. For this purpose a search for vipers, etc., was recommended; but, owing to the season being later and colder than usual, none could at that time be obtained, as they had not emerged from their winter quarters. An experiment was therefore substituted, after much consultation among the learned men of the Academy of Pisa, whereby oil of tobacco was introduced into the leg of a rooster. This was regarded as one of the most fatal of such substances, and was administered by impregnating a thread with it to the width of four fingers and drawing it through the punctured wound. One of the monks forthwith applied the stone, which behaved in the regular manner described. The bird did not recover, but it survived eight hours, to the admiration of the monks and other spectators of the experiment.

Frontispiece and title-page of Francesco Redi’s “Experimenta
naturalia,” Amsterdam, 1675, and two specimen pages of this
treatise, referring to the snake-stones believed to be taken from
the Indian _Cobras de Capello_, or hooded snakes.
]

FORMS OF TABASHEER

Bought at Fair at Calcutta, 1888, by Dr. Valentine Ball.
]

Redi states that he himself possessed some of these stones, as did also Vincent Sandrinus, one of the most learned herbalists of Pisa. Redi describes them as “always lenticular in form, varying somewhat in size, but in general about as large as a farthing, more or less. In color some are black, others white, others black, with an ashy hue on one side or both,” etc.

Up to the present time no one has apparently identified what Tavernier referred to in speaking of snake-stones. It, however, occurred to the writer, after receiving a quantity of tabasheer from Dr. F. H. Mallet of the Geological Survey of India, who obtained it at the bazaar of the Calcutta Fair in November of 1888, that many, if not most of the Hindu snake-stones must have been tabasheer. Tabasheer is a variety of opal that is found in the joints of certain species of bamboo in Hindostan, Burma, and South America; it is originally a juice, which by evaporation changes into a mucilaginous state, then becomes a solid substance. It ranges from translucent to opaque in color, and is either white or bluish-white by reflected light, and pale yellow or slight sherry red by transmitted light. Upon fracture it breaks into irregular pieces like starch. As in Tavernier’s account of its clinging to the palate and causing water to boil when immersed, it actually has the property of strongly adhering to the tongue, and when put into water emits rapid streams of minute bubbles of air. It has a strong siliceous odor, but after absorbing an equal bulk of water becomes transparent like a Colorado hydrophane described by the writer several years ago before the New York Academy of Sciences.

Although tabasheer is mentioned in nearly all the textbooks, very little of it has reached the United States. It is highly interesting, since we have here an organic product scarcely to be distinguished from a similar opal-like body found by Mr. Arnold Hague in the geysers of the Yellowstone Park. Both tabasheer and the hydrophane were probably what was called “Oculus Beli,” “Oculus Mundi,” and “Lapis mutabilis” by Thomas Nicol, Robert Boyle, and other writers of the seventeenth century, and “Weltauge” by the Germans.

The great capacity of this substance for absorbing a fluid would undoubtedly render it as efficacious for the purpose of absorbing poison as any other known stone, providing the wound were open enough; and its internal use to-day as a medicine is possibly also due to this property.

Tabasheer, as known among mineralogists, is a corruption of the word tabixir, a name which was used even in the time of Avicenna, the Grand Vizier and body surgeon of the Sultan of Persia in the tenth century. It played a very important part in medicine during the Middle Ages. As to its origin, Sir David Brewster[468] says that tabasheer is only formed in diseased or injured bamboo joints or stalks.

SPECIMENS OF TABASHEER

At the upper right-hand corner is figured a hydrophane, or “Magic
Stone,” at the upper left-hand corner is a floating stone from
Oregon. The tabasheer was bought at the Fair held in Calcutta in
1888.
]

Guibourt[469] differs from Brewster, inasmuch as he attributes the different rates of growth to the fact that when there is a superabundance of sap the tabasheer is formed from the residuum. More recently, Henry Cecil[470] says, “In the onrush of tropical growth in the young shoot, nature, after flooring the knot, has poured in, as it were, sap and silica sufficient for a normal length and width of stem to the knot next above it. But by some check to the impulse, or by irregularity of conditions, the portion of stem thus provided for is shorter or narrower than intended, and the unused silica is left behind as a sediment, compacted by the drying residuum sap.”

This latter view is sustained by Dr. Ernst Huth, who discusses the name, history, origin, and reputed virtues of this substance with much fulness.[471] In regard to its use in medicine during the Middle Ages, he quotes a remarkable list of applications to the ills that flesh is heir to.

Here it is cited as a remedy for affections of the eyes, the chest, and of the stomach, for coughs, fevers, and biliary complaints, and especially for melancholia arising from solitude, dread of the past, and fears for the future. Other writers speak of its use in bilious fevers and dysentery, internal and external heat, and injuries and maladies.

The writer has examined a large number of so-called madstones, and they have all proved to be an aluminous shale or other absorptive substance. But tabasheer possesses absorptive properties to a greater degree than any other of the mineral substances examined, and it is strange that it has never been mentioned as being used as an antidote. It may be confidently recommended to the credence of any person who may desire to believe in a madstone.

Cobra de Capello. From Tavernier’s Travels, English translation by
John Philips, London, 1684.
]

The writer believes that Tavernier’s snake-stones may all have been tabasheer, or again, while some of them were of this substance, others may have been artificially compounded by the authorized dealers of the Brahmin caste. The instance he gives of the successful use of such a stone is not altogether incredible, as, should one of the less active poisons be sucked out of a wound shortly after this were inflicted, a cure might well be effected. In view of the great difference in the virulence of poisons and the varying degrees of the sensibility to toxic effects, it is not strange that the snake-stones should sometimes seem to give good results. Tavernier states that these stones were brought to India by Portuguese soldiers returning from service in Mozambique.[472] For successful use a pair of them were needed, so that, when applied to a snake-bite, as soon as one became saturated with the venom the other could be immediately substituted. To have them always at hand, those natives fortunate enough to own a pair of _pedras de cobra_ carried them about in a little bag.[473]

A curious traditional belief is current in some parts of India, notably in Ceylon, to the effect that the male cobra, during the night, uses a certain luminous stone to lure its prey and to attract the female. This is probably the chlorophane, a variety of fluorite, a substance which shines with a phosphorescent light in the darkness, and this quality, quite mysterious in the eyes of the natives, may have induced them to associate the stone with the snake, the epitome of all subtlety and cunning. Serpent-stones were supposed to exist in both ancient and medieval times, and the belief in their existence is widespread among many races of mankind.

A chlorophane is also found in the microlite localities of Amelia Court House, Virginia. The writer made a series of experiments and noted that some of these specimens emit a phosphorescent light at a low temperature. The material occurs in Siberia, and Pallas describes a specimen from this locality. When subjected to the heat of the hand, it gave out a white light, in boiling water a green light, and when placed on a burning coal a brilliant emerald-green light, visible at a considerable distance. Similar phenomena have been observed by the writer, who has found that very slight attrition, even the rubbing of one specimen against another in the dark, will produce phosphorescence.[474]

The real or supposed virtues of the “snake-stones” of Ceylon are detailed at considerable length by the great Dutch naturalist, Rumphius. After noting the old tale that the “natural” snake-stones came from the _cobra de capello_ (_Serpens pilosus_), he proceeds to relate the information he had been able to gather regarding the “spurious” stones of this type. These were fabricated by the Brahmins, the process being kept a profound secret; indeed, there were those who asserted that the Brahmins themselves had lost the art, as this had been possessed by but a single family which had died out, leaving the secret unrevealed. Rumphius describes these artificial stones as usually round and flat, the size varying from that of a half-shilling piece to that of a two-shilling piece. Some were of lenticular form and a few were oblong; all had a white spot in the middle. In making the application, the bitten spot was first pricked until it bled, whereupon the stone was immediately laid on and allowed to remain until it dropped off of itself “just as a leech would do.” So intense was its absorbent activity that it would sometimes break, in which case a substitute had to be quickly applied. The saturated stone was placed in milk and the absorbed venom was thus drawn out, turning the milk blue.[475]

One of the tales of the Gesta Romanorum treats of a serpent-stone of singular medicinal virtue. According to the story—which is, of course, a mere legend—a certain Theodosius, who “reigned in a Roman city,” was a most prudent ruler, but was afflicted with blindness. In his care for the welfare of his subjects he had decreed that when anyone who desired justice rang the bell at the palace gate, a judge must forthwith appear and try his case. Now it happened that a serpent had its nest near the bell-rope, and one day, while the reptile was absent, a toad took possession of the nest. Returning and finding the nest occupied, the serpent,—evidently a worthy descendant of the original serpent of Paradise, “more subtle than any beast of the field,”—wound its tail about the bell-rope and pulled the bell. When the judge appeared, as in duty bound, he was struck by this strange spectacle, and reported it to the emperor, who told him to right the wrong which had been done, directing him to expel and kill the toad. Not long after, the serpent made its way into the palace and entered the emperor’s room, bearing in its mouth a small stone. Proceeding to the emperor’s couch, it crawled up, raised its head above the emperor’s face and dropped the stone upon his eyes. As soon as the stone touched the eyes, the emperor’s sight was restored. The serpent disappeared and was never seen again.[476]

A representative type of “madstone” is a concretionary calculus occasionally, but very rarely, found in the gullet of male deer. In form it bears a resemblance to a water-worn pebble and is usually of oblong shape, the largest specimens being 3 inches in length and 1½ inches in width. The chemical analysis of Dr. H. C. White showed that the chief component was tricalcic phosphate. His experiments demonstrated that while such a concretion would absorb water to the amount of 5 per cent. of its own weight, the quantity of blood or other fluid it was able to absorb only amounted to 2.3 per cent. of its weight. When immersed in water, after having been placed on a wound caused by the bite of a venomous creature, the liquid absorbed was given out so as to discolor the water, and the material exuded was found to be of toxic quality. However, experiments with animals that had been bitten by snakes or other reptiles, failed to show that the stone exercised any curative effect. Dr. White states that he has in his possession a “madstone” dating from 1654, but this is of a different type, being a porous sandstone.[477]

Even in South Africa snake-stones are known, but it appears that the few specimens reported had been brought thither from the Dutch East Indies; one such stone had been handed down for generations in a Dutch settler’s family. From their appearance some of these snake-stones were judged to be pieces of burnt hartshorn. A Boer farmer owned an amulet of this kind that he would loan from time to time to neighbors who might have need of it. On one occasion, when the daughter of an English hunter had been bitten by a snake, the father sent off a man on horseback to borrow this snake-stone. Owing to the unavoidable delay, some hours elapsed before it could be applied to the wound. The girl recovered after its use but the wound did not heal satisfactorily, and this was attributed to the length of time that had intervened between the attack of the snake and the use of the remedial stone.[478]

In December, 1887,[479] the writer described a white opaque variety of hydrophane with a white, chalky or glazed coating, which had recently been brought from a Colorado locality. The absorbent quality of this stone is quite remarkable, and when water is allowed to drop on it, it first becomes very white and chalky, and then gradually perfectly transparent. This property is developed so strikingly that the finder proposed the name “Magic Stone” for the mineral and suggested its use in rings, lockets, charms, etc., to conceal photographs, hair, and other objects, which the wearer wishes to reveal only as caprice dictates.

VI
Angels and Ministers of Grace

The veneration of angels and the attribution to them of especial days or months, as well as the idea that they were guardians of those born on those days or during those months, was the result of many factors. The belief in the existence of angels is present in all parts of the Bible, but in the earlier portions they are not individualized in any way. The angel of God, or of the Lord (_malach Elohim_ or _malach Yahveh_) was simply a messenger of God, employed to communicate his will or else to accomplish some act of divine justice.