200 ZOOLOGY. ' [Part II. 



this is afForcled, as well by the apertures of cells or tubes 

 on its surface as by the fact that it yields and breaks 

 under pressure, and exhibits an organic structure within. 

 When heated shghtly, water rises from it, and also a 

 httle ammonia ; and, if heated still more highly in the 

 air, carbon bmiis away, and a bulky white ash is left, 

 retaining the shape and size of the stone." This ash, 

 as is evident from inspection, cannot have belonged to 

 any vegetable substance, for it is almost entirely composed 

 of phosphate of hme. Mr. Faraday adds that " if the 

 piece of matter has ever been employed as a spongy 

 absorbent, it seems hardly fit for that purpose in its 

 present state ; but who can say to what treatment it has 

 been subjected since it was fit for use, or to what treat- 

 ment the natives may submit it when expecting to have 

 occasion to use it .^ " 



The probabihty is, that the animal charcoal, when 

 instantaneously apphed, may be sufficiently porous 

 and absorbent to extract the venom from the recent 

 wound, together with a portion of the blood, before it 

 has had time to be carried into the system ; and that the 

 blood which Mr. Faraday detected in the specimen 

 submitted to him was that of the Indian on whose per- 

 son the effect was exhibited on the occasion to which my 

 informant was an eye-witness. The snake-charmers from 

 the coast who visit Ceylon profess to prepare the snake- 

 stones for themselves, and preserve the composition as 

 a secret. Dr. Davy', on the authority of Sir Alexander 

 Johnston, says the manufacture of them is a lucrative 

 trade, carried on by the monks of Manilla, who supply 

 the merchants of India — and his analysis confirms that 

 of Mr. Faraday. Of the three different kinds which 

 he examined — one being of partially burnt bone, and 

 another of chalk, the tliird, consisting chiefly of vege- 

 table matter, resembled a bezoar, — all of them (except 



^ Account of the Interior of Ceylon, ch, iii. p. 101. 



