16 OUR EEPTILES. 



it two snake- stones, each of the size of a small 

 almond, intensely black and highly polished, 

 though of an extremely light substance. Then he 

 applied one to each wound inflicted by the teeth 

 of the serpent, to which the stones attached them- 

 selves closely, the blood that oozed from the 

 bites being rapidly imbibed by the porous tex- 

 ture of the article applied. The stones adhered 

 tenaciously for three or four minutes, the wounded 

 man's companion in the mean time rubbing his 

 arm downwards from the shoulder towards the 

 fingers. At length the snake-stones dropped 

 off of their own accord ; the suffering appeared 

 to have subsided; he twisted his fingers till 

 the joints cracked, and went on his way without 

 concern/' It would appear that Sir Emerson 

 submitted one of these snake-stones to Professor 

 Faraday for chemical examination, which re- 

 sulted in the professor giving his opinion that it 

 was a piece of charred bone which had been 

 filled with blood, perhaps several times, and 

 then carefully charred again. The ash was 

 almost entirely composed of phosphate of lime. 



Captain Napier mentions an instance of the 

 efficacy of the stone. One of the soldiers having 

 been bitten by a scorpion, he says, " I applied 

 the stone to the puncture; it adhered imme- 

 diately, and during the eight minutes that it 

 remained on, the patient by degrees became 



