THE SNAKE STONE, 519 



From theffe refults it is evident, that this highly valued ftone is 

 merely carbonate of lime coloured by a little vegetable matter. 



The third and laft kind of fnake-flone I have to defcribe was of a 

 cylindrical form, (lightly curved about an inch in length and in cir- 

 cumference about three quarters of an inch ; it had a fmooth fhining 

 furface, was dark bottle green, pretty hard and rather brittle, when 

 broken it proved to be compofed of concentric, thin layers ; it had the 

 odour of mulk in a flight degree : it did not poffefs any abforbent 

 power. 



Before the blow-pipe it decrepitated, fell to pieces, blackened, took 

 fire, burnt with a very red flame and emitted much fmoke. The 

 coal it left was voluminous ; the afh this coal afforded when incimated 

 was fmall in quantity, and conlifted chiefly of carbonate and phof- 

 phate of lime, 



The nature of this ftone I did not farther inveftigate. The preced- 

 ing refults fatisfied me that it was a Bezoaj: which Sir Alhxandee 

 Johnstone previoufly fufpeded. 



It will naturally be afked, are thefe fnake-ftones deferving of the 

 reputation which they have acquired among the natives ; are their 

 virtues real or imaginary ? By putting the quelliori in a different 

 form it may be folved more eafily. Is a calcined bone or a fragment 

 of carbonate of lime, or a concretion formed in the inteflines of an 

 antilope an antidote againll the poifoo of fnakes? Every one ac- 

 quainted with the animal economy and the effects, and the mode of 

 operation of the poifon of fnakes ^viil (I think) decidedly anfwer in the 

 negative. The two kinds lafl defcribed can have no phyfical or che- 



