320 ANALYSIS of; 



snical effed whatever as local applications; and the firfi: kind can have 

 little effedl even as an abibrbrnt ; were it indexed pLl^efled^>f the ftrong- 

 eil abforbent power, 1 am confident, its application would be ufeleisj 

 and worfe than ufelefsjas interfering with the employment of efficient 



means of cure» 



Another queltion may be put. — Is it not curious tbatthefe ftones if 

 pcilelled of no real power (hould be fo much confided in as they are^. 

 and if deftitute of all virtue as an antidote, fhoixvl be efteemed as an 



antidote, and no; onl)^ by ignorant /rtc^z^inj, but evsKH by many Europe' 

 ans. — In reply it n-iay be generally remarked, errof is popular, quod^ 

 mavult homo ejje verum id facile credit : appearances are deceptive and 

 correal conclulions difhculdy drawn, not to mention the efil£ls of fu!»- 

 perftition and its influence on the minds of^ Indians, To be more par- 

 ticular, it may be remarked farther, that I believe the perfons who have 

 uied fnake-fiones have (independent of other fources of miftake,) 

 been deceived by applying them in many inftances to the bite of 

 fnakes fuppofed to be^ but not really venomous ; and in other in (lancet. 

 in attributing to the flones^ the cure which was due to nature alone.. 



The majority of ferpents fuppofed by the natives to be poifonous^ 

 are harmlefs. Though I have been in Ceyloji only a few months, I 

 have already feen and examined twelve different fpecies of fnakes : 

 of the fe only one kind was believed by the natives to be harmlefso, 

 Notwithftanding of the whole number, only three fpecies proved to 

 be poifonous. About a week ago a fnake vfas brought me by a Mo-^ 

 deliar. He called it a Mahibilla. Though dead, the man who carried, 

 it, was under great appreheniions of danger, and took care of himfelf 

 by carrying it tied to the end of a long pole. The Modeliar excufed 

 the man's timidity, faying it was very venomous; in an hour (he af- 

 ferted) the man who is bitten by it dicffa— Yet on examinatioD, I found 



