. .^ti AN-ALYSIS OF 



-'Of all errors, praftical errors are the word; and to this da's -of- er-r€^M3 

 I'-flatter myfclf I have proved that the' belief of fnake-ftones being 

 at-itidote againil the poiCon of fnalies belorrgs. The fooner fuch a he» 

 lief is exploded the better. Mar^y a life in aU probabihry has been lacri- 

 iiced to it, that rriight have been faved by efficient means of cure, 

 timely applied, and much homan fufFering undergone, that might have 

 ■hten relieved^ had real, in-ftead of tliefe imaginary remedies been em- 

 ployed, 



*- "=^==e«=GS55 ^® ^^@ <^^ & "^^^ ^^ ^a^^..^ ' - "" ! ■■ " ■ ". !. ' 



^^DBITIOMAL OSSERVATIO-NS, BY THE SKCttE'lARY, 



THE experiments of Dr. Davy have fatisfadorily cRabliOied the 

 siature of thofe fabilances termed fnake-rxones, and have fully corro- 

 borated the notions entertained of their compofition and inefficacy 5 

 the conclufions that he has drawn, however, were not unknown either 

 In the eaft or weft, and it miy not be uninterefting to take a curfory 

 view of the opinions which have been exprefTed of their nature and 

 properties, by preceding writers in thefe kingdoms, as well as im 

 Europe, as a fuppleroent to Dr. ^Pavy's analytical eoo'-iiries^ 



The, modern iBtroduBipn of the fnake-flone to the attention c-f the 



philofophers of Europe, appears to have occurred in the latter part of 



the 17th century. In 1663, feme fpeci mens were brought from India, by 



three Franciican Friars, and depofited in the mufeum of the Grand 



, I)uke of Tufcartijf, where they were feen and defcribed by the natura- 



lift Rsni ; about the fame time, feme were fent from Java by Sir 



Fhiliberto Vernatz to Sir Egbert Moray, for the Repofitory of the 



.Royal Society : they had alfo fome Ihort time before been defcribed 



in Thkvenot's'^ relations of divers confiderable voyages', and they were 



again mentioned in Tavehnier-^s Travels io the Ec^/t Indies^ 



