THE SNAKE' STONES, • ■ ISS) 



■In ^11 tbele cafes, a-n erroneous opinion was expreffed of tfe origin of 

 ^tbis flcne ; it was faid to be found in the head of the Coluber Naja, and 

 oAer ferpen:s, and was theoce termed pklra dd ferpenU, cobra de ca'- 

 pclo'i laph Jcrpentis^ cohra de ca^elo diBl ; psdra'de cobra^ pierre ds 

 fcrpznt, and fnake-ftone; and another kind was named, from the. place 

 whence it was fuppofed to be brought, :pcdra de! ferpente di Mommz^ 

 im% OT lapis ferpenlis de Mombuzza ; the defcription of which, given by 

 Thevenot, is thui.ci-ed in the Philofophical Tranfaftions of 1665 : 



■•" In ihQ-EuJl /wa/Vj, '-and. irr the' kragdoni jg>x772^ in China, thzr^ is 

 found a ftone in the head of a certain ferpent (which they call by a 

 name fignifj'^ing hairy ferpsnt), which heals the bitings of the fame fer- 

 pent, that elfe would kill in 24 hotirso This ftooe is round, white in 

 the middle, and about the edges, blue ©r greenlfh. Being; applied to 

 the wound it adheres to it of itfelF, and falls not off but after it hath 

 lucked the poifon, when they wafh it in milk, wherein it is left awhile^ 

 till it return to its natural condition. It is a rare ftone, for if it be puf. 

 a fecond time upon the wound, and flick to ic, 'tis a fign it had not 

 fucked all the venom during its firO; application, but if it flick not, 'tis 

 a mark .that z}A the poifon was vdr^wn. cut at..firft/* 



-The account thus gi^en- of the -origin of the -fnake-rione, app^srs 

 net to have received implicit credence; Taveunieu. conlidsrs it to be 

 a^medicin.al compound, and K^mpfer [Amcznitat exot.) looks upon it as 

 an artificial fabrication. Theyj^not flates, particularly, that the tovvn of 

 Diu was celebrated for its manufacture, and ia the Philofophical Tranf- 

 ^^ions for 1749-50,. intU. CGmmuuicatisn from Sir Hans Sloan e, fca 

 Itates on the authority of Doctor Alexander Stuart, recently return- 

 ed from the Eoft Indies, that the fnake ftones " were not taken out of 

 lt;i ferpent's liead, but made of the boaes of the fraall buffalo in the 



