History and Legends About Snake Stones

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History and Legends About Snake Stones

 

Stones extracted from snakes were believed to cure a poisonous bite or the sting

of a

scorpion and holy snake beads were made from glass as ornamental

representations.

 

The legendary serpent-stone is usually one taken from the reptile's head, but

Welsh

tradition tells of one extracted from the tail of a serpent by the hero Peredur,

and having

the magic property that anyone holding it in one hand would grasp a handful of

gold in

the other. This stone was generously bestowed upon Etlym by the finder, who only

secured

it after vanquishing the serpent in a dangerous conflict. The snake-stone (or

"mad-

stone"), in Arabic hajar alhayyat, is described by the Arab writer Kazwini, as

being of the

size of a small nut. It was found in the heads of certain snakes. To cure the

bite of a

venomous creature the injured part was to be immersed in sour milk, or in hot

water, and

when the stone was thrown into the liquid it would immediately attract itself to

the bitten

part and draw out the poison. The homeopathic idea plays a considerable role in

the

superstitions of the Arabs of northern Africa. To cure the bite or sting of the

scorpion, the

creature is to be crushed over the wound it has inflicted. If anyone is bitten

by a dog, he

should cut off some of the animal's hair and lay this on the bitten part; if,

however, the

dog was mad, it must be killed, its body opened and the heart removed. This is

then to be

broiled and eaten by the person who has been bitten. bodyAd(500386) Many

beautiful

glass beads of Roman, or perhaps of British fabrication, have been found in

Great Britain

and Ireland. Upon some of these are bosses composed of white spirals, the body

of the

bead being blue, red, yellow, or some other brilliant color. These have been

called "holy

snake beads." Probably most of them are merely ornamental productions and were

not

intended to represent serpentstones. The curious test of the genuineness of an

ovum

anguinum mentioned by Pliny, namely, that even if set in gold, it would float up

a stream

against the current, indicates a very porous structure; perhaps some of these

serpent's

eggs were hollow, vitrified clay balls with wavy lines on the surface. De Boot,

in his treatise

on stones and gems, figures the ovum anguinum, and says that its form was either

hemispherical or lenticular. In his opinion the name "serpent's egg" was given

to the stone

because on its surface there appeared five ridges, starting from the base and

tapering off

toward the top. These bore a certain resemblance to a serpent's or adder's tail.

The stone

was believed to protect the wearer from pestilential vapors and from poisons.

The so-

called "snake-stones," many specimens of which have been found in British

barrows, bear

in the Scottish Lowlands the designation "Adder Stanes." They are also sometimes

called

adder-beads or serpent-stones. For the Welsh they were gleini na droedh and for

the Irish

glaine nan druidhe, the meaning being the same, "Druid's glass." Many

interesting

examples were added to the collection of the Museum of Scotch Antiquaries, one

of these

being of red glass, spotted with white; another of blue glass, streaked with

yellow; other

types were of pale green and blue glass, some of these being ribbed while others

again

were of smooth and plain surface. That the glass "snake-stones" were objects of

considerable care and attention is indicated by the mending of a broken specimen

shown

by Lord Landes-borough at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries in 1850. This

broken

bead had been repaired and strengthened by the application of a bronze hoop. The

supposed snake-stones are also to be found among the Cornishmen, who sometimes

call

these objects milprey or "thousand worms," and they even lay claim to the power

of

forcing a snake to fabricate the "stone" by thrusting a hazel-wand into the

spirals of a

sleeping reptile. In another version it is not a bead that is formed but a ring

which grows

around a hazel-wand when a snake breathes on it. If water in which this ring has

been

dipped be given to a human being or an animal that has been bitten by a venomous

creature, all ill-effects of the bite will be warded off, the water acting as a

powerful

antidote to the poison. The belief that the snake-stone of Welsh legend--in

reality either a

fossil or a bead--was evolved from the venom or saliva ejected by a concourse of

hissing

snakes, gave rise to a peculiar popular saying among the Welsh to the effect

that people

who are whispering together mysteriously, and apparently gossiping, or perhaps

hatching

some mischief, are "blowing the gem." Many of the glass beads known as

"snake-stones"

or "Druid's glass" are perforated, and this is fancifully explained as being the

work of one

of the group of snakes which forms the bead. This particular snake thrusts its

tail through

the viscous mass before it has become hardened into a glass sphere. In various

parts of

Scotland such beads are treasured up by the peasants; according to the testimony

of an

English visitor of 1699, who reports that they were hung on children's necks as

protection

from whooping-cough and other children's diseases, and were also valued as

talismans

productive of good fortune and protective against the onslaught of malevolent

spirits. To

guard one of these precious beads from the depredations of the dreaded fairies

the

peasant would keep it enclosed in an iron box, this metal being much feared by

the fairies.

A type of snake-stone used in Asia Minor is described as being of a pearly white

hue,

rounded on one side, and flat on the other. Toward the edge of the flat side

runs a fine,

wavy, bluish line, the undulations of which are fancied to figure a serpent. The

victim of a

snake-bite first had the spot rubbed with some kind of sirup; then the stone was

applied

to the bitten spot, and it would adhere to the inflamed surface for eight days;

at the

expiration of this time it would fall off. The bite would be entirely healed and

would not be

followed by ill effects of any kind. A novel theory in regard to the formation

of a type of

snake-stones is given by an old Chinese writer. This is that snakes, before they

begin to

hibernate, swallow some yellow earth and retain this in the gullet until they

come forth

again in the springtime, when they cast it forth. By this time the earth has

acquired the

consistency of a stone, the surface remaining yellow, while the interior is

black. If picked

up during the second phase of the moon this concretion was thought to be a cure

for

children's convulsions, and for gravel, and was powdered and given in infusion.

The

infusion could also be applied with advantage externally to envenomed swellings.

An old

manuscript found in a manor house in Essex, England, contains a translation,

made in

1732 by an Oxford student, E. Swinton, of some details on the snake-stone, taken

from a

work published in the same year at Bologna by Nicolo Campitelli. After noting

that these

stones came from the province of Kwang-shi in China and from different places in

India,

their appearance and qualities are described. In color they were almost black,

some having

pale gray or ash-color spots. The test of the genuineness of such a stone was to

apply it

to the lips; if not a spurious one, it would cling so closely to the membrane

that

considerable force must be exerted to separate it therefrom. The usual

directions are

given for its employment in the cure of snake bites, but its usefulness by no

means ended

here; its curative power was also exhibited in the case of "Scrophulous

Eruptions and

Pestilential Bubos," and it could be used in the treatment of malignant tremors,

venereal

disorders, etc. With the manuscript was found a specimen snake-stone. This was

described as being a thin oval body, about an inch in length and three-quarters

of an inch

broad; the color was gray with light streaks, and the surface was bright and

polished. It

was of the consistency of horn, and the writer of the note in the "Lancet"

believes that it

was part of a stag's antler or some similar substance, from which the animal

matter had

been removed by the action of heat; many of the Oriental snake-stones are of

this type,

but, as we have already seen, a great variety of more or less porous materials

have been

and are still used in this way in different parts of the world. A practical

experiment was

made in 1867 by Dr. John Schrott, who excited six cobras to bite a number of

pariah dogs.

Without delay the snake-stones were applied to the wounds, but they proved

absolute

failures, death resulting as speedily as though nothing had been done.

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