MADSTONES WITH AN ACCOUNT OF SEVERAL FROM VIRGINIA* By WYNDHAM B. BLANTON, M.D.

RICHMOND, VA. MBEDDED in the folklore more, though it often adhered of of many nations is a belief its own accord. It was then removed in the efficacy of all sorts of and placed in warm milk. If bubbles medicinal stones and among and a greenish color appeared in the them the madstone is of particularmilk the stone was supposed to be interest.E Madstones have been vari- giving up the poison it had extracted. ously known as snakestones, Chinese The stone was then reapplied to the snakestones, Indian snakestones, ser- surface and theoretically the process pent stones, adder stones, sucking was kept up until no further bubbles stones and bezoar stones. Typical and no more discolorations of the specimens are usually small, light, milk were to be observed. porous, stonelike objects, often with The theory upon which these porous one surface flattened. They possess stones were used was clearly one definite absorptive qualities and are of physical absorption. Some have believed to be capable of extracting been shown to increase their weight the poison from a poisonous bite, as much as 5 per cent when applied especially the poison of a mad dog. Ob- to a wet surface, but in a number of jects from many sources and of many instances well-controlled experiments different compositions have been con- with animals injected with snake sidered to possess the miraculous venom have clearly demonstrated the powers ascribed to madstones, but utter worthlessness of the madstone. in general real madstones are com- The explanation of the popularity posed of (i) a light porous substance of the madstone is due to the fact made by a secret process such as was that contrary to common belief most known to certain natives of India; dog bites are inflicted by animals (2) some porous form of calcareous who are not mad and are therefore rock, such as halloysite, a mineral of themselves harmless. Extreme fear capable of absorbing moisture with is usually associated with the bite of avidity and of adhering to moist an animal supposed to be poisonous surfaces until nearly saturated; or and this fear may well be effectively (3) concretions recovered from the combatted by the application of a intestinal tracts of herbivera, such as stone around which hovers the aura enteroliths, calculi, and hair balls. of many previous successful cures. To extract the poison from a wound Madstones of course have no in- the stone was first moistened. The trinsic value, but the reliance placed flat surface was then applied to the in them by simple folk made them surface of the injury, and the stone frequently bring large prices. In the was held in position by bandages Middle Ages they are said to have for a given number of hours, eight or sold for the equivalent of from $5 to * Read before the Section on the History of Medicine, Richmond Academy of Medicine, October 23, 1934. $35°- Their historic value as objects “the hair of the dog is good for the connected with the life of a people bite.” makes them valuable today to col- The Abbe Grossier in his “Descrip- lectors and museums. Recently one tion of the Chinese” gives one of the is said to have been offered the earliest accounts of these stones in Smithsonian Institute for $1000. Tang Kiang, calling it a Chinese Rudolph of Venice had a fine col- snakestone. A Chinese work by ChuYu, lection. There are collections in the dating from the twelfth century, men- Hofmuseum, Vienna, and the Museum tions madstones and advises that they of Scottish Antiquities. Inquiry among be worn in finger rings. a number of American museums re- In the thirteenth century, I bn Bai- vealed none except in the United tar, in his “Collection of Simples,” States National Museum (Smithson- quotes the works of older Arabian ian). Here six specimens have been authors who describe the Bezoar preserved. One or two are of doubtful stones, and assigns to them the power classification. One is of halloysite; of neutralizing poisons.2 Abu Mansur, another is a highly polished seed in the oldest Persian work of medicine of the Kentucky coffee tree; another mentions them. is the gallstone of an ox; another is Several old as well as modern writers a pebble of calcium carbonate re- refer to snakestones in India. Jean puted to have been found in the Baptieste Tavernier in his “Travels stomach of a deer by an Apache in India” written in the seventeenth Indian of New Mexico. This may century records the fact that the have been a pebble swallowed by the natives believe these stones grow on deer as its surface is etched by the the heads of certain serpents. He him- action of the digestive juice. Another self thought that most were of some is a “brown, striated porous pebble” synthetic composition, but he believed purchased in Wisconsin and said to them none the less effective when have cured a victim of mad dog bite. properly applied. He refers to the One is a “matted ball of hair such as custom of steeping the stones, in is occasionally found in the stomach order to cleanse them after use, in of domesticated cattle, buffalo and human milk.3 perhaps other ruminants.”1 Thevenot thought the Indians made Belief in the madstone is found the stones from the ashes of the root somewhere in the records of nearly of a certain plant mixed with clay.4 A all nations. A search of Pliny’s “Natu- more recent writer on Indian mad- ral History” however is disappointing. stones quotes the owner of one as He who wrote so much of what went saying: on in the Roman Empire about the time of Christ makes no mention of These stones are prepared by religious hermits who live in the heart of the them, although he gives many current virgin forests, and who give themselves remedies for the bite of a mad dog— up to vows of various kinds, in all of the liver of a he-goat, the dung of a which charitable acts predominate. These she-goat, of a badger, cuckoo and mendicants give these stones to snake swallow, the menstrual blood of a charmers as a guard and antidote against bitch, and a receipt often on the accidents, which often happen in their tongue of every mother’s son of us: dangerous calling, and snake charmers in turn may give away these stones but In France we read of Ambroise never sell them. Pare taking part in an experiment to The part bitten should be slightly determine if a bezoar stone could save moistened with water and the stone the life of a criminal who had been applied, the stone will adhere very given a lethal dose of the bichloride of firmly to the spot and after a time it will drop off, having absorbed all the venom. mercury. If the stone now be quickly immersed In England we find mentioned in a small quantity of milk the poison among the effects of Queen Elizabeth absorbed by it will exude and the milk “one greate Bezar stone . . . one will turn blue.5 other large Bezar stone, broken in peeces delivered to our owne handes, Another recent writer refers to the by the Lord Brooke.”7 popular belief that the stones are often In Somersetshire and Cumberland to be found in the hills and represent madstones are said to be in use to this the solidified saliva of certain wild day. In Northern Scotland particu- goats.6 larly stones and crystals have been In the fourteenth century prose long cherished for their healing power. Edda of Icelandic literature there is To the Highland Exhibit in 1908 reference to medicinal stones. many of the clans lent their medicinal The bezoar stones are first encount- stones. Madstones have been described ered in Europe about the tenth cen- in Dutch South Africa.8 Java has tury. They were highly prized by the furnished some of them.9 populace and the princes who often Most interesting from a literary forced their use upon physicians. Re- point of view are two stones, each turned Catholic missionaries are said believed by its owner to be the stone to have brought them to Italy. Fran- referred to by Sir Walter Scott in cisco Redi, who gave the first jolt to “The Talisman.” The first is described the then respectable doctrine of spon- in the Encyclopedia Americana as taneous generation, attests their ex- having been brought from Scotland traordinary healing power in his in 1776 and as being in the possession “ Experimenta” written in 1685. He speaks of their having been recovered of a Virginia family named Fred. It from the heads of certain Indian was chocolate colored and measured snakes and states that they cling like 2 X 1 X M inches. No less than 130 a cupping glass to a poisonous bite or persons were reputed to have been wound until they have extracted all saved from hydrophobia by it.10 The the poison. He mentions the necessity second is reported by Charles W. of placing them in milk to remove the Dulles as an authentic Virginia mad- poison, saying that the milk should stone whose owner believed that it was turn yellow or green. He records an the Talisman “sent by the Sultan as a interesting experiment on a rooster, wedding present on the occasion of in which not being able to use the the marriage of the Earl of Huntingdon poison of a serpent or a mad dog, to Edith Plantagenet.” How true nicotine was rubbed into an incision were these claims must be left to the in the leg. A madstone was applied by imagination.11 monks and the observers were amazed The closing paragraph of Scott’s that the rooster survived eight hours.4 novel reads: The Soldan sent, as a nuptial present tinguished by the name of the Lee- on this occasion, the celebrated Talis- Penny. At a time when the Church of man; but though many cures were Scotland was eagerly impcaching every

wrought by means of it in Europe, none equalled in success and celebrity those which the Soldan achieved. It is still in existence, having been bequeathed by the Earl of Huntingdon to a brave other cure that savored of the miracu- knight of Scotland, Sir Simon of the lous, it exempted this stone as pos- Lee, in whose ancient and highly-hon- sessing certain healing virtues which oured family it is still preserved; and it did not presume to condemn. This although charmed stones have been action taken by the Scotch Synod dismissed from the modern pharmaco- sometime between 1596 and 1674 is poeia, its virtues are still applied for fully recorded in the notes to “The stopping blood and in cases of canine Talisman.” madness. On April 8, 1861 Sir James Y. Simp- It will be recalled that Scott in the son presented an important communi- Introduction to “The Talisman” gives cation to the Scottish Society of the historical source of his narrative Antiquaries “On Some Scottish Magi- and tells how Sir Simon Lockhart of cal Charms and Curing Stones.” He Lee and Cartland, in the crusade on exhibited the Lee-Penny and observed which he accompanied the good Lord that “in the present century this Douglas, custodian of the heart of ancient medical charm-stone has ac- Robert Bruce, made prisoner in battle quired a world-wide reputation as the a wealthy emir. Among the ransom original of the Talisman of Sir Walter articles which he extracted from the Scott, though latterly its therapeutic captive’s aged mother was a notable reputation has greatly declined, and talisman. After “much experience of almost entirely ceased.”12 the wonders which it wrought” it was For information in regard to two carried back to Scotland and passed other Virginia stones, the Cabin Point from one heir to another, being dis- and the Matthews stones, we arc indebted to a letter, written in 1801 refused. It had saved the lives of at by Dr. Samuel Davies of Petersburg to least 500 persons. It was yellow in Dr. Benjamin Rush, now preserved in color, exhibited on the top and bottom the Ridgway Library in Philadelphia. many black pores, had smooth edges It appears that Dr. Davies’s son, and was impressively light. Sammy, aged fifteen, the only living The Chaustien Stone, a Chinese child of eight, had been bitten by snakestone once in the possession of a a dog, supposed to be mad. The Mr. Chaustien of Frederick County, accident occurred on August 17. On was described by Mr. William H. the 18th liquid caustic was twice Harding of Virginia in 180613 as a applied and later blister plasters were Hat, porous stone about the length of put over the areas. In spite of these the first phalanx of a man’s thumb. heroic measures, Dr. Davies was not A certificate which accompanied it satisfied. “We have,” he wrote, “in stated that it had been purchased in this state several Sucking Stones (as Bombay about 1740. Mr. Harding’s they are usually called) which it has interest in the stone followed the proved by experience, extract the successful application of it to his own poison of the bite of a mad dog. . . . four-year-old child who had been I determined to go to one of them.” bitten by a dog supposedly mad. A drive of twenty-eight miles took the This stone was said to adhere only to Doctor and his boy, by this time quite wounds due to poisonous bites. It was sick from repeated cauterizations, to usually kept in position for twenty- Cabin Point. The stone appeared to four hours. Every eight hours it was be disappointingly small: “not so long immersed in hot water and a greenish in its broadest part as the of a scum appeared on the surface, indica- dollar,” having been reduced to that tive of extracted poison. The owner size by the teeth of a horse, while claimed to have employed it success- being treated for a mad dog bite on fully in 80 cases. It appears that Mr. the mouth. It was triangular, bluish Chaustien had possessed another stone in color, smooth and very light. It acquired in the lower part of Virginia was promptly applied to Sammy’s but discarded after it was broken. He wounds, which by the way had now seemed to be “a very benevolent sloughed to the bone, for twelve hours man,” says Mr. Harding, not desirous each day until the 27th. At this time of making money “as in many in- Dr. Davies discovered that no bubbles stances he does not charge at all, and had arisen in the water in which the when he does exhibit a charge it is so stone was washed, and immediately very low as to make him but a small lost faith in the cure. He hastened with compensation for accommodating his his son to another stone in Matthews patients.” County. From September 1st to the The Micou stone was sent me to 4th this stone was applied to the raw examine and photograph in 1929 by wounds and the favorable sign of Mr. James Roy Micou of Chestertown, bubbles was for the first time observed. Maryland. Mr. Micou is a descendant After this father and son were sent of Paul Micou, a Huguenot refugee home assured by the owner of the who was born in France in 1658, and stone that “no bad effects would ever whose black marble tombstone, still be experienced from the bite.” For standing at Port Micou on the Rappa- this stone 300 guineas had been hannock, bears the inscription “Here lies the body of Paul Micou who 8 gm., is light brown in color, some- departed this life the 23rd of May, what pyriform in shape and at the 1736, in the seventy-eighth year of his more pointed end there is a perfora- age.” How long this madstone has tion capable of admitting a small been in the Micou family no one cord which might have been employed knows exactly, but Mr. Micou says cither to hold the stone in apposition there is a family tradition that his to a wound or to afford a convenient grandfather purchased it for thirty method of carrying it. The surface is acres of land. It passed through the generally smooth except where use has hands of successive Tappahannock worn it away. The exposed internal physicians until it came into the pos- structure is suggestive of bony lam- session of the present owner. William ellae15 and one wonders if this may C. Garnett of Dunnsville, Virginia, not have been one of the carpal or in his book “Tidewater Tales” says tarsal bones of some animal. One that once he saw this stone used, and surface is doubly facetted and is that when it was put into water inscribed “June 45.” There are well- greenish bubbles appeared upon the worn letters on other surfaces which surface which seemed to produce a cannot be satisfactorily deciphered. highly satisfactory feeling in the pa- tient. It was applied to the bite of a Refe renc es mad dog after the familiar technique, 1. White bre ad , C. The Magic, Psychic, adhered firmly while doing its work, Ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman and dropped off when all the poison Medical Collections of the Division of Medicine in the United States National had been absorbed. It is of a mottled Museum. 1924. yellowish color, porous, quite light, 2. Blac k , W. G. Folk Medicine. London, and measures 35 X 20 X 9 mm. It is 1883, p. 144. shaped like a coffin-lid and is set in a 3. Valentine Ball’s trans., N. Y., 1889, plain silver band. quoted in Science, 18: 286, 1891. stone, the 4. Science, 18: 286, 1891. The Stevens last to which 5. Brit. M. J., 1: 438, 1904. I wish to refer, was originally owned 6. Mack en zie , L. H. L. Lancet, 2: 1158, 1913. and employed by Dr. John Stevens, 7. Kunz , G. F. The Magic of Jewels and a medical practitioner in the neigh- Charms. 1915. borhood of Lynchburg, Va., about the 8. Lancet, 2: 506, 1913. beginning of the last century (1800). 9. Pettigr ew , T. J. Superstitions connected with the practice of Medicine and Dr. Stevens was the maternal great- Surgery. 1844, p. 105. great uncle of Miss Julia Sully of 10. St. Nicholas, 16: 272, 1909. Richmond, who inherited the stone 11. J. A. M. A., 34: 1209, 1900. and presented it to Dr. Stuart Mc- 12. Proc. Scot. Soc. Antiquaries, 4: 222, Laing. Guire, who in turn presented it to me. 13. Hard in g , W. H. Med. Repository, 4: 248 1806. Dr. Stevens is reputed to have carried 14. Some lower animals have no gall bladder, it in his saddle bags. In the emergency among them certain species of deer. of a snake or mad dog bite it was The subfamily moschinae have a gall applied in the usual way and after- bladder but no antlers. The cervinae wards the caution of steeping it in have antlers but no gall bladder. As warm milk was faithfully followed. they are the deer commonly found in Virginia the stone is certainly not a This stone was said to have come gallstone. from the stomach of a deer.14 It 15. An x-ray of this stone shows typical bony measures 38 X 24 mm. and weighs structure.