In a case where two were stung at the same time by serpents, the stone was
applied to one, who recovered; but the other, for whom it could not be
used, died.

It never failed but once, and then it was applied after the twenty-four
hours.

Its colour is so dark as not to be distinguished from black.

P. M. COLQUHOUN.

Corfu, 7th Nov., 1860.

Sir Emerson Tennent, in his popular and excellent work on Ceylon, gives an
account of "snake stones" apparently similar to the one at Corfu, except
that they are "intensely black and highly polished," and which are
applied, in much the same manner, to the wounds inflicted by the
cobra-capella.


QUERY.-Might it not be worth while to ascertain the chemical properties of
these stones, and, if they be efficacious in the extraction of venom
conveyed by a bite, might they not be as successful if applied to the bite
of a mad dog as to that of a cobra-capella?




CHAPTER LI.