Chinese Snake Stone

Ben R. Spradley, a attaché of the St. Louis sanitarium, at 1635 South Grand avenue, has in his possession one of the most enrióos aud what he asserts to be one of the inost useful and valuable of articles. It is what is known as a Chinese snake stoue, and there is said to be but one other in the conutry. Indeed the one in Mr. Spradley possession is but half a one, the original having been cut in two by Mr. Spradley and half of it given to a friend. In appearance the stone looks like a small piece of oblong shaped cannel coal and is about oneeighth of an inch in thickness, threeeighths of an inch wide and half an inch long. It is as light in weight as a piece of cork, possesses a polished surface and can be easily cut with a knife. It is not a sfcone, in the proper sense of the word, but is a manufactured article and is of a porous texture. To cure snake bites or poisonous wounds of a similar nature with the "stone" the wound must first be scarified. Then the stoue is applied to the wound. Eaoh morning and evening it is taken off and put into a glassof lukewarm water to remain a few moments until it discharges the poison it has absorbed. Then, after the wound has been washed in a strong solution of salt water and again scarified, the stone, which in the meantime has been rubbed in warm ashes until dry, is again applied. If this treatment is kept up for nine days and the patiënt abstains during that time from spirituous liqnors a cure is assured. "I secured the stone, " said Mr. Spradley, "from my father more than 30 years ago. He got it from James J. Parker, the man who made it. From 1874 to 18771 was with the party which was putting throngh the Texas Pacific railroad, and during that time cnred several of the party who were bitten by rattlers and other poisonous snakes. I have frequently loaned the stone to friends, and I cut the original in two, giving half of it to a particular friend of mine. I have not used the stone for some time, but ais ready to give a test of its inerits at any time. "It is, you see, not proper ly a stone, but is a manufactured substance of a porous nature. The theory possessed by many that so called 'madstones' are found in the stomachs of animáis is all nonsense. Theyare all manufactnred in a manuer similar to this, and it is sim ply their 'drawing' powers and their porousness and consequen!i%ïapacity for absorption that renders them valuable. "