My Sky Color

A forty something Dad, Husband, Engineer guy living in Western Oregon. Reflections on all things in life. A few technical things and whatever else comes along.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Mad Rocker
I like pioneer survival type stories. My last visit to Eastern Oregon found me reading a personal history of the patriach of the family I am friends with over there. He is in his eighties and wrote his history last year. Some of the stories and experiences are great!
One of the stories is of a child that got bit by a rattle snake. This occurred around the early 1900's. The story goes on to mention a "mad stone." Acting on this suggestion a neck breaking panic ensued to get one. A horse was ridden to death getting one from a far away town. The stone worked it's magic and the child was saved. So what is a mad stone?
Going to the source of most knowledge, the WWW. A mad stone is found in the stomach of a deer. Deer are ruminants - cud chewers. The stone with the most powerful results comes from a whitetail deer. The origins of this remedy come from the South.
The way this stone is used is by holding it against the bite. It will stick to the wound. When it falls off, boil the stone in whole milk to remove the poison and restore the rock's power. Continue this process repeatedly until the stone won't stick any longer. Historical records tout this as the best cure for snake bites. Some unrespecting folks wanted the local mad stone owner to use if for common mosquito bites. No way! The precious stone was saved for snake bites and nasty spider bites.
I need to get me one of these mad stones... I am not looking forward to pawing through stomach contents of deer. One has to wonder how it works... DMP

1 Comments:

At 4:53 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cool. I've never heard of a "mad stone" before.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home